[744] _Arbore._ Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. xc., "Non sum crispa quidem nec sylvæ filia Mauræ, sed nôrunt lautas et mea ligna dapes." Cf. Sat. i., 75, 137; iv., 132. The extravagance of the Romans on their tables is almost incredible. Pliny says that Cicero himself, who accuses Verres of stealing a Citrea mensa from Diodorus (in Verr., iv., 17), gave a million of sesterces for one which was in existence in his time. A "Senatoris Census" was a price given. These tables were not provided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column (sometimes carved into the figure of animals), hence called monopodia. They were called "Orbes," not from being _round_, but because they were massive plates of wood cut off the stem in its whole diameter. The wood of the _citrus_ was most preferred. This is not the _citron_-tree, which never attains to this bulk, but a tree found in Mauritania, called the thyæ cypressides. Plin., xiii., 16. Those cut near the root were most valued from the wood being variegated: hence "Tigrinæ, pantherinæ, pavonum caudæ oculos imitantes." The mensæ were formerly square, but were afterward round to suit the new fashion of the Sigma couch. The Romans also understood the art of veneering tables and other furniture with the citrus wood and tortoise-shell. [745] _Porta Syenes._ Syene, now "Assouan," is situated near the rapids, just on the confines of Ethiopia. It was a station for a Roman garrison, and the place to which Juvenal is said to have been banished. Some think the island Elephantine is here meant. Cf. ad x., 150, "aliosque Elephantos." [746] _Mauro._ Ab ἀμαυρός, vel μαυρός, "obscurus." Cf. Lucan., iv., 678, "Concolor Indo Maurus." [747] _Nabathæo._ The Nabathæi, in Arabia Petræa, took their name from "Nebaioth, first-born of Ishmael," Gen., xxv., 13. Elephants are said to shed their tusks every two years. [748] _Orexis._ VI., 428. _Vires._ Henninius' suggestion. Cf. ad l. 14. [749] _Tessellæ._ Holyday explains this by "chess-board," from the resemblance of the squares to the tesselated pavements. But it is a die, properly; of which shape the separate tesseræ were. Mart., xiv., 17, "Hic mihi bis seno numeratur tessera puncto: Calculus hic gemino discolor hoste perit." Cf. Ep. 14. Cicero considers this game to be one of the legitimate amusements of old age. "Nobis senibus, ex lusionibus multis, talos relinquant et _tesseras_," de Sen., xvi. "Old Mucius Scævola, the lawyer, was a great proficient at it. It was called Ludus duodecim scriptorum, from the lines dividing the alveolus. On these the two armies, white and black, each consisting of fifteen men, or calculi, were placed; and alternately moved, according to the chances of the dice, _tesseræ_." Vid. Gibbon, chap. xxxi.