sir CHRISTOPHER WREN, x n t. 359

and thus may be discerned the Reason of the Triglyphs, and of the wholeDorick Order; and these long Porticoes were the general Method of buildingCities in the hot Climates.

When Æcxander had determined to build Alexandria, and had fettled thePlace, he left Dinocrates his Architect to compleat the fame, who drew a longStreet with Porticoes on both Sides, from the Lake Maotis to the Sea, and an-other cross it, that lead to Pelufmm ; then built Walls and large Towers, eachcapable to quarter five hundred Men; the noble Ruins of which remain at thisDay; (a) then giving great Privileges to Egyptians and Jews, they soon filledthe Quarters between the Porticoes with private and publick Buildings. Thuswere Cities suddenly raised, and thus was Tadmcr built, the Ruins of whichihew nothing at present to Travellers, but incredible Numbers of Pillars of theDorick Order, some yet standing, more broken, which were certainly the Re-mains of long Porticoes to shade the Streets. Now, how was ‘Tarsus and Ail-chiala built in a'Day ? that is, I suppose, the Walls and Gates were set out in aDay ; and this Way of setting out the principal Streets by Porticoes, occasionedthat hundreds of Pillars, of all forts, were to be bought at the Quarries readymade, where great Numbers of Artizans wrought for Sale of what they raised;and this is the Reason why even at Rome the Scantlings are not always foundconformable to the Rules, especially in sudden Works ; as to instance in th cSee MonfiiurPortico of the Pantheon , where are scarcely two Columns of the fame Diameter; Dd S odetz -some of the Columns being six * Roman Palms and ten Inches [Pollices] in Dia- * Tj>e Romanmeter, others six Palms and five Inches. However, as it is a Coloss-work, and /^jEngUihmost wonderfully rich, consisting of sixteen huge Columns of the Corinthian Mea/un.Order, each Column being one solid Stone of oriental Granate, the Eye cannotreadily discern any Disproportion. And thus in the great Pillar of London , theHeighth exceeding the due Proportion of the Order, one Module is imper-ceptible to the Eye.

Pliny the younger, proposing to repair and enlarge, by the Addition of a Plinii Epist.Portico, an old Temple of Ceres , that stood upon his Estate in Tuscany ; directs Llb- 9 'his Architect immediately to buy four Marble Columns, of any sort he pleased.

By this Method of purchasing, at any time, Columns of all Orders and Propor-tions, ready formed at the Quarries, as Goods in a Shop, or Warehouse, theAncients had an Advantage of erecting Porticoes (the stately Pride of the RomanArchitecture) of any Grandeur, or Extent, in a very short Time, and withoutbeing over scrupulous in the Exactness of the Dimensions.

TRACT IV.

A N Example of Tyrian Architecture we may collect from the Theatre,by the Fall of which, Sampson made so vast a Slaughter of the Phili-stines , by one Stretch of his wonderful Strength. In considering what thisFabrick must be, that could at one Pull be demolistied, I conceive it an ovalAmphitheatre, the Scene in the Middle, where a vast Roof of Cedar-beamsresting round upon the Walls, centered all upon one sliort Architrave, thatunited two Cedar Pillars in the Middle -, one Pillar would not be sufficient tounite the Ends of at least one hundred Beams that tended to the Center; there-fore, I fay, there must be a short Architrave resting upon two Pilldrs, upoh

(a) Near this City stands a Pillar, erected by one of the Ptplmys,, (but vulgarly calledPomps s Pillar) the Shaft of which consists of one solid Stone of Granate, 90 feet high., and38 in Compass. [Le Bruyn’r Voyage, p. 171-)

which

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