Dolley.] Ll^ [Feb. 17, 



into Greece from India — compare the Assyrian title of the sun god 

 Diannisti, "judge of men" (Fox Talbot), — by way of Parthia and 

 Thrace, and this seems to be confirmed by Strabo's'^" assertion that all 

 Greek music was of Thracian origin. The choragic monuments of Athens 

 show the intimate relation of music and the worship of Dionysos. The 

 worshipers of the god in Thrace were in fact known as Orpheans, and 

 with iheni the thyrsos-tip represented no longer a date-palm inflorescence, 

 and not yet a pine cone, but the heart of Dionysos-Zagreus, torn from 

 the young god by the Titans.'^' 



As to the thyrsos, its primitive use in the Dionysiac processions was that 

 of a wand or stave, to be tossed by the hands or feet of the dancers ; thus : 



" Pentheus. The Thyrsus— in my right hand shall I hold it? 

 Or thus, am I more like a Bacchanal ? 

 Dionysos. In thy right hand, and with thy right foot raise it." 



For this purpose the light stalks of the giant fennel, the Ndpor^^ of the 

 ancients. Ferula communis L.,^'^ a native of the regions about the Mediter- 

 ranean, were admirably adapted, their structure being of so fragile a 

 character as to obviate any danger being done by such blows as might be 

 given by the rioters, as has been pointed out by Fe^.^^ The same plant, 

 and probably for similar reasons, was associated with Silenus, the com- 

 panion of Dionysos : 



" Venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore 

 Florenlis ferulas et grandia lilia qnassans." 



Virg. Eel., x, 25. 

 (Sylvanus also came with the rustic honor of his head 

 Shaking the flowering fennels and the large lilies.) 



The custom of twining garlands about the thyrsos was but an imitation 

 of nature. Pierre Loli, in his charming descriptions of Morocco, refers 

 more than once to these gigantic fennels, spreading over the country in 

 every direction, a "forest of yellow verdure," .... "the flower-clad 

 stalks of which are like yellow trees, and which Sive festooned by the great 

 white blossoms of the bind weed, such as we see in our gardens." This 

 very bind weed. Convolvulus smpium L.,'** was used in decorating the bac- 

 chantes and their staves, together with the ivy, there being a great resem- 

 blance between the leaves of the two plants. 



From the above and many similar considerations, we are led to believe 

 that the early worship of Dionysos was free from the frenzied debauchery 

 of later days, and that the god's peculiar relations to wine were the result 



sox, pp. 469-171. 



«i Cf. De Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes, ii, p. 290. 



22 Dierbach, Flora Mylhologica, p. 67 ; Heldreich, I. c, p. 40. 



23 Fe<:', Flore de Virgile, p. Ivi. 



^*J.U\iTT, Die Pjiauzenwelt in der Oriechischen Mythologie, p. 235; Euripides, Bacchinals, 

 702, 



