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CHAPTER I.

OF THE ORIGIN OF THE THREE SORTS OF COLUMNS,AND OF THE CORINTHIAN CAPITAL.

The Corinthian Column is, except in its capital, of thesame proportion as the Ionic : hut the additional heightof its capital makes it taller and more graceful; theIonic capital being hut one third of the diameter of theshaft in height, whilst that of the Corinthian is equal tothe thickness of the shaft. Thus, the two-thirds of thethickness of the shaft, which are added to its height, giveit, in that respect, a more pleasing effect. The othermembers which are placed on the Columns, are borrowedeither from the Doric or Ionic proportions : inasmuchas the Corinthian itself has no regular settled rules forits cornice, and other ornaments, hut is regulated byanalogy, either from the mutuli in the cornice, or theguttse in the architrave, or epistylium in the Doric order;or it is set out according to the laws of the Ionic, with asculptured frieze, dentils and a cornice. Thus, from thetwo orders, by the interposition of a capital, a third orderarises. The three sorts of columns, different in form, havereceived the appellations of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian,of which the first is of the greatest antiquity. For Dorus,the son of Hellen, and the Nymph Orse'is, reigned overthe whole of Achaia and Peloponnesus, and built atArgos, an ancient city, on a spot sacred to Juno, a tem-ple, which happened to be of this order. After this,many temples similar to it, sprung up in the other partsof Achaia, though the proportions which should be pre-served in it, were not as yet settled. But afterwards whenthe Athenians, by the advice of the Delphic oracle in ageneral assembly of the different states of Greece, sentover into Asia thirteen colonies at once, and appointed agovernor or leader to each, reserving the chief command