| Title: | Perfume |
| Original Title: | Parfum |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 11 (1765), pp. 940–941 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Gillian Stumpf [Columbia University] |
| Subject terms: |
Literature
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.569 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Perfume." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Gillian Stumpf. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2011. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.569>. Trans. of "Parfum," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 11. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Perfume." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Gillian Stumpf. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.569 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Parfum," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 11:940–941 (Paris, 1765). |
Perfume, (Lit.). The Ancients regarded perfumes not only as an homage due to the Gods but also as a sign of their presence. The Gods, according to the theology of the Poets, never manifested themselves without announcing their coming with an aroma of ambrose. Thus, in Euripides, when Hyppolitus, who is in the throes of death, hears a voice speaking to him (the voice of Diana, his protector), he cries out:
“O divine aroma! For I sensed, immortal Goddess, that it was you who spoke to me.”
Perfumes were also used on tombs to honor the memory of the dead; thus Antony requests that wine, aromatic herbs, and perfume with the pleasant smell of roses be spread upon his ashes.
Sparge mero cineres, & odoro perlue nardo
Hospes, & adde rosis balsama puniceis.
Anacreon, long before, had said, Ode 4 ,
“What good is it to sprinkle essences on my tomb? Why make useless sacrifices there? Perfume me rather while I am alive; crown my head with roses.”