Ancient History of the Rose. 387 



remedy ; at their festivals and sacred ceremonies ; and as an 

 article of luxury at their banquets. Of the medicinal uses of 

 the rose frequent mention is made by Oribasius, Actuarius, 

 Marcellus, Myriscus, Celsus, &c, together with many ancient 

 writers on pharmacy ; the accounts afforded by these writers are 

 not sufficiently interesting to claim particular notice. 



In alluding to the more general uses of the rose among the 

 Greeks and Romans, the employment of flowers generally must, 

 in some degree, be referred to ; but the rose was unquestion- 

 ably the most esteemed of all flowers. 



By the Greeks and Romans flowers were frequently em- 

 ployed. It was usual for them to adorn the temples, altars, 

 and statues of their gods with them. (See Euripides: Hippo- 

 lytus, Troades, Helena, &c.) Wreaths of flowers were also 

 worn by those who were present at, or assisted in, the cele- 

 bration of sacred rites (Eurip. Iphigenia in Aulide). They were 

 also offered to those divinities to whom they were considered 

 most grateful. It was a Grecian custom, according to Athenasus, 

 to decorate the doorposts of houses where a maiden, about to 

 become a bride, resided. The dead were crowned with flowers.* 

 Sophocles has represented Electra and Orestes as repairing to 

 their father's tomb, to deck it with garlands, and honour it with 

 libations. The relatives of the deceased wore garlands of roses 

 during the days of mourning, as emblematical of the shortness 

 of life, which passes as quickly away as the beauty of those 

 roses would which formed the mourner's crown. The tombs 

 of the dead were decorated with roses, under the idea that 

 they possessed the power of protecting the remains of the 

 deceased, and were peculiarly acceptable as an offering to their 

 manes. Other flowers besides the rose were selected as having 

 a special fitness for these purposes. The Greeks also used the 

 amaranthus, which is commonly regarded as the flower now 

 known by the name of " everlasting." Parsley and myrtle 

 were also funereal plants. But the rose has been for ages the 

 favourite flower for funereal and all other purposes. 



Among the Romans all flowers of a purple or white colour 

 were regarded as grateful to the dead. They were so fond of 

 the rose, that we find inscriptions which refer to legacies left 

 in their wills, for the express purpose of providing roses, with 

 which their tombs were annually to be decorated. 



.... DONAVIT SUB HAC CONDITIONS 

 UT QUOTANNIS ROSAS AD MONUMENTUM EJUS DEFERANT. 



(See Le Antichitd d'Aquileja, Giandomenico Bertoli: Venezia, 

 1739: p.xix. ccxxxvii., &c.) 



Roses were also strewed on the tables at their convivial en- 



* It is still a custom in the Levant to strew flowers on the bodies of the 

 dead; and in the hands of young persons to place a nosegay. 



DD 2 



