HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



17 





custom still prevailing- in the South of Italy and also hi Sicily. In many of the Ponipeian wall- 

 pauUnigs are rcprcbCiUations of roof-gardens, and no doubt such gardens were frequently built by the 

 Romans as open-air sitting-out places. When the space perniiLted, they were laid out with beds of 

 flowers, flowering shrubs, and occasionally fruit-trees. The pergola was the great feature in their 

 design, and its use has survived to the present day. Sometimes fishponds were constructed, actin 

 also as supply tanks to the garden of the atrium beneath. 



After the destruction of Rome, civilisation parsed to Byzantium, where the traditions of 

 the ancient garden were much modified, though never entirely effaced. The idea of freedom from 

 molestation, which was a feature of the Roman 

 gardens, was wanting in these gardens, and the 

 numerous large villas and palaces were constructed 



rather under the traditions of the East than follow- 

 ing those of Italy. That is to say, Instead of large 

 displays of parterre and open space, the tendency 





TRKl.IMVM \\0\Si: OI\S\LIV.ST. POMPEII 



was more towards enclosing the gardens and making 

 them smaller and more retired. But, though it would 

 be an interesting study, the scope of this work does 

 not permit of our tracing the hi:>tory of garden design 

 in tills direction. 



All over the Roman Canipagna, In the districts 

 around Naples, and other favourite resorts, the huge 

 villas and latifundia of the Romans were fortified, 

 and frequently becaaie the castles of the barbarian 

 conquerors, \\lio very considerably restricted their area, 

 allowing to the garden the minimum space required 



for the growth of vegetables and other necessaries of life. During the fifth and sixth centuries 

 the Roman Campagna was liardly a secure place to enjoy villa life; for, besides being very 

 insecure, it was frequently ravaged by disease, and these difficulties were still further increased by 

 insufficient water supply. Though the responsibility for the destruction of the old Roman villas has 

 generally been laid at the doors of the barbarian conquerors, it cannot be truthfully said that they 

 were entirely responsible, for in all probability very inueh of their destruction was due to the 

 wholesale way in which the Princes of the Church ransacked their sites again and again durin 

 the glorious Cinquecento, when Rome was practical!)' destroyed 1)\- its own inhabitants. 



During all these dark ages the art of horticulture was only kept from entire degeneration by the 

 efforts of the monastic Orders, by whose untiring labours entire regions of Italy, France and Spain 

 were fertilised and recovered, after having been abandoned owing to the ravages of Goths and 

 Saracens. Amongst the monastic recorcfs of the middle ap;es, frequent traces may be found of the 

 im])ortaiit part taken by the monks in keeping alive the best traditions of horticulture, thou!7h to such 



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