162 



PARSOXS OX THE ROSE. 



more celebrated for their epigrammatic wit than Martial ; 

 and his epigram " To Csesar, on the AYinter Roses," serves 

 to show that the culture of roses at Rome was carried to 

 such perfection as to make the attempts of foreign com- 

 petitors subjects only for ridicule. 



The ambitious inhabitants of the land watered by the 

 Isile have sent thee, O Coesar, the roses of wdnter, as a 

 present valuable for its novelty. But the boatman of 

 Memphis will laugh at the gardens of Pharaoh as soon as 

 he has taken one step in thy capital city — for the spring, 

 in its charms, and the flowers in their fragrance and 

 beauty, equal the glory of the fields of Paestum. AYher- 

 ever he wanders or casts his eyes, every street is brilliant 

 with garlands of roses. And thou, O Xile, must now 

 yield to the fogs of Rome. Send us thy harvests, and we 

 will send thee roses." 



By this passage it is evident that the cultivation of 

 Roses among the ancients was much farther advanced 

 than is generally supposed. In another epigram Martial 

 speaks again of roses, which were formerly seen only in 

 the spring, but which, in his time, had become common 

 during the winter. VTe are, also, but copyists of the Ro- 

 mans in the cultivation of flowers in windows ; for vases 

 of every style of beauty, and filled with roses, were a fre- 

 quent ornament of their windows. Martial says that a 

 miserly patron had made him a present of a very small 

 estate, and adds that he has a much better country place 

 in his window. Much that illustrates the use which the 

 ancients made of roses in their ceremonies, in their festi- 

 vals, and in their domestic life, may be found in various 

 authors, evincins^ still more how very common the use of 

 them had become. Florus relates that Antiochus, king 

 of Syria, being encamped in the island of Euboea, under 

 woven tents of silk and gold, was not only accompanied 

 bv a band of musicians, but that he mis^ht vet more en- 

 hance his j^leasures, he wished to procure roses: and 



