Herodotus - The Histories.pdf

The Histories–Book Seven V 35
made the width no greater at the top than it was
required to be at the bottom. But the Phoenicians
showed in this the skill which they are wont to
exhibit in all their undertakings. For in the portion
of the work which was allotted to them they
began by making the trench at the top twice as
wide as the prescribed measure, and then as they
dug downwards approached the sides nearer and
nearer together, so that when they reached the
bottom their part of the work was of the same
width as the rest. In a meadow near, there was a
place of assembly and a market; and hither great
quantities of corn, ready ground, were brought
from Asia.
It seems to me, when I consider this work, that
Xerxes, in making it, was actuated by a feeling of
pride, wishing to display the extent of his power,
and to leave a memorial behind him to posterity.
For notwithstanding that it was open to him, with
no trouble at all, to have had his ships drawn
across the isthmus, yet he issued orders that a
canal should be made through which the sea
might flow, and that it should be of such a width