But Agatharchides, in the nineteenth book of his History of Europe, tells us that the Bœotians call pomegranates not ῥοιαὶ but σίδαι, speaking thus:—"As the Athenians were disputing with the Bœotians about a district which they called Sidæ, Epaminondas, while engaged in upholding the claims of the Bœotians, suddenly lifted up in his left hand a pomegranate which he had concealed, and showed it to the Athenians, asking them what they called it, and when they said ῥοιὰ, 'But we,' said he, 'call it σίδη.' And the district bears the pomegranate-tree in great abundance, from which it originally derived its name. And Epaminondas prevailed." And Menander, in his Heauton-Timorumenos, called them ῥοίδια, in the following lines—
And after dinner I did set before them
Almonds, and after that we ate pomegranates.
There is, however, another plant called sida, which is something like the pomegranate, and which grows in the lake Orchomenus, in the water itself; and the sheep eat its leaves, and the pigs feed on the young shoots, as Theophrastus tells us, in the fourth book of his treatise on Plants; where he says that there is another plant like it in the Nile, which grows without any roots.
65. The next thing to be mentioned are dates. Xenophon, in the second book of his Anabasis, says—"And there was in the district a great deal of corn, and wine made of the dates, and also vinegar, which was extracted from them; but the berries themselves of the date when like what we see in Greece, were set apart for the slaves. But those which were destined for the masters were all carefully selected, being of a wonderful size and beauty, and their colour was like amber. And some they dry and serve up as sweetmeats; and the wine made from the date is sweet, but it produces headache." And Herodotus, in his first book, speaking of Babylon, says,—"There are palm-trees there growing over the whole plain, most of them being very fruitful; and they make bread, and wine, and honey of them. And they manage the tree in the same way as the fig-tree. For those palm-trees which they call the males they take, and bind their fruit to the other palm-trees which bear dates, in order that the insect which lives in the fruit of the male palm may get into the date and ripen it, and so prevent the fruit of the date-bearing palm from being spoilt. For the male palm has an insect in each of its fruits, as the wild fig has." And Polybius of Megalopolis, who speaks with the authority of an eye-witness, gives very nearly the same account of the lotus, as it is called, in Libya, that Herodotus here gives of the palm-tree; for he speaks thus of it: "And the lotus is a tree of no great size, but rough and thorny, and its leaf is green like that of the rhamnus, but a little thicker and broader. And the fruit at first resembles both in colour and size the berries of the white myrtle when full grown; but as it increases in size it becomes of a scarlet colour, and in size about equal to the round olives; and it has an exceedingly small stone. But when it is ripe they gather it. And some they store for the use of the servants, bruising it and mixing it with groats, and packing it into vessels. And that which is preserved for freemen is treated in the same way, only that the stones are taken out, and then they pack that fruit also in jars, and eat it when they please. And it is a food very like the fig, and also like the palm-date, but superior in fragrance. And when it is moistened and pounded with water, a wine is made of it, very sweet and enjoyable to the taste, and like fine mead; and they drink it without water; but it will not keep more than ten days, on which account they only make it in small quantities as they want it. They also make vinegar of the same fruit."
66. And Melanippides the Melian, in his Danaides, calls the fruit of the palm-tree by the name of φοίνιξ, mentioning them in this manner:—"They had the appearance of inhabitants of the shades below, not of human beings; nor had they voices like women; but they drove about in chariots with seats, through the woods and groves, just as wild beasts do, holding in their hands the sacred frankincense, and the fragrant dates (φοίνικας), and cassia, and the delicate perfumes of Syria."[99]
FIGS.
And Aristotle, in his treatise on Plants, speaks thus:—"The dates (φοίνικες) without stones, which some call eunuchs and others ἀπύρηνοι." Hellanicus has also called the fruit φοίνιξ, in his Journey to the Temple of Ammon, if at least the book be a genuine one; and so has Phormus the comic poet, in his Atalantæ.
But concerning those that are called the Nicolaan dates, which are imported from Syria, I can give you this information; that they received this name from Augustus the emperor, because he was exceedingly fond of the fruit, and because Nicolaus of Damascus, who was his friend, was constantly sending him presents of it. And this Nicolaus was a philosopher of the Peripatetic School, and wrote a very voluminous history.
67. Now with respect to dried figs. Those which came from Attica were always considered a great deal the best. Accordingly Dinon, in his History of Persia, says—"And they used to serve up at the royal table all the fruits which the earth produces as far as the king's dominions extend, being brought to him from every district as a sort of first-fruits. And the first king did not think it becoming for the kings either to eat or drink anything which came from any foreign country; and this idea gradually acquired the force of a law. For once, when one of the eunuchs brought the king, among the rest of the dishes at dessert, some Athenian dried figs, the king asked where they came from. And when he heard that they came from Athens, he forbade those who had bought them to buy them for him any more, until it should be in his power to take them whenever he chose, and not to buy them. And it is said that the eunuch did this on purpose, with a view to remind him of the expedition against Attica." And Alexis, in his Pilot, says—