Plinies Naturall Hiflorie. 4.51 



^ to fight a fieldjand to trie the c]uareII(for the wrong which the Sabincs prctended5was done iintD 

 them, in regard that the Romanes had ravifhcd their daughters being young maidens) werer?- 

 conciled and made friends ; and thereupon laid downe their armes and weapons/and were tliere 

 purified with the facred branches of Myrtle^in that very place wherein now the rcmple & image 

 of Fenus Cluacim Itandeth : which thereupon tooke the name(for that Clucre in old Liuine.f:gni- 

 fied to purge or cleanfe.) Befides^that tree otherwife doth afifburd a kind of fwcet periuine t o b cc 

 burned . Now was this treechoicn for that purpofe then to make attonementand to ratifie the 

 mariage betweene theRoii^^s^d the Sabine virginesj hzczukVenuis is the prefidcnt and mo- 



ther of carnall copulationflhd" patroncfle withall of the Myrtle tree. I will not confidently 

 avouchibut me chinks I may prefumc to (ayjThat the Myrtle was of all other trees firft planted in 

 B the publicke places of Rome for Ibme memorable prefagcand fore-tokening of fuciire events 

 and things to comeiFor whereas the temple of ,^rmp^(x\\2ix. is to fayjof king RomtUu^yis cQ^u^ 

 ted for one of the moft antique buildings now extant^ there grew even before it for a long time 

 two old and facred Myrtle trees: the one named Patritiap. the My ide of the Nobilide: land the 

 other Picbeia : that is to fay^the Myrtle of the Comminalcie. The Patrieian profpercd and flou- 

 rifhed many yearcs together,whiles the Plebeian began to fade and wither^ And to fay a truth, 

 fo long as the Senate was able to maintaine and uphold their authoritie, the Myrtle of the 

 Nobles continued frcfh and greene^and (pread her boughes at large ^ whereas that other of the 

 Commons Teemed as it had been blafted, dried, and halfe dead : but afcer that ihcftate of the 

 Senate began to quaile and droupe5(which was about the time of the warre v^ith the Marfyans) 

 Q as their tree decaied and wafted, fo the Plebeians Myrde held up the head againe : and fo 

 by little and lictle, as the majefticof theSenatourswas taken downe and abated to nothing, fo 

 their Myrde waxed poore and barren untill it became drie and ftatke dead . Moreover, there 

 itood anoldchappelland analcarconfecrated iinrorm^ JMjrtea^ whom now at this day they 

 call Murtia. 



CMo'm his time wrote of three kinds ofMyrtle: to wit, the white, theblaekejandthcGonju- 

 gulaffb called haply of wedlock or mariage:) andperadventureitmaycomeoftheraceofihofe 

 Myrtles belonging to r^«/^^C/fl4r/^izabovenamed. Howbeir, inthefe daieswe diRmguiili our 

 Myrtles otherwife^ for fome we repute wild and favage, others tame and gentle : and tiiele both 

 are 1 ikewife of two forts^to witjeither broader or n arrower leaved. To the wild kind properly be- . 



D iongeth the prickieMyrtlc Oximyrfine. Asfor the tameand gentle Myrtles,thcy bee thofe that 

 are planted in horc-yards and gardcns,wherewith gardeners make arborSjkn 0:5,3 nd divers devi- 

 fes.Wliereof be fliadrie kinds.The Tarcntine with fmall leaves 3 ours of Italic with broader; and 

 the mytdc^HcxafticajWhich is very ful of leaves, and ordinarily each branch hath fix ranks ther- * not EtzmAl 

 ol Bucthefeareakogcthcroutofrequeftiboththeotherarefullof boughesand branches. As ^'"'"f^* 

 touching the abovenamed Conjuguia, 1 fuppofe it bee the fame that our common Myrtle here 

 in kalie.Buithe moft odoriferous Myrtle ot all orherSjisthat which growethin ^Egypt. 



Now concerning the wine of Myrtles^C^j^^* hath fliewed us the manner how to make it.-name- 

 ly,to take the blackc Myrtle berries, to drie them in the iliadc untill they have lofl all their wate- 

 rifh humiditie.and fo to put them in Mufl or new wine,and let them he there infufed,or in fleep, 



E For certainely jif the berries be not dried before, they would yeeld an oile from them , Howbeit, 

 afterwards there was a devifc found out to make a white wine of the white Myrtle in this manner. 

 Take of Myrtles well beaten or ftampedjthc quantitie of two *Sextar6s,lf eepe the fame in three *,',wiac.quarcs, 

 hemires or pints ofwine^and then flraine and prcfle forth the liquor. 



Moreover^jthe very leaves of the Myrde tree, being dried and reduced into a kind of nieale, 

 are fingular good for to cure the ulcers in mens bodies: forcertaineicis, that this powdcE 

 doth gently eat away and confume the fuperflnous humours thatcaufe putrifadion , And bc- 

 fides, it ferveth well tocooleand repreffe immoderate fweats . Over and befides, the oile alfo 

 of Myrtles (a flraungc and wonderfull thing to tell) hath a certaine rellice and taft of wine : and 

 withailj the fat liquor thereof is endued with afpeciall and principallvertue to correct and cla- 



F rifie wines 5 if thebagges and flrainers where- through the wine runneth, bee firfi foakedand . 

 drenched therewith ; for the faid oleous fubftancc retaineih and keepeth with it all the lees 

 and dregs, and fuffereth nothing but the pure and cleare liquourto paffe through, and more 

 than that,itcarrieth with it the commendable odor and principallvertueof the (aid oile . Fur- 

 thermore it is faid^ That if a wayfaring man thai hath a great journey for to goc on footle arric 



in 



