assert itself, gardening, together with the other arts, seems to have revived. 

 In the hey-day of the Renaissance, when the demand came from the great 

 nobles for gardens to match their splendid palaces and country houses, the 

 architect turned instinctively for his inspiration to the writings of the 

 younger Pliny and his contemporaries. Many of the new villas were 

 laid out on the ruins of the ancient ones, and the statues and antique 

 sculptures excavated on the spot were frequently used to adorn both the 

 palace and its gardens. 



