The Works of Sir Thomas Browne Volume III Part 23

[Sidenote: _Part.i.tion of Plants into Herb and Tree, in_ Gen. 1. 11.]

41. While you reade in _Theophrastus_, or modern Herbalists, a strict division of Plants, into _Arbor_, _Frutex_, _Suffrutex et Herba_, you cannot but take notice of the Scriptural division at the Creation, into _Tree_ and _Herb_: and this may seem too narrow to comprehend the Cla.s.sis of Vegetables; which, notwithstanding, may be sufficient, and a plain and intelligible division thereof. And therefore in this difficulty concerning the division of Plants, the learned Botanist, _Caesalpinus_, thus concludeth. _Clarius agemus si altera divisione neglecta, duo tantum Plantarum genera subst.i.tuamus, Arborem scilicet, et Herbam, conjungentes c.u.m Arboribus Frutices, et c.u.m Herba Suffrutices_; _Frutices_ being the lesser Trees, and _Suffrutices_ the larger, harder and more solid Herbs.

And this division into Herb and Tree, may also suffice, if we take in that natural ground of the division of perfect Plants, and such as grow from Seeds. For Plants, in their first production, do send forth two Leaves adjoining to the Seed; and then afterwards, do either produce two other Leaves, and so successively before any Stalk; and such go under the name of ??a, ??t???, or _Herb_; or else, after the first Leaves succeeding to the Seed Leaves, they send forth a Stalk, or rudiment of a Stalk before any other Leaves, and such fall under the Cla.s.sis of ???d???, or _Tree_. So that, in this natural division, there are but two grand differences, that is, _Tree_ and _Herb_. The _Frutex_ and _Suffrutex_ have the way of production from the Seed, and in other respects the _Suffrutices_, or _Cremia_, have a middle and partic.i.p.ating nature, and referable unto Herbs.

[Sidenote: _The Bay Tree, in_ Psal. 37. 35]

42. _I have seen the unG.o.dly in great power, and flouris.h.i.+ng like a green Bay Tree._ Both Scripture and humane Writers draw frequent ill.u.s.trations from Plants. _Scribonius Largus_ ill.u.s.trates the old Cymbals from the _Cotyledon Pal.u.s.tris_, or _Umbelicus Veneris_. Who would expect to find _Aaron's_ Mitre in any Plant? yet _Josephus_ hath taken some pains to make out the same in the seminal knop of _Hyoscyamus_, or Henbane. The Scripture compares the Figure of Manna unto the Seed of Coriander. In _Jeremy_[232] we find the expression, _Streight as a Palm Tree_: And here the wicked in their flouris.h.i.+ng state are likened unto a Bay Tree. Which, sufficiently answering the sense of the Text, we are unwilling to exclude that n.o.ble Plant from the honour of having its name in Scripture. Yet we cannot but observe, that the Septuagint renders it _Cedars_, and the Vulgar accordingly, _Vidi impium superexaltatum, et elevatum sicut Cedros Libani_; and the Translation of _Tremelius_ mentions neither Bay nor Cedar; _Sese explicantem tanquam Arbor indigena virens_; which seems to have been followed by the last Low Dutch Translation. A private Translation renders it like _a green self-growing[233] Laurel_, The High Dutch of _Luther's_ Bible, retains the word _Laurel_; and so doth the old Saxon and Island Translation; so also the French, Spanish; and Italian of _Diodati_: yet his Notes acknowledge that some think it rather a Cedar, and others any large Tree in a prospering and natural Soil.

[232] Jer. 10. 5.

[233] Ainsworth.

But however these Translations differ, the sense is allowable and obvious unto apprehension: when no particular Plant is named, any proper to the sense may be supposed; where either Cedar or Laurel is mentioned, if the preceding words [_exalted and elevated_] be used, they are more appliable unto the Cedar; where the word [_flouris.h.i.+ng_] is used, it is more agreeable unto the Laurel, which, in its prosperity, abounds with pleasant flowers, whereas those of the Cedar are very little, and scarce perceptible, answerable to the Firre, Pine and other coniferous Trees.

[Sidenote: _The Figg Tree, in_ S. Mark. 11. 13, etc.]

43. _And in the morning, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry; and seeing a Figg Tree afar off having Leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon; and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves: for the time of Figgs was not yet._ Singular conceptions have pa.s.sed from learned men to make out this pa.s.sage of S.

_Mark_, which S. _Matthew_[234] so plainly delivereth; most men doubting why our Saviour should curse the Tree for bearing no Fruit, when the time of Fruit was not yet come; or why it is said that _the time of Figgs was not yet_, when, notwithstanding, Figgs might be found at that season.

[234] Matt. 21. 19.

_Heinsius_,[235] who thinks that _Elias_ must salve the doubt, according to the received Reading of the Text, undertaketh to vary the same, reading ?? ??? ??, ?a???? s????, that is, _for where he was, it was the season or time of Figgs_.

[235] Heinsius _in_ Nonnum.

A learned Interpreter[236] of our own, without alteration of accents or words, endeavours to salve all, by another interpretation of the same, ?? ??? ?a???? s????, _For it was not a good or seasonable year for Figgs_.

[236] D. Hammond.

But, because men part not easily with old beliefs, or the received construction of words, we shall briefly set down what may be alledged for it.

And, first, for the better comprehension of all deductions hereupon, we may consider the several differences and distinctions both of Figg Trees and their Fruits. _Suidas_ upon the word ?sch?s makes four divisions of Figgs, ???????, F????, S???? and ?sch?s. But because F???? makes no considerable distinction, learned men do chiefly insist upon the three others; that is, ???????, or _Grossus_, which are the b.u.t.tons, or small sort of Figgs, either not ripe, or not ordinarily proceeding to ripeness, but fall away at least in the greatest part, and especially in sharp Winters; which are also named S???de?, and distinguished from the Fruit of the wild Figg, or _Caprificus_, which is named ????e??, and never cometh unto ripeness. The second is called S????, or _Ficus_, which commonly proceedeth unto ripeness in its due season. A third the ripe Figg dried, which maketh the ?s??de?, or _Carrier_.

Of Figg Trees there are also many divisions; For some are _prodromi_, or precocious, which bear Fruit very early, whether they bear once, or oftner in the year; some are _protericae_, which are the most early of the precocious Trees, and bear soonest of any; some are _aestivae_, which bear in the common season of the Summer, and some _serotinae_ which bear very late.

Some are _biferous_ and _triferous_, which bear twice or thrice in the year, and some are of the ordinary standing course, which make up the expected season of Figgs.

Again some Figg Trees, either in their proper kind, or fertility in some single ones, do bear Fruit or rudiments of Fruit all the year long; as is annually observable in some kind of Figg Trees in hot and proper regions; and may also be observed in some Figg Trees of more temperate Countries, in years of no great disadvantage, wherein, when the Summer-ripe Figg is past, others begin to appear, and so, standing in b.u.t.tons all the Winter, do either fall away before the Spring, or else proceed to ripeness.

Now, according to these distinctions, we may measure the intent of the Text, and endeavour to make out the expression. For, considering the diversity of these Trees, and their several fructifications, probable or possible it is, that some thereof were implied, and may literally afford a solution.

And first, though it was not the season for Figgs, yet some Fruit might have been expected, even in ordinary bearing Trees. For the _Grossi_ or b.u.t.tons appear before the Leaves, especially before the Leaves are well grown. Some might have stood during the Winter, and by this time been of some growth: Though many fall off, yet some might remain on, and proceed towards maturity. And we find that good Husbands had an art to make them hold on, as is delivered by _Theophrastus_.

The S???? or common Summer Figg was not expected; for that is placed by _Galen_ among the _Fructus Horarii_, or _Horaei_, which ripen in that part of Summer, called ??a, and stands commended by him above other Fruits of that season. And of this kind might be the Figgs which were brought unto _Cleopatra_ in a Basket together with an Asp, according to the time of her death on the nineteenth of _August_. And that our Saviour expected not such Figgs, but some other kind, seems to be implied in the indefinite expression, _if haply he might find any thing thereon_; which in that Country, and the variety of such Trees, might not be despaired of, at this season, and very probably hoped for in the first precocious and early bearing Trees. And that there were precocious and early bearing Trees in _Judaea_, may be ill.u.s.trated from some expressions in Scripture concerning precocious Figgs;[237] _Calathus unus habebat Ficus bonas nimis, sicut solent esse Ficus primi temporis; One Basket had very good Figgs, even like the Figgs that are first ripe_. And the like might be more especially expected in this place, if this remarkable Tree be rightly placed in some Mapps of _Jerusalem_; for it is placed, by _Adrichomius_, in or near _Bethphage_, which some conjectures will have to be the _House of Figgs_: and at this place Figg Trees are still to be found, if we consult the Travels of _Bidulphus_.

[237] Jer. 24. 2.

Again, in this great variety of Figg Trees, as precocious, proterical, biferous, triferous, and always bearing Trees, something might have been expected, though the time of common Figgs was not yet. For some Trees bear in a manner all the year; as may be ill.u.s.trated from the Epistle of the Emperour _Julian_, concerning his Present of _Damascus_ Figgs, which he commendeth from their successive and continued growing and bearing, after the manner of the Fruits which _Homer_ describeth in the Garden of _Alcinous_. And though it were then but about the eleventh of _March_, yet, in the Lat.i.tude of _Jerusalem_, the Sun at that time hath a good power in the day, and might advance the maturity of precocious often-bearing or ever-bearing Figgs. And therefore when it is said that S. _Peter_[238] stood and warmed himself by the Fire in the Judgment Hall, and the reason is added [_for it was cold_[239]] that expression might be interposed either to denote the coolness in the Morning, according to hot Countries, or some extraordinary and unusual coldness, which happened at that time. For the same _Bidulphus_, who was at that time of the year at _Jerusalem_, saith, that it was then as hot as at _Midsummer_ in _England_: and we find in Scripture, that the first Sheaf of Barley was offer'd in _March_.

[238] _S._ Mark 14. 67. _S._ Luke 22. 55, 56.

[239] _S._ John 18. 18.

Our Saviour therefore, seeing a Figg Tree with Leaves well spread, and so as to be distinguished a far off, went unto it, and when he came, found nothing but Leaves; he found it to be no precocious, or always-bearing Tree: And though it were not the time for Summer Figgs, yet he found no rudiments thereof: and though he expected not common Figgs, yet something might happily have been expected of some other kind, according to different fertility, and variety of production; but, discovering nothing, he found a Tree answering the State of the Jewish Rulers, barren unto all expectation.

And this is consonant unto the mystery of the Story, wherein the Figg Tree denoteth the Synagogue and Rulers of the Jews, whom G.o.d having peculiarly cultivated, singularly blessed and cherished, he expected from them no ordinary, slow, or customary fructification, but an earliness in good Works, a precocious or continued fructification, and was not content with common after-bearing; and might justly have expostulated with the Jews, as G.o.d by the Prophet _Micah_[240] did with their Forefathers; _Praecoquas Ficus desideravit Anima mea, My Soul longed for_, (or desired) _early ripe Fruits, but ye are become as a Vine already gathered, and there is no cl.u.s.ter upon you_.

[240] Micah 7. 1.

Lastly, In this account of the Figg Tree, the mystery and symbolical sense is chiefly to be looked upon. Our Saviour, therefore, taking a hint from his hunger to go unto this specious Tree, and intending, by this Tree, to declare a Judgment upon the Synagogue and people of the Jews, he came unto the Tree, and, after the usual manner, inquired, and looked about for some kind of Fruit, as he had done before in the Jews, but found nothing but Leaves and specious outsides, as he had also found in them; and when it bore no Fruit like them, when he expected it, and came to look for it, though it were not the time of ordinary Fruit, yet failing when he required it, in the mysterious sense, 'twas fruitless longer to expect it. For he had come unto them, and they were nothing fructified by it, his departure approached, and his time of preaching was now at an end.

Now, in this account, besides the Miracle, some things are naturally considerable. For it may be question'd how the Figg Tree, naturally a fruitfull Plant, became barren, for it had no shew or so much as rudiment of Fruit: And it was in old time, a signal Judgment of G.o.d, that _the Figg Tree should bear no Fruit_: and therefore this Tree may naturally be conceived to have been under some Disease indisposing it to such fructification. And this, in the Pathology of Plants, may be the Disease of f????a??a ?f????s??; or superfolliation mention'd by _Theophrastus_; whereby the fructifying Juice is starved by the excess of Leaves; which in this Tree were already so full spread, that it might be known and distinguished a far off. And this was, also, a sharp resemblance of the hypocrisie of the Rulers, made up of specious outsides, and fruitless ostentation, contrary to the Fruit of the Figg Tree, which, filled with a sweet and pleasant pulp, makes no shew without, not so much as of any Flower.

Some naturals are also considerable from the propriety of this punishment settled upon a Figg Tree: For infertility and barrenness seems more intolerable in this Tree than in any, as being a Vegetable singularly const.i.tuted for production; so far from bearing no Fruit that it may be made to bear almost any. And therefore the Ancients singled out this as the fittest Tree whereon to graft and propagate other Fruits, as containing a plentifull and lively Sap, whereby other Cyons would prosper: And, therefore, this Tree was also sacred unto the Deity of Fertility: and the _Statua_ of _Priapus_ was made of the Figg Tree.

_Olim Truncus eram Ficulnus inutile Lignum._

It hath also a peculiar advantage to produce and maintain its Fruit above all other Plants, as not subject to miscarry in Flowers and Blossomes, from accidents of Wind and Weather. For it beareth no Flowers outwardly, and such as it hath, are within the Coat, as the later examination of Naturalists hath discovered.

Lastly, It was a Tree wholly const.i.tuted for Fruit, wherein if it faileth, it is in a manner useless, the Wood thereof being of so little use, that it affordeth proverbial expressions,

_h.o.m.o Ficulneus, argumentum Ficulneum_,

for things of no validity.

[Sidenote: _The Palm Tree, in_ Cant. 7. 8.]

44. _I said I will go up into the Palm Tree, and take hold of the Boughs thereof._ This expression is more agreeable unto the Palm than is commonly apprehended, for that it is a tall bare Tree bearing its Boughs but at the top and upper part; so that it must be ascended before its Boughs or Fruit can be attained: And the going, getting or climbing up, may be Emphatical in this Tree; for the Trunk or Body thereof is naturally contrived for ascension, and made with advantage for getting up, as having many welts and eminencies, and so as it were a natural Ladder, and Staves, by which it may be climbed, as _Pliny_[241]

observeth, _Palmae teretes atque proceres, densis quadratisque pollicibus faciles se ad scandendum praebent_, by this way men are able to get up into it. And the Figures of Indians thus climbing the same are graphically described in the Travels of _Linschoten_. This Tree is often mentioned in Scripture, and was so remarkable in _Judaea_, that in after-times it became the Emblem of that Country, as may be seen in that Medal of the Emperour _t.i.tus_, with a Captive Woman sitting under a Palm, and the Inscription of _Judaea Capta_. And _Pliny_ confirmeth the same when he saith, _Judaea Palmis inclyta_.

[241] Plin. 13. _cap. 4_.

[Sidenote: _Lilies, in_ Cant. 2. 1, 2, 16.]

45. Many things are mention'd in Scripture, which have an Emphasis from this or the neighbour Countries: For besides the Cedars, the Syrian Lilies are taken notice of by Writers. That expression in the _Canticles_,[242] _Thou art fair, thou art fair, thou hast Doves eyes_, receives a particular character, if we look not upon our common Pigeons, but the beauteous and fine ey'd Doves of Syria.

[242] Cant. 4. 1.

When the Rump is so strictly taken notice of in the Sacrifice of the Peace Offering, in these words,[243] _The whole Rump, it shall be taken off hard by the Back-bone_, it becomes the more considerable in reference to this Country, where Sheep had so large Tails; which, according to _Aristotle_,[244] were a Cubit broad; and so they are still, as _Bellonius_ hath delivered.

[243] Levit. 3. 9.

[244] Aristot. _Hist. Animal. lib. 8_.

When 'tis said in the _Canticles_,[245] _Thy Teeth are as a Flock of Sheep, which go up from the was.h.i.+ng, whereof every one beareth Twins, and there is not one barren among them_; it may seem hard unto us of these parts to find whole Flocks bearing Twins, and not one barren among them; yet may this be better conceived in the fertile Flocks of those Countries, where Sheep have so often two, sometimes three, and sometimes four, and which is so frequently observed by Writers of the neighbour Country of _aegypt_. And this fecundity, and fruitfulness of their Flocks, is answerable unto the expression of the Psalmist,[246] _That our Sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our Streets_.

And hereby, besides what was spent at their Tables, a good supply was made for the great consumption of Sheep in their several kinds of Sacrifices; and of so many thousand Male unblemished yearling Lambs, which were required at their Pa.s.seovers.

[245] Cant. 4. 2.