two palms thick. Upon each end of the block stands a post, a cubit wide
and thick, the upper end of which is somewhat cut away and is mortised into
the beams of the building. At a height of four feet and two digits above the
block there are joined to the posts two transverse beams, each of which is
three palms wide and thick ; their ends are mortised into the upright posts,
and holes are bored through them; in the holes are driven iron claves,
horned in front and so driven into the post that one of the horns of each
points upward and the other downward ; the other end of each clavis is
perforated, and a wide iron wedge is inserted and driven into the holes, and
thus holds the transverse beams in place. These transverse beams have in the
middle a square opening three palms and half a digit wide in each
direction, through which the iron-shod stamp passes. At a height of three
feet and two palms above these transverse beams there are again two beams
of the same kind, having also a square opening and holding the same stamp.
This stamp is square, eleven feet long, three palms wide and thick ; its iron
shoe is a foot and a palm long ; its head is two palms long and wide, a palm
two digits thick at the top, and at the bottom the same number of digits, for
it gradually narrows. But the tail is three palms long ; where the head
begins is two palms wide and thick, and the further it departs from the same
the narrower it becomes. The upper part is enclosed in the stamp-stem, and
it is perforated so that an iron bolt may be driven into it ; it is bound by three
rectangular iron bands, the lowest of which, a palm wide, is between the iron
shoe and the head of the stamp ; the middle band, three digits wide, follows
next and binds round the head of the stamp, and two digits above is the
upper one, which is the same number of digits wide. At a distance of two
feet and as many digits above the lowest part of the iron shoe, is a rectangular
tooth, projecting from the stamp for a distance of a foot and a palm ; it is
two palms thick, and when it has extended to a distance of six digits from the
stamp it is made two digits narrower. At a height of three palms upward
from the tooth there is a round hole in the middle of the stamp-stem, into
which can be thrust a round iron bar two feet long and a digit and a half in
diameter ; in its hollow end is fixed a wooden handle two palms and the same
number of digits long. The bar rests on the lower transverse beam, and holds
up the stamp when it is not in use. The axle which raises the stamp
has on each side two arms, which are two palms and three digits distant
from each other, and which project from the axle a foot, a palm and two
digits ; penetrating through them are bolts, driven in firmly ; the arms are
each a palm and two digits wide and thick, and their round heads, for a foot
downward on either side, are covered with iron plates of the same width as
the arms and fastened by iron nails. The head of each arm has a round
hole, into which is inserted an iron pin, passing through a bronze pipe ; this
little axle has at the one end a wide head, and at the other end a perforation
through which is driven an iron nail, lest this little axle should fall out of the
arms. The bronze pipe is two palms long and one in diameter; the little
iron axle penetrates through its round interior, which is two digits in diameter.
The bronze pipe not only revolves round the little iron axle, but it also
