LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. 17 



he committed during the three years that he was governor of 

 Sicily, but yet more with his effeminacy and licentiousness. 

 " When spring commenced," said the Roman orator, " that season 

 was not announced to him by the return of Zephyr, nor by the 

 appearance of any heavenly sign ; it was not until he had seen 

 the roses bloom, that spring was visible to his voluptuous eye. 

 In the voyages which he made across the province, he was ac- 

 customed, after the example of the kings of Bithynia, to be car- 

 ried in a litter borne by eight men, in which he reposed, softly 

 extended upon cushions made of transparent material and filled 

 with roses of Malta, having in his hand a net of the finest linen, 

 and equally full of these flowers, whose fragrance incessantly 

 gratified his eager nostrils." 



Laiinus Pacatus, in his eulogium on the Emperor Theodosius, 

 inveighs against the luxury of the Romans, whose sensual de- 

 sires, he says, were not satisfied until they had reversed the 

 order of the seasons, and produced roses in the winter season to 

 crown their cup of wine, and until their Falernian during the 

 summer, was cooled in large vessels filled with ice. The forcing 

 of roses in winter, is no longer extensively practiced in Rome ; 

 but during the summer they are more abundant, and we recollect 

 being much struck with admiration of some beautiful hedges of 

 the Daily rose in the villas near Rome. 



After reading the preceding statements of the abundance of 

 roses among the ancient Romans, it is with some surprise that 

 we recollect the great scarcity of that flower during the gayest 

 and most animated festival of the modern Romans — the Carni- 

 val. As we slowly walked along the Corso, submitting with as 

 quiet a grace as possible to the various fantastic tricks of the 

 masqued figures around us, and occasionally pelted with hands- 

 ful of sugar-plums from the windows, or passing carriages, we 

 looked in vain for roses or camellias in the numerous bouquets 

 that were cleaving the air around us. Little bouquets of violets 

 were numerous, and the air was thick with them, as our eyes, 

 nose, and mouth could bear striking witness ; and we recollect, 

 too, the contemptuous curl of the lip, and rush of the aris- 



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