_They wonder also_ (saith he) _by what means they_ (that, is such huge stones) _were set up_. What may be effected by that _Mechanicall Art_, which _Dee_ in his _Mathematicall Preface_ to _Euclyde_, cals _Menadry_, or _Art of ordering Engines for raising weights_; those (it seems) of whom _Camden_ speaks took little notice of, when _Archimedes_ during the siege of _Syracuse_, raised out of the Sea, and turned in the air at pleasure, the Ships and Gallies of the _Romans_, full fraught as they were with Souldiers, Mariners, and their ordinary lading: and if King _Hieron_ could have assigned him, a fit place to firm his engines on, he would have undertaken to remove, even the terrestriall _Globe_ out of the worlds _center_, so high, perfection in this _Art_ transported him. What should I say of the _Obelisk_ in Ages so far past, brought from the Mountains of _Armenia_, and erected in _Babylon_ by _Semiramis_, one hundred & fifty foot high, and at the base twenty four foot square of one entire stone? _Est in fano_ Latonæ (saith _Herodotus_ of his own knowledge) _delubrum ex uno factum lapide, cujus parietes æquali celsitudine ad longitudinem quadragenum cubitorum, cujus lacunari, pro tecto impositus est alius lapis quatuor cubitorum per oras crassitudine. In the Temple of_ Latona (in _Ægypt_) _is a Chappell formed of one stone, whose walls being of equall height, are in length forty cubits, covered in like manner with one sole stone four cubits thick_. Those, which made this wonder would have much more admired, if they could have seen the _Obelisk_ raised in times of old by King _Ramesis_ at _Heliopolis_, in that part of _Ægypt_ anciently called _Thebais_, in height one hundred twenty one Geometrical feet (which of our measure makes one hundred thirty six feet) of one entire stone: and so little wonder made they of raising it, that the Architect undertook and did effect it, the Kings own son being at the same time bound to the top thereof. Amongst the _Romans_, _Augustus Cæsar_ erected in the great Cirque at _Rome_, an _Obelisk_ of one stone, one hundred and twenty foot, nine inches long: another also, was set up in _Mars_ field, nine foot higher then it, by the said Emperour. And it seems also, neither they, nor _Camdens_ self had ever seen that _Obelisk_, which even in these our days, in the year one thousand five hundred eighty six, _Sixtus Quintus_ caused to be erected in the _Piazza_ of S. _Peter_ at _Rome_, one hundred and eight _Roman_ palms high, and at the base twelve palms square, (according to our Assise, fourscore and one foot high, and nine foot square) of one entire stone also: _Dominico Fontana_ being _Architect_. But, there are more strange things (as Sir _Walter Raleigh_ hath it) in the world, then betwixt _London_ and _Stanes_. It is want of knowledge in _Arts_ makes such admirers, and _Art_ it self have so many Enemies. Had I not been thought worthy (by him who then commanded) to have been sole _Architect_ thereof, I would have made some mention of the great stones used in the work, and _Portico_ at the West end of S. _Pauls_ Church _London_, but I forbear; though in greatnesse they were equall to most in this _Antiquity_, and raised to a far greater height then any there. What manner of Engines the _Ancients_ used for raising; and what secure ways they had, for cariage and transportation of their huge weights, is more proper for another subject.