Pfant "bore, Iseger^/, anel Tst^ricf. 455 



Venus because of its fondness for the sea — from the foam of which 

 the goddess sprang, and was wafted by the Zephyrs to the shore, 

 where she was received by the Horae, and crowned with Myrtle. 

 Myrtle chaplets were worn by her attendants, the Graces, and by 

 her votaries when sacrificing to her. During her festivals in April, 

 married couples (her proteges) were decked with Myrtle wreaths. 

 The Myrtle of which the nuptial crowns were composed was the 



Myrttts latifolia of Pliny, called by Cato Myrtiis conjugula. The 



Myrtle was adopted by Minerva and Mars; the priests of the 

 latter deity being sometimes crowned with it. The plant was 

 also associated with Hymen, the son of Venus, and the Muse Erato, 

 whose chaplet was composed of Roses and Myrtle. It sometimes 

 symbolised unchaste love. In the festivals of Myrrha, the incestuous 

 mother of Adonis, the married women crowned themselves with 

 Myrtle. Virgil represents the vi(ftims of love in the infernal regions 

 hiding themselves behind bunches of Myrtle. At the festival of 

 the Bona Dea at Rome, where all other flowers and shrubs might 

 be used, Myrtle was forbidden to be placed on the altar, because 



it encouraged sensual gratification. The Greeks were extremely 



partial to the Myrtle. At their most sacred festival, the Eleusinian 

 mysteries, the initiates, as well as the high priest, who officiated at 

 the altar of Ceres, were crowned with Myrtle. The Athenian 

 magistrates wore chaplets of the fragrant shrub in token of their 

 authority ; and bloodless victors entwined Myrtle with their Laurel 

 wreaths. When Aristogiton and Harmodius set forth to free their 

 country from the tyranny of the Pisistratidae, their swords were 



wreathed with Myrtle. With the Romans, the Myrtle was a 



highly-esteemed plant , and invariably expressive of triumph and joy. 

 It also symbolised festivity, and, when steeped in wine, was supposed 

 to impart to it invigorating qualities. On the 1st of April, Roman 

 ladies, after bathing beneath the Myrtle-trees, crowned themselves 

 with the leaves, and proceeded to the shrine of Venus to offer 

 sacrifice. The Roman bridegroom decked himself with Myrtle on 

 his bridal day; and the hero wore it as a badge of vicftory, and 

 sometimes interweaved it with Laurel in honour of Venus and 

 Mars. When the Romans fought to guard the captured Sabine 

 women, they wore chaplets of Myrtle on their heads, and, according 

 to Pliny, after the combatants had at length become reconciled, 

 they laid down their weapons under a Myrtle, and purified them- 

 selves with its boughs. The tree was sacred to the Sabine Mars 

 Quirinus; and two Myrtles stood before his temple, as two Laurels 

 stood before the temple of the Roman Mars, symbolising the 



union of the Roman and Sabine peoples. The Romans crowned 



themselves with Myrtle after a vitftor)', but only when blood had 



not been shed. Pliny relates that Romulus planted in Rome 



two Myrtles, one of which became the favourite of the patri- 

 cians, the other of the people. When the nobles won, the people's 

 Myrtle drooped ; when, on the other hand, the people were vie- 



