Note 1794 — BOOK XV.

Galla is properly the gall-nut, or oak-apple, used, from its astringent qualities, in tanning and dyeing; and hence applied to any harsh, rough, inferior wine. Acerosum (cf. ad ix., Fr. 15) is applied to meal not properly cleared from the husk or bran; the αὐτόπυρος of the Greeks. Decumanus (cf. ad iv., Fr. 2) is often applied to any thing of uncommon size: here it is used for the worst kind of oil (quasi ex decimâ quâque mensurâ rejecto et projecto), or more probably "such oil as the husbandman would select in order to furnish his decimæ," i. e., the very worst. Festus says the whole fragment is an admonition to the exercise of frugality and self-denial.