And Electra is represented as complaining that the tomb of her father,
Agamemnon, had not been duly adorned with myrtle--
"With no libations, nor with myrtle boughs,
Were my dear father's manes gratified."
The Greeks also planted asphodel and mallow round their graves, as
the seeds of these plants were supposed to nourish the dead. Mourners,
too, wore flowers at the funeral rites, and Homer relates how the
Thessalians used crowns of amaranth at the burial of Achilles. The
Romans were equally observant, and Ovid, when writing from the land
of exile, prayed his wife--"But do you perform the funeral rites for me
when dead, and offer chaplets wet with your tears. Although the fire
shall have changed my body into ashes, yet the sad dust will be sensible
of your pious affection." Like the Greeks, the Romans set a special value
on the rose as a funeral flower, and actually left directions that their
graves should be planted with this favourite flower, a custom said to
have been introduced by them into this country. Both Camden and
Aubrey allude to it, and at the present day in Wales white roses denote
the graves of young unmarried girls.
Coming down to modern times, we find the periwinkle, nicknamed
"death's flower," scattered over the graves of children in Italy—notably
Tuscany--and in some parts of Germany the pink is in request for this
purpose. In Persia we read of:--
"The basil-tuft that waves
Its fragrant blossoms over graves;"
And among the Chinese, roses, the anemone, and a species of lycoris
are planted over graves. The Malays use a kind of basil, and in Tripoli
tombs are adorned with such sweet and fragrant flowers as the orange,
jessamine, myrtle, and rose. In Mexico the Indian carnation is popularly
known as the "flower of the dead," and the people of Tahiti cover their
dead with choice flowers. In America the Freemasons place twigs of
acacia on the coffins of brethren. The Buddhists use flowers largely for
funeral purposes, and an Indian name for the tamarisk is the "messenger
of Yama," the Indian God of Death. The people of Madagascar have a
species of mimosa, which is frequently found growing on the tombs, and
in Norway the funeral plants are juniper and fir. In France the custom
very largely nourishes, roses and orange-blossoms in the southern
provinces being placed in the coffins of the young. Indeed, so general is
the practice in France that, "sceptics and believers uphold it, and