148 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [7 :6— Sept., 1911 



some giant tree or walk in the midst of some magnificent forest 

 in its virgin state, and we do not have to be poets to possess these 

 feelings. 



The writers of ancient times likewise seem to have had a love 

 for the trees and made frequent references to them. The Bible 

 is a good example of this. A knowledge of the trees will some- 

 times aid us in the interpretation of a passage in classical litera- 

 ture ; for example, Vergil's Aeneid, Book III, line 6799, which 

 ends with the words vcrticc sclso. There are several lines in the 

 sentence, and for the Latin the reader is referred to the Aeneid. 

 Translated into English it should read "We perceived the 

 Aetnean brothers. .. .raising their lofty heads to the sky, such 

 as when stately oaks or cone-bearing cypress trees stand together 

 with lofty top, (vertice eels 6). The editors and commentators 

 on Vergil interpret vcrticc echo here to mean a high mountain 

 top. Again, this interpretation destroys and makes ridiculous a 

 beautiful simile as it came from Vergil's hands. Trees, if there be 

 any on the summit of a lofty mountain, are little dwarf-like speci- 

 mens of their kind, mere shrubs. According to the common 

 interpretation, Vergil is comparing this mythical race of giants, 

 one of whom uses the trunk of a tree for a walking stick, to 

 these drawfed specimens of trees. Such an interpretation is not 

 only absurd but a reflection on this country poet's knowledge of 

 nature. 



