Foreign authors quoted.—Hesiod,[1597] Theophrastus,[1598] Aristotle,[1599] Democritus,[1600] King Hiero,[1601] King Attalus Philometor,[1602] Archytas,[1603] Xenophon,[1604] Amphilochus[1605] of Athens, Anaxipolis[1606] of Thasos, Apollodorus[1607] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[1608] of Miletus, Antigonus[1609] of Cymæ, Agathocles[1610] of Chios, Apollonius[1611] of Pergamus, Aristander[1612] of Athens, Botrys[1613] of Athens, Bacchius[1614] of Miletus, Bion[1615] of Soli, Chærea[1616] of Athens, Chæristus[1617] of Athens, Diodorus[1618] of Priene, Dion[1619] of Colophon, Epigenes[1620] of Rhodes, Euagon[1621] of Thasos, Euphronius[1622] of Athens, Androtion[1623] who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion[1624] who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus[1625] who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius[1626] who translated Mago, Diophanes[1627] who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades[1628] the Physician, Onesicritus,[1629] King Juba.[1630]
BOOK XV.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE OLIVE.—HOW LONG IT EXISTED ONLY IN GREECE. AT WHAT PERIOD IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, SPAIN, AND AFRICA.
Theophrastus,[1631] one of the most famous among the Greek writers, who flourished about the year 440 of the City of Rome, has asserted that the olive[1632] does not grow at a distance of more than forty[1633] miles from the sea. Fenestella tells us that in the year of Rome 173, being the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, it did not exist in Italy, Spain, or Africa;[1634] whereas at the present day it has crossed the Alps even, and has been introduced into the two provinces of Gaul and the middle of Spain. In the year of Rome 505, Appius Claudius, grandson of Appius Claudius Cæcus, and L. Junius being consuls, twelve pounds of oil sold for an as; and at a later period, in the year 680, M. Seius, son of Lucius, the curule ædile, regulated the price of olive oil at Rome, at the rate of ten pounds for the as, for the whole year. A person will be the less surprised at this, when he learns that twenty-two years after, in the third consulship of Cn. Pompeius, Italy was able to export olive oil to the provinces.
Hesiod,[1635] who looked upon an acquaintance with agriculture as conducive in the very highest degree to the comforts of life, has declared that there was no one who had ever gathered fruit from the olive-tree that had been sown by his own hands, so slow was it in reaching maturity in those times; whereas, now at the present day, it is sown in nurseries even, and if transplanted will bear fruit the following year.
CHAP. 2.—THE NATURE OF THE OLIVE, AND OF NEW OLIVE OIL.
Fabianus maintains that the olive will grow[1636] neither in very cold climates, nor yet in very hot ones. Virgil[1637] has mentioned three varieties of the olive, the orchites,[1638] the radius,[1639] and the posia;[1640] and says that they require no raking or pruning, nor, in fact, any attention whatever. There is no doubt that in the case of these plants, soil and climate are the things of primary importance; but still, it is usual to prune them at the same time as the vine, and they are improved by lopping between them every here and there. The gathering of the olive follows that of the grape, and there is even a greater degree of skill required in preparing[1641] oil than in making wine; for the very same olives will frequently give quite different results. The first oil of all, produced from the raw[1642] olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable to all the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first[1643] droppings of the press are the most esteemed, diminishing gradually in goodness and value; and this, whether the wicker-work[1644] basket is used in making it, or whether, following the more recent plan, the pulp is put in a stick strainer, with narrow spikes and interstices.[1645] The riper the berry, the more unctuous the juice, and the less agreeable the taste.[1646] To obtain a result both abundant and of excellent flavour, the best time to gather it is when the berry is just on the point of turning black. In this state it is called “druppa” by us, by the Greeks, “drypetis.”
In addition to these distinctions, it is of importance to observe whether the berry ripens in the press or while on the branch; whether the tree has been watered, or whether the fruit has been nurtured solely by its own juices, and has imbibed nothing else but the dews of heaven.