96 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
MYRTLE. 
LOVE. 
The oak was from the remotest ages conse¬ 
crated to Jupiter, the olive to Minerva, and 
the Myrtle to Venus. Its evergreen foliage and 
supple odoriferous branches loaded with flowers, 
that appear destined to adorn the forehead of 
Love, have rendered 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 Myrtilla. When 
Venus rose from the bosom of the waves, the 
Hours presented to her a scarf of a thousand 
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 
