Note 119 — LETTER I.

‘The centre of the Forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which a mutilated fragment is now degraded by the appellation of the burnt pillar. This column was erected on a pedestal of white marble 20 feet high, and was composed of ten pieces of porphyry, each of which measured about 10 feet in height and about 33 in circumference. On the summit of the pillar, above 120 feet from the ground, stood the colossal statue of Apollo. It was of bronze, and had been transported either from Athens or a town in Phrygia, and was supposed to be the work of Phidias. The artist had represented the god of day, or, as it was afterwards interpreted, the Emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the globe of the world in his left, and a crown of rays glittering on his head.’ Gibbon, chap. xvii.