Falkener, Edward: Ephesus and the temple of Diana (London, 1862)

THE CELEBRATED TEMTLE. 235

which would have been a sufficient motive of refusal;
but they were obliged to have recourse to the wily
pretext,—" That it did not become a god to build
temples to the gods." I conceive it probable,
therefore, that the above expression relates to the
eighth, equally with the preceding temples. But
though they accepted the general contributions of
all Asia, we must suppose that the Ephesians them-
selves would be the most zealous for the glory of
the building;. Besides the offerings of the men and
women, and the money derived from the sale of the
columns, a great portion of the expense would be
defrayed from the treasures of the Temple ; and
Timasus accordingly accused the Ephesians of
appropriating to this purpose the sums deposited
in the Temple by the Persians, as in a place of
safety; which accusation Strabo denied, and pro-
bably very truly, since Artemidorus also denies
the fact; though Strabo's manner evinces rather a
desire to deny the fact, than the means of doing
so with justice; instead of proof, he has recourse
to argument:—" It is from ignorance of the decrees
(of the city before adverted to,) says Artemidorus,
that Timseus of Tauromenium, a man much given
to calumny, from whence he was called Epitimeus,
asserted, 'that the Ephesians rebuilt their temple
with the treasures that the Persians had deposited
there;' but at this period there were no such
deposits, and if there had been, they would have
been consumed in the fire. After this accident, the