OLIVE OIL: THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS PRODUCED, AND ITS VARIOUS QUALITIES

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Vetustas oleo taedium adfert, non item ut vino, plurimumque aetatis annuo est, provida, si libeat intellegere, natura, quippe temulentiae nascentibus vinis uti necesse non est, quin immo invitat ad servandum blanda inveterati caries: oleo noluit parci fecitque ea necessitate promiscuum et vulgo. principatum in hoc quoque bono obtinuit Italia e toto orbe, maxime agro Venafrano eiusque parte quae Licinianum fundit oleum, unde et Liciniae gloria praecipua olivae. unguenta hanc palmam dedere accommodate ipsis odore, dedit et palatum delicatiore sententia; de cetero bacas Liciniae nulla avis adpetit. relicum certamen inter Histriae terram et Baeticae par est. cetero fere vicina bonitas provinciis excepto Africae frugifero solo: Cereri id totum natura concessit, oleum ac vinum non invidit tantum satisque gloriae in messibus fecit. reliqua erroris plena, quem in nulla parte vitae numerosiorem esse docebimus.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

It is not with olive oil as it is with wine, for by age it acquires a bad flavour, and at the end of a year it is already old. This, if rightly understood, is a wise provision on the part of Nature: wine, which is only produced for the drunkard, she has seen no necessity for us to use when new; indeed, by the fine flavour which it acquires with age, she rather invites us to keep it; but, on the other hand, she has not willed that we should be thus sparing of oil, and so has rendered its use common and universal by the very necessity there is of using it while fresh.

In the production of this blessing as well, Italy holds the highest rank among all countries, and more particularly the territory of Venafrum, that part of it in especial which produces the Licinian oil; the qualities of which have conferred upon the Licinian olive the very highest renown. It is our unguents which have brought this oil into such great esteem, the peculiar odour of it adapting itself so well to the full development of their qualities; at the same time its delicate flavour equally enlists the palate in its behalf. In addition to this, birds will never touch the berry of the Licinian olive.

Next to Italy, the contest is maintained, and on very equal terms, between the territories of Istria and of Bætica. The next rank for excellence is claimed by the other provinces of our Empire, with the exception of Africa, the soil of which is better adapted for grain. That country Nature has given exclusively to the cereals; of oil and wine she has all but deprived it, securing it a sufficient share of renown by its abundant harvests. As to the remaining particulars connected with the olive, they are replete with erroneous notions, and I shall have occasion to show that there is no part of our agricultural economy upon which people have been more generally mistaken.