res which are destructive. Hence, buildings
made of these kinds of wood last for an unending period of time.

13. The cedar and the juniper tree have the same uses and good
qualities, but, while the cypress and pine yield resin, from the cedar
is produced an oil called cedar-oil. Books as well as other things
smeared with this are not hurt by worms or decay. The foliage of this
tree is like that of the cypress but the grain of the wood is straight.
The statue of Diana in the temple at Ephesus is made of it, and so are
the coffered ceilings both there and in all other famous fanes, because
that wood is everlasting. The tree grows chiefly in Crete, Africa, and
in some districts of Syria.

14. The larch, known only to the people of the towns on the banks of the
river Po and the shores of the Adriatic, is not only preserved from
decay and the worm by the great bitterness of its sap, but also it
cannot be kindled with fire nor ignite of itself, unless like stone in a
limekiln it is burned with other wood. And even then it does not take
fire nor produce burning coals, but after a long time it slowly consumes
away. This is because there is a very small proportion of the elements
of fire and air in its composition, which is a dense and solid mass of
moisture and the earthy, so that it has no open pores through which fire
can find its way; but it repels the force of fire and does not let
itself be harmed by it quickly. Further, its weight will not let it
float in water, so that when transported it is loaded on shipboard or on
rafts made of fir.

15. It is worth while to know how this wood was discovered. The divine
Caesar, being with his army in the neighbourhood of the Alps, and having
ordered the towns to furnish supplies, the inhabitants of a fortified
stronghold there, called Larignum, trusting in the natural strength of
their defences, refused to obey his command. So the general ordered his
forces to the assault. In front of the gate of this stronghold there
was a tower, made of beams of this wood laid in alternating directions
at right angles to each other, like a funeral pyre, and built high, so
that they could drive off an attacking party by throwing stakes and
stones from the top. When it was observed that they had no other
missiles than stakes, and that these could not be hurled very far from
the wall on account of the weight, orders were given to approach and to
throw bundles of brushwood and lighted torches at this