kept for sixteen years, until the close of the war. A further case of
extreme severity was that of P. Munatius, who was condemned by the
Triumviri to be put in chains for having crowned himself with flowers
from the statue of Marsyas.
Allusions to such estimation of garlands in olden times are numerous
in the literature of the past, and it may be remembered how
Montesquieu remarked that it was with two or three hundred crowns of
oak that Rome conquered the world.
Guests at feasts wore garlands of flowers tied with the bark of the
linden tree, to prevent intoxication; the wreath having been framed in
accordance with the position of the wearer. A poet, in his paraphrase on
Horace, thus illustrates this custom:--
"Nay, nay, my boy, 'tis not for me
This studious pomp of Eastern luxury;
Give me no various garlands fine
With linden twine;
Nor seek where latest lingering blows
The solitary rose."
Not only were the guests adorned with flowers, but the waiters,
drinking-cups, and room, were all profusely decorated.[1] "In short," as
the author of "Flower-lore" remarks, "it would be difficult to name the
occasions on which flowers were not employed; and, as almost all plants
employed in making garlands had a symbolical meaning, the garland
was composed in accordance with that meaning." Garlands, too, were
thrown to actors on the stage, a custom which has come down to the
present day in an exaggerated form.
Indeed, many of the flowers in request nowadays for ceremonial uses
in our own and other countries may be traced back to this period; the
symbolical meaning attached to certain plants having survived after the
lapse of many centuries. For a careful description of the flowers thus
employed, we would refer the reader to two interesting papers
contributed by Miss Lambert to the Nineteenth Century,[2] in which she
has collected together in a concise form all the principal items of
information on the subject in past years. A casual perusal of these papers
will suffice to show what a wonderful knowledge of botany the ancients
must have possessed; and it may be doubted whether the most costly
array of plants witnessed at any church festival supersedes a similar
display witnessed by worshippers in the early heathen temples. In the
same way, we gain an insight into the profusion of flowers employed by
heathen communities in later centuries, showing how intimately
associated these have been with their various forms of worship. Thus,
the Singhalese seem to have used flowers to an almost incredible extent,