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.