The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 · the Elder Pliny
CHAP. 2. (1.)—THE EARLY HISTORY OF TREES.
The trees formed the first temples of the gods, and even at the present day, the country people, preserving in all their simplicity their ancient rites, consecrate the finest among their trees to some divinity;[419] indeed, we feel ourselves inspired to adoration, not less by the sacred groves and their very stillness, than by the statues of the gods, resplendent as they are with gold and ivory. Each kind of tree remains immutably consecrated to its own peculiar divinity, the beech[420] to Jupiter,[421] the laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, and the poplar to Hercules: besides which, it is our belief that the Sylvans, the Fauns, and various kinds of goddess Nymphs, have the tutelage of the woods, and we look upon those deities as especially appointed to preside over them by the will of heaven. In more recent times, it was the trees that by their juices, more soothing even than corn, first mollified the natural asperity of man; and it is from these that we now derive the oil of the olive that renders the limbs so supple, the draught of wine that so efficiently recruits the strength, and the numerous delicacies which spring up spontaneously at the various seasons of the year, and load our tables with their viands—tables to replenish which, we engage in combat with wild beasts, and seek for the fishes which have fattened upon the dead corpse of the shipwrecked mariner—indeed, it is only at the second[422] course, after all, that the produce of the trees appears.
But, in addition to this, the trees have a thousand other uses, all of which are indispensable to the full enjoyment of life. It is by the aid of the tree that we plough the deep, and bring near to us far distant lands; it is by the aid of the tree, too, that we construct our edifices. The statues, even, of the deities were formed of the wood of trees, in the days when no value had been set as yet on the dead carcase[423] of a wild beast, and when, luxury not yet deriving its sanction from the gods themselves, we had not to behold, resplendent with the same ivory, the heads of the divinities[424] and the feet of our tables. It is related that the Gauls, separated from us as they were by the Alps, which then formed an almost insurmountable bulwark, had, as their chief motive for invading Italy, its dried figs, its grapes, its oil, and its wine, samples[425] of which had been brought back to them by Helico, a citizen of the Helvetii, who had been staying at Rome, to practise there as an artizan. We may offer some excuse, then, for them, when we know that they came in quest of these various productions, though at the price even of war. CHAP. 3.—EXOTIC TREES. WHEN THE PLANE-TREE FIRST APPEARED IN ITALY, AND WHENCE IT CAME.
But who is there that will not, with good reason, be surprised to learn that a tree has been introduced among us from a foreign clime for nothing but its shade? I mean the plane,[426] which was first brought across the Ionian Sea to the Isle[427] of Diomedes, there to be planted at his tomb, and was afterwards imported thence into Sicily, being one of the very first exotic trees that were introduced into Italy. At the present day, however, it has penetrated as far as the country of the Morini, and occupies even a tributary[428] soil; in return for which those nations have to pay a tax for the enjoyment of its shade. Dionysius the Elder, one of the tyrants of Sicily, had plane-trees conveyed to the city of Rhegium, where they were looked upon as the great marvel of his palace, which was afterwards converted into a gymnasium. These trees did not, however, in that locality, attain any very great height. I find it also stated by some authors, that there were some other instances, in those days even, of plane-trees being found in Italy, and I find some mentioned by name as existing in Spain.[429] This circumstance took place about the time of the capture of the City of Rome; and to such high honour, in the course of time, did the plane-tree attain, that it was nurtured by pouring wine upon it, it being found that the roots were greatly strengthened by doing[430] so. Thus have we taught the very trees, even, to be wine-bibbers!
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