10 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



particularly for the purpose of building, being 

 almost imperishable, and less inflammable 

 than any other wood ; and we read of no tree 

 that exceeded it in height. Amongst the 

 timber which was brought to Rome for the 

 purpose of building the bridge called Nau- 

 machiaria, about the 20th year, a. d., was a 

 larch that measured two feet square in thick- 

 ness throughout, from end to end, and was 

 of the extraordinary length of 120 feet ; the 

 tree must therefore have been not less than 

 from 130 to 150 feet in height. Tiberius 

 Caesar would not allow this wonderful trunk 

 to be used in the erecting of the bridge then 

 building, but commanded it to be placed 

 where all persons might see it as a curiosity ; 

 and where it remained for about thirty years, 

 until Nero employed it in building his vast 

 Amphitheatre. Amongst the Romans, the 

 larch was employed, in preference to every 

 other kind of wood, in buildings where 

 strength and durability were required.* 



Pliny tells us, that the larch was not found 

 to decay in buildings like other pine timber ; 

 and that it burnt more like a stone than 

 wood, never causing flame. This quality of 

 the larch was not unknown to Julis, as he calls 

 it lignum igni impenetrabile. 



* Pliny, book xvi. chap. 40. 



