24^72 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART JM. 



is supposed to be 300 years old ; and it is said that, when Philip, Infant of 

 Spain, and son of Philip V., was defeated in Italy, in 1747, the remains of 

 his army took refuge in Provence, and 22 of the Spanish soldiers hid them- 

 selves in this tree. {Annates de la Soc. d'Hort. de Paris, vol. xv. p. 41.) 



Poetical and mi/thological Allusions. The cypress was considered by the 

 ancients as an emblem of immortality, and, as such, was dedicated to the dead. 

 It was also held sacred to Proserpine and Pluto. It was esteemed the 

 emblem of immortality, from its being evergreen, and from its power of rising 

 again when bent down by the wind, or manual force. This power is alluded 

 to in the following lines from Statius : — 



" The mountain cypress thus, that firmly stood 

 From age to age, the empress of the wood. 

 By some strong whirlwind's sudden blast declined, 

 Bends arching down, and nods before the wind : 

 The deep roots tremble till the blast blows o'er. 

 And then she rises stately as before." Harte's Statius. 



The ancient poets who have mentioned this tree are very numerous : 

 Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and many other of the poets of antiquity, 

 make frequent allusions to it. Virgil frequently speaks of its use in funeral 

 ceremonies, particularly at that of Misenus : — 



" iDgentem struxere pyram : cui frondilHis atris 

 Intexuiit latera, et ferales ante cupressos 

 Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis." Mnc'ttl. vi. 215. 



" And first with massy logs the pile they rear. 

 Spreading the gloomy fronds above with care. 

 In front, the tapering cypress rears its head. 

 And bears the shining armour of the dead." 



The legend of the origin of the cypress is given by Ovid : — A beautiful stag, 

 the favourite of Apollo, was accustomed to come every day to be fed by the 

 god, or his faithful attendant, Cyparissus. One day, the youth was hurling 

 his spear merely for exercise, when, unfortunately, it struck and killed the 

 stag, which was coming bounding from the forest to Cyparissus, expecting to 

 be caressed as usual. The youth's grief at this accident was so great, that 

 Apollo endeavoured in vain to comfort him : he threw himself to the ground 

 in despair, — 



" Praying, in expiation of his crime. 



Thenceforth to mourn to all succeeding time. 



And now, of blood exhausted, heajijiears 



Drain'd by a torrent of continual tears. 



The fleshy colour in his body fades, 



A greenish tincture all his limbs invades. 



From his fair head, where curling ringlets hinig, 



A tapering bush, with spiry branches, sprung. 



Which, stiffening by degrees, its stem extends. 



Till to the starry skies the spire ascends. 



Apollo saw, and sadly sighing, cried, 



' Be, then, for ever what thy jirayer implied. 



Bemoan'd by me, in others grief excite, 



And still preside at every funeral rite. ' " OviD, book x. 



Claudian, in his poem of the Rape of Proscrjnne, says that the two torches 

 which Ceres employed to seek her daughter were not pine trees, but two 

 cypresses, which grew on Mount Etna. 



TasBO, in his Gcnisalcvimc Libcrata, says, — 



" Sorse a pari col sole, c<i egli stesso 

 Seguir la pompa funeral poi voile; 

 A Dudon, d' odorifero cipresso, 

 Composto hanno un sepolcro a pie d' un colle." Canto iii. 



The following lines are by De Lille, in Les Jardins : — 



" Kt toi, triste cypres, 



Fidiileami des morts, ))roferteur de leurs cendres, 

 Ta tige, ch^re au copur, mrlancolique el tendre, 

 lyaihse la joic au myrte, it la gloire au laurier. 

 'Vu ii'est point I'arbre luiirciix ile I'amant, clu guerrier, 

 Je le sais ; mais ton deuil conipatil i nos i)uineb." 



Among the English poets, from the time of S|)cnser to the present day, the 

 allusions to the cypress arc very numerous. Lord Byron says, speaking of 

 the simoon : — 



