The mountain Democrat., 1865-02-18
GARDENS OF THE GREEKS.
Among the ancient Greeks Tho ido,

Among the ancient Greeks, the idea of
a garden included vegetables, fruit trees
d6& SdTcTs- Towards 'EdetH there had
hoated from the Fast tSaNitcng s.. y; ~,
discs, haIf real, hall mythical, created by
'soVereigns Of vast wealth, which adorned
the mountains Of Syria and Media, and
were initiated in Babylon and Egyptian
Thebes, by gardens laid out on terraces,
rising one above another to great height,
shaded by immense trees, and watered bv
reservoirs placed at the top of the whole
structure. In oriental countries, similar
tictions are delighted in still; for in the
gardens Of Irein, in which the Arabs
steadfastly believe, We have the rivals of
those Of the Hesperides in beauty, in
fragrance and in unsubstantiality. The
ancient Egyptians, however, had real
gardens, which, for extent, magnificence,
and fragrance, might have wed with the
tictions Of poetry. We behold fragmen-
tary representations Of them still, painted
on the ruined walls of their temples and
sepulchral grOttoes, studded with rare
flowers and fruit trees, adorned with GOV.
cred walks, fountains, arbors, parterres,
sculpture of groteSque forms, and seats of
polished stone, where birds Of the rarest
plumage nestle among the branches of the
trees, or float along the surface Of the
ponds.
At various points on the banks of the
Nile, as at Stout and Er Rashid, we yet
find the descendants Of those ancient gar
dens, which the luxuriant vegetation Of
spring, if left to develop itself unchecked
soon converts into romantic wildernesSes
In one place, the banana throws forth its
huge leaves, fourteen or fifteen feet long,
ard two or three broad, which descend in
green and rustling folds to the ground,
and are with difficulty stirred by the lazy
breeze; close to it, perhaps, rises the
pomegranate tree, covered with blood.rpd
blossoms; and little beyond the graceful
pvramidal foliage of the rhamnus lotus, or
the grand masses of the sycamore, or the
coluInnar date palm, or thickets of mimo,
sa or some Of those thousand nameess
shrubs, bloSSoming and odorfrrouS, which
delight the travellers eve, and Soothe his
senses as he wanders by the pools and
sheets of water, starred with myriads of
white water.lilirs. or with the pink and
blue lotuses of Egypt
In Greece, vegetation presents differ
ent aspect-leSS tropical, but more grace.
ful and beautiful, since even flowers OF
decidedly oriental origin there exhibit
more brilliance and loveiiucSS. To poetry
We are indebted for our knowledge Of the
gardens Of remote times, which are often
suspected TO owe much If their splendor
to the Imagination, though, perhaps, with
out any reason for when we consider the
number OF trees and flowers acclimated
in Hellas, and asking but little care or
cultivation to render them blooming and
luxuriant, We may accept, without much
abatement, the slight, though suggestive,
| pictures which have been handed down
to US by the masters Of song. The houses
of Greek gentlemen were generally built
in the form Of the letter II, the cross bar
representing the corps de logiS, as our
ne,ghbors express it; while the side fig
ures represent the front and back wings,
the former running along the breadth Of
a court, inclosed toward the street bv
wall, the latter projecting into the garden.
Here the skill of the gardener began to
display itself. From wing to wing ex
tended parterres of flowers, such as roses
or stocks, or purple or white violets. IN
tersper>ed with myrtle copSeS, aud sha
ded here and there by ounce and fig
trees. Msny modern writers have doubt
| ed whether. in remotcr ages, the Greeks
enjoyed the pes fumc Of the queen Of flow
ers, though the testimony of their oldest
poets ought II he allowed to set the ques,
ton at rest. Homer often distinctly and
cmphatically alludeS to the rose, to which
he compares the fingers Of the Dawn
while she draws aside the curtains of the
east and Ste>chorIS, who hnuri,hed
Six hundred years before the Christian
era, speaks of crowns Of roses. Tradi
tons also Of an early date speak of the
rose gardens Of Thracian king, which
lay in sheltered spots at the foot Of the
snowy BernicuS. johnson sarcastically
observes, that many persons lament the
loss OF ancient writers who have never
heard a word Of those that remain
lie is no doubt right enough; but with
out exactly laying ourselves open to his
cenSure, We may regret that the works of
many authors haSeperiShed, which might
! nave OceI vi SOIlSluCIdOlC uSC " Us tldu
they been preserved, especially when We
happen to be engaged in the endcavor to
settle some disputed point. The frag
ment Of Stesichorus to which We have
alluded has been thus translated
Many golden ounce was there,
Piled upon the regal chair
Many q ver1ant myrtle bOugh;
Many a rose.croWn featly wrcathed
With purple vioets that grow
Where the breath Of Spring has breathed
The nations that inherited the treasures
of Greek literature cannot be reproached
with any very strong desire to pass down
as pedants to posterity, for, instead of
cropping among the dust of their libraries,
searching for and copying theit remains.
as the men Of the Renaissance are laughed
at for doing, they allowed their manu-
scripts to perish, or even destroyed them
by rubbing off with pumice stone the
words Of some poet, orator, or philosO-
pher,. to inscribe in their place the legend
Of an anchorte or unwashed nun; other
wise, we might have been aided in our
investigations respecting Greek gardens
by the fanciful productions Of Cheremon,
surnamed the Flower Poet, from his pass
ion for the dcnizens of the parterre. We
NAV infer from his fragments, and from
what others have said Of him, that he had
formed the design of celebrating and de-
scribing in verse every flower that drinks
the dew between the Adriatic and the
4Kg@an. Having described in splendid
lines a group Of maidens sporting by
moonlight, Ch@rmon proceeds thus:
And slumbering near them others lay, beds o
sweetest flowers,
The dusky petaled violet, the rose OF Paphiar
bowers,
The inula and saffron flower, which on their gar
| ments cast,
And walls such hues a. deck the sky when day Il
| ahhi faa