PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 687 



Which sprang with blushing tinctures drest, 

 And wanton'd o'er its parents breast; 

 The Gods beheld this brilliant birth. 

 And hailed the Rose, the boon of earth." 



Some of the poets give us a different version of the birth of the rose thau 

 that related by Anacreon. The story is that Flora, having found the dead 

 body of one of her favorite nymphs, whose beauty was only equalled by 

 her virtue, implored the assistance of the deities to aid her in changing her 

 into a flower, whom all should acknowledge to be their queen. In response 

 to her request Bacchus bathed it in nectar, Aurora caused her dews to fall 

 thick upon it, refreshing its roots, while Apollo's beams shone with invig- 

 orating warmth. Flora crowned its stem with a diadem of bloom unsur- 

 passed for beautj'^, and Vertumnus anointed it with perfumes from the vale 

 of Tempe. 



Some, however, say that the original color of the rose was white, but 

 that when the gods were feasting above, Cupid who led the dance, with 

 his wing upset a bowl of nectar, which showered upon the earth, caused 

 the roses to become red. Others, again, say that Mars jealous of the 

 favors bestowed upon Adonis by Venus, killed him, and she hastening with- 

 out her sandals to avenge his death, trod on a rose, whose thorns lacerat- 

 ing her beautiful foot, caused the blood to flow, which staining its flowers, 

 at once gave to it its color and fragrance. 



The rose was dedicated to Aurora as an emblem of youth, from its fresh- 

 ness and reviving fragrance; to Venus as an emblem of love and beauty, 

 from the elegance of its flowers, and to Cupid as an emblem of fugacity and 

 danger Irom the fleeting nature of its charms and the wounds inflicted by 

 its thorns, which are said to be derived from the stings of the bees with 

 which the arc of his bow was strung It was an emblem of silence, because 

 Cupid gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to bribe him not to reveal 

 the amours of Venus. Hence, it was sculptured on the ceilings of their 

 banqueting halls, or suspended over their tables as a token that what was 

 said in convivial moments was not to be repeated; hence the phrase sub 

 rosa, or under the rose, to denote secrecy. 



And still another legend relates that Ehodanthe. a beautiful queen of 

 Corinth, to escape the persecutions of her lovers, attempted to seclude her- 

 self in the temple of Diana, but forced by the clamors of the people to leave 

 her sanctuary, she prayed the gods to change her into a rose; which still 

 bears the blushes that dyed her cheeks when forced to expose herself to 

 the public gaze. 



I might occupy an evening in relating the history of the rose, the various 

 legends of it in different countries, the modes in which it had been used for 

 ornamentation, and the diflerent allusions to it by the poets. I close with 

 a legend in our own language equal to any in the classics which tells of 

 the birth of the moss rose. 



The angel of the flowers one day 

 ' Beneath a rose-bush sleeping lay, 



That spirit to whose charge is given, 

 To bathe young buds in dews of Heaven. 

 Awaking from his slight repose. 

 The angel whispered to the rose. 

 Oh ! choicest object of my care, 



