Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-08-29
SOME MECHANICAL FEATS.
WONDERFUL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF ANCIENT ENGINEERS.
The Portable Roof Oyer the Colos-
+ seum-Cesar's Big Awning
| Alexander's Enormous Tent.

The ingenious M. Eiffel and the artis-
tic M. Bartholdi have been gravely pom
dering the Colossus of Rhodes-measur-
ing it and weighing it as per description;
and they conclude that the thing was
simply impossible. 1t could not have
been set up, to begin with, and when set
up it could not have stood the pressure
of the wind. This is demonstrated by
all the rules of modern science, and he
who does not admit the demonstration
must be prepared to show that two and
two do not make four. These antique
personages who professed to have seen
the Colossus were victims of an ocular
delusion or flat story-tellers, and that
greater number who mention it inciden-
tally, and we might mention the ruins of
the Colosseum, were credulous gossips.
The fact is that Messrs. Eiffel and Bar
tholdi argued in the fashion usual with
engineers. Not all of them would pre-
tend that they know any law of nature
which applies in such a case. But very
few would listen patiently if it were
urged that the ancients knew some laws
with which they are unacquainted.
So it appears, however, to the disinter-
ested student; aud we can bring forward
evidence enough. If it be true that the
Colossus of Rhodes is really proved Sim
possible" according to the best modern
authorities, this is a good illustration to
begin with; for its existence is as we'll
authenticated as the Temple at Delphi
and the statue of Olympian Zens-or the
Tower of London, for that matter, to
one who has never seen it. BY some
means it was set up, and by adaptation
of some natural laws it was made to
stand until an earthquake overthrow it.
One is embarrassed by the number and
variety of illustrations to the same effect
which crowd upon the mind. Since the
Colosseum has been mentioned, we may
choose examples of that class. Is NJ.
Eiffel prepared to put an awning over
Trafalgar Square when the sun shines,
and remove it promptly, without the aid
of central support, of steam engines,
or even chains2 The area of the Colos-
scum is certainly not less. This may
seem trif1ing matter to the thoughtless,
because they have never considered it.
Roman engineers covered in that vast ex-
panse with some woolen material, and
they worked the ponderous sheet SO
easily and smoothly that it was drawn
and withdrawn as the sky changed. The
bulk of it must have weighed hundreds
of tons, all depending by ropes
from the circumference. But the
ancients thought SO little of
this feat that they have left us
only one trivial detail of the method
So Julius Caesar stretched an awning
above the Forum komauum and great
part of the Via sacra in the space of
single night. Have any of our modern
engineers pondered the contemporary
descriptions of Alexander's durbar tent
before Babylon9 That, again, appears
to have had no central support 1t was
upheld, says Phylarchus, by eight pillars |
of solid gold. OF the glorious plenish-
ing within we have not to speak, since
our theme is mechanics. Around the |
throne and the great courtiers stood 500 |
Macedonian guards; in circle beyond
them 500 Persian guards; beyond these
again 1000 archers, To fix a tent |
which held 1000 soldiers on duty with |
arms and accoutrements, surrounding,
In successive circles, the most gorgeous
Oriental court that ever was, with hun
dreds of satraps, councillors, generals,
eunuchs and slaves, would perplex
mechanician of the nineteenth century.
He will reply that the story is false
must be, because he could not match it.
Happily, the awning of the Colosseum
stands beyond dispute, and Alexander's
tent is small matter compared with |
that.
But we undertook to deal with the
engineering of the ancients in connection
with the theater, having CHANGED on that
class of illustration. Pliny tells how
Metellus Scaurus, Edile, built wcn-
drous edifce, which stirred his rival, G.
Curio, to frantic jealousy. 1t may be
worth while, In passing-since we are all |
SO much interested in the theater nova
days and think so much of our new ones
to tell what sort of building that
Curio set himself to outdo. 1t had 800 |
marble columns, each thirty eight feet
high and thirty-eight feet apart. About
three thousand bronz statues stood among
them. The stage had three floors, as
was usual; the lowest paved and fitted
with marble, the second with glass, the
third gilded, boards and all. 1t held
80, 900 people.
This account will seem so fabulous to
steady going Britons that it is prudent to
give chapter and verse. The description
will be found, with curions details and
passionate reflections on the luxury of the
day, in Pliny's Natural History, xxxiii.,
"a.
Such was the wonder which Curio re-
solved to beat, and feeling himself un-
able to VIC in outlay, he summoned the
engineers of the period to design some
thing to "fetch" the public. They built
two enormous theatres of wood, each to
contain an audience of $4,000, which
stood back to back. When the specta-
tors assembled in the forenoon, Curio
was chaffed, no doubt, on the issue of