Misceli Subj. CXÏX. Fol. FL No. 77 



REMARKABLE-, WALLS OF CYCLOPES OF 



THE - ANTIQUITY. 



\n several parts of Italy and Greece there 

 are still to be found many remains of an- 

 cient stone - work , the singular structure of 

 which proves their being descended from 

 the remotest antiquity, because, since im- 

 memorial times , one does not build in such 

 amanner. They are stone- walls, consisting 

 of prodigious rocks, that are not hewed in- 

 to squares, according to the present man- 

 ner, but artfully joined together and hea- 

 ped up, without cement or mortar, with 

 as many polygons as they sprung out of 

 the quarry. These works having been con- 

 structed in the most ancient times, where 



mankind was but little acquainted with me- 

 chanical arts, and having required necessari- 

 ly an enormous expence of strength, we at- 

 tributed them to powerful giants of the pri- 

 mitive time, whence by the Ancients they 

 were already called walls of the Cyclopes. 

 The Cyclopes are the giants of the romantic 

 primeval world. The annexed view repre- 

 sents such a wall, comprising the proud 

 remains of an ancient fortress, probably 

 those of Epidaurus - Limera , which exists 

 still in the background of the road of Mah 

 va sia , in the peninsula of the Alo rea, A 

 handsome monument of human art ! 



