When I saw the gift, I was lost for words.

And woe betide the peasant who protested! He would be lucky to escape with a few blows across the face from his lord's riding whip, for a noble landowner was also his peasant's judge and could punish him as he pleased.

The lamp which ultimately was sure to be lifted up to illumine the acts of this secretive race began slowly to dispread its rays …

For the protection of the marble's fine texture, surfaces subject to weathering (e.g. antae) were covered in a coloured wash. Dove-tail clamps with an embolon bind the treasury's blocks; similar clamps without an embolon bind the ashlars of the stereobate.