reference texts
reference texts

Natural History 16.56

Original


Fructum arborum solae nullum ferunt - hoc est ne semen quidem - tamarix, scopis tantum nascens, populus, alnus, ulmus atinia, alaternus, cui folia inter ilicem et olivam. Infelices autem existimantur damnataeque religione, quae neque seruntur umquam neque fructum ferunt. Cremutius auctor est numquam virere arborem, ex qua phyllis se suspenderit.

Translation in Greek


Τα μόνα από τα δέντρα που δεν φέρουν καρπό - ούτε καν σπόρο - είναι το αλμυρίκι, που παράγει μόνο σκούπες, η λεύκα, η σκλήθρα, η φτελιά, η φτελιά του αγρού και το κιτρινόξυλο, του οποίου τα φύλλα είναι κάτι ανάμεσα σε βελανιδιά και ελιά. Ακόμη πιστεύεται ότι είναι κακότυχα και δυσοίωνα τα δέντρα που ούτε φυτεύονται ποτέ ούτε καρποφορούν. Ο Κρεμούτιος διαβεβαιώνει ότι το δέντρο από το οποίο κρεμάστηκε η Φυλλίδα δεν πρασινίζει ποτέ.

Translation in English


The only ones among all the trees that bear nothing whatever, not so much as any seed even, are the tamarisk, which is used only for making brooms, the poplar, the alder, the Atinian elm, and the alaternus, which has a leaf between that of the holm-oak and the olive. Those trees are regarded as sinister, and are considered inauspicious, which are never propagated from seed, and bear no fruit. Cremutius informs us, that this tree, being the one upon which Phyllis hanged herself, is never green. 


Author: Pliny the Elder

Language : Latin

Text type: Encyclopedic writings

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