Chap. 36.] ANECDOTES RELA.TIYE TO THE MTETLE. 
329 
Europe, which commence on this side of the Ceraunian moun- 
tains,^^ growing at Circeii,^ near the tomb of Elpenor there : 
it still retains its Greek name, which clearly proves it to be 
an exotic. There were myrtles growing on the site now occu- 
pied by Eome, at the time of its foundation ; for a tradition 
exists to the effect that the Eomans and the Sabines, after 
they had intended fighting, on account of the virgins who had 
been ravished by the former, purified themselves, first laying 
down their arms, with sprigs of myrtle, on the very same spot 
which is now occupied by the statues of Yenus Cluacina ; for 
in the ancient language cluere'' means to purify. 
This tree is employed, too, for a species of fumigation being 
selected for that purpose, because Yenus, who presides over all 
unions, is the tutelary divinity of the tree.^^ I am not quite 
sure, too, whether this tree was not the very first that was 
planted in the public places of Eome, the result of some omi- 
nous presage by the augurs of wondrous import. For at the 
Temple of Quirinus, or, in other words, of Eomulus himself, 
one of the most ancient in Eome, there were formerly two 
myrtle- trees, which grew for a long period just in front of 
the temple ; one of these was called the Patrician tree, the 
other the Plebeian. The Patrician myrtle was for many years 
the superior tree, full of sap and vigour ; indeed, so long as the 
Senate maintained its superiority, so did the tree, being of 
large growth, while the Plebeian tree presented a meagre, 
shrivelled appearance. In later times, however, the latter tree 
gained the superiority, and the Patrician myrtle began to fail 
just at the period of the^^ Marsic War,^^ when the power of 
the Senate was so greatly weakened : and little by little did 
this once majestic tree sink into a state of utter exhaustion 
and sterility. There was an ancient altar also, consecrated" 
S3 He means the Acroceraunian chain in Epirus, mentioned in B. iii. 
3^ See B. iii. c. 9. 
35 He was one of the companions of Ulysses, fabled by Homer and Ovid 
to have been transformed by Circe into a swine. 
36 Mvpffivrj was its Greek name. 37 gee B. xxv. c. 59. 
38 See B. xii. c. 2. Ovid, Fasti, B. iv. 1. 15, et seq.j says that Yenus con- 
cealed herself from the gaze of the Satyrs behind this tree, 
39 Either this story is untrue, or we have a right to suspect that some 
underhand agency was employed for the purpose of imposing on the super- 
stitious credulity of the Roman people. 
40 Or Social War. See B. ii. c. 85. 
*i Near the altar of Census, close to the meta of the Circus. 
