6 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



ing and very delightful it is, and how summer-like and shrill it 

 sounds from the choir of grasshoppers. But the most delightful 

 of all is the grass, which with its gentle slope is naturally adapted 

 to give an easy support to the head, as one reclines. So that, 

 my dear Phsedrus, you make an admirable stranger's guide. — 

 ' Phcedrus^^ tra?tslated by H. Carey. ^ 



Would a husbandman, who is a man of sense, take the 

 seeds, which he values and which he wishes to be fruitful, 

 and in sober earnest plant them during the heat of summer, in 

 some garden of Adonis,- that he may rejoice when he sees them 

 in eight days appearing in beauty ? — PJuedrus {Jowett). 



Socrates. Of whom then are the writings and institutes relating 

 to gardening ? 



Friend. Of gardeners. 



Soc. Of those who know how to manage gardens ? 



Fr. How not ? — Minos. 



^ Popular tradition gives the name of Academy (Katliemnia) to a place 

 about three-quarters of a mile north-west of the Dipylum, in the broad belt 

 of olive-wood which stretches along both Banks of the Cephisus from its 

 source at the western foot of Mt. Pentelicus, nearly to the sea. Thus, though 

 no remains of buildings belonging to it have as yet come to light, the situation 

 of the Academy may be regarded as approximately ascertained. ' It is on 

 the lowest level, where some water courses from the ridges of Lycabettus are 

 consumed in gardens and olive plantations. These were the waters which, 

 while they nourished the shady groves of the Academy and its plane trees 

 remarkable for their luxuriant growth, made the air unhealthy. They still 

 cause the spot to be one of the most advantageous situations near Athens for 

 the growth of fruit and pot-herbs, and maintain a certain degree of verdure 

 when all the surrounding plain is parched with the heat of summer.' (Leake, 

 'Athens.') It is said that Plato taught at first in the Academy, but after- 

 wards in a garden of his own adjoining it, near Colonus Hippius. His house was 

 in the garden, and for house and garden he seems to have paid 3000 drachms. 

 He was so much attached to the place that though it was said to be unhealthy 

 and the doctors advised him to shift his quarters to the Lyceum he positively 

 refused to do so.—/. T. Frazer. Pausanias's * Description of Greece.'' 



- The Adonis gardens {Krj-nroL AoJivldos), so indicative of the meqjiing of the 

 festival of Adonis, consisted, according to Bockh, of plants in small pots, 

 which were no doubt intended to represent the garden, where Aphrodite 

 met Adonis. The Ancients frequently used the term Adonis gardens pro- 

 verbially, to indicate something which had shot up rapidly, such as .Lettuce, 

 fennel, barley, wheat. — Humboldfs ' Kosmos.' 



