On the Flower -Gardens of the Ancients. 365 



and the arrangement and fine cultivation of the grounds, and 

 the sweetness of the odours which were breathed upon them 

 from the flowers, ("sUavitate odorum qui afflarentur e flori- 

 bus,") he said that he admired not only the diligence but the 

 skill of the man who had contrived and laid out the garden : 

 and Cyrus answered, — "Atqui ego omnia ista sum dimensus; 

 mei sunt ordines ; mea descriptio ; multae etiam istarum ar- 

 borum mea manu sunt satae." 



One of the earliest and best known of all the Grecian gar- 

 dens is that of King Alcinous, described in the Odyssey. — 

 " What," says Sir Robert Walpole, "was that boasted paradise 

 with which 



"the Gods ordained 



" To grace Alcinous and his happy land ?" 



Why, divested of harmonious Greek and bewitching poetry, 

 it was a small orchard and vineyard, with some beds of herbs, 

 and two fountains that watered them, enclosed within a quick- 

 set hedge ! " Of course the whole scene is a mere romantic 

 creation of the poet, but in describing it, he would be guided 

 by what actually existed in nature, and perhaps took his idea 

 of the garden from some particular spot with which he was 

 acquainted. It is described as consisting of four acres, sur- 

 rounded by a fence, and adjoining the gates of the palace. — 

 It contained a few trees for shade and for fruits, and two foun- 

 tains, one for the palace and the other for the garden ; but 

 then he ends the simple and beautiful picture of the place 

 with these lines, — 



" Ev9a H Hoo-fAYiTcu 7rga<riai waga, vsiarov q%%qv 

 " UavToicct 7T£<pucc<riv ETrnETavov yavouacu" 



— " And there are beautiful plots of all kinds of plants at the 

 extreme borders of the garden, flowering all the year round." 



The Athenians always had flower-gardens attached to their 

 country houses, one of which Anacharsis visited. "After hav- 

 ing crossed a court-yard, full of fowls and other domestic birds, 

 we visited the stables, sheep-folds, and likewise the flower- 

 garden; in which we successively saw bloom narcissuses, 

 hyacinths, irises, violets of different colours, roses of various 

 species, and all kinds of odoriferous plants." * 



There was at Athens a public flower-market, and there were 

 persons whose trade it was to make bouquets, and to construct 

 letters with flowers symbolical of certain sentiments ; as is 

 still done in oriental countries. 



The gardens of Epicurus and the other philosophers were 



*For authorities see 'Voyage d'Anacharse,' tome v. p. 20. 



