344 pltny's natueal history. [BookXXXYI. 



The great marvel in this building is, how such ponderous 

 architraves®^ could possibly have been raised to so great a 

 height. This, however, the architect effected by means of 

 bags filled with sand, Avhich he piled up upon an inclined 

 plane until they reached beyond the capitals of the columns ; 

 then, as he gradually emptied the lower bags, the architraves*'* 

 insensibly settled in the places assigned them. But the 

 greatest difficulty of all was found, in laying the lintel which 

 he placed over the entrance-doors. It was an enormous mass 

 of stone, and by no possibility could it be brought to lie level 

 upon the jarabs which formed its bed; in consequence of 

 which, the architect was driven to such a state of anxiety and 

 desperation as to contemplate suicide. Wearied and quite 

 worn out by such thoughts as these, during the night, they 

 say, he beheld in a dream the goddess in honour of whom the 

 temple was being erected ; who exhorted him to live on, for 

 that she herself had placed the stone in its proper position. 

 And such, in fact, next morning, was found to be the case, 

 the stone apparently having come to the proper level by dint 

 of its own weight. The other decorations of this work would 

 suffice to fill many volumes, but they do not tend in any way 

 to illustrate the works of Nature. 



CHAP. 22. (15.) — MARVELS CONNECTED WITH OTHEK TEMPLES. 



There still exists, too, at Cyzicus,^^ a temple of polished 

 stone, between all the joints of which the artist has inserted a 

 thread of gold ; it being his intention to erect an ivory statue 

 of Jupiter within, with Apollo in marble crowning him. The 

 result is, that the interstices quite glisten with their fine, 

 hair-like threads ; and the reflection of the gold, obscured as it 

 is, gently falling upon the statues, besides proclaiming the 

 genius of the artist, heightens their effect, and so teaches us 

 to appreciate the costliness of the work. 



CHAP. 23. THE FUGITrVE STONE. THE SEVEN-FOLD ECHO. 



BUILDINGS ERECTED WITHOUT THE USE OF NAILS. 



In the same city also, there is a stone, known as the " Fugi- 



" " Epistylia." See B. xxxv. c. 49. 



^8 Which must have been above the bags and at the summit of the in- 

 clined plane, ^9 Qqq b. y. c. 40. 



