314 ATHENS. 
highest compliment they could bestow. That 
Hadrian coveted the thanks and praises of 
dependent states ; that he sought to be so 
rewarded for the favours he conferred upon 
them ; seems to be evident, from one of his 
epistles alluding to the acknowledgments made 
by the people of Alexandria for his bounty to 
their city, and already cited in a former part of 
this work 1 . The form and style of the struc- 
ture also agrees with this opinion of its origin; 
for it resembles the usual form of the triumphal 
arches raised in honour of the Roman Emperors 8 . 
It is built entirely of Pentelican marble ; nor was 
this magnificence inconsistent with the materials 
commonly used in constructing triumphal arches. 
The arches of Romulus, it is true, were of brick; 
and that of Camillus was of plain square stone; 
but those of Ccesar, Drusus, Titus, Trajan, and 
(1) See Vol. V. Chap. VII. p. 358. 
(2) The first specimen of Grecian architecture erected in Great 
Britain was modelled from this arch j and the remains of the copy, 
although offering a paltry imitation, and upon an insignificant scale, 
may still be seen in the University of Cambridge. It is the southern 
front of the gate of Caius College, facing the Senate House and Public 
Library ; erected in 1557, by John Caius, M.D. after designs by John 
of Padua. And as this formerly served to support a Dial, before the 
erection of the Senate House prevented any further observation of the 
shadow of the Gnomon, it is probable the Athenian arch had the same 
use; the position of which proves decidedly that it was not one of the 
Gates of the Peribolus of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius. 
