MYRTLE. 
105 
At Rome the Myrtle-garland of the Loves was 
sometimes mingled in honour of Mars and Venus, 
with the laurel on the triumphant conqueror’s brow. 
And now that triumphs have ceased at the Capitol, 
the Roman ladies have retained a strong predilection 
for this plant. They prefer its odour to that of the 
most fragrant essences, and they impregnate their 
baths with a water distilled from its leaves, persuaded 
that the plant of Venus must be favourable to beauty. 
If the ancients were possessed by a similar persua¬ 
sion, if they truly deemed it the symbol of love, it 
was because they had observed that the Myrtle, 
wherever it grows, excludes all other plants. Just 
so love, wherever it has established its sway, excludes 
from the heart all other feelings. 
