observe, with what care and devotion they recorded the particulars of this fiction in their poems, sculpture, paintings, and other monuments of art.  The Centaurs were invited to the nuptials of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae.  During the marriage feast, one of the Centaurs, named Eurytion, or Eurytus, with the characteristic brutality of his nature, and elated by the effects of wine, offered violence to the person of Hippodamia, the bride.  This outrageous act was immediately resented by Theseus, the friend of Pirhitous, who hurled a large vessel of wine at the head of the offender, which brought him lifeless to the ground.  A general engagement then ensued between the two parties; and the Centaurs not only sought to revenge the death of their companion, Eurytus, but likewise attempted to carry off the females who were guests at the nuptials.  In this conflict, sustained on both sides with great fury, the Centaurs were finally vanquished, and driven out of Thessaly; after which they took up their abode in Arcadia, where they provoked the anger of Hercules, who completely destroyed the whole of their race.  Such is the general outline of the mythic history of the Centaurs.”

Bearing this outline of the classical story in his mind, the visitor may at once proceed to examine the first eleven slabs upon which the incidents in the story of the Centaurs and the Lapithae are elaborated.  The visitor will, of course, begin with tablet No. 1, and proceed to the others in the regular order in which they are marked.

On approaching the first slab (1) the visitor will perceive a Centaur overcome by two Lapithae, and about to be dispatched.  Another Centaur from behind, however, arrests the uplifted arm of one Lapitha.  The battle proceeds fiercely on the second slab (2).  A Centaur is tearing the shoulder of a Lapitha with his teeth, while the Lapitha drives a stout sword direct into his assailant’s body.  A dead Centaur lies in the foreground, and the heels of the stabbed Centaur strike against the shield of a second Lapitha.  The origin of the battle begins to appear on the third slab (3), where a woman is represented with a child in her arms resisting the violence of a Centaur, while another Centaur at the further end of the slab is getting the better of a kneeling Lapitha.  The fourth tablet would be probably unintelligible to the general visitor without special explanation.  Here the Centaurs are endeavouring to crush an enemy with huge blocks of stone.  This particular enemy is the Caeneus of Greek fable, whom Neptune had rendered invulnerable to the effect of swords and clubs, and whom Centaurs are endeavouring to overcome by crushing his body with masses of rock.  The fifth slab (5) presents a more cheerful view of the battle for the Lapithae; here two Centaurs are being overcome by two of their enemies in revenge for their brutal conduct at the bridal banquet.  The sixth tablet (6) again illustrates the hazards of war.  Here a female is between two of the brutal Centaurs, one