pPant *ls)orc, "bccje?^/, cmel Isijricy. 517 



Still another legend is to the effecft that Cupid, whilst leading a 

 dance in heaven, stumbled and overset a bowl of necflar, which, 

 falling upon the earth, stained the Rose. 



The Rose — the flower of love, poetry, and beauty — was spe- 

 cially dedicated to Venus, who is sometimes represented crowned 

 with Roses, and sometimes with a sceptre terminated with that 

 flower. One of the Three Graces — the attendants of Venus — 

 usually carried a Rose in her hand. Cupid is often depicfted 

 crowned with Roses, and the chaplet of Hymen consisted gene- 

 rally of Marjoram or Roses, which latter flowers were used in his 

 feasts. The Thracians crowned Bacchus (Sabazius) with Roses, 

 and, in the vicinity of Pangaeus, held a feast called Rosalia. In the 

 procession of the Corybantes, the goddess Cybele was pelted with 

 white Roses. 



The Rose was a domestic flower sedulously cultivated by the 

 ancients, but especially by the Romans. It is said to have early 

 flourished at Rhodes, and possibly gave its name to that island. 

 The Roses of Campania, Miletus, Praeneste, Malta, Cyrene, and 

 Sybaris were all noted ; but especially celebrated were those of 

 Paestum: to this day the insignia of Paestum — a Syren holding a 

 Rose — remains sculptured on the ruined arch of one of its gates. 



Among the ancients, it was customary to crown brides and 

 bridegrooms with a chaplet of red and white Roses. The Roman 

 bride was decorated with a wreath of Roses and Myrtle. The 

 shrines of the gods and of illustrious men in Rome were sur- 

 mounted with wreaths of Roses. The triumphal arches were 

 adorned with these flowers, and garlands of Roses were thrown 

 into the chariots. At the public games, wreaths of Roses were 

 presented to the senators, and sometimes to the performers and 

 specflators. At the private entertainments of the ancients, the 

 guests wore wreaths of blooming Roses. The Romans thought 

 to impart additional relish to their feasts by the aid of the 

 fragrance of the Rose. Pacutus relates that " even in the time 

 of the Republic, people were not satisfied unless the cup of 

 Falernian wine were swimming with Roses." The Spartan soldiers, 

 after the battle of Cirrha, were so fastidious as to refuse wine that 

 was not perfumed with Roses. At the famed regatta of Baiae, the 

 whole surface of the Lucrine Lake used to be strewn with these 

 flowers. At some of his banquets, Nero caused showers of Roses 

 to be rained down upon his guests from apertures in the ceiling. 

 Heliogabalus carried this pracftice to such an absurd extent, as to 

 cause the suffocation of some of his guests, who could not extricate 

 themselves from the heap of flowers. Cleopatra, in the entertain- 

 ment she gave in honour of Anton}', spent an immense sum in 

 Roses, with which she had the floor of the banqueting chamber 

 covered to the cjepth of an ell, and over the flowers a thin net was 

 drawn. The Romans were at great expense to procure Roses in 

 the Winter. Suetonius affirms that Nero spent upwards of four 



