PARK AND CEMETERY. 
594 
their statuary and buildings to fit the 
slightest bit of unusualness of topog- 
raphy. All this is very different from 
gardening, and here as in Egypt we 
note the application of true princi- 
ples of design. 
The Roman conquerors took these 
thoughtful designers of the best 
landscape art of the Greeks, together 
with their other artists, to Rome, and 
as a result Roman estates and villas 
reflect this fine Greek influence. The 
greater wealth available and the 
changed physical conditions brought 
forth from the fertile brains of these 
designers new forms of landscape art 
evidenced by the ruins of the great 
Roman and Pompeiian estates and 
gardens that have come down to us. 
Here are shown not only the ideas of 
Egypt and Greece modified to meet 
new conditions, but careful considera- 
tion of the questions of distant view 
and vistas. It is clear that these men 
planned to have informality at a dis- 
tance from their mansions and pal- 
aces with a more evident approach 
to formality as one nears the very 
formal designed palaces and terraces. 
There was a thorough appreciation 
of the need of conformity to the 
same architectural style throughout — 
in a word, unity. This is again cor- 
PLAN OP VILLA LANTI, ITALY. 
rect design and what we are seeking 
for today. 
We find also among the Romans 
some of the best and very earliest 
carefully designed city .squares and 
public works. These in some cases 
were first designed for the private 
grounds of the emperor and others, 
but later given to the people partly 
to gain popularity. In the prep- 
aration for them houses were re- 
moved and the resultant space treated 
VIEW IN VILLA LANTI, ITALY. 
as open public grounds laid out with 
rare skill and dedicated later to the 
use of the people. Fitness, definite- 
ness of purpose, a careful considera- 
tion of the question of scale as well 
as beauty and art and unity were all 
studied, and as a result we can today 
to our very great advantage study 
these designs in connection with our 
own efforts at planning for public 
parks and squares. 
The habit of setting aside such 
areas for the recreation of the peo- 
ple grew apace, and the question of 
their distribution throughout the city 
was studied with care, and as a result 
Rome was very well supplied and the 
parks were particularly well distrib- 
uted. Under the empire the park 
areas of Rome were one-eighth of 
the total area of the city. We today 
are struggling with this part of the 
problem in our own city planning. 
Then came the setback of the so- 
called dark ages, but the flame thus 
lighted was never completely extin- 
guished and finally burst forth again 
in the Renaissance more gloriously 
than ever. Even in the mediaeval 
times we find evidence of an effort 
at design in gardens and grounds. 
There was indeed more or less simi- 
larity to the work of the Greeks in 
this respect. 
Mediaeval designers were, however, 
influenced by limited financial and 
other resources and by lack of labor 
and space. There is a marked ab- 
sence of symmetry in their designs 
as a whole. It appears, if at all, 
only in minor details. They show 
none of that recognition of axis or 
of balance about an axis, such a no- 
table feature of Roman and Italian 
designs. They met their own pecul- 
iar conditions well, however, and fit- 
ness may be said to have been their 
controlling motive. 
These were warlike times and se- 
curity was looked for first, with 
pleasure and beauty as later consid- 
erations. The gardens and grounds 
of the old monasteries and feudal 
castles were essentially places of 
leisure and contemplation, and the 
' high embattled walls lent an element 
of austerity to such grounds. All 
these conditions made simplicity, fit- 
ness and a complete utilization of 
every part important. Castles were 
built on hill tops for their better de- 
fense, and areas were therefore lim- 
ited and very irregular in outline, 
but this irregular space was com- 
pletely utilized. Everything was 
