DoUey.] ^1'* [Feb. 17, 



In early art we find Dionj^sos frequently represented in association with 

 the palm tree, or its conventionalization, the pulmette.^^ 



At a later date, we find associated with the god some thirty odd plants, 

 chief among which are the ivy, the silver-leaved poplar, the grapevine, 

 the myrtle, the fig, the bind weed, etc. 



Most of these plants, from the damp, shady character of their habitat, 

 or from their productiveness, were held to be symbolic of the dews or 

 moisture so essential to vegetation. 



The aphrodisiac and stimulating qualities of wine naturally led 1o the 

 placing of the vine among the plants symbolic of the quickening, rejuv- 

 enating god. Certain plants evidently refer to the soft, florid skin of the 

 god, and to his general efieminate character. 



In all the symbols of Dionysos, we find some obvious motive, except in 

 the case of the fir or pine cone, and we cannot admit any force to the 

 argument of Murr, Boetticher and others, that the association of the pine 

 with the god mi}' be traced to the Corinthian myth of Penlhens, hiding 

 among the branches of a pine tree from the frenzy of his mother Agave 

 and tlie furious bacchantes : 



" Pen. Well said : against a woman who would fight? 

 I'll hide myself upon some shady pine." *» 



It is curious that Milman, in translating this passage, calls the tree an 

 ash, by what authority I cannot even surmise. In Paley's text the word 

 i)A~rj^ is used to indicate the tree, i. e., the silver fir, Pinus picea (distin- 

 guished by Thcophr. as iX. appr^'J and i)-. Orih'.a, probably Pinus abies 

 and P. jticea,'-''''' but oddly enough this word was also used to refer to the 

 young bud of the palm. 



Neither can any inference regarding the origin of the thyrsos tip be 

 drawn from the use of pine wood in the making of statues of the god, since 

 Pausanias'^^ describes the head found by the Methymnean fishermen, and 

 declared by the Pythian deity to be a representation of Bacchus, as being 

 made of olive wood. No one would, however, care to argue that the 

 olive should, on this account, be considered a Dionysiac symbol. It is 

 much more probable that the association of the pine with Bacchus was 

 based upon the gathering of tiie throngs upon the pine-clad hills : 



" Dion. There's not a woman of old Cadmus' race. 

 But I have maddened fiom her quiet house ; 

 Unseemly mingled with llie sons of Thebes, 

 On the roofless rocks, 'neath the pale pines they sit." 



33 I do not agree with Goodyear In the belief that the palmette is derived from the lotus 

 or any other motive than the palm. 

 *• Cf. translation, by James Thorjld Rogers, of JIuripides' Bacchanals. 

 3»See Daubeny, Trees of Ancients, p. 2R. 

 *"'X, c. 19; Taylor's translation, Vol. iii, p. 152. 



