EPICURUS (B.C. 342-270). of my friends mentioned below, who desire to devote themselves may AS S for myself, truly (I speak modestly, and therefore may be permitted) I am not only well content, but highly pleased with the Plants and Fruits growing in these my own little Gardens; and have this Inscription over the door, 'Stranger, Here, if you please, you may abide in a good condition; Here, the Supreme Good is Pleasure; the Steward of this homely Cottage is hospitable, humane, and ready to receive you; He shall afford you Barley-broth, and pure water of the Spring, and say, Friend, are you not well entertained? For, these Gardens do not invite hunger, but satisfie it; nor encrease your thirst with drinks, while they should extinguish it, but wholly overcome it with a Natural and Grateful Liquor.'Epicurus's Morals, Englished by W. Charelton, M.D., 1655. So, I and Eucritus and the fair Amyntichus, turned aside THEOCRITUS into the house of Phrasidamus, and lay down with delight (3rd Cent. B.C.). in beds of sweet tamarisk and fresh cuttings from the vines, strewn on the ground. Many poplars and elm-trees were waving over our heads, and not far off the running of the sacred water from the cave of the nymphs warbled to us: in the shimmering branches the sun-burnt grasshoppers were busy with their talk, and from afar the little owl cried softly out of the tangled thorns of the blackberry; the larks were singing and the hedge-birds, and the turtle-dove moaned; the bees flew round and round the fountains, murmuring softly; the scent of late summer and of the fall of the year was everywhere; the pears fell from the trees at our feet, and apples in number rolled down at our sides, and the young plum-trees were bent to the earth with the weight of their fruit.-Idyll VII., 'Thalysia,' translated by Walter Pater. Marcus Porcius Cato the Censor, called by Livy a man of almost iron body M. PORCIUS and soul'―originally a Sabine farmer, he fought against Hannibal at the CATO (B.c. battle of Metaurus: as a plant that deserved a better soil' he was trans- 234-149). planted to Rome and became Questor, Consul and Censor. A great orator, more than 150 of his orations having been long preserved, and one of the first Roman writers De Re Rusticâ,' or Farm Management-fragments of his • Origines' remain. At the age of eighty-four he conducted a law suit of his own. PLANT LANT the Mariscan Fig in a chalky and exposed soil: put, on the contrary, into a rich and sheltered earth the sorts from Africa, Cadiz, Sagonta, the black Telanus, with long stalks. If you have a water-meadow, you will not want hay. If you have it not, smoke the field, to have hay. Near the city, you will have gardens in all styles, every kind of ornamental trees, bulbs from Megara, myrtle on palisades, both white and black, the Delphic and Cyprian laurel, the forest kind, hairless nuts, filberts from Proeneste and Greece. A city garden, especially of one who has no other, ought to be planted and ornamented with all possible care.-De Re Rustica. VIII. CICERO Who is there (says Atticus) Marcus, that, looking at these natural falls, and these two rivers, which form so fine a contrast, would not learn to despise our pompous follies, and laugh at artificial Niles, and seas in marble; for, as in our late argument you referred all to Nature, so more especially in things which relate to the imagination, is she our sovereign mistress.-De Legibus. (Introduction to 2nd Dialogue.) www GB.CE6-43). NOR husbandry is onely pleasant and plenteous by reason of corne and medowes and vyneyardes and trees joyned withvynes but also by reason of orchardes, gardynes, also fedynge of cattell, and hyves of been: also the diversite of all maner of floures. Nor the plantynge and settyng of trees delyteth a man but also graffynges than the which the husbande man never invented thynge more crafty and excellent. . . . And for as moche as some men desyre these thynges, let us come in favour withe pleasure. For the wyne celler of the good man of the house diligent is couched full; also his oyle celler, and his pantry, and all his house is full of rychesse, it hath abundance of hogges, kydde, lambe, pultry ware, mylke, chese and hony. Now husbandmen call their garden a seconde larder. Also fowlyng, and huntyng, an exercyse at ydle tymes, maketh these thinges more savouryng. That whiche I wyll speke of the greennes of medowes, or the ordre of trees, or of the vyneyardes, or of the maner of olyve trees I shall declare brevely. The grounde well tylled and ordred, nothing may be more plenteous in profyte, nor more clenly and comly in syght : to the whiche grounde to be well cherysshed, olde age not onely dothe not let a man, but also moveth hym and allureth hym. For where may that olde age waxe so warme: or more warme by reason of sonnynge place or fyre: or upon the other parte by reason of covert, or waters be refresshed or cooled more holsom. Tullius de Senectute, bothe in Latyn and Englyssze tonge. Translated by Robert Whitinson, Poete-Laureate,' 1535 (B.C. 116-27). M. T. Varro, the most learned of the Romans, historian, philosopher, M. TERENnaturalist, grammarian and poet, was entrusted by Cæsar to purchase the books TIUS VARRO for, and to manage all the Greek and Latin Libraries at Rome. Later, Augustus made him superintendent of the Library founded by Asinius Pollio: he was a friend of Cicero, to whom he dedicated De Lingua Latina,' his only extant work besides De Re Rusticâ,' written at the age of eighty. His Villa at Casinum was destroyed by Antony. You know that I have in my villa of Casinum a deep and clear stream, which threads its way between two stone margins. Its breadth is 57 feet, and bridges must be crossed to communicate from one part of my property to the other. My study (Museum) is situated at the spot where the stream springs; and from this point as far as an island formed by its junction with another water-course, is a distance of 850 feet. Along its banks a walk is laid out 10 feet broad, open to the sky; between this walk and the country my aviary is placed, closed in left and right by high walls. The external lines of the building give it some resemblance to writing tablets, surmounted by a Capitol. On the rectangular side its breadth is 48 feet, and its length 72, not including the semi-circular Capitol, which is of a diameter of 27 feet. Between the aviary and the walk which marks the lower margin of the tablets, opens a vaulted passage leading to an esplanade (ambulatio). On each side is a regular portico upheld by stone columns, the intervals between which are occupied by dwarf shrubs. A network of hemp stretches from the top of the outside walk to the architrave, and a similar trellis joins the architrave to the pedestal. The interior is filled with birds of every species, which receive their food through the net. A little stream supplies them with its water. Beyond the pedestal run to left and right along the porticos two rather narrow fish-ponds, which, separated by a small path, extend to the extremity of the esplanade. This path leads to a tholus, a kind of Rotunda, surrounded by two rows of isolated columns. There is a similar one in the house of Catulus, except that complete walls replace the colonnade. Beyond is a grove of tall brushwood encompassed with walls, of which the thick growth only allows the light to penetrate below. Of Agriculture,' Book III. DIODORUS THE HE Hanging Garden of Babylon was not built by Semiramis who founded the city, but by a later prince called Cyrus, for the sake of a courtezan, who being a Persian, as they say, by birth, and creating meadows on mountain tops, desired the king by an artificial plantation, to imitate the land in Persia. This garden was 400 feet square, and the ascent up to it was to the top of a mountain, and had buildings and apartments out of one into another, like a theatre. Under the steps to the ascent were built arches one above another, rising gently by degrees, which supported the whole plantation. The highest arch, upon which the platform of the garden was laid, was 50 cubits high, and the garden itself was surrounded with battlements and bulwarks. The walls were made very strong, built at no small charge and expense, being 22 feet thick, and every sally port 10 feet wide. Over the several storeys of this fabric were laid beams, and summers of large massy stones, each 16 feet long and 4 broad. The roof over all these was first covered with reeds daubed with abundance of brimstone (or bitumen), then upon them were laid double tiles, joined with a hard and durable mortar, and over them all was a covering with sheets of lead, that the wet, which drained through the earth, might not rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth, of a convenient depth, sufficient for the growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and smooth, it was planted with all sorts of trees, which both for beauty and size might delight the spectators. The arches, which stood one above the other had in them many stately rooms of all kinds, and for all purposes. There was one that had in it certain engines, whereby it drew plenty of water out of the river Euphrates, through certain conduits hid from the spectators, which supplied it to the platform of the garden. 1 The Syrians are great Gardiners, they take exceeding paines, and bee most curious in gardening; whereupon arose the proverb in Greeke to this effect, Many Woorts and Pot-hearbs in Syria.'-Pliny's 'Natural History (P. Holland). www |