BOOK XV. XII. 43 XIV. 47 



the myxa, which also lias now begun to be grown 

 at Rome by being grafted on the service-tree. 



XIII. The Persian plum or peach, it is true, is Thepeach. 

 shown by its very name to be an exotic even in Asia 

 Minor and in Greece, and to have been introduced 



from Persia. But the wild plum is known to grow 

 everywhere, which makes it more surprising that 

 this fruit is not mentioned by Cato, especially as he 

 pointed out the way of storing some wild fruits also. 

 As for the peach-tree, it was only introduced lately, 

 and that with difficulty, inasmuch as in Rhodes, which 

 was its first place of sojourn after leaving Egypt, it 

 does not bear at all. It is not true that the peach 

 grown in Persia is poisonous and causes torturing 

 pain, and that, when it had been transplanted into 

 Egypt by the kings to use as a punishment, the nature 

 of the soil caused it to lose its dangerous properties ; 

 for the more careful writers relate this of the persea," 

 which is an entirely different tree, resembling the 

 red myxa, and which has refused to grow anywhere 

 but in the east. The sebesten also, according to the 

 more learned authorities, was not introduced from 

 Persia for punitive pui*poses, but was planted at 

 Memphis by Perseus, and it was for that reason that 

 Alexander, in order to do honour to his ancestor, 

 established the custom of using wreaths of it for 

 crowning victors in the garaes ^ at Memphis. It 

 always has leaves and fruit upon it, fresh ones sprout- 

 ing immediately after the others. But it will be 

 obvious that all our plums also have been introduced 

 since the time of Cato. 



XIV. Of the apple class there are a number of '^'"' '^ppI^ 

 varieties. We have spoken of citrons when describ- varietie^""'^ 

 ing the citron-tree ; the Greeks, however, call them xiii. 103. 



319 



