PEGANON (7n'ryavov). The word rue occurs only in Luke xi. 42. But woe unto you, Phari sees I for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment,' etc. In the parallel passage, Matt. xxifi. 23, dill (dvnBov), translated anise in the English Version, is mentioned instead of rue. Both dill and rue were cultivated in the gardens of Eastern countries in ancient times as they are at the present day. Dioscorides describes two kinds, 7riryavov dpcivbv, Ruda montana, and 71-7)-yavav lopreur6v, Ruta hortensis. 'Ex hortensi autem esui magis idonea, qua: juxta ficos provenit.' These are considered by botanists to be distinct species, and are called respectively, the first, Rnta nzontana, which is common in the south of Europe and the north of Africa ; the other is usually called Rzita graveolens, and by some R. hortensis, which is found in the south of Europe, and is the kind commonly cultivated in gardens. Rue was highly esteemed as a medicine, even as early as the time of Hippocrates (comp. also Pliny, N. H., xix. 8 ; Columella, De Re Rust., xii. 7. 5). That it was employed as an ingredient in diet, and as a condi ment, is abundantly evident from Apicius, as noticed by Celsius, and is not more extraordinary than the fondness of some Eastern nations for assafcetida as a seasoning to food. That one kind was culti
vated by the Israelites, is evident from its being mentioned as one of the articles of which the Pharisees paid their tithes, though they neglected the weightier matters of the law. Rosenmiiller states that in the Talmud (Tract Shebiith, cap. ix., sec. r) the rue is indeed mentioned amongst kitchen herbs (asparagus portulaca et coriandro); but, at the same time, it is there expressly stated, that it is tithe free, it being one of those herbs which are not cultivated in gardens, according to the general rule established in the Talmud.' Celsius long pre viously observed, with reference to this fact : ' Cum autem dicunt ibidem, rutam a decimatione im munem esse, ostendunt, quantum recesserint a con suetudine majorum, quos decimas ex ruta separasse, ipsum affirmat os veritatis' (Ilierobot. u. p. 253). J. F. R.