Decoration, TopTHE SEVEN WONDERS OF ANCIENT CIVILISATION

Decoration, Top

From the French of Victor Hugo

By HAROLD BEGBIE

The Temple of Diana at Ephesus speaks:The sun standeth in the high places of the mountains,Full of brightness and mirth is the dawn.But my loveliness is not shamed by him,Neither is it dimmed;For, behold and consider well, the sun is not more than thought.That which yesterday I was, to-morrow I shall be:I live: I wear upon my brow the moving ages and the spirit of man,And genius, and art:These things are more wonderful than the sun.Senseless is the stone in the earth,And the granite is not more than the formless night;The alabaster knoweth not the dayspring,Porphyry is blind,And marble is without understanding;But let Ctesiphon pass,Or Dædalus, or Chresiphon,And fix his eyes, full of the divine flash,Upon the ground where the rocks slumber,And lo, they awake, they tremble, they are stricken with understanding;The granite, lifting some vague and troubled eyelid,Struggleth to behold his master:The rock feeleth within himself the breathing of the unhewn statue,The marble stirs in the midnight of his darkness,Because that he is aware of the soul of a man.The buried alabaster desireth to rise up from the grave,Earth shudders, it trembleth violently,It feels upon it the will of a man;And behold, beneath the gaze of him who passeth with creation in his eyes,From the deeps of the sacred earthThe sublime palace comes forth and mounts upward.When she has made an end, the Gardens of Babylon sing their laud of Semiramis:Glory to Semiramis,Who reared us up on the arches of the great bridgesWhose span outraceth time.This great queen was wont to delight herself beneath our floating branches;In the midst of the ruin of two empiresShe laughed in our groves,She was happy in our green places;She conquered the kings of far countries,And when the man had humbled himself before her,Lo, she would go upon her way,She would come hither,She would sigh gleefully under our branches,Very pleasantly would she lie down on the skins of panthers.And after the Gardens have sung, there is heard the voice of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus:I am the monument of a heart that knew itself infinite;Death is not death beneath my dome of blue,Beneath my dome, death is victory,Death is life.Here hath death so much of gold and of precious stoneThat he boasteth himself thereof;Behold, I am the burial which is a pageant,And the sepulchre which is a palace.Then, like a great thunder, the voice of Jupiter:I am the Olympian,The lord of the muses;All that which hath life, or breath, or love, or thought, or growth.Groweth, thinketh, liveth, loveth, and breatheth in me.The incense of supplication which rises to my feetTrembles with terror and affright;The slope of my brow doth touch the axis of the world;The tempest speaketh with me before he troubles the waters;I endure without age;I exist without pang;Unto me one thing only is impossible—To die.After Jupiter, from the island of Pharos sounds the voice of the great Lighthouse:In the midst of the mighty watersI tarry for the ceasing of the centuries.Sostratus the Cnidian built me,He built me that there might be thrownAcross the rolling waters,And through the darkness where lurketh destruction,A rebuke to the lovely vanity of the stars.After the Lighthouse, the Colossus at Rhodes:I am the true Lighthouse.Rhodes lies at my threshold.Before the steadfast gaze of my unsleeping eyesWinter maketh white the mountains.I behold the deep waters in their cavernous mists;I am the sentinel whom none cometh to relieve;I look forth upon the coming of the night,And upon the coming of the dawnI behold the lifting of the mists,I behold the terror of the sea,With the immense dreaming of Colossus.And last speaks the Pyramid of Cheops:The desert, spread like a table, lieth beneath my foundations.Lo, from some mysterious gateway of the nightI lift unto heaven my stair of terror,And out of the darkness itself seemeth it that I am builded.The sphinxes dropped their broods in the caverns;The centuries went by; the winds passed sighing;And Cheops said again: I am eternal!Then, after a profound silence, the creeping worm of the sepulchre lifteth up his voice:I say unto you Buildings that ye rise, and arise still more!Set ye up a stone above a stone,Above cities lift yourselves up, O temples!Lift up yourselves, like Babel!Column above column;Higher and yet higher;Let palaces arise upon the hollow placesAnd let nothingness be fastened upon the foundations of night!Ye are like smoke,Therefore exalt yourselves with the clouds!Set not an end to your boasting!Mount up, mount up, for ever!Lo, in the dust beneath your feet I crawl and wait.Small am I, O mighty ones,And yet I say unto you,From the going down of the sun to his rising up,From all the corners of the earth,Everything which hath substance and which hath being,The thing which is sorrowful,And the thing which is glad,Descend unto me.And I only have strength, and I only endure for ever,For behold, I am death.

The Temple of Diana at Ephesus speaks:

The sun standeth in the high places of the mountains,Full of brightness and mirth is the dawn.But my loveliness is not shamed by him,Neither is it dimmed;For, behold and consider well, the sun is not more than thought.That which yesterday I was, to-morrow I shall be:I live: I wear upon my brow the moving ages and the spirit of man,And genius, and art:These things are more wonderful than the sun.

The sun standeth in the high places of the mountains,

Full of brightness and mirth is the dawn.

But my loveliness is not shamed by him,

Neither is it dimmed;

For, behold and consider well, the sun is not more than thought.

That which yesterday I was, to-morrow I shall be:

I live: I wear upon my brow the moving ages and the spirit of man,

And genius, and art:

These things are more wonderful than the sun.

Senseless is the stone in the earth,And the granite is not more than the formless night;The alabaster knoweth not the dayspring,Porphyry is blind,And marble is without understanding;But let Ctesiphon pass,Or Dædalus, or Chresiphon,And fix his eyes, full of the divine flash,Upon the ground where the rocks slumber,And lo, they awake, they tremble, they are stricken with understanding;The granite, lifting some vague and troubled eyelid,Struggleth to behold his master:The rock feeleth within himself the breathing of the unhewn statue,The marble stirs in the midnight of his darkness,Because that he is aware of the soul of a man.The buried alabaster desireth to rise up from the grave,Earth shudders, it trembleth violently,It feels upon it the will of a man;And behold, beneath the gaze of him who passeth with creation in his eyes,From the deeps of the sacred earthThe sublime palace comes forth and mounts upward.

Senseless is the stone in the earth,

And the granite is not more than the formless night;

The alabaster knoweth not the dayspring,

Porphyry is blind,

And marble is without understanding;

But let Ctesiphon pass,

Or Dædalus, or Chresiphon,

And fix his eyes, full of the divine flash,

Upon the ground where the rocks slumber,

And lo, they awake, they tremble, they are stricken with understanding;

The granite, lifting some vague and troubled eyelid,

Struggleth to behold his master:

The rock feeleth within himself the breathing of the unhewn statue,

The marble stirs in the midnight of his darkness,

Because that he is aware of the soul of a man.

The buried alabaster desireth to rise up from the grave,

Earth shudders, it trembleth violently,

It feels upon it the will of a man;

And behold, beneath the gaze of him who passeth with creation in his eyes,

From the deeps of the sacred earth

The sublime palace comes forth and mounts upward.

When she has made an end, the Gardens of Babylon sing their laud of Semiramis:

Glory to Semiramis,Who reared us up on the arches of the great bridgesWhose span outraceth time.This great queen was wont to delight herself beneath our floating branches;In the midst of the ruin of two empiresShe laughed in our groves,She was happy in our green places;She conquered the kings of far countries,And when the man had humbled himself before her,Lo, she would go upon her way,She would come hither,She would sigh gleefully under our branches,Very pleasantly would she lie down on the skins of panthers.

Glory to Semiramis,

Who reared us up on the arches of the great bridges

Whose span outraceth time.

This great queen was wont to delight herself beneath our floating branches;

In the midst of the ruin of two empires

She laughed in our groves,

She was happy in our green places;

She conquered the kings of far countries,

And when the man had humbled himself before her,

Lo, she would go upon her way,

She would come hither,

She would sigh gleefully under our branches,

Very pleasantly would she lie down on the skins of panthers.

And after the Gardens have sung, there is heard the voice of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus:

I am the monument of a heart that knew itself infinite;Death is not death beneath my dome of blue,Beneath my dome, death is victory,Death is life.Here hath death so much of gold and of precious stoneThat he boasteth himself thereof;Behold, I am the burial which is a pageant,And the sepulchre which is a palace.

I am the monument of a heart that knew itself infinite;

Death is not death beneath my dome of blue,

Beneath my dome, death is victory,

Death is life.

Here hath death so much of gold and of precious stone

That he boasteth himself thereof;

Behold, I am the burial which is a pageant,

And the sepulchre which is a palace.

Then, like a great thunder, the voice of Jupiter:

I am the Olympian,The lord of the muses;All that which hath life, or breath, or love, or thought, or growth.Groweth, thinketh, liveth, loveth, and breatheth in me.The incense of supplication which rises to my feetTrembles with terror and affright;The slope of my brow doth touch the axis of the world;The tempest speaketh with me before he troubles the waters;I endure without age;I exist without pang;Unto me one thing only is impossible—To die.

I am the Olympian,

The lord of the muses;

All that which hath life, or breath, or love, or thought, or growth.

Groweth, thinketh, liveth, loveth, and breatheth in me.

The incense of supplication which rises to my feet

Trembles with terror and affright;

The slope of my brow doth touch the axis of the world;

The tempest speaketh with me before he troubles the waters;

I endure without age;

I exist without pang;

Unto me one thing only is impossible—

To die.

After Jupiter, from the island of Pharos sounds the voice of the great Lighthouse:

In the midst of the mighty watersI tarry for the ceasing of the centuries.Sostratus the Cnidian built me,He built me that there might be thrownAcross the rolling waters,And through the darkness where lurketh destruction,A rebuke to the lovely vanity of the stars.

In the midst of the mighty waters

I tarry for the ceasing of the centuries.

Sostratus the Cnidian built me,

He built me that there might be thrown

Across the rolling waters,

And through the darkness where lurketh destruction,

A rebuke to the lovely vanity of the stars.

After the Lighthouse, the Colossus at Rhodes:

I am the true Lighthouse.Rhodes lies at my threshold.Before the steadfast gaze of my unsleeping eyesWinter maketh white the mountains.I behold the deep waters in their cavernous mists;I am the sentinel whom none cometh to relieve;I look forth upon the coming of the night,And upon the coming of the dawnI behold the lifting of the mists,I behold the terror of the sea,With the immense dreaming of Colossus.

I am the true Lighthouse.

Rhodes lies at my threshold.

Before the steadfast gaze of my unsleeping eyes

Winter maketh white the mountains.

I behold the deep waters in their cavernous mists;

I am the sentinel whom none cometh to relieve;

I look forth upon the coming of the night,

And upon the coming of the dawn

I behold the lifting of the mists,

I behold the terror of the sea,

With the immense dreaming of Colossus.

And last speaks the Pyramid of Cheops:

The desert, spread like a table, lieth beneath my foundations.Lo, from some mysterious gateway of the nightI lift unto heaven my stair of terror,And out of the darkness itself seemeth it that I am builded.The sphinxes dropped their broods in the caverns;The centuries went by; the winds passed sighing;And Cheops said again: I am eternal!

The desert, spread like a table, lieth beneath my foundations.

Lo, from some mysterious gateway of the night

I lift unto heaven my stair of terror,

And out of the darkness itself seemeth it that I am builded.

The sphinxes dropped their broods in the caverns;

The centuries went by; the winds passed sighing;

And Cheops said again: I am eternal!

Then, after a profound silence, the creeping worm of the sepulchre lifteth up his voice:

I say unto you Buildings that ye rise, and arise still more!Set ye up a stone above a stone,Above cities lift yourselves up, O temples!Lift up yourselves, like Babel!Column above column;Higher and yet higher;Let palaces arise upon the hollow placesAnd let nothingness be fastened upon the foundations of night!

I say unto you Buildings that ye rise, and arise still more!

Set ye up a stone above a stone,

Above cities lift yourselves up, O temples!

Lift up yourselves, like Babel!

Column above column;

Higher and yet higher;

Let palaces arise upon the hollow places

And let nothingness be fastened upon the foundations of night!

Ye are like smoke,Therefore exalt yourselves with the clouds!Set not an end to your boasting!Mount up, mount up, for ever!Lo, in the dust beneath your feet I crawl and wait.Small am I, O mighty ones,And yet I say unto you,From the going down of the sun to his rising up,From all the corners of the earth,Everything which hath substance and which hath being,The thing which is sorrowful,And the thing which is glad,Descend unto me.And I only have strength, and I only endure for ever,For behold, I am death.

Ye are like smoke,

Therefore exalt yourselves with the clouds!

Set not an end to your boasting!

Mount up, mount up, for ever!

Lo, in the dust beneath your feet I crawl and wait.

Small am I, O mighty ones,

And yet I say unto you,

From the going down of the sun to his rising up,

From all the corners of the earth,

Everything which hath substance and which hath being,

The thing which is sorrowful,

And the thing which is glad,

Descend unto me.

And I only have strength, and I only endure for ever,

For behold, I am death.

Decoration, Bottom

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLONThe Hanging Gardens have been attributed to Semiramis, although Nebuchadnezzar is also said to have built them to please one of his wives, who, coming from a hilly country to Babylon, in the midst of a vast and barren plain, sighed for some reminder of the leafy beauty of her old home. The gardens, built in the form of a square extending some 700 feet on each side, rose to a great height in terrace upon terrace supported by massive pillars. A remarkable hydraulic system kept their multitudinous plants and trees in almost perpetual verdure.LARGER IMAGE

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON

The Hanging Gardens have been attributed to Semiramis, although Nebuchadnezzar is also said to have built them to please one of his wives, who, coming from a hilly country to Babylon, in the midst of a vast and barren plain, sighed for some reminder of the leafy beauty of her old home. The gardens, built in the form of a square extending some 700 feet on each side, rose to a great height in terrace upon terrace supported by massive pillars. A remarkable hydraulic system kept their multitudinous plants and trees in almost perpetual verdure.

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THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPTFor six thousand years the Pyramids have thrown their shadow across the sands of Egypt. The stone of which they are built would make a great wall from Cairo to New York; the white marble which covered them would have built more king’s palaces than Egypt has had need of. The building of the Great Pyramid employed 100,000 slaves for 30 years, and the geometrical perfection of it is a marvel to this day. Khufu, or Cheops, who built the Great Pyramid—probably as his tomb—reigned about 4700 B.C., so that the pyramid is more than three times as old as the Roman Empire.LARGER IMAGE

THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT

For six thousand years the Pyramids have thrown their shadow across the sands of Egypt. The stone of which they are built would make a great wall from Cairo to New York; the white marble which covered them would have built more king’s palaces than Egypt has had need of. The building of the Great Pyramid employed 100,000 slaves for 30 years, and the geometrical perfection of it is a marvel to this day. Khufu, or Cheops, who built the Great Pyramid—probably as his tomb—reigned about 4700 B.C., so that the pyramid is more than three times as old as the Roman Empire.

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THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUSThis famous monument of antiquity was erected in the year 354 B.C. to the memory of King Mausolus of Caria by his widow Artemisia, at Halicarnassus, the beautiful Greek city-colony on the shores of the Ægean Sea. Some idea of its size will be gathered from the fact that it was surrounded by an esplanade which measured over three hundred feet on each side, while its total height was nearly a hundred and fifty feet. The statue existed almost intact until the fourth century of our own era, and was finally destroyed in the Middle Ages by the Turks.LARGER IMAGE

THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS

This famous monument of antiquity was erected in the year 354 B.C. to the memory of King Mausolus of Caria by his widow Artemisia, at Halicarnassus, the beautiful Greek city-colony on the shores of the Ægean Sea. Some idea of its size will be gathered from the fact that it was surrounded by an esplanade which measured over three hundred feet on each side, while its total height was nearly a hundred and fifty feet. The statue existed almost intact until the fourth century of our own era, and was finally destroyed in the Middle Ages by the Turks.

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THE COLOSSUS OF RHODESThis short-lived achievement of ancient art dated from about 300 B.C. It was the largest of a hundred statues to the sun-god raised in the island of Rhodes, any one of which, said Pliny, would have made famous the place where it stood. Dedicated to Apollo, who was thought to have delivered Rhodes from Demetrius Poliorcetes, it was made from the engines of war which that besieger left behind. One finger of it was larger than an ordinary statue. An earthquake in 224 B.C. destroyed it, but even in its broken and fallen state it was long the wonder of Rhodes.LARGER IMAGE

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES

This short-lived achievement of ancient art dated from about 300 B.C. It was the largest of a hundred statues to the sun-god raised in the island of Rhodes, any one of which, said Pliny, would have made famous the place where it stood. Dedicated to Apollo, who was thought to have delivered Rhodes from Demetrius Poliorcetes, it was made from the engines of war which that besieger left behind. One finger of it was larger than an ordinary statue. An earthquake in 224 B.C. destroyed it, but even in its broken and fallen state it was long the wonder of Rhodes.

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THE TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS“Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Her temple was burned down in 356 B.C., and subsequent to that year the great temple famed in history was erected by the Ionians. It is said to have taken 220 years to construct, and measured about 400 feet in length and 200 feet in width, while it contained no fewer than 127 Ionic columns nearly 65 feet high. The temple was despoiled by Nero and destroyed by the Goths in 262 A.D., but some of its ruins still remain.LARGER IMAGE

THE TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS

“Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Her temple was burned down in 356 B.C., and subsequent to that year the great temple famed in history was erected by the Ionians. It is said to have taken 220 years to construct, and measured about 400 feet in length and 200 feet in width, while it contained no fewer than 127 Ionic columns nearly 65 feet high. The temple was despoiled by Nero and destroyed by the Goths in 262 A.D., but some of its ruins still remain.

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THE STATUE OF JUPITER ON OLYMPUSThe world-famous statue of Jupiter was the work of the great sculptor Phidias. It measured 43 feet in height above the base. The body of the god was carved from ivory, and the drapery was of solid gold. No other statue of such magnitude, of such artistic perfection, or of such precious material, has been known to history. Among the ruins of the temple are still to be seen the remains of the black marble mosaic on which the statue stood.LARGER IMAGE

THE STATUE OF JUPITER ON OLYMPUS

The world-famous statue of Jupiter was the work of the great sculptor Phidias. It measured 43 feet in height above the base. The body of the god was carved from ivory, and the drapery was of solid gold. No other statue of such magnitude, of such artistic perfection, or of such precious material, has been known to history. Among the ruins of the temple are still to be seen the remains of the black marble mosaic on which the statue stood.

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THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIAOn the island of Pharos, close to Alexandria, stood the famous lighthouse erected by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 280 B.C. Constructed of white marble, in a series of vast stages of vaulted masonry, it reached the height of 520 feet, and in its summit burned night and day, an immense beacon fire of wood, which could be seen 30 miles at sea. The lighthouse was gradually destroyed by earthquakes and the action of the sea, but existed in some condition to the end of the 13th century.LARGER IMAGE

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA

On the island of Pharos, close to Alexandria, stood the famous lighthouse erected by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 280 B.C. Constructed of white marble, in a series of vast stages of vaulted masonry, it reached the height of 520 feet, and in its summit burned night and day, an immense beacon fire of wood, which could be seen 30 miles at sea. The lighthouse was gradually destroyed by earthquakes and the action of the sea, but existed in some condition to the end of the 13th century.

LARGER IMAGE

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