LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE.
The ancients possessed, at a very early period, the luxury of roses, and the Romans brought it to perfection by covering with beds of these flowers the couches whereon their guests were placed, and even the tables which were used for banquets;[1] while some emperors went so far as to scatter them in the halls of their palaces. At Rome, they were, at one time, brought from Egypt in that part of the year when Italy could not produce them; but afterwards, in order to render these luxuries more easily attainable during the winter by the leaders of the ton in that capital city of the world’s empire, their gardeners found the means of producing, in green-houses warmed by means of pipes filled with hot water, an artificial temperature, which kept roses and lilies in bloom until the last of the year. Seneca declaimed, with a show of ridicule, against these improvements;[2] but, without being discouraged by the reasoning of the philosopher, the Romans carried their green-houses to such perfection that, at length, during the reign of Domitian, when the Egyptians thought to pay him a splendid compliment in honor of his birthday, by sending him roses in the midst of winter, their present excited nothing but ridicule and disdain, so abundant had winter roses become at Rome by the efforts of art. Few of the Latin poets have been more celebrated for their epigrammatic wit than Martial; and his epigram “To Cæsar, on the Winter Roses,” serves to show that the culture of roses at Rome was carried to such perfection as to make the attempts of foreign competitors subjects only for ridicule.
“The ambitious inhabitants of the land watered by the Nile have sent thee, O Cæsar, the roses of winter, 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 Pæstum. Wherever he wanders or casts his eyes, every street is brilliant with garlands of roses. And thou, O Nile, 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. We are, also, but copyists of the Romans in the cultivation of flowers in windows; for vases of every style of beauty, and filled with roses, were a frequent 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 festivals, and in their domestic life, may be found in various authors, evincing still more how very common the use of them had become. Florus relates that Antiochus, king of Syria, being encamped in the island of Eubœa, under woven tents of silk and gold, was not only accompanied by a band of musicians, but that he might yet more enhance his pleasures, he wished to procure roses; and although it was in the midst of winter, he caused them to be collected from every quarter.
The gallants of Rome were in the habit of presenting their favorite damsels with the first roses that appeared in spring; and “Mea rosa” was an affectionate expression they often used to their betrothed.
We frequently find in old Latin authors an entire abandonment to pleasure and excessive luxury, signified by such expressions as “living in the midst of roses,” “sleeping on roses,” etc. (“Vivere in rosa,” “dormire in rosa.”)
Seneca speaks of Smyndiride, the most wealthy and voluptuous of the Sybarites, who could not sleep if a single one of the rose-petals with which his bed was spread, happened to be curled.
Cicero, in his “De finibus,” alludes to the custom which prevailed at Rome at that time, of reclining at the table on couches covered with roses; and comparing the happiness which virtue gives to the pleasures of luxury says, that “Regulus, in his chains, was more happy than Thorius drinking on a couch of roses, and living in such a manner that one could scarcely imagine any rare and exquisite pleasure of which he did not partake.”
The same author, in his celebrated speech against Verres, the greatest extortioner whose name is recorded in history, reproached him not only with the outrageous robberies and cruelties which he committed during the three years that he was governor of Sicily, but yet more with his effeminacy and licentiousness. “When spring commenced,” said the Roman orator, “that season was not announced to him by the return of Zephyr, nor by the appearance of any heavenly sign; it was not until he had seen the roses bloom that spring was visible to his voluptuous eye. In the voyages which he made across the province, he was accustomed, after the example of the kings of Bithynia, to be carried in a litter borne by eight men, in which he reposed, softly extended upon cushions made of transparent material, and filled with roses of Malta, having in his hand a net of the finest linen, and equally full of these flowers, whose fragrance incessantly gratified his eager nostrils.”
Latinus Pacatus, in his eulogium on the Emperor Theodosius, inveighs against the luxury of the Romans, whose sensual desires, he says, were not satisfied until they had reversed the order of the seasons, and produced roses in the winter season to crown their cup of wine, and until their Falernian, during the summer, was cooled in large vessels filled with ice. The forcing of roses in winter is no longer extensively practiced in Rome; but during the summer they are abundant, and we recollect being much struck with admiration of some beautiful hedges of the Daily rose in the villas near Rome.
After reading the preceding statements of the abundance of roses among the ancient Romans, it is with some surprise that we recollect the great scarcity of that flower during the gayest and most animated festival of the modern Romans—the Carnival. As we slowly walked along the Corso, submitting with as quiet a grace as possible to the various fantastic tricks of the masked figures around us, and occasionally pelted with handfuls of sugar-plums from the windows, or passing carriages, we looked in vain for roses or camellias in the numerous bouquets that were cleaving the air around us. Little bouquets of violets were numerous, and the air was thick with them, as our eyes, nose, and mouth, could bear striking witness; and we recollect, too, the contemptuous curl of the lip, and rush of the aristocratic blood into the face of a fair English girl in one of the carriages whose blue eyes had been nearly closed by an awkward cast of one of these little bouquets from the hand of a plebian performer. But we only recollect catching a glimpse now and then of a single rose or camellia, skillfully passed by a cavalier below into the hands of some dark-eyed beauty in the balconies above, the bright sparkle of whose eye convinced us that the single flower was of value, and a mark of especial regard. The Rose appeared to be valued as some rare exotic, and not to be idly bestowed where there was small probability of its due appreciation; it was, indeed, a “rara flora in urbe,” and quite superseded by the very pretty and abundant violets.
The modern Romans have not only lost many of the good qualities of their early ancestors, but they have also escaped much of the effeminate softness which characterized the Romans under some of the later emperors; and, as belonging to this state of luxury, the cultivation of the Rose has, in modern times, been much neglected. The homage of the Romans is now reserved for art, and the beautiful products of nature are, in their opinion, worthy only of secondary consideration. The Rose is now mostly confined in that city to the residences of the wealthier classes, and can scarcely be said to have resumed its old place in Roman esteem until it is again a favorite with the mass of the people.
When Cleopatra went into Cilicia to meet Mark Antony, she gave him, for several successive days, festivals in which she displayed a truly royal magnificence. She caused to be placed in the banqueting hall twelve couches, each of which would hold three guests. The walls were covered with purple tapestry, interwoven with gold; all the vases were of gold, admirably executed, and enriched with precious stones.
On the fourth day, the queen carried her sumptuousness so far as to pay a talent (about six hundred dollars) for a quantity of roses, with which she caused the floor of the hall to be covered to the depth of eighteen inches. These flowers were retained by a very fine net, in order that the guests might walk over them.
After the loss of the battle of Actium, Antony, not wishing to survive his defeat, from fear of falling into the hands of Augustus, thrust himself through with his sword, and requested Cleopatra to scatter perfumes over his tomb, and to cover it with roses.
The greatest profusion of roses mentioned in ancient history, and which is scarcely credible, is that which Suetonius attributes to Nero. This author says, that at a fête which the emperor gave in the Gulf of Baiæ, when inns were established on the banks, and ladies of distinction played the part of hostesses, the expense incurred for roses alone was more than four millions of sesterces—about $100,000. Since Nero, many of his successors have nearly equaled him in prodigal enjoyment of the luxury of roses. Lucius Aurelius Verus, whose licentiousness and destitution of every manly quality equaled that of the worst emperors, but whom no one reproaches with any act of cruelty, was the inventor of a new species of luxury. He had a couch made on which were four raised cushions, closed on all sides by a very thin net, and filled with leaves of roses. Heliogabalus, celebrated for luxury and vice of every kind, caused roses to be crushed with the kernels of the pine (Pinus maritima), in order to increase the perfume. The same emperor caused roses to be scattered over the couches, the halls, and even the porticoes of the palace, and he renewed this profusion with flowers of every kind—lilies, violets, hyacinths, narcissus, etc. Gallien, another equally cruel and luxurious prince, lay, according to some authors, under arbors of roses; and, according to others, on beds covered with these flowers. And finally, Carrius, another licentious and prodigal emperor, who reigned only a few months caused roses to be scattered over the chambers of his palace, and on the couches of his guests.
[CHAPTER XII.]
THE ROSE, IN CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS, AND IN THE ADORNMENT OF BURIAL-PLACES.
Among the ancients, the Rose was conspicuous in all the sacred ceremonies, and in public and private fêtes. The Greeks and the Romans surrounded the statues of Venus, of Hebe, and of Flora, with garlands of roses. They were lavish of these flowers at the festivals of Flora; in those of Juno, at Argos, the statue of the Olympian Queen was crowned with lilies and roses. In the festivals of Hymen, at Athens, the youth of both sexes, crowned with roses and adorned with flowers, mingled in dances which were intended to represent the innocence of primeval times. At Rome, in the public rejoicings, they sometimes strewed the streets with roses and other flowers. It is thus that Lucretius gives a description of the manner in which were celebrated the festivals of Cybele.[3]
To scatter flowers on the passage of the funeral procession of a private citizen was an honor not common at Rome. Pliny informs us, however, that a Scipio, belonging to the illustrious family of that name, who while he was tribune, fulfilled his duties to the satisfaction of the people, dying without leaving sufficient to pay his funeral expenses, the people voluntarily contributed to pay them, and on the appearance of the body, cast flowers upon its passage.
At Baiæ, when fêtes were given upon the water, the whole surface of the lake of Lucina appeared covered with roses.
The custom of encircling the head, of surrounding the neck, and also the breast, with crowns and garlands of roses, on different occasions, and particularly during the last days of a gay festival, when, after the solid dishes, they passed to the dessert and the rare wines, is well known by the odes of Anacreon, and from the writings of several of the ancient poets.
The voluptuous Horace, when he abandoned himself to pleasures, was always supplied with roses. In congratulating one of his friends on his safe return from Spain, he recommended that these flowers should not be wanting at the festival. On another occasion, he told his favorite servant that he cordially disliked the pompous displays of the Persians, and escaped them by searching in what place the late Rose was found. Drawing a picture of luxurious ease for his friend Hirpinus, he speaks of “lying under the shade of a lofty Plane or Pine tree, perfuming our spotless hair with Assyrian spikenard, and crowning ourselves with roses.” We can very well judge how general had become the custom of making crowns of roses, from the number of times which it is mentioned in Pliny, and the frequency with which Martial speaks of it in his epigrams. The latter author also informs us, that in the very height of Roman luxury and revealing, the most favorable time for soliciting and obtaining a favor was when the patron was entirely given up to the pleasures of the table and of roses.[4]
Whatever doubt may exist of the use of crowns of roses, as objects of luxury, it is well authenticated, that among medical men of antiquity, endeavors were made to determine what kinds of flowers were suitable to place in crowns without detriment to health; and according to the report made on this subject, the parsley, the ivy, the myrtle, and the Rose, possessed peculiar virtues for dissipating the fumes of the wine. According to Athenæus, a crown of roses possessed not only the property of alleviating pain in the head, but had a very refreshing effect.
Pliny mentions two Greek physicians—Mnesitheus and Callimachus,—who wrote on this subject.
The custom of crowning with roses had passed from the Greeks to the Romans, and it also existed among the Hebrews, who had probably borrowed it from some of the neighboring nations, either from the Egyptians, in the midst of whom they had spent many years, or from the Babylonians, with whom they had in the captivity much connection. The practice of this custom among the Israelites is attested by the previously quoted passage, in the apocryphal “Wisdom of Solomon.”
At Rome it was not only at the religious festivals that they crowned themselves with roses and other flowers, but it was the custom to wear these crowns during public and private fêtes; they were strictly forbidden at some other times, and above all on certain public occasions, where to appear with such an ornament would pass for an insult to a public calamity. Pliny informs us, that during the second Punic war, which lasted sixteen years, a banker named Lucius Fulvius, for looking from his gallery on the Forum, and wearing a crown of roses on his head, was, by order of the Senate, sent to prison, from which he was not liberated until the end of the war.
This anecdote, moreover, proves that crowns of roses were in fashion at Rome at an early period, and before licentiousness and luxury had yet made many inroads upon the national character.
It may readily be supposed, that at Rome, under the emperors, the use of crowns of flowers was, like every other species of luxury at that time, constantly on the increase. At first they wore the crowns interwoven with leaves of flowers, then they wore them composed partly of roses, and finally they were not satisfied unless they consisted of these flowers only.
Martial, as we have already mentioned, speaks often of his crowns of roses. The crown sent by this poet to his friend Sabinus was composed entirely of these flowers, and he was desirous that they should be considered the production of his own gardens.
From the poverty of Turkish history, little is known of the early use of the Rose among them. We have, however, some account of its use among the Mohammedan Persians.
Although wine was forbidden by the laws of Mahomet, the Persians frequently made use of it; and in the time of Tavernier and of Chardin, they frequently drank it to excess. One of their kings, Soliman III., was intoxicated almost every day; and it was the custom then in Persia, to serve the wine in crystal decanters, which, when the season permitted, they corked with roses.
The most interesting purpose to which roses were devoted was the adornment of tombs and burial-places. The Greeks employed generally for this object, the myrtle and the amaranth; but the Romans gave the preference to the lily, the saffron-plant, and, above all, the Rose.
The ancients were careful to renew the plants which were placed around the sepulchral urn, in order that it might be surrounded by a continual spring. These flowers were regarded as sacred, and as a relic of the deceased.
The Romans considered this pious care so agreeable to the spirits of the departed, that wealthy citizens bequeathed by will entire gardens, to be reserved for furnishing their tombs with flowers. They also often ordered that their heirs, or those to whom they left a legacy for the care of their ashes, should meet together every year, on the anniversary of their death, and dine near their tomb, scattering roses about the place. This custom is attested by several stories of ancient Roman tombs. One with an ancient inscription was found at Ravenna, and others in some other parts of Italy.
D’Orbessan, in his “Essai sur les Roses,” mentions having seen, at Torcello, a city about five miles from Venice, an inscription of this kind, mentioning a donation made by an emancipated slave to the assembly of the Centum, consisting of gardens and a building to be employed in celebrating his obsequies and those of his master. It requested that roses should not be spared, and that food should be then distributed in abundance. Generally, the donation made on condition of covering the funeral monument with roses was transferred to another, if that condition was not fulfilled. Sometimes the most terrible maledictions threatened those who dared to violate these sacred gardens. That which proves how frequent among the Romans was this custom of ornamenting tombs with roses is, that those who were not rich enough to make such bequests often directed to be engraved upon the stone which covered their remains a request to the passers-by to scatter roses upon their tomb. Some of these stones still exist, with the following inscription: “Sparge, precor, Rosas supra mea busta, viator.” It was, perhaps, because they compared the short duration of human life to the quick fading existence of the Rose, that this flower was devoted to the burial-place of the dead; and there can certainly be chosen no more beautiful emblem of this transitory state of existence. This supposition is somewhat strengthened by the following passage from Jerome, one of the early Christian fathers:
“The ancients scattered roses over the urns of the deceased, and in their wills ordered that these flowers should adorn their graves, and should be renewed every year. It was also the custom for husbands to cast roses, violets, and lilies, on the urns which enclosed the ashes of their wives. These modest flowers were emblematic signs of their grief. Our Christians were content to place a Rose among the ornaments of their graves, as the image of life.”
In Turkey, females that died unmarried had a rose sculptured at the top of their monument.
At the well-known cemetery of Père la Chaise, which has often excited the ecstasy, admiration, or praise of many travelers, but which in reality exhibits neither elegance, sentiment, nor taste, wreaths of roses and other flowers are frequently seen upon the thickly crowded tombs, either as mementos of affection, or in compliance with a popular custom; while the street leading to the cemetery is filled with shops in which are exposed for sale the wreaths of flowers.
The prevalence of the same custom in Denmark is alluded to by Shakespeare, in Hamlet, in the scene of Ophelia’s burial.
The custom still remains also in America and Great Britain. In Wales, when a young girl dies, her female companions bring flowers with them to her funeral, and place them in her coffin. They plant lilies and snow-drops over the graves of children, and wild and cultivated roses over those of adults.
Gwillym, a Welsh poet, thus speaks of the custom in one of his elegies:—“Oh! while the season of flowers and the tender sprays, thick of leaves, remain, I will pluck the roses from the brakes, to be offered to the memory of a child of fairest fame; humbly will I lay them on the grave of Ivor.”
Evelyn tells us that “the white rose was planted at the grave of a virgin, and her chaplet was tied with white riband, in token of her spotless innocence; though sometimes black ribands were intermingled, to bespeak the grief of the survivors. The red rose was occasionally used in remembrance of such as had been remarkable for their benevolence; but roses in general were appropriated to the graves of lovers.”
Drummond, the Scotch poet, requested one of his friends to have the following couplet placed over his grave:
“Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometimes grace
The murmuring Esk:—may roses shade the place.”
The first Christians disapproved of the use of these flowers, either at their festivals or as ornaments for their tombs, on account of its connection with the pagan mythology, and the custom thus became extinct. Tertullian wrote a book against crowns and garlands. Clement of Alexandria thought it improper that Christians should crown themselves with roses. A little later, however, Christians relaxed from this strictness, and the Christian poet Prudence did not fear to invite his brethren “to cover with violets and with verdure, and to surround with perfumes those bones which the voice of the All-Powerful would one day restore to life.”
The Roman Catholics of this day admit flowers to their churches and ceremonies, and on feast days they adorn the altars with bouquets and garlands. At the most imposing of these solemnities, the day of the “Fête-Dieu,” rose petals, during the procession, are scattered in the air, and blended with the perfume of censers, directed towards the Host; in many of the towns, particularly those in the south of France and of Europe, the streets through which the procession passes are scattered throughout with fragrant herbs and flowers of every kind.
Since the extinction of paganism in a greater part of the world, the custom of wearing crowns of flowers at festivals has passed entirely away. Women only use roses as an ornament for their hair, or employ them in different parts of their toilet. In our own country the toilet of a bride is never considered perfect unless she wears a wreath of roses or other flowers, whose snow-white hue is an emblem of her departing maidenhood. Sometimes she is provided only with a bouquet of white roses and camellias, and her bridesmaids wear similar ornaments of nature’s manufacture.
The Rose is abundantly used by children in their beautiful celebration of May-day. We well recollect our enjoyment of one of these scenes some years since. We were returning from a ride in the vicinity of Charleston, S.C., on the first day of this, the sunniest of the months of spring—a day dedicated not to the spirit of motion, and celebrated not by processions of furniture carts, amid the bustle and noise of a populous city, but dedicated there, at the sunny South, to innocent and joyous festivity, and celebrated amid all the fresh and fragrant luxuriance of southern vegetation, surrounded by the delicate sweetness of the magnolia, the Rose, and other flowers, while the mocking-bird, with its sweet and varied note, was the minstrel for the occasion. Riding quietly along the road, we were suddenly stopped by a procession which had just dismounted from a number of carriages in a beautiful grove hard by. It consisted mostly of noble-looking boys and beautiful girls, of all ages under fourteen, the latter dressed in white and crowned with wreaths of roses and other flowers. The manly attention of the boys to the fair creatures with whom they walked hand in hand would not have disgraced the gallantry of Bayard, or the politeness of Chesterfield. As the procession wound slowly from our view, under the shade of the lofty live oak and the rich magnolia, we could not help reflecting how beautiful was this graceful enjoyment of the sunny days of childhood, and how preferable to the mental excitement and precocious training of many of the infant philosophers of this most enlightened nineteenth century.
It is much to be regretted that in circles where fashion reigns supreme, nature is gradually giving way to art, and instead of the fresh and natural beauty of a newly gathered Rose, various forms of artificial flowers are found upon the center table, or in the hair of those whose quick discernment and refined taste should lead them to perceive the great inferiority of these artificial toys to the delicate beauty and welcome fragrance of a Rose just from its parent plant.
Very much additional matter could be inserted respecting the early history of the Rose, and its connection with ancient superstitions. Sufficient, however, has been given to show the esteem in which the Rose was held by the ancient Greeks and Romans.