Fall of Syracuse, B. C. 212
He counted the layers; for as the
tower had been built of regular layers of
stone, it was very easy to reckon the height
of the battlements from the ground. . . .
Some days afterwards on information being given by a
deserter that the Syracusans had been engaged in a public
sacrifice to Artemis for the last three days; and
that they were using very scanty food in the
festival though plenty of wine, both Epicydes and
certain Syracusans having given a large supply;
Marcus Marcellus selected a part of the wall somewhat lower
than the rest, and thinking it probable that the men were
drunk, owing to the license of the hour, and the short supply of
food with their wine, he determined to attempt an escalade.
Two ladders of the proper height for the wall having been
quickly made, he pressed on the undertaking. He spoke
openly to those who were fit to make the ascent and to face
the first and most conspicuous risk, holding out to them
brilliant prospects of reward. He also picked out some men
to give them necessary help and bring ladders, without telling them anything except to bid them be ready to obey
orders. His directions having been accurately obeyed, at
the proper time in the night he put the first men in motion,
sending with them the men with the ladders together with a
maniple and a tribune, and having first reminded them of the
rewards awaiting them if they behaved with gallantry. After
this he got his whole force ready to start; and despatching the
vanguard by maniples at intervals, when a thousand had been
massed in this way, after a short pause, he marched himself
with the main body. The men carrying the ladders having
succeeded in safely placing them against the wall, those who
had been told off to make the ascent mounted at once without hesitation. Having accomplished this
without being observed, and having got a firm footing on the top of the wall,
the rest began to mount by the ladders also, not in any fixed
order, but as best they could. At first as they made their way
upon the wall they found no one to oppose them, for the
guards of the several towers, owing to it being a time of public
sacrifice, were either still drinking or were gone to sleep again
in a state of drunkenness. Consequently of the first and second
companies of guards, which they came upon, they killed the
greater number before they knew that they were being attacked.
And when they came near Hexapyli, they descended from the
wall, and forced open the first postern they came to which was
let into the wall, through which they admitted the general and
the rest of the army. This is the way in which the Romans
took
Syracuse. . . .
None of the citizens knew what was happening because of the distance; for the town is
a very large one. . . .
But the Romans were rendered very confident
by their conquest of Epipolae. . . .