Geop. xi. 4. Footnote 1268: Geop. xi. 6. Footnote 1269: Geop. xi. 10. Cf. Plut. Sympos. vol. iii. 1, where he assigns the reason why the pine was sacred to Poseidon and Dionysos. The foliage of the pine-forests was so dense in Bœotia as to permit neither snow nor rain to penetrate through. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 9. 6. The shade of such trees, therefore, would be more especially coveted. Footnote 1270: Sch. Aristoph. Eq. 537. Geop. xii. 17. 16. ----- It has sometimes been supposed,[1271] that the flower which constitutes the greatest ornament of gardens was wholly unknown in the early ages of Greece. But this theory, imagined for the purpose of destroying the claims of the Anacreontic fragments to be considered genuine,[1272] is entirely overthrown by the testimony of several ancient writers, more particularly Herodotus,[1273] who speaks of the rose of sixty leaves, as found in the gardens of Midas in Thrace, at the foot of the snowy Bermios. Elswhere, too, he compares the flower of the red Niliac lotus[1274] to the rose; and Stesichoros,[1275] an older poet than Anacreon, distinctly mentions chaplets composed of this flower. Many a yellow quince was there Piled upon the regal chair, Many a verdant myrtle-bough, Many a rose-crown featly wreathed, With twisted violets that grow Where the breath of spring has breathed. ----- Footnote 1271: By Dr. Nolan. See his paper on the Grecian Rose. Trans. Roy. Soc. of Lit. ii. 327, sqq. Footnote 1272: Cf. Athen. xv. 11. Footnote 1273: Οἱ δὲ, ἀπικόμενοι ἐς ἄλλην γῆν τῆς Μακεδόνιης, οἴκησαν πέλας τῶν κήπων τῶν λεγομένων εἶναι Μίδεω τοῦ Γορδίεω. ἐν τοῖσι φύεται αὐτόματα ῥόδα, ἕν ἕκαστον ἔχον ἑξήκοντα φύλλα ὀδμῆ δὲ ὑπερφέροντα τῶν ἀλλων· ἐν τούτοισι καὶ ὁ Σιληνὸς τοῖσι κήποισι ἥλω, ὡς λέγεται ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων. ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν κήτων οὖρος κέεται, Βέρμιον οὔνομα, ἄβατον ὑπὸ χειμῶνος. viii. 138. On the arts and manners of this Midas, who, together with Orpheus and Eumolpos was the founder of the Hellenic religion, see J. G. Voss. de Idololat. i. 24, and Bouhier, Dissert. sur Herod. ch. 80. Footnote 1274: Cf. Theop. Hist. Plant. iv. 87. Footnote 1275: Athen. iii. 21. Stesichoros lived before Christ about 632. Clint. Fast. Hellen. ii. 5. Crowns of roses are mentioned by Cratinus who was born 519 B. C. which shows that roses must have been largely cultivated in his time. Athen. xv. 27. ----- Homer,[1276] too, it is evident, was familiar with the rose, to whose fragrant petals he compares the fingers of the morning, and not, as has been imagined, to the blood-red flower of the wild pomegranate tree.[1277] ----- Footnote 1276: Il. α. 477. ι. 703. Cf. Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 610. To place the matter beyond dispute, Homer speaks of oils rendered fragrant by the perfume of the rose:—ῥοδόεντι δὲ χρῖεν ἐλαίῳ. Il. ψ. 186. Footnote 1277: Dioscor. i. 154.