Chap. III.

GRECIAN.

75

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Fig. 82.

with triangular heads, cut out of the single stone which serves as the lintel. Thetowers were only raised a story above the ordinary level of the walls.

Argos had a similar tower, 20 feet 3 inches by 17 feet 7 inches in the clear, with walls about3 feet 4 inches thick around it, supposed to have been the part of a Pharos, that served toalarm the inhabitantsof the country aroundTegea and Man tinea.

The external wallswere made to batterconsiderably, and ifcarried up would haveassumed a funnel-likeappearance, well suit-ed for the purpose ofa beacon.

Many writers de-scribe the manner inwhich these towerswere set out, whatshould be their dia-meter, distance apart,and height, as well asthe method of theirconstruction; and thatpieces of oak timber,four cubits in length,were introduced in themiddle of the wall, to

facilitate a repair in case a breach was made.

The walls of Athens were restored after the in-vasion of Philip, son of Demetrius, in great haste,when many public buildings were destroyed, andthe materials used for the purpose : we see on thenorth side of the acropolis such a wall, wherecolumns, triglyphs, metopes, and cornices are used,without order. The long wall of the Pirams, whichhas been already mentioned, was not commenced,according to Thucydides , lib. ii. cap. 75., until thosearound the city were completed ; but it was set outnear the Pirams of such a width that two cartsloaded could conveniently pass. The length of the Phalerian wall to that part of the citywhere it joined was 35 furlongs ; that part between the long walls and the Phalerian,35 furlongs ; and the length of the long walls down to the Pirams was 40 furlongs ; andthe whole compass of the Pira?us, together with the Munychia, 60 furlongs.

The engineer’s skill was called forth by the early inhabitants of Greece , in the erection ofthe walls which surrounded their cities, and in the design and construction of the machinesplaced upon them for their defence. The artifice displayed in protecting or defending along line of wall so fortified, was often matched by the besiegers, and we find improvementcontinually made, both in maintaining and taking a city, by the careful attention of thoseupon whom these duties devolved. The architect, well skilled in the arts of design, wouldbe the best qualified to erect a stone barrier, either against a flood, or an armed body ofmen, as well as for raising heavy weights, and transporting them to any required distance ;in the early age of society, he would be the most efficient director for all that now devolvesupon the military and civil engineer. And as we learn from the ancient historians, that thearchitect had entrusted to him, not only the defences of the towns and cities, but also theirarrangement, drainage, and general superintendence, we may infer that there existed nodistinction between him and the engineer.

But the most important knowledge to him employed in the defence of a city or pro-viding for its health and salubrity, would be a thorough acquaintance with the sciences, withoutwhich no great work could be devised or undertaken. Vitruvius , who had the care of all theengines of war entrusted to him by Augustus , tells us frequently in his writings, that thoseselected as engineers deeply studied the opinions of Pythagoras, Empedocles, Epicharmus ,and other philosophers : Metagenes, Ctesiphon , Evangelus, Pa?onius, Pephasmenos, Cetras,Polydus, Diades, Chcereas, Agetor, Diognetus , Trvpho, and many other eminent names, mightbe cited among the Greeks, who were practically acquainted with the use of machinery,and its applications, to the destruction of towns and cities, when called upon by the greatgenerals of the age to exert their ingenuity.

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TOWER AT ARGOS.