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Eden and Plants for Human Use While there are many overlapping historical, philosophical, political, and sociological factors at play in the exclusion of plants from ethical discourse,2 the most relevant to the practice of gardening are those which help to formulate the basic ideas of the garden – what a garden is and what a garden does. In this matter, it is crucial to examine the prototypic garden, the Garden of Eden, the most famous and influential of gardens in Western cultures. The concept and content of the Garden of Eden have acted as a blueprint for gardening ever since the development of enclosed gardens in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Four Roman authors who treated agricultural subjects were published together as Scriptores Rei Rusticae. These authors were M. Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE), L. Iunius Moderatus Columella (ca. first century CE), and R. Taurus Aemilianus Palladius (ca. fourth century CE). indd 32 MEGHAN T. RAY 5/15/2010 2:09:47 PM were published in collections during the Renaissance and onward. As the Scriptores Rei Rustiae they became the canonical authorities and their texts were used by later scholars and gentlemen/farmers alike.

He makes his case for farming life succinctly in his preface; farming is the only profession that combines security and profitability with honor and tradition. His text is prescriptive and specific, written in the imperative voice, and his advice does not rely upon foreign scholarship. This focus on Roman experience suited Cato’s political agenda, turning attention away from Hellenistic literature toward good, practical Roman prose. This insistence on the here and now distinguished Cato from the writers who came after him for whom authority and past practice were much greater preoccupations.