5l6 pfant bore, "bcge^/, cmel Isi^ncy, 



poem on the Rose, has commemorated this old story in the following 

 lines : — 



" The stake 



Branches and buds, and spreading its green leaves, 



Embowers and canopies the fair maid. 



Who there stands glorified ; and Roses, then 



First seen on earth since Paradise was lost. 



Profusely blossom round her, white and red. 



In all their rich variety of hues." 



According to a Roumanian tradition, the Rose was originally 

 a young and beauteous princess, who, while bathing in the sea, so 

 dazzled the Sun with the radiance of her loveliness, that he stood 

 still to gaze upon her, and covered her with kisses. Then for 

 three days he forgot his duty, and obstrucfled the progress of night. 

 Since that day the Lord of the Universe has changed the princess 

 into a Rose, and this is why the Rose always hangs her head and 

 blushes when the Sun gazes on her. 



Anacreon gives the following poetic account of the origin of 

 the Rose, connecfting it with the goddess of love and beauty : — 



*' Oh ! whence could such a plant have sprung? 

 Attend, for thus the tale is sung : 

 When, humid from the silvery stream, 

 Effusing beauty's warmest beam, 

 Venus ap|.)eared, in flushing hues, 

 Mellowed by ocean's l)riny dews ; 

 Wlit-n, in the starry courts above, 

 '.''he pregnant bram of mighty Jove 

 i 'isclosed ihe nymph oi azure glance, 

 f he nymph who shakes the martial lance ; 

 Then then, in strange eventful hour, 

 The earth produced an infant flower, 

 Which sprung with blushing tinctures drest, 

 And wantoned o'er its j)arent's breast. 

 The gilds beheld this brilliant birth. 

 And hailed the Rose, the boon of earth." — Moore. 



Bion describes the Rose as springing from the blood of the slain 

 Adonis ; and the Mahometans have a legend that it was produced 

 from a drop of perspiration which fell from the brow of Mahomet. 



Relative to the colour of the Rose, we find a number of stories 

 left us by the ancients. Catullus tells us, that the Rose is red 

 from blushing for the wound it inflidted on the foot of Venus as 

 she hastened to the assistance of Adonis ; Claudian, when Venus 

 plucks a Rose, says it is in remembrance of Adonis; an ancient 

 epigram mentions her wishing to defend Adonis from Mars, when 



" Her step she fixes on the cruel thorns ; 

 And with her blood the pallid Rose adorns." 



Anacreon tells us that the flower was dyed with necftar by the 



gods :— ' 



" With nectar drops, a ruby tide. 

 The sweetly orient buds they dyed 

 And bade them bloom —the flowers divine 

 Of Him who sheds the teeming Vine." — Moore, 



