As he was marching up an ascent, from the top of which they expected to have a view of the army and of the strength of the enemy, there met him by chance a train of mules loaded with parsley; which his soldiers conceived to be an ominous occurrence or ill-boding token, because this is the herb with which we not unfrequently adorn the sepulchers of the dead; and there is a proverb derived from the custom, used of one who is dangerously sick, that he has need of nothing but parsley. So to ease their minds, and free them from any superstitious thoughts or forebodings of evil, Timoleon halted, and concluded an address suitable to the occasion, by saying, that a garland of triumph was here luckily brought them, and had fallen into their hands of its own accord, as an anticipation of victory: the same with which the Corinthians crown the victors in the Isthmian games, accounting chaplets of parsley the sacred wreath proper to their country; parsley being at that time still the emblem of victory at the Isthmian, as it is now at the Nemean sports; and it is not so very long ago that the pine first began to be used in its place.
tl;dr:
Timoleon is leading his troops up a hill, and as they near the top a bunch of mules loaded with parsley move past them in the opposite direction. Because parsley is often associated with funeral rituals, the men see it is a bad omen for their campaign. Thinking quickly, Timoleon – citing parsley’s use as a victor’s trophy in Corinthian games – publicly gives thanks for such a wonderful omen of victory. It’s like he’s saying, “Boy, this omen sure is a GOOD omen, isn’t it, guys? Boy, it definitely means GOOD LUCK, and not all that bad stuff you were thinking!”
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Timoleon." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 345. Print.
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