Deipnosophistae

And as he still appeared to be in doubt;—Let us now, said Ulpian, go on to another kind of garland, which is called the στρούθιος; which Asclepiades mentions when he quotes the following passage, out of the Female Garland Sellers of Eubulus—

1. O happy woman, in your little house
2. To have a στρούθιος . . . . .[*](The rest of this extract is so utterly corrupt, that Schweighauser says he despairs of it so utterly that he has not even attempted to give a Latin version of it.)

And this garland is made of the flower called στρούθιον (soapwort), which is mentioned by Theophrastus, in the sixth book of his Natural History, in these words—

The iris also blooms in the summer, and so does the flower called στρούθιον, which is a very pretty flower to the eye, but destitute of scent.

Galene of Smyrna also speaks of the same flower, under the name of στρύθιον.

There is also the πόθος.. There is a certain kind of garland with this name, as Nicander the Colophonian tells us in his treatise on Words. And this, too, perhaps is so named as being made of the flower called πόθος,, which the same Theophrastus mentions in the sixth book of his Natural History, where he writes thus—"There are other flowers which bloom chiefly in the summer,—the lychnis, the flower of Jove, the lily, the iphyum, the Phrygian amaracus, and also the plant called pothus, of which there are two kinds, one bearing a flower like the hyacinth, but the other produces a colour-less blossom nearly white, which men use to strew on tombs.

Eubulus also gives a list of other names of garlands—

1. Aegidion, carry now this garland for me,
2. Ingeniously wrought of divers flowers,
3. Most tempting, and most beautiful, by Jove!
4. For who'd not wish to kiss the maid who bears it?

And then in the subsequent lines he says—

1. A. Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have them
2. Of ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowers
3. Such as I show you here in bloom.
4. B. I'll have
5. These myrtle ones. You may sell all the others,
6. But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.

There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says—

1. For the boy wore a garland on his brow
2. Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).

Some garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to this day among the Alexandrians. And Chæremon the tragic poet mentions them in his Bacchus, saying—

1. The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,
2. Made up of ivy and narcissus.

But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Helanicus, in his History of Egypt, writes as follows—

There is a city on the banks of the river, named Tindium. This is place where many gods are assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the temple there are

v.3.p.1086

white and black thorns, on which garlands were placed made of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the pomegranate, and of vine leaves. And these keep green for ever. These garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)

But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt, says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes thus—

But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Aethiopians who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble garlands.

And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.

There are also garlands called συνθηματιαῖοι,, which people make and furnish by contract. Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, says—

1. To make up twenty συνθηματιαῖοι garlands.

Ar. Thesm. 458.

We find also the word χορωνόν. Apion, in his treatise on the Roman Dialect, says that formerly a garland was called χορωνὸν, from the fact of the members of the chorus in the theatres using it; and that they wore garlands and contended for garlands. And one may see this name given to garlands in the Epigrams of Simonides—

1. Phœbus doth teach that song to the Tyndaridæ,
2. Which tuneless grasshoppers have crown'd with a χορωνός.

There are ἀκίνιοι too. There are some garlands made of the basil thyme (ἄκινος) which are called by this name, as we are told by Andron the physician, whose words are quoted by Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius, in the first book of his treatise on the Words which occur in the Historians.

Now Theophrastus gives the following list of flowers as suitable to be made into garlands—-

The violet, the flower of Jupiter, the iphyum, the wallflower, the hemerocalles, or yellow lily. But he says the earliest blooming flower is the white violet; and about the same time that which is called the wild wallflower appears, and after them the narcissus and the lily; and of mountain flowers, that kind of anemone which is called the mountain anemone, and the head of the bulb-plant. For some people twine these flowers into garlands. And next to these there comes the œnanthe and the purple violet. And of wild flowers, there are the helichryse, and that species of anemone called the meadow anemone, and the gladiolus, and the hyacinth. But the rose is the latest blooming flower of all; and it is the latest to appeal and the first to go off. But the chief summer flowers are the lychnis, and the flower of Jupiter, and the lily, and the iphyum, and the Phrygian amaracus, and also the flower called the pothus.

And in his ninth book the same Theophrastus says, if any one wears a garland made of the flower of the helichryse, he is praised if he sprinkle it with ointment. And, Alcman mentions it in these lines—

1. And I pray to you, and bring
2. This chaplet of the helichryse,
3. And of the holy cypirus.

And Ibycus says—

1. Myrtle-berries with violets mix'd,
2. And helichryse, and apple blossoms,
3. And roses, and the tender daphne.

And Cratinus, in his Effeminate People, says—

1. With ground thyme and with crocuses,
2. And hyacinths, and helichryse.

But the helichryse is a flower like the lotus. And Themistagoras the Ephesian, in his book entitled The Golden Book, says that the flower derives its name from the nymph who first picked it, who was called Helichrysa. There are also, says Theophrastus, such flowers as purple lilies. But Philinus says that the lily, which he calls κρίνον, is by some people called λείριον,, and by others ἴον. The Corinthians also call this flower ambrosia, as Nicander says in his Dictionary. And Diocles, in his treatise on Deadly Poisons, says—

The amaracus, which some people call the sampsychus.

Cratinus also speaks of the hyacinth by the name of κοσμοσάνδαλον in his Effeminate People, where he says—

1. I crown my head with flowers, λείρια,
2. Roses, and κρίνα, and κοσμοσάνδαλα.

And Clearchus, in the second book of his Lives, says—"You may remark the Lacedæmonians who, having invented garlands of cosmosandalum, trampled under foot the most ancient system of polity in the world, and utterly ruined themselves; on which account Antiphanes the comic poet very cleverly says of them, in his Harp-player—

1. Did not the Lacedæmonians boast of old
2. As though they were invincible? but now
3. They wear effeminate purple head-dresses.

And Hicesius, in the second book of his treatise on Matter, says—

The white violet is of moderately astringent properties, and has a most delicious fragrance, and is very delightful, but only for a short time; and the purple violet is of the same appearance, but it is far more fragrant.

And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Beasts, says—

There is the chamæpitys, or ground pine, which some call olocyrum, but the Athenians call it Ionia, and the Eubœans sideritis.

And Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, (the words themselves I will quote hereafter, when I thoroughly discuss all the flowers fit for making into garlands,) says—

The violet (ἴον) was originally given by some Ionian nymphs to Ion.

And in the sixth book of his History of Plants, Theophrastus says that the narcissus is also called λείριον; but in a subsequent passage he speaks of the narcissus and λείριον as different plants. And Eumachus the Corcyrean, in his treatise on Cutting Roots, says that the narcissus is also called acacallis, and likewise crotalum. But the flower called hemerocalles, or day-beauty, which fades at night but blooms

at sunrise, is mentioned by Cratinus in his Effeminate People, where he says—

1. And the dear hemerocalles.

Concerning the ground thyme, Theophrastus says—

The people gather the wild ground thyme on the mountains and plant it around Sicyon, and the Athenians gather it on Hymettus; and other nations too have mountains fill of this flower, as the Thracians for instance.

But Philinus says that it is called zygis. And Amerias the Macedonian, speaking of the lychnis in his treatise on Cutting up Roots, says that

it sprang from the baths of Venus, when Venus bathed after having been sleeping with Vulcan. And it is found in the greatest perfection in Cyprus and Lemnos, and also in Stromboli and near mount Eryx, and at Cythera.

But the iris,

says Theophrastus,

blooms in the summer, and is the only one of all the European flowers which has a sweet scent. And it is in the highest beauty in those parts of Illyricum which are at a distance from the sea.

But Philinus says that the flowers of the iris are called λύκοι, because they resemble the lips of the wolf (λύκος). And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the hundred and eighth book of his History, says that there is a lake near the Alps, many stadia in circumference, round which there grow every year the most fragrant and beautiful flowers, like those which are called calchæ. Alcman also mentions the calchæ in these lines:—

1. Having a golden-colour'd necklace on
2. Of the bright calchæ, with their tender petals.

And Epicharmus, too, speaks of them in his Rustic.

Of roses, says Theophrastus in his sixth book, there are many varieties. For most of them consist only of five leaves, but some have twelve leaves; and some, near Philippi, have even as many as a hundred leaves. For men take up the plants from Mount Pangæum, (and they are very numerous there,) and plant them near the city. And the inner petals are very small; for the fashion in which the flowers put out their petals is, that some form the outer rows and some the inner ones: but they have not much smell, nor are they of any great size. And those with only five leaves are the most fragrant, and their lower parts are very thorny. But the most fragrant roses are in Cyrene: on which account the

perfumes made there are the sweetest. And in this country, too, the perfume of the violets, and of all other flowers, is most pure and heavenly; and above all, the fragrance of the crocus is most delicious in those parts." And Timachidas, in his Banquets, says that the Arcadians call the rose εὐόμφαλον, meaning εὔοσμον, or fragrant. And Apollodorus, in the fourth book of his History of Parthia, speaks of a flower called philadelphum, as growing in the country of the Parthians, and describes it thus:—

And there are many kinds of myrtle, —the milax, and that which is called the philadelphum, which has received a name corresponding to its natural character; for when branches, which are at a distance from one another, meet together of their own accord, they cohere with a vigorous embrace, and become united as if they came from one root, and then growing on, they produce fresh shoots: on which account they often make hedges of them in well-cultivated farms; for they take the thinnest of the shoots, and plait them in a net-like manner, and plant them all round their gardens, and then these plants, when plaited together all round, make a fence which it is difficult to pass through.