396 pliny"s natural history. [Book XVI. 



in every locality, nor will they live, many of them, 72 when 

 transplanted : this happens sometimes through a natural an- 

 tipathy on the part of the tree, sometimes through an innate 

 stubbornness, but more frequently through the weakness of 

 the variety so transplanted, either the climate being unfavour- 

 able, or the soil repulsive to it. 



CHAP. 59. PLANTS THAT WILL NOT GEOW IN CERTAIN PLACES. 



Balsamum 73 will grow nowhere but [in 74 Judaea] : and the 

 citron of Assyria refuses to bear fruit in any other country. 

 The palm, too, will not grow everywhere, and even if it does 

 grow in some places, it will not bear : sometimes, indeed, it 

 may make a show and promise of bearing, but even then its 

 fruit comes to nothing, it seeming to have borne them thus far 

 in spite of itself. The cinnamon 75 shrub has not sufficient 

 strength to acclimatize itself in the countries that lie in the 

 vicinity of Syria. Amomum, 76 too, and nard, 77 those most 

 delicate of perfumes, will not endure the carriage from India 

 to Arabia, nor yet conveyance by sea ; indeed, King Seleucus 

 did make the attempt, but in vain. But what is more parti- 

 cularly wonderful, is the fact that most of the trees by care 

 may be prevailed upon to live when transplanted ; for some- 

 times the soil may be so managed as to nourish the foreigner 

 and give support to the stranger plant ; climate, however, can 

 never be changed. The pepper-tree 78 will live in Italy, and 

 cassia 79 in the northern climates even, while the incense- tree 80 



72 It is not improbable that he has in view here tbe passage in Virgil's 

 Georgics, B. ii. 1. 109, et seq. 



73 Or balm of Gilead. See B. xii. c. 54. Bruce assures us that it is 

 indigenous to Abyssinia ; if so, it has been transplanted in Arabia. It is 

 no more to be found in Judaea. 



74 This is inserted, as it is evident that the text without it is imperfect. 

 Fee says tbat even in Judaea it was transplanted from Arabia. 



75 As to tbe identification of the cinnamomum of Pliny, see B. xii. cc. 

 41 and 42, and the Notes. 



76 As to tbe question of the identity of the amomum, see B. xii. c. 28. 



77 See B. xii. c. 26. 



78 This cannot be tbe ordinary Piper nigrum, or black pepper, which 

 does not deserve the title " arbor." It is, no doubt, the pepper of Italy, 

 which he mentions in B. xii. c. 14. 



79 The Cassia Italica, probably, of B. xii. c. 43. The cassia of the East 

 could not possibly survive in Italy. The fact is, no doubt, that the llomans 

 gave the names of cassia, piper, and amomum, to certain indigenous plants, 

 and then persuaded themselves that they had the genuine plants of the 

 East. 60 See B. xii. c. 30. 



