Note In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel — MILTON’S MINOR POEMS.

838. In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel. The nectar of the gods, which we usually think of as their drink, was also applied to other purposes, as when Thetis anoints with it the body of Patroclus, to prevent decay. Asphodel is a flower in our actual flora; but in the [112] poets Asphodel is an immortal flower growing abundantly in the meadows of Elysium.