Greek writers later borrowed the Latin name as Ἱλάρια, as appears from Photios I of Constantinople's Bibliotheca in his codex of the life of the philosopher Isidore of Alexandria.
Sallustius, writing in the 4th century AD, described the basic multi-day structure of the festival as it related to the myth of Cybele and Attis: "And at first we ourselves, having fallen from heaven and living with the nymph, are in despondency, and abstain from corn and all rich and unclean food, for both are hostile to the soul.
According to Arnobius, in his Against the Pagans (book V),[5] this involved cutting down a pine tree and setting it up in a place of honor inside a temple of Cybele.
The branches would be decked in wreathes of violets, as "the Mother adorned with early flowers the pine which indicates and bears witness to the sad mishap."
However, one of Maternus's followers revealed the plot ahead of time, betraying him because, according to Herodian, his men "preferred a legitimate emperor to a robber tyrant".