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But, in the next place, it must be added that objections can be urged against the opinion that the Moat was flooded even in time of war. The necessary quantity of water could ill be spared by a city which required all available water for the wants of its inhabitants, especially at the season of the year when sieges were conducted. Then, there is the fact that in the accounts we have of the sieges of the city, all contemporary historians are silent as to the presence of water in the Moat, notwithstanding frequent allusions to that part of the fortifications.

Furthermore, there are statements which imply the absence of water in the Moat during a siege. Pusculus, for instance, giving a minute account of the measures adopted in 1453 to place the city in a state of defence, refers to the deepening of the Moat, but says nothing about water in it. “Fossaque cavant, atque aggere terræ educto, muros forti munimine cingunt.”^[208] If water had been introduced into the Moat on this occasion, Pusculus could hardly have ignored the fact.