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, 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 ([Greek: promalos]),
And osier ([Greek: lygos]), 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.
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 to
