CLASSIC PLEASURE GROUNDS 5 



It is Graeco-Roman in style, like most of the Romano- 

 British art. The labyrinth or fret border enclosing the 

 design is of very ancient origin, and may be intended 

 to suggest the celebrated labyrinth of Crete. On other 

 mosaics the story of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur 

 has been obviously reproduced. The axe of Lycurgus 

 also forms part of many designs. Modern repro- 

 ductions of these mosaics are commonly placed in the 

 hallways of houses and on the thresholds of shops; 

 even more appropriately they might be made to pave 

 the paths, or to inlay the basin of a fountain in a 

 formal garden. 



To obtain a more complete picture of the Romano- 

 British gardens we must return to their prototypes in mu t a biiity 

 Italy, and thence inquire into the gardens of those coun- 

 tries which inspired Rome during the centuries before 

 Christ. Horticulture in primitive Italy, as in other un- 

 civilized countries, was at its beginning merely intended 

 for practical purposes. But autres temps, autres mceurs. 

 Gradually the Latin word hortus, applied in the days 

 of republican simplicity to a field of vegetables, was 

 stretched to signify in the plural, at the time of the 

 luxurious emperors, pleasure gardens of the utmost 

 magnificence. At this latter period the source of every 

 new form of Roman art, including garden-architecture, 

 was Greece, which in its turn had received inspiration 

 from Egypt, Persia, and Assyria. 



