Myrtus 



fixa cuspide myrtum ' {Ae. vii. 817) he perhaps impHes 

 that as a warrior the Volscian damsel, for all her 

 gallantry, was something of an amateur. 



Virgil in his boyhood can have known the myrtle 

 only as a cultivated plant, for the winters of Mantova 

 are too severe for it to grow without protection, and 

 Menalcas has to defend it against the frosts with 

 mats {Ec. vii. 6). Even at Rome the two trees in 

 the sanctuary of Quirinus, known as the patrician 

 and the plebeian myrtle, may sometimes have called 

 for like protection. The Sicilian Corydon, who joins 

 it in his nosegay with the bay (Ec. ii. 55), could leave 

 it undefended. . 



The skin of the berry is blackish, but the vinous 

 juice is near enough in colour to blood for an ancient 

 to call the berries ' cruenta ' (Ge. i. 306). They were 

 gathered in winter and mixed with wine as a remedy 

 for the colic and for toothaches. 



Flower, July. 

 Italian name, Mirto. 



Narcissus. 



' sera comantem | narcissum ' (Ge. iv. 122). 

 ' purpurea narcisso ' (Ec. v. 38). 

 'narcissi lacrimam' (Ge. iv. 160). 



This name covers several species, and it is prob- 

 able that the ' purple ' narcissus is the pheasant's 

 eye, N. poeticus, or poet's narciss, the epithet having 

 the same sense us in Shelley's ' purple swans.' The 

 tear is that of the youth who was changed into the 



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