THE ROSE.
Is there any portion of mankind that has not inhaled the sweet perfume of this lovely flower? From Borneo to the ruins of the Parthenon; from Kamschatka to Bengal; from the neighborhood of Hudson's Bay to the mountains of Mexico; from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope, it graces the palace and the chamber, lavishes itself full-leaved on the processions of Corpus Christi, and serves as a pretty plaything to the child, who cracks the swollen petals on his innocent forehead.
Of it the Hebrews made their crowns, and in their solemnities the high-priest wreathed it around his head.
When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, it is said, she tried every means to assure herself not only of his superior wisdom, but also of the quickness of his perception. She placed before him one day two roses, one artificial, but so well made that she defied the king to distinguish the false one from the real. He sent for a bee, which naturally alighted on the true one, and thus, without approaching either, was able to give his decision.
Among the Hebrews, the bridegroom as well as the bride wore a crown of roses, of myrtle, or of olive.
Mythology assigns to the rose the most illustrious origin. At the moment when Pallas came out of the brain of Jupiter, the earth produced the rose, that delight might follow in the wake of wisdom. White at first, the poets have not quite agreed to what it owed its many-purpled hues. We are told by some that the exquisite Adonis was mortally wounded by a boar, and that his flowing blood fell on the roses, and colored them for ever. According to others, Venus ran to protect him, and the thorns and briers tore her lovely skin, and the purple drops fell on a wild rose, dyed it, and consecrated it for ever in her honor. Such a circumstance was scarcely necessary to make so perfect a flower sacred to the goddess of beauty. Some authors say that in the midst of an Olympian fête the goddess Hebe spilled the embalmed vermilion nectar, and that the white roses spread their petals to receive the perfume and the color.
Mythology also relates that Love presented to Harpocrates, the god of silence, the flower that no one had ever seen, and that consequently had never revealed anything. Hence came the custom of suspending a rose from the ceiling of the room where families assembled, in order that discretion, of which it was the symbol, might become the guarantee of the sacred security of all their conversations. Sub rosa (under the rose) was a proverb that signified: We can speak freely, without suspicion.
Venus and Cupid were represented crowned with roses; so, also, Flora, the goddess of flowers, and Comus, who presided at festivities.
Aglaë, the youngest of the Graces, carried the rosebud in her hand, the attribute of youth and beauty.
The Graces, the Muses, and Bacchus also received their homage in crowns of roses; their altars were hung with garlands, and those good old servants the Penates were sometimes decorated in like manner. Of all the flowers, the rose was dedicated to the greatest number of divinities, although nearly all of them had some plant especially sacred.
The opening hour of day sowed roses in Aurora's path, who at sight of her father the sun wept tears of joy over her favorite flowers. So the poets of antiquity explain the drops of dew that tremble and scintillate on the roses in the morning light. The rose designates the dawn; and, bathed with dew, it is the emblem of filial piety.
Peace is represented holding a rod of thorns with roses and olive branches, and the muse Erato, when presiding over lyric poetry, was always crowned with myrtle and the rose.
The appearance of Christianity gave to the rose another origin, and we cite the legend. Once, a holy virgin of Bethlehem, falsely accused and calumniated, was condemned to perish by fire. She prayed to our Lord, beseeching him to come to her aid, because he knew she was not guilty of what they reproached her with. The fire went out immediately; the burning fagots were transformed into red-rose bushes covered with flowers, and those that were not lit into white ones. These roses were the first ever seen, and became from that time the flower of the martyrs.
The rose appeared at a very distant epoch as the emblem of the Virgin; it was particularly recognized as such by St. Dominic, when he instituted the devotion of the rosary, in direct allusion to the life of holy Mary.
Prayer appears always to have been symbolized by roses. There is a story told of a servant who, having to carry an immense amount of treasure belonging to his master through a wood, was there awaited by a band of robbers. On entering the forest, he remembered that he had that morning omitted his Ave Marias, so he knelt down to say them. As he prayed, the Virgin placed a beautiful garland on his head, to which at each Ave she added a rose. The brilliancy around him became intense, and the whole wood was illuminated. The good man knew nothing of his beautiful crown of roses, but the robbers saw the vision and let him pass unharmed.