desirous of male children.15 One type of Roman marriage, the confarreatio, got its name from the joint eating of bread by the newly married.16 The eating of a pomegranate seed by Persephone in the home of Hades rendered it impossible for her to break the bonds of her enforced marriage.17 In general the sharing in the eating establishes a more intimate and potent bond, as happens also when guest and host partake of a meal.18

In an article called "Notes on the Symbolism of the Apple in Classical Antiquity," contributed to Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (x, 39-55) by B. O. Foster, numerous instances are given from classical literature of the apple as a token of love.19 This rich collection of material is deserving of more general recognition.

Foster concludes (p. 55) that "in the remotely ancient attribution of the apple and the apple-kind, as typical of all fruitfulness, to Aphrodite the alma Venus of Lucretius's invocation-and its connexion also with other divinities of like functions (such as Dionysus, the god of vegetation, and Ge, the mother of all things), originated the meaning which it was felt to have when employed in courtship and the marriage ceremony." He adds, however, that "the evidence on the subject left us by the classical authors does not enable us to take the next step, and offer an explanation of the fact that 15 Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, 1, p. 79.

16 Dion. H. II, 25; Gaius, Inst. 1, 112.

17 H. Hom. Cer. 371-374; Apollod. 1, 5, 3 (see Frazer's note ad loc.); Ovid, Met. v, 530-538. Ovid, however, says that she ate seven seeds. The pomegranate seed as a symbol of fertility will be mentioned later.

18 For many other instances, most of which are farther afield, see Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, 115, pp. 448-452; Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, II, pp. 343–349; Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, I, p. 72. On drinking together as a marriage bond see Campbell Bonner, "A Primitive MarriageCustom in the Kebra Nagast," Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, xxvIII, 317–323.

19 For other groups of references see Archäologische Zeitung, XXI, 47; xxxI, 36-40; Palmer, P. Ovidi Nasonis Heroides, pp. 481-482; R. Ellis, Commentary on Catullus2, p. 353; Frazer, Pausanias, III, p. 67; P.-W., Real-Encyclopädie, s.v. Eris, p. 465. Ellis makes the suggestion that the apple as a symbol of love may be due to "a supposed resemblance to the breasts."

the apple was used in preference to other objects, as representing the life-giving functions of these deities."

There is a very simple explanation of the selection of the apple as a token of love in preference to other fruits. The answer will be deferred until an effort has been made to explain why certain forms of vegetation symbolized fecundity.

In the first place many of the apples of antiquity were merely 'so-called' apples, or, to use Foster's expression, 'of the apple kind.' Greek and Latin words for 'apple' had both general and specific uses, and in addition many adjectives such as 'Punic,' 'Persian,' and 'Median' were applied to them.20 Furthermore, many of the 'so-called' apples were 'golden' apples.

The apples with which Hippomenes beguiled Atalanta are described as 'golden' apples.21 They had been plucked by Aphrodite herself in her own garden at Tamassos in Cyprus.22 An epigram in the Greek Anthology 23 says that the golden apple was a wedding-gift and the symbol of the yoke of Aphrodite. When the marriage of Hera was being celebrated and all the deities were making presents, Earth brought forth in the extreme regions of Africa a tree bearing golden apples.24 Servius describes as a golden apple the fruit used in the judgment of Paris.25 According to him 26 too the apples in the garden of the Hesperides were golden apples and they were consecrated to Venus. It was from this source, he says, that the three golden apples of Hippomenes came. The comic poet Eriphus 27 describes as golden the apples which

20 Compare, for instance, Pliny, H. N. xv, 39: Mala appellamus, quamquam diversi generis, Persica et granata, quae in Punicis arboribus novem generum dicta sunt. See also the article Apfel in P.-W., Real-Encyclopädie.

21 Anth. P. XVI, 144.

22 Ovid, Met. x, 644-650.

23 XVI, 144.

24 Serv. ad Aen. IV, 484; Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi, 3; Ath. III, 83 C; scholium on Ap. Rh. iv, 1396; Apollod. II, 5, 11. See Frazer's edition of Apollodorus, I, p. 220.

25 Ad Aen. I, 27.

26 Ad Aen. IV, 484.

27 As quoted by Ath. III, 84 C.

Hercules carried away and says that Aphrodite herself had planted in Cyprus the single parent tree from which they had been derived.

Now what were the golden apples so commonly referred to in both Greek and Latin? In the passage from Eriphus the speaker is asked if poaí are not meant by 'golden apples.' This is a specific and unambiguous word for pomegranate. Polyclitus put a pomegranate in the hand of Hera in the Argive Heraeum.28 Victor Hehn 29 says that the apple of the judgment of Paris was ohne Zweifel thought of originally as the pomegranate. Athenaeus 30 makes Jobas, king of the Mauretanians, authority for the statement that the Libyans called the Hesperian apple citron and that the golden apples carried back by Heracles were citrons. Boetticher 31 holds that they were oranges. The word chrysomela was used by Pliny 32 to designate a species of quince.

It may be stated by way of parenthesis that Agoritas,33 a writer on things Libyan, thought that the entire story of the apples of the Hesperides was figurative language. He explains that the so-called apples were in reality cattle, which when very beautiful were called sheep. Because of his fierceness the shepherd that guarded them was described as a serpent. Of course this theory is due to an etymological pun.

Another sentence from Hehn 34 is worth quoting in the

28 Paus. II, 17, 4.

29 Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem Übergang aus Asien nach Griechenland und Italien, p. 233.

30 III, 83 B.

31 Der Baumkultus der Hellenen, p. 466: Dieser goldene Hesperische Apfel ist nun nach allem was sich darüber sicher ermitteln lässt die Orange, Pomeranze, zu der auch die Citrone gehört, also der Medische, Assyrische oder Persische Apfel.

If oranges were not introduced into Spain and Italy until the advent of the Moors and the return of the crusaders, it is hard to see how the 'golden apples' could be oranges.

32 H. N. xv, 37.

33 Scholium on Ap. Rh. iv, 1396. Varro, R. R. 11, 1, 6–7, is interesting in this connection. Servius ad Aen. IV, 484.

34 Op. cit. p. 241.

German: "Die xpúσea μîλa der Hesperiden und der Atalante waren idealisirte Quitten, und der der Aphrodite geweihte, in Mädchen- und Liebesspielen aller Art und zu bräutlichen Gaben dienende Apfel war gleichfalls kein anderer als der duftende Quittenapfel." It is interesting to compare with this a passage in Boetticher: 35 "Die Kydonischen Äpfel, Quittenäpfel, die aus Kreta stammten, möchten wohl keine andern sein als jene oben erwähnten Melusäpfel; denn nach Ovid sollte dieser heilige Baum vor dem Tempel der Aphrodite hier stehen und dieselben Äpfel schon Hippomenes von ihr empfangen haben um die Atalante sich damit zu gewinnen."

The association of the apple with Venus seems to be fairly late. A modern investigator says that the original attribute in her hand is a mandrake.36

These views, ancient and modern, are noted, not with the idea of identifying the various kinds of golden apples, but of showing that several kinds of fruit must have been regarded as tokens of love. It may be observed in passing that in our own lore tomatoes are called 'love apples.'

In many plants the most obvious indication of fecundity is seeds. The Greek marriage cake was made of sesame because this plant was extremely prolific and had become a symbol of productivity.37 It was believed also that conception was aided by attaching to one as an amulet the seed of a wild cucumber that had not touched the ground.38 A statue of Aphrodite at Sicyon held in one hand an apple and in the other a poppy.39 The poppy too was a symbol of fruitfulness,40 obviously because of its many seeds. Some people asserted that women would be sure to conceive in forty days if they

35 Op. cit. p. 463.

36 See Rendell Harris's chapter on "The Origin of the Cult of Aphrodite," in The Ascent of Olympus.

37 Photius, s.v. onoaμov; scholium on Ar. Av. 159; scholium on Pax, 869; Menander, frag. 938 (Koch).

38 Pliny, H. N. xx, 6.

39 Paus. II, 10, 5.

40 See Preller-Robert, Griechische Mythologie (1894), p. 766.

41

took in drink the blossom of the crataegonon. It was thought that the seeds of a species of mallow properly applied increased sexual desire.42

In Boeotia it was customary to set upon the head of a bride a chaplet of asparagus.43 Plutarch says that this plant grows a very sweet fruit from a rough stalk. I cannot see that this fruit refers to anything but the berries.44 It is clear, however, from Plutarch's remarks that fertility was symbolized and that the bride, like the plant, was to be productive. Pliny 45 tells us that the seed of asparagus entered into aphrodisiacs. "Asparagus seeds and young hop-buds prepared as salad are given to women in Styria to prevent barrenness." 46

Another many-seeded fruit is the fig. We are told that the fig-tree is more productive than other trees.47 Perhaps for this reason Roman women sacrificed to Juno Caprotina under a wild fig-tree. 48 In the Bacchic revelries at Rome the women wore collars of figs as symbols of fecundity.49 Among

41 Pliny, H. N. xxvii, 63.

42 Op. cit. xx, 227.

43 Plut. Mor. 138 D.

44 Did the Boeotians like the berries of asparagus? There is no accounting for tastes. The head of the poppy was used as food (Thuc. iv, 26). The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 372, calls the seeds of the pomegranate 'honeysweet.' As a matter of fact they are not unpalatable. It seems, to judge from Theophr. H. P. iv, 3, 3, to have been customary to eat the seed of the pomegranate along with the flesh. It was once the custom to eat caraway seeds as a carminative. See T. F. Thiselton Dyer, Folk Lore of Shakespeare (1883), p. 196. In Greece and Italy one still frequently finds them on bread and buns. I have seen pumpkin seeds dried as an edible. Some people like watermelon seeds. Nasturtium seeds which have not yet ripened are greatly relished today. Perhaps the Boeotians had some way of preparing asparagus seeds before they had ripened and dried.

45 H. N. xx, 110.

46 Hartland, Primitive Paternity, 1, 39.

47 Isid. Orig. XVII, 7, 17.

48 Varro, L. L. vi, 18.

49 Unfortunately my authority for this does not give the original reference. I found the statement in Charles M. Skinner, Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants (J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila., 1913), p. 113. Since I have found the statement elsewhere, there seems to be no reason to doubt its accuracy.