438 
BOOK XVII. 
THE NATUEAL HISTOEY OF THE CULTIVATED TEEES. 
CHAP. 1. (1.) TEEES WHICH HAYE BEEl^ SOLD AT ENOEMOUS 
PEICES. 
"We have described the trees which grow spontaneously on 
land and in the sea/ and it now remains for us to speak of 
those which owe their formation, properly speaking, rather than 
birth, to art and the inventive genius of man.^ Here^ how- 
ever, I cannot but express my surprise, that after the state of 
penury in which man lived, as already described,^ in primitive 
times, holding the trees of the forest in common with the wild 
beasts, and disputing with them the possession of the fruits 
that fell, and with the fowls of the air that of the fruits as they 
hung on the tree, luxury has now attached to them prices so 
enormous. 
The most famous instance, in my opinion, of this excess, was 
that displayed by L. Crassus and Cneius Domitius Aheno- 
barbus. Crassus was one of the most celebrated of the Eoman 
orators ; his house was remarkable for its magnificence, though 
in some measure surpassed even by that of Q. Catulus,* 
also upon the Palatine Hill ; the same Catulus, who, in con- 
junction with C. Marius, defeated the Cimbri. But by far 
the finest house of all that period, it was universally acknow- 
ledged, was that of C. Aquilius, a Eoman of Equestrian rank, 
situate upon the Yiminal Hill ; a house, indeed, that conferred 
a greater degree of celebrity upon him than even his acquaint- 
ance with the civil law. This, however, did not prevent 
Crassus being reproached with the magnificence of his. Cras- 
sus and Domitius, members, both of them, of the most iUus- 
1 He alludes to the various shrubs and trees, mentioned as growing in 
the sea, B. xiii. c. 48 ; but which there is little doubt, in reality belong to 
the class of fuci. 
2 "Fiunt verius quam nascuntur;" a distinction perpetuated in the 
adage, '* Poeta nascitur, non fit." 
3 He probably alludes to his remark in B. xvi. c. 1. 
* Q. Luctatius Catulus, the colleague of Marius. Being afterwards con- 
demned to die by Marius, he sufi'ocated himself with the fumes of charcoal > 
