GARDENS OF FLORENTINE HUMANISTS 



wisely and well she will never fail to satisfy you and 

 will always add gift to gift. In spring the villa affords 

 endless delights green leaves, flowers, sweet scents, 

 songs of birds and does her utmost to make you 

 glad and joyous. The world smiles on you ; there is 

 good promise of a rich harvest, you are filled with 

 hope, with mirth and gaiety. And then how courteous 

 the villa becomes, sending you one fruit after another, 

 never leaving the barn empty. In autumn her rewards 

 are out of all proportion to your labours ; she gives 

 you back twelve for one, for a little toil many barrels 

 of wine, and for what is old, things new and good. 

 She fills the house with fresh and dried grapes, wal- 

 nuts, figs, pears, almonds, filberts, pomegranates, with 

 sweet and luscious apples, and other wholesome fruits. 

 Nor does she forget to be liberal in winter, supplying 

 you with oil and wood, with vine-tendrils, laurel and 

 juniper boughs, to shelter you from snow and wind, 

 and kindle a fragrant and cheerful flame on the hearth. 

 And if you please to stay with her, the villa will gladden 

 you with splendid sunshine and give you fine sport in 

 chasing the hare, the stag, and the wild boar. What 

 need I say more? It would be hard to tell all that 

 the villa does for the family's health and comfort. 

 And the wise have always held that the villa is the 

 refuge of good, just and temperate men, yielding them 

 gain together with pleasant amusement. There you 

 may enjoy clear, brilliant days and beautiful prospects 

 over wooded hills and sunlit plains, and listen to the 

 murmuring of fountains and of the running streams 

 that flow through the tufted grass. What is still 

 better, there you can escape from the noise and tumult 

 of the city, the turmoils of the Piazza and the 



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