"
Several other tributes were frequently laid upon graves, as ribands;
whence it is said that Epaminondas's soldiers being disanimated at
seeing the riband that hung upon his spear carried by the wind to a
certain Lacedaemonian sepulchre, he bid them take courage, for that it
portended destruction to the Lacedaemons, it being customary to deck the
sepulchres of their dead with ribands. Another thing dedicated to the
dead was their hair. Electra, in Sophocles, says, that Agamemnon had
commanded her and Chrysosthemis to pay this honour:--
"With drink-off'rings and _locks of hair_ we must,
According to his will, his _tomb_ adorn."
It was likewise customary to perfume the grave-stones with sweet
ointments, &c.
P.T.W.
* * * * *
SONG.
_(For the Mirror.)_
I've roam'd the thorny path of life,
And search'd abroad to find.
Amid the blooming flowers so rife,
That germ called peace of mind.
At length a lovely lily caught
My anxious, longing view,
With all the sweets of "Heartsease" fraught,
That fragrant flower was YOU.
Thy smile to me is Heaven divine,
Thy voice the soul of Love--
In pity, then, sweet maid, be mine,
My "heartsease" flow'ret prove.
Nor wealth nor power would I attain,
Though uncontrolled and free--
All other joys to me are pain,
When sever'd, love, from THEE.
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