64 
The Myrtle. 
purposes : “ The magisterial wreaths were composed by some 
of those artists whose profession it was to form garlands and 
to construct letters, the flowers of which should be symbolical 
of different ideas. The meaning of these wreaths, or epistles, 
was as fully understood by the great body of the people as 
the language of flowers is recognized in the Eastern harem. 
The wild olive, or wreath of laurel or parsley, which crowned 
the brow of the successful combatant, appealed to the imagi¬ 
nation of his countrymen, and was deemed by the Grecian 
hero as a well-understood token of applause. It was with the 
desire of giving to the dead that which they had loved in 
life, that the ancients crowned the corpse with myrtle. The 
practice was long continued, till the Fathers of the Church 
at length forbade it, because it was taken from the heathen 
people ; but so old and pleasing a custom—one which ex¬ 
pressed so well the feelings of the mourner—was not easily 
done away with, and the remains of it reached, in our own 
land, even down to the present century, when the dead were 
enwreathed with flowers, or a chaplet hung up in the church 
or laid upon the tomb.” 
The Romans, with whom, indeed, floral ceremonies did not 
always exhibit the same purity and delicacy that they did with 
their predecessors, seem to have had as great a fondness for 
the myrtle as had the Hellenes. “ The myrtle blooming on the 
sea-beat shore” was deemed by them emblematical of festivity , 
because, it is supposed, they steeped it in their wine, in the 
belief that it improved its flavour and added to its invigorat¬ 
ing properties. The invalid, too, hoped for restoration to health 
by using its berries medicinally. Sometimes, at Rome, the 
myrtle garland was woven with the laurel on the conqueror’s 
triumphant brow, in honour of Venus and Mars; and on the 
ist of April the Roman ladies were accustomed to bathe beneath 
the myrtle-trees, and, crowned with their leaves, proceed thence 
to the shrine of Venus, and offer sacrifice. 
As a rule, Italians appear suspicious of perfumes ; but it is 
stated that the Roman ladies still retain a strong predilection 
lor the scent of this flower, and are said to prefer its odour to 
that of the most fragrant essences ; impregnating their baths 
with a water distilled from its leaves, persuaded that the plant 
of Venus must be favourable to beauty. 
