LABYRINTHS. 479 



passages out of the cabinet*, and out of the chamber into the more 

 spacious rooms. All the roofs and walls within were incrusted 

 with marble, and adorned with figures in sculpture. The halls 

 were surrounded with pillars of white stone finely polished ; and 

 at the angle, where the labyrinth ended, stood the pyramid formerly 

 mentioned, which Strabo asserts to be the sepulchre of the prince 

 who built the labyrinth. 



To this description of Herodotus, others add, that it stood in the 

 midst of an immense square, surrounded with buildings at a great 

 distance ; that the porch was of Parian marble, and all the other 

 pillars of marble of Syene 5 that within were the temples of their 

 several deities, and galleries, to which was an ascent of ninety steps, 

 adorned with many columns of porphyry, images of their gods, and 

 statues of their kings, of a colossal size ; that the whole edifice con. 

 sisted of stone, the floors being laid with vast flags, and the roof 

 appearing like a canopy of stone ; that the passages met, and 

 crossed each other with such intricacy, that it was impossible for a 

 stranger to find his way, either in or out, without a guide; and that 

 several of the apartments were so contrived, that on opening of the 

 doors, there was heard within a terrible noise of thunder. 



We shall subjoin part of the description given by Diodorus of a 

 fabric, which though he does not call it a labyrinth, but a sepulchre, 

 yet appears to be the same we are now speaking of. He says it 

 was of a square form, each side a furlong in length, built of most 

 beautiful stone, the sculpture and other ornaments of which posterity 

 could not exceed : that on passing the outward inclosure, a building 

 presented itself to view, surrounded by an arcade, every skle con. 

 sisting of four 'hundred pillars; and that it contained the ensigns 

 or memorials of the country of each king ; and was, in all respects, 

 a work so sumptuous, and of such vast dimensions, that if the 

 twelve princes who began it, had not been dethroned before it was 

 finished, the magnificence of it could never have been surpassed* 

 Whence it seems, that Psammetichus, one of the twelve, who, ex. 

 pelling his associates, made himself master of all Egypt, finished the 

 design, but not with a grandeur answerable to the itsi >f the struc. 

 tare ; though Mela attributes the glory of the wlioV to that king. 



The solidity of this wonderful building was sud-, that it with' 

 stood, for many ages, not only the rage of time, but that of the in. 

 habitants of lleracleopolis, who, worshipping the ichneumon, tht 



