WORMWOOD.
The Egyptians had a great respect for the wormwood of Taposiris,—no doubt on account of the medicinal properties which physicians attributed to it.
Heliogabalus often regaled the populace with wormwood wine,[X_52] and the Romans gave it to the victorious charioteers. Pliny thinks this plant so salutary that nothing more precious could have been presented to them.[X_53] This explanation appears to have had but little plausibility, and it has been more rationally supposed that this liquor prevented or counteracted any giddiness they might feel. “You can cure yourself of dizziness,” says Strabo, “with the bitter leaf of wormwood.”[X_54]
The Roman wormwood wine was composed in the following manner:
They bruised one ounce of this vegetable, and mixed it with three scruples of gum, as much spikenard, six of balm, and three scruples of saffron; to which was added eighteen setiers, or 180 gallons English, of old wine. This mixture was left to stand some time, but was not heated or subjected to any other process.[X_55]
In pharmacy, wine is made of wormwood; also a syrup, a preserve, an extract, oil by infusion, an essential oil, and wormwood salt. It is supposed that several brewers on the Continent substitute the leaves and flowers of this plant for hops, in the manufacture of beer. It is, perhaps, a calumny, and we only repeat it in a whisper.
“The leaves of wormwood are used in salad to make it more digestible and heighten the flavour. They are preserved in vinegar, and to season dishes. Lastly, they are considered by some persons as a remedy, and the frequent use of them to be indispensable for the preservation of their existence.”—Bosc.
In concluding this chapter, it will be necessary to anticipate a question which naturally presents itself: did the Romans know the art of forcing fruits, and of procuring, at one season, the various vegetables or plants which belong to another period of the year?
Some verses from Martial will leave no doubt on the subject:—
“Whoever has seen the orchards of the King of Corcyrus (Alcinous), dear Entellus, must have preferred thy rural habitation. Thou knowest how to preserve from the rigours of winter the purple grapes of thy vine bower, and prevent the cold frost from devouring the gifts of Bacchus. Thy grapes live enclosed under a transparent crystal, which covers without concealing them.
“What can avaricious nature refuse to the industry of man? Sterile winter is constrained to give up the fruits of autumn.”[X_56]
This curious passage gives us to understand that the Romans had hot-houses and, no doubt, glass bells in their orchards and gardens, to bring sooner to maturity some of those productions of the earth which, by their delicate flavour and perfume, raised the insatiable desires of a people, decidedly the greatest epicureans ever known in the history of gastronomy to the present day.
XI.
FRUITS.
When the Creator placed the first man in the Garden of Eden, he commanded him to nourish himself with the fruit it contained;[XI_1] and, from that epoch, the most ancient which the sacred work records, this kind of aliment is incessantly mentioned in the history of all nations, and at every period of their history.
The great Hebrew legislator seems to have considered fruit trees worthy of his especial care, for he forbad the Jews to cut them down, even on their enemies’ lands;[XI_2] and, in order to teach his people how to preserve them in all their vigour, he declares the fruits of the first three years impure, and consecrates to the Lord those of the fourth.[XI_3] He even goes further; he exempts from military service any one who has planted a vineyard, and all fruit trees conferred the same privilege until the first vintage.[XI_4]
Heathen nations also understood the importance of this branch of agriculture, and invented protective divinities—such as Pomona,[XI_5] Vertumnus,[XI_6] Priapus[XI_7]—whose sole care consisted in protecting orchards from the inclemency of the seasons, and dispelling insects and robbers, who would damage and plunder the crops.
Each kind had, moreover, a benevolent patron, who could not honestly refuse to be useful to it: thus the olive tree grew under the auspices of Minerva;[XI_8] the Muses cherished the palm tree;[XI_9] the pine and its cone were consecrated to the great Cybele;[XI_10] Bacchus complacently ripened the perfumed pulp of the fig[XI_11] and the rosy grape,[XI_12] which placed him on a level with the gods.
Among the Greeks, fruits appeared on table at the second course;[XI_13] and were eaten either cooked, raw, or in the form of preserves.
The Romans sometimes breakfasted on a small quantity of dried fruits;[XI_14] but the third course of their cœna, or principal repast, offered an incredible profusion of the productions of their own orchards, and of those of three parts of the world.[XI_15]
Rich patricians, after they had exhausted all the immense resources of an incredible luxury—in their garments, habitations, and banquets—contrived to plant fruit trees on the summit of high towers, and on the house tops;[XI_16] thus suspending forests over their heads,[XI_17] as well as vast reservoirs, to keep alive the most exquisite fish.[XI_18]
At Rome they had an expensive, but, as they thought, effective process of preparing pears, apples, plums, figs, cherries, &c., &c., and which was as follows:—
The fruit was chosen with great care, and put, with the stalks attached, into honey, leaving to each one sufficient space to prevent their touching each other.[XI_19]
Our housewives of the 19th century may, perhaps, be curious to try this Roman experiment, if the quantity of honey which it requires does not frighten them.