From the richness and variety of odours made use of by the ancients we may infer, that the fragrance of such an establishment at Athens, exceeded that of Araby the Blest. For every land and every sweet flower that grew supplied some ingredient to the endless stock of the perfumer.[638] There was incense, and frankincense, and spikenard,[639] and myrrh, and oils of saffron and cinnamon,[640] and sweet marjoram,[641] and fenugreek,[642] and roses,[643] and hyoscyamos,[644] and maiden’s hair,[645] and iris,[646] and lilies,[647] and watermint, and rosemary, and eastern privet,[648] and baccharis,[649] and thyme. In truth the Athenians, who were esteemed the inventors of all good and useful things,[650] delighted exceedingly in the luxury of sweet smells, and therefore culled from Sicily, and Egypt, and Phœnicia, and Lydia, and Babylonia, and India, and Arabia, whatever could communicate a pleasing scent to their garments,[651] their apartments, or their beards. Even the doves and swallows that flew tame about the house had their feathers drenched with odoriferous essences, which they scattered with their waving wings through the air.[652] This excessive passion for perfumes rendered the favourite articles of it dear, so that of some kinds a cotyla sold for two or five minæ;[653] of others, for ten; while the balm of Gilead, even in the country where it was collected, was valued at double its weight in silver.[654] There were, however, inferior kinds of perfume, some of which were cheap enough, since we find that an alabaster boxful, brought from the East, sometimes sold for two drachmas.[655] ----- Footnote 638: Athen. i. 33. xii. 78. xiv. 50. Bochart. Geog. Sac. i. 272, seq. Max. Tyr. p. 10. Footnote 639: Athen. xv. 42. Dioscor. 1. 75. Footnote 640: Dioscor. 1. 74. Footnote 641: Ἀμάρακος. Dioscor. i. 68. Poll. vi. 104. Footnote 642: Dioscor. i. 57. Footnote 643: Id. i. 53. Footnote 644: Id. i. 42. Footnote 645: Ἀδιάντον. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 14. 1. Footnote 646: Poll. vi. 104. Footnote 647: Id. vi. 105. Dioscor. iii. 116. Footnote 648: Dioscor. i. 124. Footnote 649: Poll. vi. 104. Dioscor. iii. 51. Παρὰ πολλοῖς δὲ τῶν κωμῳδιοποιῶν ὀνομάζεται τι μύρον βάκκαρις· οὗ μνημονεύει καὶ Ἱππώναξ διὰ τούτων· —Βακκάρει δὲ τὰς ῥῖνας Ἤλειφον· ἔστι δ᾽ οἵη περ κρόκος. Athen. Deipnosoph. xv. 41. Footnote 650: See on the various inventions of the Athenians, Frid. Creuzer, Orat. de Civit. Athen. Omn. Human. Parent. Francfurt. 1826. Footnote 651: This we are told the person itself of Alexander did, being by nature scented like a nosegay. Plut. Alexand. § 4. The same thing is related of Catherine de Medicis, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Blumenbach’s Physiology, Note. p. 182. Footnote 652: Cf. Il. ζ. 288. Athen. vi. 67. Poll. vi. 104. Plat. Rep. iii. p. 203. Stallb. Footnote 653: