Pillar

“ At the distance of a stone's throw from this Pyramid is a pillar of thick brass, twisted together in three rolls, as if it were three serpents or dragons entwined upon each other. Upon the top are three serpents heads, stretched with open mouths towards the three sides of the city: the lower jaw of one of them is broken. ”

“ From time to time, as some new monster came in sight, the ungainly head would shoot up amazingly to a distance of five or ten, or even fifteen feet, on a swaying pillar of a neck, in order to get a better view of the stranger. ”

“ This pillar is controlled by the higher and more powerful order of diuwáta, who on becoming angered at the actions of men manifest their feelings by shaking the pillar and thereby reminding men of their duties. ”

“ Then, we advance further, get out of the way of every body, behind a pillar; and see a whole congregation of the fair sex screaming, talking, and—to their honor be it spoken—working at the same time, round a compact mass of pilchards which their nimble hands have already built up to a height of three feet, a breadth of more than four, and a length of twenty. ”

“ When man set up a pillar, he became a fellow-worker with Him whom the old sages of China used to call "the first Builder." Also, pillars were set up to mark the holy places of vision and Divine deliverance, as when Jacob erected a pillar at Bethel, Joshua at Gilgal, and Samuel at Mizpeh and Shen. Always they were symbols of stability, of what the Egyptians described as "the place of establishing forever,"—emblems of the faith "that the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them." ”

“ The stone pillar which fits into the pedestal is four feet six inches in height, and it measures one foot nine inches by one foot in breadth. The present pillar appears to have been chipped during recent years, and viewed from one side it has a somewhat modern appearance, resembling that of an ordinary stone gate-post. It may have been eredted in substitution for the original pillar, but the pedestal on which it stands has an appearance of great age. A farmer who lives near mentions a tradition that "Druids came and worshipped" at this stone. ”

“ The Pillars are of various forms—round or octagonal in small and plain churches, and these not unfrequently alternate; in richer work they are usually clustered; but the pillar most characteristic of the style is the one with detached shafts, which are generally of Purbeck marble, frequently very long and slender, and only connected with the central shaft by the capital and base, with or without one or two bands at intervals. ”

“ Then, working his vessel in a manner that won the praise of every sailor there, Pillar hauled the boat to a berth at the stern, and eventually got her to leeward.
Once alongside, Pillar gave the word, and the sailors began to jump aboard the smack. It took half an hour to get that bunch of men off, so difficult was the work as a result of the gale; over thirty feet the waves mounted sometimes, and many a man wellnigh tumbled into the sea, from which his chance of rescue would have been small. ”

“ The discovery in 1904-5 of the magnificent capital of the Sârnâth pillar has revealed the finest example of Maurya art known to exist.
The perfect uninscribed pillar at Bakhirâ near Basâr, the ancient Vaisâli, in the Muzaffarpur District, N. Bihâr, is a monolith of fine sandstone, highly polished for its whole length of 32 feet above the water level. A square pedestal with three steps is said to exist underwater. The shaft tapers uniformly from a diameter of 49-8 inches at the water level to 38.7 at the top. ”

“ But the illuminative scene on the signet-ring described above70.3 suggests that the function of the pillar was to serve as a powerful magnet to attract a personal divinity. And Sir Arthur Evans has well shown that the tree and the pillar were of equal value as sacred objects in Minoan-Mycenaean religion. A sacrifice doubtless of mystic and magical power is {71} being performed before them here: the worshippers may well believe that the combined influence of blood-offering, sacred tree, and sacred axe will draw down the divinity of the skies. ”

“ At a distance of 91⁄2 feet from the base, the tope is encircled by a rail, eleven feet high, and consisting apparently of one hundred pillars, exclusive of the gateways. Each pillar seems to have been the gift of an individual, and even the rails between them have apparently been contributed by different persons. ”

“ Another mode of marking a boundary or other definite locality was by a pillar of stone, originally unhewn, the sacred character of which was marked by pouring oil upon it and adorning it (Theophrast. Char. 16 ; comp. Genesis 28.18, 22, 31.45-48, where both the pillar and the heap of stones are set up for a witness, 35.14) . ”

“ There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is there any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the latter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the most sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is also said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan flourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter.”
[427] ανθρωπος εστι των παντων μετρον (Protagoras) .
[428] 1 Kings viii. 27.
[429] Antiquities of Ireland, vol. ”

“ In each case from pillar to pillar is a cross-bar (the architrave) which is like a panel, and from pillar to pillar are many such panels; there are images of old men, too, gilded and of the size of a cubit. ”

“ In architecture it has strictly the second sense. The column erected in honour of Diocletian at Alexandria is known as Pompey’s pillar, and the so-called columns of Trajan and Antoninus are in reality pillars, performing no structural function beyond that of carrying a statue. In India the only example is the iron pillar at Delhi, which is an extraordinary specimen of the iron worker’s art considering the remote date at which it was made. ”

“ This cloister had pillars that stood in four rows one over against the other all along, for the fourth row was interwoven into the wall, which [also was built of stone] ; and the thickness of each pillar was such, that three men might, with their arms extended, fathom it round, and join their hands again, while its length was twenty-seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis ”

“ We must look closely at the foot lever if we are to understand it. It is arched or bent; the front pillar of the arch stretches from the summit or keystone, where the weight of the body is poised, to the pad of the foot or fulcrum (Fig. 6) ; the posterior pillar, projecting as the heel, extends from the summit to the point at which the muscular power is applied. A foot with a short anterior pillar and a long posterior pillar or heel is one designed for power, not speed. It is one which will serve a hill-climber well or a heavy, corpulent man. ”

“ The octagonal pillars stand on a wide square base two feet high with a top, a foot wide, forming a stone seat round the pillar, as at Claypole and Bottesford. The nave arcade of four bays is Early English with nail-head ornament. ”

“ The old Egyptians erected a fine marble pillar of excellent workmanship in an island at this place, rising twelve cubits above the ordinary surface of the river; and when the water overflows that column, the inhabitants are satisfied that their whole country is overspread for fifteen days journey. If the water rise only half the height of the pillar, they then conclude that only half the country is overflowed. A person is stationed by the pillar, who proclaims the height of the water every day at noon. ”

“ "When all Thy mercies, O my God!
My rising soul surveys,"
seem a pillar erected on the shore to Him that had protected and redeemed him. ”

“ Then was driven with violence upon a rocky road in the harbour. Tide was ebbing very fast." (Mrs. Wordsworth's Journal.)
"Monday, 29th October. Boulogne.—We walked to Buonaparte's Pillar, which, on the day when he harangued his soldiers (pointing to the shores of England whither he should lead them to conquest) , he decreed should be erected in commemoration of the Legion of Honour then established. The pillar is seen far and wide, unfinished, as the intricate casing of a scaffolding loftier than itself, shows at whatever distance it is seen. ”

“ The inscriptions begin about four feet six inches above the base and read upwards. The interiors of the hollow posts are filled with well-seasoned cedar posts, sawed to fit, and securely spiked through spike holes cast in the pillars for that purpose. The average weight of each pillar when completed is eighty-five pounds. The pillars are all set four feet in the ground, with their inscription faces to the north and south, and the earth is well settled and stamped about them. ”

“ The body of the church consists of four bays, which are separated from the side aisles by three pillars on each side. The outline of the pillars is the same as in the dome, a four-edged accretion being attached to the back of each pillar, and terminating above in a broad band which runs along the arch of the arcade. It is only near the turning point of the pillar arch that a richer ornamentation begins, which intersects the flat spaces of the pillars. The arrangement of the windows is the same as in the dome, only they have no niches here. ”

“ In the left an engine, from the back of which were extended a row of long poles resembling palisadoes-In the right hand breeches pocket, we saw a hollow pillar of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of timber larger than the pillar; on one side of which were pieces of strong iron sticking out; and in the left pocket another engine of the same kind. ”

“ The dimensions of the pillar, and of the stones, were often appealed to, as a proof of the superior stature and size of old women and geese in the days of other years, by those praisers of the past who held the comfortable opinion of the gradual degeneracy of mankind. ”

“ The vaulting compartments which rise from the angles of the great octagon are precisely similar to the opposite ones which rise from the pillar, and the ribs which rise from the angles to the pillar are throughout transverse ribs, while the angle ribs from each side duly meet one another. ”

“ At the most westerly point you may reach, you will erect, in a conspicuous situation, a pillar or mound, and leave deposited in the earth at its base a bottle hermetically sealed, containing an outline of the leading circumstances connected with the voyage. ”

“ First you have the head of a man, then a sort of decorated pillar instead of a body, and then again, at the bottom of the pillar, there protrude a couple of naked feet. They look part pillar and part man, with a touch of the mummy. ”

“ In foot-races and horse-races it is reasonable to suppose that they represent the pillars at the start or finish of the race. They occur chiefly on the red-figured vases, and the usual type is that of a fluted pillar often standing on a square basis. The starting lines with double grooves appear certainly in Macedonian times, though their introduction may well date back to the laying out of the stadia at Olympia and Delphi in the fifth century. ”

“ The name was changed to Pompeys Pillar by author Nicholas Biddle when his account of the Expedition was published in 1814.
Ethnographic and archaeological evidence indicates that the Pillar was a place of ritual and religious activity. ”

“ The pillars of these low causeways are generally six, seven, and many three and nine-sided, and as even as if they had been cut with a chisel; they rest one upon another in joints, the top one round to fit into the one beneath like a socket, and the pillars are so closely packed, that you can hardly get the point of a knife between them. ”

“ The ore below the false stulls can then be drawn out without waiting for the completion of the top stope. When the mineral does not stand well in the pillar it will be necessary to erect a line of timbers with lagging so as to sheathe the under-side of the pillar and prevent its falling. ”

“ The chevron, resembling the letter V turned topsy-turvy, is a combination of a bend dexter and a bend sinister, and is rather more than the lower half of the saltire. The French word chevron, still in use, means rafters (Fig. 21) . The pile, derived from the Latin for pillar, is a triangular wedge, and when [pg 19] charged singly on a field may issue from any point of the latter, except from the base (Fig. 22) . If more than one pile occurs, we generally find the number is three, although the Earl of Clare bears "two piles issuing from the chief." ”

“ Four pillars, A, B, B, A, occupy the front. These are poles 31⁄2 in. or 4 in. in diameter. Any rough and tolerably straight wood will do, but larch is to be preferred. These rise 5 ft. above ground, and should not have less than 2 ft. below the surface. The dwarf pillars C supporting the seat are of similar stuff, but rather smaller. They show 14 in. above, and [Pg 128] should be buried about 9 in. below ground. The pilasters D are of rather larger stuff sawn in half. These are only 5 ft. long, as they need not enter into the ground, being fixed only by strong nails to the wall.
Fig. ”

“ In the Middle of it, it is supported by four white Pillars speckled with blue, the Shafts of which are seven Foot in Compass. ’Tis of a square Figure, and, as I observ’d, bears upon Arches and Walls. These Arches, at one End of them, rise behind two of the large Pillars which support the Dome; at the other End they bear upon Pillars which rise within Side of the Walls, and support the four large Pillars. The outer Side of this Gallery is supported with eight square Pillars, which are six Foot in Compass. There rises in the Middle of them a Pillar of a larger Size. ”

“ If then four pillars, each of a cubit in thickness, stood side by side or one behind the other in a space of ten cubits in depth, the distance between the pillars would be only a cubit and a half, that is to say, would be only just enough for one man and no more to walk conveniently through. ”