CLASSIG PLEASURE GROUNDS 15 



might find a resting-place in clumps of laurel or mul- 

 berry, or even dwell in such delicate flowers as the 

 hyacinth or crocus. Floral decorations ornamented 

 every ceremony, religious or secular. In mourning or 

 rejoicing, the heads of the participants were crowned 

 with roses, laurel, or bay leaves. Flowers were so 

 much used in their religious ceremonies that the early 

 Christians despised them as characteristic pagan attri- 

 butes. 



In Athens, gardens both public and private were 

 numerous. Many of these, intended as meeting-places 

 for philosophers and their pu- 

 pils, belonged sometimes to 

 individuals, sometimes to the 

 state. Pliny says, " Epicurus, 

 that connoisseur in the enjoy- 

 ment of a life of ease, was the first to lay out a 

 garden at Athens ; up to his time it had never been Gardens 



of the 



thought of to dwell in the country in the middle of phiios- 

 the town." Plato and Theophrastus also owned 01 

 famous gardens where their pupils assembled for 

 instruction. In his will Theophrastus made the fol- 

 lowing bequest, " As to my garden, the walk and the 

 houses adjacent to the garden, I give them to those 

 of my friends mentioned below, who desire to devote 

 themselves in common to study and philosophy 

 therein." His pupils were especially renowned ( for 



SKETCH PLAN or AN GXEDRA 



