342 plint's natural histoey. [Book XVI. 



the impiety of civil war, it was first deemed a meritorious 

 action not to shed the blood of a fellow-citizen. Far inferior 

 to this in rank are the mural 16 crown, the vallar, 17 and the 

 golden 18 one, superior though they may be in the value of the 

 material : inferior, too, in merit, is the rostrate 19 crown, though 

 ennobled, in recent times more particularly, by two great names, 

 those of M. Yarro, 20 who was presented with it by Pompeius 

 Magnus, for his great achievements in the Piratic "War, and of 

 M. Agrippa, on whom it was bestowed by Caesar, at the end 

 of the Sicilian War, which was also a war against pirates. 



In former days the beaks 21 of vessels, fastened in front of the 

 tribunal, graced the Forum, and seemed, as it were, a crown 

 placed upon the head of the Roman people itself. In later 

 times, however, they began to be polluted and trodden under 

 foot amid the seditious movements of the tribunes, the public 

 interest was sacrificed to private advantage, each citizen 

 sought solely his own advancement, and everything looked 

 upon as holy was abandoned to profanation — still, from amid 

 all this, the Rostra 23 emerged once again, and passed from 

 beneath the feet of the citizens to their heads. Augustus 

 presented to Agrippa the rostrate crown, while lie himself 

 received the civic crown 23 at the hands of all mankind. 



CHAP. 4. THE ORIGIN OF THE PRESENTATION OF CROWNS. 



In ancient times crowns 23 were presented to none but a 



16 Given to the first man who scaled the wall of a besieged place. It 

 was made of gold, and decorated with turrets. 



17 Given to the first soldier who surmounted the vallum or entrench- 

 ments. It was made of gold, and ornamented with "valli," or palisades. 



13 One of the varieties of the triumphal crown was the " corona aurea," 

 or " golden crown." 



» Made of gold, and decorated with the "rostra," or "beaks of ships. 



2° See B. vii. c. 31. 



2i The orator's stage in the Forum was decorated with the "rostra, or 

 " beaks " of the ships of the Antiates ; hence it received the name cf " Ros- 

 trum." The locality of the Rostra was changed by Julius Caesar. 



22 Alluding to the prostitution of the Rostra by the tribunes and others 

 for the purposes of sedition, and the presentation by Augustus of the ros- 

 trate crown to Agrippa. m 



23 Which was suspended, as already mentioned, at the gate ot his palace. 

 25 Athenseus and Fabius Pictor say that Janus was the first wearer of a 



crown : Pherecydes says it was Saturn, Diodorus Siculus Jupiter, and Leo 

 JEgyptiacus Isis, who wore one of wheat. 



