BOOK XVI. LXAix. 213-216 



agreed that its roof is made of beams of cedar, 

 but as to the actual statue of the goddess there is 

 some dispute, all the other writers saying that it is 

 made of ebony, but one of the people who have 

 most recently seen it and written about it, Mucianus, 

 who was three times consul, states that it is made of 

 the wood of the vine, and has never been altered 

 although the temple has been restored seven times ; 

 and that this material was chosen by Endoeus — 

 Mucianus actually specifies the name of the artist, 

 which for my part I think surprising, as he assigns 

 to the statue an antiquity that makes it older than 

 not only Father Liber but Minerva also. He adds 

 that nard is poured into it through a number of 

 apertures so that the chemical properties of the 

 Hquid may nourish the wood and keep the joins 

 together — as to these indeed I am rather surprised 

 that there shoukl be any<* — and that the folding 

 doors are made of cypress wood, and the whole of 

 the timber looks Uke new wood after having lasted 

 nearly 400 years. It is also worth noting that the 

 doors were kept for four years in a frame of glue. 

 Cypress was chosen for them because it is the one 

 kind of wood which beyond all others retains its 

 polish in the best condition for all time. Has not 

 the statue of Vejovis in the citadel, made of cypress 

 wood, lasted since its dedication in the year 561 * 

 after the foundation of Rome ? Noteworthy also 

 is the temple of Apollo at Utica, where beams of 

 Numidian cedar have lasted for 1178 years just 

 as they were when they were put in position at the 

 original foundation of that city ; and the temple 

 of Diana at Saguntum in Spain, thc statue of the 

 goddess, according to the authority of Bocchus, 



527 



