MYR TLE .. 
(Love.) 
HE Myrtle, like the rose, is generally considered 
symbolic of love, and by the Greeks and 
Romans was consecrated to Venus, round whose 
templis they planted groves of it; and, when the votaries 
of this goddess sacrificed to her, they, like her attendant 
Graces, wore myrtle chaplets. 
The Myrtle is supposed to derive its name from Myr- 
sine, an Athenian maiden, and favourite of Minerva, 
said to have been metamorphosed into the myrtle ; at 
any rate, it owes its origin to a Greek word signifying 
perfume. 
Amongst the ancient writers who speak of its symbolism 
is Pliny : he records that the Romans and Sabines, when 
they were reconciled, laid down their weapons under a 
myrtle-tree, and purified themselves with its boughs. 
When Harmodius and Aristogiton set forth to free their 
country from a tyrant, their swords were wreathed 
with myrtle. 
I’ll wreathe my sword in myrtle boughs, 
The sword that laid the tyrant low, 
When patriots, burning to be free, 
To Athens gave equality.— 
Greek Anthology. 
