T. E. Lawrence’s Undergraduate Dissertation – Page 76

refuge wherever population warranted. The army likewise stood on the defensive until these refugee were occupied : and then the enemy, distracted by the number of their potential sieges, and the hollowness of their occupation of the country, were eas--ily driven out : more especially as by their fire signals the Greeks were able to exchange information, or to concentrate at a speed that was disconcerting to the most active of invaders. The buildings themselves, according to Procopius, were to have three lines of defence. First would be the ...teicis...a mound piled up of the earth taken out when cutting the ditch within it. The ditch was to be not less than 56 feet wide, and as deep as the foundation of the inner walls, to discourage gap. It was an advantage if it could be water-filled;in any case its sides had to be perpendicular. The mound outside was to increase its apparent depth, to hide it, and to force assailants to expose themselves to an easy fire from the wall. Within the ditch was the ..."oticis..."a : a wall of some height, banked up with earth within, so that its chemin de ronde would be nearly on a level with the lists. In these ...... the country people would be assembled, and their defence would naturally be the more strenuous, since they would know the exceeding unlikelihood of rescue from the defenders