Chap. 6.] THE PALM-TREE. \C ( J 



the brother of L. Plancus, who was twice consul and censor, 

 after being proscribed by the Triumvirs, was betrayed in his 

 place of concealment at Salcrnum by the smell of his un- 

 guents, a disgrace which more than outweighed all the guilt 3 

 attending his proscription. For who is there that can be of 

 opinion that such men as this do not richly deserve to come to 

 a violent end ? 



CHA?. 6. THE PALM-TKEE. 



In other respects, Egypt is the country that is the best suited 

 of all for the production of unguents ; and next to it, Cam- 

 pania, 4 from its abundance of roses. 



(4.) Judaea, too, is greatly renowned for its perfumes, and 

 even still more so for its palm-trees, 5 the nature of which I 

 shall take this opportunity of enlarging upon. There are some 

 found in Europe also. They are not uncommon in Italy, but 

 are quite barren there. 6 The palms on the coast of Spain bear 

 fruit, but it is sour. 7 The fruit of those of Africa is sweet, 

 but quickly becomes vapid and loses its flavour; which, how- 

 ever is not the case with the fruit of those that grow in the 

 East. 8 Erom these trees a wine is made, and bread by some 

 nations, 9 and they afford an aliment for numerous quadrupeds. 

 It will be with very fair reason then, that we shall confine our 

 description to the palm-tree of foreign countries. There are 



with the sanction of his brother. In consequence of his use of perfumes, 

 the place of his concealment " got wind ;" and in order to save his slaves, 

 who were being tortured to death because they would not betray him, he 

 voluntarily surrendered himself. 



3 Attaching to the triumvirate. 



4 Capua, its capital, was the great seat of the unguent and perfume 

 manufacture in Italy. 



5 The Phoenix dactylifera of Linnaeus. See also B. xii. c. 62, where he 

 seems also to allude to this tree. 



6 At the present day this is not the fact. The village of La Bordighiera, 

 situate on an eminence of the Apennines, grows great quantities of date.-, 

 of good quality. At Hieres, Nice, San Bemo, and Genoa, they are also 

 grown. 



7 This, too, is not the fact. The dates of Valencia, Seville, and other 

 provinces of Spain, are sweet, and of excellent quality. 



b Pliny is wrong again in this statement. The date of Barhary, Tunis, 

 Algiers, and Bildulgerid, the "land of dates," is superior in every respect 

 to that of the East. 



9 The ^Ethiopians, as we learn from Thcophrastus, B. ii. c. 8. 



