THE HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF THE ROSE. 23 



before the Christian era, would in all probability contain 

 the Rose. We have, however, no proof of this, though the 

 probability is still increased when we consider that the 

 adjoining country Persia has ever been celebrated for 

 the Roses it naturally produces. Quitting, however, the 

 precincts of conjecture, we come to facts. In the time of 

 Solomon, about 500 years later, the Rose was evidently 

 in favour with the Jews. In the Book of Wisdom the 

 following passage occurs : " Let us fill ourselves with 

 costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of the 

 spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with Rose-buds 

 before they be withered." From this passage we may infer 

 that Roses were used by the Jews, most probably in times 

 of festivals or public rejoicings, and hence this custom 

 among the Greeks some centuries later. Again, in the 

 Book of Ecclesiastes we find mention made of the Rose : 

 " Hearken unto me ye holy children, and bud forth as a 

 Rose growing by the brook of the field." 



If we may judge from the writings of the Greek authors 

 we should pronounce the Rose to have been the Queen of 

 Flowers among the Greeks. With them it was consecrated 

 to the Graces, and to Harpocrates, the God of Silence. 

 Theocritus, on account of its transitoriness, compares it to 

 the course of human life. Homer uses it metaphorically 

 both in the Iliad and Odyssey. Sappho and Anacreon 

 make it the subject of their verses, the former styling 

 it the Queen of Flowers, and the latter the delight of the 

 Gods, the favourite plant of the Muses, and further speaks 

 of it as useful in diseases. Continuing its praises he says : 

 "What shall I say of its origin? When the sea had 

 formed from its foam the beautiful Venus, and bore her 

 on its wave rejoicing ; when from the brain of Jupiter 

 Pallas sprung forth a Goddess armed ; the earth in its 

 turn brought forth this admirable plant. The Gods in 

 jealousy, to hasten the period of its flowering, watered it 

 with nectar, and soon this immortal flower raised itself 

 majestically upon its thorny stem." 



