THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS 25 



unlikely, that Homer may have drawn this picture 

 after the life of some he had seen in Ionia, the country 

 and usual abode of this divine poet ; and indeed, the 

 region of the most refined pleasures and luxury, as 

 well as invention and wit : for the humour and 

 custom of gardens may have descended earlier into the 

 lower Asia, from Damascus, Assyria, and other parts 

 of the Eastern Empires, though they seem to have 

 made late entrance, and smaller improvement in those 

 of Greece and Rome ; at least in no proportion to 

 their other inventions or refinements of pleasure and 

 luxury. 



The long and flourishing peace of the two first 

 Empires, gave earlier rise and growth to learning and 

 civility, and all the consequences of them, in magnifi- 

 cence and elegancy of building and gardening, whereas 

 Greece and Rome were almost perpetually engaged in 

 quarrels and wars, either abroad or at home, and so 

 were busy in actions that were done under the sun, 

 rather than those under the shade. These were the 

 entertainments of the softer nations, that fell under the 

 virtue and prowess of the two last empires, which 

 from those conquests brought home mighty increases 

 both of riches and luxury, and so perhaps lost more 

 than they got by the spoils of the East. 



