Chap. 14.] OBELISE-S. 333 



pose, a canal was dug from the river Nilus to the spot where 

 the obelisk lay ; aud two broad vessels, laden with blocks of 

 similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each amounting to 

 double the size, and consequently double the weight, of the 

 obelisk, were brought beneath it; the extremities of the 

 obelisk remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. 

 The blocks of stone were then removed, and the vessels, being 

 thus gradually lightened, received their burden. It Avas 

 erected upon a basis of six square blocks, quarried from the 

 same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the sum of 

 fifty talents.^ This obelisk was placed by the king above- 

 mentioned in the Arsinooeum,^ in testimony of his affection for 

 his wife and sister Arsinoe. At a later period, as it was found 

 to be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, the then prsefect 

 of Egypt, had it transferred to the Eorum there, after removing 

 the summit for the purpose of substituting a gilded point ; an 

 intention which was ultimately abandoned. 



There are two other obelisks, which were in Csesar's Temple 

 at Alexandria, near the harbour there, forty-two cubits in 

 height, and originally hewn by order of King Mesphres. Eut 

 the most difficult enterprise of all, was the carriage of these 

 obelisks by sea to Eome, in vessels which excited the greatest 

 admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated 

 the one wnich brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting 

 memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at 

 Puteoli ; but it was destroyed by fire. As to the one in which, 

 by order of the Emperor Caius,^ the other obelisk had been 

 transported to Eome, after having been preserved for some 

 years and looked upon as the most wonderful construction ever 

 beheld upon the seas, it was brought to Ostia, by order of the 

 late Emperor Claudius ; and towers of Puteolau* earth being 

 first erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the 

 harbour which he was making there. And then, besides, there 

 was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these 

 obelisks up the Tiber ; by which it became practically ascer- 



and was the author of a description of Alexandria, and of a catalogue of 

 painters and sculptors. 



^ Egyptian talents, probably. See. B.xxxiii. c. 15. 



2 Evidently a stupendous monument, or rather aggregate of buildings, 

 erected by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in memory of his wife and sister, 

 Arsinoe. See B. xxxiv. c 42. ^ Caligula. 



* See B. xvi. c. 76, and B. xxxv. c. 47. 



