The bough of a Laurel was considered to give to prophets
the faculty of seeing that which was hidden. Dionysius calls the
Laurel the prophetical plant; and Claudian, venturi prascia Laurus.
Fulgentius states, that a Laurel-leaf placed beneath the pillow will
cause coming events to be foreseen in a dream ; thereby greatly
assisting the prediction of future events. Diviners, like the priests
of Apollo, wore Laurel wreaths, and Laurel was used in the composition
of incense. Evelyn relates that the Laurel and Agnus
Castus were reputed to be “ trees which greatly composed the
‘ phansy,’ and did facilitate true visions; and that the first was
especially efficacious to inspire a poetical fury. Such a tradition
there goes of Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, in imitation of her father-
in-law. The instance is recited out of an ancient ecclesiastical
history, by Abulensis.” From hence, Evelyn thinks the Delphic
Tripos, the Dodonean Oracle in Epirus, and others of a similar
nature, took their origin. The Pythia, or priestess of Apollo,
at Delphi, before delivering the oracles from the sacred tripod,
shook a Laurel-tree and sometimes chewed the leaves with which
she crowned herself, casting them afterwards into the sacred fire.
The temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the celebrated oracles
were delivered, was at first only a strutiture of Laurel-branches,
which enclosed a fissure in the earth, from which a stupefying
exhalation arose. Over the fissure was placed a tripod, on which
the Pythia or prophetess sat, and, becoming excited by the ascending
vapour, she fell into an ecstacy, and prophesied. After a temple
of stone had been construciled, the Pythia prophesied in an inner
and secluded cell, the only opening to which, accessible to questioners,
was covered with Laurel-leaves. The Laurel being sacred
to Apollo as well as to Æsculapius, was used in the temples of
both these divinities, partly to induce sleep and dreams, partly to
produce beneficial effecils in various diseases. Whosoever wished
to ask counsel was bound to appear before the altar crowned with
Laurel-twigs and chewing Laurel-leaves. Every ninth year, a
bower, composed of Laurel-branches, was ereciled in the forecourt
of the temple at Delphi.
The Boeotian fêtes, held every ninth year at Thebes in honour
of Apollo, were designated Daphnephoria. On these occasions,
an Olive-bough, adorned with Laurel, was carried by a beautiful and
illustrious youth, dedicated to the service of Apollo, and who was
called Daphnephoros (Laurel-bearer). The origin of the Daphnephoria
was as follows :—The Ætolians had invaded Boeotia, but both
invaders and defenders suspended hostilities to celebrate the
festival of Apollo, and having cut down Laurel-boughs from Mount
Helicon, they walked in procession in honour of the divinity; that
same day the Boeotian general, Polemates, dreamed that a youth
presented him with a suit of armour, and commanded the
Boeotians to offer prayers to Apollo, and to walk in procession,
with Laurel-boughs in their hands, every ninth year. Three days
later, Polemates defeated the invaders, and immediately instituted
the Festival of Daphnephoria.
The Laurel formerly had the power ascribed to it of being a
safeguard against lightning, of which Tiberius was very fearful,
and in order to avoid which he is stated to have crept under his
bed and protedled his head with Laurel-leaves. In Sicily, it has
long been popularly believed that the shrub is a protedlion from
thunder and lightning. The same superstition survived till recently
in our own country. W. Browne tells us that “ Baies being the
material of poets’ ghirlands, are supposed not subjedt to any hurt
of Jupiter’s thunder-bolts, as other trees are.” Culpeper alludes
to the old belief that neither witch nor devil, thunder nor lightning,
will hurt a man where a Bay-tree is; and remarks further, that
Laurels resist “ witchcraft very potently, as also all the evils old
Saturn can do the body of man, and they are not a few. The
berries are very effedtual against all poisons of venomous creatures,
as also against the pestilence and other infedtious diseases.”
The decay of the Bay-tree, which is generally rapid, was formerly
considered as an omen of disaster. It is said that before the
death of Nero, though in a very mild winter, all these trees withered
to the root, and a great pestilence in Padua is reputed to have been
preceded by the same phenomenon. So great a reputation had the
Laurel for clearing the air and resisting contagion, that the Emperor
Claudius was advised by his physicians during a raging pestilence
to remove his court to Laurentum. That city, in the reign
of Latinus, was the capital of Latium, whose inhabitants were
called Laurentini from the great number of Laurels which flourished
in their country. King Latinus discovered one of unusual size
and beauty when about to build a temple to Apollo, and the tree
was consecrated to the god, and preserved with religious care.
The Laurel had the reputation of being generally propitious to
man. At Rome, on the 15th of May, merchants used to celebrate
a festival in honour of Mercury, and proceeding to a public fountain,
they drew water wherein they dipped a Laurel-branch, which
they then employed to bless all their merchandise. The Laurus
(Bay) was held in high esteem by the old Greek phy/cians ; and
among the people there existed a belief that spirits could be
banished by its means. The Greeks had a saying, “ I carry a
branch of Laurel,” to indicate that the speaker had no fear of
poison or sorcery. They had a custom of affixing a Laurel-bough
over the doorway, in the case of a severe illness, in order to avert
death and drive away evil spirits. Presumably from these associations,
it became the fashion to crown young dodtors of physic
with Laurel-berries (Bacca Lauri), and the students were called
Baccalauréats, Bay-laureats, or Bachelors. Theophrastus tells us
that in his time the superstitious kept Bay-leaves in their mouths
all day, to guard them from misfortune. Theocritus says that
young girls were wont to burn Laurel as a charm to recall errant