Chap. 60.] THE CYPJRESS. SQ7 



has been known to lire in Lydia : but how are we to impart 

 to these productions the requisite warmth of the sun, in order 

 to make all the crude juices go off by evaporation, and ripen 

 the resins that distil from them ? 



Nearly as great a marvel, too, is the fact that the nature of 

 the tree may be modified by circumstances, and yet the tree 

 itself be none the less vigorous in its growth. Nature ori- 

 ginally gave the cedar 81 to localities of burning heat, and yet 

 we find it growing in the mountains of Lycia and Phry°ia 

 She made the laurel, too, averse to cold, and yet there is & no 

 tree that grows in greater abundance on Mount Olympus. At 

 the city of Panticapaeum, in the vicinity of the Cimmerian Bos- 

 porus, King Mithridates and the inhabitants of the place used 

 every possible endeavour, with a view to certain religious 

 ceremonies, to cultivate the myrtle 82 and the laurel : they could 

 not succeed, however, although trees abound there which re- 

 quire a hot climate, such as the pomegranate and the fig, as 

 well as apples and pears of the most approved quality. In the 

 same country, too, the trees that belong to the colder climates 

 such as the pine, the fir, and the pitch-tree, refuse to grow' 

 But why go search for instances in Pontus ? In the vicinity 

 of Borne itself it is only with the greatest difficulty 83 that the 

 cherry and the chesnut will grow, and the peach-tree, too, at 

 lusculum : the Greek nut, too, is grown there from grafts 

 only at a cost of considerable labour, while Tarracina abounds 

 with whole woods of it. 



CHAP. 60. (33.)— THE CYPRESS. 



The cypress 84 is an exotic, and has been reckoned one of the 

 trees that are naturalized with the greatest difficulty ; so much 

 so, indeed, that Cato 85 has expatiated upon it at greater length 

 and more frequently than any of the others. This tree is 

 naturally of a stubborn 86 disposition, bears a fruit that is utterly 



be^nSl^ZB^tTi 110 *"** "** ° f **P**~*™ 



tolfdi^ffiS^-ffiS— The myrtie has beenkno ™ 



Thl2Zft n ° d °A aS *f f yS ' S0lel ? t0 bad methods of cultivation. 



84 t? V ' the grafted peach and tbe Greek nut or almond 



Tw™!i n pre88TU sem P ervirens of Linnaeus, the Lupressus fastigiata of 

 D ?6 , v' - , 85 De Re Rust - cc- 43, 151. ° 



' Morosa ; meaning that it reaches maturity but very slowly. 



