90 SYLVA FLORIFERA, 



she caused a great number of myrtles to rise 

 in and around the ship, with which the sailors 

 formed crowns ; and on their safe arrival at 

 Naucrates, Herostratus presented the statue 

 and the myrtles to the temple that was conse- 

 crated to Venus ; on which occasion he gave 

 a feast, where he distributed the crowns of 

 myrtle to the guests, whence they were called 

 Naucratites. 



Pliny tells us that the Romans and the Sa- 

 bines, when they were reconciled, laid down 

 their arms by a myrtle-tree, where they purified 

 themselves with the fragrant boughs of this 

 sacred tree ; and that to make atonement, and 

 to ratify their marriage with the Sabine wo- 

 men, the former people built a temple on the 

 spot, in which was placed an image of the 

 goddess, and which was dedicated to Venus 

 Cloacina, from cluere, that is, to cleanse. The 

 same author informs us, that myrtles were 

 amongst the first trees that the people planted 

 in the public places of Rome, to presage 

 future events ; and that there were two sacred 

 myrtles growing before the temple of Quiri- 

 nus, one of the oldest edifices in Rome, and 

 erected in honour of Romulus. One of these 

 myrtles was called Patritia, the myrtle of the 

 nobility, and the other Plebeia, the myrtle of 

 the commonalty ; and as either of these trees 



