At a later period other kings had these obelisks hewn. Sesosthes erected four of them in the above-named city, forty-eight cubits in height. Rhamsesis, too, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one, a hundred and forty cubits high. Having quitted the spot where the palace of Apis stood, this monarch erected another obelisk, one hundred and twenty cubits in height, but of prodigious thickness, the sides being no less than eleven cubits in breadth. It is said that one hundred and twenty thousand men were employed upon this work;[246] and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove strong enough for the weight, with the view of increasing the peril that might be entailed by due want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his own son fastened to the summit; in order that the safety of the prince might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone. It was in his admiration of this work, that, when King Cambyses took the city by storm, and the conflagration had already reached the very foot of the obelisk, he ordered the fire to be extinguished; for he entertained a respect for this stupendous erection which he had not entertained for the city itself.
Ptolemæus Philadelphus erected at Alexandria an obelisk eighty cubits high, which had been prepared by order of King Necthebis: it was without any inscription, and cost far more trouble in its carriage and elevation, than had been originally expended in quarrying it. Some writers inform us that it was conveyed on a raft, under the inspection of the architect Satyrus. For this purpose, a canal was dug from the river Nile to the spot where the obelisk lay; and two broad vessels, laden with blocks of similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each amounting to double the size, and consequently double the weight, of the obelisk, were brought beneath it; the extremities of the obelisk remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. The blocks of stone were then removed, and the vessels being thus gradually lightened, received their burden. It was erected upon a basis of six square blocks, quarried from the same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the sum of fifty talents. This obelisk was placed by the king above-mentioned in the Arsinoœum,[247] in testimony of his affection for his wife and sister Arsinoë. At a later period, as it was found to be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, then præfect of Egypt, had it transferred to the Forum there, after removing the summit for the purpose of substituting a gilded point, an intention which was ultimately abandoned.
There are two other obelisks, which were in Cæsar’s Temple at Alexandria, near the harbor, forty-two cubits in height, and originally hewn by order of King Mesphres. But the most difficult enterprise of all was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it was destroyed by fire. The one in which, by order of the Emperor Caius, the other obelisk had been transported to Rome, after having been preserved for some years and looked upon as the most wonderful construction ever beheld upon the seas, was brought to Ostia, by order of the late Emperor Claudius; and towers of Puteolan earth being first erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the harbor which he was making there. And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by which it became practically ascertained, that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nile.
CONCLUSION.
ITALY.
Having now treated of all the works of Nature, let me end with a word about our native land. Throughout the whole earth, wherever the vault of heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful, or which, for the productions of Nature, merits so high a rank as Italy, that ruler and second parent of the world; recommended as she is by her men, her women, her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced. Her situation, too, is equally in her favor; the salubrity and mildness of her climate; the easy access which she offers to all nations; her coasts indented with so many harbors; the propitious breezes that ever prevail on her shores; advantages, all of them, due to her situation, lying as she does, midway between the East and the West. Add to this, the abundant supply of her waters, the salubrity of her groves, the repeated intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness of her pastures. In short, whatever there is that can minister comfort to the life of man is nowhere else to be found in greater perfection. The cereals, wine, oil, wool, flax, tissues, and oxen—the finest are here. No horses are preferred to those of Italy for the course; while in mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron, Italy is held inferior to no country whatsoever. Ever teeming with these treasures, she lavishes upon us all her bounties of land and sea.
Hail to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things! and do thou deign to show thy favor unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, thus made known thy praise.
FOOTNOTES
[1]The Romans carried the art of short-hand to its highest perfection, as appears from the following epigram of Martial:
“Currant verba licet, manus est velocius illis;
Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus.”