336 plint's natubal history. [Book XV. 



in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his ap- 

 prehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning. 89 There 

 are also some remarkable facts connected with the laurel m 

 the history of the late Emperor Augustus : once while Livia 

 Drusilla who afterwards on her marriage with the Emperor 

 assumed the name of Augusta, at the time that she was 

 affianced to him, was seated, there fell into her lap a hen ot 

 remarkable whiteness, which an eagle let fall from aloft with- 

 out its receiving the slightest injury : on Livia viewing it 

 without any symptoms of alarm, it was discovered that miracle 

 was added to miracle, and that it held in its beak a branch ot 

 laurel covered with berries. The aruspices gave orders that 

 the hen and her progeny should be carefully preserved, and 

 the branch planted and tended with religious care. This was 

 accordingly done at the country-house belonging to the Caesars, 

 on the Flaminian Way, near the banks of the Tiber, eight 

 miles from the City ; from which circumstance that road has 

 since received the title "Ad gallinas." 90 Erom the branch 

 there has now arisen, wondrous to relate, quite a grove : and 

 Augustus CaBsar afterwards, when celebrating a triumph, held 

 a branch of it in his hand and wore a wreath of this laurel on 

 his head ; since which time all the succeeding emperors have 

 followed his example. Hence, too, has originated the custom of 

 planting the branches which they have held on these occasions, 

 and we°thus see groves of laurel still existing which owe their 

 respective names to this circumstance. It was on the above 

 occasion, too, that not improbably a change was effected in 

 the usual laurel of the triumph. 91 The laurel is the only one 

 among the trees that in the Latin language has given an 

 appellation to a man, 92 and it is the only one the leaf of which 

 has a distinct name of its own,— it being known by the name 

 of "laurea." The name of this tree is still retained by one 

 place in the city of Eome, for we find a spot on the Aventine 



*> Suetonius, c. 6€, confirms this. Fee says that the same superstition 

 still exists in some parts of France. See B. ii. c. 56. ■ 



90 " The Poultry." 91 See c - 39 of tnis Book. 



9 2 See B xxxi. c. 3. As Poinsinet remarks, this is not strictly true; 

 the name "Vinucius" most probably came from "vinea," a vineyard. 

 Numerous names were derived also from seeds and vegetables; ^liso, 

 Cicero, and Lactuca, for instance, among a host of others. " Scipio, too, 

 means a " walking-stick." 



