266 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



the indelicate spectacles about to take place 

 in public. This behaviour so captivated the 

 degenerate Romans, that the venerable sen- 

 ator was treated with the most uncommon 

 applause as he retired, which shows that vir- 

 tue and modesty are always respected even 

 by vice itself. 



At the present time there is not a door at 

 Athens, that is not crowned with a garland 

 of flowers on the 1st of May ; and the youth 

 of both sexes, with the elasticity of spirits so 

 characteristic of a Greek, forget, or brave, 

 their Turkish masters, while, with guitars in 

 their hands and crowns upon their heads,* 



" They lead the dance in honour of the May." 



The French have given the elegantly ap- 

 propriate name of Aubepine to this flowering 

 thorn, which means the morning of the year, 

 as aube expresses the white, or twilight, 

 before sun-rise. Passerat, a French poet, 

 compares these flowers to the dangers of 

 love. 



Belle fleur d'Eglantier, belle fleur d' Aubepine, 

 Desirant vous cueillir, bien souvent on s'epine ; 

 Qui desire, en amour, cueillir de belles fleurs, 

 II n'y cueille souvent que regrets et que pleurs. 



* Douglas's Ess. on the Ancient and Modern Greeks. 



