Note 317 — BOOK VII

βαλανάγρας. The βαλανάγρα was a straight piece of wood with upright pins corresponding with those that fall into the bolt (the βάλανοι), and which are pushed up by it. It was thus used as a key which could be taken out and kept by the Commandant, as in Herod. 3, 155; Thucyd. 2, 4. But Polybius here seems to use it as equivalent to βάλανος. See Aeneas, Tact. 18-20, who recommends that the μόχλος should be sheeted with iron to prevent this very operation. Cp. 4, 57. What he means by ζύγωμα on the outside (here translated “fastenings”) is also somewhat doubtful. From Hesychius, s.v. ἐπιξευκτήρ, it might be conjectured that chains of some kind were intended. Casaubon supposed it to be a cross bar similar to the μόχλος inside, and Schw. to represent the posts and the lintel connecting them.