194 Gleanings from the 



prefented a rofe to the Egyptian God of Silence, 

 Harpocrates, whence the exprefTion "under the 

 rofe." 1 It was ufed at Rome on all feftive or 

 folemn occafions, and is frequently alluded to by 

 the Roman poets in reference to its beauty and 

 the moral its frailnefs pointed, as, indeed, the 

 poets of every nation have fung. Thus Horace 

 fpeaks of the " nimium breves flores amasnas rofas ;" 

 and Martial, when addrefling his own book of 

 poems : 



" Haec hora eft tua, cum furit Lyseus. 

 Cum regnat rofa, cum madent capilli." 2 



The expreffions "to lie among rofes," to 

 " drink," or " live " among them, were fynonyms 

 at Rome for luxurious living; and Cicero thus 

 paints the exceflive luxury of Verres : " Lectica 

 octophoro ferebatur, in qua pulvinus erat perlu- 

 cidus, Melitenfi rofa fartus; ipfe autem coronam 

 habebat unam in capite, alteram in collo, reti- 

 culumque ad nares fibi admovebat tenuiflimo lino, 

 minutis maculis, plenum rofae" (Verr., ii. 5, 27). 

 " Rofa," or " mea rofa," became, naturally, a term 

 of endearment, juft as with us it has become a 

 Chriftian name. The annual drefling of the 

 graves with flowers, which is fo well-known a 

 cuftom in modern France, fprang from the feaft of 

 rofes at Rome the rofalia y or rojales ejc<e^ when 

 the tombs were adorned in like manner with 



1 Billerbeck, "Flora Claflica" (Leipzig, 1824), p. 132. " So 

 we condemn not the German cuftom, which over the table 

 defcribeth a rofe in the ceiling.'' (Sir T. Browne, " Vulgar 

 Errors," v. 22.) 



2 Martial, x. 19, 19. 



