294 A TOUR THROUGH
conceal himself. He applied his own ear to
this hole, and is said to have heard distinctly
every word that was spoken in the cavern
below. This apartment was no sooner
finished, and a proos of it made, than he
put to death all the workmen that had been
employed in it. He then confined all that
he susoected were his enemies; and by over-
hearing their conversation, judged of their
guilt, and condemned and acquitted ac-
cordingly,
As this chamber of Dionysius is very
high in the rock, and now totally inacces-
iible, we had it not in our power to make
proof of this curious experiment, which
our guides told us had been done some years
ago by the captain of an English ship.
The echo in the ear is prodigious; much
superior to any other cavern I have seen.
The holes in the rock, to which the priso-
ners were chained, still remain, and even
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