Note 27 — PART SECOND. NOTES ON THE ILLUMINATION OF LIGHTHOUSES, WITH SHORT NOTICES OF THEIR EARLY HISTORY.
Reading edition
Bell. Judaic. iv., cap. 10, sec. 5. (Havercamp’s Josephus, tom. ii., p. 309. Amsterdam, 1726.) ἐν δεξιᾳ δε ἡ προσαγορευομενη Φαρος νησις προκειται, πῦργον ανἐχουσα μεγιστον, εκπυρσευοντα τοις καταπλὲουσιν, ἐπι τριακοσιους σταδιους, ὤς ἐν νυκτὶ πὂρρωθεν ὁρμιζοιντο προς την δυσχέρειαν του καταπλοῦ. And again, in the sixth Book of the same History (v. 4, sec. 3, tom. ii., p. 330), he says, και τὸ μεν σχημα παρεῴκει τῳ κατα τὴν Φαρον ἐκπυρσεὐοντι τοις επ’ Αλεξανδρείας πλέουσι. The height of the Tower in the text proceeds on the idea of the observer’s eye being ten feet above the sea.
[28] Ammianus Marcellinus, l. xxii., c. 16. (Leipsic 1807, tom. i., p. 306.) Hoc littus cum fallacibus et insidiosis accessibus affligeret antehac navigantes discriminibus plurimis, excogitavit in portu Cleopatra turrim excelsam, quae Pharos a loco ipso cognominatur, praelucendi navibus nocturna suggerens ministeria; cum, quondam ex Parthenio pelago venientes aut Libyco, per pandas oras et patulas, montium nullas speculas vel collium signa cernentes, harenarum inlisae glutinosae mollitiae frangerentur.
[29] Plinii Hist. Nat., xxxvi. 18. (Paris, 1723, p. 739.) Magnificatur et alia turris a rege facta in insula Pharo portum obtinente Alexandriae, quam constitisse octingentis talentis tradunt; magno animo (nequid omittamus) Ptolemai regis, quod in ea permiserit Sostrati Guidii Architecti structuræ ipsius nomen inscribi. Usus ejus, nocturno navium cursu ignes ostendere ad praenuncianda vada portûsque introïtum: quales, jam compluribus locis flagrant, ut Ostiae ac Ravennae. Periculum in continuatione ignium, ne sidus existimetur, quoniam è longinquo similis flammarum aspectus est.
[30] Supposing, as is most probable, that Pliny means the Egyptian talent; the Attic talent was about one-half the value of the other.