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Pliny tho younger was born, A. D. G2. From his writings 

 we acquire the most complete description of the Roman Gar- 

 dens as regards tlieir disposition, that is extant. His Lauren- 

 tine Villa was one in which he spent some of the colder months 

 of the year, when his professional duties allowed his absence 

 from the City. It is therefore not surprising that the Garden 

 does not occupy any considerable part of the narration in 

 which he describes this estate. He merely, in an Epistle to his 

 friend Gallus, states that the Gestatio, or place for exercise, 

 surrounded his Garden, — " this he continues, is encompassed 

 with a Box-tree hedge, and where that is decayed with Rose- 

 mary; between the Garden and this Gestatio, runs a shady 

 walk of Vines, which is so soft that you may walk upon it 

 barefoot without injury. The Garden is chiefly planted with 

 Fig and Mulberry Trees, to which the soil is as favourable as it 

 is averse to all others." 



His description of the Gardens attached to his Tuscan Villa, 

 is more diffuse, yet particular. It is contained in a letter 

 to his friend Apollinaris (Ep. v. 6. — thus elegantly translated 

 by Melmoth) " In the front of the Pojtico is a sort of Terrace, 

 embellished with various figures, and boxmded with a Box Hedge, 

 from which you descend by an easy slope, adorned with the re- 

 presentation of divers animals in Box, answering alternately to 

 each other : this is surrounded by a walk enclosed with tonsile 

 evergreens, shaped into a variety of forms. Behind it is the 

 Gestatio, laid out in the form of a Circus, ornamented in the 

 middle with Box, cut into numberless different figures, together 

 with a plantation of shrubs prevented by the shears from run- 

 ning up too high : the whole is fenced in by a Wall, covered 

 with Box rising in different ranges to the top. — " After describ- 

 ing several Summer Houses, &c. he proceeds." — In the front of 

 these agreeable buildings is a very spacious Hippodrome, en- 

 compassed on every side by Plane Trees covered with Ivy. 

 Beneath each Plane are planted Box Trees, and, behind these. 



