540 



ON THE SYRINX OF STRABO, 



says, " proprie est cedificationem separare et dividere, locumque intenne- 

 dium vacuum relinquere. Dicit itaque Strabo, pontem istum Euripi non 

 esse continuum, neque perpetuis fulciri fornicibus, sed ab ea parte qua est 

 turris litori JBceotico vicina, habere ^unum canalem, qui sit apertus, quem- 

 que prcesidiarii turris ponte pensili soleant tegere, turn securitatis gratia, 

 turn etiam ut navibus pateat transitus." 



The two towers of Strabo are thus very properly disposed opposite 

 to each other, and with a navigable passage between them, instead of 

 one being placed on the shore of Bceotia and the other on that of 

 Eubcea, with the mole or long bridge between, as some commentators 

 and translators have conceived ; but why this fortified passage should 

 be assigned to the Boeotian side in preference to the other, we are 

 left to conjecture, nor is a word said to account for the very singular 

 use which is here made of the term <rv^y% to designate a navigable 

 canal between two towers. 



It appears then that the passage thus simply considered by itself, is 

 susceptible of no farther explanation than what Vossius has given to 

 it, and it is only by examining it in an historical point of view, with 

 all the aids which may be derived from a local acquaintance with the 

 spot, that we can hope for any success. 



Most fortunately there is a passage in Diodorus * which supplies in a 

 great measure this deficiency ; for it relates upon what particular occa- 

 sion this work was constructed, the immediate purpose which it was 

 designed to answer, and the manner in which it was executed. After 

 his account of the naval engagement in the Hellespont, and the vic- 

 tory gained there by the Athenians, Diodorus proceeds as follows : 

 " The Chalcidians, however, and almost all the inhabitants of Eubcea, 

 had separated themselves in the mean while from the Athenian alli- 

 ance, on which account they were very fearful lest their towns might 

 be besieged and taken by the Athenians, who were now again become 

 masters of the sea. A proposal therefore was made to the Boeotians 

 to unite with them in the enterprize of damming up the Euripus, and 



* Lib. xiii. 173. 



