The Private Life of the Romans Part 11

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 106. FULLERS AT WORK]

CHAPTER VIII

FOOD AND MEALS

REFERENCES: Marquardt, 264-268, 300-340, 414-465; Voigt, 327-329, 401-404; Goll, 311-454; Guhl and Koner, 747-759, 702-704; Friedlander, III, 29-56; Ramsay, 490-501; Pauly-Wissowa, _cena_, _comissatio_; Smith, Harper, Rich, _cena_, _comissatio_, _olea_ (_oliva_), _vinum_; Baumeister, 845, 2086; Lubker, 724 f.; Mau-Kelsey, 256-260, 267-270.

--272. Natural Conditions.--Italy is blessed above all the other countries of central Europe with the natural conditions that go to make an abundant and varied supply of food. The soil is rich and composed of different elements in different parts of the country. The rainfall is abundant, and rivers and smaller streams are numerous. The line of greatest length runs nearly north and south, but the climate depends little upon lat.i.tude, being modified by surrounding bodies of water, by mountain ranges, and by prevailing winds. These agencies in connection with the varying elevation of the land itself produce such widely different conditions that somewhere within the confines of Italy almost all the grains and fruits of the temperate and subtropic zones find the soil and climate most favorable to their growth.

--273. The early inhabitants of the peninsula, the Italian peoples, seem to have left for the Romans the task of developing and improving these means of subsistence. Wild fruits, nuts, and flesh have always been the support of uncivilized peoples, and must have been so for the shepherds who laid the foundations of Rome. The very word _pecunia_ (from _pecus_; cf. _peculium_, --162) shows that herds of domestic animals were the first source of Roman wealth. But other words show just as clearly that the cultivation of the soil was understood by the Romans in very early times: the names Fabius, Cicero, Piso, and Caepio are no less ancient than Porcius, Asinius, Vitellius, and Ovidius.[1]

Cicero puts into the mouth of the elder Cato the statement that to the farmer the garden was a second meat supply, but long before Cato's time meat had ceased to be the chief article of food. Grain and grapes and olives furnished subsistence for all who did not live to eat.

These gave the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengtheneth man's heart. On these three abundant products of the soil the ma.s.s of the people of Italy lived of old as they still live to-day. Something will be said of each below, after less important products have been considered.

[Footnote 1: The words are connected respectively with _faba_, a bean, _cicer_, a chick-pea, _pistor_, a miller, _caepe_, an onion, _porcus_, a pig, _asinus_, an a.s.s, _vitellus_, a calf, and _ovis_, a sheep.]

--274. Fruits.--Besides the olive and the grape, the apple, pear, plum, and quince were either native to Italy or were introduced in prehistoric times. Careful attention had long been given to their cultivation, and by Cicero's time Italy was covered with orchards and all these fruits were abundant and cheap in their seasons, used by all sorts and conditions of men. By this time, too, had begun the introduction of new fruits from foreign lands and the improvement of native varieties. Great statesmen and generals gave their names to new and better sorts of apples and pears, and vied with each other in producing fruits out of season by hothouse culture (--145). Every fresh extension of Roman territory brought new fruits and nuts into Italy.

Among the last were the walnut, hazelnut, filbert, almond, and pistachio; the almond after Cato's time and the pistachio not until that of Tiberius. Among the fruits were the peach (_malum Persic.u.m_), the apricot (_malum Armeniac.u.m_), the pomegranate (_malum Punic.u.m_ or _granatum_), the cherry (_cerasus_), brought by Lucullus from the town Cerasus in Pontus, and the lemon (_citrus_), not grown in Italy until the third century of our era. And besides the introduction of fruits for culture large quant.i.ties were imported for food, either dried or otherwise preserved. The orange, however, strange as it seems to us, was not grown by the Romans.

--275. Garden Produce.--The garden did not yield to the orchard in the abundance and variety of its contributions to the supply of food. We read of artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, cabbages, carrots, chicory, cuc.u.mbers, garlic, lentils, melons, onions, peas, the poppy, pumpkins, radishes, and turnips, to mention those only whose names are familiar to us all. It will be noticed, however, that the vegetables most highly prized by us, perhaps, the potato and tomato, were not known to the Romans. Of those mentioned the oldest seem to have been the bean and the onion, as shown by the names Fabius and Caepio already mentioned (--273), but the latter came gradually to be looked upon as unrefined and the former to be considered too heavy a food except for persons engaged in the hardest toil. Cato p.r.o.nounced the cabbage the finest vegetable known, and the turnip figures in the well-known anecdote of Manius Curius (--299).

--276. The Roman gardener gave great attention, too, to the raising of green stuffs that could be used for salads. Among these the sorts most often mentioned are the cress and lettuce, with which we are familiar, and the mallow, no longer used for food. Plants in great variety were cultivated for seasoning. The poppy was eaten with honey as a dessert, or was sprinkled over bread in the oven. Anise, c.u.min, fennel, mint, and mustard were raised everywhere. And besides these seasonings that were found in every kitchen garden, spices were imported in large quant.i.ties from the east, and the rich imported vegetables of larger sizes or finer quality than could be raised at home. Fresh vegetables like fresh fruits could not be brought in those days from great distances.

--277. Meats.--Besides the pork, beef, and mutton that we still use the Roman farmer had goatsflesh at his disposal, and all these meats were sold in the towns. Goatsflesh was considered the poorest of all, and was used by the lower cla.s.ses only. Beef had been eaten by the Romans from the earliest times, but its use was a mark of luxury until very late in the Empire. Under the Republic the ordinary citizen ate beef only on great occasions when he had offered a steer or cow to the G.o.ds in sacrifice. The flesh then furnished a banquet for his family and friends, the heart, liver, and lungs (called collectively the _exta_) were the share of the priest, and the rest was consumed on the altar.

Probably the great size of the carca.s.s had something to do with the rarity of its use at a time when meat could be kept fresh only in the coldest weather; at any rate we must think of the Romans as using the cow for dairy purposes and the ox for draft rather than for food.

--278. Pork was widely used by rich and poor alike, and was considered the choicest of all domestic meats. The very language testifies to the important place it occupied in the economy of the larder, for no other animal has so many words to describe it in its different functions.

Besides the general term _sus_ we find _porcus_, _porca_, _verres_, _aper_, _scrofa_, _maialis_, and _nefrens_. In the religious ceremony of the _suovetaurilia_ (_sus_ + _ovis_ + _taurus_) it will be noticed that the swine has the first place, coming before the sheep and the bull. The vocabulary describing the parts used for food is equally rich; there are words for no less than half a dozen kinds of sausages, for example, with pork as their basis. We read, too, of fifty different ways of cooking pork.

--279. Fowl and Game.--All the common domestic fowls, chickens, ducks, geese, and pigeons, were used by the Romans for food, and besides these the wealthy raised various sorts of wild fowl for the table, in the game preserves that have been mentioned (--145). Among these were cranes, grouse, partridges, snipe, thrushes, and woodc.o.c.k. In Cicero's time the peac.o.c.k was most highly esteemed, having at the feast much the same place of honor as the turkey has with us, but costing as much as $10 each. Wild animals were also bred for food in similar preserves, the hare and the wild boar being the favorites. The latter was served whole upon the table as in feudal times. As a contrast in size may be mentioned the dormouse (_glis_), which was thought a great delicacy.

--280. Fish.--The rivers of Italy and the surrounding seas must have furnished always a great variety of fish, but in early times fish was not much used as food by the Romans. By the end of the Republic, however, tastes had changed, and no article of food brought higher prices than the rarer sorts of fresh fish. Salt fish was exceedingly cheap and was imported in many forms from almost all the Mediterranean ports. One dish especially, _tyrotarichus_, made of salt fish, eggs, and cheese, and therefore something like our codfish b.a.l.l.s, is mentioned by Cicero in about the same way as we speak of hash. Fresh fish were all the more expensive because they could be transported only while alive. Hence the rich constructed fish ponds on their estates, a Marcus Licinius Cra.s.sus setting the example in 92 B.C., and both fresh-water and salt-water fish were raised for the table. The names of the favorite sorts mean little to us, but we find the mullet (_mullus_; see --251) and a kind of turbot (_rhombus_) bringing high prices, and oysters (_ostreae_) were as popular as they are now.

--281. Before pa.s.sing to the more important matters of bread, wine, and oil, it may be well to mention a few articles that are still in general use. The Romans used freely the products of the dairy, milk, cream, curds, whey, and cheese. They drank the milk of sheep and goats as well as that of cows, and made cheese of the three kinds of milk.

The cheese from ewes' milk was thought more digestible though less palatable than that made of cows' milk, while cheese from goats' milk was more palatable but less digestible. It is remarkable that they had no knowledge of b.u.t.ter except us a plaster for wounds. Honey took the place of sugar on the table and in cooking, for the Romans had only a botanical knowledge of the sugar cane. Salt was at first obtained by the evaporation of sea-water, but was afterwards mined. Its manufacture was a monopoly of the government, and care was taken always to keep the price low. It was used not only for seasoning, but also as a preservative agent. Vinegar was made from grape juice. In the list of articles of food unknown to the Romans we must put tea and coffee along with the orange, tomato, potato, b.u.t.ter, and sugar already mentioned.

--282. Cereals.--The word _frumentum_[2] was a general term applied to any of the many sorts of grain that were grown for food. Of those now in use barley, oats, rye, and wheat were known to the Romans, though rye was not cultivated and oats served only as feed for cattle. Barley was not much used, for it was thought to lack nutriment, and therefore to be unfit for laborers. In very ancient times another grain, spelt (_far_), had been grown extensively, but it had gradually gone out of use except for the sacrificial cake that had given its name to the confarreate ceremony of marriage (--82). In cla.s.sical times wheat was the staple grain grown for food, not differing much from that which we use to-day. It was usually planted in the fall, though on some soils it would mature as a spring wheat. After the farming land of Italy was diverted to other purposes (parks, pleasure grounds, game preserves: see ----145, 146), wheat had to be imported from the provinces, first from Sicily, then from Africa and Egypt, the home supply being inadequate to the needs of the teeming population.

[Footnote 2: The word _frumentum_ occurs fifty-five times in the "Gallic War," meaning any kind of grain that happened to be grown for food in the country in which Caesar was campaigning at the time. The word "corn" used to translate it in our school editions is the worst possible, because to the schoolboy the word "corn" means a particular kind of grain, and a kind at that which was unknown to the Romans. The general word "grain" is much better for translation purposes.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 107. POUNDING GRAIN]

--283. Preparation of the Grain.--In the earliest times the grain (_far_) had not been ground, but merely pounded in a mortar (Fig.

107). The meal was then mixed with water and made into a sort of porridge (_puls_, whence our word "poultice"), which long remained the national dish, something like the oatmeal of Scotland. Plautus (184 B.C.) jestingly refers to his countrymen as "pulse-eaters." The persons who crushed the grain were called _pinsitores_ or _pistores_, whence the cognomen Piso (--273) is said to be derived, and in later times the bakers were also called _pistores_, because they ground the grain as well as baked the bread. In the ruins of bakeries we find mills as regularly as ovens. See the ill.u.s.tration in --285.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 108. SECTION OF MILL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 109. A POMPEIAN MILL WITHOUT ITS FRAME-WORK]

--284. The grinding of the grain into regular flour was done in a mill (_mola_). This consisted of three parts, the lower millstone (_meta_), the upper (_catillus_), and the frame-work that surrounded and supported the latter and furnished the means to turn it upon the _meta_. All these parts are shown distinctly in the cut (Fig. 108; see also Rich, Harper, and Smith under _mola_; Guhl and Koner, p. 774; Schreiber LXVII; Baumeister, p. 933), and require little explanation.

The _meta_ was, as the name suggests, a cone-shaped stone (_A_) resting on a bed of masonry (_B_) with a raised rim, between which and the lower edge of the _meta_ the flour was collected. In the upper part of the _meta_ a beam (_C_) was mortised, ending above in an iron pin or pivot (_D_) on which hung and turned the frame-work that supported the _catillus_. The _catillus_ (_E_) itself was shaped something like an hourgla.s.s, or two funnels joined at the neck. The upper funnel served as a hopper into which the grain was poured; the lower funnel fitted closely over the _meta_, the distance between them being regulated by the length of the pin, mentioned above, according to the fineness of the flour desired. The mill without frame-work is shown in Fig. 109.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 110. HORSE AND MILL]

--285. The frame-work was very strong and ma.s.sive on account of the heavy weight that was suspended from it. The beams used for turning the mill were fitted into holes in the narrow part of the _catillus_ as shown in the cut. The power required to do the grinding was furnished by horses or mules attached to the beams (Fig. 110), or by slaves pushing against them. This last method was often used as a punishment, as we have seen (----170, 148). Of the same form but much smaller were the hand mills used by soldiers for grinding the _frumentum_ furnished them as rations. Under the Empire water mills were introduced, but they are hardly referred to in literature.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 111. BAKERY WITH MILLS]

--286. The transition from the ancient porridge (--283) to bread baked in the modern fashion must have been through the medium of thin cakes baked in or over the fire. We do not know when bread baked in ovens came into use. Bakers (--283) as representatives of a trade do not go back beyond 171 B.C., but long before this time, of course, the family bread had been made by the _mater familias_, or by a slave under her supervision. After public bakeries were once established it became less and less usual for bread to be made in private houses in the towns. Only the most pretentious of the city mansions had ovens attached, as shown by the ruins. In the country, on the other hand, the older custom was always retained (--148). Under Trajan (98-118) it became the custom to distribute bread to the people daily, instead of grain once a month, and the bakers were organized into a guild (_corpus_, _collegium_), and as a corporation enjoyed certain privileges and immunities. In Fig. 111 are shown the ruins of a Pompeian bakery with several mills in connection with it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 112. OVEN FOR BREAD]

--287. Breadmaking.--After the flour collected about the edge of the _meta_ (--284) had been sifted, water and salt were added and the dough was kneaded in a trough by hand or by a simple machine shown in the cut in Schreiber LXVII. Yeast was added as nowadays and the bread was baked in an oven much like those still found in parts of Europe. One preserved in the ruins of Pompeii is shown in the cut (Fig. 112): at _a_ is the oven proper, in which a fire was built, the draft being furnished by the openings at _d_. The surrounding chamber, _b_, is intended to retain the heat after the fire (usually of charcoal) had been raked out into the ashpit, _e_, and the vents closed. The letter _f_ marks a receptacle for water, which seems to have been used for moistening the bread while baking. After the oven had been heated to the proper temperature and the fire raked out, the loaves were put in, the vents closed, and the bread left to bake.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 113. SALESROOM OF BAKERY]

--288. There were several qualities of bread, varying with the sort of grain, the setting of the millstones (--284) and the fineness of the sieves (--287). The very best, made of pure wheat-flour, was called _panis siligneus_; that made of coa.r.s.e flour, of flour and bran, or of bran alone was called _panis plebeius_, _castrensis_, _sordidus_, _rusticus_, etc. The loaves were circular and rather flat--some have been found in the ruins of Pompeii--and had their surface marked off by lines drawn from the center into four or more parts. The wall painting (Fig. 113) of a salesroom of a bakery, also found in Pompeii, gives a good idea of the appearance of the bread. Various kinds of cakes and confections were also sold at these shops.

--289. The Olive.--Next in importance to the wheat came the olive. It was introduced into Italy from Greece, and from Italy has spread through all the Mediterranean countries; but in modern as well as in ancient times the best olives are those of Italy. The olive was an important article of food merely as a fruit, being eaten both fresh and preserved in various ways, but it found its significant place in the domestic economy of the Romans in the form of the olive oil with which we are familiar. It is the value of the oil that has caused the cultivation of the olive to become so general in southern Europe, and it is claimed that its use is constantly widening, extending especially northward, where wine and oil are said to be supplanting the native beer and b.u.t.ter. Many varieties were known to the Romans, requiring different climates and soils and adapted to different uses.

In general it may be said that the larger berries were better suited for eating than for oil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 114. PICKING OLIVES]

--290. The olive was eaten fresh as it ripened and was also preserved in various ways. The ripe olives were sprinkled with salt and left untouched for five days; the salt was then shaken off, and the olives dried in the sun. They were also preserved sweet without salt in boiled must (--296). Half ripe olives were picked (Fig. 114) with their stems and covered over in jars with the best quality of oil; in this way they are said to have retained for more than a year the flavor of the fresh fruit. Green olives were preserved whole in strong brine, the form in which we know them now, or were beaten into a ma.s.s and preserved with spices and vinegar. The preparation _epityrum_ was made by taking the fruit in any of the three stages, removing the stones, chopping up the pulp, seasoning it with vinegar, coriander seeds, c.u.min, fennel, and mint, and covering the mixture in jars with oil enough to exclude the air. The result was a salad that was eaten with cheese.

--291. Olive Oil.--The oil was used for several purposes. It was employed most anciently to anoint the body after bathing, especially by athletes; it was used as a vehicle for perfumes, the Romans knowing nothing of distillation by means of alcohol; it was burned in lamps (--228); it was an indispensable article of food. As a food it was employed as b.u.t.ter is now in cooking or as a relish or dressing in its natural state. The olive when subjected to pressure yields two fluids.

The first to flow (_amurca_) is dark and bitter, having the consistency of water. It was largely used as a fertilizer, but not as a food. The second, which flows after greater pressure, is the oil (_oleum_, _oleum olivum_). The best oil was made from olives not fully ripe, but the largest quant.i.ty was yielded by the ripened fruit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 115. OLIVE MILL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 116. VAULT FOR STORING OIL]

--292. The olives were picked from the tree (Fig. 114), those that fell of their own accord being thought inferior (--160), and were spread upon sloping platforms in order that a part of the _amurca_ might flow out by itself. Here the fruit remained until a slight fermentation took place. It was then subjected to the action of a machine (Fig.

115) that bruised and pressed it. The oil that flowed out was caught in a jar and from it ladled into a receptacle (_labrum fictile_), where it was allowed to settle, the _amurca_ and other impurities falling to the bottom. The oil was then skimmed off into another like receptacle and again allowed to settle, the process being repeated (as often as thirty times if necessary) until all impurities had been left behind. The best oil was made by subjecting the berries at first to a gentle pressure only. The bruised pulp was then taken out, separated from the stones or pits, and pressed a second or even a third time, the quality becoming poorer each time. The oil was kept in jars which were glazed on the inside with wax or gum to prevent absorption, the covers were carefully secured and the jars stored away in vaults (Fig.

116).

--293. Grapes.--Grapes were eaten fresh from the vines and were also dried in the sun and kept as raisins, but they owed their real importance in Italy as elsewhere to the wine made from them. The vine was not native to Italy, as until recently it was supposed to be, but was introduced, probably from Greece, long before history begins. The earliest name for Italy known to the Greeks was _Oenotria_, "the land of the vine-pole," and very ancient legends ascribe to Numa restrictions upon the use of wine. It is probable that up to the time of the Gracchi wine was rare and expensive. The quant.i.ty produced gradually increased as the cultivation of cereals declined (--146), but the quality long remained inferior, all the choice wines being imported from Greece and the east. By Cicero's time, however, attention was being given to viticulture and to the scientific making of wines, and by the time of Augustus vintages were produced that vied with the best brought in from abroad. Pliny, writing about the middle of the first century of our era, says that of the eighty really choice wines then known to the Romans two-thirds were produced in Italy, and Arrian of about the same time says that Italian wines were famous as far away as India.

--294. Viticulture.--Grapes could be grown almost anywhere in Italy, but the best wines were made south of Rome within the confines of Latium and Campania. The cities of Praeneste, Velitrae, and Formiae were famous for the wines grown on the sunny slopes of the Alban hills. A little farther south, near Terracina, was the _ager Caecubus_, where was produced the Caecuban wine, p.r.o.nounced by Augustus the n.o.blest of all. Then comes Mt. Ma.s.sicus with the _ager Falernus_ on its southern side, producing the Falernian wines, even more famous than the Caecuban. Upon and around Vesuvius, too, fine wines were grown, especially near Naples, Pompeii, c.u.mae, and Surrentum. Good wines but less noted than these were produced in the extreme south, near Beneventum, Aulon, and Tarentum. Of like quality were those grown east and north of Rome, near Spoletium, Caesena, Ravenna, Hadria, and Ancona. Those of the north and west, in Etruria and Gaul, were not so good.

--295. Vineyards.--The sunny side of a hill was the best place for a vineyard. The vines were supported by poles or trellises in the modern fashion, or were planted at the foot of trees up which they were allowed to climb. For this purpose the elm (_ulmus_) was preferred, because it flourished everywhere, could be closely trimmed without endangering its life, and had leaves that made good food for cattle when they were plucked off to admit the sunshine to the vines. Vergil speaks of "marrying the vine to the elm," and Horace calls the plane tree a bachelor (_plata.n.u.s coelebs_), because its dense foliage made it unfit for the vineyard. Before the gathering of the grapes the chief work lay in keeping the ground clear; it was spaded over once each month through the year. One man could properly care for about four acres.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 117. MAKING WINE]

--296. Wine Making.--The making of the wine took place usually in September, the season varying with the soil and the climate. It was antic.i.p.ated by a festival, the _vinalia rustica_, celebrated on the 19th of August. Precisely what the festival meant the Romans themselves did not fully understand, perhaps, but it was probably intended to secure a favorable season for the gathering of the grapes.

The general process of making the wine differed little from that familiar to us in Bible stories and still practiced in modern times.