of gardening among the Ancients, j 11 
I muft not pafs over one piece of Roman 
luxury, relative to gardens, wh is equally pre¬ 
valent at prefent, viz. the endeavour to produce 
flowers at feafons of the year, not fuited to their 
time of blowing. 
Rofes were then as at prefent, the principal 
flowers, upon which thefe experiments were tried, 
as appears from Martial and others. * 
The next .accounts of ancient gardens I can 
meet with, are thofe of Pliny, which, we may 
conjecture, were not only laid out according to 
his own tafte, but that, alfo, of the age in which 
he lived. 
* Ut nova dona tibi, Csfar, Nilotica tellus 
Miferat, hibernas ambitiofa rofas. 
Navita derifit Pharios Memphiticus hortos, 
Urbis ut intravit limina prima tus. 
Tantus veris honos, et odors gratia Flora:, 
Tantaque Psftani gloria ruris erat. 
Si quacumque vagus greffum oculofque ferebat, 
Textilibus Tertis omne rubebatiter. 
At tu, Romans juflus jam cedere brums, 
Mitte tuas mefles, accipe, Nile, Rofas. 
Martial. Epigr. L. VI. Ep. 80. 
Dat feftinatas Csfar tibi bruma coronas : 
Quondam veris erant, nunc tuafa&a rofa eft. 
Epigr. L. XIV. Epig. 127. 
,/Eftivs nives, hiberns rofs. Lamprid. Vit. Elagab. 
