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in great estimation : it was their custom to 

 carry a basket of figs next to the vessel of 

 wine used in the Dionysia, or festivals in 

 honour of Bacchus ; and it is related to have 

 been the favourite fruit of Cleopatra, who 

 was the most luxurious queen the world ever 

 produced. The asp with which she termi- 

 nated her life, was conveyed to her in a 

 basket of figs. 



Saturn, one of the Roman deities, was 

 represented crowned with new figs ; he being 

 supposed to have first taught the use of 

 agriculture in Italy. There was a temple in 

 Rome dedicated to this god, before which, 

 grew a large fig-tree. The Vestals, when they 

 removed this tree in order to build a chapel 

 on the spot, offered an expiatory sacrifice : 

 this happened about two hundred and sixty 

 years after the foundation of the city. 



The fig was a fruit much admired by 

 the Romans, who brought it from most of 

 the countries they conquered, and had so in- 

 creased the varieties in Italy, by the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era, that Pliny 

 has furnished us with a description of twenty- 

 nine sorts that were familiar to him. He 

 says, " figs are restorative) and the best food 

 that can be taken by those who are brought 

 low by long sickness, and are on the recovery." 



