368 THE UNIVERSE. 



fill ceremonies of death; each one had its mission or special 

 signification.^ 



1 The rose, the myrtle, and the miut, equally dear to Venus, were the princi- 

 pal coronary plants of the ancients. In their loose orgies the young Greeks often 

 adorned themselves with crowns made of the last-named flower, in consequence 

 of which the mints were commonly known under the name of Corona Veneris. 

 The history of the funereal plants of the ancients has been worked out in a very 

 interesting way by G. A. Langguth. He follows up the employment of tliem 

 from the commencement of the malady to the close of the funeral ceremonies. 

 The author presents us with a true and interesting picture of Greek and Roman 

 manners — Antiquitates Plantanim Feralium apud Grcecos et Romanos, Lipsii^e, ' 

 1 738. When the malady began to alai'm a family seriously',- they suspended at the 

 patient's door boughs of the favourite tree of Apollo, tlie inventor of medicine, 

 in order to secure a favourable turn to the complaint. To the bi'anches of laurel 

 were added tufts of the Ehamnus, consecrated to Janus, and which was supposed 

 to preserve the dwelling from all harm. But if, despite this invocation for aid, 

 death overtook the sick person, they substituted for these plants black boughs of 

 cypress, the emblem of Pluto and Proserpine ; or branches of larch, the funeral 

 tree, as Pliny calls it. At a later period, when the body of the defunct had been 

 washed, it was anointed with perfumes — myrrh, frankincense, cauella and car- 

 damom. It was then de]iosited in a coffin of cypress wood, which the Athenians, 

 as Thucydides tells us, considered to be incorruptible, and on the head was 

 placed a wreath, the composition of which was emblematic of the condition of 

 the deceased. It was formed of olive, laurel, white poplar, of lilies or smallage. 

 Burning branches of pine and stems of papyrus lighted the procession, which 

 advanced to the sound of funereal flutes, in the construction of which only box- 

 wood and lotus were employed. They always made use of a pyre of resinous 

 wood to consume the dead body. Its action was more rapid and its odorous 

 emanations absorbed the smell of the burned flesh. The relatives piously collected 

 the ashes and placed them in urns, mixed with perfumes of myrtle and rose, 

 frankincense and violet. After this they were dejjosited in the tomb. 



