Chaps. 5-15.

Chap. 5. (6.)—At What Period Marble Was First Used in Buildings.

This must suffice for the sculptors in marble, and the works that have gained the highest repute; with reference to which subject it occurs to me to remark, that spotted marbles were not then in fashion. In making their statues, these artists used the marble of Thasos also, [As well as that of Paros.] one of the Cyclades, and of Lesbos, this last being rather more livid than the other. The poet Menander, in fact, who was a very careful enquirer into all matters of luxury, is the first who has spoken, and that but rarely, of variegated marbles, and, indeed, of the employment of marble in general. Columns of this material were at first employed in temples, not on grounds of superior elegance, (for that was not thought of, as yet), but because no material could be found of a more substantial nature. It was under these circumstances, that the Temple [Only completed in the time of the Emperor Adrian.] of the Olympian Jupiter was commenced at Athens, the columns of which were brought by Sylla to Rome, for the buildings in the Capitol.

Still, however, there had been a distinction drawn between ordinary stone and marble, in the days of Homer even. The poet speaks in one passage of a person [Cebriones, the charioteer of Hector. See Il. B. xvi. l. 735.] being struck down with a huge mass of marble; but that is all; and when he describes the abodes of royalty adorned with every elegance, besides brass, gold, electrum, [See B. xxxiii. c..] and silver, he only mentions ivory. Variegated marbles, in my opinion, were first discovered in the quarries of Chios, when the inhabitants were building the walls of their city; a circumstance which gave rise to a facetious repartee on the part of M. Cicero. It being the practice with them to show these walls to everybody, as something magnificent; “I should admire them much more,” said he, “if you had built them of the stone used at Tibur.” [This is generally explained as meaning ordinary stone, but covered with elaborate paintings, as was then the practice in the magnificent villas that were built at Tibur, the modern Tivoli. See, however, Chapter, and Note.] And, by Hercules! the art of painting [As applied to the decorations of the walls of houses.] never would have been held in such esteem, or, indeed, in any esteem at all, if variegated marbles had been held in admiration.

Chap. 6.—Who Were the First to Cut Marble into Slabs, and at What Period.

I am not sure whether the art of cutting marble into slabs, is not an invention for which we are indebted to the people of Caria. The most ancient instance of this practice, so far as I know of, is found in the palace of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, the walls of which, in brick, are covered with marble of Proconnesus. Mausolus died in the second year of the hundred and seventh [This date does not agree with that given to Scopas, one of the artists who worked at the Mausoleum, in the early part of B. xxxiv. c.. Sillig, however, is inclined to think that there were two artists named Scopas, and would thus account for the diversity of about seventy years between the dates.] Olympiad, being the year of Rome, 403.

Chap. 7.—Who Was the First to Encrust the Walls of Houses at Rome with Marble.

The first person at Rome who covered the whole of the walls of his house with marble, according to Cornelius Nepos, [See end of B. ii.] was Mamurra, [Owing to the liberality of Cæsar, he amassed great riches. He is repeatedly attacked by Catullus (Carm. xxix., xliii., lvii.), and accused of extortion, and other vices. Horace also speaks of him in terms of ridicule, I Sat. 5, 37.] who dwelt upon the Cælian Hill, a member of the equestrian order, and a native of Formiæ, who had been præfect of the engineers under C. Cæsar in Gaul. Such was the individual, that nothing may be wanting to the indignity of the example, who first adopted this practice; the same Mamurra, in fact, who has been so torn to pieces in the verses of Catullus of Verona. Indeed, his own house proclaimed more loudly than Catullus could proclaim it, that he had come into possession of all that Gallia Comata had had to possess. For Nepos adds, as well, that he was the first to have all the columns of his house made of nothing but solid marble, and that, too, marble of Carystus [See B. iv. c. 21.] or of Luna. [See Chapter of this Book.]

Chap. 8.—At What Period the Various Kinds of Marble Came into Use at Rome.

M. Lepidus, who was consul with Q. Catulus, was the first to have the lintels of his house made of Numidian marble, a thing for which he was greatly censured: he was consul in the year of Rome, 676. This is the earliest instance that I can find of the introduction of Numidian marble; not in the form of pillars, however, or of slabs, as was the case with the marble of Carystus, above-mentioned, but in blocks, and that too, for the comparatively ignoble purpose of making the thresholds of doors. Four-years after this Lepidus, L. Lucullus was consul; the same person who gave its name, it is very evident, to the Lucullan marble; for, taking a great fancy to it, he introduced it at Rome. While other kinds of marble are valued for their spots or their colours, this marble is entirely black. [The black marbles, Ajasson remarks, are comparatively rare. He is of opinion that the colour of the Lucullan marble was the noir antique of the French, and says that it is to be found at Bergamo, Carrara, Prato in Tuscany, and near Spa in Belgium.] It is found in the island of Melos, [“Chios” is another reading.] and is pretty nearly the only marble that has taken its name from the person who first introduced it. Among these personages, Scaurus, in my opinion, was the first to build a theatre with walls of marble: but whether they were only coated with slabs of marble or were made of solid blocks highly polished, such as we now see in the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, [“Thundering Jupiter.” This temple was built by Augustus.] in the Capitol, I cannot exactly say: for, up to this period, I cannot find any vestiges of the use of marble slabs in Italy.

Chap. 9.—The Method of Cutting Marble into Slabs. The Sand Used in Cutting Marble.

But whoever it was that first invented the art of thus cutting marble, and so multiplying the appliances of luxury, he displayed considerable ingenuity, though to little purpose. This division, though apparently effected by the aid of iron, is in reality effected by sand; the saw acting only by pressing upon the sand within a very fine cleft in the stone, as it is moved to and fro.

The [Ajasson says that his remarks on the choice of the sand for this purpose, are very judicious.] sand of Æthiopia is the most highly esteemed for this purpose; for, to add to the trouble that is entailed, we have to send to Æthiopia for the purpose of preparing our marble—aye, and as far as India even; whereas in former times, the severity of the Roman manners thought it beneath them to repair thither in search of such costly things even as pearls! This Indian sand is held in the next highest degree of estimation, the Æthiopian being of a softer nature, and better adapted for dividing the stone without leaving any roughness on the surface; whereas the sand from India does not leave so smooth a face upon it. Still, however, for polishing marble, we find it recommended [A recommendation worse than useless, Ajasson remarks.] to rub it with Indian sand calcined. The sand of Naxos has the same defect; as also that from Coptos, generally known as “Egyptian” sand.

The above were the several varieties of sand used by the ancients in dividing marble. More recently, a sand has been discovered that is equally approved of for this purpose; in a certain creek of the Adriatic Sea, which is left dry at low water only; a thing that renders it not very easy to be found. At the present day, however, the fraudulent tendencies of our workers in marble have emboldened them to use any kind of river-sand for the purpose; a mischief which very few employers rightly appreciate. For, the coarser the sand, the wider is the division made in the stone, the greater the quantity of material consumed, and the more extensive the labour required for polishing the rough surface that is left; a result of which is that the slabs lose so much more in thickness. For giving the last polish to marble, [For this purpose, at the present day, granular corindon, or yellow emery, is used, as also a mixture composed of the oxides of lead and of tin; the substance being repeatedly moistened when applied.] Thebaic stone [See Chapters and of this Book.] is considered well adapted, as also porous stone, or pumice, powdered fine.

Chap. 10. (7.)—Stone of Naxos. Stone of Armenia.

For polishing marble statues, as also for cutting and giving a polish to precious stones, the preference was long given to the stone of Naxos, [A city in Crete where the stone was prepared for use.] such being the name of a kind of touchstone [“Cotes.”] that is found in the Isle of Cyprus. More recently, however, the stones imported from Armenia for this purpose have displaced those of Naxos.

Chap. 11.—The Marbles of Alexandria.

The marbles are too well known to make it necessary for me to enumerate their several colours and varieties; and, indeed, so numerous are they, that it would be no easy task to do so. For what place is there, in fact, that has not a marble of its own? In addition to which, in our description of the earth and its various peoples, [Books III. IV. V. and VI.] we have already made it our care to mention the more celebrated kinds of marble. Still, however, they are not all of them produced from quarries, but in many instances lie scattered just beneath the surface of the earth; some of them the most precious even, the green Lacedæmonian marble, for example, more brilliant in colour than any other; the Augustan also; and, more recently, the Tiberian; which were first discovered, in the reigns respectively of Augustus and Tiberius, in Egypt. These two marbles differ from ophites [The modern Ophite, both Noble, Serpentine, and Common.] in the circumstance that the latter is marked with streaks which resemble serpents [From the Greek ὄφις, a “serpent.”] in appearance, whence its name. There is also this difference between the two marbles themselves, in the arrangement of their spots: the Augustan marble has them undulated and curling to a point; whereas in the Tiberian the streaks are white, [This would appear to be a kind of Apatite, or Augustite, found in crystalline rocks.] not involved, but lying wide asunder.

Of ophites, there are only some very small pillars known to have been made. There are two varieties of it, one white and soft, the other inclining to black, and hard. Both kinds, it is said, worn as an amulet, are a cure for head-ache, and for wounds inflicted by serpents. [A superstition, owing solely to the name and appearance of the stone.] Some, too, recommend the white ophites as an amulet for phrenitis and lethargy. As a counter-poison to serpents, some persons speak more particularly in praise of the ophites that is known as “tephrias,” [From the Greek τέφρα, “ashes.” The modern Tephroite is a silicate of manganese.] from its ashy colour. There is also a marble known as “memphites,” from the place [Memphis, in Egypt.] where it is found, and of a nature somewhat analogous to the precious stones. For medicinal purposes, it is triturated and applied in the form of a liniment, with vinegar, to such parts of the body as require cauterizing or incision; the flesh becoming quite benumbed, and thereby rendered insensible to pain.

Porphyrites, [A variety of the modern Porphyry, possibly; a compact feldspathic base, with crystals of feldspar. Ajasson refuses to identify it with porphyry, and considers it to be the stone called Red antique, of a deep uniform red, and of a very fine grain; which also was a production of Egypt.] which is another production of Egypt, is of a red colour: the kind that is mottled with white blotches is known as “leptospsephos.” [“Small stone.”] The quarries there are able to furnish blocks [Of porphyrites.] of any dimensions, however large. Vitrasius Pollio, who was steward [“Procurator.”] in Egypt for the Emperor Claudius, brought to Rome from Egypt some statues made of this stone; a novelty which was not very highly approved of, as no one has since followed his example. The Egyptians, too, have discovered in Æthiopia the stone known as “basanites;” [See B. xxxvi. c.. See also the Lydian stone, or touchstone, mentioned in B. xxxiii. c..] which in colour and hardness resembles iron, whence the name [From Βάσανος, a “touchstone.”] that has been given to it. A larger block of it has never been known than the one forming the group which has been dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus in the Temple of Peace. It represents the river Nilus with sixteen children sporting around it, [Philostratus gives a short account of this group, and copies of it are to be seen in the Vatican, and in the grounds of the Tuilleries.] symbolical of the sixteen cubits, the extreme height [See B. v. c. 10.] to which, in the most favourable seasons, that river should rise. It is stated, too, that in the Temple of Serapis at Thebes, there is a block not unlike it, which forms the statue of Memnon [The Egyptians called it, not Memnon, but Amenophis, and it is supposed that it represented a monarch of the second dynasty. This is probably the statue still to be seen at Medinet Abou, on the Libyan side of the Nile, in a sitting posture, and at least 60 feet in height. The legs, arms, and other parts of the body are covered with inscriptions, which attest that, in the third century of the Christian era, the priests still practised upon the credulity of the devotees, by pretending that it emitted sounds. It may possibly have been erected for astronomical purposes, or for the mystic worship of the sun. The Greek name “Memnon” is supposed to have been derived from the Egyptian Mei Amun, “beloved of Ammon.”] there; remarkable, it is said, for emitting a sound each morning when first touched by the rays of the rising sun.

Chap. 12.—Onyx and Alabastrites; Six Remedies.

Our forefathers imagined that onyx [Ajasson remarks that under this name the ancients meant, first, yellow calcareous Alabaster, and secondly, Chalcedony, unclassified.] was only to be found in the mountains of Arabia, and nowhere else; but Sudines [See end of the present.] was aware that it is also found in Carmania. [See B. vi. cc. 27, 28, 32.] Drinking-vessels were made of it at first, and then the feet of beds and chairs. Cornelius Nepos relates that great was the astonishment, when P. Lentulus Spinther exhibited amphoræ made of this material, as large as Chian wine-vessels in size; “and yet, five years after,” says he, “I saw columns of this material, no less than two-and-thirty feet in height.” At a more recent period again, some change took place [“Variatum est.”] with reference to this stone; for four [Ajasson thinks that these columns, in reality, were made, in both instances, of yellow jasper, or else yellow sardonyx, a compound of sard and chalcedony.] small pillars of it were erected by Cornelius Balbus in his Theatre [Erected A.U.C. 741.] as something quite marvellous: and I myself have seen thirty columns, of larger size, in the banquetting-room which Callistus [See B. xxxiii. c..] erected, the freedman of Claudius, so well known for the influence which he possessed.

(8.) This [The reading here is doubtful, and it is questionable whether he considers the two stones as identical.] stone is called “alabastrites” [Probably calcareous Alabaster, Ajasson thinks. See B. xxxvii. c..] by some, and is hollowed out into vessels for holding unguents, it having the reputation of preserving them from corruption [See B. xiii. c. 3.] better than anything else. In a calcined state, it is a good ingredient for plaisters. [Plaster of Paris is made of gypsum or alabaster, heated and ground.] It is found in the vicinity of Thebes in Egypt and of Damascus in Syria, that of Damascus being whiter than the others. The most esteemed kind, however, is that of Carmania, the next being the produce of India, and then, those of Syria and Asia. The worst in quality is that of Cappadocia, it being utterly destitute of lustre. That which is of a honey colour is the most esteemed, covered with spots curling in whirls, [A feature both of jasper and of sardonyx.] and not transparent. Alabastrites is considered defective, when it is of a white or horn colour, or approaching to glass in appearance.

Chap. 13.—Lygdinus; Corallitic Stone; Stone of Alabanda; Stone of Thebais; Stone of Syene.

Little inferior to it for the preservation of unguents, in the opinion of many, is the stone, called “lygdinus,” [By some persons it has been considered to be the same with the “lychnitis,” or white marble, mentioned in Chapter of this Book. Ajasson is of opinion that it has not been identified.] that is found in Paros, and never of a larger size than to admit of a dish or goblet being made of it. In former times, it was only imported from Arabia, being remarkable for its extreme whiteness.

Great value is placed also upon two other kinds of stone, of quite a contrary nature; corallitic [Ajasson is in doubt whether this stone was really a marble or a gypsic alabaster. It received its name from the river Curalius or Coural, near which it was found; and it was also known as Sangaric marble. Ajasson thinks that the ancient milk-white marble, still found in Italy, and known to the dealers in antiquities as Palombino, may have been the “corallitic” stone. He also mentions the fine white marble known as Grechetto.] stone, found in Asia, in blocks not more than two cubits in thickness, and of a white somewhat approaching that of ivory, and in some degree resembling it; and Alabandic stone, which, on the other hand, is black, and is so called from the district [See B. v. c. 29. Sulphuret of manganese is now known as Alabandine; it is black, but becomes of a tarnished brown on exposure to the air. It is not improbable that this manganese was used for colouring glass, and that in Chapter 66 of this Book Pliny again refers to manganese when speaking of a kind of “magnet” or load-stone. See Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 237-8, Bohn’s Edition; who thinks, that in the present passage Pliny is speaking of a kind of marble. It is the fact, however, that Pyrolusite, or grey ore of manganese, is used, at a red heat, for discharging the brown and green tints of glass. See also B. xxxiv. c., and the Note.] which produces it: though it is also to be found at Miletus, where, however, it verges somewhat more upon the purple. It admits of being melted by the action of fire, and is fused for the preparation of glass.

Thebaic stone, which is sprinkled all over with spots like gold, is found in Africa, on the side of it which lies adjacent to Egypt; the small hones which it supplies being peculiarly adapted, from their natural properties, for grinding the ingredients used in preparations for the eyes. In the neighbourhood of Syene, too, in Thebais, there is a stone found that is now known as “syenites,” [Syenite is the name still given to feldspar, hornblende, and quartz, passing into each other by insensible gradations, and resembling granite.] but was formerly called “pyrrhopœcilon.” [“Varied with red spots,” similar to our red granite.]

Chap. 14.—Obelisks.

Monarchs, too, have entered into a sort of rivalry with one another in forming elongated blocks of this stone, known as “obelisks,” [“Obelisci.” So called from ὀβελισκὸς, a “small spit,” in consequence of their tapering form.] and consecrated to the divinity of the Sun. The blocks had this form given to them in resemblance to the rays of that luminary, which are so called [Meaning, probably, that in the Egyptian language, the same word is used as signifying a “spit” and a “ray” of light; for it is generally agreed that the word “obeliscus” is of Greek origin.] in the Egyptian language.

Mesphres, [He does not appear to have been identified; and the correct reading is doubtful.] who reigned in the City of the Sun, [Heliopolis, or On. See B. v. c. 11.] was the first who erected one of these obelisks, being warned to do so in a dream; indeed, there is an inscription upon the obelisk to this effect; for the sculptures and figures which we still see engraved thereon are no other than Egyptian letters. [These figures or hieroglyphics did not denote the phonetic language of Egypt, but only formed a symbolical writing.]

At a later period other kings had these obelisks hewn. Sesosthes [Perhaps the same as “Sesostris.” The former reading is “Sothis.”] erected four of them in the above-named city, forty-eight cubits in height. Rhamsesis, [Ajasson identifies him with Rameses III., a king of the eighteenth dynasty, who reigned B.C. 1561. This was also one of the names of Sesostris the Great.] too, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one, a hundred and forty cubits high. Having quitted the spot where the palace of Mnevis [The name of the bull divinity worshipped by the people of On, or Heliopolis; while by the people of Memphis it was known as Apis.] stood, this monarch erected another obelisk, [This, Hardouin says, was the same obelisk that was afterwards erected by Constantius, son of Constantine the Great, in the Circus Maximus at Rome; whence it was removed by Pope Sextus V., in the year 1588, to the Basilica of the Lateran.] one hundred and twenty cubits in height, but of prodigious thickness, the sides being no less than eleven cubits in breadth. (9.) It is said that one hundred and twenty thousand men were employed upon this work; [This, Hardouin says, was the same obelisk that was afterwards erected by Constantius, son of Constantine the Great, in the Circus Maximus at Rome; whence it was removed by Pope Sextus V., in the year 1588, to the Basilica of the Lateran.] and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove strong enough for the weight, with the view of increasing the peril that might be entailed by due want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his own son fastened to the summit; in order that the safety of the prince might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone. It was in his admiration of this work, that, when King Cambyses took the city by storm, and the conflagration had already reached the very foot of the obelisk, he ordered the fire to be extinguished; he entertaining a respect for this stupendous erection which he had not entertained for the city itself.

There are also two other obelisks, one of them erected by Zmarres, [This name is probably mutilated: there are about twenty different readings of it.] and the other by Phius; [This name is also very doubtful. One reading is “Eraph,” and Hardouin attempts to identify him with the Pharaoh Hophra of Jeremiah, xliv. 30, the Ouafres of the Chronicle of Eusebius, and the Apries of Herodotus.] both of them without inscriptions, and forty-eight cubits in height. Ptolemæus Philadelphus had one erected at Alexandria, eighty cubits high, which had been prepared by order of King Necthebis: [The Nectanabis, probably, of Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaüs, and the Nectanebus of Nepos, in the Life of Chabrias.] it was without any inscription, and cost far more trouble in its carriage and elevation, than had been originally expended in quarrying it. Some writers inform us that it was conveyed on a raft, under the inspection of the architect Satyrus; but Callixenus [Callixenus of Rhodes was a contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and was the author of a description of Alexandria, and of a catalogue of painters and sculptors.] gives the name of Phœnix. For this purpose, a canal was dug from the river Nilus to the spot where the obelisk lay; and two broad vessels, laden with blocks of similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each amounting to double the size, and consequently double the weight, of the obelisk, were brought beneath it; the extremities, of the obelisk remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. The blocks of stone were then removed, and the vessels, being thus gradually lightened, received their burden. It was erected upon a basis of six square blocks, quarried from the same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the sum of fifty talents. [Egyptian talents, probably. See. B. xxxiii. c..] This obelisk was placed by the king above-mentioned in the Arsinoœum, [Evidently a stupendous monument, or rather aggregate of buildings, erected by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in memory of his wife and sister, Arsinoë. See B. xxxiv. c. 42.] in testimony of his affection for his wife and sister Arsinoë. At a later period, as it was found to be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, the then præfect of Egypt, had it transferred to the Forum there, after removing the summit for the purpose of substituting a gilded point; an intention which was ultimately abandoned.

There are two other obelisks, which were in Cæsar’s Temple at Alexandria, near the harbour there, forty-two cubits in height, and originally hewn by order of King Mesphres. But the most difficult enterprise of all, was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it was destroyed by fire. As to the one in which, by order of the Emperor Caius, [Caligula.] the other obelisk had been transported to Rome, after having been preserved for some years and looked upon as the most wonderful construction ever beheld upon the seas, it was brought to Ostia, by order of the late Emperor Claudius; and towers of Puteolan [See B. xvi. c. 76, and B. xxxv. c..] earth being first erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the harbour which he was making there. And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by which it became practically ascertained, that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nilus.

The obelisk that was erected by the late Emperor Augustus in the Great Circus, [Or Circus Maximus; in the Eleventh Region of the City. According to Kircher, it was this obelisk that Pope Sextus V. had disinterred, and placed before the church of the Madonna del Popolo.] was originally quarried by order of King Semenpserteus, [There are sixteen various readings to this name.] in whose reign it was that Pythagoras [Diogenes Laertius says that he arrived in Egypt in the reign of King Amasis.] visited Egypt. It is eighty-five feet [Boscovich and Brotero would read here “ eighty-two feet and three quarters,” which is more in accordance with its height, as measured by Kircher.] and three quarters in height, exclusive of the base, which is a part of the same stone. The one that he erected in the Campus Martius, is nine feet less in height, and was originally made by order of Sesothis. They are both of them covered with inscriptions, which interpret the operations of Nature according to the philosophy of the Egyptians.

Chap. 15. (10.)—The Obelisk Which Serves as a Dial in the Campus Martius.

The one that has been erected in the Campus Martius [After being long buried in ruins, it was disinterred, but not re-erected, by Pope Benedict XIV. When thus brought to light, it was found to be broken asunder. On it there was an inscription stating that the Emperor Augustus had “presented it to the Sun”—“Soli donum dedit.”] has been applied to a singular purpose by the late Emperor Augustus; that of marking the shadows projected by the sun, and so measuring the length of the days and nights. With this object, a stone pavement was laid, the extreme length of which corresponded exactly with the length of the shadow thrown by the obelisk at the sixth hour [Twelve o’clock in the day.] on the day of the winter solstice. After this period, the shadow would go on, day by day, gradually decreasing, and then again [After the summer solstice.] would as gradually increase, correspondingly with certain lines of brass that were inserted in the stone; a device well deserving to be known, and due to the ingenuity of Facundus Novus, the mathematician. Upon the apex of the obelisk he placed a gilded ball, in order that the shadow of the summit might be condensed and agglomerated, and so prevent the shadow of the apex itself from running to a fine point of enormous extent; the plan being first suggested to him, it is said, by the shadow that is projected by the human head. For nearly the last thirty years, however, the observations derived from this dial have been found not to agree: whether it is that the sun itself has changed its course in consequence of some derangement of the heavenly system; or whether that the whole earth has been in some degree displaced from its centre, a thing that, I have heard say, has been remarked in other places as well; or whether that some earthquake, confined to this city only, has wrenched the dial from its original position; or whether it is that in consequence of the inundations of the Tiber, the foundations of the mass have subsided, in spite of the general assertion that they are sunk as deep into the earth as the obelisk erected upon them is high.

(11.) The third [The one that is mentioned above as having been removed from Alexandria by Caligula.] obelisk [This obelisk was transferred by Pope Sextus V. from the Circus Vaticanus to the place of the Cathedral of St. Peter.] at Rome is in the Vaticanian [So called because it was laid out on some gardens which had belonged to one Vaticanus.] Circus, which was constructed by the Emperors Caius [Caligula.] and Nero; this being the only one of them all that has been broken in the carriage. Nuncoreus, [There are nine or ten readings of this name. Bunsen suggests “Menophtheus,” the Egyptian king Meneph-Pthah.] the son of Sesoses, made it: and there remains [In Egypt, probably.] another by him, one hundred cubits in height, which, by order of an oracle, he consecrated to the Sun, after having lost his sight and recovered it.