The first of the flowers that announce the approach of spring is the white2071 violet; indeed, in warm localities, it is seen peeping out in the winter even. Next to it comes the violet known as the ion, and the purple violet; then the flame-coloured flower, the name of which is phlox,2072 but only the wild one. The cyclaminum2073 blossoms twice a year, in spring and autumn, standing equally in awe as it does of summer and of winter. The narcissus and the lily, in the parts beyond sea, are a little later than the preceding plants: but in Italy, as we have already2074 stated, they are in blossom with the rose. In Greece, too, the anemone2075 blooms even later; it is the flower of a wild bulb, and is altogether different from the one2076 which we shall have occasion to mention among the medicinal plants.

Next, after these, come the œnanthe,2077 the melanion,2078 and, among the wild plants, the helichrysos;2079 then, another kind of anemone, known as the “limonia,”2080 and after that the gladiolus,2081 accompanied by the hyacinth. Last of all, among the spring flowers, is the rose, which, with the exception indeed of the cultivated kinds, is also the first to fade. Among the others, the flowers which last the longest, are the hyacinth, the white violet, and the œnanthe; but to make this last keep any time in flower, it is necessary to gather it repeatedly, to prevent it from running to seed. The œnanthe grows in warm localities, and has exactly the smell of the vine when in blossom, to which circumstance it is indebted for its name.

There are two fabulous stories attached to the hyacinth;2082 according to one of them, it bears the impress of the grief2083 which Apollo felt for the youth2084 whom he had so tenderly loved; and we learn from the other, that it derives its name from the blood2085 of Ajax, the veins being so arranged in the flower as to form the Greek letters ΑΙ inscribed upon it.

The helichrysos has a flower resembling gold in appearance, a small leaf, and a fine, slender, but hard, stem. According to the Magi, the person who crowns himself with a chaplet composed of this flower, and takes his unguents from a box of gold, of the kind generally known as “apyron,”2086 will be sure to secure esteem and glory among his fellowmen. Such are the flowers of spring.