24.
The siege having been impeded by so many disadvantages, the soldiers, although
they were retarded during the whole time by the mud, cold, and constant showers,
yet by their incessant labor overcame all these obstacles, and in twenty-five
days raised a mound three hundred and thirty feet broad and eighty feet high.
When it almost touched the enemy's walls, and Caesar,
according to his usual custom, kept watch at the work, and encouraged the
soldiers not to discontinue the work for a moment: a little before the third
watch they discovered that the mound was sinking, since the enemy had set it on
fire by a mine; and at the same time a shout was raised along the entire wall,
and a sally was made from two gates on each side of the turrets. Some at a
distance were casting torches and dry wood from the wall on the mound, others
were pouring on it pitch, and other materials, by which the flame might be
excited, so that a plan could hardly be formed, as to where they should first
run to the defense, or to what part aid should be brought. However, as two
legions always kept guard before the camp by Caesar's
orders, and several of them were at stated times at the work, measures were
promptly taken, that some should oppose the sallying party, others draw back the
towers and make a cut in the rampart; and moreover, that the whole army should
hasten from the camp to extinguish the flames.
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