There is nothing so much adulterated[1951] as saffron: the best proof of its goodness is when it snaps under pressure by the fingers, as though it were friable;[1952] for when it is moist, a state which it owes to being adulterated, it is limp, and will not snap asunder. Another way of testing it, again, is to apply it with the hand to the face, upon which, if good, it will be found to be slightly caustic to the face and eyes. There is a peculiar kind, too, of cultivated saffron, which is in general extremely mild, being only of middling[1953] quality; the name given to it is “dialeucon.”[1954] The saffron of Cyrenaica, again, is faulty in the opposite extreme; for it is darker than any other kind, and is apt to spoil very quickly. The best saffron everywhere is that which is of the most unctuous quality, and the filaments of which are the shortest; the worst being that which emits a musty smell.
Mucianus informs us that in Lycia, at the end of seven or eight years, the saffron is transplanted into a piece of ground which has been prepared for the purpose, and that in this way it is prevented from degenerating. It is never[1955] used for chaplets, being a plant with an extremely narrow leaf, as fine almost as a hair; but it combines remarkably well with wine, sweet wine in particular. Reduced to a powder, it is used to perfume[1956] the theatres.
Saffron blossoms about the setting of the Vergiliæ, for a few days[1957] only, the leaf expelling the flower. It is verdant[1958] at the time of the winter solstice, and then it is that they gather it; it is usually dried in the shade, and if in winter, all the better. The root of this plant is fleshy, and more long-lived[1959] than that of the other bulbous plants. It loves to be beaten and trodden[1960] under foot, and in fact, the worse it is treated the better it thrives: hence it is, that it grows so vigorously by the side of foot-paths and fountains. (7.) Saffron was already held in high esteem in the time of the Trojan War; at all events, Homer,[1961] we find, makes mention of these three flowers, the lotus,[1962] the saffron, and the hyacinth.
CHAP. 18.—THE NATURE OF ODOURS.
All the odoriferous[1963] substances, and consequently the plants, differ from one another in their colour, smell, and juices. It is but rarely[1964] that the taste of an odoriferous substance is not bitter; while sweet substances, on the other hand, are but rarely odoriferous. Thus it is, too, that wine is more odoriferous than must, and all the wild plants more so than the cultivated ones.[1965] Some flowers have a sweet smell at a distance, the edge of which is taken off when they come nearer; such is the case with the violet, for instance. The rose, when fresh gathered, has a more powerful smell at a distance, and dried,[1966] when brought nearer. All plants have a more penetrating odour, also, in spring[1967] and in the morning; as the hour of midday approaches, the scent becomes gradually weakened.[1968] The flowers, too, of young plants are less odoriferous than those of old ones; but it is at mid-age[1969] that the odour is most penetrating in them all.
The rose and the crocus[1970] have a more powerful smell when gathered in fine weather, and all plants are more powerfully scented in hot climates than in cold ones. In Egypt, however, the flowers are far from odoriferous, owing to the dews and exhalations with which the air is charged, in consequence of the extended surface of the river. Some plants have an agreeable, though at the same time extremely powerful smell; some, again, while green, have no[1971] smell at all, owing to the excess of moisture, the buceros for example, which is the same as fenugreek.[1972] Not all flowers which have a penetrating odour are destitute of juices, the violet, the rose, and the crocus, for example; those, on the other hand, which have a penetrating odour, but are destitute of juices, have all of them a very powerful smell, as we find the case with the two varieties[1973] of the lily. The abrotonum[1974] and the amaracus[1975] have a pungent smell. In some plants, it is the flower only that is sweet, the other parts being inodorous, the violet and the rose, for example.
Among the garden plants, the most odoriferous are the dry ones, such as rue, mint, and parsley, as also those which grow on dry soils. Some fruits become more odoriferous the older they are, the quince, for example, which has also a stronger smell when gathered than while upon the tree. Some plants, again, have no smell but when broken asunder, or when bruised, and others only when they are stripped of their bark. Certain vegetable substances, too, only give out a smell when subjected to the action of fire, such as frankincense and myrrh, for example. All flowers are more bitter to the taste when bruised than when left untouched.[1976] Some plants preserve their smell a longer time when dried, the melilote, for example; others, again, make the place itself more odoriferous where they grow, the iris[1977] for instance, which will even render the whole of a tree odoriferous, the roots of which it may happen to have touched. The hesperis[1978] has a more powerful odour at night, a property to which it owes its name.
Among the animals, we find none that are odoriferous, unless, indeed, we are inclined to put faith in what has been said about the panther.[1979]