And, in Judæa, where no hogs were eaten by the Jews, and few kept by others, ’tis not unlikely that they most cherished the Esculus, which might serve for Food of men. For the Acrons thereof are the sweetest of any Oak, and taste like Chesnuts; and so producing an edulious or esculent Fruit, is properly named Esculus.
They which know the Ilex, or Ever-green Oak, with somewhat prickled leaves, named Πρίνος, will better understand the irreconcileable answer of the two Elders, when the one accused Susanna of incontinency under a Πρίνος, or Ever-green Oak, the other under a Σχῖνος, Lentiscus, or Mastick Tree, which are so different in Bigness, Boughs, Leaves and Fruit, the one bearing Acrons, the other Berries: And, without the knowledge hereof, will not Emphatically or distinctly understand that of the Poet,
Flaváque de viridi stillabant Ilice mella.
Cedars of Libanus.
40. When we often meet with the Cedars of Libanus, that expression may be used not onely because they grew in a known and neighbour Country, but also because they were of the noblest and largest kind of that Vegetable, and we find the Phœnician Cedar magnified by the Ancients. The Cedar of Libanus is a coniferous Tree, bearing Cones or Cloggs; (not Berries) of such a vastness, that Melchior Lussy, a great Traveller, found one upon Libanus as big as seven men could compass. Some are now so curious as to keep the Branches and Cones thereof among their rare Collections. And, though much Cedar Wood be now brought from America, yet ’tis time to take notice of the true Cedar of Libanus, imployed in the Temple of Solomon; for they have been much destroyed and neglected, and become at last but thin. Bellonius could reckon but twenty eight, Rowolfius and Radzevil but twenty four, and Bidulphus the same number. And a later account[231] of some English Travellers saith, that they are now but in one place, and in a small compass, in Libanus.
Uncircumcised Fruit, in Levit. 19. 23.
Quando ingressi fueritis terram, et Plantaveritis in illa ligna Pomifera, auferetis præputia eorum. Poma quæ germinant immunda erunt vobis, nec edetis ex eis. Quarto autem anno, omnis fructus eorum sanctificabitur, laudabilis Domino. Quinto autem anno comedetis fructus. By this Law they were injoyned not to eat of the Fruits of the Trees which they planted for the first three years: and, as the Vulgar expresseth it, to take away the Prepuces, from such Trees, during that time; the Fruits of the fourth year being holy unto the Lord, and those of the fifth allowable unto others. Now if auferre præputia be taken, as many learned men have thought, to pluck away the bearing Buds, before they proceed unto Flowers or Fruit, you will readily apprehend the Metaphor, from the analogy and similitude of those Sprouts and Buds, which, shutting up the fruitfull particle, resembleth the preputial part.
And you may also find herein a piece of Husbandry not mentioned in Theophrastus, or Columella. For by taking away of the Buds, and hindering fructification, the Trees become more vigorous, both in growth and future production. By such a way King Pyrrhus got into a lusty race of Beeves, and such as were desired over all Greece, by keeping them from Generation untill the ninth year.
And you may also discover a physical advantage of the goodness of the Fruit, which becometh less crude and more wholsome, upon the fourth or fifth years production.