80 THE ELM. 



because all such little pictures were at one time 

 surrounded by an engraved vine-wreath, in classi- 

 cal language called viticula. The selection of the 

 elin for the purpose above-mentioned gives occasion 

 to very frequent allusions to the practice by the 



FB.TJIT OF EM-TKEE. 



ancient poets,- as by Virgil over and over again in 

 the Georgics and the Pastorals. It would seem that 

 in those days, as in the present, lovers forgot 

 their occupations while thinking of the beloved, for 

 thus does Corydon chide himself when he wakes 

 to the consciousness that his appeals are vain : 



Ah, Corydon ! Corydon, quae te dementia cepit ? 

 Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est. 



<c Ah, Corydon ! Corydon, what love-fever hath en- 

 slaved thee ? Half-pruned is thy vine that mantles 

 in the leafy elm ! " Like a wise man, he decides to 



