BOOK XV. xxxviii. 125-XXXIX. 129 



w!th the exception of Marcus Crassu.s,\vho when cele- 

 brating his victory won from the runaway slaves and 

 Spartacus, made his entry wearing a wreath of laurels. 

 Masurius informs us that generals going in triumph 

 in a chariot also used to wear a myrtle wreath. 

 Lucius Piso records that Papirius Maso, the first 

 general who held a triumph on the Alban Mount, in 71 b.o. 

 celebration of his victory over the Corsicans, was in 

 the habit of wearing a wreath of myrtle when watch- 

 ing the games in the circus : he was the maternal 

 grandfather of the second Africanus. Marcus 

 Valerius wore two wreaths, one of laurel and one of 

 myrtle, having made a vow to do so. 



XXXIX. The laurel is especially assigned to Thebay-tree 

 triumphs,but it is extremely decorative for dweUing- ^Zdin^^^' 

 houses, and guards the portals of the emperors and the Qardens -, Us 

 high priests ; there it hangs alone, adorning the man- 

 sions and keeping sentry-guard before the thresholds. 

 Cato has recorded two species of laurel, the Delphic cxxxiii. 

 and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenaeus added one 

 which he called mustax, because it was placed under- 

 neath mustacean cakes : ° he said that this has a 

 very large, pendulous leaf of a whitish colour, and 

 that the Delphic laurel is a uniform greener colour, 

 and has very large berries of a reddish green ; and 

 that this laurel is used to make wreaths for the 

 winners at Delphi, as it is for generals going in 

 triumph at Rome. He states that the Cyprus laurel 

 is crinkly, with a short black leaf that curves up along 

 the edges. Since his time varieties have been added : 

 the tine tree ^ — this some take to be the wild laurel, 

 but there are people who think that it is a separate 

 kind of tree : indeed there is a difference of colour, 

 the berry being bright blue. Another addition is 



375 



