56 On the supposed Change 



before remarked, respecting the germination of plants 

 in the same month. 



There is a passage in Joseph (Jewish War. b. 3. ch. 

 10,) which describes the climate near the lake of Gen- 

 nesareth, as remarkably mild and pleasant ; and after 

 mentioning its fruitfulness in palm-trees, olives and figs, 

 it is said that grapes and figs are supplied from the trees 

 for ten months in the year. How incompatible is this 

 description with the supposed rigor of the ancient win- 

 ters in Judea ! 



Tacitus informs us, Hist. lib. 3. 59. that Vespasian's 

 army, in passing the Appenine to quell a revolt in Vv^in- 

 ter, suffered severe distresses from cold and snovi^ But 

 we must recollect that the French army, but a few years 

 past, suffered equally from the same causes, in the same 

 country, on their march through the Neapolitan territo- 

 ries. 



Pelloutier, in his history of the Celts, book i. ch. 12, as- 

 serts that in the time of the first Roman Emperors, 

 " On ne recueilloit encore dans les Gaules, ni vin, ni 

 huile, ni d'autres fiTiits, et cela a cause de la rigueur du 

 climat, et du froid excessif qui y regiioit." He admits 

 indeed that in Germany were some cultivated fields, but 

 not one fruit tree, as such could not sustain the rigor of 

 the cold. The boldness and positiveness of this writer, 

 led me to recur to his authorities and examine them with 

 care. 



Strabo, a most diligent investigator, and accurate 

 geographer, in the very passage cited by Pelloutier, 

 overthrows the assertion of the latter author. " Narbon-^ 

 cnsian Gaul," says Strabo, " produces the same fruits as 

 Italy. Proceeding to the north and the Cevennes, the 

 country produces the same fruits, the fig and olive only 

 excepted." — Book iv. § 2. This account corresponds 

 with that of Piiny, as I have in my former dissertation 

 stated at large ; where it is proved that figs and olives 

 grew, in the times of the first Emperors, in the province 

 of Narbonne, which comprehended the more modern 

 Provence and Dauphine, and that north of that region 

 they will not now thrive, nor are they cultivated* 

 But ail parts of Gaul, says Strabo, will produce the fruits 



