Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



Verbena. 



' verbena tempora vincti ' (Ae. xii. 120). 

 ' verbenas adole pingues ' (Ec. viii. 65). 

 'lilia verbenasque' (Ge. iv. 131). 



The vervain (Verbena officinalis) is a fairly frequent 

 roadside plant in England and very common in Italy. 

 It has a small spike of bluish flowers, and, as Pliny 

 noted, an angular stem and oak-like leaves. It has 

 not enough beauty or dignity to justify its standing 

 side by side with the lily in the Corycian's garden, 

 nor does it look like a bee plant, and I have never 

 seen bees on it, though I have grown it in a garden. 

 The Corycian must have learnt from his Italian 

 neighbours how highly they valued a plant which 

 could cure them of divers diseases, save them from 

 the effect of a serpent's fang, and through incanta- 

 tion bring an errant husband to his wife's breast. It 

 could cleanse a house from impurities, and Jupiter 

 would have no other herb to sweep his table. 



When the Romans held that a foreign State had 

 done them a wrong, they sent an ambassador, who 

 wore a fillet of white wool with a wreath of vervain, 

 plucked root and all on the Capitol, to demand 

 reparation. In this use the plucked tufts were called 

 ' sagmina,' or sacred things, and the envoy was 

 * verbenarius.' It would seem, however, that other 

 plants could be used if they were plucked from the 

 sacred enclosure. Tufts of grass would do, and, in 

 some cases, sprays of myrtle seem to have been 

 chosen. This led to an extension of the name, 

 'verbena' standing for any spray — bay, olive, or 



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