LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. 19 



In connection with this fact, it is curious to notice the following 

 anecdote related by Pliny. 



" At the time that Marc Antony was preparing for the battle 

 of Actium, he felt suspicious of Cleopatra, and made her taste of 

 all the dishes which were served up to him, she all the while 

 ridiculing his fears. 



"One day, while giving him a banquet, she placed on his 

 head a crown, bordered with poisoned flowers ; and when 

 Antony was heated with wine, she proposed that each should 

 drink his crown. He at once consented, and hastening to 

 tear off his crown, placed it in his cup and was about to drink it, 

 when the queen stopped him, saying : * Why do you suspect 

 me of deadly intentions towards your person ? if it were pos- 

 sible to live without you, see how easy I could send you from 

 the world.' At the same time having ordered a criminal from 

 prison, she gave him the cup to drink, and he expired in a 

 moment." 



At a later period, and after the loss of the battle of Actium, 

 Antony, not wishing to survive his defeat, from fear of falling 

 into the hands of Augustus, thrust himself through with his 

 sword, and requested Cleopatra to scatter perfumes over his tomb 

 and to cover it with joses. 



The greatest profusion of roses mentioned in ancient history, 

 and which is scarcely credible, is that which Suetonius attributes 

 to Nero. This author says, that at a fete which the emperor 

 gave in the gulf of Baise, when inns were established on the 

 banks, and ladies of distinction played the part of hostesses, the 

 expense incurred for roses alone, was more than four millions 

 of sesterces about $100,000. Since Nero, many of his succes- 

 sors have nearly equalled him in prodigal enjoyment of the 

 luxury of roses. Lucius Aurelius Verus, whose licentiousness 

 and destitution of every manly quality equalled that of the worst 

 emperors, but whom no one reproaches with any act of cruelty, 

 was the inventor of a new species of luxury. He had a couch 

 made, on which were four raised cushions, closed on all sides by 

 a very thin net, and filled with leaves of roses. Heliogabalus, 







