MERGE TO GYRENE. 547 That which is built across is placed at one angle of the range, and is eight feet wider the average breadth, taking it at twenty feet. If a groom or a coachman were to give an opinion with respect to the use of the chambers in question, with reference to the structure above, they would certainly decide, without the least hesitation, that this uniform, long range of building, was the stabling of the palace, and could only have been appropriated to the horses and chariots of the noble Cyrenean who inhabited it. As we have never seen the stables of any ancient residence, whether Grecian or Eoman, we will not venture to assign such a use to these chambers ; but it is w ell known that the Cyreneans were particularly celebrated for their skilful management of horses and chariots, and we must confess, without being either coachmen or grooms, that such an appropriation did more than once occur to us *.

There are remains of apartments adjoining each other to the westward of the handsome colonnades which we have mentioned, the plans of which we would not hazard without excavation ; nor could we without it complete that of the porticoes, the columns of which are nearly four feet in diameter. The w hole building appears to have extended about three hundred feet in a southerly direction, and to have occupied more than four hundred in length from east to * The pasturage of Gyrene and Barca was always, as it is at present, abundant ; and both cities were remarkable for their excellent breed of horses, and their more than ordinary skill in driving. Pindar gives the epithet eutumr (renowned for horses) to Gyrene ; and the Barceans, we are told (see the t&nxa of Stephanus), derived their art of rearing them from Neptune, and their dexterity in the management of chariots from Minerva.

o'l ras l'j7fora(pt(ZS' Ttaa. rio!7Eift)vor, 5e •na.a, •nfj.aoy.

4 A 2