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LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
ACANTHUS. 
THE ARTS. 
The Acanthus delights in hot climates by the 
side of great rivers. It thrives, nevertheless, in 
temperate climates. The tasteful ancients adorned 
their furniture, their vases, and their costly dresses, 
with its elegant leaves. Virgil says that the robe of 
Helen was embroidered with a wreath of Acamthus. 
This charming model of the arts has thus become 
their emblem, as it might also be of the genius which 
causes its possessor to excel in them. When any 
obstacle obstructs the growth of the Acanthus, it puts 
forth fresh force and grows with additional vigour. 
Thus genius is strengthened and exalted by the very 
obstacles which it cannot overcome. 
It is related of Callimachus the architect that, as 
he was passing near the tomb of a young female, 
who died a few days before her marriage, touched 
with pitj% he approached to throw flowers on it. 
An offering had preceded his: the nurse of the 
