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and of the walls of Tyrinthus built by Prætus a, as works worthy the admiration of all ages. He does not fear to put them in competition with the pyramids of Egypt; but I think this fentiment appears to me to labour under many difficulties.

The edifice conftructed by Mynias was a fort of rotunda, a little flatted. All the building refted on a ftone which was the centre of the arch. It ferved for a key to the whole work, on which refted all the parts. The whole monument was built of marble. The walls of Tyrinthus were built of rough ftones, but fo large, that, according to Paufanias, two mules could with difficulty draw the leaft of them. Little ftones put in between these great ones, filled up the intervals. See what were the monuments which this author, as I have already faid, compares to the pyramids of Egypt.

To judge of these works, even from the defcription of Paufanias, we fee nothing in them to be fo much cried up. Befides, he is the only one who has mentioned them. Homer, Herodotus, Apollodorus, Diodorus, and Strabo, who had had fo many occafions to fpeak of the monuments of Greece, fay nothing of the building of Mynias. With refpect to the walls of Tyrinthus, they tell us, that they had been built by the workmen that Prætus brought from Lycia §. Further, they only reprefent that place as a fmall citadel raised by Prætus in an advantageous post to serve him for a retreat. Yet we shall not fufpect, that these authors have defpised the monuments of Greece, and fill lefs that they have neglected to speak of them. Laftly, let us obferve, that, according to Paufanias, the edifice raised by Mynias was arched, a fact no way credible, especially as it was conftructed of marble: yet there is great appearance, that, even at the time of Homer, the Greeks did not know to

a Pauf. 1. 9. c. 36.

Praetus was brother of Acrifius, whofe reign falls in the year 1379 before Chrift.

e Pauf. 1. 9. c. 38.

f. Id. 1. 2. c. 25.

Apollodor. 1. 2. p. 68.; Strabo, 1. 8. p. 572.

Iliad. 1. 2. v. 559.; Apollod, 1. 2. p. 68.; Strabo, 1, 8, p. 572,

work

work marble. We do not find in his poems any word to characterise and distinguish it from other ftones. If marble had been then known, could Homer have forgot it in the defcription of the palace of Alcinous, and above all, in the palace of Menelaus, where he fays there fhone gold, filver, tin, ivory, and the moft rare productions.

Laftly, it is very difficult to reconcile the date of these monuments with the epoch which the Greeks affign for the invention of almost all the inftruments neceffary for the conftruction of edifices. If we believe the greatest part of the authors of antiquity, they owe to Dædalus the plane, the faw, the wimble, the fquare, and the manner of taking and finding of levels by means of a plummet. It is true, that Dædalus divided with his nephew Talus, Calus, Attalus, or Perdix, (for authors differ about his name), one part of the glory of thefe inventions. The mother of this young man had intrufted Dædalus to inftruct him in the fecrets of his art. He had moreover more genius and induftry than his master. At the age of twelve years, having met with the jaw of a ferpent, and having ufed it with fuccefs to cut at little piece of wood, that adventure gave him the idea of making an inftrument which imitated the tharpness of the teeth of that animal. He took for this business a sheet of iron, and cut it after the model of thefe little teeth, fhort and thick fet, which he had remarked in the ferpent. It was thus that he found the faw. They alfo attribute to him the invention of the compafs, of the throw, and, the potter's wheel. Hiftory adds, that Daedalus was not exempt from the low jealoufy which has at all times been the vice of artists, even of those who professed the most noble and most elevated arts. Apprehending that he should be outdone by his disciple, he destroyed him.

i Odyff. 1. 4. v. 72. &c.

As the interpretation of the word "λrgov used in this description is liable to be difputed, I have not thought proper to give it a determinate fignification. Diod. 1. 4. p. 319. & 320.; Hygin. fab. 274.; Ovid. metam. 1. 8. v. 241.&c. Plin. 1. 7. fect. 57. p. 414.

1 Diod. 1. 4. p. 319. & 320.; Hygin. fab. 274.; Ovid. metam. 1. 8. v. 241. & feq.

mid. ibid.

Although

Although it be thus in this little hiftory, Dedalus, by the confeffion of all chronologifts, is pofterior to the edifices which I have just mentioned. Yet how could they imagine he fhould build without the help of inftruments, which they fay had been invented either by that artift or by his nephew?

Further, there is great reafon to doubt, whether thefe practices were known, even in the ages in which historians have placed these discoveries. To judge of the reality of facts, and what to think of the tools ufed in the heroic times among the Greeks, it is Homer we ought to confult. We shall fee that he does not seem to have any idea of the greatest part of the inventions attributed to Dædalus or his nephew. Without reckoning many places in his poems, where he had occafion to fpeak of the faw, the compafs, and the fquare, the veffel which he caused to be built for Ulyffes in the ifle of Calypfo, afforded him a fine field to fpeak of all the tools of which he could have any knowledge. These nevertheless which he gives to his hero, only consist of a hatchet that cut at both ends, a plane, wimbles, a level, or a rule to make the wood ftraight ". There is no mention of the fquare, the compafs, or even the faw. This laft .inftrument would yet have been the most necessary for Ulyffes for the conftruction of his fhip. Shall we prefume, that Homer neglected to give one to the King of Ithaca *? We cannot fay, that this prince may be thought to have wanted tools neceffary and proper for the work which he undertook. The poet has not placed him in a defert and abandoned island. Ulyffes was then with a goddefs in a capacity of fupplying him with all the helps of which he ftood in any need. There is great room to believe, that Homer gives to his hero all the tools that were in ufe at this time. Since there is no mention made of the fquare, the compass, or the faw, we ought to prefume, that thefe inftruments were not yet invented. The Greeks, in the heroic times,

■ Odyff. 1. 5. v. 234. & 245. &c.

* The word πρίων, which in Greek fignifies a faw, is not found in Homer, nor any thing equivalent to it.

were

were almost as deftitute of mechanical knowledge as the people of the new world. The Peruvians, whom we may look upon in many respects as a policed nation, were ignorant of the use of the faw •. We know even at this time, many people to whom this inftrument is unknown P. They supply it by different means. They cleave the trunks of trees into many parts by means of wedges of ftone. Afterwards they fashion each piece with hatchets, and thus they come, with difficulty, to make planks 1. The Greeks must then have used very near the fame method г.

The doubts which I have raised about the inventions attributed to Dædalus, have engaged me to propose fome on the monuments of which he is looked upon as the author.

They make him travel into Egypt to be inftructed and perfected in the arts. He profited fo well by the leffons which he received there, that he furpaffed in a little time, fay they, the most able architects of that country. They chofe him to conftruct the vestibule of the temple of Vulcan at Memphis. He executed it in a fuperior manner. This work acquired its author fo much glory, that they placed in the temple his ftatue in wood made by himself. They did more. The genius and invention of Daedalus placed him in so high a reputation among the Egyptians, that these people When for decreed to him divine honours. If we fhould believe belebe Diodorus, there fubfifted, even in his time, a temple con. When

:

fecrated under the name of this famous artist in one of the ifles bordering upon Memphis. This temple, adds he, was in great veneration through all the country ".

It was not only in Egypt that Dædalus exercifed his talents: he had left in many countries the teftimonies of his fkill in architecture. He built at Cuma, on the coaft of Italy, a temple to Apollo, in acknowledgment of his happy escape

See part 1. book 2, chap 3. P Lettr. edif. t. 18. p. 328.

Part 1. book 2. chap. 3.; Voyage de Dampier, t. 2. p. 1o. t. 4. p. 23r.
Diod. 1. 1. p. 109. ↑ Id. ibid.

r See Virgil. georg. 1. 1. v, 144.

" Id. ibid.

dont

age

from

from Crete. They boafted of the architecture of this temple as very beautiful and very magnificent *.

In the refidence which Dædalus made in Sicily, he em bellished that ifle with many works equally useful and ingenious: he built among others on the height of a rock a very strong citadel, and made it abfolutely impregnable ›. Mount Erix was fo fteep, that the houfes which they had been obliged to conftruct near the temple of Venus, appeared ready to fall every moment down the precipice. Dædalus augmented the fize of the fummit of that mountain by means of earth he brought there, and fupported it with a wall. He dug alfo near Megara in Sicily a grand pond, through which the river Alabon discharged itself into the fea. His induftrious genius fhone ftill more in the conftruction of a cavern which he dug in the territory of Selinunta: he knew how to manage and employ with fo much art, the vapour of the fubterraneous fires which came from thence, that the fick people who entered into that cavern, foon perceived them felves thrown into a gentle sweat, and were cured infenfibly, even without finding any inconveniency from the heat . Diodorus adds, that Dædalus made in Sicily many other works which the injuries of time have destroyed.

But these monuments, however commendable, they might be, ought not to be put in comparifon with the famous labyrinth which he made in the ifle of Crete. This work alone would have been fufficient to immortalize the name of Dædalus. Ancient tradition fays, that he had taken the model and the defign from that which we fee in Egypt; but he had only executed an hundredth part of it. Dædalys had confined himself to imitate the entrance of the labyrinth of Egypt, where we met with fuch a surprising number of turnings and windings, fo difficult to remark, that it was not poffible to get out when we were once en

× Virgil. Æneid. 1. 6. v. 17. & feq.; Sil. Ital. 1.12. v. 102.; Aufon. Idyll. 10. V. 300. & 301.

y Diod. 1. 4. P. 321.

z Id. ibid.

a Ibid.

Ibid. p. 322. & l. 1. p. 71.; Plin. 1. 36. fect. 19. p. 739.

b Ibid.

gaged

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