Myrtle (O^n, hadas', so called, perhaps, from its sprintfiny up rapidly) occurs in Isa. xli, 19 ; Iv, 1." ; Xch. viii, 15; Zech. i, 8, 10, 11; and is identical with the Arabic hadas, which in the dialect of Arabia Felix sig- nifies the myrtle -tree (Eichardson, Pers. and Arabic Diet.'), The myrtle is, moreover, known throughout Eastern countries under the name As, by which it is described in Arabic works; and its berries are sold in the bazaars of India under this name (Illust. Ilimal. Bot. p. 217). The name Esther is supposed by Simon {Bibl. Cabinet, xi, 2G9) to be a compound of .4 s and tur, and so to mean afresh myrtle; and hence it would ap- pear to be verj' closely- allied in signification to Iladas- sah, the original name of Esther. Almost all transla- tors unite in considering the mj-rtle as intended in the above passages; the Sept. has fivpaivt}, and the Yulg. mi/rtus. The myrtle has from the earliest periods been highly esteemed in all the countries of the south of Europe, and is frequently mentioned by the poets (Virg. Eel. ii, 54). By the Greeks and Eomans it was dedi- cated to Venus (Virg. Georg. iv, 124; Ovid, Met. ix, 334; xi, 232; Amor, i, 1, 29), and employed in making wreaths to crown lovers (Pliny, xv, 36 ; Diod. Sic. i, 1 7) ; but among the Jews it was the emblem of justice. Tho note of the Chaldee Targum on the name Esther, ac- cording to Dr. Harris, is, "they call her Hadassah be- cause she yeas just, and those that are just are compared to myrtles." The repute which the myrtle enjoyed in an- cient times it still retains, notwithstanding the great ac- cession of ornamental shrubs and flowers which has been made to the gardens and greenhouses of Europe. This is justly due to the rich coloring of its dark-green and shin- ing leaves, contrasted with the white starlike clusters of its flowers, affording in hot countries a pleasant shade under its branches, and diffusing an agreeable odor from its flowers or bruised leaves. It is, however, most agreeable in appearance when in the state of a shrub, for when it grows into a tree, as it does in hot countries, the traveller looks under instead of over its loaves, and a multitude of small l)ranches are seen deprived of their leaves by the crowding of the upper ones. This shrub is common in the southern provinces of Spain and France, as well as in Italy and (ircece; and also on the northern coast of Africa, and in Syria. The poetical celebrity of this plant had, no doubt, some influence upon its employment in medicine, and numerous prop- erties are ascribed to it by Dioscorides (i, 127). It is aromatic and astringent, and liencc, like many other such plants, forms a stimulant tonic, and is useful in a variety of complaints connected with debility. Its ber- ries were formerly employed in Italy (I'liny, xv, 35), and still are so in Tuscany, as a substitute for spices, now imported so plentifidly from the far East. A wine w.is also prepared from them, which was called myr- tidanum (Pliny, xv, 37), and their tsscntial oil is pos- sessed of excitant properties (Pliny, xxiii, 44). In many parts of (irecce and Italy the leaves are employed in tanning leather. The myrtle, possessing so many remarkable qualities, was not likely to have escaped the notice of the s,icred writers, as it is a well-known inhabitant of Juda-a. Hasselquist and Burckhardt both notice it as occurring on the hills around Jerusalem. It
MYSIA
is also found in the valley of Lebanon. Capt. Light, who visited the country of the Druses in 18 li, says he "again proceeded up the mountain by the side of a range of liills abounding with myrtles in full bloom, that spread their fragrance around," and, further on, "we crossed through thickets of myrtle." Irby and Mangles (p. 222) describe the rivers from Tripoli to- wards Galilee as generally pretty, their banks covered with the myrtle, olive, wild vine, etc. Savary, as quoted by Dr. Harris, describing a scene at the end of the for- est of Platanea, says, " Myrtles, intermixed with laurel- roses, grow in the valleys to the height of ten feet. Their snow-white flowers, bordered with a purple edg- ing, appear to peculiar advantage under the verdant fo- liage. Each myrtle is loaded with them, and they emit perfumes more exquisite than those of the rose itself. They enchant every one, and the soul is filled with the softest sensations" (Kitto). When the Feast of Taber- nacles was celebrated by the Jews on the return from Babylon, the people of Jerusalem were ordered to "go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and to make booths." The prophet Isaiah foretells the coming golden age of Israel, when the Lord shall plant in the wilderness " the shittah-tree, and the myrtle-tree, and the oil-tree." The modern Jews still adorn with myrtle the booths and sheds at the Feast fif Tabernacles. Myrtles {Myr- tus communis) will grow either on hills or in valleys,
Myrtle {Mijrtus Communis).
but it is in the latter locality where they attain to their greatest perfection. Formerly, as we learn from Nehe- miah (viii, 15), myrtles grew on the hills about Jeru- salem. "On Olivet," says Prof. Stanley, "nothing is now to be seen but the olive and the fig tree," but Dr. Hooker says the myrtle is not uncommon in Samaria and Galilee (Smith). See Celsii Hierohot. ii, 17 sq. ; Bodaei Comm. ad Theophr. p. 375 sq. ; Billerbeck, Flora class, p. 122; Loudon, Arboi-eticum Britannicum, iii, 962 ; Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 365 sq.