Gabb, Thomas: Finis pyramidis or Disquisitions concerning the antiquity and scientific end of the great pyramid of Giza, or ancient Memphis, in Egypt, and of the first standard of linear measure (Retford, 1806)

( 239 }

ambiguity, by attempting to explain the term, Sima}
in the same sense. He tells us, Vitruvius wrote it here
with Si, instead of Cy, to distinguish it from the little
cymatium, over which it immediately stands ; and says,
for the same reason he (Perrault) calls it la grande
Simaise, and that under it, la petite Cymaise ! Now, to
say nothing of the absurd contradiction in terms, of, a
Great little wave, and of the ridiculous expression, a
Little little wave; in the next note, 73, Vitruve lib. 3
chap. 3 on the words, ad summum corona cymatium,
he very confidently asserts, " Vitruvius means no other
thing, than what just before he called Sima." Why
then does not Vitruvius here write the word with si,
and not depart so soon from the distinction he is said
to have made, by here writing cymatium ?

Thus did Perrault embarrass and obscure a passage
conveying documents of some interest, merely, one would
conclude, through a gross inattention to the text : for
I do maintain, the whole passage and every point of
doctrine it comprizes, is as distinct, intelligible and
perspicuous, as all the powers of language can render
it For, first, as to etymology, cymatium is acknowledged""
by all, to be derived from K*ju*,a wave, of which Ku/mAm
is the diminutive, which, written in latin characters, is,
cymation, but spelled by Vitruvius, or his copista, cy-
matium, a little wave, it's profile, by a gentle curve,
expressing such a form. But Sima, concerning the
etymology whereof, Perrault himself has correctly stated
the opinions of the learned, which renders his strange
perversion of the term, the more surprizing, must be
allowed to mean, in the passage in question, flat-nosed;
and, evidently, alludes to the lions faces, which Vitruvius
informs us, were carved in this upper member over the

cymatium