ARGOS TO MYCEN/E. 489 
antient art in Argolis, he will have perceived CHAP. 
the very general prevalence of terra cotta in 
works of much higher antiquity than it is usual rf 
to suppose were constructed of this material. 
A vulgar notion has prevailed, that this style in s- 
of building was for the most part Roman. 
When tiles or bricks have been found in the 
walls and foundations of edifices, among the 
ruins of Eastern cities, it has been usual to 
attribute to the structure a Roman origin ; and, 
consequently, to consider works of this kind as 
of a date posterior to the decline of the Eastern 
Empires. That this mode of ascertaining the 
age of buildings is liable to error, may perhaps 
now be evident. The statement of a single 
fact, if other satisfactory evidence could not be 
adduced, would be sufficient to prove the anti- 
quity of such works ; for example, that of the 
tile, or brick*, whereby the scull of Pyrrhuswas 
fractured, when he attempted to take the city of 
Argos by storm. Indeed, in some instances, 
the Romans, finding antient structures in Greece 
had gone to decay because they were built with 
baked or crude tiles and bricks, repaired them 
with different materials. Of this there is an 
(4) Kt<*(tsi. Vid. Pausan. Attica, c. 13. p. S3. Ed. Kulinii. 
