DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0129
The Roman Empire
101
FIG. 66. A GARDEN AT POMPEII—FROM A WALL-PAINTING
fountains between the beds (Fig. 67). From the lawn downward there is more plantation,
leading to the next terrace; and raised box borders are cut into various shapes of
animals facing one another. Pliny speaks now and then of this clipped box at the villa,
but we have no picture of it in antique times. The lower terrace is planted with the
softer-leaved acanthus, which' here takes the place of our mown grass. On this terrace of
acanthus there L> a path bordered with clipped greenery, the so-called opus topiarium.
Again, following on this, we find a wider terrace which is circular, and enclosed with
box cut in many shapes, and with dwarf trees. Box cut in the form of steps conceals
the outside walls, so as to obliterate the appearance of a separation of garden and open
country. For it is always an object of desire that the front of the villa shall have a view
over the landscape, "where Nature seems as good as a garden made by art." Thus, then,
has the xystus developed from an addition to the colonnade of a gymnasium into a beauti-
ful ordered work of art, which is destined later on to be maintained in the world of
horticulture, and which leads our minds onward to see what the future will be.
The cutting of evergreen plants was important for attaining this end. It is difficult
to ascertain the date when a device first appeared that was so great a step towards the art
of formal gardening. Pliny ascribes the invention to a friend of Augustus, named Cnaeus
Martius, a Roman knight; and although rightly somewhat incredulous over the tendency
of the ancients to give definite names to such inventions, we still have to admit that before
the days of the emperors there is no mention to be found of this very peculiar treatment
of plants. Cicero once uses the name Topiarius for the gardener who had the special
care of the ornamental garden, but this was giving the appellation to the service first, and
it was only afterwards that the term opus topiarii was applied to that clipping wherein the
gardener could exhibit his greatest skill. It is noticeable that neither Cato, nor Varro,
nor Columella, ever mentions this special pride of the garden, when they are inveighing
against the luxury of villa life. In the time of the elder Pliny they must have been con-
siderably advanced in an art that is none too easy, for they had whole scenes cut out, such
as fleets of ships, hunting scenes, and so on, all in box and cypress.
At the west side of the colonnade is the bath-place, whose situation is not quite
accurately determined. Steps lead to an upper terrace, next to three small living-rooms,
one of which looks down on the plane-tree court, the second towards a meadow that lies
far to the westward, and the third on the vineyard, which climbs the hill in a terrace
formation. Behind, apparently on a similar terrace, is a cryptoporticus (covered portico),
and under it a dining-room looking out on the hippodrome, the vineyard, and the moun-
tains ; lastly there comes a fourth living-room, connecting the villa and the hippodrome.
101
FIG. 66. A GARDEN AT POMPEII—FROM A WALL-PAINTING
fountains between the beds (Fig. 67). From the lawn downward there is more plantation,
leading to the next terrace; and raised box borders are cut into various shapes of
animals facing one another. Pliny speaks now and then of this clipped box at the villa,
but we have no picture of it in antique times. The lower terrace is planted with the
softer-leaved acanthus, which' here takes the place of our mown grass. On this terrace of
acanthus there L> a path bordered with clipped greenery, the so-called opus topiarium.
Again, following on this, we find a wider terrace which is circular, and enclosed with
box cut in many shapes, and with dwarf trees. Box cut in the form of steps conceals
the outside walls, so as to obliterate the appearance of a separation of garden and open
country. For it is always an object of desire that the front of the villa shall have a view
over the landscape, "where Nature seems as good as a garden made by art." Thus, then,
has the xystus developed from an addition to the colonnade of a gymnasium into a beauti-
ful ordered work of art, which is destined later on to be maintained in the world of
horticulture, and which leads our minds onward to see what the future will be.
The cutting of evergreen plants was important for attaining this end. It is difficult
to ascertain the date when a device first appeared that was so great a step towards the art
of formal gardening. Pliny ascribes the invention to a friend of Augustus, named Cnaeus
Martius, a Roman knight; and although rightly somewhat incredulous over the tendency
of the ancients to give definite names to such inventions, we still have to admit that before
the days of the emperors there is no mention to be found of this very peculiar treatment
of plants. Cicero once uses the name Topiarius for the gardener who had the special
care of the ornamental garden, but this was giving the appellation to the service first, and
it was only afterwards that the term opus topiarii was applied to that clipping wherein the
gardener could exhibit his greatest skill. It is noticeable that neither Cato, nor Varro,
nor Columella, ever mentions this special pride of the garden, when they are inveighing
against the luxury of villa life. In the time of the elder Pliny they must have been con-
siderably advanced in an art that is none too easy, for they had whole scenes cut out, such
as fleets of ships, hunting scenes, and so on, all in box and cypress.
At the west side of the colonnade is the bath-place, whose situation is not quite
accurately determined. Steps lead to an upper terrace, next to three small living-rooms,
one of which looks down on the plane-tree court, the second towards a meadow that lies
far to the westward, and the third on the vineyard, which climbs the hill in a terrace
formation. Behind, apparently on a similar terrace, is a cryptoporticus (covered portico),
and under it a dining-room looking out on the hippodrome, the vineyard, and the moun-
tains ; lastly there comes a fourth living-room, connecting the villa and the hippodrome.