CLASSIC PLEASURE GROUNDS 



and apples in number rolled down at our sides, and the 

 young plum trees were bent to the earth with the weight 

 of their fruit." 1 



The classic Roman pleasure gardens began to come The rise of 

 into existence during the latter half of the second gardens, 

 century before Christ. Traditions of the earlier gardens, 

 which have been described, had been handed down to 

 the Romans, and added to the honour in which gardens 

 were held. " For we find in remote antiquity even," Pliny 

 says, " there was nothing looked upon with a greater 

 degree of admiration than the gardens of the Hes- 

 perides, those of the kings Adonis and Alcinous, and 

 Hanging Gardens, including those of Cyrus, king of 

 Assyria." Cato and Varro treated gardening from a 

 cultural standpoint, and their example was followed in 

 verse by Virgil and Columella. 



Between Greece and Rome the connection was at 

 this time most intimate. Many parts of the Roman period, 

 houses were fashioned after Gre- 

 cian models and known by Grecian 

 names. Often, however, the names 

 appropriated were not used for the 

 same objects in both countries, and 

 this ambiguity led to confusion. 

 Thus, while a gallery or colonnade 

 covered with vines like a pergola 



A CONCAVE SUN-DIAU 



1 Idyl VII, Thalysia, trans. W. Pater. 



