16 ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



pacing up and down the garden walks during philo- 

 sophic discussions, and accordingly were entitled mem- 

 bers of the peripatetic school. In the Lykeion and 

 the Akademion, beautiful parks contained canals, foun- 

 tains, groves of elm and plane trees, and many build- 

 ings large and small. Beside the main thoroughfares 

 were narrow winding paths, known as philosophers' 

 walks, furnished with exedra or seats large enough for 

 several wanderers to rest upon while engaged in 

 conversation. 



The most idyllic description of a Grecian garden was 

 written in the third century by Theocritus, a Sicilian 

 Greek, who lived partly in Sicily, partly in Egypt. 

 An idyl by " So, I and Eucritus and the fair Amyntichus turned 

 aside into the house of Phrasidamus, and lay down with 

 delight in beds of sweet tamarisk and fresh cuttings 

 from the vines, strewn on the ground. Many poplars 

 and elm trees were waving over our heads, and not far 

 off the running of the sacred water from the cave of the 

 nymphs warbled to us : in the shimmering branches the 

 sun-burnt grasshoppers were busy with their talk, and 

 from afar the little owl cried softly out of the tangled 

 thorns of the blackberry; the larks were singing and the 

 hedgebirds, and the turtle-dove moaned; the bees flew 

 round and round the fountains, murmuring softly ; the 

 scent of late summer and of the fall of the year was 

 everywhere; the pears fell from the trees at our feet, 



