8 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 



another variety Rosa bifera. It is quite probable that the Rose 

 was planted in the celebrated gardens of Babylon, the formation 

 of which is attributed to Semiramis, about 1200 years before the 

 Christian era ; and it also appears probable, from the testimony 

 of modern travelers, that several kinds of roses crossed over 

 into Persia. 



It is very certain that the Rose was cultivated by the Jews 

 during the reign of Solomon, about two centuries after Semi- 

 ramis ; for mention of this flower is made in the Scripture books 

 attributed to that king. In the Song of Solomon, he says : 

 " I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the valleys ;" and in 

 the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon " Let us crown ourselves 

 with rose-buds before they be withered." 



It also appears, by several passages of the Book of Ecclesi- 

 asticus, the author of which lived about 700 years after Solo- 

 mon, that the Jews possessed beautiful gardens of roses, particu- 

 larly at Jericho. " I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, 

 and as a rose-plant in Jericho :" xxiv. 14. " Hearken unto me, ye 

 holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of 

 the field :" xxxix. 13. " And as the flower of roses in the 

 spring of the year :" 1. 8. These passages prove that this 

 most fertile and beautiful portion of Palestine abounded in 

 roses, palms and cedars. They no longer, however, abound ; 

 for while "the cedars wave on Lebanon," and the solitary 

 palm stands in its isolated beauty, the Rose has entirely disap- 

 peared ; and that now called the Rose of Jericho, is but a little 

 plant of the family of Cruciferce. The Greeks cultivated the 

 Rose at an early period, during the time of Homer, who lived 

 about 200 years after the wise Hebrew monarch. In the 

 Iliad and Odyssey he borrows the brilliant colors of the Rose to 

 paint the rising of the sun. Aurora, according to this poet, has 

 fingers of roses, and perfumes the air with roses. Few poets 

 are more celebrated than Homer for beauty of conception, and 

 for his frequent similes borrowed from natural objects. His 

 selection, in this instance, evinces that the Rose was neither 

 an unknown nor an unadmired flower. Herodotus, who lived 



