Naturalis Historia

C. Plinius Caecilius

Corona quidem nulla fuit graminea nobilior, in maiestate populi terrarum principis praemiisque gloriae. Gemmatae et aureae, vallares, murales, rostratae, civicae, triumphales post hanc fuere suntque cunctae magno intervallo magnaque differentia.

No crown indeed has been a higher honour than the crown of grass among the rewards for glorious deeds given by the sovereign people, lords of the earth. Jewelled crowns, golden crowns, crowns for scaling enemy ramparts or walls, or for boarding men-of-war, the civic crown for saving the life of a citizen, the triumph crown-- these were instituted later than this grass crown, and all differ from it greatly, in distinction as in character.

Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library from C. Plinius Caecilius: Natural History (Volume VI. Books 20-23), Loeb Classical Library Vol. 392, translated by W.H.S. Jones, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, © 1951, by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Loeb Classical Library ® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

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