28 pPant "bore, "begeT^Ci/, oHi. Tsijnc/*, 



In all places where festivals, games, or solemn ceremonials 

 were held, and whenever public rejoicings and gaiety were deemed 

 desirable, flowers were utilised with unsparing hands. 



" Set before your doors 

 The images of all your sleeping fathers. 

 With Laurels crowned ; with Laurels wreath your posts, 

 And strew with flowers the pavement ; let the priest 

 Do present sacrifice ; pour out the wine, 

 And call the gods to join with you in gladness." — Dryden. 



In the triumphal processions of Rome the streets were strewed 

 with flowers, and from the windows, roofs of houses, and scaffolds, 

 the people cast showers of garlands and flowers upon the crowds 

 below and upon the conquerors proudly marching in procession 

 through the city. Macaulay says — 



" On ride they to the Forum, 



While Laurel-boughs and flowers, 

 From house-tops and from windows, 

 Fell on their crests in showers." 



In the processions of the Corybantes, the goddess Cybele, the 

 protectress of cities, was pelted with white Roses. In the annual 

 festivals of the Terminalia, the peasants were all crowned with 

 garlands of flowers ; and at the festival held by the gardeners in 

 honour of Vertumnus on August 23rd, wreaths of budding flowers 

 and the first-fruits of their gardens were offered by members of 

 the craft. 



In the sacrifices of both Greeks and Romans, it was customary 

 to place in the hands of victims some sort of floral decoration, and 

 the presiding priests also appeared crowned with flowers. 



"Thus the gay victim with fresh garlands crowned, 

 Pleased with the sacred pipe's enlivening sound. 

 Through gazing crowds in solemn state proceeds, 

 And dressed in fatal pomp, magnificently bleeds. " — Phillips. 



The place erected for off'erings was called by the Romans ava, 

 an altar. It was decorated with leaves and grass, adorned with 

 flowers, and bound with woollen fillets : on the occasion of a 

 " triumph " these altars smoked with perfumed incense. 



The Greeks had a Nymph of Flowers whom they called Chloris, 

 and the Romans the goddess Flora, who, among the Sabines and 

 the Phoceans, had been worshipped long before the foundation of 

 the Eternal City. As early as the time of Romulus the Latins 

 instituted a festival in honour of Flora, which was intended as a 

 public expression of joy at the appearance of the welcome blossoms 

 which were everywhere regarded as the harbingers of fruits. Five 

 hundred and thirteen years after the foundation of Rome the 

 Floralia, or annual floral games, were established; and after the 

 sibyllic books had been consulted, it was finally ordained that the 

 festival should be kept every 20th day of April, that is four days 



