Ancient History of the Rose. 383 



ing is such, that some are inward and some outward. The 

 greater number of such," he adds, " are about Philippi." 



Theophrastus gives no detailed account of the roses he has 

 named ; he merely says that they are not large, and have not 

 a pleasant smell. He enumerates the rose tree among perennial 

 and woody shrubs ; also among those plants which have their 

 fruit placed under their flowers, " a peculiarity," he remarks, 

 " which, on account of its great size, is most plainly to be seen 

 in this plant." Some classical writers, who have endeavoured 

 to show that the odes of Anacreon which eulogise the rose are 

 frauds, have gone so far as to say that Theophrastus never saw 

 a rose, and support this opinion from the very cursory manner 

 in which he notices the plant. It is impossible, however, to 

 coincide with them. 



It is singular that Pliny has not mentioned the twice-blowing 

 roses of Paestum, so often referred to by Roman poets. Is the 

 Praenestine or the Campanian rose to be regarded as the Pass- 

 tan rose, or a species of it ? If so, is it not probable that Pliny 

 would have noticed them more particularly ? Of the Paestan 

 rose, we unfortunately possess no detailed accounts. They 

 appear to have been extremely beautiful and fragrant, and to 

 have grown very abundantly at the place from which they took 

 their name. Virgil, Martial, Ovid, and Propertius constantly 

 allude to the Paestan roses, speaking at one time of their abund- 

 ance, at another of their fragrance and colour. 



But there is a rose which still blooms amid the ruins of 

 Paestum ; and it is thus noticed by Mr. Swinburne, in his 

 Travels in the 2\vo Sicilies: " The Paestan rose, from its pecu- 

 liar fragrance, and the singularity of its blowing twice a year, 

 is often mentioned with predilection by the classic poets. The 

 wild rose, which now shoots up among the ruins, is of the small 

 single damask kind, with a very high perfume. As a farmer 

 assured me on the spot, it flowers both in spring and autumn." 

 The Paestan rose, according to most authorities, appears to 

 have been of a deep red colour : yet Pomponius Fortunatus, in 

 his notes upon Columella, says it was almost white; he further 

 observes that it flowered in May and September. 



Of the ancient Rosaria, or places set apart for the cultivation 

 of rose trees, no account has reached us, as to the manner in which 

 they were laid out. Pliny and Columella mention March and 

 April to be the months during which the Rosaria should be 

 dug up, and otherwise prepared for the reception of plants. 

 Neither Columella nor Palladius mention by their names the 

 kinds of roses which were cultivated in these plantations. This 

 omission may, perhaps, be attributed to the kinds of roses used 

 for wreaths, chaplets, &c, being generally known, since we learn 

 that none but those so employed were planted in the Rosaria. 



