310 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



are now so wanton and delicate, that not- 

 withstanding they are besmeared in every 

 part of their bodies with odorous ointments, 

 yet they cannot take their wine unless it be 

 spiced and aromatized with balms : so as 

 they get sweet smells, they care not for the 

 bitter taste, or the treasure they expend." 



When L. Plotius was banished, and pro- 

 claimed an outlaw, by a decree of the trium- 

 viri, (Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius,) he 

 would have escaped, being closely hid in a 

 cave at Salernum, but was discovered by the 

 smell of the precious ointment on his person. 



As we digress to please, we hope for par- 

 don, and return to lavender, under the name 

 which it appears to have borne with the 

 prince of the Latin poets, who, in describing 

 a situation for the hive, says, 



" Hsec circum Casia virides, et olentia late 

 Serpilla, et graviter spirantis copia thymbrae." 



Virgil's Georgics, 4.th book. 



" The verdant lavender must there abound, 

 There savory shed its pleasant sweets around ; 

 There buds of purple violets should bloom, 

 And fragrant thyme the ambient air perfume. 



Lauderdale. 



Theophrastus, in earlier days, seems to 

 have mentioned this plant under the title of 

 Cneorus Albus. 



