4- 4 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



[Book XVI. 



up : cypress was made choice of from the circumstance that it 

 is the only kmd of wood that maintains its polish to all future 

 time. 



And have we not the statue of Yejovis, 35 also, made of cypress, 

 still preserved in the Capitol, where it was consecrated m the 

 year of the City 661 ? The Temple of Apollo, too, at TJtica, 

 is equally celebrated : there we may see beams of cedar still 

 m existence, and in just the same condition in which they 

 were when erected at the first building of that city, eleven 

 hundred and seventy-eight years ago. At Saguntum, too, in 

 fcpam, there is a temple of Diana, which was brought thither 

 by the original founders of the place, from the island of Za- 

 cynthus, in the year 200 before the taking of Troy, .Bocchus 

 says— It is preserved beneath the town, they say. Hannibal 

 being induced thereto by feelings of religious veneration' 

 spared this temple, and its beams, made of juniper, are still 

 in existence at this very day. But the most memorable in- 

 stance of all is that of the temple which was dedicated to the 

 same goddess at Aulis, several ages before the Trojan War : of 

 what wood, however, it was originally built is a fact that has 

 been long lost in oblivion. Speaking in general terms, we 

 may say that those woods are of the greatest durability which 

 are the most odoriferous. 36 



Next to those woods of which we have just spoken, that of 

 the mulberry is held in the highest degree of esteem, and it 

 will even turn black when old. There are some trees, again, 

 that are more durable than others, when employed for certain 

 purposes. The wood of the elm lasts the best in the open air, 

 that of the robur when buried in the ground, and that of the 

 quercus when exposed to the action of water : indeed, the 

 wood of this last, if employed in works above ground, is apt 

 to split and warp. The wood of the larch thrives best in the 

 midst of moisture ; the same is the case, too, with that of the 

 black alder. The wood of the robur spoils by exposure to the 

 action ol sea- water. The beech and the walnut are far from 

 disapproved of for constructions under water, and, in fact 

 these are the principal woods, too, that are used for works 



mans 



35 One of the earliest appellations, probably, of Jupiter anions the Ro- 

 ms. See Ovid's Fasti, B. iii. 1. 445, ct seq. 



36 This is correct. Their resin defends them from the action of the air 

 from aainp, and the attacks of noxious insects. 



