f the walls can be traced by the fragments that yet
remain, and from this circuit the size of the city may be judged.
Beyond the gates and in the enclosure of the walls are some majestic
and world-famed ruins, some of which are little else than masses
of rubbish, while others are so well preserved, that they might
now be used for the purpose to which they were originally devoted.
There are the remains of a theatre and of an amphitheatre, which,
however, are confused heaps, and some public edifices in the same
condition. The foundations of some private houses may also be
seen. But the most noted and most interesting of the remains of
Paestum are its two Temples and Basilica--edifices whose origin
reaches back to the depths of an immemorial antiquity, but which
still remain in a state of preservation so perfect as to be almost
incredible. For these edifices are as old, at least, as Homer, and
were probably in existence before his day. Phoenician sailors or
merchants may have set eyes on these temples, who also saw the
Temple of Solomon at its completion. They existed in the age of
the Pharaohs, and rival in antiquity, in massive grandeur, and in
perfect preservation, the Pyramids of Egypt. In the age of imperial
Rome, and even of republican Rome, these temples were ancient, and
the Emperor Augustus visited them, and regarded them as remains of
venerable antiquity.

Of these three edifices, the most majestic, and probably the most
ancient, is the one which is called the Temple of Neptune. The
stone of which it is built, is found in the neighborhood still,
and presents a most singular appearance. At a distance it appears
very rough and full of holes, like cork. A closer examination shows
that it is really composed of innumerable fragments of wood,
compressed together in a vast, solid mass, and petrified. The
stone is exceedingly hard and durable. The blocks of this stone
out of which this temple, and the others also, are built, are of
such enormous size, that they can only be compared to those immense
masses that were heaped up to form the Pyramids of Egypt and the
Temples of Karnak. Piled up here upon one another without cement,
they have defied the ravages of time.

The Temple of Neptune is approached by three immense steps, which
extend around every side of it. It is about two hundred feet in
length, and eighty in breadth, while on every side there is a row
of enormous columns of the Doric order, thirty-six in number.