Garrett Dalton-"Patting Nature on the Head"

Chapter 16 in the book Ecology of Eden provided the most interesting perspective of the thesis of the book for me. As a history major, I find it intriguing to learn more about past events and cultures. I had known prior to reading the chapter that the Romans were fond of building gardens. However, I did not realize the scope of how grand some of these gardens were or what their true meaning was for the Romans. The chapter explained that Roman homes often included a central area in which a garden was placed. The garden would be filled with many different exotic plants and even animals from the different territories that Rome had conquered. Even the walls of these gardens were painted with pastoral scenes sometimes resembling the gardens themselves. The paintings served not only asthetic purposes, but also created the illusion that the walls were not present and that nature was all around. The garden would be used as a place of relaxation for the well to do and worked to show the Roman affinity for nature, albeit a warped one. Romans tended to try and achieve a conquering of nature with the design of their gardens. The conquering of nature can be seen in the construction of the aqueducts that brought water from the mountains to Rome. I am curious to know whether the less affluent had the same feelings toward gardening as the rich did or was gardening limited to those that had money? Were all Romans as interested in nature as the rich?