TNTHODUCTIOX. XXXV 



prcss do not wither." //In spring and sumrasr the fir and cedar are not different from other trees 

 and plants"; says a commentary, ybut when the cold season has come all trees and plants lose 

 their leaves and fade, whilst the fir and cedar alone remain beautiful and do not wither like 

 the other trees and plants." The pine Avas also anciently the syrabol of eternal friendship: 

 Liu-Mao-phiao ( l ) , author of the //Discourse on all broken friendships" ( 3 ), says that anciently 

 one broke a green b ranch of a pine-tree, in order to confirm the oath of friendship, pointing 

 at the same time towards the transparent waters as a symbol of faith ( 3 ). 



Pines, cypresses and chestnuts vvere planted in antiquity on the public places of towns ( J ) 

 just as the EskeLiek, the great public place in Cairo, is gircled by enormous oriental acazias ( 3 ). 

 The cedar is also the emblem of the love between husband and wife, as ifc is according to 

 the Persian mythus. Chinese tradition speaks of a beautiful woman named Ho, wife of llan- 

 pliang , secretary to the king Khanj of the Sung-dynasty (960 — 1278). The king who desired 

 the woman, put her husband in prison where he killed himself from despair. The king wish- 

 ing one day to offer violence to liis wife, she threw herself down from the terrace on which 

 they were standing, and perished. In her girdle was found a letter adressed to the king , in 

 which she expressed the wish that she might be buried in one grave with her husband; bub 

 the king, revengeful even after her death, buried them opposite each other in different graves. 

 During the night, ho wever, two cypresses grew on these graves, which were in ten days 

 so large that their branches interlaced; the trunks bowed to each other and their roots grew 

 together. The people called these trees //Love-trees." ( ö ) 



So the fir, pine, cedar and cypress are in the Hung-league the' symbols of the never-dying 

 and ever regenerating life, the symbol of force and indestructibility, just at the acazia is in 

 masonry. ( 7 ) According to Layard ( 8 ) the cypress was sacred in Iran, China, Babylonia, Assy- 

 ria, Phoenicia, Arabia, Egypt and in whole Asia minor, in Greece, Rome and in the whole 

 roman Empire as the symbol of life, as the symbol of immortality, of eternal life, and, there- 

 fore, used every where on graves and tombs, just as this is the case with the masonic acazia. ( 9 ) 



Some flowers are also sacred with several nations. As representative of flowers, the rosé is 

 sacred with the masons, and roses are strewn by the brotherhood on the bier of the deceased 

 brother. ( 10 ) It is especially the lotus which is sacred in the Hung-league, because it is a sym- 

 bol of the sun; the lotus rises to the surface of the water as soon as the sun appears, and 

 dives down with the sinking of the sun. The rosé has been called the queen of flowers, but 

 the lotus, sublime in hVs purity, grace, and exquisite beauty, may surely be called their god- 



(.) fsj # U o I Iè ?ë S 



« m n m m m <&. « e * i » t 



( 4 ) Lun-yü, Book lil, Chapt. xxi. (5) Braun, Geschichte der Kunst, I, 213. 



( G ) Ml & Wi < See tIie M M M f Piecords of MarveIs ') 



( 7 ) Symb. d. Preim., I, 157. ( 8 ) Kcckerches sur Ie culte du cyprès pyramidal. 



i°) Syrab. d. Freim., T, 159 — 1G0. { l0 ) Syrab. d. Freim., II, 33. 



