The lettuce is manifestly refrigerant and moistening; it is therefore
soporific, and, compared with other pot-herbs, nutritious, forming blood
of a very good quality. The endive is refrigerant and moistening, but
less so than the lettuce. The mallows cool but not obviously: they rather
moisten and thereby loosen the belly; and this they do by means of the
viscid juice which they contain. The beet is detergent, and thereby
softens the belly; but when eaten in great quantity it occasions pain
of the stomach: it removes obstructions of the liver and spleen. The
cabbage, when twice boiled before it is eaten, binds the belly, but when
only once boiled for a short time, it rather loosens, if eaten with oil,
sauce, or salts; as its juice, still more than the dried lentil, is
of a purgative quality; and in particular the sea-cabbage is laxative
of the belly, being manifestly saltish and bitter. The sea-purslane
tree, possessing stronger saline qualities, loosens the belly, and
agrees better with the stomach than the cabbage, from having a moderate
astringency; it is also fitted for forming milk and semen. The blite and
orache (_atriplex hortensis_) and such like are succulent and laxative,
but not nutritious. All the thorny tribe, such as the cardoons, the
atractylis, and such like are stomachic, except the _cinara_, for, being
hard, it forms bad chyme; and, therefore, it is best to take it boiled
with oil, fish-sauce, and coriander. The parsley, the horse-parsley
(_smyrnium olusatrum_), the water parsnip, and the allsander, are
diuretic; but the allsander is aromatic, and more acrid, diuretic, and
emmenagogue, whereas the parsley and horse-parsley are sweeter, and,
therefore, agree better with the stomach. The rocket (_brassica eruca_)
is hot, and forms semen; and, therefore, rouses to venery and occasions
headachs. The cress, basil (_ocimum_), and mustard are hot and acrid,
particularly the cress; but all are of difficult digestion, injure the
stomach, and supply unwholesome juices. But the nettle is attenuant,
laxative, and of little nourishment. The toothpick-fennel is like the
shepherd’s needle, possessing astringent and bitter qualities in no small
degree; it is beneficial to the stomach, so that those who have lost
their appetite may eat it with advantage in vinegar; but it supplies
little nourishment to the body. All the wild pot-herbs, as they are
called, contain very bad juices. Capers, however, whet the appetite,
remove obstructions of the liver and spleen, and evacuate phlegm. They
are to be used with vinegar and honey, or with vinegar and oil, before
taking any other food.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Athenæus remarks that the use of pot-herbs, as articles
of food, appears to have been very ancient, since several of them are
mentioned by Homer. (Deipnos, i, 29.) Diphilus says, “all pot-herbs in
general contain little nutriment, are attenuant, engender bad juices,
swim in the stomach, and are of difficult digestion.” (Deipnos, ii, 28.)
Actuarius states, that pot-herbs in general form a thin and watery blood,
compared with that from thicker articles of food.
The ancients ate their pot-herbs with much oil, and generally a liberal
allowance of hot spices. See Apicius (iii.) A sauce from pickled fish,
vinegar, or old wine, was often added to the preparation. The poet
Juvenal makes mention of a miser who ate his cabbage with the oil from
lamps. (Sat. v, 87.) Celsus remarks of such things, “Quodcunque ex olio
garove estur olus alienum stomacho est.”
We now select from the dietetical writers a few remarks on the most
important articles of this class.
Galen strongly recommends the lettuce as a cooling, moistening, and
soporific herb. He relates that he cured himself of morbid insomnolency
by eating liberally of lettuces. The soporific property of lettuces is
mentioned by Dioscorides, Pliny, Athenæus, Rhases, Haly Abbas, Simeon
Seth, and most of the other authorities. It is even said by Simeon Seth
and Florentinus (Geopon. xvii, 13), that the juice of it when rubbed upon
the forehead induces sleep. We need scarcely remark, that the lettuce
was lately restored to its place in the Materia Medica as a soporific.
Martial directs the lettuce to be eaten at the beginning of a feast (xi,
ep. 53); Athenæus at the end.
Athenæus mentions that mallows are praised by the poet Hesiod. (Op. et
Dies. i.) He adds, “Diphilus relates that mallows have good juices,
smooth the trachea, are easily evacuated, and prove moderately
nutritious.” Damogeron says that when eaten with fish sauce and oil,
they loosen the belly. (Geopon. l. c.) Galen and Aëtius state that they
lubricate the intestines more than lettuce, but are not so refrigerant.
In a word, mallows were in great repute with the ancients, as being
inferior to none of the oleracea. Horace calls them “gravi malvæ salubres
corpori.” (Epod. ii.) The poet Martial mentions them as being laxative.
(x.) Different species of mallows were probably used by the ancients for
food, but more especially the _Malva rotundifolia_ L.
Galen states that the juice of the beet is thinner and more detergent
than those of the lettuce and mallows. He says that, when twice boiled
it becomes astringent. Apicius recommends boiled beet to be eaten with
mustard, a moderate proportion of oil, and vinegar. Beet-root, according
to Actuarius and Simeon Seth, is difficult to digest, flatulent, and
laxative. Dioscorides and Diphilus, however, state that beet contains
better juices, and is more nutritious than cabbage. Athen. (Deipn. ix.)
Galen recommends its pickled roots as deobstruent in infarction of the
liver and spleen. (De Alim. Facult. ii.)
The wild succory and the endive or garden succory were much used by the
ancients as pot-herbs. Galen briefly states, that in properties they
resemble lettuces, but are less delicious. According to Simeon Seth,
they are slightly cooling and moistening. The endive, he says, when
boiled with vinegar is astringent. Rhases praises it as a deobstruent in
affections of the liver. Apicius directs it to be dressed with fish-sauce
and oil. Its boiled roots were also prepared as a pickle.
The brassicæ, or cabbages, were great favorites of the elder Cato. (De
Re Rust.) Horace states correctly, that such as grow in the country
are better than those which are raised about towns. (Sat. ii, 4.)
According to Galen, their juices are laxative, but their solid parts
astringent. Brocoli, says Rhases, when not pickled are not heating, and
being flatulent they engender semen: those that are pickled are more
heating, occasion thirst, supply bad nutriment, and inflame the blood.
Is _brocoli_ an Italian word, or an Arabian, formed from _caulis_ with a
prefix?
The halimus, according to Sprengel, is the _atriplex halimus_ L.,
called by Miller the sea purslane; but by others it is referred to the
_salicornia fruticosa_ L. Dioscorides says that its leaves when boiled
are used for food. (i, 120.)
Rhases and Haly Abbas state that spinach is laxative and wholesome. The
Greeks and Romans appear to have been unacquainted with it.
The atractylis is supposed by Sprengel to be the _carlina lanata_ L. a
woolly carline thistle. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it as an antidote
against poisons; but it seems to have been little used as a pot-herb.
The nettle (either the _urtica dioica_ or _pillulifera_) is mentioned
as a pot-herb by Theophrastus (H. P. vii, 7), and most of the medical
authorities. Psellus calls it laxative.
The scandix, or shepherd’s needle, was in little repute as an article of
food; and hence Aristophanes makes it a subject of reproach to Euripides,
that his mother sold not good pot-herbs, but scandix. (Achar. act. ii,
sc. 4; Pliny, H. N. xxii, 38.)
Galen says that the gingidium is eaten in Syria, like the scandix in
his country. It has been supposed, by Bruyer and others, to be the
chærophyllum or chervil; but, according to Ludovicus Nonnius, this is a
mistake. We are inclined to refer it to the _daucus gingidium_ L., or
pick tooth.
Galen, Aëtius, and Simeon Seth speak of the cinara as an unwholesome
pot-herb. It may be eaten, however, Galen says, with oil, fish-sauce,
and wine and coriander. Many of the authorities have referred it to the
artichoke, but it seems to be now settled that no ancient writer has
noticed _it_, with the exception of Columella, who has given a very
striking description of it. (x, 237.) We cannot decide positively what
the _cinara_ was.
Dioscorides says, that the scolymus is eaten like asparagus. (iii, 16.)
It is the _scolymus Hispanicus_, or Spanish cordoons.
The hipposelinum appears to have been the _smyrnium olusatrum_. See
Harduin’s note on Pliny (H. N. xix, 48), and Sprengel (ad Dioscor. iii,
71.) Dioscorides says it is used as a pot-herb, like parsley, its root
being eaten boiled or raw, and its stalk and leaves boiled, either
alone or with fish. It is not to be confounded with the smyrnium of the
ancients, which is the _smyrnium perfoliatum_. Dioscorides says that the
latter, when pickled, is used as a pot-herb, and is astringent.
Galen says that the blite and orache are watery pot-herbs, and almost
insipid. Seth, and the other authorities who notice it, agree that
the latter is cooling and laxative. The blite is still much used as a
pot-herb in Spain and Italy. It is the _blitum capitatum_.
Xenophon mentions that the ancient Persians lived very much upon cresses,
using them as a seasoner to their food. (Cyroped. i, 2.) According to
Aëtius and Simeon Seth, they are calefacient and desiccative. Seth calls
them aphrodisiacal. On the aphrodisiacal powers of the cresses and
rocket, see Section xxxvi.
The sion was probably the _sium nodiflorum_, procumbent water-parsnip. It
was used as a substitute for the cress.
Dioscorides says that the root of the dracunculus, or dragon-herb, is
sometimes eaten as a pot-herb, both when boiled and raw. He mentions that
the inhabitants of the Balearian Isles mix its root with honey, and use
it at their banquets in place of cakes. (ii, 16.) Simeon Seth notices it
by the name of tarchon, being a corruption from Tarragona. He calls it
flatulent and unwholesome, and says that its leaves only are to be used
along with mint and parsley. Galen and Rhases likewise mention it as an
article of food. The aron was a plant nearly allied to it, but one which
it is difficult to determine accurately.
Mustard, as Hippocrates remarks, is of a hot and purgative nature. Seth
says that it promotes the digestion and distribution of the food. Rhases
forbids it to be eaten, except along with thick articles of food.
Pliny mentions the ocymum or basil in very unfavorable terms.
The dock, _rumex_ L., is sometimes mentioned as a pot-herb, but does
not appear to have been much in use. Horace alludes to its laxative
properties. Galen says some women affected with _pica_ and _bizarre_
children eat the oxylapathum (_rumex acutus_ L.) raw, but that it is
still less nutritious than the lapathum.
Capers, says Aëtius and Seth, consist of different qualities, as
bitterness, which renders them detergent, purgative, and penetrative;
acrimony, which makes them calefacient, discutient, and attenuant;
and sourness, which renders them astringent. Serapion says that, when
pickled with vinegar, they strengthen the stomach and whet the appetite.
When pickled with salt, he says, they are bad for the stomach. Galen
recommends pickled capers in obstruction of the liver and spleen.
The buglossum, or borage, is frequently mentioned as a herb which, when
eaten, imparts gladness to the soul. Ludovicus Nonnius informs us that
the Belgians still fancy that it possesses this property, and look upon
it as the Homeric nepenthes.
We have had occasion to mention in another place that the ancients were
fully persuaded of the aphrodisiacal properties of the eruca, or rocket.
The strychnos has been generally supposed to be some species of
_solanum_. It is mentioned as a pot-herb by Theophrastus, Dioscorides,
and Galen, but was in little repute. Several other plants are mentioned
as pot-herbs by the dietetical writers, such as fennel, anise, dill,
hyssop, and wild thyme, but they are of little importance.