284 
Pliny's natural history. 
[Book xy. 
be found in Africa and in the vicinity of Emerita*^ in Lusi- 
tania. 
The oil of the olive is prevented from getting*^ thick and 
rancid by the admixture of salt. By making an incision in 
the bark of the tree, an aromatic odour may be imparted"*^ to 
the oil. Any other mode of seasoning, such, for instance, as 
those used with reference to wine, is not at all gratifying to 
the palate ; nor do we find so many varieties in oil as there 
are in the produce of the grape, there being, in general, but 
three different degrees of goodness. In fine oil the odour is 
more penetrating, but even in the very best it is but short- 
lived. 
CHAP. 5. (4.) — THE NATtTEE OF OLIVE OIL. 
It is one of the properties of oil to impart warmth to the 
body, and to protect it against the action of cold ; while at 
the same time it promotes coolness in the head when heated. 
The Greeks, those parents of all vices, have abused it by mak- 
ing it minister to luxury, and employing it commonly in the 
gymnasium : indeed, it is a well-known fact that the gover- 
nors of those establishments have sold the scrapings*"* of the 
oil used there for a sum of eighty thousand sesterces. The 
majesty of the Eoman sway has conferred high honour upon 
the olive : crowned with it, the troops of the Equestrian order 
are wont to defile upon the ides of July it is used, too, by 
the victor in the minor triumphs of the ovation.*^ At Athens, 
*i The oHves of the present Merida, in Spain, are of a rough, disagree- 
able flavour. 
^2 This seems to be the meaning of " pinguis but, as Fee observes, 
salt would have no such effect as here stated, but would impart a disagree- 
able flavour to the oil. 
^'^ Fee regards this assertion as quite fabulous. 
It will be stated in B. xxviii. c. 13, to what purposes this abominable 
collection of filth was applied. 
*5 15th of July. He alludes to the inspection of the Equites, which 
originally belonged to the Censors, but afterwards to the Emperors. On 
this occasion there was " recognitio," or review," and then a *' trans- 
vectio," or "procession" of the horsemen. 
The ovation was a lesser triumph, at which the general entered the 
city not in a chariot, but on foot. In later times, however, the victor en- 
tered on horseback : and a wreath of myrtle, sometimes laurel, was worn 
by him. For further particulars as to the ovation, see c. 38 of the present 
Book. 
