Note 1061 — Chapter VIII · DIONYSOS.

Mr Francis Darwin kindly tells me that τράγος is said to be a kind of wheat known now as triticum amylaeum. It is akin to spelt, triticum spelta, the ancient ζεία. βρόμος is some form of oats, in modern Greek βρώμη. It is of interest to note that in the 4th century B.C. βρόμος was an important cereal accounted as more wholesome than barley. This is clear from the words of the physician Dieuches: γίνεται δὲ ἄλφιτον καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ βρόμου. φρύγεται δὲ σὺν τῷ ἀχύρῳ πᾶν. ἀποπήσσεταί τε καὶ τρίβεται καὶ ἐρύκεται καθάπερ καὶ τὸ κρίθινον ἄλφιτον. τοῦτο τὸ ἄλφιτον κρεῖττον καὶ ἀφυσώτερόν ἐστι τοῦ κριθίνου (xxi. veter. et clar. medic. Graec. var. opusc. ed. F. de Matthaei, Mosquae 1808, p. 39; see Hehn, Kulturpfl. 7th edit. p. 553). By the time of Galen it seems to have fallen into comparative disuse, displaced probably by the richer cereals. He says (de aliment. facult. I. 14): τροφὴ δ’ ἐστὶν ὑποζυγίων οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, εἰ μή ποτε ἄρα λιμώττοντες ἐσχάτως ἀναγκασθεῖεν, ἐκ τούτου τοῦ σπέρματος. The modern history of oats presents a close analogy. Displaced in the south by the richer wheat it remains the staple food of the northern Scot, and is the food of cattle only in the south.