and, weary of ruminating, fell asleep, when he beheld the goddess, who bade him be comforted, she had been his friend. The next day the stone was found to have settled, apparently from is own weight, as he wished.

Near the path, after passing the aqueduct at Aiasalúck, in our way from Smyrna, we met with a curious memorial of the importance of the goddess, and of the respect paid to her.* It is a decree of the Ephesians, inscribed on a slab of white marble, and may be thus translated. "To the Ephesian Diana. Inasmuch as it is notorious, that not only among the Ephesians, but also every where among the Greek nations, temples are consecrated to her, and sacred portions; and that she is set up, and has an altar dedicated to her, on account of her plain manifestations of herself, and that besides, the greatest token of the veneration paid her, a month is called after her name; by us Artemision, by the Macedonians and other Greek nations, and in their cities, Artemisión; in which, general assemblies and Hieromênia are celebrated, but not in the holy city, the nurse of its own, the Ephesian, goddess: The people of Ephesus deeming it proper, that the whole month called by her name be sacred, and set apart to the goddess, have determined by this decree, that the observation of it by them be altered. Therefore it is enacted, that in the whole month Artemision the days be holy, and that nothing be attended to on them, but the yearly feastings, and the Artemisiac Panegyris, and the Hieromênia; the entire month being sacred to the goddess; for, from this improvement in her worship, our city shall receive additional lustre, and be permanent in its prosperity

*Inscript. Ant. p. 13.

for ever." The person who obtained this decree, appointed games for the month, augmented the prizes of the contenders, and erected statues of those who conquered. His name is not preserved; but he was probably a Roman, as his kinsman, who provided this record, was named Lucius Phænius Faustus. The feast of Diana was resorted to yearly by the Ionians, with their families.

A people convinced that the self-manifestations of the deity before-mentioned were real, could not be easily turned to a religion, which did not pretend to a similar or equal intercourse with its divinity. And this perhaps is the true reason, why, in the early ages of Christianity, besides the miraculous agency of the spirit in prophetic fits of extasy, a belief of supernatural interposition by the Panagia or Virgin Mary,* and by saints appearing in daily or nightly visions, was encouraged and inculcated. It helped by its currency to procure and confirm the credulous votary, to prevent or refute the cavil of the heathen, to exalt the new religion, and to deprive the established of its ideal superiority. The superstitions derived on the Greek church from this source, in a remote period, and still continuing to flourish in it, would principally impede the progress of any, who should endea

vour to convert its members to the nakedness of reformed Christianity. Great is the Panagia, would be the general cry; and her self-manifestations, like those of Diana antiently, would even now be attested by many a reputable witness. By what arguments shall a people, filled with affectionate regard for her, and feeling complacency from their conviction of her attention to them, and of her power,

* See an instance, in the year 408. Sozomen, vii. 5.

be prevailed on to accept our rational Protestantism in exchange for their fancied, but satisfactory revelations !

CHAP. XXXIX.

The spot chosen for the temple of Diana-Skill of the architectsThe new temple-Its magnificence—The asylum-The temple not in the city-Plundered-Its destruction unnoticed-The supposed site-A Sibyline prophecy.

THE reputation and the riches of their Diana had made the Ephesians desirous to provide for her a magnificent temple. The fortunate discovery of marble in Mount Prion gave them new vigour. The cities of Asia, so general was the esteem for the goddess, contributed largely; and Croesus was at the expense of many of the columns. The spot chosen for the building was a marsh, as most likely to preserve the structure free from gaps, and uninjured by earthquakes. The foundation was made with charcoal rammed, and with fleeces. The souterrain consumed immense quantities of marble. The edifice was exalted on a basement, with ten steps. The architects, Ctesiphon of Crete, and Metagenes his son, were likewise authors of a treatise on the fabric. Demetrius a servant of Diana, and Peonius an Ephesian, were said to have completed this work, which was two hundred and twenty years about.

The distance between the site of the temple and the quarries, did not exceed eight thousand feet, and no rising intervened, but the whole space was level plain. Ctesiphon in

vented a curious machine, of which a description is preserved,* for transporting the shafts of the columns; fearing, if a carriage were laden with a stone so ponderous, as each was, the wheels would sink deep into the soil. Metagenes adapted his contrivance to convey the architraves. These were so bulky, that the raising of any one of them to its place, appeared a miracle. It was done by forming a gentle ascent, higher than the columns, of baskets filled with sand; emptying those beneath, when the mass was arrived, and thus letting it gradually down upon the capitals. By this method, the prodigious stone, formerly mentioned, was inserted over the door-way.

This temple, which Xerxes spared, was set on fire by Herostratus; but the votaries of Diana proved so extravagant in their zeal, that she was a gainer by his exploit. A new and more glorious fabric was begun; and Alexander the Great, arriving at Ephesus, wished to inscribe it as the dedicator; and was willing, for that gratification, to defray the whole expense; but the Ephesians declined accepting this magnificent offer. The architect, then employed, was the famous projector, who proposed the forming Mount Athos, when he had finished, into a statue of this king.

The temple now erected was reckoned the first in Ionia for magnitude and riches. It was four hundred and twenty feet long, and two hundred and twenty broad. Of the columns, which were sixty feet high, one hundred and twenty seven were donations from kings. Thirty-six were carved; and one of them, perhaps as a model, by Scopas. The order was

* Vitruvius, l. x. c. vi. where, for millia passuum octo, read pedum,-Millia pedum quinque. I. x. c. xiv. or passus mille.

Ionic, and it had eight columns in front.

The folding

doors, or gates, had been continued four years in glue, and were made of cypress-wood, which had been treasured up for four generations, highly polished. These were found by Mucianus as fresh and as beautiful four hundred years after, as when new. The ceiling was of cedar; and the steps for ascending the roof, of a single stem of a vine, which witnessed the durable nature of that wood. The whole altar was in a manner full of the works of Praxiteles. The offerings were inestimable, and among them was a picture by Apelles, representing Alexander armed with thunder, for which he was paid twenty talents of gold.* The structure was so wonderfully great in its composition, and so magnificently adorned, it appeared the work of beings more than human. The sun, it is affirmed, beheld in his course no object of superior excellence, or worthier of admiration.

The temple of Diana had the privilege of an asylum, or sanctuary, before the time of Alexander; but he extended it to a stadium, or half a quarter of a mile. Afterwards Mithridates shot an arrow from the angle of the pediment, and his boundary exceeded the stadium, but not much. Mark Antony coming near him, enlarged it so as to comprehend a portion of the city; but that concession proving inconvenient and dangerous, was annulled by Augustus Cæsar.

We have mentioned before, that the distance of the temple from the quarries did not exceed eight thousand feet, and that the whole way was entirely level. From the detail now given, it appears, that the temple was distinct from the present city, and the distance may be inferred; for Mark An

* Above £38,650 English..