and the more modern of the ancient historians, but likewise by Herodotus and Pindar, who dedicates two of his Olympic Odes to him; so that it must be much more than two thousand years old. It is a kind of pyramid, the most durable of all forms, and is surrounded by aged olive-trees, which cast a wild, irregular shade over the ruin.

These mighty ruins of Agrigentum, and the whole mountain on which it stands, says Mr. Brydone, are composed of an immense concretion of seashells, run together, and cemented by a kind of sand or gravel, and now become as hard, and perhaps more durable than even marble itself. This stone is white before it has been exposed to the air; but in the temples and other ruins it is become of a very dark brown. These shells are found on the very summit of the mountain, which is at least fourteen or fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea.

The celebrated Empedocles was a native of this city, one of the finest spirits that ever adorned the world. He remarked, in regard to his fellow-citizens, "that they squandered their money so lavishly every day, that they seemed to expect it could never be exhausted; and built with such solidity and magnificence as if they thought they should live for ever."

ALEXANDREA.

Or the several capitals of Egypt in successive ages, Thebes or Diospolis was the most ancient. Next was Memphis, a city also of the most remote antiquity. Alexandrea succeeded Memphis, and remained the chief city till the Saracens founded Misr-el-Kahira.

Alexander the Great, in his way to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, observed opposite to the island of

Pharos a spot which he thought extremely well adapted for the building of a city. He therefore set about drawing the plan of one; in doing which, he particularly marked out the several places for squares, and where temples should be erected. The general execution he committed to Dinocrates, the architect who had rebuilt the temple of Diana at Ephesus. This city he called Alexandrea, after his own name; and, being situated with the Mediterranean on one side and a branch of the Nile on the other, it soon drew to itself the commerce both of the East and West. The merchandise of India was unladen at Portus Muris, on the western coast of the Red Sea, whence it was brought upon camels to a town of Thebais called Copt, and conveyed down the Nile to Alexandrea, whither merchants from all parts resorted.

The trade of the East has at all times enriched those who carried it on. Solomon received from one commercial voyage no less a sum than fifteen million five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.* Tyre afterward had this trade. When the Ptolemies, however, had built Berenice, and other ports on the western side of the Red Sea, and fixed their chief mart at Alexandrea, that city became the most flour, ishing of all the cities in the world. "There," says

Prideaux, "it continued for many centuries after; and all the traffic which the western parts of the world from that time had with Persia, India, Arabia, and the eastern coasts of Arabia, was wholly carried on through the Red Sea and the mouth of the Nile, till a way was discovered of sailing to those parts by the Cape of Good Hope.'

Alexander was buried in the city he had built;† and, as his sarcophagus has become an object of

Four hundred and fifty talents of gold. See 2 Chron., viii., 18. This, we may suppose, was the gross sum received, not the profit.

† A.M. 3685, B.C. 321. Diod., lib. xviii., p. 608, 610.

great curiosity, having been taken from the French at Alexandrea, where it was found in the mosque of St. Athanasius, and been placed in the British Museum, we shall give from Rollin an account of his funeral, for never had any monarch one so magnificent,

Alexander died at Babylon. Aridæus, having been deputed by all the governors and grandees of the kingdom to take upon himself the care of his obsequies, had employed two years in preparing everything that could render it the most august funeral that had ever been seen. When all things were ready for the celebration of this mournful ceremonial, orders were given for the procession to begin. This was preceded by a great number of pioneers and other workmen, whose office was to make all the ways practicable through which the procession was to pass. As soon as these were levelled, the magnificent chariot, the invention and design of which raised as much admiration as the immense riches that glittered all over it, set out from Babylon. The body of the chariot rested upon two axletrees, that were inserted into four wheels, made after the Persian manner, the naves and spokes of which were covered with gold, and the rounds plated over with iron. The extremities of the axletrees were made of gold, representing the mouths of lions biting a dart. The chariot had four draughtpoles, to each of which were harnessed four sets of mules, each set consisting of four of those animals, so that it was drawn by sixty-four mules. The strongest of those creatures, and the largest, were chosen on this occasion. They were adorned with crowns of gold, and collars enriched with precious stones and golden bells. On this chariot was erected a pavilion of entire gold, twelve feet wide and eighteen in length, supported by columns of the Ionic order, embellished with leaves of acanthus. The inside was adorned with a blaze of jewels, dis

posed in the form of shells. The circumference was beautified with a fringe of golden network; the threads that composed the texture were an inch in thickness, and to these were fastened large bells, whose sound was heard at a great distance. The external decorations were disposed into four relievos. The first represented Alexander seated in a military chariot, with a splendid sceptre in his hand, surrounded on one side with a troop of Macedonians in arms, and on the other with an equal number of Persians, armed in their manner. These were preceded by the king's equeries. In the second were seen elephants completely harnessed, with a band of Indians seated on the forepart of their bodies, and on the hinder a band of Macedonians, armed as in the day of battle. The third exhibited several squadrons of horse, ranged in military array. The fourth represented ships preparing for battle. At the entrance into the pavilion were golden lions, that seemed to guard the passage. The four corners were adorned with statues of gold, representing victories, with trophies of arms in their hands. Under the pavilion was placed a throne of gold of a square form, adorned with the heads of animals, whose necks were encompassed with golden circles a foot and a half in breadth; to these were hung crowns that glittered with the liveliest colours, being such as were carried in procession at the celebration of sacred solemnities. At the foot of the throne was placed the coffin of Alexander, formed of beaten gold, and half filled with aromatic spices and perfumes, as well to exhale an agreeable odour as for the preservation of the corpse. A pall of purple, wrought with gold, covered the coffin. Between this and the throne, the arms of that monarch were disposed in the manner he wore them while living. The outside of the pavilion was likewise covered with purple, flowered with gold. The top terminated in a very large crown of the same metal,

which seemed to be a composition of olive-branches. The rays of the sun darting on this diadem, in conjunction with the motion of the chariot, caused it to emit a kind of flashes like those of lightning. It may easily be imagined, that, in so long a procession, the motion of a chariot, loaded like this, would be liable to great inconveniences. In order, therefore, that the pavilion, with all its appendages, might, when the chariot moved in uneven ways, constantly continue in the same situation, notwithstanding the inequality of the ground and the shocks that would frequently be unavoidable, a cylinder was raised from the middle of each tree to support the pavilion, by which expedient the whole machine was preserved steady. The chariot was followed by the royal guards, all in arms, and magnificently arrayed. The multitude of spectators of this solemnity is hardly credible; but they were drawn together as well by their veneration for the memory of Alexander, as by the magnificence of this funeral pomp, which had never been equalled in the world. There was a current prediction, that the place where Alexander should be interred would be rendered the most happy and flourishing part of the whole earth. The governors therefore contested with each other for the disposal of a body that was to be attended with so glorious a prerogative. The affection Perdiccas entertained for his country made him desirous that the corpse should be conveyed to Ege, in Macedonia, where the remains of its kings were usually deposited. Other places were likewise proposed, but the preference was given to Egypt. Ptolemy, who had been under such extraordinary and recent obligations to the king of Macedonia, was determined to signalize his gratitude on this occasion. He accordingly set out with a numerous guard of his best troops, in order to meet the procession, and advanced as far as Syria. When he had joined the attendants on the funeral, he pre