PERFUMES. And Plato says, "that the great Architect of the universe has placed the lungs close to the heart, by nature soft and destitute of blood, and having cavities penetrable like sponge, that so the heart, when it quivers, from fear of adversity or disaster, may vibrate against a soft and yielding substance." But the garlands with which men bind their bosoms are called [Greek: hypothymiades] by the poets, from the exhalations ([Greek: anathymiasis]) of the flowers, and not because the soul ([Greek: psychê]) is called [Greek: thymos], as some people think.
37. Archilochus is the earliest author who uses the word [Greek: myron] (perfume), where he says—
She being old would spare her perfumes ([Greek: myra]).
And in another place he says—
Displaying hair and breast perfumed ([Greek: esmyrismenon]);
So that a man, though old, might fall in love with her.
And the word [Greek: myron] is derived from [Greek: myrra], which is the Æolic form of [Greek: smyrna] (myrrh); for the greater portion of unguents are made up with myrrh, and that which is called [Greek: staktê] is wholly composed of it. Not but what Homer was acquainted with the fashion of using unguents and perfumes, but he calls them [Greek: elaia], with the addition of some distinctive epithet, as—
Himself anointing them with dewy oil ([Greek: drosoenti elaiô]).[1]
And in another place he speaks of an oil as perfumed[2] ([Greek: tethyômenon]). And in his poems also, Venus anoints the dead body of Hector with ambrosial rosy oil; and this is made of flowers. But with respect to that which is made of spices, which they called [Greek: thyômata], he says, speaking of Juno,—
Here first she bathes, and round her body pours
Soft oils of fragrance and ambrosial showers:
The winds perfumed, the balmy gale convey
Through heaven, through earth, and all the aërial way.
Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets
The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.[3]
38. But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius of Herophila says in his treatise on Perfumes, where he writes—"The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Naples and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at
