HAY. 107 



The disappointed Apollo then claimed the 

 tree as sacred to himself. 



" Because thou canst not be 



My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree : 



Be thou the prize of honour and renown ; 



The deathless poet, and the poem crown. 



Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, 



And, after poets, be by victors worn." Ovid. 



The Latins called it Laurus, from lavo, on 

 account of its quality in purging the blood ; 

 or, as some suppose, from laudis, praise, and 

 from whence the ancients called it Laudea, 

 but in later times the d was changed for r, 

 making it Laurus and Laurea. 



This favourite tree of Apollo's gave the 

 name to a capital in ancient times, which is 

 now called Paterno. 



" Deep in the palace, of long growth, there stood 

 A laurel's trunk, a venerable wood, 

 Where rites divine were paid ; whose holy hair 

 Was cut and trimm'd with superstitious care. 

 This plant Latinus, when his town he walPd, 

 Then found, and from the tree Laurentum called : 

 And last, in honour of his new abode, 

 Hevow'd the laurel to the laurel's god." Virgil. 



The ancients believed that the vaurus was 

 a protection from lightning ; Ovid makes 

 Phoebus give it this virtue : 



" Secure from thunder, and unharm'd by Jove, 

 Unfading as th' immortal pow'rs above : 

 And as the locks of Phcebus are unshorn, 

 So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn." 



