CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 131 



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 ancient authors which can give any light on 

 this point ; they only tell us that nothing for the gratification of 

 luxury was considered too costly by the wealthy Roman citi- 

 zens. Nor do they afford more positive information as to the 

 species of Rose cultivated on the borders of the Nile, to gratify 

 this taste of the Romans. According 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-leafed — two 

 species not very susceptible of either a forcing or retarding 

 culture. The only Rose known at that time, which bloomed in 

 the winter, was the Rose of Peestum, referred to by Virgil, as 

 " hiferiqiie rosaria Pcesti" — and which was probably the same 

 as our monthly Damask Rose, and which produced in Egypt 

 and Rome flowers at all seasons, as the Damask does now with 

 us, under a proper mode of culture. 



The extent to which the culture and commerce of roses was 

 carried among the Romans, is shown by the fact, that, although 

 they had confounded the tree and its flowers under one name — 

 that of Rosa, they, nevertheless, gave particular appellations to 

 the gardens, or ground planted with rose-bushes. They were 

 termed, a Rosarium, or a Rosetum. Ovid says, " Q,uot amoena 

 Rosaria flores. The dealer in roses was also designated by the 

 distinctive appellation of Rosarius. 



In the latter part of the decline of the Roman Empire, when 

 paganism still existed to a great degree, there arose a people, 

 who formed as it were the connecting-link between the ancient 

 and modern, world — a people who acknowledged but one Su- 

 preme Ruler, and his sole vicegerent Mahomet ; a people whose 

 origin was among the wildest tribes of Ishmael's descendants, 

 who possessed in a great degree the luxuries of civilized life, and 

 among whom the arts, sciences, and agriculture were very flour- 



