502 BOOK XI. 



two palms thick. Upon each end of the block stands a post, a cubit wide 

 and thick, the upper end of which is somewhat cut away and is mortised into 

 the beams of the building. At a height of four feet and two digits above the 

 block there are joined to the posts two transverse beams, each of which is 

 three palms wide and thick ; their ends are mortised into the upright posts, 

 and holes are bored through them; in the holes are driven iron claves, 

 horned in front and so driven into the post that one of the horns of each 

 points upward and the other downward ; the other end of each clavis is 

 perforated, and a wide iron wedge is inserted and driven into the holes, and 

 thus holds the transverse beams in place. These transverse beams have in the 

 middle a square opening three palms and half a digit wide in each 

 direction, through which the iron-shod stamp passes. At a height of three 

 feet and two palms above these transverse beams there are again two beams 

 of the same kind, having also a square opening and holding the same stamp. 

 This stamp is square, eleven feet long, three palms wide and thick ; its iron 

 shoe is a foot and a palm long ; its head is two palms long and wide, a palm 

 two digits thick at the top, and at the bottom the same number of digits, for 

 it gradually narrows. But the tail is three palms long ; where the head 

 begins is two palms wide and thick, and the further it departs from the same 

 the narrower it becomes. The upper part is enclosed in the stamp-stem, and 

 it is perforated so that an iron bolt may be driven into it ; it is bound by three 

 rectangular iron bands, the lowest of which, a palm wide, is between the iron 

 shoe and the head of the stamp ; the middle band, three digits wide, follows 

 next and binds round the head of the stamp, and two digits above is the 

 upper one, which is the same number of digits wide. At a distance of two 

 feet and as many digits above the lowest part of the iron shoe, is a rectangular 

 tooth, projecting from the stamp for a distance of a foot and a palm ; it is 

 two palms thick, and when it has extended to a distance of six digits from the 

 stamp it is made two digits narrower. At a height of three palms upward 

 from the tooth there is a round hole in the middle of the stamp-stem, into 

 which can be thrust a round iron bar two feet long and a digit and a half in 

 diameter ; in its hollow end is fixed a wooden handle two palms and the same 

 number of digits long. The bar rests on the lower transverse beam, and holds 

 up the stamp when it is not in use. The axle which raises the stamp 

 has on each side two arms, which are two palms and three digits distant 

 from each other, and which project from the axle a foot, a palm and two 

 digits ; penetrating through them are bolts, driven in firmly ; the arms are 

 each a palm and two digits wide and thick, and their round heads, for a foot 

 downward on either side, are covered with iron plates of the same width as 

 the arms and fastened by iron nails. The head of each arm has a round 

 hole, into which is inserted an iron pin, passing through a bronze pipe ; this 

 little axle has at the one end a wide head, and at the other end a perforation 

 through which is driven an iron nail, lest this little axle should fall out of the 

 arms. The bronze pipe is two palms long and one in diameter; the little 

 iron axle penetrates through its round interior, which is two digits in diameter. 

 The bronze pipe not only revolves round the little iron axle, but it also 



