ii.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 41 



cially prized for the rich play of colours which their 

 variegated and knotty texture produced. But the 

 wood was also in request for furniture, especially in 

 veneering. 



Pliny has given a long account of the qualities 

 most esteemed in these tables, and Martial and 

 Lucan also refer to them. 



Horace g proposes to employ the wood, as the 

 most precious commodity that could be selected, 

 for a temple in which a marble statue of Venus was 

 to be placed : 



" Albanos prope te lacus 

 Ponet marmoream sub trabe citrea ;" 



and Petronius Arbiter, in descanting upon the luxury 

 of the Romans, seems to represent it as worth more 

 than its weight in gold, where he says, 



" Ecce Afris eruta terris 

 Ponitur, ac maculis iinitatur vilius aurum 

 Citrea mensa." 



Now I am aware that some modern writers have 

 supposed that the wood which furnished this ma- 

 terial was the Cedrus atlantica ; but it is more 

 probable that it was the Thuya articulata, or Cal- 

 litris quadrivalvis, a coniferous tree, which is found 

 at present in Algeria, and furnished those beautiful 

 specimens of ornamental cabinet-work which were 

 so much admired at the Exhibition in Paris a few 

 years ago h . 



From its fragrant odour it was known in the early 



s Carm. i. lib. 4. Od. 1. 



h See Catalogue des produits Algeriennes. Paris, 1855. 



