T RAV

76 TRAVELS INnUROPE.by travellers, and about which, indeed, investigation is so unaccountablyindifferent. Yet it may b~ supposed that those who will take an interest inthe history of the siege of Syracuse, will naturally be inquisitive relativeto the system of defence which produced those surprising narratives.And here i5 an actuai specimen in its full perfection before their eyes.TrajanJs Pillar andvarious depictments give the representation ;bllthere is the reality. 'fhe sharp angles and the perfectstate of this ad~mirable masonry render it an abject incongruous with' any ideaofthe picturesque. The seale and rod are the cri'terion to jadge of stichInatter. 'fo our notions of defence, these works are fiimsy and contracted;seeming tathef likemodels of what was to he, than realities.Theshortness of fange of the Roman projectiles oecasioned the placingtheir flanking works best adapted tothe pnrpose, in a squareform, veryclose, so tbat the works consist of short curtains,straight, and aboutforty feet in height, flanked at veryshort~distances, perhaps eighty'feet,by square turrets projecting considerably beyond the curtain. If therange of the pilum from the fiank of each turret 'crossed atthe centreQi the cuttain, the ptlnciple of dêf.encê~as complete, and this wasprobablythe,regulator. ltis~bvi()'us wh'êrethe deficiency of this systemlies.. The fronts of the/towersaretbe· foible. The embrasuresand battlements are upon thesame diminutive scaIe, just adapted tothesize of a single mal11~wh() was to act in itbehind them.The ma';'sonry IS admirable,; thoughcut stone (ailtlar têêhnically), as used her€")never could have the powér ofresistance of rubble';work to battering.rams. But as the Romalls made so much use of calcareous cenlent,whenever it was to be had, itisproba.bl.e that, thematerial for. it isscarce bere. Inside a principal tower·of tbe Roman w'ork, Deal' thebridge, i5 an inscription on mm'bIe; notltom,~, Greek, nor m~d~JnArabie, but it may be of that more ancient character w.llich the Arabs,