dual. It was
a gross piece of neglect on the part of Nikias not to have fortified
this spot on his first investment of Epipolae, instead of choosing
Labdalum, which, wherever we may place it, must have been lower down
the hill to the east. For Euryalus is the key to Epipolae. It was
here that Nikias himself ascended in the first instance, and that
afterwards he permitted Gylippus to enter and raise the siege, and
lastly that Demosthenes, by overpowering the insufficient Syracusan
guard, got at night within the lines of the Spartan general. Thus
the three most important movements of the siege were made upon
Euryalus. Dionysius, when he enclosed Epipolae with walls, recognised
the value of the point, and fortified it with the castle which
remains, and to which, as Colonel Leake believes, Archimedes, at the
order of Hiero II., made subsequent additions. This castle is one of
the most interesting Greek ruins extant. A little repair would make
it even now a substantial place of defence, according to Greek
tactics. Its deep foss is cut in the solid rock, and furnished with
subterranean magazines for the storage of provisions. The three
piles of solid masonry on which the drawbridge rested, still stand
in the centre of this ditch. The oblique grand entrance to the foss
descends by a flight of well-cut steps. The rock itself over which
the fort was raised is honeycombed with excavated passages for
infantry and cavalry, of different width and height, so that one
sort can be assigned to mounted horsemen and another to foot
soldiers. The trap-doors which led from these galleries into the
fortress are provided with rests for ladders that could be let down
to help a sallying force or drawn up to impede an advancing enemy.
The inner court for stabled horses and the stations for the
catapults are still in tolerable preservation. Thus the whole
arrangement of the stronghold can be traced not dimly but
distinctly. Being placed on the left side of the chief gate of
Epipolae, the occupants of the fort could issue to attack a foe
advancing toward that gate in the rear. At the same time the
subterranean galleries enabled them to pour out upon the other side,
if the enemy had forced an entrance, while the minor passages and
trap-doors provided a retreat in case the garrison were overpowered
in one of their offensive operations. The view from Euryalus is
extensive. To the left rises Etna, snowy, solitary, broadly vast,
above the plain of Cat