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the Grecians who attended the Panathenssa, 

 a festival held at Athens in honour of Mi- 

 nerva. Those who excelled in any of the 

 games during this festival, were crowned with 

 a wreath of olives, which grew in the grove 

 of Academus, a place near the city, with 

 spacious and shady walks, belonging to a 

 man of that name. Plato having here opened 

 a school of philosophy, all places of learning 

 have been since called Academies. 



As to the soil of the olive-tree, we may 

 conclude, from several passages in Scripture, 

 that it grew naturally in Syria ; but particu- 

 larly near Jerusalem, if we may judge by 

 the Mount of Olives, so often mentioned in 

 the New Testament. It was first planted 

 in Italy in the thirteenth year of the reign 

 of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome ; 

 and in that very year was Nebuchadnezzar 

 restored to his understanding and his king- 

 dom, after having spent seven years among 

 the beasts of the field. 



The olive seems to have been highly ap- 

 preciated by the Romans ; as Pliny says, 

 " except the vine, there is not a tree bearing 

 fruit of so great account as the olive. Fe- 

 nestella informs us," says this author, " that 

 during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. which 

 was about the 183d year from the. fbunda 



