Chap. 36.] ANECDOTES RELATIVE TO THE MYRTLE. 329 



Europe, which commence on this side of the Cerannian moun- 

 tains, 33 growing at Circeii, 34 near the tomb of Elpenor there : 35 

 it still retains its Greek 36 name, which clearly proves it to be 

 an exotic. There were myrtles growing on the site now occu- 

 pied by Rome, at the time of its foundation ; for a tradition 

 exists to the effect that the llomans and the Sabines, after 

 they had intended fighting, on account of the virgins who had 

 been ravished by the former, purified themselves, first laying 

 down their arms, with sprigs of myrtle, on the very same spot 

 which is now occupied by the statues of Venus Cluacina ; for 

 in the ancient language " cluere" means to purify. 



This tree is employed, too, for a species of fumigation ; 37 being 

 selected for that purpose, because Venus, who presides over all 

 unions, is the tutelary divinity of the tree. 38 I am not quite 

 sure, too, whether this tree was not the very first that was 

 planted in the public places of Eome, the result of some omi- 

 nous presage by the augurs of wondrous import. For at the 

 Temple of Quirinus, or, in other words, of Romulus himself, 

 one of the most ancient in Rome, there were formerly two 

 myrtle- trees, which grew for a long period just in front of 

 the temple ; one of these was called the Patrician tree, the 

 other the Plebeian. The Patrician myrtle was for many years 

 the superior tree, full of sap and vigour ; indeed, so long as the 

 Senate maintained its superiority, so did the tree, being of 

 large growth, while the Plebeian tree presented a meagre, 

 shrivelled appearance. In later times, however, the latter tree 

 gained the superiority, and the Patrician myrtle began to fail 

 j ust at the period of the 39 Marsic War, 40 when the power of 

 the Senate was so greatly weakened : and little by little did 

 this once majestic tree sink into a state of utter exhaustion 

 and sterility. There was an ancient altar 41 also, consecrated' 



33 He means the Acroceraunian chain in Epirus, mentioned in B. iii. 



34 See B. iii. c. 9. 



35 He was one of the companions of Ulysses, fabled by Homer and Ovid 

 to have been transformed by Circe into a swine. 



36 Mvpaivrj was its Greek name. 37 See B. xxv. c. 59. 



38 See B. xii. c. 2. Ovid, Fasti, B. iv. 1. 15, et seq., says that Venus con- 

 cealed herself from the gaze of the Satyrs behind this tree. 



39 Either this story is untrue, or we have a right to suspect that some 

 underhand agency was employed for the purpose of imposing on the super- 

 stitious credulity of the Boman people. 



*» Or Social War. See B. ii c. 85. 



41 Near the altar of Consus. close to the meta of the Circus. 



