4 THE ROSE GARDEN. 



They consecrated it to Venus, Cupid, Aurora, and also to Harpocrates, the God 

 of Silence. If it was dedicated to Venus as an emblem of beauty, and to Cupid 

 as an emblem of love, we may conjecture wherefore it was also dedicated to the 

 goddess of the morning : it was the symbol of youth. But, beyond this, the 

 Greeks doubtless were alive to the fact, that the Rose is most beautiful at sunrise : 

 then, newly expanded by the breath of morn, there is visible all that freshness, in 

 which consists so much of its peculiar beauty, and which soon vanishes before the 

 radiance of a summer's sun. From its being consecrated to Harpocrates, the God 

 of Silence, probably arose that custom practised in the north of Europe, but now 

 almost fallen into desuetude, of suspending a Rose from the ceiling at convivial or 

 other meetings, to signify that what transpired was of a confidential nature. " The 

 White Rose has long been considered as sacred to silence : over whatever com- 

 pany it was suspended, no secrets were ever revealed, for it hung only above the 

 festal board of sworn friendship. No matter how deep they might drink, or how 

 long the wine-cup might circulate round the table, so long as the White Rose 

 hung over their heads every secret was considered inviolable ; — no matter how 

 trivial, or how important the trust, beneath that flower it was never betrayed ; for 

 around it was written the sentence — 



He who doth secrets reveal 

 Beneath my roof shall never live. 



What faith, and what confidence must there have been between man and man in 

 the olden time, when only the presence of a flower was needed to prevent the 

 maligning whisper — to freeze up slander's hateful slime — and destroy that venom, 

 which, when once circulated, proves so fatal to human happiness ! Beyond the 

 circle to which the expressive text was assigned that wound about the Rose, not 

 a whisper wandered. The pleasure only was remembered ; the painful word for- 

 gotten ere it had gathered utterance ; or, if remembered at all, it was only as 

 having existed for a moment " under the Rose." Truest test of friendship ! 

 inviolable bond of brotherhood ! sacred altar, on which heart was sworn to heart ! 

 thou didst need no golden chains to bind thee to thy trust ; no solemn vow sworn 

 but to be broken. Nothing but a simple White Rose, to bind these men of true 

 hearts and strong faith together!" — The Poetical Language of Flowers, by 

 Thomas Miller. Bogue. London. 



Hence, in ordinary conversation, some people, when about to communicate any 

 thing in confidence, announce their intention by the expression, " Sub Rosa." 



Sappho having named the Rose the " Queen of Flowers," other of the Greek 

 writers would naturally consider it a subject worthy of their attention. This was 

 eminently the case. Theocritus, on account of its transitoriness, compares it to 

 the course of human life. The gay Anacreon alludes to it in several of Ids Odes, 

 calling it " the most beautiful of flowers," " the delight of the gods," " the 

 favourite of the muses " ; and says its leaves are full of charms. He speaks of it 

 still more definitively as useful in diseases. The Rose is made the particular 



