The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 3

In Ægypt and Mauritania above all things they look to this, that their Granaries stand on high ground; and how drie so ever their Floor be, they lay a course of Chaff betwixt it and the ground. Besides, they put up their Corn in Granaries and Binns together with the Ear. And Varro delivereth that Wheat laid up in that manner will last fifty years; Millet an hundred; and Beans so conserved in a Cave of Ambracia, were known to last an hundred and twenty years; that is, from the time of King Pyrrhus, unto the Pyratick War under the conduct of Pompey.

More strange it may seem how, after seven years, the Grains conserved should be fruitfull for a new production. For it is said that Joseph delivered Seed unto the Ægyptians, to sow their Land for the eighth year: and Corn after seven years is like to afford little or no production, according to Theophrastus;213 Ad Sementem semen anniculum optimum putatur, binum deterius et trinum; ultra sterile fermè est, quanquam ad usum cibarium idoneum.

Yet since, from former exemplifications, Corn may be made to last so long, the fructifying power may well be conceived to last in some good proportion, according to the region and place of its conservation, as the same Theophrastus hath observed, and left a notable example from Cappadocia, where Corn might be kept sixty years, and remain fertile at forty; according to his expression thus translated; In Cappadociæ loco quodam petra dicto, triticum ad quadraginta annos fœcundum est, at ad sementem percommodum durare proditum est, sexagenos aut septuagenos ad usum cibarium servari posse idoneum. The situation of that Conservatory, was, as he delivereth, ἱψηλὸν, εὔπνουν, εὔαυρον, high, airy and exposed to several favourable winds. And upon such consideration of winds and ventilation, some conceive the Ægyptian Granaries were made open, the Country being free from rain. Howsoever it was, that contrivance could not be without some hazard:214 for the great Mists and Dews of that Country might dispose the Corn unto corruption.

More plainly may they mistake, who from some analogy of name (as if Pyramid were derived from Πύρον, Triticum), conceive the Ægyptian Pyramids to have been built for Granaries; or look for any settled Monuments about the Desarts erected for that intention; since their Store-houses were made in the great Towns, according to Scripture expression,215 He gathered up all the Food of seven years, which was in the Land of Ægypt, and laid up the Food in the Cities: the Food of the Field which was round about every City, laid he up in the same.

Olive Tree in Rom. 11. 24.

32. For if thou wert cut out of the Olive Tree, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, into a good Olive Tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural Branches, be grafted into their own Olive Tree? In which place, how answerable to the Doctrine of Husbandry this expression of S. Paul is, you will readily apprehend who understand the rules of insition or grafting, and that way of vegetable propagation; wherein that is contrary to nature, or natural rules which Art observeth: viz. to make use of a Cyons more ignoble than the Stock, or to graft wild upon domestick and good Plants, according as Theophrastus216 hath anciently observed, and, making instance in the Olive, hath left this Doctrine unto us; Urbanum Sylvestribus ut satis Oleastris inserere. Nam si è contrario Sylvestrem in Urbanos severis, etsi differentia quædam erit, tamen217 bonæ frugis Arbor nunquam profecto reddetur: which is also agreeable unto our present practice, who graft Pears on Thorns, and Apples upon Crabb Stocks, not using the contrary insition. And when it is said, How much more shall these, which are the natural Branches, be grafted into their own natural Olive Tree? this is also agreeable unto the rule of the same Author; Ἔστι δὲ βελτίων ἐγκεντρισμὸς, ὁμοίων εἰς ὅμοια, Insitio melior est similium in similibus: For the nearer consanguinity there is between the Cyons and the Stock, the readier comprehension is made, and the nobler fructification. According also unto the later caution of Laurenbergius;218 Arbores domesticæ insitioni destinatæ, semper anteponendæ Sylvestribus. And though the success be good, and may suffice upon Stocks of the same denomination; yet, to be grafted upon their own and Mother Stock, is the nearest insition: which way, though less practised of old, is now much imbraced, and found a notable way for melioration of the Fruit; and much the rather, if the Tree to be grafted on be a good and generous Plant, a good and fair Olive, as the Apostle seems to imply by a peculiar word219 scarce to be found elsewhere.

It must be also considered, that the Oleaster, or wild Olive, by cutting, transplanting and the best managery of Art, can be made but to produce such Olives as (Theophrastus saith) were particularly named Phaulia, that is, but bad Olives; and that it was reckon’d among Prodigies, for the Oleaster to become an Olive Tree.

And when insition and grafting, in the Text, is applied unto the Olive Tree, it hath an Emphatical sense, very agreeable unto that Tree which is best propagated this way; not at all by surculation, as Theophrastus observeth, nor well by Seed, as hath been observed. Omne semen simile genus perficit, præter oleam, Oleastrum enim generat, hoc est sylvestrem oleam, et non oleam veram.

"If, therefore, thou Roman and Gentile Branch, which wert cut from the wild Olive, art now, by the signal mercy of God, beyond the ordinary and commonly expected way, grafted into the true Olive, the Church of God; if thou, which neither naturally nor by humane art canst be made to produce any good Fruit, and, next to a Miracle, to be made a true Olive, art now by the benignity of God grafted into the proper Olive; how much more shall the Jew, and natural Branch, be grafted into its genuine and mother Tree, wherein propinquity of nature is like, so readily and prosperously, to effect a coalition? And this more especially by the expressed way of insition or implantation, the Olive being not successfully propagable by Seed, nor at all by surculation."

Stork nesting on Firre Trees in Psal. 104. 17.

33. As for the Stork, the Firre Trees are her House. This expression, in our Translation, which keeps close to the Original Chasidah, is somewhat different from the Greek and Latin Translation; nor agreeable unto common observation, whereby they are known commonly to build upon Chimneys, or the tops of Houses, and high Buildings, which notwithstanding, the common Translation may clearly consist with observation, if we consider that this is commonly affirmed of the black Stork, and take notice of the description of Ornithologus in Aldrovandus, that such Storks are often found in divers parts, and that they do in Arboribus nidulari, præsertim in abietibus; Make their Nests on Trees, especially upon Firre Trees. Nor wholly disagreeing unto the practice of the common white Stork, according unto Varro, nidulantur in agris: and the concession of Aldrovandus that sometimes they build on Trees: and the assertion of Bellonius,220 that men dress them Nests, and place Cradles upon high Trees, in Marish regions, that Storks may breed upon them: which course some observe for Herns and Cormorants with us. And this building of Storks upon Trees, may be also answerable unto the original and natural way of building of Storks before the political habitations of men, and the raising of Houses and high Buildings; before they were invited by such conveniences and prepared Nests, to relinquish their natural places of nidulation. I say, before or where such advantages are not ready; when Swallows found other places than Chimneys, and Daws found other places than holes in high Fabricks to build in.

Balm, in Gen. 43. 11.

34. And, therefore, Israel said carry down the man a present, a little Balm, a little Honey, and Myrrhe, Nuts and Almonds. Now whether this, which Jacob sent, were the proper Balsam extolled by humane Writers, you cannot but make some doubt, who find the Greek Translation to be Ῥητίνη, that is, Resina, and so may have some suspicion that it might be some pure distillation from the Turpentine Tree, which grows prosperously and plentifully in Judæa, and seems so understood by the Arabick; and was indeed esteemed by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, the chiefest of resinous Bodies, and the word Resina Emphatically used for it.

That the Balsam Plant hath grown and prospered in Judæa we believe without dispute. For the same is attested by Theophrastus, Pliny, Justinus, and many more; from the commendation that Galen affordeth of the Balsam of Syria, and the story of Cleopatra, that she obtain’d some Plants of Balsam from Herod the Great to transplant into Ægypt. But whether it was so anciently in Judæa as the time of Jacob; nay, whether this Plant was here before the time of Solomon, that great collectour of Vegetable rarities, some doubt may be made from the account of Josephus, that the Queen of Sheba, a part of Arabia, among presents unto Solomon, brought some Plants of the Balsam Tree, as one of the peculiar estimables of her Country.

Whether this ever had its natural growth, or were an original native Plant of Judæa, 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 Judæa. 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 Judæa, and though purposely cultivated, are often lost in Judæa, but everlastingly live, and naturally renew in Arabia; They probably concluded, that those of Judæa were foreign and transplanted from these parts.

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 Judæa 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 Judæa, and still plentifully prospers in Arabia, that which now comes in pretious parcels to us, and still is called the Balsam of Judæa, may now surrender its name, and more properly be called the Balsam of Arabia.

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 Ægypt, 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 anticipate the growth of Wheat.

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 Ægypt, and fairly proved to have been also used in Judæa, 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 Manasses 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 Ægyptians, 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, Maturè seritur Triticum, 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 illustrated from the neighbour Country of Canaan. For the Israelites kept the Passover in Gilgal in the fourteenth day of the first Month, answering unto part of our March, having newly passed Jordan: And the Spies which were sent from Shittim 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 Ægypt, 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 Ægypt were acted in one Month, others but in the compass 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 Ægypt. 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 anticipating the Wheat, either in time of sowing or growing, might be in Ear in February.

The account of Pliny224 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 anticipating 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.

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 Ægyptians 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, pass over the translation of Rye, which the Original nameth Cassumeth, 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, Ægypt 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 Ægypt.

Sheaves of Grass, in Psal. 12. 6, 7.

36. Let them become as the Grass 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 Feriæ, or Festivals, among others sets down, that upon such days, it was not lawfull to carry or bind up Hay, nec fœnum vincire nec vehere, per religiones Ponteficum licet.

Marcus Varro 226 is more particular; Primum de pratis herbarum cum crescere desiit, subsecari falcibus debet, et quoad peracescat furcillis versari, cum peracuit, de his manipulos fieri et vehi in villam.

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 quæ fœnisecæ præterierunt, aut ea secare quæ fœnisecæ præterierunt.

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 space of a year. For so the expression will Emphatically imply, not onely the smart burning, but the lasting fire of their malice.

That passage 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 assertion 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.

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.

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 noble 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 Judæa, 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 quantity 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 Quinqueranus. 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.

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 Judæa, 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 said229 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 said230 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,