BOOK XV. xL. 137-138 



wore a wrcath of its foliage on his head, and subse- 

 quently every one of the ruHng Caesars did the same ; 

 and the custom was estabhshed of planting the 

 branches which they had held, and groves of laurels 

 distinguished by their names ^* still survive ; and it 

 was perhaps in consequence of this that the change 

 was made in the laurels worn in triumphs. § 130. 



The laurel is the only tree the name of which is ^^« ««* «'» 

 used in Latin as a man's name,* and the only tree ^*'*'^*' 

 whose leaves have a special name apphed to them — 

 we call them bay-leaves. The name of the tree also 

 survives as a place-name in Kome, as there is a 

 locaHty on the Aventine called Loretto where there 

 was once a laurel grove. Moreover, the laurel is 

 employed in rituals of purification ; and incidentally 

 it should be stated that it can even be grown from a 

 slip, as this has been doubted by Democritus and 

 Theophrastus. 



\Ve will now describe the various forest trees. 



" I.e. each tree bearing the name of the emperor who had 

 held the bough from which it had grown. 



* E.g. Laurea Tullius, a freedman of Cicero : XXXI. 7. 



383 



