Archimedes Texts

118
Temple by the Priest, filled every Creature
with Terror and Dread on whatever Side it was
turned; and that no Eye durst look towards
it, for Fear. These miraculous Accounts we
have inserted only by way of Amusement. As
to other Particulars which may help to make
the Situation beautiful, considered in a general
View, such as the Circumference, the Space
round about it, its Elevation, Levelling,
Strengthening, and the like, I have nothing
more to say here, but to refer you for Instruc
tions to the first and third Books. The chief
Qualities requisite in a Situation or Platform
(as we have there observed) are to be perfectly
dry, even, and solid, as also convenient and
suitable to the Purpose of the Building; and
it will be a very great Help to it, to strengthen
it with a good Bottom made of baked Earth,
in the Manner which we shall teach when we
come to treat of the Wall. We must not here
omit an Observation made by Plato, that it
will be a great Addition to the Dignity of the
Place, if you give it some great Name; and
this we find the Emperor Adrian was very
fond of doing, when he gave the Names of
Lycus, Canopeis, Academia, Tempe and other
great Titles to the several Parts of his Villa at
Tivoli.

A short Recapitulation of the Compartition, and of the just Composition and
adorning the Wall and Covering.

Though we have already said almost
as much as was necessary of the Com
partition in the first Book, yet we shall take a
brief Review of it again here. The chief and
first Ornament of any Thing is to be free from
all Improprieties. It will therefore be a just
and proper Compartition, if it is neither con
fused nor interrupted, neither too rambling nor
composed of unsuitable Parts, and if the Mem
bers be neither too many nor too few, neither
too small nor too large, nor mis-matcht nor un
sightly, nor as it were separate and divided
from the Rest of the Body: But every Thing
so disposed according to Nature and Conveni
ence, and the Uses for which the Structure is
intended, with such Order, Number, Size, Si
tuation and Form, that we may be satisfied
there is nothing throughout the whole Fabrick,
but what was contrived for some Use or Con
venience, and with the handsomest Compact
ness of all the Parts. If the Compartition
answers in all these Respects, the Beauty and
Richness of any Ornaments will sit well upon
it; if not, it is impossible it should have any
Air of Dignity at all. The whole Compositi
on of the Members therefore should seem to be
made and directed entirely by Necessity and
Conveniency; so that you may not be so much
pleased that there are such or such Parts in
the Building, as that they are disposed and laid
out in such a Situation, Order and Connection.
In adorning the Wall and Covering, you will
have sufficient Room to display the finest Ma
terials produced by Nature, and the most curi
ous Contrivance and Skill of the Artificer. If
it were in your Power to imitate the ancient
Osiris, who, we are told, built two Temples of
Gold, one to the Heavenly, the other to the
Royal Jupiter; or if you could raise some vast
Stone, almost beyond humane Belief, like that
which Semiramis brought from the Mountains
of Arabia, which was twenty Cubits broad
every Way, and an hundred and fifty long;
or if you had such large Stone, that you could
make some Part of the Work all of one Piece,
like a Chapel in Latona's Temple in Ægypt,
forty Cubits wide in Front, and hollowed in
one single Stone, and so also covered with an
other: This no doubt would create a vast deal
of Admiration in the Beholders, and especially
if the Stone was a foreign one, and brought
through difficult Ways, like that which Hero
dotus relates to have been brought from the City
of Elephantis, which was about twenty Cubits
broad, and fifteen high, and was carried as far
as Susa in twenty Days. It will also add great
ly to the Ornament and Wonder of the Work,
if such an extraordinary Stone be set in a re
markable and honourable Place. Thus the
little Temple at Chemmis, an Island in Ægypt,
is not so surprizing upon Account of being co
vered with one single Stone, as upon Account
of such a huge Stone's being raised to so great a
Height. The Rarity and Beauty of the Stone
itself will also add greatly to the Ornament; as
for Instance, if it is that sort of Marble, with