II HISTORY AND CLASSIFICATION 9 
we have. Every one will be aware of Bible refer- 
ences, though it should be mentioned that the Rose 
of Jericho is generally understood to be a cruciferous 
plant, and all seem agreed that whatever the Rose 
of Sharon was, it was certainly not a Rose; never- 
theless Dr. Hooker enumerates seven species of 
Roses which he observed in Syria. A passage in 
the Apocrypha (Wisdom 1., 8) is interesting as 
mentioning the custom of crowning with Rosebuds 
at feasts and banquets, which we know to have 
prevailed in classic times. 
By far the most important ancient quotation is 
from Sappho, the Greek poetess, who was born 
about 600 B.c. A translation of a fragment of one 
of her poems is given in the late Mr. William Paul’s 
book :— 
** Would Jove appoint some flower to reign 
In matchless beauty on the plain, 
The Rose (mankind will all agree), 
The Rose the Queen of Flowers should be.” 
That the title of ‘‘ The Queen of Flowers” is no 
modern assumption for the Rose, but has hardly 
been seriously questioned for nearly twenty-five 
centuries, is a little item of knowledge which every 
Rosarian should store by him as a weapon of defence 
in time of need. 
The immense sums spent by Cleopatra, Nero, and 
other luxurious persons in the time of the Romans, 
not only on Roses but on ‘‘ Rose leaves”’ (petals) for 
strewing on the floor and the seats, is well known. 
And there are actually some points of culture that 
we may learn from the Romans. Horace speaks of 
growing Roses in beds, and Pliny of digging deeply 
