142 THE PLANT WOELD 



Considering that moral and religious maxims, physical phenomena, 

 proverbial sentiments, oracles, the supposed divinations of the gods 

 themselves were clothed in verse long before prose or writing was in- 

 vented and sung by wandering minstrels, we need not wonder at con- 

 fusion of the authorship of those first poems of Arcadia, or the entangled 

 identity of species of plants known to the ancients before printing or 

 order were dreamed of. 



Flowers have ever played an important part in the worship of 

 mythological gods, and sacred deities. They were thus dedicated to gods, 

 goddesses, nymphs and sorcerers alike. Plutarch even wrote that the 

 roses, known in Greek as Rhodos, because of their fragrance, were origi- 

 nally all white, and that they were dedicated to Venus, whose blood 

 being sprinkled over them, they became red or pink in proportion to the 

 amount of blood upon them. Pliilostrates wrote that the rose was the 

 flower of Cupid, who, sitting near his mother Venus at a banquet, over- 

 threw with his wings the heavenly pink nectar and sprinkled the white 

 roses ornamenting the table, after which there were wine or pink colored 

 roses. 



The oracles of Dodona were said to be delivered by doves, which 

 arose from the circumstance that the ijriestesses announcing them were 

 called in the Thessalian language doves. The Delphic oracle, dedicated 

 to Apollo, also had among its costly gifts a golden tripod upon which 

 the dove or priestess sat while uttering oracles. This stool was formed 

 of the brazen serpent Python, twisted into one pillar showing three 

 golden heads. Apollo killed in contest the serpent, and as unknown 

 received the surname p^ython. The priestess uttering this oracle was 

 known as Pythia. This oracle is very ancient and was celebrated a cen- 

 tury before the Trojan war. The eagle, also, is figured allegorically 

 sacred to Jupiter, standing with spreading wings at his feet. Therefore, 

 it seemed appropriate to christen flowers in honor of doves, eagles, 

 dragons and serpents, as well as Aphrodite, or Venus, borrowed from 

 classical mythology. 



The universal " Divine Mother " of the old German belief came 

 from "Hulda," signifying the "Gracious Benign." The worship of 

 "Lady Venus " began after the Trojan origin of Rome, and she became 

 the " Divine Mother " of the Roman people, and was worshiped as 

 Cypris in her " Cyprian Groves," on the Isle of Cypris. Gythera also 

 was another name for Venus, since she dwelt upon the Island of Cy thera. 

 The doves were birds sacred to Venus also. After Christ, the veneration 

 bestowed upon Cypris, Cythera, Aphrodite or Venus, became transferred 

 to Marianus, Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, the " Divine Mother " of all 

 nations. The dove, also, was sacred in Christ's day, and the Holy Ghost 

 descended from heaven in the form of a dove upon our Saviour as He 



