dreadful, far beyond any I ever heard before. Well might the
devout heathen, unfkilled in natural caufes, afcribe to a prefent
deity fo grand an operation; and while the tremendous God
drove, as he conceived, his terrible chariot through the darknefs,
tremble at the immenfe difplay of his power and be filled with
apprehenfion of his wrath.
T h e rain, pouring down violently in large drops, foon
made its way through our {lender fhed, and fell plentifully on
us and our bedding, tinged with foot and dirt. Our horfes
were without flielter, and our men in an inftant wet to the
Ikin. It held up again about ten in the morning, and we
croffed the plain to the ruins of Ephefus, but foon after the
thunder and rain re-commenced,- and forced us to return. In the
afternoon the plain was deluged with water from the mountains,
running down like a torrent, and rendering it in many places
impaflable. The Aga of Aiafaluck being abfent, we vifited his
deputy, our men carrying, as ufual, fome coffee and fmall loaves
of fugar as a prefent. He received us very gracioufly, fitting crofs-
legged on the roof of an old bath, which was his habitation.
C H A P . XXXV.
Ephfus — ftadium — Phe theatre — 7'he odeum, & c — Phe
gymnafum---- A jlreet — Another —— A temple —-- Square
tower — Extent o f the city — Avenues — Prion a mountain o f
marble — A place o f burial — The quarries ■ &c.
E P H E S U S was fitwated by the mountains, which are the
fouthern boundary of the plain, and comprehended within its
wall a portion of mount Prion and of Coriffus.. Mount Prion is
a circular hill refembling that of Aiafifluek, but much larger.
Coriffus is a fingle lefty ridge, extending northward from near
mount
mount Pactyas and approaching Prion, then making an elbow
and running weftwardly toward the fea. This city as well as
Smyrna was built by Lyfimachus, who alfo enrolled its fenate,
and provided for its civil government.
W e entered Ephefus from Aiafaluck with mount Prion and
the exterior lateral wall of a fiadium, which fronted the fra, on
our lpft hand. Going on and turning, we paffed that wing of
the building, and the area opened to us. We meafured it with
a tape, and found it fix hundred eighty feven feet long. The
fide next the plain was railed on vaults, and faced with the:
ftrong wall before mentioned. The oppolite fide, which overlooks
it, and the upper end, both refted on the Hope of the hill.
The feats, which ranged in numerous rows one above another,
have all been removed; and of the front only a few marbles
remain, with an arch 1 which terminates the left wing and was
one of the avenues provided for the fpeftators. Upon the key-
fione of the back front is a fmall mutilated figure. This part of
the fabric was reftored or repaired when the city had declined in
lplendor and was partly ruinous; for it is compofed of marbles,
which have belonged to other buildings. A bafs-relief, rudely
carved, is infrrted in i t ; with, befides fragments, fome Infcrip-
tions now effaced, or too high up to be read.
T h e preaching of St Paul produced a tumult at Ephefus,
the people rufhing into the Theatre, and fliouting “ Great is
“ Diana. ’ The veftiges of this ftru&ure, which was very capacious,
are farther on in the fide of the fame mountain. The
feats and the ruins of the profcenium or front are removed. In
both wings are feveral architectural fragments; and, prying
about the fide next to the fiadium, we difrovered an infrription
over an arch, once one of the avenues, and clofed up perhaps to
ftrengthen the fabric. It bids the reader, if he approached
not the feftive frene, ftill be pleafed with the atchievements of
1 See a view of this arch in Le Brun, p. 31.
m the