74. I can easily show this, and, at the same time, make clear the
relation to other plants of the flowers which especially belong to
Athena, by examining the natural myths in the groups of the plants which
would be used at any country dinner, over which Athena would, in her
simplest household authority, cheerfully rule here in England. Suppose
Horace's favorite dish of beans, with the bacon; potatoes; some savory
stuffing of onions and herbs, with the meat; celery, and a radish or
two, with the cheese; nuts and apples for desert, and brown bread.
75. The beans are, from earliest time, the most important and
interesting of the seeds of the great tribe of plants from which came the
Latin and French name for all kitchen vegetables,--things that are
gathered with the hand--podded seeds that cannot be reaped, or beaten, or
shaken down, but must be gathered green. "Leguminous" plants, all of
them having flowers like butterflies, seeds in (frequently pendent) pods,
--"laetum siliqua quassante legumen"--smooth and tender leaves, divided
into many minor ones; strange adjuncts of tendril, for climbing (and
sometimes of thorn); exquisitely sweet, yet pure scents of blossom, and
almost always harmless, if not serviceable seeds.
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