For the fact is that spartum[1] did not begin to be employed till many ages after the time of Homer; indeed, not before the first war that the Carthaginians waged in Spain. This, too, is a plant that grows spontaneously,[2] and is incapable of being reproduced by sowing, it being a species of rush, peculiar to a dry, arid soil, a morbid production confined to a single country only; for in reality it is a curse to the soil, as there is nothing whatever that can be sown or grown in its vicinity. There is a kind of spartum grown in Africa,[3] of a stunted nature, and quite useless for all practical purposes. It is found in one portion of the province of Carthage[4] in Nearer Spain, though not in every part of that; but wherever it is produced, the mountains, even, are covered all over with it.

This material is employed by the country-people there for making[5] their beds; with it they kindle their fires also, and prepare their torches; shoes[6] also, and garments for the shepherds, are made of it. As a food for animals, it is highly injurious,[7] with the sole exception of the tender tops of the shoots. When wanted for other uses, it is pulled up by the roots, with considerable labour; the legs of the persons so employed being protected by boots, and their hands with gloves, the plant being twisted round levers of bone or holm-oak, to get it up with the greater facility. At the present day it is gathered in the winter, even; but this work is done with the least difficulty between the ides of May[8] and those of June, that being the period at which it is perfectly ripe.