GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 73 



causing tliem to vegetate and bloom in the winter. On 

 the contrary, tlie cultivators at Alexandria and Memphis 

 must, of necessity, have sent them away in the vases and 

 boxes in which they had planted them with that object, 

 and when they were just beginning to break from the 

 bud, in order that they might arrive at Rome at the mo- 

 ment they commenced expanding. 



At that remote period, when navigation was far behind 

 its present state of perfection, the voyage from the mouth 

 of the Nile to the coast of Italy occupied more than 

 twenty days. AYhen this long voyage is considered, and 

 also the quantity of roses required by the Romans to en- 

 wreath their crowns and garlands, to cover their tables 

 and couches, and the pavements of their festive halls, and 

 to surround the urns which contained the ashes of their 

 dead, it is evident that the Egyptians, who traded in 

 roses, in order to satisfy the prodigality of the Romans, 

 would be compelled to keep in readiness a certain number 

 of vessels to be laden with boxes or vases of rose-plants, 

 so prepared as not to bloom before their delivery at 

 Rome. The cost of roses thus delivered in Rome must 

 have been immense, but we do not find a single passage 

 in any of the ancient authors which can give any light on 

 this point ; they only tell us that nothing for the gratifi- 

 cation of luxury was considered too costly by the wealthy 

 Roman citizens. Nor do they afford more positive inform- 

 ation as to the species of Rose cultivated on the borders 

 of the Nile, to gratify this taste of the Romans. Ac- 

 cording to Delile, there were found in Egypt, at the time 

 of the French expedition into that country, only the 

 White Rose and the Centifolia, or hundred-leaved — two 

 species not very susceptible of either a forcing or retard- 

 ing culture. The only Rose known at that time, which 

 bloomed in the winter, was the Rose of Pa?stum, referred 

 to by Virgil, as " hifer'tqne rosaria PtMsti^^ and which 

 was probably the same as our monthly Damask Rose, 

 4 



