The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Politics
 e pluribus unum




From: tindall@panix.com (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: E Pluribus Unum Redux
Date: 14 Jan 1996 17:34:03 -0500

A while ago, Ewan or somebody asked whether the American^W UnitedStatesean motto "E Pluribus Unum" came from an ancient salad recipe. I think a summary of the respones so far is: 

T. "E plurbus unus" (not unum) does occur in Virgil's "Moretum,"
   a poem that can be described as a salad recipe.
T. Similar phrases, also including "una," were written by
   some megaboss number of other writers of antiquity.

Just to add a bit of detail: in his Loeb Classics edition, H. Rushton Fairclough classifies Virgil's poem as an "idyll," and says it "may be a rendering of a Greek poem by Parthenius."

The poem describes an early morning in the life of a poor old farmer, Simylus, and his one servant, an African woman named Scybale. They get up before dawn, make some bread, and prepare a "moretum," which consists of garlic, parsley, coriander, rue, salt, and cheese, all mashed together, formed into a ball, and drizzled with oil and vinegar.

During the mashing of the garlic and green herbs, Virgil describes the colors blending into one ("color est e pluribus unus"), at line 102 or 104 depending on which edition you use.

That, and a description of the breadmaking, the farm, and the two individuals, is pretty much the whole poem.

B "Simylus the farmer he greata for 'mash'" T


Any proceeds (net proceeds from merchandise sales) from TAFKAC solely benefit The Chuck Reed Fund.

Copyright Information

http://tafkac.org/