260 ROSE. 



ancient mythology, the Rose was represented as originally 

 white, but to have been changed in hue by the blood which 

 streamed from the lacerated feet of Venus, when traversing 

 the woods in despair for the loss of Adonis. According to 

 Anacreon it was dyed by the gods when first formed, and was 

 sacred to Bacchus. The rose was dedicated by Cupid to Har- 

 pocrates, the god of silence, to engage him to conceal the 

 amours of Venus. Hence it became the emblem of silence, and 

 to hold up this flower to any person in discourse was equivalent 

 to a request for secresy ; and at entertainments it was custom- 

 ary to place a rose above the table to signify that what was 

 then spoken should be kept private ; to this practice we owe 

 the common expression " under the rose." The Romans intro- 

 duced roses in common with other flowers, at the festive board, 

 both to gratify the senses with their brilliant colours and 

 grateful odours, and from some vague notion that their aroma 

 prevented head-ache and the injurious effects of the wine ; they 

 were woven into chaplets for the brows, and sometimes crowned 

 the brim of the goblet. Horace exclaims, — 



" Neu desint epulis rosse." 

 — although, in another place, he expresses a very different 

 wish, — 



" Persicos odi, puer, apparatus. 



Displicent nexae philyra coronae : 



Mitte sectari, rosa quo locorum 

 Sera moretur. 



Simplici myrto nihil allabores 



Sedulus euro." 



Indeed it was a very expensive luxury, to procure roses at 

 all times in the year. Suetonius relates, that Nero spent 

 upwards of 4,000,000 sesterces (about 30,000 pounds,) for 

 roses, at one supper. 



The Greeks and Romans were also accustomed to strew 

 roses upon the tombs of departed friends. Anacreon, in his 

 fifty-third ode tells us that this flower is peculiarly grateful to 

 the dead, u to^e x«i Hx.po7<; a^m*." This practice was considered 

 of so much importance that it was enjoined by codicils annexed 

 to their wills, as appears by an inscription at Ravenna and 

 another at Milan. In this country, in the time of Evelyn, it 

 was the custom to plant roses round the graves of lovers, and 

 to strew the flowers upon the graves of friends, and the prac- 



