CHAP. 56. (55.)—OBJECTS. WHICH ARE NEVER STRUCK.
Among the productions of the earth, thunder never strikes
the laurel[1], nor does it descend more than five feet into the
earth. Those, therefore, who are timid consider the deepest
caves as the most safe; or tents made of the skins of the
animal called the sea-calf, since this is the only marine animal which is never struck[2]; as is the case, among birds, with
the eagle; on this account it is represented as the bearer of
this weapon[3]. In Italy, between Terracina and the temple
of Feronia, the people have left off building towers in time
of war, every one of them having been destroyed by thunderbolts.
1. Although it has been thought necessary by M. Fée, in the notes to
Ajasson's trans., ii. 384, 385, to enter into a formal examination of this
opinion of the author's, I conceive that few of our readers will agree with
him in this respect.
2. Suetonius informs us, that Augustus always wore a seal's skin for
this purpose; Octavius, § 90.
3. The eagle was represented by the ancients with a thunderbolt in its
claws.