pfaat laore, Isegc*^/, drxA Isijric/. 573 



branches of it in their hands when they approached the altar. The 

 magicians also employed the mystic herb in their pretended 

 divinations, and affirmed that, by smearing the body over with the 

 juice of this plant, the person would obtain whatever he set his 

 heart upon, and be able to reconcile the most inveterate enemies, 

 make friends with whom he pleased, and gain the affections, and 

 cure the disease of whom he listed. When they cut Vervain, it 

 was always at a time when both sun and moon were invisible, 

 and they poured honey and honeycomb on the earth, as an atone- 

 ment for robbing it of so precious a herb. The Greeks called it 



the Sacred Herb, and it was with this plant only that they cleansed 

 the festival-table of Jupiter before any great solemnity took place; 

 and hence, according to Pliny, the name of Verbena is derived. 

 It was, also, one of the plants which was dedicated to Venus. 

 Venus Victrix wore a crown of Myrtle interwoven with Vervain, 



With the Romans, the Vervain was a plant of good omen, 



and considered stri(5tly sacred: — 



" Bring your garlands, and with reverence place 

 The Vervain on the altar." 



They employed it in their religious rites, swept their temples and 

 cleansed their altars with it, and sprinkled holy water with its 

 branches. They also purified their houses with it, to keep off evil 

 spirits ; and in order to make themselves invulnerable, they carried 

 about their persons a blade of Grass and some Vervain. Their 

 ambassadors, or heralds-at-arms, wore crowns of Vervain when 

 they went to offer terms of reconciliation, or to give defiance to 

 their enemies, a custom thus noticed by Drayton : — 



" A wreath of Vervain heralds wear, 

 Amongst our garlands named ; 

 Being sent that dreadful news to bear, 

 Offensive war proclaimed." 



Virgil mentions Vervain as one of the charms used by an en- 

 chantress: — 



" Bring running water, bind those altars round 

 With fillets, and with Vervain strew the ground." 



The Druids, both in Gaul and in Britain, regarded the Vervain 

 with the same veneration as the Hindus do the Kusa or Tulasi, and, 

 like the Magi of the East, they offered sacrifices to the earth before 

 they cut this plant. This ceremony took place in Spring, at about 

 the rising of the Great Dog Star, but so that neither sun nor moon 

 would be at that time above the earth to see the sacred herb cut. 

 It was to be dug up with an iron instrument, and to be waved 

 aloft in the air, the left hand only being used. It was also ordained 

 by the Druidical priests, for those who collected it, "that before they 

 take up the herb, they bestow upon the ground where it groweth 

 honey with the combs, in token of satisfacftion and amends for the 

 wrong and violence done in depriving her of so holy a herb. The 

 leaves, stalks, and flowers were dried separately in the shade, and 



