THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. 



tranquilly as not to overturn the columns, to a depth above the 

 band of perforation, and at a still more recent period must have 

 again been raised to its present level. 



123. It results from the researches of Professor Forbes upon 

 this subject, that historical evidence is extant illustrating the 

 respective dates of these changes of level. From inscriptions 

 recording the embellislftnent of the temple by Septimius Severus 

 (A.D. 193211), and Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161180), it appears 

 that the building was still entire, and occupied its present posi- 

 tion at the close of the second and commencement of the third 

 century; that in A.D. 1198, the eruption of the volcanic lake of 

 Solfatara took place, attended with earthquakes, and a general 

 subsidence of the coast ensued, which caused the temple to sink 

 to a depth which submerged its columns in water to a height 

 above the band of perforations. In this state it appears to have 

 continued until the commencement of the sixteenth ^century; for 

 the flat district called La Starza, in which the building stands, is 

 described by contemporary observers as being covered by the sea 

 in 1530. Eight years later, frequent and violent earthquakes 

 prevailed along all that part of the Neapolitan coast ; and on the 

 29th of September in that year, the volcanic eruptions burst forth 

 which threw up the Monte Nuovo already described. During 

 this catastrophe the coast on the north of the Bay of Baiai was 

 permanently raised 20 feet, forming a tract 600 feet in breadth, 

 and including the area in which 



" Those lonely columns stand sublime, 



Flinging their shadows from ou high, 

 Like dials, which the wizard Time 



Had raised to count his ages by !" MOORE. 



These were accordingly left above the water, several of the 

 columns still retaining their original position. They seem to 

 have been wholly neglected by antiquaries till 1750, when the 

 shrubs and weeds with which they were overgrown and concealed 

 were removed, and the earth accumulated in the court of the 

 temple cleared away. For the last thirty or forty years a slow 

 subsidence of the coast appears to have been going on, and the 

 floor of the temple is often submerged.* 



124. We are not informed whether the Irish tradition, repro- 

 duced by Moore so beautifully in the following lines, has been. 

 verified by any scientific observers ; but, if so, it would seem as 



* See a paper by Professor Forbes on the subject in Brewster's "Journal 

 of Science," vol. i. second series ; and also a letter quoted by Dr. Mantell, 

 and addressed to him by M. Hullmandel, "Wonders of Geology," voL i. 

 p. 458. 

 94 



