previous next
[12] In these regions there are many fields, planted with vineyards and various kinds of fruits. Here too palm trees are wont to grow, extending over a wide expanse as far as Mesene 1 and the great sea, 2 in mighty groves. And wherever anyone goes, one constantly sees palm branches with and without fruit, 3 and from their yield an abundance of honey and wine is made. 4 The palms themselves are said to couple, and the sexes may easily be distinguished. 5

1 Apamia, cf. xxiii. 6, 43.

2 The Caspian.

3 See Gellius, ii. 26, 10; iii. 9, 9, palmae termes ex arbore cum fructu “spadix” dicitur. Ammianus alone uses the form spadicum (n.).

4 Cf. Hdt. i. 193.

5 Cf. Pliny, N.H. xiii. 34 f. Herodotus, i. 193, thinks that an insect carries the seed from the male to the female tree.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1940)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1939)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1935)
load focus Latin (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1935)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: