.

7. But the greatest of all the cities is Alexandria, ennobled by many
circumstances, and especially by the grandeur of its great founder, and
the skill of its architect Dinocrates, who, when he was laying the
foundation of its extensive and beautiful walls, for want of mortar,
which could not be procured at the moment, is said to have marked out
its outline with flour; an incident which foreshowed that the city
should hereafter abound in supplies of provisions.

8. At Inibis the air is wholesome, the sky pure and undisturbed; and, as
the experience of a long series of ages proves, there is scarcely ever a
day on which the inhabitants of this city do not see the sun.

9. The shore is shifty and dangerous; and as in former times it exposed
sailors to many dangers, Cleopatra erected a lofty tower in the harbour,
which was named Pharos, from the spot on which it was built, and which
afforded light to vessels by night when coming from the Levant or the
Libyan sea along the plain and level coast, without any signs of
mountains or towns or eminences to direct them, they were previously
often wrecked by striking into the soft and adhesive sand.

10. The same queen, for a well-known and necessary reason, made a
causeway seven furlongs in extent, admirable for its size and for the
almost incredible rapidity with which it was made. The island of Pharos,
where Homer in sublime language relates that Proteus used to amuse
himself with his herds of seals, is almost a thousand yards from the
shore on which the city stands, and was liable to pay tribute to the
Rhodians.

11. And when on one occasion the farmers of this revenue came to make
exorbitant demands, she, being a wily woman, on a pretext of it being
the season of solemn holidays, led them into the suburbs, and ordered
the work to be carried on without ceasing. And so seven furlongs were
completed in seven days, being raised with the soil of the adjacent
shore. Then the queen, driving over it in her chariot, said that the
Rhodians were making a blunder in demanding port dues for what was not
an island but part of the mainland.

12. Besides this there are many lofty temples, and especially one to
Serapis, which, although no words can adequately describe it, we may yet
say, from its splendid halls supported by pillars, and its beautiful
statues and other embellishments, is so superbly decorated, that next to
the Capitol, of which the ever-venerable Rome boasts, the whole