t sixty-five feet. Within the
peristyle at either end, there was an interior range of six columns,
of five feet and a half in diameter, standing before the end of the
cell, and forming a vestibule to its door. There was an ascent of two
steps into these vestibules from the peristyle. The cell, which was
sixty-two feet and a half broad within, was divided into two unequal
chambers, of which the western was forty-three feet ten inches long,
and the eastern ninety-eight feet seven inches. The ceiling of the
former was supported by four columns, of about four feet in diameter,
and that of the latter by sixteen columns of about three feet. It is
not known of what order were the interior columns of either chamber.
Those of the western having been thirty-six feet in height, their
proportion must have been nearly the same as that of the Ionic columns
of the vestibule of the Propylaea, whence it seems highly probable
that the same order was used in the interior of both those
contemporary buildings. In the eastern chamber of the Parthenon, the
smallness of the diameter of the columns leaves little doubt that
there was an upper range, as in the temples of Paestum and AEgina. It
is to be lamented that no remains of any of them have been found, as
they might have presented some new proofs of the taste and invention
of the architects of the time of Pericles.

"Such was the simple construction of this magnificent building, which,
by the united excellencies of materials, design, and decorations, was
the most perfect ever executed. Its dimensions of two hundred and
twenty-eight feet by a hundred and two, with a height of sixty-six
feet to the top of the pediment, were sufficiently great to give an
impression of grandeur and sublimity, which was not disturbed by any
obtrusive subdivision of parts, such as is found to diminish the
effects of some larger modern buildings, where the same singleness of
design is not observed. In the Parthenon, whether viewed at a small or
at a great distance, there was nothing to divert the spectator's
contemplation from the simplicity and majesty of mass and outline,
which forms the first and most remarkable object of admiration in a
Greek temple; and it was not until the eye was satiated with the
contemplation of the entire edifice, that the spectator was tempted to
examine the decorations with which this building was so profusely
adorned; for the statues of the pediments, the only decoration which
was ve