[18] The spacing of the towers also is just about the same as at Lugo and Astorga; but the irregular outline of the works is less usual, the Romans generally adopting a more formal plan.
[19] The walls of Constantinople had similar double banquettes. In this case the walls were double; and the two walls, taken together, must have made a stronger defence than the single wall at Amida. But neither of the two, taken separately, was quite so formidable in itself.
[20] The whole is built of basalt with yellow marble columns, and yellow marble bands here and there.
[21] The science of war has made little progress in these parts since the days of the Assyrians. To this day a Kurdish chieftain, when besieging his rival’s castle, will endeavour to force an entry by mining the walls with picks.
[22] Zachariah of Mitylene.
[23] Chosroes employed the same device in his siege of Edessa a little later. In this case the mine was fired prematurely and (lest the smoke should betray them) the defenders pelted the mound with fireballs so that the Persians never suspected that the real danger was under ground. Presently the fire got beyond all quenching, and the mound was destroyed completely; the smoke of its burning being visible fifty miles away. Such counter-strokes were rather dangerous, as sometimes the wall itself burst with the heat of the bonfire; but the basalt walls of Amida were doubtless pretty well inured.
[24] Kobad’s losses had amounted to 50,000, so there were plenty of manes to appease.
[25] We may quote a parallel incident which occurred in India soon after the Mutiny. An old cultivator was being examined as witness with regard to the outbreak in his town. He had heard a great row, he explained, but at first he took no notice. He thought it was “only the Rajah plundering the bazaar.” But soon the riot came nearer, and he could distinguish the shouts of “Allah.” And at that word he grew frightened. It must mean real mischief when the mob invoked the name of God!
[26] See pp. [227], [338]. Bedr Khan Beg’s massacres of the mountain Christians occurred in 1843, and are described by Layard in his “Nineveh and its Remains.” Under pressure from the British Ambassador, Bedr Khan and his family were eventually banished to Candia—“a totally inadequate punishment.”
[27] Or rather, he has now written the Code Napoleon side by side with this system, and left authority to take its choice between the two, and to apply the code that is least trouble in each case!