V 



THE ROSE 



Roses, among the Romans, were the symbol 

 of victory, of triumphant love, of the pride and 

 pomp of life, and were by long association as 

 pagan as the lily is sacred. The Madonna 

 lily [lilium candidum) was the flower of the 

 Virgin and of the virgin saints; the rose was 

 the flower of Venus. 



' And on hire hed, full semmly for to see 

 A rose gerlond fressh and wel smelling.' ' 



In the ' Triumph of Venus/ by Cosimo Tura," the 

 goddess, who is in truth a modest-looking lady, 

 fully draped and firmly girdled, wears a crown 

 of roses, red and white. Beneath her cockle- 

 shell is another picture,^ the sea is * sucking 

 in one by one the falling roses, each severe in 

 outline, plucked off short at the stalk, but em- 



' Chaucer, The Knight's Tale. 

 ' Schifanoja Palace, Ferrara. 

 5 Botticelli, Uffizi. 

 71 



