ASPHODEL. 
(I will be faithful unto Death.) 
NCIENTLY dedicated to the memory of de¬ 
parted souls, the asphodel is still very common 
in Greece 3 it was planted around the tombs of 
the deceased; and it was believed that beyond the fatal 
river Acheron, the shades wandered in a vast field of 
asphodels, and drank forgetfulness from Lethe’s waters of 
oblivion. The flowers of the asphodel produce grains 
with which it was thought that the dead were nourished. 
Orpheus, in Pope’s “ Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,” conjures 
the infernal deities : 
f ‘ By the streams that ever flow, 
By the fragrant winds that blow 
O’er the Elysian flowers ; 
By those happy souls who dwell 
In yellow meads of asphodel 
Or amaranthine bowers.” 
We have as old an authority as Homer for stating that, 
after having crossed the Styx, the shades passed over a 
long plain of asphodels. Hence the meaning attached to 
the flower. 
