The total circumference, measured on the lower step, was—
| Feet. | Cubits. | |||
| 126 feet, or 72 cubits × 2 = | 252 | or | 144 | |
| 105 fe”or 7260cu”xxi× 2 = | 210 | ” | 120 | |
| —– | —– | |||
| 462 | 264 | [24] | ||
It is not necessary to say anything further with regard to the vertical heights. Till the system of definite proportions of the monument are more fully worked out than they can be in such a work as this, it will be better to adhere literally to Pliny’s measurements as they stand in the text. They explain and fix all the vertical dimensions with sufficient precision for all practical purposes, though I cannot help suspecting that even he was wrong to the extent of an inch or two here or there, from not exactly understanding the subject he was treating. All this, however, is of no consequence in so far as the design is concerned, and therefore of secondary interest here.
Sculpture and Pedestals.
Of the three friezes that were found in the excavations, two are so similar that they were generally mistaken for parts of the same composition. The reasons, however, assigned by Mr. Newton for believing that they were different are so cogent as to leave very little doubt of the fact that they were so. The first of these, of which the Museum possesses 16 slabs, represents a combat of Amazons, and may therefore be called the Amazon frieze. The second, which is very similar, in like manner represents a combat of Lapithæ and Centaurs, and may therefore be called by their name. The last, which is in lower relief and less weather-worn, represents, principally at least, a chariot race.
The two first are so similar in dimensions and style that they were evidently parts of the same system of decoration. One, there can be little doubt, belonged to the order, the other to the basement; but there do not seem to be any sufficient data for ascertaining which; and, as it is not of the least consequence for the purposes of the restoration, I shall not enter upon the question at present. They are so similar in dimensions as well as in design and in relief that either may be taken.
To us, who only think of getting the full value of our money in whatever we do, it seems difficult to understand why so much labour and such careful art should have been bestowed on a frieze which was to be placed at a height of 80 feet from the spectator’s eye.[25] But the Greeks slurred nothing, and seemed to have felt an innate satisfaction in knowing that a work was perfect and true, even if the eye could not grasp it, which must have been the case with many of the minuter proportional ratios which they considered so important.
In estimating this, we must not lose sight of the beauty of the climate and clearness of the atmosphere, which rendered things sharply visible at distances whence all would be hazy confusion in our grey atmosphere. Nor must we forget that all the principal features of the architecture were certainly accentuated by colour, and even if it is contended that the figures themselves were not painted, no one now hardly will deny that they were relieved by a painted background; and it is very difficult to believe that the colour could have stopped there. When new, the white marble, relieved and surrounded by coloured architecture, must have been a most painful and intolerable discord; and although the figures may not have been painted to look like life, it hardly seems doubtful but that the flesh was tinted and the robes coloured, at least to such an extent as to distinguish them, not only from the flesh, but from one another.
Traces of colour have been found on some of the bassi-rilievi of the Mausoleum. The lions certainly were painted, and with no sparing hand; and the colours found on the architecture were strong and distinct, as they generally are.