502 
Gustus. In regard to its denomination, 
the antiquary Chorier is right, having dif- 
covered the true qualification of the py- 
ramid, and is only miftaken as to the name 
of the prince who was the objeét of it. 
‘The other conjeStures are fabulous. Ci- 
.tizen Schneider proceeds to obferve, that 
he found it neceffary to penetrate into the 
centre of the pyramid, in crder to find out 
" jts interior contruction more perfectly, and 
to afcertain the form and object of the 
pyramid. This operation, he adds, might 
be performed without damaging or de- 
grading themenument, He communicat- 
ed his project to Monfieur the Intendant 
of the province, in the prefence of Mef- 
fieurs the Mayor and Efchevizs, in the 
month of O&ober, 1775, who appeared to, 
applaud it unanimoufly. Hehad fearcely, 
however, fet his hand to the work, before 
he experienced oppofition, founded on falfe 
alarms, and which betrayed more of in- 
quietude than of fcience, Thefe obita- 
cles long fufpended his labour, which con- 
fifted in taking away, by means of pincers, 
one of the ftones of thé body of the pyra- 
mid to difcover if it was hollow, as he had 
always fulpeéted, and in that cafe, to pe- 
netrate into it, examine it, and deferibe its 
intericr ftrecture. “Being cited before the 
municipal body, he tranquillized Mef- 
fieurs the Magifrates as to the fate of the 
monument ; and having, after fome time, 
yefumed-his refearches, under the protec- 
tion of Monficur thé Intendant, he at 
lencth opened the defired paflage. He 
found nothing above the cieling (where 
there was a heapef earth and duft, which 
the rain had filtrated through in ‘the 
courfe of time} but an empty fpace of 
about fix feet {guare, and which grows 
narrower to the top, following! the form of 
the pyramid, that is to fay, as far as the 
fixteenth row of ftones; the reff is maffive 
as feras the apex; the ftones are.of bound 
mafenry, and are rough and unpolifhed 
within. After having thus diffipated his 
doubts, it was eafy for him to fhut the_ 
momentaneous aperture he had made in 
the pyramid, by fubftituting another ftone 
in the place; but it was thought prefer- 
able, he.fays, to place there an iron deor, 
by favour of which they are enabled to 
introdyice the curious vaho would verify 
his obfrvations. Laftly, to fee whether 
it conteined any fubterraneous vault which 
ferved for a tomb, he pierced and founded 
the middie, and, perpendicular with the 
éicling, the maffive cn which the whole 
firucture is’ efablithed ; he then dug up 
the earth which furrounded it, and, after 
Account of an ancient Monument at Vienne. 
;j é 
s 
_[Nov. 1, 
having examined the foundation through” 
its whole intericr and exterior pourteur, as . 
far as was poffible, he found no index 
which might lead to a prefemption, that it 
inclofes any fubterranean or void fpace 
deftined to receive a coffin. -In effect, 
fays the Profeffor, it didnot accord with the 
religion of the Romans thus to expofe the 
remains of the perfons whom they ho- 
novured with the anotheofis, to be trampled 
under feet ; and the farcophagus, if there 
had been one in the monument, would have 
had its place in the void part of the pyra- 
mid, and would have repofed on the ciel- 
ing ; orelfé, after otlter examples, theaflies, 
depofited inan urn, would have been placed 
on the pinnacle or top part cf the pyramid. 
It is then, fays the Profeffor, a real cens- 
taph. It remains to determine, to the ho- 
nour of whom it was ereéted. It could 
not be to Auguftus, becaufe no author 
mentions it ; and befides, that Emperor had 
already at Vienne a celebrated temple ele- 
vated to his memory, as the Profeffor has 
efpecially eftablithed, in his defcription of 
the de la Fie; and the ufage of the 
Romans was not to multiply thofe forts of. 
honours in the fame place for the fame per- 
fon. After all the refearches here detailed, 
Citizen Schneider, at length, had recourfe 
to ancient hiftory. He proceeds to fay, 
that he has remarked no great perfonage 
who has better deferved to be honoured 
and immortalized by a Gmilar monument, 
than ALExaANDER Severus. In effect, 
according to the report of Lampridius, 
in his Hiffory of the Emperors, he was a 
juft and amiable prince, a lover and fa- 
vourer of the arts and fciences, and one 
who made it his whole bufinefs to fecure 
the happinefs of the. people, who had fur. 
named him, it feems, Severus, becaufe of 
his rigcur in military difcipline. A model 
‘and prote&tor of virtue, this priztce highly 
approved of the Chriftian morality, and 
never ceafed that fundamental maxim of 
ail morality—Do unio otbers as you would 
they foould do unto you... He caufed this 
fine maxim to be engraved in his palaces 
and on the public edifices. His modera- 
tion and his modefty, which equalled his — 
merit and courage, made him refufe all the 
vain and faftidious titles with which the fe- 
nate would decorate him, accuftomed te 
adulation under the preceding reigns. But 
all the great qualities of Alexander could 
not fave him from the molt fatal: deftiny. 
In the flower of his aze, in the midft of his 
triumphs, beloved by his fubjeéts, honour-_ 
ed by his enemies, he fell, affaffinated ia 
his tent by a crucl monfier, whit he was 
repofing > 
