Chapter 19

To what a great philosopher has FateNow join'd me here!

To what a great philosopher has Fate

Now join'd me here!

As Theognetus the comic poet says, in his Apparition,—

You wretched man, you've learnt left-handed letters,Your reading has perverted your whole life;Philosophising thus with earth and heaven,Though neither care a bit for all your speeches.

You wretched man, you've learnt left-handed letters,

Your reading has perverted your whole life;

Philosophising thus with earth and heaven,

Though neither care a bit for all your speeches.

For where was it that you got that idea of the Chorus of the Syrbenians? What author worth speaking of mentions that musical chorus? And he replied:—My good friend, I will not teach you, unless I first receive adequate pay from you; for I do not read to pick out all the thorns out of my books as you do, but I select only what is most useful and best worth hearing.And at this Ulpian got indignant, and roared out these lines out of the Suspicion of Alexis—

These things are shameful, e'en to the Triballi;Where they do say a man who sacrifices,Displays the feast to the invited guests,And then next day, when they are hungry all,Sells them what he'd invited them to see.

These things are shameful, e'en to the Triballi;

Where they do say a man who sacrifices,

Displays the feast to the invited guests,

And then next day, when they are hungry all,

Sells them what he'd invited them to see.

And the same iambics occur in the Sleep of Antiphanes. And Cynulcus said:—Since there have already been discussions about garlands, tell us, my good Ulpian, what is the meaning of the expression, "The garland of Naucratis," in the beautiful poet Anacreon. For that sweet minstrel says—

And each man three garlands had:Two of roses fairly twined,And the third a Naucratite.

And each man three garlands had:

Two of roses fairly twined,

And the third a Naucratite.

And why also does the same poet represent some people as crowned with osiers? for in the second book of his Odes, he says—

But now full twice five months are goneSince kind Megisthes wore a crownOf pliant osier, drinking wineWhose colour did like rubies shine.

But now full twice five months are gone

Since kind Megisthes wore a crown

Of pliant osier, drinking wine

Whose colour did like rubies shine.

For to suppose that these crowns were really made of osiers is absurd, for the osier is fit only for plaiting and binding. So now tell us about these things, my friend, for they are worth understanding correctly, and do not keep us quibbling about words.

GARLANDS.

12. But as he made no reply, and pretended to be considering the matter, Democritus said:—Aristarchus the grammarian, my friend, when interpreting this passage, said that the ancients used to wear crowns of willow. But Tenarus says that the willow or osier is the rustics' crown. And other interpreters have said many irrelevant things on the subject. But I, having met with a book of Menodotus of Samos, which is entitled, A Record of the things worth noting at Samos, found there what I was looking for; for he says that "Admete, the wife of Eurystheus, after she had fled from Argos, came to Samos, and there, when a vision of Juno had appeared to her, she wishing to give the goddess a reward because she had arrived in Samos from her own home in safety, undertook the care of the temple, which exists even to this day, and which had been originally built by the Leleges and the Nymphs. But the Argives hearingof this, and being indignant at it, persuaded the Tyrrhenians by a promise of money, to employ piratical force and to carry off the statue,—the Argives believing that if this were done Admete would be treated with every possible severity by the inhabitants of Samos. Accordingly the Tyrrhenians came to the port of Juno, and having disembarked, immediately applied themselves to the performance of their undertaking. And as the temple was at that time without any doors, they quickly carried off the statue, and bore it down to the seaside, and put it on board their vessel. And when they had loosed their cables and weighed anchor, they rowed as fast as they could, but were unable to make any progress. And then, thinking that this was owing to divine interposition, they took the statue out of the ship again and put it on the shore; and having made some sacrificial cakes, and offered them to it, they departed in great fear. But when, the first thing in the morning, Admete gave notice that the statue had disappeared, and a search was made for it, those who were seeking it found it on the shore. And they, like Carian barbarians, as they were, thinking that the statue had run away of its own accord, bound it to a fence made of osiers, and took all the longest branches on each side and twined them round the body of the statue, so as to envelop it all round. But Admete released the statue from these bonds, and purified it, and placed it again on its pedestal, as it had stood before. And on this account once every year, since that time, the statue is carried down to the shore and hidden, and cakes are offered to it: and the festival is called Τονεὺς, because it happened that the statue was bound tightly (συντόνως) by those who made the first search for it.

13. "But they relate that about that time the Carians, being overwhelmed with superstitious fears, came to the oracle of the god at Hybla, and consulted him with reference to these occurrences; and that Apollo told them that they must give a voluntary satisfaction to the god of their own accord, to escape a more serious calamity,—such as in former times Jupiter had inflicted upon Prometheus, because of his theft of the fire, after he had released him from a most terrible captivity. And as he was inclined to give a satisfaction which should not cause him severe pain, this was what the god imposed upon him.And from this circumstance the use of this kind of crown which had been shown to Prometheus got common among the rest of mankind who had been benefited by him by his gift of fire: on which account the god enjoined the Carians also to adopt a similar custom,—to use osiers as a garland, and bind their heads with the branches with which they themselves had bound the goddess. And he ordered them also to abandon the use of every other kind of garland except that made of the bay-tree: and that tree he said he gave as a gift to those alone who are employed in the service of the goddess. And he told them that, if they obeyed the injunctions given them by the oracle, and if in their banquets they paid the goddess the satisfaction to which she was entitled, they should be protected from injury: on which account the Carians, wishing to obey the commands laid on them by the oracle, abolished the use of those garlands which they had previously been accustomed to wear, but permitted all those who were employed in the service of the goddess still to wear the garland of bay-tree, which remains in use even to this day.

14. "Nicænetus also, the epic poet, appears to make some allusion to the fashion of wearing garlands of osier in his Epigrams. And this poet was a native of Samos, and a man who in numberless passages shows his fondness for mentioning points connected with the history of his country. And these are his words:—

I am not oft, O Philotherus, fondOf feasting in the city, but preferThe country, where the open breeze of zephyrFreshens my heart; a simple bedBeneath my body is enough for me,Made of the branches of the native willow (πρόμαλος),And osier (λύγος), ancient garland of the Carians,—But let good wine be brought, and the sweet lyre,Chief ornament of the Pierian sisters,That we may drink our fill, and sing the praiseOf the all-glorious bride of mighty Jove,The great protecting queen of this our isle.

I am not oft, O Philotherus, fond

Of feasting in the city, but prefer

The country, where the open breeze of zephyr

Freshens my heart; a simple bed

Beneath my body is enough for me,

Made of the branches of the native willow (πρόμαλος),

And osier (λύγος), ancient garland of the Carians,—

But let good wine be brought, and the sweet lyre,

Chief ornament of the Pierian sisters,

That we may drink our fill, and sing the praise

Of the all-glorious bride of mighty Jove,

The great protecting queen of this our isle.

GARLANDS.

But in the selines Nicænetus speaks ambiguously, for it is not quite plain whether he means that the osier is to make his bed or his garland; though afterwards, when he calls it the ancient garland of the Carians, he alludes clearly enough to what we are now discussing. And this use of osiers tomake into garlands, lasted in that island down to the time of Polycrates, as we may conjecture. At all events Anacreon says—

But now full twice five months are goneSince kind Megisthes wore a crownOf pliant osier, drinking wineWhose colour did like rubies shine."

But now full twice five months are gone

Since kind Megisthes wore a crown

Of pliant osier, drinking wine

Whose colour did like rubies shine."

15. And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephæstion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title, "Concerning the Osier Garland mentioned by Anacreon." And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephæstion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrantus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antipho the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antipho himself; Hephæstion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antipho in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion on the Osier Garland. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories, mentioned this story about the osier, and knew nothing of the passage of Nicænetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus.

But one may explain this fact of the osier garlands more simply, by saying that Megisthes wore a garland of osier because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his temples. For the Lacedæmonians at thefestival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedæmon, where he writes thus: "On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public school follow without any garland at all."

16. But Aristotle, in the second book of his treatise on Love Affairs, and Ariston the Peripatetic, who was a native of Ceos, in the second book of his Amatory Resemblances, say that "The ancients, on account of the headaches which were produced by their wine-drinking, adopted the practice of wearing garlands made of anything which came to hand, as the binding the head tight appeared to be of service to them. But men in later times added also some ornaments to their temples, which had a kind of reference to their employment of drinking, and so they invented garlands in the present fashion. But it is more reasonable to suppose that it was because the head is the seat of all sensation that men wore crowns upon it, than that they did so because it was desirable to have their temples shaded and bound as a remedy against the headaches produced by wine."

They also wore garlands over their foreheads, as the sweet Anacreon says—

And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns,Let's honour Bacchus with a jovial feast.

And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns,

Let's honour Bacchus with a jovial feast.

They also wore garlands on their breasts, and anointed them with perfume, because that is the seat of the heart. And they call the garlands which they put round their necks ὑποθυμιάδες, as Alcæus does in these lines—

Let every one twine round his neckWreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise.

Let every one twine round his neck

Wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise.

And Sappho says—

And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδεςIn numbers round their tender throats.

And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες

In numbers round their tender throats.

And Anacreon says—

They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowersEntwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες.

They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowers

Entwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες.

Æschylus also, in his Prometheus Unbound, says distinctly—

And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus,Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonementFor the sad chains with which his limbs were bound.

And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus,

Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonement

For the sad chains with which his limbs were bound.

GARLANDS.

And again, in the play entitled the Sphinx, he says—

Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος,—This is the best of chains, as we may judgeFrom great Prometheus.

Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος,—

This is the best of chains, as we may judge

From great Prometheus.

But Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands, speaking as follows—

But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,Twining the tender sprouts of anise greenWith skilful hand; for offerings of flowersAre pleasing to the gods, who hate all thoseWho come before them with uncrownèd heads.

But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,

Twining the tender sprouts of anise green

With skilful hand; for offerings of flowers

Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those

Who come before them with uncrownèd heads.

In which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on their heads, as they are beautiful things, and acceptable to the Gods. Aristotle also, in his Banquet, says, "We never offer any mutilated gift to the Gods, but only such as are perfect and entire; and what is full is entire, and crowning anything indicates filling it in some sort. So Homer says—

The slaves the goblets crown'd with rosy wine;[117]

And in another place he says—

But God plain forms with eloquence does crown.[118]

That is to say, eloquence in speaking makes up in the case of some men for their personal ugliness. Now this is what the στέφανος seems intended to do, on which account, in times of mourning, we do exactly the contrary. For wishing to testify our sympathy for the dead, we mutilate ourselves by cutting our hair, and by putting aside our garlands."

17. Now Philonides the physician, in his treatise on Ointments and Garlands, says, "After the vine was introduced into Greece from the Red Sea, and when most people had become addicted to intemperate enjoyment, and had learnt to drink unmixed wine, some of them became quite frantic and out of their minds, while others got so stupified as to resemble the dead. And once, when some men were drinking on the sea-shore, a violent shower came on, and broke up the party, and filled the goblet, which had a little wine left in it, with water. But when it became fine again, the men returned to the same spot, and tasting the new mixture, found that their enjoyment was now not only exquisite, but free from any subsequent pain. And on this account, the Greeksinvoke the good Deity at the cup of unmixed wine, which is served round to them at dinner, paying honour to the Deity who invented wine; and that was Bacchus. But when the first cup of mixed wine is handed round after dinner, they then invoke Jupiter the Saviour, thinking him the cause of this mixture of wine which is so unattended with pain, as being the author of rain. Now, those who suffered in their heads after drinking, certainly stood in need of some remedy; and so the binding their heads was what most readily occurred to them, as Nature herself led them to this remedy. For a certain man having a headache, as Andreas says, pressed his head, and found relief, and so invented a ligature as a remedy for headache.

Accordingly, men using these ligatures as assistants in drinking, used to bind their heads with whatever came in their way. And first of all, they took garlands of ivy, which offered itself, as it were, of its own accord, and was very plentiful, and grew everywhere, and was pleasant to look upon, shading the forehead with its green leaves and bunches of berries, and bearing a good deal of tension, so as to admit of being bound tight across the brow, and imparting also a certain degree of coolness without any stupifying smell accompanying it. And it seems to me that this is the reason why men have agreed to consider the garland of ivy sacred to Bacchus, implying by this that the inventor of wine is also the defender of men from all the inconveniences which arise from the use of it. And from thence, regarding chiefly pleasure, and considering utility and the comfort of the relief from the effects of drunkenness of less importance, they were influenced chiefly by what was agreeable to the sight or to the smell. And therefore they adopted crowns of myrtle, which has exciting properties, and which also represses any rising of the fumes of wine; and garlands of roses, which to a certain extent relieve headache, and also impart some degree of coolness; and garlands also of bay leaves, which they think are not wholly unconnected with drinking parties. But garlands of white lilies, which have an effect on the head, and wreaths of amaracus, or of any other flower or herb which has any tendency to produce heaviness or torpid feelings in the head, must be avoided."

GARLANDS.

And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Perfumes and Garlands,has said the same thing in the very same words. And this, my friends, is enough to say on this subject.

18. But concerning the Naucratite Crown, and what kind of flowers that is made of, I made many investigations, and inquired a great deal without learning anything, till at last I fell in with a book of Polycharmus of Naucratis, entitled On Venus, in which I found the following passage:—"But in the twenty-third Olympiad Herostratus, a fellow-countryman of mine, who was a merchant, and as such had sailed to a great many different countries, coming by chance to Paphos, in Cyprus, bought an image of Venus, a span high, of very ancient workmanship, and came away meaning to bring it to Naucratis. And as he was sailing near the Egyptian coast, a violent storm suddenly overtook him, and the sailors could not tell where they were, and so they all had recourse to this image of Venus, entreating her to save them. And the goddess, for she was kindly disposed towards the men of Naucratis, on a sudden filled all the space near her with branches of green myrtle, and diffused a most delicious odour over the whole ship, when all the sailors had previously despaired of safety from their violent sea-sickness. And after they had been all very sick, the sun shone out, and they, seeing the landmarks, came in safety into Naucratis. And Herostratus having disembarked from the ship with his image, and carrying with him also the green branches of myrtle which had so suddenly appeared to him, consecrated it and them in the temple of Venus. And having sacrificed to the goddess, and having consecrated the image to Venus, and invited all his relations and most intimate friends to a banquet in the temple, he gave every one of them a garland of these branches of myrtle, to which garlands he then gave the name of Naucratite." This is the account given by Polycharmus; and I myself believe the statement, and believe that the Naucratite garland is no other than one made of myrtle, especially as in Anacreon it is represented as worn with one made of roses. And Philonides has said that the garland made of myrtle acts as a check upon the fumes of wine, and that the one made of roses, in addition to its cooking qualities, is to a certain extent a remedy for headache. And, therefore, those men are only to be laughed at, who say that the Naucratite garland is the wreath made of what is called by theEgyptians biblus, quoting the statement of Theopompus, in the third book of his History of Greece, where he says, "That when Agesilaus the Lacedæmonian arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians sent him many presents, and among them the papyrus, which is used for making garlands." But I do not know what pleasure or advantage there could be in having a crown made of biblus with roses, unless people who are enamoured of such a wreath as this should also take a fancy to wear crowns of garlic and roses together. But I know that a great many people say that the garland made of the sampsychon or amaracus is the Naucratite garland; and this plant is very plentiful in Egypt, but the myrtle in Egypt is superior in sweetness to that which is found in any other country, as Theophrastus relates in another place.

19. While this discussion was going on, some slaves came in bringing garlands made of such flowers as were in bloom at the time; and Myrtilus said;—Tell me, my good friend Ulpian, the different names of garlands. For these servants, as is said in the Centaur of Chærephon—

Make ready garlands which they give the gods,Praying they may be heralds of good omen.

Make ready garlands which they give the gods,

Praying they may be heralds of good omen.

And the same poet says, in his play entitled Bacchus—

Cutting sweet garlands, messengers of good omen.

Do not, however, quote to me passages out of the Crowns of Ælius Asclepiades, as if I were unacquainted with that work; but say something now besides what you find there. For you cannot show me that any one has ever spoken separately of a garland of roses, and a garland of violets. For as for the expression in Cratinus—

ναρκισσίνους ὀλίσβους,

that is said in a joke.

And he, laughing, replied,—The word στέφανος was first used among the Greeks, as Semos the Delian tells us in the fourth book of his Delias, in the same sense as the word στέφος is used by us, which, however, by some people is called στέμμα. On which account, being first crowned with this στέφανος, afterwards we put on a garland of bay leaves; and the word στέφανος itself is derived from the verb στέφω, to crown. But do you, you loquacious Thessalian, think, says he, that I am going to repeat any of those old and hacknied stories? Butbecause of your tongue (γλῶσσα), I will mention the ὑπογλωττὶς, which Plato speaks of in his Jupiter Ill-treated—

GARLANDS.

But you wear leather tongues within your shoes,And crown yourselves with ίπογλωττίδες,Whenever you're engaged in drinking parties.And when you sacrifice you speak only wordsOf happy omen.

But you wear leather tongues within your shoes,

And crown yourselves with ίπογλωττίδες,

Whenever you're engaged in drinking parties.

And when you sacrifice you speak only words

Of happy omen.

And Theodorus, in his Attic Words, as Pamphilus says in his treatise on Names, says, that the ὑπογλωττὶς is a species of plaited crown. Take this then from me; for, as Euripides says,

'Tis no hard work to argue on either side,If a man's only an adept at speaking.

'Tis no hard work to argue on either side,

If a man's only an adept at speaking.

20. There is the Isthmiacum also, and there was a kind of crown bearing this name, which Aristophanes has thought worthy of mention in his Fryers, where he speaks thus—

What then are we to do? We should have takenA white cloak each of us; and then entwiningIsthmiaca on our brows, like choruses,Come let us sing the eulogy of our master.

What then are we to do? We should have taken

A white cloak each of us; and then entwining

Isthmiaca on our brows, like choruses,

Come let us sing the eulogy of our master.

But Silenus, in his Dialects, says, "The Isthmian garland." And Philetas says, "Στέφανος. There is an ambiguity here as to whether it refers to the head or to the main world.[119]We also use the word ἴσθμιον, as applied to a well, or to a dagger." But Timachidas and Simmias, who are both Rhodians, explain one word by the other. They say, ἴσθμιον, στέφανον: and this word is also mentioned by Callixenus, who is himself also a Rhodian, in his History of Alexandria, where he writes as follows—

* * * * * *

21. But since I have mentioned Alexandria, I know that in that beautiful city there is a garland called the garland of Antinous, which is made of the lotus, which grows in those parts. And this lotus grows in the marshes in the summer season; and it bears flowers of two colours; one like that of the rose, and it is the garlands woven of the flowers of this colour which are properly called the garlands of Antinous; but the other kind is called the lotus garland, being of a dark colour. And a man of the name of Pancrates, a native poet, with whom we ourselves were acquainted, made a great parade of showing a rose-coloured lotus to Adrian the emperor, when he was staying at Alexandria, saying, thathe ought to give this flower the name of the Flower of Antinous, as having sprung from the ground where it drank in the blood of the Mauritanian lion, which Hadrian killed when he was out hunting in that part of Africa, near Alexandria; a monstrous beast which had ravaged all Libya for a long time, so as to make a very great part of the district desolate. Accordingly, Hadrian being delighted with the utility of the invention, and also with its novelty, granted to the poet that he should be maintained for the future in the Museum at the public expense; and Cratinus the comic poet, in his Ulysseses, has called the lotus στεφάνωμα, because all plants which are full of leaf, are called στεφανώματα by the Athenians. But Pancrates said, with a good deal of neatness, in his poem—

The crisp ground thyme, the snow-white lily too,The purple hyacinth, and the modest leavesOf the white celandine, and the fragrant rose,Whose petals open to the vernal zephyrs;For that fair flower which bears Antinous' nameThe earth had not yet borne.

The crisp ground thyme, the snow-white lily too,

The purple hyacinth, and the modest leaves

Of the white celandine, and the fragrant rose,

Whose petals open to the vernal zephyrs;

For that fair flower which bears Antinous' name

The earth had not yet borne.

22. There is the word πυλέων. And this is the name given to the garland which the Lacedæmonians place on the head of Juno, as Pamphilus relates.

I am aware, also, that there is a kind of garland, which is called Ἰάκχας by the Sicyonians, as Timachidas mentions in his treatise on Dialects. And Philetas writes as follows:—"Ἰάκχα —this is a name given to a fragrant garland in the district of Sicyon—

She stood by her sire, and in her fragrant hairShe wore the beautiful Iacchian garland."

She stood by her sire, and in her fragrant hair

She wore the beautiful Iacchian garland."

Seleucus also, in his treatise on Dialects, says, that there is a kind of garland made of myrtle, which is called Ἐλλωτὶς, being twenty cubits in circumference, and that it is carried in procession on the festival of the Ellotia. And he says, that in this garland the bones of Europa, whom they call Ellotis, are carried. And this festival of the Ellotia is celebrated in Corinth.

GARLANDS.

There is also the Θυρεατικός. This also is a name given to a species of garland by the Lacedæmonians, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on Sacrifices, where he says, that now it is called ψίλινος, being made of branches of the palm-tree. And he says that they are worn, as a memorial of the victory which they gained, in Thyrea,[120]by the leaders of the choruses,which are employed in that festival when they celebrate the Gymnopædiæ.[121]And there are choruses, some of handsome boys, and others of full-grown men of distinguished bravery, who all dance naked, and who sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman, and the pæans of Dionysodotus the Lacedæmonian.

There are also garlands called μελιλώτινοι, which are mentioned by Alexis in his Crateva, or the Apothecary, in the following line—

And many μελιλώτινοι garlands hanging.

There is the word too, ἐπιθυμίδες, which Seleucus explains by "every sort of garland." But Timachidas says, "Garlands of every kind which are worn by women are called ἐπιθυμίδες."

There are also the words ὑποθυμὶς and ὑποθυμιὰς, which are names given to garlands by the Æolians and Ionians, and they wear such around their necks, as one may clearly collect from the poetry of Alcæus and Anacreon. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says, that the Lesbians call a branch of myrtle ὑποθυμὶς, around which they twine violets and other flowers.

The ὑπογλωττὶς also is a species of garland. But Theodorus, in his Attic Words, says, that it is a particular kind of garland, and is used in that sense by Plato the comic poet, in his Jupiter Ill-treated.

23. I find also, in the comic poets, mention made of a kind of garland called κυλιστὸς, and I find that Archippus mentions it in his Rhinon, in these lines—

He went away unhurt to his own house,Having laid aside his cloak, but having onHis ἐκκύλιστος garland.

He went away unhurt to his own house,

Having laid aside his cloak, but having on

His ἐκκύλιστος garland.

And Alexis, in his Agonis, or The Colt, says—

This third man has a κυλιστὸς garlandOf fig-leaves; but while living he delightedIn similar ornaments:

This third man has a κυλιστὸς garland

Of fig-leaves; but while living he delighted

In similar ornaments:

and in his Sciron he says—

Like a κυλιστὸς garland in suspense.

Antiphanes also mentions it in his Man in Love with Himself. And Eubulus, in his Œnomaus, or Pelops, saying—

Brought into circular shape,Like a κυλιστὸς garland.

Brought into circular shape,

Like a κυλιστὸς garland.

What, then, is this κυλιστός? For I am aware that Nicander of Thyatira, in his Attic Nouns, speaks as follows,—"Ἐκκυλίσιοι στέφανοι, and especially those made of roses." And now I ask what species of garland this was, O Cynulcus; and do not tell me that I am to understand the word as meaning merely large. For you are a man who are fond of not only picking things little known out of books, but of even digging out such matters; like the philosophers in the Joint Deceiver of Baton the comic poet; men whom Sophocles also mentions in his Fellow Feasters, and who resemble you,—

You should not wear a beard thus well perfumed,And 'tis a shame for you, of such high birth,To be reproachèd as the son of your belly,When you might rather be call'd your father's son.

You should not wear a beard thus well perfumed,

And 'tis a shame for you, of such high birth,

To be reproachèd as the son of your belly,

When you might rather be call'd your father's son.

Since, then, you are sated not only with the heads of glaucus, but also with that evergreen herb, which that Anthedonian Deity[122]ate, and became immortal, give us an answer now about the subject of discussion, that we may not think that when you are dead, you will be metamorphosed, as the divine Plato has described in his treatise on the Soul. For he says that those who are addicted to gluttony, and insolence, and drunkenness, and who are restrained by no modesty, may naturally become transformed into the race of asses, and similar animals.

24. And as he still appeared to be in doubt;—Let us now, said Ulpian, go on to another kind of garland, which is called the στρούθιος; which Asclepiades mentions when he quotes the following passage, out of the Female Garland-Sellers of Eubulus—

O happy woman, in your little houseTo have a στρούθιος . . . .[123]

O happy woman, in your little house

To have a στρούθιος . . . .[123]

GARLANDS.

And this garland is made of the flower called στρούθιον (soap-wort), which is mentioned by Theophrastus, in the sixthbook of his Natural History, in these words—"The iris also blooms in the summer, and so does the flower called στρούθιον, which is a very pretty flower to the eye, but destitute of scent." Galene of Smyrna also speaks of the same flower, under the name of στρύθιον.

There is also the πόθος. There is a certain kind of garland with this name, as Nicander the Colophonian tells us in his treatise on Words. And this, too, perhaps is so named as being made of the flower called πόθος, which the same Theophrastus mentions in the sixth book of his Natural History, where he writes thus—"There are other flowers which bloom chiefly in the summer,—the lychnis, the flower of Jove, the lily, the iphyum, the Phrygian amaracus, and also the plant called pothus, of which there are two kinds, one bearing a flower like the hyacinth, but the other produces a colourless blossom nearly white, which men use to strew on tombs.

Eubulus also gives a list of other names of garlands—

Ægidion, carry now this garland for me,Ingeniously wrought of divers flowers,Most tempting, and most beautiful, by Jove!For who'd not wish to kiss the maid who bears it?

Ægidion, carry now this garland for me,

Ingeniously wrought of divers flowers,

Most tempting, and most beautiful, by Jove!

For who'd not wish to kiss the maid who bears it?

And then in the subsequent lines he says—

A.Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have themOf ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowersSuch as I show you here in bloom.B.I'll haveThese myrtle ones. You may sell all the others,But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.

A.Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have them

Of ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowers

Such as I show you here in bloom.

B.I'll have

These myrtle ones. You may sell all the others,

But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.

25. There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says—

For the boy wore a garland on his browOf delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).

For the boy wore a garland on his brow

Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).

Some garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to this day among the Alexandrians. And Chæremon the tragic poet mentions them in his Bacchus, saying—

The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,Made up of ivy and narcissus.

The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,

Made up of ivy and narcissus.

But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Hellanicus, in his History of Egypt, writes as follows—"There is a city on the banks of the river, named Tindium. This is a place where many gods are assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the temple there are white and black thorns, on which garlands were placedmade of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the pomegranate, and of vine-leaves. And these keep green for ever. These garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)" But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt, says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes thus—"But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Æthiopians who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble garlands." And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.

26. There are also garlands called συνθηματιαῖοι, which people make and furnish by contract. Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, says—

To make up twenty συνθηματιαῖοι garlands.[124]

We find also the word χορωνόν. Apion, in his treatise on the Roman Dialect, says that formerly a garland was called χορωνόν, from the fact of the members of the chorus in the theatres using it; and that they wore garlands and contended for garlands. And one may see this name given to garlands in the Epigrams of Simonides—

GARLANDS.

Phœbus doth teach that song to the Tyndaridæ,Which tuneless grasshoppers have crown'd with a χορωνός.

Phœbus doth teach that song to the Tyndaridæ,

Which tuneless grasshoppers have crown'd with a χορωνός.

There are ἀκίνιοι too. There are some garlands made of the basil thyme (ἄκινος) which are called by this name, as we are told by Andron the physician, whose words are quoted by Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius, in the first book of his treatise on the Words which occur in the Historians.

27. Now Theophrastus gives the following list of flowers as suitable to be made into garlands—"The violet, the flower of Jupiter, the iphyum, the wallflower, the hemerocalles, or yellow lily. But he says the earliest blooming flower is the white violet; and about the same time that which is called the wild wallflower appears, and after them the narcissus and the lily; and of mountain flowers, that kind of anemone which is called the mountain anemone, and the head of the bulb-plant. For some people twine these flowers into garlands. And next to these there comes the œnanthe and the purple violet. And of wild flowers, there are the helichryse, and that species of anemone called the meadow anemone, and the gladiolus, and the hyacinth. But the rose is the latest blooming flower of all; and it is the latest to appear and the first to go off. But the chief summer flowers are the lychnis, and the flower of Jupiter, and the lily, and the iphyum, and the Phrygian amaracus, and also the flower called the pothus." And in his ninth book the same Theophrastus says, if any one wears a garland made of the flower of the helichryse, he is praised if he sprinkle it with ointment. And Alcman mentions it in these lines—

And I pray to you, and bringThis chaplet of the helichryse,And of the holy cypirus.

And I pray to you, and bring

This chaplet of the helichryse,

And of the holy cypirus.

And Ibycus says—

Myrtle-berries with violets mix'd,And helichryse, and apple blossoms,And roses, and the tender daphne.

Myrtle-berries with violets mix'd,

And helichryse, and apple blossoms,

And roses, and the tender daphne.

And Cratinus, in his Effeminate People, says—

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