Buch 
The architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, in ten books / transl. from the Latin by Joseph Gwilt
Entstehung
Seite
59
JPEG-Download
 

59

after being cut out, were packed up in wooden casesand transported to the Comitium to grace the HCdileshipof Yarro and Murena. In the house of Croesus, whichthe Sardians call Gerusia, established for the repose andcomfort of the citizens in their old age, as also in thehouse of Mausolus, a very powerful king of Halicarnas-sus, though all the ornaments are of Proconnesian mar-ble, the walls are of brick, are remarkably sound at thepresent day, and the plastering with which they are co-vered is so polished that they sparkle like glass. Theprince who caused them to be thus built was not, how-ever, restrained by economy; for, as king of Caria, hemust have been exceedingly rich. Neither could it beurged that it was from want of skill and taste in archi-tecture, that he did so. Born at Mylasa, and perceiv-ing that Halicarnassus was a situation fortified by nature,and a place well adapted for commerce, with a commo-dious harbour, he fixed his residence there. The site ofthe city bears a resemblance to a theatre, as to generalform. In the low r est part of it, near the harbour, a forumwas built: up the hill, about the middle of the curve, wasa large square in the centre of which stood the mauso-leum, a work of such grandeur that it was accountedone of the seven wonders of the world. In the centre,on the summit of the hill, was the temple of Mars, withits colossal statue, which is called otKgoXidou sculpturedby the eminent hand of Leocharis. Some, however, at-tribute this statue to Leocharis; others to Timotheus.On the right, at the extreme point of the curve, was thetemple of Venus and Mercury, close to the fountain ofSalmacis. It is a vulgar error, that those who happen todrink thereat are affected with love-sickness. As, how-