294 ATHENS. 
which cannot now be determined ; and the 
battle of the Centaurs and Lapithce is represented 
upon a similar frieze of the poxticus. In the 
tympanum of the pediment, over the eastern front, 
Stuart observed several holes in the marble, 
where metal cramps had been fixed for sus- 
taining sculpture in entire relief, as over the 
eastern entrance to the Parthenon*. The action 
of the atmosphere, in this fine climate, upon the 
marble, has diffused over the whole edifice, as 
over all the buildings in the Acropolis, a warm 
ochreous tint, which is peculiar to the ruins of 
Athens : it bears no resemblance to that black 
and dingy hue which is acquired by all works 
in stone and marble when they have been 
exposed to the open air in the more northern 
countries of Europe, and especially in England. 
Perhaps to this warm colour, so remarkably 
characterizing the remains of antient buildings 
at ATHENS, Plutarch alluded, in that beautiful 
passage 2 cited by Chandler 3 , when he affirmed, 
(1) See Stuart's Athens, vol. III. p. 2. Lond. 1794. 
(2) "O6iv KCII /uaXXay taufAK^trau ra. Tli^ixXiovf i^ya -r^of rXuv %gao Iv 
i>).lyta ytiofilvu. xaXAj; fiii yotf '{ttnarot w$v; v ran af^aToy, etitur, SJ t**%i 
tut vr(>o<rfa.Ttn Ian xeii tiav^yaf auras i<ra*6tii <ri( xaivorttf ati etfixrav u<ra rau 
Xfatau 'Sictrnoovffcc rt S-^ti, nSOEP AEI0AAES HNETMA KAI fTXHN 
ArHpn KATAMEMIFMENHN THN Eprn,N EXONTUN. Plutarch, in 
Vit. Pericl. torn. I. p. 352. Lond. 1729- 
(3) Trav. in Greece, c.9. p. 39. Oxford, 1776. 
