8 GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



the xystos or flower garden, consisting of a parterre composed of beds and 

 paths. The Romans in borrowing the word from the Greeks had altered 

 its meaning ; with the Greeks it meant a covered gallery, and Vitruvius 

 expressly notes the difference. Sometimes the bed was raised above the 

 level of the path, in which case it was called a -pulvinus or torus. If the bed 

 was not raised it was often outlined with box or rosemary. A rosarium or 

 rose garden and a labyrinth were planned adjoining the xystos, and the 

 fruit and vegetable garden, with trees arranged quincunciaily,^ frequently 

 formed part of the garden scheme. A finely organized system of aqueducts 

 brought water from the hills to supply the summer fountains and pools. 



The staff required to keep in order such a villa garden was very large. 

 First came the \topiarii, chief of all the slaves whose primary duty was 

 to exercise their art in the clipping and pruning of trees into all kinds of 

 fantastic shapes. In addition to these were the viridarii, whose work lay 

 probably more within doors ; the aquarii, who had charge of the fountains 

 and waterworks ; the vinitori, presiding over the vineyards ; and the olitori, 

 who looked after the olive yards. 



The most characteristic ornament of the classic garden was its topiary 

 work (opus topiarum), and the plants chosen for this work were those that 

 preserved their foliage in winter, as the box and cypress. They assumed a 

 variety of shapes ; cut into quite low hedges, they traced the letters forming 

 the name of the artist or proprietor, an idea we may still see in the gardens 

 of the Vatican ; or, when required to accentuate certain points of the xystos, 

 they were cut into pyramids, cones, and other geometrical forms, figures 

 of men and animals were often employed, and in some cases a hunt or an 

 entire fleet was represented in topiary. 



All the larger Roman villas had a number of garden buildings collected 

 within the enclosure of the park and garden, and Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli is an 

 astonishing example of their extent and variety; besides several theatres were 

 the Hippodrome, the Academy, Baths, a building known as the Canopus con- 

 taining a number of Egyptian statues, some of which are now in the Vatican, 

 the so-called Elysium, the Prytaneum, the Nymphcsum and Palcestra. The 

 most luxurious and expensive materials, such as marble, porphyry and 

 precious woods, were used in the construction of the triclinia and 



^ Quincunx is the name given to a mode of planting in rows so that in a plot of ground thus 

 planted the trees appear in rows in four directions. 



