104 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
MYRTLE. 
The oak was from the remotest ages consecrated 
to Jupiter, the olive to Minerva, and the Myrtle to 
Venus, Its evergreen foliage and supple odorife- 
rous branches loaded with flowers, that appear 
destined to adorn the forehead of Love, have ren- 
dered this tree worthy of being dedicated to Venus, 
the goddess of beauty. At Rome the temple of the 
goddess was surrounded by a grove of Myrtles ; and 
in Greece she was adored under the name of Myr- 
tilla. When Venus rose from the bosom of the 
waves, the Hours presented to her a scarf of a thou- 
sand colours, and a wreath of Myrtle. After her 
victory over Pallas and Juno, she was crowned 
with Myrtle by the Loves. When surprised, one 
day, on issuing from the bath, by a troop of satyrs, 
she sought refuge behind a Myrtle bush ; and it was 
with the branches of the same plant that she re- 
venged herself on the audacious Psyche, who dared to 
compare her transitory charms to immortal beauty. 
