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Curiosities Respecting Temples, Etc (Second though reckoned as well)

second, though reckoned, as well as it, one of the wonders of the world.

The second temple of the great Diana, was remaining in the times of Pliny and Strabo; and is supposed to have been destroyed in the reign of Constantine, pursuant to the edict of that emperor, commanding all the temples of the heathens to be demolished:-the former was burnt the same day that Alexander was born, by one Erostratus, who owned on the rack, that the only thing which had prompted him to destroy so excellent a work, was the desire of transmitting his name to future ages. Whereupon the common council of Asia made a degree, forbidding any one to name him; but this prohibition served only to make his name the more memorable, such a remarkable extravagance, or rather madness, being taken notice of by all the historians who have written of those times. Alexander offered to rebuild the temple at his own expense, provided the Ephesians would agree to put his name on the front; but they received his offer in such a manner as prevented the resentment of that vain prince, telling him, "it was not fit that one god should build a temple to another." The pillars, and other materials, that had been saved out of the flames, were sold, with the jewels of the Ephesian women, who on that occasion willingly parted with them; and the sum thus raised served for the carrying on of the work till other contributions came in, which, in a short time, amounted to an immense treasure. This is the temple which Strabo, Pliny, and other Roman writers, speak of. It stood between the city and the port, and was built, or rather finished, as Livy tells us, in the reign of king Servius. Of this wonderful structure there is nothing at present remaining but some ruins, and a few broken pillars, forty feet long, and seven in diameter. Another curious monument of antiquity, which demands the reader's attention, is, LAOCOON. - This is a celebrated monu ment of Greek sculpture, exhibited in marble, by Polydorus, Athenodorus, and Agesander, the three famous artists of Rhodes. This relic of antiquity was found at Rome, among the ruins of the palace of Titus, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, under the pontificate of Julius II. and since deposited in the Farnese palace. Laocoon is represented with his two sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his body, gnawing it, and injecting their poison. Virgil has given us a beautiful description of the fact, Æn. lib. ii. This statue exhibits the most astonishing dignity and tranquillity of mind, in the midst of the most excruciating torments. Pliny says of it, that it is, opus omnibus picture et statuariz BABYLON. artis præferendum.-Lib. xxxvi. c. 5. "The Laocoon (Dr. Giles observes) may be regarded as the triumph of Grecian sculpture; since bodily pain, the grossest and most ungovernable of all our passions, and that pain united with anguish and torture of mind, are yet expressed with such propriety and dignity, as afford lessons of fortitude superior to any taught in the schools of philosophy. The horrible shriek which Virgil's Laocoon emits, is a proper circumstance for poetry; but the expression of this shriek would have totally degraded the statue It is softened, therefore, into a patient sigh, with eyes turned to heaven in search of relief. The intolerable agony of suffering nature is represented in the lower part, and particularly the extremity of the body; but the manly breast struggles against calamity. The contention is still more plainly perceived in his furrowed forehead; and his languishing paternal eye demands assistance, less for himself than for his miserable children, who look up to him for help." --Hist. of Greece, ii. 177.

The Laocoon was sent to Paris by Bonaparte, in 1797. BABYLON. The following account of this city, in its greatest splendour, is borrowed principally from Herodotus, who had been on the spot, and is the oldest author who has treated of the subject.

The city of Babylon was square, being a hundred and twenty furlongs, that is, fifteen miles, or five leagues, every way; and the whole circuit of it was four hundred and eighty furlongs, or twenty leagues. The walls were built with large bricks, cemented with bitumen, a thick glutinous fluid, which rises out of the earth in the neighbouring country, and which binds stronger than mortar, and becomes harder than brick itself. These walls were eighty-seven feet thick, and three hundred and fifty high. Those who mention them as only fifty cubits high, refer to their condition after Darius, son of Hystaspes, had commanded them to be reduced to that height, to punish a rebellion of the Babylonians.

The city was encompassed with a vast ditch, which was filled with water, and the sides of which were built up with brick-work. The earth which was dug out, was used in making bricks for the walls of the city; so that the depth and width of the ditch may be estimated by the extreme height and thickness of the walls. There were a hundred gates to the city, twenty-five on each of the four sides. These gates, with their posts, &c. were all of brass. Between every two gates were three towers, raised ten feet above the walls, where necessary; for the city being encompassed in several places with marshes, which defended the approach to it, those parts stood in no need of towers.

A street corresponded with each gate; so that there were fifty streets, which cut one another at right angles, and each of which was fifteen miles in length, and one hundred and fifty-one feet in width. Four other streets, which had houses on one side, and the ramparts on the other, encompassed the whole city, and were each of them two hundred feet wide. By the streets crossing each other, the whole city was divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, and two miles and a quarter in circuit. The houses of these squares were three or four stories high, and their fronts were embellished; and the inner space was filled with courts and gardens.

The city was divided into two parts by the Euphrates, which ran from north to south. A bridge of admirable structure, about a furlong in length, and sixty feet in width, formed the communication across the river; and at the two extremities of this bridge were two palaces on the east, and the new palace on the west side of the river. The Temple of Belus, which stood near the old palace, occupied one entire square. The city was situated in a vast plain, the soil of which was extremely fat and fruitful.

To people this immense city, Nebuchadnezzar transplanted hither an infinite number of captives, from the many nations that he subdued. It would appear, however, that the whole of it was never inhabited.