Chapter 75

Time And Temples

In the oriental Pilgrimage of the pious old Purchas, and in the fine
old folio Voyages of Hakluyt, Thevenot, Ramusio, and De Bry, we read
of many glorious old Asiatic temples, very long in erecting. And
veracious Gaudentia di Lucca hath a wondrous narration of the time
consumed in rearing that mighty three-hundred-and-seventy-five-
pillared Temple of the Year, somewhere beyond Libya; whereof, the
columns did signify days, and all round fronted upon concentric zones
of palaces, cross-cut by twelve grand avenues symbolizing the signs
of the zodiac, all radiating from the sun-dome in their midst. And in
that wild eastern tale of his, Marco Polo tells us, how the Great
Mogul began him a pleasure-palace on so imperial a scale, that his
grandson had much ado to complete it.

But no matter for marveling all this: great towers take time to
construct.

And so of all else.

And that which long endures full-fledged, must have long lain in the
germ. And duration is not of the future, but of the past; and
eternity is eternal, because it has been, and though a strong new
monument be builded to-day, it only is lasting because its blocks are
old as the sun. It is not the Pyramids that are ancient, but the
eternal granite whereof they are made; which had been equally ancient
though yet in the quarry. For to make an eternity, we must build with
eternities; whence, the vanity of the cry for any thing alike durable
and new; and the folly of the reproach--Your granite hath come from
the old-fashioned hills. For we are not gods and creators; and
the controversialists have debated, whether indeed the All-Plastic
Power itself can do more than mold. In all the universe is but one
original; and the very suns must to their source for their fire; and
we Prometheuses must to them for ours; which, when had, only
perpetual Vestal tending will keep alive.

But let us back from fire to store. No fine firm fabric ever yet grew
like a gourd. Nero's House of Gold was not raised in a day; nor the
Mexican House of the Sun; nor the Alhambra; nor the Escurial; nor
Titus's Amphitheater; nor the Illinois Mounds; nor Diana's great
columns at Ephesus; nor Pompey's proud Pillar; nor the Parthenon; nor
the Altar of Belus; nor Stonehenge; nor Solomon's Temple; nor
Tadmor's towers; nor Susa's bastions; nor Persepolis' pediments.
Round and round, the Moorish turret at Seville was not wound
heavenward in the revolution of a day; and from its first founding,
five hundred years did circle, ere Strasbourg's great spire lifted
its five hundred feet into the air. No: nor were the great grottos of
Elephanta hewn out in an hour; nor did the Troglodytes dig Kentucky's
Mammoth Cave in a sun; nor that of