Deipnosophistae

"Nic$enetus also, the epic poet, appears to make some allusion to the fashion of wearing garlands of osier in his Epigrams. And this poet was a native of Samos, and a man who in numberless passages shows his fondness for mentioning points connected with the history of his country. And these are his words:—

1. I am not oft, O Philotherus, fond
2. Of feasting in the city, but prefer
3. The country, where the open breeze of zephyr
4. Freshens my heart; a simple bed
5. Beneath my body is enough for me,
6. Made of the branches of the native willow (πρόμαλος),
7. And osier (λύγος), ancient garland of the Carians,—
8. But let good wine be brought, and the sweet lyre,
9. Chief ornament of the Pierian sisters,
10. That we may drink our fill, and sing the praise
11. Of the all-glorious bride of mighty Jove,
12. The great protecting queen of this our isle.

But in the selines Nicænetus speaks ambiguously, for it is not quite plain whether he means that the osier is to make his bed or his garland; though afterwards, when he calls it the ancient garland of the Carians, he alludes clearly enough to what we are now discussing. And this use of osiers to make into garlands, lasted in that island down to the time of Polycrates, as we may conjecture. At all events Anacreon says—

1. But now full twice five months are gone
2. Since kind Megisthes wore a crown
3. Of pliant osier, drinking wine
4. Whose colour did like rubies shine."

And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephæstion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title,

Concerning the Osier Garland mentioned by Anacreon.

And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephæstion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrantus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antipho the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antipho himself; Hephæstion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antipho in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion on the Osier Garland. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories, mentioned this story about the osier, and knew nothing of the passage of Nicænetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus.

But one may explain this fact of the osier garlands more simply, by saying that Megisthes wore a garland of osier because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his

temples. For the Lacedæmonians at the festival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedæmon, where he writes thus:

On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public school follow without any garland at all.

But Aristotle, in the second book of his treatise on Love Affairs, and Ariston the Peripatetic, who was a native of Ceos, in the second book of his Amatory Resemblances, say that

The ancients, on account of the headaches which were produced by their wine-drinking, adopted the practice of wearing garlands made of anything which came to hand, as the binding the head tight appeared to be of service to them. But men in later times added also some ornaments to their temples, which had a kind of reference to their employment of drinking, and so they invented garlands in the present fashion. But it is more reasonable to suppose that it was because the head is the seat of all sensation that men wore crowns upon it, than that they did so because it was desirable to have their temples shaded and bound as a remedy against the headaches produced by wine.

They also wore garlands over their foreheads, as the sweet Anacreon says—

1. And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns,
2. Let's honour Bacchus with a jovial feast.

They also wore garlands on their breasts, and anointed them with perfume, because that is the seat of the heart. And they call the garlands which they put round their necks ὑποθυμιάδες, as Alcæus does in these lines—

1. Let every one twine round his neck
2. Wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise.

And Sappho says—

1. And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες
2. In numbers round their tender throats.

And Anacreon says—

1. They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowers
2. Entwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες.

Aeschylus also, in his Prometheus Unbound, says distinctly—

1. And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus,
2. Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonement
3. For the sad chains with which his limbs were bound.

And again, in the play entitled the Sphinx, he says-

1. Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος,—
2. This is the best of chains, as we may judge
3. From great Prometheus.

But Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands, speaking as follows—

1. But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,
2. Twining the tender sprouts of anise green
3. With skilful hand; for offerings of flowers
4. Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those
5. Who come before them with uncrowned heads.

In which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on their heads, as they are beautiful things, and acceptable to the Gods. Aristotle also, in his Banquet, says,

We never offer any mutilated gift to the Gods, but only such as are perfect and entire; and what is full is entire, and crowning anything indicates filling it in some sort. So Homer says—

1. The slaves the goblets crown'd with rosy wine;

Iliad, i. 470.

And in another place he says—

1. But God plain forms with eloquence does crown.

Odyss. viii. 170.

That is to say, eloquence in speaking makes up in the case of some men for their personal ugliness. Now this is what the στέφανος seems intended to do, on which account, in times of mourning, we do exactly the contrary. For wishing to testify our sympathy for the dead, we mutilate ourselves by cutting our hair, and by putting aside our garlands.

Now Philonides the physician, in his treatise on Ointments and Garlands, says, "After the vine was introduced into Greece from the Red Sea, and when most people had become addicted to intemperate enjoyment, and had learnt to drink unmixed wine, some of them became quite frantic and out of their minds, while others got so stupified as to resemble the dead. And once, when some men were drinking on the sea-shore, a violent shower came on, and broke up the party, and filled the goblet, which had a little wine left in it, with water. But when it became fine again, the men returned to the same spot, and tasting the new mixture, found that their enjoyment was now not only exquisite, but free from any subsequent pain. And on this account, the Greeks

invoke the good Deity at the cup of unmixed wine, which is served round to them at dinner, paying honour to the Deity who invented wine; and that was Bacchus. But when the first cup of mixed wine is handed round after dinner, they then invoke Jupiter the Saviour, thinking him the cause of this mixture of wine which is so unattended with pain, as being the author of rain. Now, those who suffered in their heads after drinking, certainly stood in need of some remedy; and so the binding their heads was what most readily occurred to them, as Nature herself led them to this remedy. For a certain man having a headache, as Andreas says, pressed his head, and found relief, and so invented a ligature as a remedy for headache.

Accordingly, men using these ligatures as assistants in drinking, used to bind their heads with whatever came in their way. And first of all, they took garlands of ivy, which offered itself, as it were, of its own accord, and was very plentiful, and grew everywhere, and was pleasant to look upon, shading the forehead with its green leaves and bunches of berries, and bearing a good deal of tension, so as to admit of being bound tight across the brow, and imparting also a certain degree of coolness without any stupifying smell accompanying it. And it seems to me that this is the reason why men have agreed to consider the garland of ivy sacred to Bacchus, implying by this that the inventor of wine is also the defender of men from all the inconveniences which arise from the use of it. And from thence, regarding chiefly pleasure, and considering utility and the comfort of the relief from the effects of drunkenness of less importance, they were influenced chiefly by what was agreeable to the sight or to the smell. And therefore they adopted crowns of myrtle, which has exciting properties, and which also represses any rising of the fumes of wine; and garlands of roses, which to a certain extent relieve headache, and also impart some degree of coolness; and garlands also of bay leaves, which they think are not wholly unconnected with drinking parties. But garlands of white lilies, which have an effect on, the head, and wreaths of amaracus, or of any other flower or herb which has any tendency to produce heaviness or torpid feelings in the head, must be avoided." And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Perfumes and Garlands,

has said the same thing in the very same words. And this, my friends, is enough to say on this subject.

But concerning the Naucratite Crown, and what kind of flowers that is made of, I made many investigations, and inquired a great deal without learning anything, till at last I fell in with a book of Polycharmus of Naucratis, entitled On Venus, in which I found the following passage: —

But in the twenty-third Olympiad Herostratus, a fellow-countryman of mine, who was a merchant, and as such had sailed to a great many different countries, coming by chance to Paphos, in Cyprus, bought an image of Venus, a span high, of very ancient workmanship, and came away meaning to bring it to Naucratis. And as he was sailing near the, Egyptian coast, a violent storm suddenly overtook him, and the sailors could not tell where they were, and so they all had recourse to this image of Venus, entreating her to save them. And the goddess, for she was kindly disposed towards the men of Naucratis, on a sudden filled all the space near her with branches of green myrtle, and diffused a most delicious odor over the whole ship, when all the sailors had previously despaired of safety from their violent sea-sickness. And after they had been all very sick, the sun shone out, and they, Seeing the landmarks, came in safety into Naucratis. And Herostratus having disembarked from the ship with his image, and carrying with him also the green branches of myrtle which had so suddenly appeared to him, consecrated it and them in the temple of Venus. And having sacrificed to the gooddess, and having consecrated the image to Venus, and invited all his relations and most intimate friends to a banquet in the temple, he gave every one of them a garland of these branches of myrtle, to which garlands he then gave the name of Naucratite.

This is the account given by Polcharmus; and I myself believe the statement, and believe that the Naucratite garland is no other than one made of myrtle, especially as in Anacreon it is represented as worn with one made of roses. And Philonides has said that the garland made of myrtle acts as a check upon the fumes of wine, and that the one made of roses, in addition to its cooling qualities, is to a certain extent a remedy for headache. And, therefore, those men are only to be laughed at, who say that the Naucratite garland is the wreath made of what is called by the Egyptians biblus, quoting the statement of Theopompus, in the third book of his History of Greece, where he says,

That when Agesilaus the Lacedæmonian arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians sent him many presents, and among them the papyrus, which is used for making garlands.

But I do not know what pleasure or advantage there could be in having a crown made of biblus with roses, unless people who are enamoured of such a wreath as this should also take a fancy to wear crowns of garlic and roses together. But I know that a great many people say that the garland made of the sampsychon or amaracus is the Naucratite garland; and this plant is very plentiful in Egypt, but the myrtle in Egypt is superior in sweetness to that which is found in any other country, as Theophrastus relates in another place.

While this discussion was going on, some slaves came in bringing garlands made of such flowers as were in bloom at the time; and Myrtilus said;—Tell me, my good friend Ulpian, the different names of garlands. For these servants, as is said in the Centaur of Chærephon—

1. Make ready garlands which they give the gods,
2. Praying they may be heralds of good omen.

And the same poet says, in his play entitled Bacchus—

1. Cutting sweet garlands, messengers of good omen.

Do not, however, quote to me passages out of the Crowns of Aelius Asclepiades, as if I were unacquainted with that work; but say something now besides what you find there. For you cannot show me that any one has ever spoken separately of a garland of roses, and a garland of violets. For as for the expression in Cratinus—

1. ναρκισσίνους ὀλίσβους,

that is said in a joke.

And he, laughing, replied,—The word στέφανος was first used among the Greeks, as Semos the Delian tells us in the fourth book of his Delias, in the same sense as the word στέφανος is used by us, which, however, by some people is called στέμμα. On which account, being first crowned with this στέφανος, afterwards we put on a garland of bay leaves; and the word στέφανος itself is derived from the verb στέφω, to crown. But do you, you loquacious Thessalian, think, says he, that I am going to repeat any of those old and hacknied stories? But

because of your tongue (γλῶσσα), I will mention the ὑπογλωττὶς, which Plato speaks of in his Jupiter Ill-treated—

1. But you wear leather tongues within your shoes,
2. And crown yourselves with ὑπογλωττίδες,
3. Whenever you're engaged in drinking parties.
4. And when you sacrifice you speak only words
5. Of happy omen.

And Theodorus, in his Attic Words, as Pamphilus says in his treatise on Names, says, that the ὑπογλωττὶς is a species of plaited crown. Take this then from me; for, as Euripides says,

1. 'Tis no hard work to argue on either side,
2. If a man's only an adept at speaking.

There is the Isthmiacum also, and there was a kind of crown bearing this name, which Aristophanes has thought worthy of mention in his Fryers, where he speaks thus—

1. What then are we to do? We should have taken
2. A white cloak each of us; and then entwining
3. Isthmiaca on our brows, like choruses,
4. Come let us sing the eulogy of our master.

But Silenus, in his Dialects, says,

The Isthmian garland.

And Philetas says,

στέφανος. There is an ambiguity here as to whether it refers to the head or to the main world.[*](Schweighauser confesses himself unable to guess what is meant by these words.) We also use the word ἴσθμιον, as applied to a well, or to a dagger.

But Timachidas and Simmias, who are both Rhodians, explain one word by the other. They say, ἴσθμιον, στέφανον: and this word is also mentioned by Callixenus, who is himself also a Rhodian, in his History of Alexandria, where he writes as follows—

1. * * * * * *

But since I have mentioned Alexandria, I know that in that beautiful city there is a garland called the garland of Antinous, which is made of the lotus, which grows in those parts. And this lotus grows in the marshes in the summer season; and it bears flowers of two colours; one like that of the rose, and it is the garlands woven of the flower of this colour which are properly called the garlands of Antinous; but the other kind is called the lotus garland, being of a dark colour. And a man of the name of Pancrates, a native poet, with whom we ourselves were acquainted, made a great parade of showing a rose-coloured lotus to Adrian the emperor, when he was staying at Alexandria, saying, that

he ought to give this flower the name of the Flower of Antinous, as having sprung from the ground where it drank in the blood of the Mauritanian lion, which Hadrian killed when he was out hunting in that part of Africa, near Alexandria; a monstrous beast which had ravaged all Libya for a long time, so as to make a very great part of the district desolate. Accordingly, Hadrian being delighted with the utility of the invention, and also with its novelty, granted to the poet that he should be maintained for the future in the Museum at the public expense; and Cratinus the comic poet, in his Ulysseses, has called the lotus στεφάνωμα, because all plants which are full of leaf, are called στεφανώματα by the Athenians. But Pancrates said, with a good deal of neatness, in his poem—

1. The crisp ground thyme, the snow-white lily too,
2. The purple hyacinth, and the modest leaves
3. Of the white celandine, and the fragrant rose,
4. Whose petals open to the vernal zephyrs;
5. For that fair flower which bears Antinous' name
6. The earth had not yet borne.

There is the word πυλέων. And this is the name given to the garland which the Lacedæmonians place on the head of Juno, as Pamphilus relates.

I am aware, also, that there is a kind of garland, which is called ʼἰάκχας by the Sicyonians, as Timachidas mentions in his treatise on Dialects. And Philetas writes as follows:—

ʼἰάκχα—this is a name given to a fragrant garland in the district of Sicyon—

1. She stood by her sire, and in her fragrant hair
2. She wore the beautiful Iacchian garland.

Seleucus also, in his treatise on Dialects, says, that there is a kind of garland made of myrtle, which is called ʼἐλλωτὶς, being twenty cubits in circumference, and that it is carried in procession on the festival of the Ellotia. And he says, that in this garland the bones of Europa, whom they call Ellotis, are carried. And this festival of the Ellotia is celebrated in Corinth.

There is also the θυρεατικός. This also is a name given to a species of garland by the Lacedæmonians, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on Sacrifices, where he says, that now it is called ψίλινος, being made of branches of the palm-tree. And he says that they are worn, as a memorial of the victory which they gained, in Thyrea,[*](See the account of this battle, Herod. i. 82.) by the leaders of the choruses,

which are employed in that festival when they celebrate the Gymnopeediæ.[*](The Gymnopædiæ, or Festival of naked Youths, was celebrated at Sparta every year in honour of Apollo Pythæus, Diana, and Latona. And the Spartan youths danced around the statues of these deities in the forum. The festival seems to have been connected with the victory gained over the Argives at Thyrea, and the Spartans who had fallen in the battle were always praised in songs on the occasion.—V. Smith, Diet. Gr. Lat. Ant. in voc. ) And there are choruses, some of handsome boys, and others of full-grown men of distinguished bravery, who all dance naked, and who sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman, and the paeans of Dionysodotus the Lacedæmonian.

There are also garlands called μελιλώτινοι,, which are mentioned by Alexis in his Crateva, or the Apothecary, in the following line—

1. And many μελιλώτινοι garlands hanging.

There is the word too, ἐπιθυμίδες,, which Seleucus explains by

every sort of garland.

But Timachidas says,

Garlands of every kind which are worn by women are called ἐπιθυμίδες.

There are also the words ὑποθυμὶς and ὑποθυμιὰς, which are names given to garlands by the Aeolians and Ionians, and they wear such around their necks, as one may clearly collect from the poetry of Alcæus and Anacreon. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says, that the Lesbians call a branch of myrtle ὑποθυμὶς, around which they twine violets and other flowers.

The ὑπογλωττὶς also is a species of garland. But Theodorus, in his Attic Words, says, that it is a particular kind of garland, and is used in that sense by Plato the comic poet, in his Jupiter Ill-treated.

I find also, in the comic poets, mention made of a kind of garland called κυλιστὸς,, and I find that Archippus mentions it in his Rhinon, in these lines—

1. He went away unhurt to his own house,
2. Having laid aside his cloak, but having on
3. His ἐκκύλιστος garland.

And Alexis, in his Agonis, or The Colt, says—

1. This third man has a κυλιστὸς garland
2. Of fig-leaves; but while living he delighted
3. In similar ornaments:

and in his Sciron he says—

1. Like a κυλιστὸς garland in suspense.

Antiphanes also mentions it in his Man in Love with Himself. And Eubulus, in his Œnomaus, or Pelops, saying—

1. Brought into circular shape,
2. Like a κυλιστὸς garland.

What, then, is this κυλιστός? For I am aware that Nicander of Thyatira, in his Attic Nouns, speaks as follows,—

'ʼἐκκυλίσιοι στέφανοι, and especially those made of roses.

And now I ask what species of garland this was, O Cynulcus; and do not tell me that I am to understand the word as meaning merely large. For you are a man who are fond of not only picking things little known out of books, but of even digging out such matters; like the philosophers in the Joint Deceiver of Baton the comic poet; men whom Sophocles also mentions in his Fellow Feasters, and who resemble you,—

1. You should not wear a beard thus well perfumed,
2. And 'tis a shame for you, of such high birth,
3. To be reproached as the son of your belly,
4. When you might rather be call'd your father's son.

Since, then, you are sated not only with the heads of glaucus, but also with that ever-green herb, which that Anthedonian Deity[*](Glaucus.) ate, and became immortal, give us an answer now about the subject of discussion, that we may not think that when you are dead, you will be metamorphosed, as the divine Plato has described in his treatise on the Soul. For he says that those who are addicted to gluttony, and insolence, and drunkenness, and who are restrained by no modesty, may naturally become transformed into the race of asses, and similar animals.

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.

The author, too, of the Cyprian Poems gives lists of the flowers which are suitable to be made into garlands, whether he was Hegesias, or Stasinus, or any one else; for Demodamas, who was either a Halicarnassian or Milesian, in his History of Halicarnassus, says that the Cyprian Poems were the work of a citizen of Halicarnassus: however, the author, whoever he was, in his eleventh book, speaks thus:—

1. Then did the Graces, and the smiling Hours,
2. Make themselves garments rich with various hues,
3. And dyed them in the varied flowers that Spring
4. And the sweet Seasons in their bosom bear.
5. In crocus, hyacinth, and blooming violet,
6. And the sweet petals of the peerless rose,
7. So fragrant, so divine; nor did they scorn
8. The dewy cups of the ambrosial flower
9. That boasts Narcissus' name. Such robes, perfumed
10. With the rich treasures of revolving seasons,
11. The golden Venus wears.

And this poet appears also to have been acquainted with the use of garlands, when he says—

1. And when the smiling Venus with her train
2. Had woven fragrant garlands of the treasures
3. The flowery earth puts forth, the goddesses
v.3.p.1091
4. All crown'd their heads with their queen's precious work,—
5. The Nymphs and Graces, and the golden Venus,—
6. And raised a tuneful song round Ida's springs.

Nicander also, in the second book of his Georgics, gives a regular list of the flowers suitable to be made into garlands, and speaks as follows concerning the Ionian nymphs and concerning roses:—

1. And many other flowers you may plant,
2. Fragrant and beauteous, of Ionian growth;
3. Two sorts of violets are there,—pallid one,
4. And like the colour of the virgin gold,
5. Such as th' Ionian nymphs to Ion gave,
6. When in the meadows of the holy Pisa
7. They met and loved and crown'd the modest youth.
8. For he had cheer'd his hounds and slain the boar,
9. And in the clear Alpheus bathed his limbs,
10. Before he visited those friendly nymphs.
11. Cut then the shoots from off the thorny rose,
12. And plant them in the trenches, leaving space
13. Between, two spans in width. The poets tell
14. That Midas first, when Asia's realms he left,
15. Brought roses from th' Odonian hills of Thrace,
16. And cultivated them in th' Emathian lands,
17. Blooming and fragrant with their sixty petals.
18. Next to th' Emathian roses those are praised
19. Which the Megarian Nisæa displays:
20. Nor is Phaselis, nor the land which worships
21. The chaste Diana,[*](Phaselis is a town in Lycia. The land which worships Diana is the country about Ephesus and Magnesia, which last town is built where the Lethæus falls into the Mæander; and it appears that Diana was worshipped by the women of this district under the name of Lencophrys, from λευκὸς,, white, and ὄφρυς,, an eyebrow.) to be lightly praised,
22. Made verdant by the sweet Lethæan stream.
23. In other trenches place the ivy cuttings,
24. And often e'en a branch with berries loaded
25. May be entrusted to the grateful ground;
26. * * * * *[*](The text here is hopelessly corrupt, and indeed is full of corruption for the next seven lines: I have followed the Latin version of Dalecampius.)
27. Or with well-sharpen'd knife cut off the shoots,
28. And plait them into baskets,
29. * * * * *
30. High on the top the calyx full of seed
31. Grows with white leaves, tinged in the heart with gold,
32. Which some call crina, others liria,
33. Others ambrosia, but those who love
34. The fittest name, do call them Venus' joy;
v.3.p.1092
35. For in their colour they do vie with Venus,
36. Though far inferior to her decent form.
37. The iris in its roots is like th' agallis,
38. Or hyacinth fresh sprung from Ajax' blood;
39. It rises high with swallow-shaped flowers,
40. Blooming when summer brings the swallows back.
41. Thick are the leaves they from their bosom pour,
42. And the fresh flowers constantly succeeding,
43. Shine in their stooping mouths.
44. * * * * *
45. Nor is the lychnis, nor the lofty rush,
46. Nor the fair anthemis in light esteem,
47. Nor the boanthemum with towering stem,
48. Nor phlox whose brilliancy scarce seems to yield
49. To the bright splendour of the midday sun.
50. Plant the ground thyme where the more fertile ground
51. Is moisten'd by fresh-welling springs beneath,
52. That with long creeping branches it may spread,
53. Or droop in quest of some transparent spring,
54. The wood-nymphs' chosen draught. Throw far away
55. The poppy's leaves, and keep the head entire,
56. A sure protection from the teasing gnats;
57. For every kind of insect makes its seat
58. Upon the opening leaves; and on the head,
59. Like freshening dews, they feed, and much rejoice
60. In the rich latent honey that it bears;
61. But when the leaves (θρῖα) are off, the mighty flame
62. Soon scatters them . . . .

(but by the word θρῖα he does not here mean the leaves of fig-trees, but of the poppy).

1. Nor can they place their feet
2. With steady hold, nor juicy food extract;
3. And oft they slip, and fall upon their heads.
4. Swift is the growth, and early the perfection
5. Of the sampsychum, and of rosemary,
6. And of the others which the gardens
7. Supply to diligent men for well-earn'd garlands.
8. Such are the feathery fern, the boy's-love sweet,
9. (Like the tall poplar); such the golden crocus,
10. Fair flower of early spring; the gopher white,
11. And fragrant thyme, and all the unsown beauty
12. Which in moist grounds the verdant meadows bear;
13. The ox-eye, the sweet-smelling flower of Jove,
14. The chalca, and the much sung hyacinth,
15. And the low-growing violet, to which
16. Dark Proserpine a darker hue has given;
17. The tall panosmium, and the varied colours
18. Which the gladiolus puts forth in vain
19. To decorate the early tombs of maidens.
20. Then too the ever-flourishing anemones,
21. Tempting afar with their most vivid dyes.

(But for ἐφελκόμεναι χροιῇσιν some copies have ἐφελκόμεναι φιλοχροιαῖς).

1. And above all remember to select
2. The elecampane and the aster bright,
3. And place them in the temples of the gods,
4. By roadside built, or hang them on their statues,
5. Which first do catch the eye of the visitor.
6. These are propitious gifts, whether you pluck
7. The many-hued chrysanthemum, or lilies
8. Which wither sadly o'er the much-wept tomb,
9. Or gay old-man, or long-stalk'd cyclamen,
10. Or rank nasturtium, whose scarlet flowers
11. Grim Pluto chooses for his royal garland.

From these lines it is plain that the chelidonium is a different flower from the anemone (for some people have called them the same). But Theophrastus says that there are some plants, the flowers of which constantly follow the stars, such as the one called the heliotrope, and the chelidonium; and this last plant is named so from its coming into bloom at the same time as the swallows arrive. There is also a flower spoken of under the name of ambrosia by Carystius, in his Historical Commentaries, where he says—

Nicander says that the plant named ambrosia grows at Cos, on the head of the statue of Alexander.

But I have already spoken of it, and mentioned that some people give this name to the lily. And Timachidas, in the fourth book of his banquet, speaks also of a flower called theseum,—

1. The soft theseum, like the apple blossom,
2. The sacred blossom of Leucerea,[*](There is some corruption in this name.)
3. Which the fair goddess loves above all others.

And he says that the garland of Ariadne was made of this flower.

Pherecrates also, or whoever the poet was who wrote the play of the Persians, mentions some flowers as fit for garlands, and says—

1. O you who sigh like mallows soft,
2. Whose breath like hyacinths smells,
3. Who like the melilotus speak,
4. And smile as doth the rose,
5. Whose kisses are as marjoram sweet,
6. Whose action crisp as parsley,
v.3.p.1094
7. Whose gait like cosmosandalum.
8. Pour rosy wine, and with loud voice
9. Raise the glad pæan's song,
10. As laws of God and man enjoin
11. On holy festival.

And the author of the Miners, whoever he was, (and that poem is attributed to the same Pherecrates,) says—

1. Treading on soft aspalathi
2. Beneath the shady trees,
3. In lotus-bearing meadows green,
4. And on the dewy cypirus;
5. And on the fresh anthryscum, and
6. The modest tender violet,
7. And green trefoil. . .

But here I want to know what this trefoil is; for there is a poem attributed to Demarete, which is called The Trefoil. And also, in the poem which is entitled The Good Men, Pherecrates or Strattis, whichever is the author, says—

1. And having bathed before the heat of day,
2. Some crown their head and some anoint their bodies.

And he speaks of thyme, and of cosmosandalum. And Cratinus, in his Effeminate Persons, says—

1. Joyful now I crown my head
2. With every kind of flower;
3. λείρια, roses, κρίνα too,
4. And cosmosandala,
5. And violets, and fragrant thyme,
6. And spring anemones,
7. Ground thyme, crocus, hyacinths,
8. And buds of helichryse,
9. Shoots of the vine, anthryscum too,
10. And lovely hemerocalles.
11. * * * * * *
12. My head is likewise shaded
13. With evergreen melilotus;
14. And of its own accord there comes
15. The flowery cytisus.

Formerly the entrance of garlands and perfumes into the banqueting rooms, used to herald the approach of the second course, as we may learn from Nicostratus in his Pseudostigmatias, where, in the following lines, he says—

1. And you too,
2. Be sure and have the second course quite neat;
3. Adorn it with all kinds of rich confections,
4. Perfumes, and garlands, aye, and frankincense,
5. And girls to play the flute.

But Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his poem entitled The Banquet, represents the garland as entering into the commencement of the banquet, using the following language:

1. Then water was brought in to wash the hands,
2. Which a delicate youth bore in a silver ewe,
3. Ministering to the guests; and after that
4. He brought us garlands of the tender myrtle,
5. Close woven with young richly-colour'd shoots.

And Eubulus, in his Nurses, says—

1. For when the old men came into the house,
2. At once they sate them down. Immediately
3. Garlands were handed round; a well-fill'd board
4. Was placed before them, and (how good for th' eyes!)
5. A closely-kneaded loaf of barley bread.

And this was the fashion also among the Egyptians, as Nicostratus says in his Usurer; for, representing the usurer as an Egyptian, he says—

1. A. We caught the pimp and two of his companions,
2. When they had just had water for their hands,
3. And garlands.
4. B. Sure the time, O Chærophon,
5. Was most propitious.

But you may go on gorging yourself, O Cynulcus; and when you have done, tell us why Cratinus has called the melilotus

the ever-watching melilotus.

However, as I see you are already a little tipsy (ἔξοινον)—for that is the word Alexis has used for a man thoroughly drunk (μεθύσην), in his Settler— I won't go on teasing you; but I will bid the slaves, as Sophocles says in his Fellow Feasters,

1. Come, quick! let some one make the barley-cakes,
2. And fill the goblets deep; for this man now,
3. Just like a farmer's ox, can't work a bit
4. Till he has fill'd his belly with good food.

And there is a man of the same kind mentioned by Aristias of Phlius; for he, too, in his play entitled The Fates, says—

1. The guest is either a boatman or a parasite,
2. A hanger-on of hell, with hungry belly,
3. Which nought can satisfy.

However, as he gives no answer whatever to all these things which have been said, I order him (as it is said in the Twins of Alexis) to be carried out of the party, crowned with χύδαιοι garlands. But the comic poet, alluding to χύδαιοι garlands, says—

1. These garlands all promiscuously (χύδην) woven.

But, after this, I will not carry on this conversation any fur- there to-day; but will leave the discussion about perfumes to those who choose to continue it: and only desire the boy, on account of this lecture of mine about garlands, as Antiphanes. . . . .

1. To bring now hither two good garlands,
2. And a good lamp, with good fire brightly burning;

for then I shall wind up my speech like the conclusion of a play.

And not many days after this, as if he had been prophesying a silence for himself [which should be eternal], he died, happily, without suffering under any long illness, to the great affliction of us his companions.