Violet. 
257 
sweet violets to spring from the earth as food for persecuted 
Io, whilst she was hiding, under the form of a white heifer, from 
the fury of Juno. 
Others derive the origin of its name from the word via, a 
“wayside,” whence its perfume often greets the wanderer. 
Lorenzo de Medici, in a sonnet addressed to Venus, suggests 
that the admired flowerling sprang from her empurpled blood ; 
but we know not what authority he had beyond the usual 
licence of poets for thus tampering with classic fable. 
The Latin race did not neglect this minstrel’s darling ; and 
it has been remarked that if the far-famed roses of Paestum, 
which bloomed twice in the year, and of which “now a Virgil, 
now an Ovid sang,” did arrest the voyager on his course by their 
delicious odours, those odours might also have received some 
of their sweetness from these flowers; for those gardens of 
Paestum equally boasted of their violets ; “ which,” as Rogers 
says in a note to a passage in his “ Pleasures of Memory,” 
“ were as proverbial as the roses, and mentioned by Martial.” 
How changed is that renowned place ! All that now remains 
of its ancient glory are its flowers, and still 
“ The air is sweet with violets running wild, 
’Mid broken sculptures and fallen capitals.” 
The Romans, who much used a wine made from the violets, 
seemed to think that they could never have enough of its per¬ 
fume; and they are censured by Horace for neglecting their 
fruitful olive-groves for beds of violets, myrtles, and “all the 
wilderness of sweets.” 
The poetry, the romance, and the scenery of many a clime 
is closely associated with this enthralling floweret: it is found 
in almost all parts of the world, and even in Persia—“the 
garden of Gul”—it disputes the palm of supremacy with the 
rose. It is supposed to have been discovered first in Europe, 
but now perfumes the songs of all literatures and the gardens 
of all cilmes. Apart from its beauty and fragrance, it is highly 
esteemed for its medicinal virtues, and the finest sherbet of the 
Mahommedans is said to be concocted of violets and sugar. 
Lane gives his testimony to the delicious flavour of this drink, 
and Tavernier says that it is drunk by the Grand Signor himself. 
One tradition asserts that Mahomet said, “ The excellence 
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