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The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

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192 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS.<br />

Fools !<br />

JN^i/Trioi, oi6 icraatv oc;,i 7;\ioii iljiiav vavTOi,<br />

OiS' Saov iv fia\d^r;TC Kat aa(puii\w jiCy Svciap.— Op. cl DlCS, 41.<br />

not to know how much more the half is than the whole, <strong>and</strong> how much<br />

benefit there is in mallows <strong>and</strong> asphodel.<br />

A dish <strong>of</strong> these vegetables was probably the cheapest <strong>of</strong> all<br />

kinds <strong>of</strong> food ; they grew wild in the meadow <strong>and</strong> by the way-<br />

side, <strong>and</strong> were gathered <strong>and</strong> dressed without any labor or<br />

trouble.<br />

Various authors however mention the cultivation <strong>of</strong> the Common<br />

Mallow in gardens. See Virgil, Morctmii, 73. Pliny,<br />

Hist. Nat. 1. xix. c. 22 <strong>and</strong> 31. Isidori Orig. 1. xvii. c. 10.<br />

Papiee Vocabular. v. Malva. Geoponica, xii. 1. Palladuis, iii.<br />

24. xi. U.<br />

Dioscorides [1. ii. c. III.) calls it the Garden Mallow. Aris-<br />

tophanes (Phitus 544.) mentions eating the shoots <strong>of</strong> mallows<br />

instead <strong>of</strong> bread, intending by this to represent a vile <strong>and</strong> des-<br />

titute kind <strong>of</strong> living. Plutarch {Septem Sajnentmn Con-<br />

viviuni) says, " <strong>The</strong> mallow is good for food, <strong>and</strong> the Anther-<br />

icus is sweet." According to Le Clerc 6 dvdtpiKOi [Anthericus)<br />

means the scapus <strong>of</strong> the asphodel : if he is right, this plant was<br />

eaten as we now eat asparagus. It is also remarkable that on<br />

this supposition Plutarch mentions the same two plants, which<br />

are also mentioned together by Hesiod.<br />

According to <strong>The</strong>ophrastus [Hist. Plant, vii. 7.2.) the mal-<br />

low was not eaten raw, as in a salad, but required to be cooked.<br />

Cicero {Epist. ad Fam. vii. 26.) mentions the highly-seasoned<br />

vegetables at a dinner given by his friend Lentulus. Having<br />

been made ill by them, he says, that he, " who easily abstain-<br />

ed from oysters <strong>and</strong> lampreys, had been deceived by beet <strong>and</strong><br />

mallows." Probaljly the leaves <strong>of</strong> the mallow were on this occasion<br />

boiled, chopped, <strong>and</strong> seasoned, much in the same way<br />

as spinach is now prepared in France.<br />

Moschus in the following well-known lines refers to the <strong>com</strong>mon<br />

mallow together \vith <strong>other</strong> culinary vegetables<br />

A?, a\, ToX naXa^ai fiti', tTuv Kara KaTiov iAcoirai,<br />

'H^e ra ^'Kuipa ui\iva, t6 t cvOaXis ovXov avrtdov,<br />

"Yarcpov av ^ojovTi, ko'l c!s Uto; I'iXXo ipvovTi.<br />

Mallows, alas ! die down, <strong>and</strong> parsley, <strong>and</strong> flourishing fennel ;<br />

<strong>The</strong>n they spring up afresh, <strong>and</strong> live next year in the garden.<br />

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