Flinies Naturall Hiftorie^ 



CHAPi XXV, 



^ Ofmanj and fundrie prodigies or flrAttnge tokens and accidents about trtesi 

 i^Ifo of an olive plot, which in times paB ms t ran ported all 

 and whole from one fide of an high port- 

 my to another, 



IN this trcatifc of the faults and imperfeaions incident to trees, me thinks I fhould doe well to - 

 fayfomewhatofthe fupcrnaturall occtirrencts inthemobferved;forwC have knowne fomc 

 of them to grow up and prolper without any leaves at all . And as there have been vines and 

 B Pomegranats fecne to bcarc fruit, (pringing immcdiatly from the trunke, and not from braunch 

 or bough 5 fo there have been vines charged with grapes, and riot clad with leaves : aiid Olives 

 likewife had their berries hanging upon them whole and found, notwithftanding all their leaves 

 were flied and gone, 



Moreover,ftraungc wonders and miracles have happened about trees, by meere chanceand 

 fortune-.forthciewasanOliveonce, which beeing burnt to the very ftumpe, revived and came 

 againe : and in Boeotia, certaine Fig trccs^ notwithftanding they were eaten and gnawne moft 

 piteoufly with Locufts, yet budded anew and put forth a frelh fpring. Alfo it hath been marked, 

 that trees have chaunged their colour,from blacke to white, And yet this is i^ot alwaies a mon- 

 ftrous thingbcyortd naturall reafon, and fpccially in fuch as come of feed, as we may obferve in 



C the Afpc,which cftfoons turneth to be a Poplar, Some are of opinion, that the Servife tree, if it 

 be tranfplanted and come into a hoter ground than is agreeable to the nature therof, will leave 

 bearing and be barrairi. But ic is taken for no leffe than a monfter out of kind^ that fweet Apples 

 and fuch like Fruits fhould proove fowre; or fowre fruit turne to befweet: as alfo that a wild fig 

 tree rtiould become camcjorcontrariwife. And it is counted an unluckiefigne^ifany tree change 

 from the better to the worfe ; to wit,if a gentle garden Olive degenerate into the wild and favage : 

 if a vine that was wont tobeare white grapes, have now black upon it : and fo likewife if a Fig tree 

 which ufed to have white Figs,chaunce afterwards to beare blacke. And here by the way, I can 

 not forget the ftraunge accident that befell in Laodicea^ where(upon the arrivallof K.X^^.vw) 

 a Plane tree was turned into an Olive. Butif any manbe defirous to know more of thele & fuch 



^ 1 ke rairaclesjforafmuch as I love not to run on ftill and make no end, I referrc him over to Jri- 

 fiander a Gieeke writer,who hath compiled a whole volume and ftuffed it full of fuch like won- 

 ders : let him have rccourfe alfo to C, Epidius a countreyman of ours, whofe commentaries are 

 full of fuch ftufie^ where he (hall find alfo, that trees fometimesfpake. 



A little before the civill warre brake out betweenc Itdms Cxftr and Pompey the GfCat , there 

 was reported an ominous andfearefullfigfit prefaging no good, from out of the rcrritorie of 

 Cumes, namely. That a great tree there funkc downe into the earth fo deepe, that a very littk 

 of the top-boughs was to be fecne. Hereupon were the prophccicall bookes of Sil^y/ia perufed, 

 wherein it was found that this progedie portended fomc great carnage of mpn; and that the 

 nearer that this daughter & execution fhould be toRome,the greater Hiould the bloiidilicd be. 



£ A prodigious figne and wonder it is reputed alfo, when trees feeme to grow in places where 

 they were notwoont to be, and which are not ^g'reeable to their naturesj as namely, upon the 

 chapters of pillars, the heads of ftatues, or upon altars -.like as to fee one tree of a divers and 

 contrarie kind growing upon the top of another; as it befell about thecitiie Cyzicum hard be- 

 fore the ftrcight fiege that was laid unto it [by LMilhridates] both by fea and land, where a Fig 

 tree was fecne to grow upon a Lawrcll. Likewife at Tralleis, about the time of the forcfaid civill 

 warre, a Date tree grew out of thebafe or foot of acokimnethat Cdfar Didatour caufed there 

 to be ereaed.Semblably at Rome alio, twife during the warre betweenc the Romans and king 

 Z'fyTfMy/hcrc was a Date tree knowne to grow upon the lanterneor top of the CapitoU tem- ^orasforae 

 pie ; forclbcwing thofe vi dories and triumphs which afterwards cnfuedjto the great honour of j^e^ad. head 



F the people of Rome. And when this was by ftormes and tempefts ovcrihrowne and laid along, ° the 

 there fprung up of it felfe in the very fame place ,a Figtree, at what time as M, Mefala and Caiu^ Capitoii. 

 Crf///^ the two Cenfors, held their Quinquennall folemne facrifices for the aflbiling and pur- 

 ging of the citic of Rome '.from which time Pifo (arenowmed Hiftoriographcr and writer of 

 good credit) hath noted> that the Romanes were given over lo voluptuoufncfle and fcnfualitic^ 



Aaaij ° and 



