Chap. 9.] CHAPLETS. 309 



by the Salii in their sacred rites, and at the solemnization of 

 their yearly ^^ banquets. In later times, the rose chaplet has 

 been adopted, and luxury arose at last to such a pitch that a 

 chaplet was held in no esteem at all if it did not consist en- 

 tirely of leaves sown together with the needle. More recently, 

 again, they have been imported from India, or from nations 

 beyond the countries of India. 



But it is looked upon as the most refined of all, to present 

 chaplets made of nard leaves, or else of silk of many colours 

 steeped in unguents. Such is the pitch to which the luxu- 

 riousness of our women has at last arrived ! 



CHAP. 9. AUTnOES WHO HAVE WEITTEI^ ON ELOWPHIS. AX 



ANECDOTE RELATIVE TO QUEEN CLEOPATKA AND CHAPLETS. 



Among the Greeks, the physicians Mnesitheus and Calli- 

 machus have written separate treatises on the subject of 

 chaplets, making mention of such flowers as are injurious to 

 the head.-''^ For, in fact, the health is here concerned to some 

 extent, as it is at the moments of carousal and gaiety in par- 

 ticular that penetrating odours steal insidiously upon the 

 brain — witness an instance in the wicked cunning displayed 

 upon one occasion by Cleopatra. 



At the time when preparations were making for the battle 

 that was eventually fought at Actium, Antonius held the 

 queen in such extreme distrust as to be in dread of her very 

 attentions even, and would not so much as touch his food, 

 unless another person had tasted it first. Upon this, the 

 queen, it is said, wishing to amuse herself with his fears, had 

 the extremities of the flowers in a chaplet dipped in poison, and 

 then placed it upon her head.^^ After a time, as the hilarity 

 increased apace, she challenged Antonius to swallow the chap- 

 es At the conclusion of the festival of Mars on the 1st of March, and 

 for several successive days. These entertainments were celebrated in the 

 Temple of that god, and were proverbial for their excellence. 



3s It is a well-known fact, as Fee remarks, that the smell of flowers is 

 productive, in some persons, of head-ache, nausea, and vertigo. lie states 

 also that persons have been known to meet their death from sleeping all 

 night in the midst of odoriferous flowers. 



3" "Ipsaque capiti imposita." Holland and Ajasson render this as 

 though Cleopatra placed the garland on Antony's head, and not her own. 

 Littre agrees with the translation here adopted. 



