He has need now of nothing but a little parsley—i.e. he is dead. The Greeks decked tombs with parsley, because it keeps green a long time.
ζεισθαι σελινoν, he needs parsley; that is, he is dead, and should be strewed with parsley.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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