Page:Busbecq, Travels into Turkey (1744).pdf/54

 *land of Lawrels round about the Pillar, which hides the jointing, so that they which look upon it from the Ground, perceive no jointing at all. That Pillar hath been so often shaken by Earthquakes, and so battered by Fires happening near it, that it is cleft in many Places, and they are forced to bind it about with Iron Hoops, that it may not fall to pieces.

say, That the Statue of Apollo once stood upon that Pillar, and that afterwards the Statues of Constantine, and of Theodosius the Elder, were erected there; but they are all thrown down, either by the Force of the Winds, or by Earthquakes. Greeks tell this Story concerning the Obelisk, in the Hippodrome, which I mentioned before, viz.

it fell from its Basis, and lay for many Ages upon the Ground; but in the Time of the later Emperors, there was an Architect found, who undertook to raise it up to its Place; but he demanded a vast Reward for his Pains. After the Price was agreed on, he prepared abundance of Ropes, Pullies, and other Instruments, and by those means, he lifted up that vast Stone, within one Inch of the Place where it was to stand; but his present Apparatus being able to raise it no higher, the People, who in great Numbers were his Spectators, were of Opinion, that all his former Cost and Pains were lost, and he must begin anew to try to do the Feat some other way, to his vast Expence and Charge. The Artist himself was not discouraged; but being skilful in Mechanick Philosophy, he caused abundance of Water to be brought up to him, which, for many Hours, he cast upon the Ropes, to which the Obelisk hung; and those Ropes, being often wet and dry, shrunk a little, and by that means, lifted up