iJPoraP djeremonic/. 3pr 



niger). Wreaths and chaplets were in common use among the 

 Egyptians at a very early period ; and ahhough the Lotus was 

 principally preferred in their formation, many other flowers and 

 leaves were employed — as of the Chrysanthenmm, Acinos, Acacia, 

 Strychnos, Persoluta, Anemone, Convolvulus, Olive, Myrtle, 

 Amaracus, Xeranthemum, Bay-tree, and others. Plutarch says 

 that when Agesilaus visited Egypt, he was so delighted with the 

 chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the King, that he took some home 

 when he returned to Sparta. In India, Greece, and Rome, the 

 sacrificial priests were crowned, and their victims were decorated 

 with garlands of flowers. 



In ancient Greece and Rome the manufacture of garlands and 

 chaplets became quite an art, so great was the estimation in which 

 these adornments were held by these highly-civilised nations. With 

 them the composition of a garland possessed a deep significance, 

 and warriors, statesmen, and poets alike coveted these simple 

 insignia at the hands of their countrymen. Pliny tells us that the 

 Sicyonians were considered to surpass all other people in the art 

 of arranging the colours of garlands and imparting to them the 

 most agreeable mixture of perfumes. They derived this taste from 

 Glycera, a woman so skilled in the art of arranging chaplets and 

 garlands that she won the affection of Pausias, a celebrated painter, 

 who delighted in copying the wreaths of flowers so deftly arranged 

 by his mistress. Some of these pictures were still in existence when 

 Pliny wrote, four hundred and fifty years after they were painted. 

 Cato, in his treatise on gardens, directs specially that they should 

 be planted with such flowers as are adapted for chaplets and 

 wreaths. Pliny states that Mnestheus and Callimachus, two 

 renowned Greek physicians, compiled several books on the virtues 

 of chaplets, pointing out those hurtful to the brain, as well as those 

 which had a beneficial influence on the wearer ; for both Greeks 

 and Romans had found, by experience, that certain plants and 

 flowers facilitated the functions of the brain, and assisted materially 

 to neutralise the inebriating qualities of wine. Thus, as Horace tells 

 us, the floral chaplets worn by guests at feasts were tied with the ' 

 bark of the Linden to prevent intoxication. 



'* I tell thee, hoj, that I detest 

 The grandeur of a Persian feast; 

 Nor for me the binder's rind 

 Shall no flow'ry chaplet bind. 

 Then search not where the curious Rose, 

 Beyond his season loitering grows ; 

 But beneath the mantling \ me. 

 While I quafT the flowing wine. 

 The Myrtle's wreath shall crown our brows, 

 While you shall wait and I carouse." 



Besides the guests at feasts, the attendants were decorated with 

 wreaths, and tlie wine-cups and apartments adorned with flowers. 

 From an anecdote related by Pliny we learn that it was a frequent 



