pPant "bore, "iQegellt*/, cmel TqijpIc/. 405 



The nymph is all into a Laurel gone 

 The smoothness of her skin remains alone. 



• ♦♦♦•♦ 



To whom the god : because Ihou canst not be 



My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree : 



]5c' thou the prize of honour and renown ; 



The deal!) less poet and the poem crown. 



Thou shall the Roman festivals adorn, 



And after poets, be by victors won. 



Thou shalt returning Ca;sar's triumph grace 



Wlien pom]3S shall in a long procession pass ; 



Wreath'd on tlie posts before his palace wait ; 



And be the sacred guardian of the gate. 



Secure from thunder, and unharmed by Jove, 



Unfading as th' immortal powers above ; 



And as the locks of IMKubus are unshorn. 



So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn." — Dryden. 



The classical Latirel, known as the " Royal," or " Augustan," 

 was the Sweet Bay, or Daphne {Launis nobilis). Formerly the 

 Bay-tree was called Laurel, and the fruit only named Bayes, 

 a word derived from the French bale, a berry. By the Greeks 

 and Romans the tree was considered sacred. The Romans decor- 

 ated with Laurel the gods Apollo and Bacchus, the goddesses 

 Libertas and Salus, iEsculapius, Hercules, &c. The vi(ftors of 

 the Pythian games, held to commemorate Apollo's triumph over 

 the Pythons, wore crowns of Laurel, Palm, or Beech. Paris (called 

 in Homer, Alexander) was crowned with Alexandrian Laurel 

 {Ruscns racemosus), as victor in the public gaines, whence its names in 

 Apuleius, Daphne Alexandvina and Stephane Alexandrina. Of all the 

 honours decreed to Csesar by the Senate, he is said to have valued 

 most the privilege of wearing a crown of Alexandrian Laurel, be- 

 cause it covered his baldness, which was reckoned a deformity 

 among the Romans as well as among the Jews. This is the Laurel 

 generally depicted on busts, coins, &c. The palace gates of the 

 Caesars, and the high pontiffs were decorated with Laurel. Vic- 

 torious Roman generals sent their letters and dispatches to the 

 Senate enclosed in Laurel-leaves. The letter announcing the vidlory 

 was called litera; lauveatcv, and its bearer carried a branch of Laurel, 

 which was placed in the breast of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The 

 soldiers' spears, tents, ships, &c., were all dressed up with Laurel, 

 and in the triumph each soldier carried a branch in his hand. 

 According to Plutarch, Scipio entered Carthage, holding in one 

 hand a sceptre and in the other a branch of Laurel. Sophocles 

 relates how CEdipus, seeing Creon arrive crowned with Laurel, 

 believed that he brought good news. The goddess Victoria is 

 represented as crowned with Laurel, and bearing the branch of a 

 Palm-tree. According to Hesiod, the Muses hold Laurel in their 

 hands. 



The prophetess Manto, a daughter of the prophet Tiresias, was 

 sometimes called Daphne (Laurel). 



