DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.50017#0104
2+ THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS
must be very great, if it answers at all to that of the
gardener, who must have employed a great deal of his
care and of his study, as well as of his leisure and
thought in these entertainments, since he writ of all
plants, from the cedar to the shrub.
What the gardens of the Hesperides were, we have
little or no account, further than the mention of them,
and thereby the testimony of their having been in
use and request, in such remoteness of place, and
antiquity of time.
The garden of Alcinous, described by Homer,
seems wholly poetical, and made at the pleasure of the
painter ; like the rest of the romantic palace, in that
little barren island of Phenicia or Corfu. Yet, as all
the pieces of this transcendent genius are composed
with excellent knowledge, as well as fancy; so they
seldom fail of instruction as well as delight, to all that
read him. The seat of this garden, joining to the
gates of the palace, the compass of the enclosure being
four acres, the tall trees of shade, as well as those of
fruit, the two fountains, the one for the use of the
garden, and the other of the palace, the continual
succession of fruits throughout the whole year, are,
for aught I know, the best rules or provisions that can
go towards composing the best gardens; nor is it
must be very great, if it answers at all to that of the
gardener, who must have employed a great deal of his
care and of his study, as well as of his leisure and
thought in these entertainments, since he writ of all
plants, from the cedar to the shrub.
What the gardens of the Hesperides were, we have
little or no account, further than the mention of them,
and thereby the testimony of their having been in
use and request, in such remoteness of place, and
antiquity of time.
The garden of Alcinous, described by Homer,
seems wholly poetical, and made at the pleasure of the
painter ; like the rest of the romantic palace, in that
little barren island of Phenicia or Corfu. Yet, as all
the pieces of this transcendent genius are composed
with excellent knowledge, as well as fancy; so they
seldom fail of instruction as well as delight, to all that
read him. The seat of this garden, joining to the
gates of the palace, the compass of the enclosure being
four acres, the tall trees of shade, as well as those of
fruit, the two fountains, the one for the use of the
garden, and the other of the palace, the continual
succession of fruits throughout the whole year, are,
for aught I know, the best rules or provisions that can
go towards composing the best gardens; nor is it