The Works of Sir Thomas Browne Volume III Part 22

Whether this ever had its natural growth, or were an original native Plant of _Judaea_, much more that it was peculiar unto that Country, a greater doubt may arise: while we reade in _Pausanias_, _Strabo_ and _Diodorus,_ that it grows also in _Arabia_, and find in _Theophrastus_,[221] that it grew in two Gardens about _Jericho_ in _Judaea_. And more especially whiles we seriously consider that notable discourse between _Abdella_, _Abdachim_ and _Alpinus_, concluding the natural and original place of this singular Plant to be in _Arabia_, about _Mecha_ and _Medina_, where it still plentifully groweth, and Mountains abound therein. From whence it hath been carefully transplanted by the _Basha's_ of _Grand Cairo_, into the Garden of _Matarea_; where, when it dies, it is repaired again from those parts of _Arabia_, from whence the _Grand Signior_ yearly receiveth a present of Balsam from the _Xeriff_ of _Mecha_, still called by the Arabians _Balessan_; whence they believe arose the Greek appellation _Balsam_.

And since these Balsam-plants are not now to be found in _Judaea_, and though purposely cultivated, are often lost in _Judaea_, but everlastingly live, and naturally renew in _Arabia_; They probably concluded, that those of _Judaea_ were foreign and transplanted from these parts.

[221] Theophrast. _l. 9. c. 6_.

All which notwithstanding, since the same Plant may grow naturally and spontaneously in several Countries, and either from inward or outward causes be lost in one Region, while it continueth and subsisteth in another, the Balsam Tree might possibly be a native of _Judaea_ as well as of _Arabia_; which because _de facto_ it cannot be clearly made out, the ancient expressions of Scripture become doubtfull in this point. But since this Plant hath not, for a long time, grown in _Judaea_, and still plentifully prospers in _Arabia_, that which now comes in pretious parcels to us, and still is called the Balsam of _Judaea_, may now surrender its name, and more properly be called the Balsam of _Arabia_.

[Sidenote: _Barley Flax, &c. in_ Exod. 9. 31.]

35. _And the Flax and the Barley was smitten; for the Barley was in the Ear, and the Flax was bolled, but the Wheat and the Rye was not smitten, for they were not grown up._[222] How the Barley and the Flax should be smitten in the plague of Hail in _aegypt_, and the Wheat and Rye escape, because they were not yet grown up, may seem strange unto English observers, who call Barley Summer Corn sown so many months after Wheat, and, beside _hordeum Polystichon_, or big Barley, sowe not Barley in the Winter, to antic.i.p.ate the growth of Wheat.

[222] Linum folliculos germinavit, spe?at???? _Septuag._ Serotina, _Lat._ ???a, _Gr._

And the same may also seem a preposterous expression unto all who do not consider the various Agriculture, and different Husbandry of Nations, and such as was practised in _aegypt_, and fairly proved to have been also used in _Judaea_, wherein their Barley Harvest was before that of Wheat; as is confirmable from that expression in _Ruth_, that she _came into Bethlehem at the beginning of Barley Harvest_, and staid unto the end of Wheat Harvest; from the death of _Mana.s.ses_ the Father of _Judith_, Emphatically expressed to have happened in the Wheat Harvest, and more advanced heat of the Sun; and from the custom of the Jews, to offer the Barley Sheaf of the first fruits in _March_, and a Cake of Wheat Flower but at the end of _Pentecost_. Consonant unto the practice of the aegyptians, who (as _Theophrastus_ delivereth) sowed their Barley early in reference to their first Fruits; and also the common rural practice, recorded by the same Authour, _Mature seritur Tritic.u.m, Hordeum, quod etiam maturius seritur; Wheat and Barley are sowed early, but Barley earlier of the two_.

Flax was also an early Plant, as may be ill.u.s.trated from the neighbour Country of _Canaan_. For the Israelites kept the Pa.s.sover in _Gilgal_ in the fourteenth day of the first Month, answering unto part of our _March_, having newly pa.s.sed _Jordan_: And the Spies which were sent from _s.h.i.ttim_ unto _Jericho_, not many days before, were hid by _Rahab_ under the stalks of Flax, which lay drying on the top of her House; which sheweth that the Flax was already and newly gathered. For this was the first preparation of Flax, and before fluviation or rotting, which, after _Pliny's_ account, was after Wheat Harvest.

_But the Wheat and the Rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up._ The Original signifies that it was _hidden_, or _dark_, the Vulgar and Septuagint that it was _serotinous_ or _late_, and our old Translation that it was _late sown_. And so the expression and interposition of _Moses_, who well understood the Husbandry of _aegypt_, might Emphatically declare the state of Wheat and Rye in that particular year; and if so, the same is solvable from the time of the floud of _Nilus_, and the measure of its inundation. For if it were very high, and over-drenching the ground, they were forced to later Seed-time; and so the Wheat and the Rye escaped; for they were more slowly growing Grains, and, by reason of the greater inundation of the River, were sown later than ordinary that year, especially in the Plains near the River, where the ground drieth latest.

Some think the plagues of _aegypt_ were acted in one Month, others but in the compa.s.s of twelve. In the delivery of Scripture there is no account, of what time of the year or particular Month they fell out; but the account of these grains, which were either smitten or escaped, make the plague of Hail to have probably hapned in _February_: This may be collected from the new and old account of the Seed time and Harvest in _aegypt_. For, according to the account of _Radzevil_,[223] the river rising in _June_, and the Banks being cut in _September_, they sow about S. _Andrews_, when the Floud is retired, and the moderate driness of the ground permitteth. So that the Barley antic.i.p.ating the Wheat, either in time of sowing or growing, might be in Ear in _February_.

[223] Radzevil's _Travels_.

The account of _Pliny_[224] is little different. They cast the Seed upon the Slime and Mudd when the River is down, which commonly happeneth in the beginning of _November_. They begin to reap and cut down a little before the Calends of _April_, about the middle of _March_, and in the Month of _May_ their Harvest is in. So that Barley antic.i.p.ating Wheat, it might be in Ear in _February_, and Wheat not yet grown up, at least to the Spindle or Ear, to be destroyed by the Hail. For they cut down about the middle of _March_, at least their forward Corns, and in the Month of _May_ all sorts of Corns were in.

[224] Plin. _lib. 18. cap. 18_.

The _turning of the River into Bloud_ shews in what Month this happened not. That is, not when the River had overflown; for it is said, _the aegyptians digged round about the River for Water to drink_, which they could not have done, if the River had been out, and the Fields under Water.

In the same Text you cannot, without some hesitation, pa.s.s over the translation of Rye, which the Original nameth _Ca.s.sumeth_, the Greek rendreth _Olyra_, the French and Dutch _Spelta_, the Latin _Zea_, and not _Secale_ the known word for Rye. But this common Rye so well understood at present, was not distinctly described, or not well known from early Antiquity. And therefore, in this uncertainty, some have thought it to have been the _Typha_ of the Ancients. _Cordus_ will have it to be _Olyra_, and _Ruellius_ some kind of _Oryza_. But having no vulgar and well known name for those Grains, we warily embrace an appellation of near affinity, and tolerably render it _Rye_.

While Flax, Barley, Wheat and Rye are named, some may wonder why no mention is made of Ryce, wherewith, at present, _aegypt_ so much aboundeth. But whether that Plant grew so early in that Country, some doubt may be made: for Ryce is originally a Grain of _India_, and might not then be transplanted into _aegypt_.

[Sidenote: _Sheaves of Gra.s.s, in_ Psal. 12. 6, 7.]

36. _Let them become as the Gra.s.s growing upon the House top, which withereth before it be plucked up, whereof the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth Sheaves his bosome._ Though the _filling of the hand_, and mention of _Sheaves of Hay_, may seem strange unto us, who use neither handfulls nor Sheaves in that kind of Husbandry, yet may it be properly taken, and you are not like to doubt thereof, who may find the like expressions in the Authours _de Re rustica_, concerning the old way of this Husbandry.

_Columella_,[225] delivering what Works were not to be permitted upon the Roman _Feriae_, or Festivals, among others sets down, that upon such days, it was not lawfull to carry or bind up Hay, _nec fnum vincire nec vehere, per religiones Pontefic.u.m licet_.

[225] Columella _lib. 2 cap. 22_.

_Marcus Varro_[226] is more particular; _Primum de pratis herbarum c.u.m crescere desiit, subsecari falcibus debet, et quoad peracescat furcillis versari, c.u.m peracuit, de his manipulos fieri et vehi in villam_.

[226] Varro _lib. 1. cap. 49_.

And their course of mowing seems somewhat different from ours. For they cut not down clear at once, but used an after section, which they peculiarly called _Sicilitium_, according as the word is expounded by _Georgius Alexandrinus_, and _Beroaldus_ after _Pliny_; _Sicilire est falcibus consectari quae fnisecae praeterierunt, aut ea secare quae fnisecae praeterierunt_.

[Sidenote: _Juniper Tree, in_ 1 King. 19. 5, etc.]

37. When 'tis said that _Elias_ lay and slept under a Juniper Tree, some may wonder how that Tree, which in our parts groweth but low and shrubby, should afford him shade and covering. But others know that there is a lesser and a larger kind of that Vegetable; that it makes a Tree in its proper soil and region. And may find in _Pliny_ that in the Temple of _Diana Saguntina_ in _Spain_, the Rafters were made of Juniper.

In that expression of _David_,[227] _Sharp Arrows of the mighty, with Coals of Juniper_; Though Juniper be left out in the last Translation, yet may there be an Emphatical sense from that word; since Juniper abounds with a piercing Oil, and makes a smart Fire. And the rather, if that quality be half true, which _Pliny_ affirmeth, that the Coals of Juniper raked up will keep a glowing Fire for the s.p.a.ce of a year. For so the expression will Emphatically imply, not onely the _smart burning, but the lasting fire of their malice_.

[227] Psal. 120. 4.

That pa.s.sage of _Job_,[228] wherein he complains that poor and half famished fellows despised him, is of greater difficulty; _For want and famine they were solitary, they cut up Mallows by the Bushes, and Juniper roots for meat_. Wherein we might at first doubt the Translation, not onely from the Greek Text but the a.s.sertion of _Dioscorides_, who affirmeth that the roots of Juniper are of a venomous quality. But _Scaliger_ hath disproved the same from the practice of the African Physicians, who use the decoction of Juniper roots against the Venereal Disease. The Chaldee reads it _Genista_, or some kind of Broom, which will be also unusual and hard Diet, except thereby we understand the _Orobanche_, or Broom Rape, which groweth from the roots of Broom; and which, according to _Dioscorides_, men used to eat raw or boiled in the manner of _Asparagus_.

[228] Job 30. 3, 4.

And, therefore, this expression doth highly declare the misery, poverty and extremity of the persons who were now mockers of him; they being so contemptible and necessitous, that they were fain to be content, not with a mean Diet, but such as was no Diet at all, the roots of Trees, the roots of Juniper, which none would make use of for Food, but in the lowest necessity, and some degree of famishing.

[Sidenote: _Scarlet Tincture, in_ Gen. 38. 28. Exod. 25. 4, etc.]

38. While some have disputed whether _Theophrastus_ knew the Scarlet Berry, others may doubt whether that n.o.ble tincture were known unto the Hebrews, which notwithstanding seems clear from the early and iterated expressions of Scripture concerning the Scarlet Tincture, and is the less to be doubted because the Scarlet Berry grew plentifully in the Land of _Canaan_, and so they were furnished with the Materials of that Colour. For though _Dioscorides_ saith it groweth in _Armenia_ and _Cappadocia_, yet that it also grew in _Judaea_, seems more than probable from the account of _Bellonius_, who observed it to be so plentifull in that Country, that it afforded a profitable Commodity, and great quant.i.ty thereof was transported by the Venetian Merchants.

How this should be fitly expressed by the word _Tolagnoth_, _Vermis_, or _Worm_, may be made out from _Pliny_, who calls it _Coccus Scolecius_, or the _Wormy Berry_; as also from the name of that Colour called _Vermilion_, or the _Worm Colour_; and which is also answerable unto the true nature of it. For this is no proper Berry containing the fructifying part, but a kind of Vessicular excrescence, adhering commonly to the Leaf of the _Ilex Coccigera_, or dwarf and small kind of Oak, whose Leaves are always green, and its proper seminal parts Acrons. This little Bagg containeth a red Pulp, which, if not timely gathered, or left to it self, produceth small red Flies, and partly a red powder, both serviceable unto the tincture. And therefore, to prevent the generation of Flies, when it is first gathered, they sprinkle it over with Vinegar, especially such as make use of the fresh Pulp for the confection of _Alkermes_; which still retaineth the Arabick name, from the _Kermesberry_; which is agreeable unto the description of _Bellonius_ and _Quinquera.n.u.s_. And the same we have beheld in _Provence_ and _Languedock_, where it is plentifully gathered, and called _Manna Rusticorum_, from the considerable profit which the Peasants make by gathering of it.

[Sidenote: _Oaks, in_ Gen. 35. 4, 8. Josh. 24. 26. Isa. 1. 29. Ezek. 27.

6. Hosea. 4. 13, etc.]

39. Mention is made of Oaks in divers parts of Scripture, which though the Latin sometimes renders a Turpentine Tree, yet surely some kind of Oak may be understood thereby; but whether our common Oak as is commonly apprehended, you may well doubt; for the common Oak, which prospereth so well with us, delighteth not in hot regions. And that diligent Botanist _Bellonius_, who took such particular notice of the Plants of _Syria_ and _Judaea_, observed not the vulgar Oak in those parts. But he found the _Ilex_, _Chesne Vert_, or Ever-green Oak, in many places; as also that kind of Oak which is properly named _Esculus_: and he makes mention thereof in places about _Jerusalem_, and in his Journey from thence unto _Damascus_, where he found _Montes Ilice, et Esculo virentes_; which, in his Discourse of _Lemnos_, he saith are always green. And therefore when it is said[229] of _Absalom_, that his _Mule went under the thick Boughs of a great Oak, and his Head caught hold of the Oak, and he was taken up between the Heaven and the Earth_, that Oak might be some _Ilex_, or rather _Esculus_. For that is a thick and bushy kind, in _Orbem comosa_, as _Dale-champius_; _ramis in orbem dispositis comans_, as _Renealmus_ describeth it. And when it is said[230] that _Ezechias broke down the Images, and cut down the Groves_, they might much consist of Oaks, which were sacred unto Pagan Deities, as this more particularly, according to that of _Virgil_,

_Nemorumque Jovi quae maxima frondet Esculus._

And, in _Judaea_, 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_.

[229] 2 Sam. 18. 9, 14.

[230] 2 King. 18. 4.

They which know the _Ilex_, or Ever-green Oak, with somewhat p.r.i.c.kled leaves, named ??????, will better understand the irreconcileable answer of the two Elders, when the one accused _Susanna_ of incontinency under a ??????, or Ever-green Oak, the other under a S?????, _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,

_Flavaque de viridi stillabant Ilice mella._

[Sidenote: _Cedars of_ Liba.n.u.s.]

40. When we often meet with the Cedars of _Liba.n.u.s_, that expression may be used not onely because they grew in a known and neighbour Country, but also because they were of the n.o.blest and largest kind of that Vegetable, and we find the Phnician Cedar magnified by the Ancients.

The Cedar of _Liba.n.u.s_ is a _coniferous_ Tree, bearing _Cones_ or Cloggs; (not Berries) of such a vastness, that _Melchior Lussy_, a great Traveller, found one upon _Liba.n.u.s_ as big as seven men could compa.s.s.

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 _Liba.n.u.s_, 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 compa.s.s, in _Liba.n.u.s_.

[231] _A journey to_ Jerusalem, 1672.

[Sidenote: _Uncirc.u.mcised Fruit, in_ Levit. 19. 23.]

_Quando ingressi fueritis terram, et Plantaveritis in illa ligna Pomifera, auferetis praeputia eorum. Poma quae 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 praeputia_ 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 a.n.a.logy 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 l.u.s.ty 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.