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The beds were intersected by furrows; in each trench there stood,

as if on guard, ranks of hemp stalks, the cypresses of the

vegetable garden, calm, straight, and green; their leaves and

their scent served to defend the beds, for through their leaves

no serpent dares to press, and their scent kills insects and

caterpillars. Farther away towered up the whitish stalks of

poppies; on them you might think a flock of butterflies had

perched, fluttering their wings, on which flashed, with all the

colours of the rainbow, the gleam of precious stones; with so

many different, living tints did the poppies allure the eye. Amid

the flowers, like the full moon amid the stars, a round

sunflower, with a great, glowing face, turned after the sun from

the east to the west.