10 



THE IVY. 



" Fierce tigers Daphnis taught the yoke to bear ; 

 And first with curling ivy dressed the spear. 

 Daphnis did rites to Bacchus first ordain ; 

 And holy revels for his reeling train." 1 



The licence of the poet being undefined, Virgil did not hesitate to mingle the 

 ivy with the laurel in preparing a wreath for " Great Pollio " : 



" Amidst thy laurels let this ivy twine : 

 Thine was my earliest muse ; my latest shall be thine." a 



Horace had the like appreciation of the ivy as a plant of honour, for in his 

 first ode he glorifies Maecenas by the offer of an ivy-wreath, in token of his grace 

 and learning : 



" An ivy- wreath, fair learning's prize, 

 Raises Maecenas to the skies." 3 



In the ceremonies of later times our plant has enjoyed more honourable dis- 

 tinctions. When the early Christians accommodated their celebration of the birth 

 of Christ to the observances of the feast of Saturn, or to the jubilations of the 

 Druids, the ivy was mingled in the Christmas garland, and thenceforth acquired a 

 proper place in pleasant usages that continue to this day. The holly and the ivy 

 have from the earliest times held the mastery in providing the green garniture of 

 the Christmas feast, and in many a bright old carol are their virtues celebrated 

 in connection with the great season of rejoicing in the Christian year. A scrap 

 from one of these must have place here as a proper link in the chain of evidence 

 of the historical importance of our plant : 



1 Dryden's translation, v. 27 30. In the original the reading is : 

 " Daphnis et Armenias curru subjungere tigres 

 Instituit, Daphnis thiasos inducere Baccho, 

 Et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas," 



ECLOGA V. 2931. 

 9 Dryden's translation, v. 17, 18. In the original the reading is : 



" Atque hanc sine tempora circum 



Inter victrices ederam tibi serpere lauros." 



ECLOGA VIII. 12, 13. 

 * Francis's translation. In the original the reading is : 



" Te doctarum ederae praemia frontiura 

 Dis miscent superis." 



CARMEN I. 29, 30, 



