they were intended to sustain, Assuming,
then, that both the great central pillar phalanx and the three detached
colonnades supported a roof, the question arises, were the colonnades
in any way united with the main building, or did they stand completely
detached from it? It has been supposed that they were all porticos _in
antis_, connected with the main building by solid walls--that the great
central column-cluster was surrounded on all sides by a wall of a very
massive description, from the four corners of which similar barriers
were carried down to the edge of the terrace, abutting in front upon
the steps of the great sculptured staircase, and extending eastward and
westward, so as to form the antce of an eastern and a western portico.
In the two corners between the northern in _antae_ of the side porticos
and the _antae_ of the portico in front are supposed to have been large
guard-rooms, entirely filling up the two angles. The whole building is
thus brought into close conformity with the "Palace of Xerxes," from
which it is distinguished only by its superior size, its use of stone
pillars, and the elongation of the tetrastyle chambers at the sides of
that edifice into porticos of twelve pillars each.

[Illustration: PLATE L.]

The ingenuity of this conception is unquestionable; and one is tempted
at first sight to accept a solution which removes so much that is
puzzling, and establishes so remarkable a harmony between works whose
outward aspect is so dissimilar. It seems like the inspiration of genius
to discern so clearly the like in the unlike, and one inclines at first
to believe that what is so clever cannot but be true. But a rigorous
examination of the evidence leads to an opposite conclusion, and if it
does not absolutely disprove Mr. Fergusson's theory, at any rate shows
it to be in the highest degree doubtful. Such walls as he describes,
with their _antae_ and their many doors and windows, should have left
very marked traces of their existence in great squared pillars at the
sides of porticos, in huge door-frames and window-frames, or at least
in the foundations of walls, or, the marks of them, on some part of the
paved terrace. Now the entire absence of squared pillars for the ends
of antce, of door-frames, and window-frames, or even of such sculptured
fragments as might indicate their former existence, is palpable and is
admitted; nor is there any even supposed trace of the walls, excepting
in one