88 CARNOT. 
can undertake is, to show in what it consists, and even 
to be understood I shall have to make a fresh appeal to 
your indulgent attention. 
The most ancient fortifications, the earliest ramparts, 
were simple walls, more or less thick, encircling towns, 
and thus forming continuous inclosures pierced with a 
small number of gates, for the entrance and exit of the 
inhabitants. In order to render escalading them diffi- 
cult, these ramparts were very high on the outer side 
towards the country; besides this, a ditch, capable of - 
being filled with water, generally divided them from it. 
The very ramparts themselves, even in their highest 
_ portion, were of a certain breadth. It was there that 
the population of the towns collected in cases of attack. 
It was from thence that, partly hidden behind a low wall 
now called a parapet, they threw a shower of missiles on 
the assailants. The most timid even had the advantage 
of not descrying the enemy but through narrow aper- 
tures, that are still seen in modern fortifications under 
the name of loopholes or meurtriéres. 
The besieger did not begin to be redoubtable but 
from the moment when, having reached the foot of the 
ramparts, he could, by means of tools, engines, or ma- 
chines, sap their foundations. To act then freely and 
vigorously against him was, for the besieged, an indis- 
pensable condition of a good defence. Now, let us imag- 
ine to ourselves a soldier placed on the summit of the 
wall ; he will evidently not be able to perceive the foot 
of it without leaning forward, without leaving nearly 
his whole body exposed, without losing the advantages 
offered him by the parapet, without the shelter of which 
he could not have thrown his arrows but by exposing 
himself to the well-aimed shots of the enemy below. 
