Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 32
Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. Professor of Latin and Head of the Department of Classics in the University of Pittsburgh, Ed.

24. While this was being done by the navy,¹ the consul in Phocis, having pitched his camp in front of Elatia, tried first to attain his end by conferences, using the principal citizens of Elatia; [2] after he had received the reply that the decision was not for them to make and that the king's garrison was stronger and more numerous than the citizens, he then attacked the city from all sides with arms and engines. [3] When he brought up a battering-ram and a section of wall between two towers fell with a mighty crash and din and left the city [p. 229]open to attack, at the same time a Roman cohort² broke through the gap left by the recent collapse, and also [4] the guards from all parts of the city, each leaving his own post, hurried to the spot which was endangered by the enemy's attack. [5] At the same moment the Romans were both climbing over the ruins of the wall and moving their ladders against the standing ramparts. And while the conflict drew the eyes and thoughts of the enemy in one direction, the wall in several places was taken by escalade and the soldiers climbed over into the city. [6] Hearing their shouts, the terrified enemy left the place they had been defending in force and made for the citadel, the unarmed crowd too following. So the consul took the town. [7] Having sacked it, he sent messengers to the citadel to promise life to the garrison, if they wished to give up their arms and depart, and liberty to the Elatenses, and an agreement having been made to this effect, a few days later he occupied the citadel.