pPant "bore, "begeT^/, antl "bijric/. 52 1 



apostle of the Persians, and the introducer of the worship of the 

 sacred fire, is conneefted in a legend with the Rose. An astrologer 

 having predid^ed the birth of a child who would dethrone the King 

 of Babylon, the monarch at once gave orders for the assassination 

 of all women who were about to become mothers. Thousands 

 were slain ; but one gave birth secretly to the future prophet. 

 This having come to the King's ear, he sent for the child, and tried 

 to kill him with his own hand, but his arm was withered on the 

 spot. Alarmed, and furious with rage, he had the babe placed on 

 a lighted stake, but the burning pile changed into a bed of Roses, 

 on which the little one lay quietly sleeping. Some persons present 

 saved a portion of the fire, which has been kept up to the present day 

 in memory of this great miracle. The king made two other attempts 

 to destroy Zoroaster, but his temerity was punished miraculously by 

 a gnat, which entered his ear and caused his death. A festival is 

 held in Persia, called the Feast of the Roses, which lasts the whole 

 time they are in bloom. 



" And all is ecstncy, for now 

 The valley holds its feast of Roses ; 

 That joyous time, when pleasures pour, 

 Profusely round, and in their shower 

 Hearts open, like the season's Rose, — 

 The flowret of a hundred leaves, 

 Expanding while the dew-fall flows, 

 And ever)' leaf its balm receives ! " — Maoris ^I.alla Rookh^ 



Pelting with Roses is still common in Persia during the time of 

 the blooming of the flowers. A band of young musicians repair to 

 the places of public entertainment to amuse the guests, and on their 

 way through the streets they pelt the passengers whom they meet 

 with Roses. The Persians regard the Rosa centifolia as the flower 

 of an archangel. Zoroaster affirmed that the Rose was free from 

 thorns until the entrance into the world of Ahrimanes (the evil 

 spirit). 



The "bed of Roses" is not altogether a poetic ficftion. In 

 ancient days, the Sybarites used to sleep upon mattresses that were 

 stuffed with Rose-leaves. A similar luxury was afterwards indulged 

 in, both in Greece and Rome. Men would sit at their meals upon 

 cushions, and sleep by night on beds of Roses. The tyrant 

 Dionysius had couches stuffed with Roses, on which he lounged at 

 his revels. Verres used to travel on a litter reclining on a mattress 

 stuffed with Roses. He wore, moreover, garlands of Roses round 

 his head and neck, and had Rose-leaves intertwined in a thin net, 

 which was drawn over the litter. It was a favourite luxury of 

 Antiochus to sleep in a tent of gold and silver on a mattress stuffed 

 with Roses. 



The Indians have a tradition respecting the discovery of the 

 mode of preparing the far-famed Attar of Roses, a perfume perhaps 

 unrivalled in its refreshing qualities. To gratify the voluptuous 

 Jehanghir. his favourite sultana is said to have had the royal bath 



