Footnote 688: We find that the Persea grew, likewise, in the island of Rhodes, but there, though flowers came, it produced no fruit.—Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 3, 5. For a full description of the tree see iv. 2, 5, and Cf. Caus. Plant. ii. 3, 7.—In its original country, Persia, the fruit of this tree is said to have been poisonous, for which reason the companions of Cambyses carried along with them numerous young trees, which they planted in various parts of Egypt, that the inhabitants, eating of the fruit, might perish. But, through the influence of soil and climate, the nature of the Persea was wholly changed, and, instead of a harsh and fatal berry, produced delicious fruit.—Ælian. de Nat. Animal. ap. Schneid. ad Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 2, 5. t. iii. p. 284.—Cf. Athen. xiv. 61.—Schweigh. Animadv. t. xii. p. 585. Plin. xv. 13. xvi. 46. Footnote 689: Athen. xiv. 63. Footnote 690: The best pomegranates, however, were grown in Egypt and Cilicia.—Theoph. Caus. Plant. ii. 13. 4. ----- Speaking of this fruit, which the Bœotians call _sidè_, Agatharchides relates the following anecdote: A dispute arising between the Athenians and Bœotians, respecting a spot called _Sidè_, situated on the borders, Epaminondas, in order to decide the question, took out a pomegranate from under his robe, and demanded of the Athenians, what they called it. “_Rhoa_” they replied. “Very good,” said Epaminondas; “but we call it _Sidè_, and, as the place derives its name from the fruit which grows there in abundance, it is clear the land must belong to us.” And it was decided in favour of the Bœotians.[691] ----- Footnote 691: Athen. xiv. 64. ----- We have already observed, that the palm-tree flourished and produced dates in Greece, particularly in Attica and Delos;[692] but it is clear, from a remark of Xenophon, that these dates were small and of an inferior quality; for, speaking of the productions of Mesopotamia, he says, that they set aside for the slaves such dates as resembled those produced in Greece, while the larger and finer kinds,[693] which were like amber in colour, they selected for their own use. They were also dried, as they still are in the East, to be eaten as a dessert, at other seasons of the year. From which we learn, that the black date, which is larger and finer than the yellow, was not then cultivated in Persia. But neither dates, nor any other fruit, could compare with the grape, which is found in perfection in almost every part of Greece, where, as in Burgundy and, I presume, in the rest of France, the law regulated the period of the vintage, prohibiting individuals from gathering their grapes earlier under a heavy penalty.[694] The best kind of grape in Attica, like that of the _Clos Vougeot_ in Burgundy, was the _Nikostrateios_, supposed to be unrivalled for excellence, though the Rhodians pretended, in their _Hipponion_, to possess its equal.[695] ----- Footnote 692: