OUR ^QUEEN OF BEAUTY. 39 



ket at Athens, as in Covent Garden now, where 

 the young swells bought for the Honorable Miss 

 Rhodanthe and for the Lady Rhodopis bouquets 

 of the blushing Rose ; and then, as now, he who 

 would not or could not speak boldly to the maid 

 of Athens, 



ZwTj jnou, (ra? ayanla, 



declared his love by these 



"Token flowers that tell 

 What words can never speak so well." 



Rome, succeeding Greece in greatness, copy- 

 ing its customs, and lighting her Roman candles 

 from Greek fire, showed an equal fondness for the 

 Rose. Romans of wealth and Romans of taste 

 were as anxious as Horace, 



" Neu desint epulis rosae;" 



and when the Rose-trees of Psestum had finished 

 their autumnal bloom, they were succeeded by 

 flowers artificially produced by means of hot 

 water. Cleopatra, according to Athenseus, had 

 the floor covered with them a foot and a half in 

 thickness ; and Nero is said to have expended at 

 one feast nearly ;^30,ooo in Roses — a nice little 



