154 



PARSOJ^^S ON THE ROSE. 



valuable published account of that expedition, he men- 

 tions that he found there two Roses — JRosa alba^ and 

 Rosa centifolia ; and there is also reason to believe, that 

 under Domitian the Egyptians cultivated another — Rosa 

 hifera. 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 test- 

 imony 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 Semiramis ; 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 

 Ecclesiasticus, the author of which lived about 700 years 

 after Solomon, tliat the Jews possessed beautiful gardens 

 of roses, particularly 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 

 disappeared ; 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 He- 

 brew monarch. In the Iliad and Odyssey he borrows the 



