154 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX, 



only to look at home for their resources, and that no Indian 

 peppers were in request with them, or any of those other condi- 

 ments which we are in the habit of seeking beyond the seas. 

 In former times the lower classes of Rome, with their mimic 

 gardens in their windows, day after day presented the reflex 

 of the country to the eye, when as yet the multitudes of atro- 

 cious burglaries, almost innumerable, had not compelled us to 

 shut out all such sights with bars to the passers by. 



Let the garden, then, have its due meed of honour, and let 

 not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less 

 share of our consideration and the more so, as we find that 

 from it men of the very highest rank have been content to 

 borrow their surnames even; thus in the Valerian family, 

 for instance, the Lactucini have not thought themselves 

 disgraced by taking their name from the lettuce. Perhaps, 

 too, our labours and research may contribute some slight re- 

 commendation to this our subject ; although, with Virgil, 39 we 

 are ready to admit how difficult it is, by language however 

 elevated, to ennoble a subject that is so humble in itself. 



CHAP. 20. THE LAYING OUT OF GARDEN GROUND. 



There is no doubt that the proper plan is, to have the gar- 

 dens adjoining the country-house ; and they should be watered, 

 more particularly, by a river running in front of it, if possible ; 

 or else with water drawn from a well by the aid of a wheel 

 or of pumps, or by swipes. 40 The ground should be opened 

 just as the west winds are beginning to prevail ; fourteen 

 days after which it should be got ready for autumn, and then 

 before the winter solstice it should have another turning up. 

 It will require eight men to dig a jugerum, manure being 

 mixed with the earth to a depth of three feet : the ground, 

 too, should be divided into plots or beds with raised and 

 rounded edges, each of which should have a path dug round it, 

 by means of which access may be afforded to the gardener and 

 a channel formed for the water needed for irrigation. 



39 He alludes, no doubt, to the words of Virgil, in Gcorg. iv. 1. 6. 



"In tenui labor, attenuis non gloria " 



though in that instance the poet is speaking of bees. 



40 i< Tollenonum haustu." These would be used in the case of well- 

 water ; they are still to be seen occasionally in this country, and are very 

 common on the continent. The wheel is also used for drawing well-water, 

 and is frequently employed in Barbary and Spain. 



