BOOK XIV. I. 5-II. 9 



sole means of advancement. This deity was wor- 

 shippcd by different men in different manners and in 

 different matters, although every man's prayer was 

 directed to the same end and to hopes of possessing ; 

 indeed even men of high character everywhere 

 preferred to cultivate the vices of others rather 

 than the good gifts that were their own. The 

 consequence is, 1 protest, that pleasure has begun to 

 Uve and \ife itself has ceased. \Ve, however, will 

 carry our researches even into matters that have 

 passed out of notice, and will not be daunted by the 

 lowliness of certain objects, any more than we were 

 when deahng with the animals, although we see that 

 Virgil, the prince of poets, was led by this consideration oeorgics iv. 

 to make omissions among the resources of the garden ^^^' 

 and in those which he has recorded has only culled 

 out the flower of his subject, happy and gracious as he 

 is : he has only named fifteen kinds of grapes in all 

 and three of olives and as many pears, and of apples 

 only the Assyrian<* citron, neglecting all the rest. 



II. But where can we better make a beginning 

 than with the vine ? Supremacy in respect of the 

 vine is to such a degree the special distinction of Italy 

 that even with this one possession she can be thought 

 to have vanquished all the good things of the world, 

 even in the department of scents, inasmuch as when 

 the vine is in blossom all over the country it gives a 

 scent that surpasses any other in fragrance. 



Even on account of its size the vine used in early 

 days rightly to be reckoned as belonging to the class of 

 trees. In the city of Piombino is to be seen a statue 

 of Jupiter made of a single vine-stalk that has resisted 

 decay for many ages ; and similarly a bowl at Mar- 

 seilles ; the temple of Juno at Metapontum has stood 



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