But when the time came for carrying out this bold design,
half of the garrison drew back, thinking the risk too great. The other
half, numbering about two hundred and twenty, persisted in their
purpose, and forthwith fell to work on their preparations. They began
by making ladders for scaling the enemy's wall; and in order to
ascertain the proper length of the ladders, they counted the courses
of bricks in a part of the wall facing the town, which happened to
have been left unplastered. Many counted the courses together, and by
repeating the process over and over again, and comparing the result,
they at last hit upon the right number. When once this was known, they
could easily calculate the length of their ladders, for the bricks
were all of the same dimensions, and they knew the thickness of a
single brick.
The Peloponnesians had built a double line of wall round Plataea, the
two lines being separated by a distance of sixteen feet. The whole of
the space within this double wall was covered by a flat roof, so as to
present the appearance of a single thick wall, with battlements on
either side; and this covered space, which was divided into rooms by
partition-walls, served as barracks for the besiegers. Along the top
were high towers, with intervals of ten battlements between them, and
built flush with the wall on both sides, so as to leave no passage,
except through the middle of the tower.
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