, Chap. 38.] 
THE MYETLE USED IIT OYATIO^TS. 
331 
markable, this oil is possessed of a certain vinous flavour, 
being, at the same time, of an unctuous nature, and remarkably 
efficacious for improving wines. When this is done, the 
wine strainer is dipped in the oil before it is used, the result 
of which is that it retains the lees of the wine, and allows 
nothing but the pure liquor to escape, while at the same time 
it accompanies the wine and causes a marked improvement in 
its flavour. 
Sprigs of myrtle, if carried by a person when travelling on 
foot, are found to be very refreshings^ on a long journey. 
Eings, too, made of myrtle which has never been touched by 
iron, are an excellent specific for swellings in the groin.^^ 
CHAP. 38. THE MYETLE USED AT EOME IN OVATIONS. 
The myrtle has played ^ its part, also, in the successes of 
war. Posthumius Tubertus, who gained a victory over the 
Sabines in his consulship,^^ was the first person who entered 
the City enjoying the honour of an ovation,^^ for having 
achieved this success with ease and without bloodshed : upon 
which occasion he made his entry crowned with the myrtle of 
Yenus Yictrix, and thereby rendered her tree an object of 
regard to our enemies even. Ever since this occasion, the 
wreath of those who have enjoyed an ovation has been made 
of myrtle, with the exception of M. Crassus,^^ who, on his vic- 
tory over the fugitive slaves and Spartacus, made his entry 
crowned with laurels. Massurius informs us, also, that some 
generals, on the occasion of a triumph even, have worn a 
wreath of myrtle in the triumphal car. L. Piso states that 
5^ A new proof, as Fee remarks, that the ancients had peculiar notions 
of their own, as to the flavour of wine ; myrtle berries, he says, would 
impart to wine a detestable aromatic flavour. 
" Saccis the strainer being made of cloth. See B. xiv. e. 28. 
S2 They would be of no assistance whatever, and this statement is en- 
tirely fictitious. 
He may possibly mean hernia. 
In addition to all those particulars, he might have stated that the 
Lares, or household gods, were crowned with myrtle, and that it was not 
allowed to enter the Temple of Eona Dea. 
A.u.c. 251. 
See the Notes to c. 35 of this Book. 
^7 Because the enemy would be less likely to envy us a bloodless triumph. 
He disdained the more humble myrtle crown, and intrigued success- 
fully Avith the Senate to allow him to wear a wreath of laurel. 
