In speaking of the Heraldry of Heroic Achievements, we may refer to the “wreath of chivalry” (p. 168), already described from the _Pericles_. There were, however, other wreaths which the Romans bestowed as the rewards of great and noble exploits. Several of these are set forth by the Emblem writers; we will select one from Whitney (p. 115), _Fortiter & feliciter_,—“Bravely and happily.” [Illustration: _Whitney, 1586._] To this device of an armed hand grasping a spear, on which are hanging four garlands or crowns of victory, the stanzas are,— “MARC SERGIVS nowe, I maye recorde by righte, A Romane boulde, whome foes coulde not dismaye: Gainste HANNIBAL hee often shewde his mighte, Whose righte hande loste, his lefte hee did assaye Vntill at lengthe an iron hande hee proou’d: And after that CREMONA siege remoou’d. Then, did defende PLACENTIA in distresse, And wanne twelue houldes, by dinte of sworde in France, What triumphes great? were made for his successe, Vnto what state did fortune him aduance? What speares? what crounes? what garlandes hee possest; The honours due for them, that did the beste.” Of such honours, like poets generally, Shakespeare often tells. After the triumph at Barnet (_3 Henry VI._, act v. sc. 3, l. 1, vol. v. p. 324), King Edward says to his friends,— “Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course, And we are grac’d with wreaths of victory.” Wreaths of honour and of victory are figured by Joachim Camerarius, “EX RE HERBARIA,” edition 1590, in the 99th Emblem. The laurel, the oak, and the olive garlands are ringed together; the motto being, “HIS ORNARI AVT MORI,”—_With these to be adorned or to die_,— “_Fronde oleæ, lauri, quercus contexta corolla Me decoret, sine qua viuere triste mihi_,”— [Sidenote: _i.e._] “From bough of olive, laurel, oak, a woven crown Adorns me, without which to live is sadness to me.” Among other illustrations are quoted the words of the _Iliad,_ which are applied to Hector, τεθνάτω, οὔ οἱ ἀεικὲς ἀμυνομένω περὶ πάτρης,—“Let death come, it is not unbecoming to him who dies defending his country.” Of the three crowns two are named (_3 Henry VI._, act iv. sc. 6, l. 32, vol. v. p. 309), when Warwick rather blames the king for preferring him to Clarence, and Clarence replies,— “No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway, To whom the heavens in thy nativity Adjudged an olive branch and laurel crown, As likely to be blest in peace and war, And therefore I yield thee my free consent.” The introduction to _King Richard III._ (act i. sc. 1, l. 1, vol. v. p. 473) opens suddenly with Gloster’s declaration,—