342 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book XVI. 
the impiety of civil war, it was first deemed a meritorious 
action not to shed the blood of a fellow-citizen. Far inferior 
to this in rank are the muraP^ crown, the vallar,^"^ and the 
golden^^ one, superior though they may he in the value of the 
material : inferior, too, in merit, is the rostrate^^ crown, though 
ennobled, in recent times more particularly, by two great names, 
those of M. Varro,^^ who was presented with it by Pompeius 
Magnus, for his great achievements in the Piratic War, and of 
M. Agrippa, on whom it was bestowed by Csesar, at the end 
of the Sicilian War, which was also a war against pirates. 
In former days the beaks^^ of vessels, fastened in front of the 
tribunal, graced the Forum, and seemed, as it were, a crown 
placed upon the head of the Eoman people itself. In later 
times, however, they began to be polluted and trodden under 
foot amid the seditious movements of the tribunes, the public 
interest was sacrificed to private advantage, each citizen 
sought solely his own advancement, and everything looked 
upon as holy was abandoned to profanation — still, from amid 
all this, the Rostra^'^ emerged once again, and passed from 
beneath the feet of the citizens to their heads. Augustus 
presented to Agrippa the rostrate crown, while he himself 
received the civic crown"'^ at the hands of all mankind. 
CHAP. 4. THE OKIGIN OF THE PRESENTATION^ OP CROWNS. 
In ancient times crowns were presented to none but a 
1^ Given to the first man who scaled the wall of a besieged place. It 
was made of gold, and decorated with turrets. 
Given to the first soldier who surmounted the vallum or entrench- 
ments. It was made of gold, and ornamented with " valli," or palisades. 
One of the varieties of the triumphal crown was the "corona aurea," 
or " golden crown.'* 
19 Made of gold, and decorated with the "rostra," or beaks " of ships, 
20 See B. vii. c. 31. 
The orator's stage in the Forum was decorated with the "rostra," or 
" beaks '* of the ships of the Antiates ; hence it received the name cf " Ros- 
trum." The locality of the Eostra was changed by Julius Csesar. 
22 Alluding to the prostitution of the Eostra by the tribunes and others 
for the purposes of sedition, and the presentation by Augustus of the ros- 
trate crown to Agrippa. 
23 Which was suspended, as already mentioned, at the gate of his palace. 
25 Athenseus and Fabius Pictor say that Janus was the first wearer of a 
crown ; Pherecydes says it was Saturn, Diodorus Siculus Jupiter, and Leo 
iEgyptiacus Isis, who wore one of wheat. 
