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Maundrell speaks of a Greek convent, about half an hour’s distance
from Jerusalem, where they showed him a hole in the ground under
the high altar, where the stump of the tree stood. Sir John Maundevile
also says that the spot where the tree grew at Jerusalem was
pointed out to him ; the wood, he states, formed a bridge over the
brook Cedron. Some versions of the legend of the wood of the.
Cross state it was made of Cypress, Cedar, Pine, and Box : one
names Cypress for the body. Palm for the hands. Cedar for the
support of the feet, and Olive for the superscription. Another
version states that the cross beam was of Cypress; the upright
beam o f “ immortal Cedar the title of Olive ; and the foot-rest of
Palm : hence the line—
n Ligita crucis Palma., Cedrus^ Cupressus^ O liva!
In all countries, and from the earliest times, the Cypress has been
deemed the emblem of woe. Gerarde tells us, that it had the
reputation of being deadly, and that its shadow was unfortunate.
Horace, Virgil, and Ovid all refer to it as a tree both gloomy and
funereal. B y the Greeks and Romans alike, the “ sad ” tree was.
consecrated to Pluto and Proserpine, as well as to the Fates and
the Furies. The Greeks crowned with Cypress their tragic Muse
Melpomene, and it became an accompaniment of Venus in the
annual processions in which she was supposed to lament over
Adonis. The ancients planted the Cypress around graves, and
in the event of a death, placed it either before the house or in the
vestibule, so that no one about to perform a sacred rite might enter
a place polluted with a dead body. The Cypress was probably
selected for this purpose because of the belief that, when once cut
down, it never springs up again. But, in connedtion with its
funereal associations, the Cypress has always been highly esteemed
as an undying tree, ever verdant, flourishing {Cupressus sempervirens).
and odorous, and a tree of which the wood, like the Cedar, is
incorruptible. Theophrastus attributes great honour to the tree,
and points out how the roofs of old temples became famous by
reason of its wood, and that the timber of which the rafters were,
made was deemed everlasting, because it was unhurt by rotting,,
moth, worm, or corruption. Martial describes the Cypress as
deathless. Gerarde identifies it with the Thya of Pliny and Homer:
“ He showeth that this is burned among the sweet smells which
Circe was much delighted withall...........................The verse is extant
in the fifth booke of Odysses, where he mentioneth that Mercuric,
by Jupiter’s commandment, went to Calypsus’ den, and that he,
did smell the burnt trees, Thya and Cedrus, a great way off.”
Theocritus and Virgil both allude to the fragrance of the Cypress,
and on account of the balsamic scent of its timber, chips of it
were sometimes employed to flavour wine with. The Athenians
buried their heroes in coffins of this wood, and the Egyptians made of
it those apparently indestructible chests that contain the mummies
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of a bygone age. -Pausanias tells us, that the Greeks guarded
scrupulously the Cypresses which grew over the Tomb of Alcmaeon,
and that these trees attained such a height, that they cast their
shadows on the neighbouring mountain. The same writer mentions
several groves of Cypress which were looked upon as sacred by
the Greeks; for instance, those which surrounded the Temples of
Bellerophon and yEsculapius, one of the shrines of Venus, the
Tomb of Lais, near Corinth, and a dense wood of Cypress, where
were to be seen statues of Apollo, Mercury, and Rhea. Diodorus
Siculus, Plato, and Solinus speak of groves of Cypress which
were held sacred in Crete, near the ruins of the reputed dwelling
of Rhea, and in the vicinity of the Cavern of Zeus. Solinus also
remarks on the peculiarity of the Cretan Cypresses in sprouting
afresh after being cut down. P. della Valla, a great traveller
of Evelyn’s time, tells of a wonderful Cypress, then extant, near
the tomb of Cyrus, to which pilgrimages were made. This
tree was hollowed within, and fitted for an oratory, and was
noted for a gummy transudation which it yielded, reputed by
the Turks to turn, every Friday, into drops of blood. Plato
desired to have the laws engraved on tablets of Cypress, because
he thought the wood more durable even than brass : the antique
idol of Vejovis (or Vedius), in Cypress-wood, at the Capitol,
corroborates this notion. Semiramis seledted the timber of the
Cypress for his bridge across the Euphrates; the valves, or
doors, of the Ephesian temple were of this material, as were also
the original gates of St, Peter’s, Rome. It has been thought
that the Gopher, mentioned in Genesis (vi., 14), of which the Ark
was built, was really Kupros, Cupar, or Cuper, the Cypress. Epi-
phanius relates that some relics of the Ark {circa campos Sennaar)
lasted even to his days, and was judged to have been of Cypress,
Certain it is that the Cretans employed it in ship-building, and that
so frequent was the Cypress in those parts of Assyria where the
Ark was supposed to have been built, that the vast armadas which
Alexander the Great sent forth from Babylon were construdted
of it. Of Cypress-wood were formed Cupid’s darts, Jo v e ’s sceptre,
and the club of Hercules used in recovering the cows stolen by the
robber Cacus. Either of Fig- or Cypress-wood were fashioned the
obscene statues of Priapus set up by the Romans in their gardens
and orchards, which were presided over by this lascivious god, who
exercised a peculiar faculty of detedting and punishing thieves.
The thunderbolts of Indra possessed the like distindtive power.
In Northern mythology, the club of Hercules and the thunderbolts
of Indra are replaced by the mallet of Thor, which it is not difficult
to recognise in the mallet of Cypress-wood that, in Germany,
was formerly believed to impart the power of discovering thieves.
From its qualities, the Cypress acquired throughout the East a
sacred charadter. This was more particularly the case in Persia.
In the Zend-Avesta, it is accounted divine—consecrated to the
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