XIVI 
what manner and at what period the art became possessed 
of those characteristics which subsequently distinguished 
the different orders of building. Vitruvius, in the absence 
of all history or authenticated tradition, recounts a fable 
respecting their origin, which is utterly incredible, and in 
itself absurd. He says, that Dorus, the son of Hellen and 
of the nymph Opticos, built a temple of Juno in Argos, 
which, by chance, was of this (Doric) kind, although none 
of the proportions, he adds, were regulated or known at the 
time. The Ionian colonists on their arrival in Asia, wishing 
to erect a temple to Apollo-Panionius, and being ignorant 
of the proper method of proceeding, bethought themselves 
of measuring the human foot, and having discovered that it 
was about the sixth part of a man’s height, they at once 
adopted this proportion in the columns of the order, which 
thenceforth they called Doric. At the same time, in building 
a temple to Diana, the style of which was to receive their 
own name, they wished to give a female character to the 
columns employed; for this purpose their height was 
increased to eight diameters, in order to render their 
appearance lighter and more slender. Bases were added 
instead of slippers, the volutes and ornaments of the capitals 
resembled the head-dresses of the time, and the manner of 
fluting the shaft was copied from the folds to be seen in the 
drapery of the matrons of those days'. It is unnecessary 
to pause for an instant in the refutation of these dreams. 
The fact is, that the different modes of building received 
their present appellation long after the date of their invention, 
1 Vitruv. 1. iv. c. 1.