76
SPALATO
the little valley at S. Dujam (S. Doimo), or else, as Mons. Buli6 himself is inclined to hold, at Libovac, two kilometres south of Kucine, two kilometres south-east of Mravince, and the same distance north-east of Kamen (Sasso).
  But if Diocletian’s birthplace be in doubt, the meaning of the name Spalato, the site he chose for his villa, is no less so. One is loath to give up the attractive derivation from e? rov -rraXanov, “at the palace”, on the analogy of e? ttjv irahv, “ Stamboul, at the city ”, yet it cannot be maintained. The Imperial topographer, Constantine, is quite conclusive ; TO ’ AanraXadov Kaarpov wKohofiri<Jtv, Diocletian “built the castrum or fortress of Aspa-lathos.” Aspalathos seems to be a shrub not hitherto quite certainly identified; it appears to have had thorns, for it was used for flogging' and it yielded an aromatic juice; that, at least,is suggested by the passage in Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 15i which occurs in the office of Our Lady:
   I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathos, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh.
That, perhaps, does not quite agree with ones first impressions of Spalato, but all the same tl^ place was evidently called after some plant that