544 



ON THE SYRINX OF STRABO, 



BCEOTI A. 



EUBQBA. 



In the preceding attempt to explain the Syrinx of Strabo, I have 

 noticed only such particulars in the passage of Diodorus, as might 

 assist in explaining the meaning of that term. I shall now observe 

 that Diodorus has not very clearly or fully expressed what were the 

 reasons for constructing the mole. The Chalcidians, he says, together 

 with almost all the inhabitants of Eubcea, had abandoned the 

 Athenian interest, but upon the unexpected restoration of the naval 

 superiority of that power, in consequence of their victory over the 

 Lacedaemonian fleet in the Hellespont, they became justly appre- 

 hensive of measures of hostility. A proposal therefore was made to 

 the Boeotians to concur with them in closing the passage of the 

 Euripus, and in joining the island by these means to the opposite 

 continent. 



The proposal, he adds, appeared to be so advantageous to the 

 common interest, that the work was immediately begun and carried 

 on with so much spirit, that in a short time it was completed. 



nus tendit; et exercitui Euripo concitatiori pontem substernit, et in ipso freto castellum 

 aedificatum, in eoquc sedentem exercitum cernit." He is relating the rapid successes of 

 Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, in Greece, at the commencement of the 13th century. 



