THE LOST ARTS. 69 



although that is the popular idea. Chares, a cele- 

 brated artificer, spent twelve years in constructing 

 it, and Pliny says that there were few that could 

 clasp its thumb. A spiral staircase led to its sum- 

 mit, from whence might be descried Syria, and the 

 ships proceeding to Egypt, in a great mirror sus- 

 pended to the neck of the statue. It was over- 

 thrown by an earthquake, B. c. 224, and the frag- 

 ments lay on the ground for nine hundred and 

 twenty-three years, when they were sold by the 

 Saracens to a Jew, who loaded nine hundred cam- 

 els with the brass, A. D. 672. This was one of the 

 wonders of the world; and vast as would be the 

 undertaking, it is certain that modern skill would 

 construct a like image in one fourth the time it 

 took to construct this, if the large sum of money 

 requisite could be supplied. The statue of St. 

 Charles Borromeo, at Arona, Italy, is sixty-six feet 

 high, composed of brass. This is the largest statue 

 existing in the world. We have found that the 

 nose of this statue afforded a very spacious and 

 comfortable seat after a tedious climb to that high 

 elevation. Immense quantities of copper and tin 

 must have been mined by the ancients, as we are 

 informed by Pliny that Rhodes alone was adorned 

 by no less than one thousand colossal statues of the 

 Sun in bronze, and Rome and all the large cities of 

 the empire were filled with them. How can we 



