Chap. 21.] CAPEIFICATIOST. 311 



passed spontaneously from its original locality 72 to the Comi- 

 tium in the Forum. And not without some direful presage is 

 it that that tree has withered away, though, thanks to the 

 care of the priesthood, it has been since replaced. 73 



There was another fig-tree also, before the temple of Sa- 

 turn, 74 which was removed on the occasion of a sacrifice made 

 by the Yestal Virgins, it being found that its roots were gra- 

 dually undermining the statue of the god Silvanus. Another 

 one, accidentally planted there, flourished in the middle of the 

 Forum, 75 upon the very spot, too, in. which, when from a dire- 

 ful presage it had been foreboded that the growing empire 

 was about to sink to its very foundations, Curtius, at the price 

 of an inestimable treasure — in other words, by the sacrifice of 

 such unbounded virtue and piety — redeemed his country by a 

 glorious death. By a like accident, too, a vine and an olive- 

 tree have sprung up in the same spot, 76 which have ever since 

 been carefully tended by the populace for the agreeable shade 

 which they afford. The altar that once stood there was after- 

 wards removed by order of the deified Julius Caesar, upon the 

 occasion of the last spectacle of gladiatorial combats 77 which 

 he gave in the Forum. 



CHAP. 21. — CAPEIFICATIOE". 



The fig, the only one among all the pomes, hastens to maturity 

 by the aid of a remarkable provision of Nature. (19.) The 

 wild-fig, 78 known by the name of " caprificus," never ripens 

 itself, though it is able to impart to the others the principle 

 of which it is thus destitute ; for we occasionally find Nature 

 making a transfer of what are primary causes, and being gene- 

 rated from decay. To effect this purpose the wild fig-tree 



72 On the banks of the Tiber, below the Palatine Mount. The whole 

 of this passage is in a most corrupt siate, and it is difficult to extract a 

 meaning from it. 



73 By slips from the old tree, as Tacitus seems to say—" in novos foetus 

 revivisceret." 



74 At the foot of the Capitoline Hill. 



75 Probably near where the Curtius Lacus had stood in the early days of 

 Pome. The story of Metius Curtius, who leaped into the yawning gulph 

 in the Forum, in order to save his country, is known to every classical 

 reader. 



76 The Forum. 77 See B. xix. c. 6. 



76 The Ficus Carica of Linnaeus. It does bear fruit, though small, and 

 disagreeable to the taste. 



