12 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



DIODORUS n^HE Hanging Garden of Babylon was not built by Semiramis 



SICULUS 1 ^jjQ founded the city ^ but by a later prince called Cyrus, 

 {About B.C. 50). - , , - ^' , . ^ . , , 



for the sake of a courtezan, who being a Persian, as they say, by 



birth, and creating meadows on mountain tops, desired the king, 



by an artificial plantation, to imitate the land in Persia. This 



garden was 400 feet square, and the ascent up to it was to the 



top of a mountain, and had buildings and apartments out of one 



into another, like a theatre. Under the steps to the ascent were 



built arches one above another, rising gently by degrees, which 



supported the whole plantation. The highest arch, upon which 



the platform of the garden was laid, was 50 cubits high, and the 



garden itself was surrounded with battlements and bulwarks. 



The walls were made very strong, built at no small charge and 



expense, being 22 feet thick, and every sally port 10 feet wide. 



Over the several storeys of this fabric were laid beams, and 



summers of large massy stones, each 16 feet long and 4 broad. 



The roof over all these was first covered with reeds daubed with 



abundance of brimstone (or bitumen), then upon them were laid 



double tiles, joined with a hard and durable mortar, and over 



them all was a covering with sheets of lead, that the wet, which 



drained through the earth, might not rot the foundation. Upon 



all these was laid earth, of a convenient depth, sufficient for the 



growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and 



smooth, it was planted with all sorts of trees, which both for 



beauty and size might delight the spectators. The arches, which 



stood one above the other had in them many stately rooms of all 



kinds, and for all purposes. There was one that had in it certain 



engines, whereby it drew plenty of water out of the river Euphrates, 



through certain conduits hid from the spectators, which supplied 



it to the platform of the garden. 



^ The Syrians are great Gardiners, they take exceeding paines, and bee 

 most curious in gardening ; whereupon arose the proverb in Greeke to this 

 effect, 'Many Woorts and Pot-hearbs in Syria.'— /"////j''^ ' Natural Ilistoiy' 

 {P. Holland). 



—'A/V^/v^ % 



