386 Ancient History of the Rose. 



" Condita sic puro numerantur lilia vitro, 



Sic prohibet tcneras gemma* latere rosas." 



Lib. 4. epig. 22. 

 " So through the crystal are the lilies told : 

 So does the gem the blushing rose unfold." 



Elphinston's trans. 



Before quitting this portion of the subject, we must allude to 

 a singular practice mentioned by Didymus in the passage from 

 the Geoponics above quoted, namely the weaving of wreaths, and 

 planting them ; because Casaubon, in his Comments upon Athe- 

 nceus, where a passage is quoted from Nicander's Georgics, in 

 which it is mentioned, that frequently a complete crown made 

 of ivy is planted, says, " Ridiculum est, . . . interdum coronam 

 ipsam hederaceam cum suis racemis esse plantandam." It is 

 probable that Casaubon had not met with the passage in the 

 Geoponics which proves the possibility of forming wreaths thus; 

 and, moreover, shows that it was by no means an uncommon 

 practice to " plant crowns." 



According to Nicander, in his Georgics, beautiful roses grew 

 at a place called Themis, or Thetis ; and at Olenum, a city of 

 Achaia, not far from Patrae, now called Patras. Next to these 

 places, Megara, Nisaea, Phaselis, and Tenedos were celebrated 

 for their roses ; but the finest grew at Magnesia ad Maand?-um, 

 a city of Lydia, now called by the Turks Gysel Hisar, or the 

 Beautiful Castle. One of the speakers in Athenceus is made to 

 say that what is related by ^thlius Samius, in his work upon 

 the singular occurrences which take place at Samos, namely, 

 that in that island figs, grapes, apples, and roses are produced 

 twice a year, appears neither improbable nor untrue. Cyrene, 

 also, according to Pliny, was celebrated for its roses; and, ac- 

 cording to Herodotus and Martial, Egypt was also renowned 

 for these flowers. Herodotus says that in the gardens of 

 Midas roses grew spontaneously, and that some had sixty 

 flower leaves, and were more fragrant than the rest, f 



According to the Calendar of Natural Occurrences in Greece, 

 the rose blossomed in March, the Rosa Graeca, or Z/ychnis co- 

 ronaria, in May. In the Roman Calendar we find early roses 

 were in blossom in April, and that in May they were generally 

 in flower. In Egypt, according to Theophrastus, the rose blos- 

 somed two months before it appeared in Italy, and continued in 

 flower for almost as long a time in the former country, after it 

 had ceased blowing it Italy. In the latter country it succeeded 

 the blossoming of the violet and the lily. 



Among the ancients, the rose was employed as a medicinal 



* By " gemma " is to be understood the talc with which the roses were 

 covered in gardens. 



f See Miscellaneous Tracts, &c, on Natural History, by William Falconer, 

 M.D., F.R.S. 



