THE ROSE. 
263 
Mentzelius regards the Praenestine, Trachinian, and Milesian Roses, as varieties of a 
Rose called by him, Rosa rubra saccharina, which latter he considers to be the same as the 
Rosa Graecula of Pliny. Clusius and Mentzelius also, call the Milesian Rose, the Bose de 
Provence. Ferrarius in his work entitled, “ Flora, seu, de Florum Cultura,” states that 
the Rose known to him as the Rosa alba multiplex, has been by different writers regarded 
as either Rosa Campana, Alibandica, or spineola of Pliny, while by others, the last 
mentioned Rose and the Rosa coronella have been thought to resemble the Rosa 
damascena multiplex. 
Among the less esteemed Roses mentioned by Pliny, is the Rosa sylvestris, called also 
by him Cynorrhodon, which grew upon a briar and had a leaf resembling the impress of a 
man’s foot. It bore a black berry. Among the thorns of the stem of this Rose grew a 
round sponge-like substance resembling a chestnut, the presence of this was particularly 
noticed upon this Rose-tree, and contained a worm or grub which produced, or from which 
issued, the insects called Cantharides. These insects are said also by Aristotle to come 
from a worm found upon the Cunacanthe or “ Dog-Briar.” 
In the spongy substance alluded to, we recognise the moss-like prickly excrescences 
which are found more or less upon all wild Rose-trees, but especially upon the stems of 
the Dog-rose, and which are caused by, and form the habitations of, the insect known as 
the Cynips Rosse. 
Commentators on Pliny regard the Rosa sylvestris of this author to be the Rosa 
Eglanteria of Linnaeus, now the Rosa rubiginosa, which according to Fries, Linnaeus for a 
long time referred to the species Rosa canina. 
The Rosa sylvestris appears to have obtained its synonymes, canina and cynorrhodon 
from a supposition that its root was an efficacious remedy for the bites of mad dogs : an 
instance of its supposed curative powers is mentioned by Pliny. 
The Rosa praecox grew, according to Pliny, at Carthage, at which place it bloomed 
during the whole winter. 
It is remarkable, considering the esteem in which it was held, and the fragrance which 
it possessed, that Pliny has not mentioned, or indicated among those he has noticed, the 
Paestan Rose, so often referred to with admiration by the Roman Poets. There appear to 
be no detailed accounts existing of this Rose, and we are left to obtain our information of 
it from the poetry of Virgil, Propertius, Ovid, and Martial, who frequently allude to the 
extreme beauty of its colour and fragrance, to its blooming twice a year, and its abundance 
in the rosaries of Paestum, where it was especially cultivated. At the time Mr. Swinburne 
visited the ruins of Paestum he mentions having found a Rose there, to which he alludes 
in the following extract from his “Travels in the Two Sicilies.” “The Paestan Rose,” 
he says, “ from its peculiar 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 spring and autumn. Subsequent to the 
time of Pliny we do not find any statement respecting the characters of the Rose which 
can be included within the limits of these remarks. Pliny himself states that no Roman 
author had written on flowers. 
We now come to consider the modes of cultivating Roses practised by the ancients. 
Of the Rosaria, Rose plantations, or places set apart for the cultivation of Rose trees, 
no account has reached us of the form or general arrangement of them. Those of Paestum 
appear to have been the most remarkable, and were probably of great extent, judging from 
the large quantities of flowers they are supposed to have produced. Columella speaks of 
a place to be reserved for the cultivation of late Roses, as one of the appendages of a 
garden. From the account given by Pliny of his Tuscan Villa, we find the inner walks 
reserved for Roses, which were bordered with them. It is not improbable, considering 
the taste which the Romans had for this flower, that it was cultivated in all gardens of 
any pretensions, as in those for instance of Lucullus at Baise. Here it may be observed, 
though not immediately connected with the present subject, that in the time of Manilius, 
flowers were planted in the form of letters, and not improbably, like the box-hedges in 
