of gardening among the Ancients. jot 
flowers, appears to have compofed a part of it ; 
and, probably, Homer would not have bellowed 
fo particular, and laboured a defcription upon 
the trees, if they had not contributed to the 
beauty of its appearance, as well as to the fur- 
nifhing of the table with fruits. 
The hanging gardens of Babylon come next, 
I believe, in order of time. Thefe feem, in 
many refpeflsj to have been laid out with good 
tafte. Their elevation, not only produced a 
variety and extent of view, but was, alfo, ufeful 
in moderating the heat, which, I fuppofe, might 
be the principal reafon, why fuch a conftruction 
was fixed upon; though, another is affigned, 
referring only to the fimilarity of appearance. 
Such a fituation would, likewife, fuit a greater 
variety of trees, and plants, than a plain furface, 
and would contain a larger, as well as a more 
diverfified extent. 
The fuiting of the fituation, to the nature of 
the trees, feems, from the account given by 
“ Ad olerum conlitionem quadrats difpofitiones quae 
dicuntur in laterculi formam” Columella. 
<.'? Scholiaft, on Homer. 
Was this divifion of the garden of Alcinous, fimilar to 
the garden of herbs, mentioned in the Book of Kings, into 
which Ahab wilhed to convert Naboth’s vineyard? 
Jofephus, 
