ii.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 45 



Maple family ; both because the Italian acero, and 

 the Romaic cr0e^5a/xt, evident corruptions of the 

 Latin and Greek names, are applied to this tree, 

 and also because the descriptions presented to us by 

 classical writers correspond in a general way with 

 the characters belonging to the Maple tribe. 



The name of Acer is derived from the pointed 

 character of its leaves ; and Pliny describes the tree 

 as nearly of the same size as the Lime, stating that 

 slabs cut from it are superior even to the Citrus 

 in the beauty of its wood, and are only less adapted 

 for cabinet-work from their inferior size. 



But in identifying the Acer of the Romans and 

 the ^(pevdajjivos' of the Greeks with some particular 

 species of Maple, and in imagining that the ancients 

 applied these terms consistently to one and the 

 same tree, modern writers have been much too pre- 

 cipitate. 



There can be no doubt that Ovid n had in view 

 a different plant, when he speaks of the Acer vile, 

 even though in another passage he alludes to the 

 variegation of colour for which its timber was prized, 

 from that which Virgil alluded to in speaking of 

 the wooden horse of Troy, and of the spear of 

 King Evander, as being constructed with beams 

 of this wood ; as well as in associating the tree 

 in question with the lofty Fir, as constituting the 

 sacred groves of Phrygia . 



" Nigranti picea trabibusque obscurus acernis." 



The Acer of Ovid would seem to agree best with 



" Elog. i. 11. 28. Mn. ix. 87. 



