of gardening among the Ancients . 305 
What, the tafte for gardening was, among the 
Greeks, I do not underftand. The Acade- 
mus, we know, was a woody fhady place ;* * * § and 
the trees appear to have been of the olive 
fpecies.-j- It was fituated, beyond the limits^ of 
the walls, and adjacent to the tombs of the he¬ 
roes. I do not, however, find any particular 
account in ancient hiftory, of the manner, in 
which this grove was difpofed or laid out. It 
appears, however, to have been an elegant orna¬ 
mented place. § At the entrance was an altar 
dedicated to Love, which was faid to be the firffc 
eredted to that Deity. Within the Academus, 
were the altars of Prometheus, of the Mufes, of 
Mercury, Minerva, and Hercules; and, at a 
fmall difiance, was the tomb of Plato. So that, 
in all probability, it was highly adapted by art, 
as well as nature, to philofophic reflection and 
contemplation. 
We are told by Plutarch, that before the time 
of Cimon, the Academus was a rude and un- 
* Atque inter Sylvas Academi quaerere verum, 
Horat. Epift. L. II. 1 . 46. 
AAA* i»; y.a~mv, wo rcu( a7ro8p£f ei?. 
Ariftoph. NfpeAai. A6t. III. Sc. 3. 
J— * y’JjAVCMTtoi wpoacTSiov osAcw^Vj. 
Diog. Laert. Vit. Platon. 
Non longe a Muris Academia eft. Paufan. Attica. 
§ Paufania; Ibidem. 
Vol. I. X 
cultivated 
