The Gardens of Ancient Rome 
But from the interesting literature of the 
rose I must cut myself adrift here to return 
but briefly to the sumptuous and ever more 
sumptuous gardens which grew it, and let it 
breathe softly through their dark avenues of 
ilex and along their white marble colonnades 
and pergulas; gardens that far surpass any¬ 
thing of the kind now to be found here or 
elsewhere. For in these, dropping, terrace 
by terrace, down the slopes of the Capo-le- 
Case, the Gregoriana, and Sistina, for exam¬ 
ple, there occurred in the Gardens of Lucullus 
(as perfected later by Valerius Asiaticus) 
magnificient avenues of carefully cropped 
ilex, box, cypress, and bay, overshadowing 
marvellous fountains, and interrupted here 
and there by graceful temples, shrines, and 
porticoes, along which the roses and jasmine 
twined and garlanded themselves, and where 
the swallows and swifts coursed up and down 
in the dazzling Roman sunlight. There, 
too, stood that marvellous Hall of Apollo, 
wherein Lucullus once feasted Cicero and 
Pompey at the cost of 50,000 drachmae. 
There also, later, Messalina desperately took 
refuge with her mother, Lepida, and presently 
heard the garden-gates behind her being 
beaten and broken open by the centurion, 
Euodus, who had come to make an end of 
her. Some of the mosaic floors that have 
felt the feet and been swept by the garments 
of the great people of those days, are still 
lying in situ , obscured beneath No. 57 in the 
Via Sistina and No. 46 in the Via Gregoriana. 
Trinita dei Monti, the Villa Medici, and 
the Pincian were included in gardens of simi¬ 
lar splendid character belonging to the Acilii; 
and here, in 1868, besides nymphea,porticoes, 
and hemicycles, was found a votive tablet 
dedicated to “Sylvanus” by Tychicus, freed- 
man of Manius Acilius Glabrio, the keeper 
of his gardens. 
Below these, towards the Piazza del Popolo, 
succeeded the gardens of the Domitii, wherein 
was buried Nero. That Emperor’s demon, 
it is well known, was supposed to haunt that 
spot, even as late as the twelfth century; and 
the crows which then roosted in a walnut-tree 
over his tomb were regarded by Pope Paschal 
the Second as creatures connected but too 
intimately with the certain abode of the first 
persecutor of the Church, and he cut it 
down. 
Across the city, on the Esquiline were 
spread the Lamian Gardens, through which 
the Via Merulana now runs, adjoining those 
of Maecenas, which became, as had most of 
those splendid homes of tragedy, Imperial 
property by means of successive confiscations. 
Adjoining those were spread out the rival 
gardens of the rich Statilii, which in the fourth 
century were owned in part by the famous 
Vettius Agorius Pretextatus, as his inscribed 
leaden pipes have revealed. In earlier days, 
Agrippina coveted these gardens from the 
son of that Statilius who built the amphi¬ 
theater in Rome, and so effectually did she 
calumniate him that he satisfied her cupidity 
by conveniently committing suicide. 
Again, in Regio VI, at that portion of the 
city toward the Porta Pia (now occupied by 
the Via Boncompagni and Via Sallustiana) 
were spread out the favorite Imperial gar¬ 
dens of the Flavian Emperors, once those of 
the millionaire historian, Sallust. There the 
excellent Emperor Nerva ended his too brief 
reign. Their beautiful situation and the fine 
air prevailing there during the summer, as 
well as the magnificent arena, the Porticus 
Milliarensis and circus (to which belonged 
the obelisk now adorning Trinita dei Monti), 
recommended these gardens to numbers of 
the later Emperors. The splendor of these 
places, however, was doomed to survive 
but little more than one hundred years later. 
For, albeit walled in, it so happened that 
Alaric, the Gothic conqueror, encamped with 
his army just outside the Porta Salaria; and 
certain traitors within the city taking the gate 
by a sudden assault, the Gothic army was 
let in, and fire was set immediately to all the 
houses and buildings near it, including the 
villa of Sallust. Procopius says, “The 
greater part of these buildings remain half- 
burnt, even now, in my time.” So the 
beauty of those famous gardens perished 
in 409-10 A. D. 
But were one to pass in procession, jewel 
by jewel, along all the splendid girdle of 
luxurious gardens that encompassed Imperial 
Rome, it would not only occupy more space 
than would be proper, but readers would at 
the same time be constrained, 1 think, to 
come to the conclusion to which I am 
myself driven, that with all their gran¬ 
deur and beauty combined there prevailed 
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