150 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



nous, 13 and the Hanging Gardens, whether they were the work of 

 Semiramis, or whether of Cyrus, king of Assyria, a subject of 

 which we shall have to speak in another work. 14 The kings of 

 Rome cultivated their gardens with their own hands ; indeed, 

 it was from his garden that Tarquinius Superbus 15 sent to his 

 son that cruel and sanguinary message of his. In our laws of 

 the Twelve Tables, we find the word ''villa," or "farm," 

 nowhere mentioned ; it is the word " hortus " that is always 

 used with that signification, while the term " heredium " we 

 find employed for " garden." 



There are certain religious impressions, too, that have been 

 attached to this species of property, 16 and we find that it is in 

 the garden and the Forum only that statues of satyrs are con- 

 secrated, as a protection against the evil effects 17 of spells and 

 sorcery ; although in Plautus, we find the gardens spoken 

 of as being under the tutelage of Venus. At the present day, 

 under the general name of gardens, 18 we have pleasure-grounds 

 situate in the very heart of the City, as well as extensive fields 

 and villas. 



Epicurus, that connoisseur 19 in the enjoyments of a life of 

 ease, was the first to lay out a garden at Athens ; 20 up to his 

 time it had never been thought of, to dwell in the country in 

 the middle of the town. At Rome, on the other hand, the 

 garden 21 constituted of itself the poor man's field, and it was 

 from the garden that the lower classes procured their daily 

 food an aliment how guiltlessly obtained ! Eut still, it is a 

 great deal better, no doubt, 22 to dive into the abysses of the 



mentioned by Ezekiel, viii. 14, where he speaks of the " women weep- 

 ing for Thammuz." Hardouin considers him to have been a Syrian deity, 

 identical with the Moon. 



13 Celebrated by Homer, Od. B. vi. and xiii. 



14 "Alio volumine." As no further mention is made by Pliny of the 

 Hanging Gardens of Babylon, it is most probable that he contemplated 

 giving a description of them in another work, an intention which he did 

 not live to realize. 



15 See further on this subject, c. 53 of the present Book. 



16 The reading, "quam rem," seems preferable to "quam ob rem," 

 adopted by Sillig. 



17 " Effascinationes." The effects of the evil eye. 



18 "Hortorum." "Pleasure-gardens." 



19 " Otii magister." 



20 For the purpose of teaching philosophy there. 



21 " Hortus." The " kitchen-garden." 



22 Ironically said. 



