[31] Lucian, in his Treatise (Amsterdam, 1743, vol. ii., p. 68.) Πως δει ἱστοριαν συγγραφειν, thus details the merit and fraud of Sostratus. Ορᾷς τον Κνίδιον ἐκεῖνον ἀρχιτεκτονα, οἶον ἐποίησεν; οἰκοδομὴσας γαρ τον ἐπὶ τῇ Φαρῳ πῦργον, μεγιστον και καλλιστον ἔργων ἀπαντων, ὡς πυρσεύοιτο ἀπ’ αὐτου τοις ναυτιλλομενοις, ἐπὶ πολὺ της θαλασσης, και μὴ καταφέροιντο εἰς την Παραιτονίαν, παγχάλεπον, ὣς φασιν, οὖσαν και ἄφυκτον, εἴ τις ἐμπεσοι εἴς τα, ἕρματα. Οἰκοδομήσας οὐν το ἔργον, ἔνδοθεν μεν, κατα των λιθων, το αὐτου ὄνομα ἐπέγραψεν. Ἐπιχρίσας δὲ τιτάνῳ και ἐπικαλύψας, ἐπέγραψε το ὀνομα του τότε βασιλέυοντος, εἰδὼς, ὃσπερ και ἐγενετο, πάνυ ὀλιγου χρονου, συνεκπεσουμενα μεν τῳ χρισματι τα γραμματα, εκφανησόμενον δε ΣΩΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ ΔΕΧΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ Κνιδιος. θεοις σωτηρσιν ὑπερ των πλωΐζομεων, κ.τ.λ.
[32] Cæsar de Bell. Civil., iii. 98 (Lond. 1712, p. 355). Pharus est in insula turris, magna altitudine, mirificis operibus extructa, quae nomen ab insula accepit.
Valerius Flaccus very distinctly sets forth the great advantage of lighthouses to the seaman, and especially speaks of those at Alexandria and Ostia in these lines—
Non ita Tyrrhenus stupet Ioniusve magister,
Qui portus, Tyberine, tuos, claramque serenâ
Arce Pharon præceps subiit:
Argonaut, vii., v. 84.
Pompon. Mela, ii. cap. 7.
Coruña Tower Mr Moore, in his History of Ireland, vol. i., p. 16, speaks of the Tower of Coruña, which he says is mentioned in the traditionary history of that country, as a lighthouse erected for the use of the Irish in their frequent early intercourse with Spain. In confirmation of this opinion, he cites a somewhat obscure passage from Æthicus, the cosmographer. This in all probability is the tower which Humboldt mentions in his Narrative under the name of the Iron Tower, which was built as a lighthouse by Caius Saevius Lupus, an architect of the city of Aqua Flavia, the modern Chaves.[33] A Lighthouse has lately been established on this headland, for which Dioptric apparatus was supplied from the workshop of M. Letourneau of Paris.
[33] “The traditionary history,” says Mr Moore, “of the latter country (Ireland) gives an account of an ancient Pharos or lighthouse erected in the neighbourhood of the port now called Coruña, for the use of navigators on their passage between that coast and Ireland. There is a remarkable coincidence between this tradition and an account given by Æthicus, the cosmographer, of a lofty Pharos or lighthouse standing formerly on the sea-coast of Gallicia, and serving as a beacon in the direction of Britain. Secundus Angulus intendit ubi Brigantia civitas sita est Galliciae, et altissimum Pharum et inter pauca memorandi operis ad speculum Britanniae. Whether the translation I have given of the last three words of this passage convey their real meaning, I know not; but they have been hitherto pronounced unintelligible. The passage is thus noticed by Casaubon, in a note on Strabo, lib. iii. ‘Æthicus in Hispaniae descriptione altissimi cujusdam Fari meminit.’” The passage in Strabo above referred to is on page 179 of the first volume of the Oxford folio edition of 1807, where the geographer speaks of Cape Νεριον, which Casaubon distinctly identifies with the Cabo de Finisterra of modern seamen.