440 pliny's natural history. [Book XVII. 



buildings even as yet possessed any pillars made of that mate- 

 rial. Of such recent date is the luxury and opulence which 

 Ave now enjoy, and so much greater was the value which in 

 those days trees were supposed to confer upon a property ! 

 A pretty good proof of which, was the fact that Domitius even, 

 with all his enmity, would not keep to the offer he had made, 

 if the trees were not to be included in the bargain. 



The trees have furnished surnames also to the ancients, 10 such, 

 for instance, as that of Fronditius to the warrior who swam 

 across the Yolturnus with a wreath of leaves on his head, and 

 distinguished himself by his famous exploits in the war against 

 Hannibal ; and that of Stolo 11 to the Licinian family, such being 

 the name given by us to the useless suckers that shoot from 

 trees ; the best method of clearing away these shoots was 

 discovered by the first Stolo, and hence his name. The ancient 

 laws also took the trees under their protection ; and by the 

 Twelve Tables it was enacted, that he who should wrongfully 

 cut down trees belonging to another person, should pay twenty- 

 five asses for each. Is it possible then to imagine that they, 

 who estimated the fruit-trees at so low a rate as this, could ever 

 have supposed that- so exorbitant a value would be put upon the 

 lotus as that which I have just mentioned ? And no less mar- 

 vellous, too, are the changes that have taken place in the value 

 of fruit ; for at the present day we find the fruit alone of many 

 of the trees in the suburbs valued at no less a sum than two 

 thousand sesterces ; the profits derived from a single tree thus 

 being more than those of a whole estate in former times. It 

 was from motives of gain that the grafting of trees and the 

 propagation thereby of a spurious offspring was first devised, 

 so that the growth of the fruits even might be a thing inter- 

 dicted to the poor. We shall, therefore, now proceed to 

 state in what way it is that such vast revenues are derived 

 from these trees, and with that object shall set forth the true 

 and most approved methods of cultivation ; not taking any 

 notice of the more common methods, or those which we find 

 generally adopted, but considering only those points of doubt 

 and uncertainty, in relation to which practical men are most 

 apt to find themselves at a loss : while, at the same time, to 



10 As Fee remarks, this usage has hecn reversed in modern times, and 

 plants often receive their botanical names from men. 



11 See B. xviii. c. 4. 



