360 
M. Link on the Ancient History of 
many leaves, while the seed lobes remain in the earth. All the 
other parts of his description agree. A decisive mark is fur- 
nished by the black spots on the wings of the flower. The 
Flamen Dialis durst not touch beans, durst not even name 
them, according to Festus, durst not eat them, according to 
Pliny, <c quoniam in Jlore ejus litter oe lugubres reperiuntur .” 
(Plin. 1. xviii. c. 12.) On account of these spots, says Didymus 
(Geopon. 1. ii. c. 35.), Pythagoras forbade the eating of them. 
Beans have been known from the most ancient times ; wtfcet piXav- 
t>X are mentioned in the 15th Book of the Iliad, (v. 589,) that 
is to say, black beans as we still find them. The arrow which 
Helenus shot at Menelaus, rebounded from his mail like beans 
or chick-pease from the thrashing floor. The poet would cer- 
tainly have said Pease, had these been known to him. In an- 
cient times, as sometimes at the present day, meal of beans 
was added to bread, and this was named Lomentum. 
Pliny assigns a habitat to the bean which is worthy of notice, 
(1. xviii. c. 12.) : Nascitur et sua sponte plerisque in locis , sicut 
septentrionalis Oceani insults , quas ob id nostri fabarias appel- 
lant. Item in Mauritania sylvestri passim , sed pradura et quae 
percoqui non possit, (probably therefore this is another species.) 
Nascitur et in JEgypto (here the Nelumbium is described). 
What islands are those which were thus called Fabaria ? Such 
an island lies, according to the same writer, near the Promon- 
torium Cimbrorum (Jutland). According to this author, beans 
are of northern origin, and this is not altogether improbable. 
In the south of Europe, the bean blooms in February, sooner 
than all the other leguminous plants, and in the islands of the 
south, the bean can be extirpated, — a thing which does not hap- 
pen with the wild cabbage in England. 
The ancients distinguished between the xt w/ms Ia Adv^oj and 
odyvxribq. The former is our bean, the latter Nelumbium specio- 
sum , according to the excellent description in Theophrastus, 
(Hist. PI. 1. iv. c. 9. ed Schneid.) The description of Dioscori- 
des likewise agrees with it. The fruits, like the cells of bees, 
from which the seeds project a little, afford a sure mark. This 
plant was found, according to Theophrastus’s information, not 
only at Torone in Euboea, but also in Syria and Cilicia ; yet 
there the fruit was not ripe, probably because the plants, when 
