1 8 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



small rills run murmuring along, wheresoever the hand of art 

 thought proper to conduct them ; watering here and there 

 different spots of verdure, and in their progress refreshing the 

 whole. — ' Letter to Apollinaris^ translated by William Melmoth. 



PLUTARCH npISSAPHERNES, in all other cases savage in his temper, and 

 {isi Cent. A.D.). 1 the bitterest enemy that Greece experienced among the 

 Persians, gave himself up, notwithstanding, to the flatteries of 

 Alcibiades, insomuch that he even vied with and exceeded him 

 in address. For of all his gardens that which excelled in beauty, 

 which was remarkable for the salubrity of its streams and the 

 freshness of its meadows, which was set off with pavillions royally 

 adorned and retirements finished in the most elegant taste, he 

 distinguished by the name of Alcibiades ; and every one con- 

 tinued to give it that appellation. — ^ Life of Alcibiades.^ Lang- 

 hornets translation. 



Cimon, too, first adorned the city with those elegant and noble 

 places for exercise and disputation, which a little after came to be 

 so much admired. He planted the forum with plane-trees ; and 

 whereas the Academy -^before was a dry and unsightly plat, he 

 brought water to it, and sheltered it with groves, so that it 

 abounded with clean alleys and shady walks. — ''Life of Cimon. ^ 



Beside these, Lucullus had the most superb pleasure-houses 

 in the country near Tusculum, adorned with grand galleries and 

 open saloons, as well for the prospect as for walks. ^ Pompey, on 

 a visit there, blamed Lucullus for having made the villa com- 

 modious only for the summer, and absolutely uninhabitable in 

 the winter. Lucullus answered with a smile, 'What then, do 

 you think I have not so much sense as the cranes and storks, 

 which change their habitations with the seasons ? ' — Life of 

 Lucullus. 



For as these connynge gardiners thynke to make rosis and 



^ Hortus Luculli, cujus villa erat in Tusculano, non floribus fructibusque, 

 sed tabiilis fuisse insignis. — Varro. 



