156 PARSONS ON THE ROSE. 



Pomona its fruit, and Flora herself gave its diadem of 

 flowers. A beetle is often represented on antique gems 

 as expiring, surrounded by roses ; and this is supposed to 

 be an emblem of luxurious enervation ; the beetle being 

 said to have such an antipathy to roses, that the smell of 

 them will cause its death. 



From the earliest period the Greeks gave to the Rose 

 the preference over all other plants, and distinguished it 

 as the " Queen of Flowers." In the fragments which still 

 exist of Sappho, who lived about 600 years before the 

 Christian era, there are lines in which the Rose is placed 

 in the highest rank. 



Since Sappho, many poets, both ancient and modern, 

 have celebrated in their songs the charming qualities 

 of the Rose. They have chosen it for an emblem 

 of the most beautiful things — for the most pleasing and 

 delightful comparisons ; and they have united in making 

 it the symbol of innocence, of modesty, of grace, and of 

 beauty. Quite a volume might be collected of all the 

 verses and pleasant sentences that have been inspired by 

 the elegant form of the Rose, its charming color, and de- 

 lightful fragrance. Some of these we have inserted in 

 another part of the work. Nothing proves better the 

 preference wliich has always existed for this beautiful 

 flower than the thoughts expressed by Sappho. Anacreon 

 and the other poets of antiquity have since imitated her 

 in almost every language, and the lines of these have sac- 

 rificed nothing of her elegance and freshness. 



The poets and writers of the East have abundantly 

 celebrated in their works the beauties of the Rose. Ac- 

 cording to the Boun-Dehesch, of Zoroaster, the stem of 

 that flower was free from thorns until the entrance of 

 Ahrimanus (the evil one) into the world ; the universal 

 spirit of evil, according to their doctrine, afi'ecting not 

 only man, but also the inferior animals, and even the very 

 trees and plants. The same work states that every flower 



