BOOK III. VIII. 2-5 



She has adorned Germany with armies of exceedingly 2 

 tall men ; but she has not wholly deprived other 

 nations of men of exceptional stature. For Cicero 

 bears witness that there was once a Roman citizen, 

 Naevius PoUio," who was a foot taller than the tallest 

 of other men ; and recently we ourselves might have 

 seen, among the exhibits of the procession at the 

 games in the Circus, a man of the Jewish race who was 

 of greater stature than the tallest German. I pass 3 

 to cattle. Mevania ^ is famous for its herds of tall 

 cattle, Ligui'ia for small ; but an ox of low stature 

 is seen now and then in Mevania, and a bull of 

 towering proportions in Liguria. India is said to 

 excite astonishment for the hugeness of its wild 

 animals ; yet who will deny that beasts of equally 

 vast size are bred in this land, when we consider that 

 elephants are brought forth within our own walls ? 

 But I return to various kinds of crops. They say 4 

 that Mysia and Libya produce enormous quantities 

 of grain, but that the fields of Apulia and Campania 

 are not wanting in rich crops ; that Tmolus and 

 Corycus " are considered famous for the saffron- 

 flower, and Judea and Arabia for their precious 

 scents ; but that our own community is not destitute 

 of the aforesaid plants, for in many sections of the 

 city we see at one time cassia putting forth its leaves, 

 again the franldncense plant, and gardens blooming 

 with myrrh and saffron. Surely these examples 5 



" Cf. Pliny, N.H. VII. 74. It has been conjectured that 

 the source of the story is a lost work of Cicero, De Admirandis, 

 mentioned by Pliny, N.H. XXXI. 12. 



* Modern Bevagna in Umbria, a region long famous for its 

 huge white cattle. 



'^ Tmolus, a mountain in Phrygia ; cf. Vergil, Georg. I. 56. 

 Corycus, a town and promontory in Cilicia. 



275 



