36.23
The
Romans made more use of machines than of arms in their attack on the city,
the Aetolians on the other hand trusted more to their arms for their defence.
When the walls were battered by the rams they did not, as is usual, turn aside
the blows by using looped ropes, but they made sorties in considerable
strength and some carried firebrands to throw on the siege works. There
were also arched sally-ports in the walls, and when they built up the wall
where it had been destroyed they left more of these openings to allow of
more numerous sorties. In the early days of the siege while their strength
was unimpaired these sallies were frequent and powerful, but as time went
on they became fewer and feebler. Amidst the many difficulties they had to
contend with nothing wore them down so much as want of sleep. The
Romans owing to their numbers were able to arrange regular reliefs for their
men, but the Aetolians were comparatively few, and the same men having to
be on duty night and day they were completely exhausted by the incessant
strain. For four-and-twenty days, without a moment's respite day or night,
they had to sustain the attack of the enemy, who were delivering their
assaults from four different quarters at once. Considering the time during
which the attack had been going on, and in view of the information brought
by deserters, the consul felt pretty sure that the Aetolians were at last worn
out, and he formed the following plan. When it was midnight he gave the
signal to retire and called off all the soldiers from the assault. He kept them
quiet in the camp till the third hour of the following day, when he
recommenced the attack and carried it on until midnight, when it was again
suspended till the third hour of the following day. The Aetolians supposed
that the cause of the assault not being kept up was the same as that which
was acting upon them, namely excessive fatigue, and when the signal for
retiring was given to the Romans, they too, as though it recalled them also,
quitted their posts and did not resume duty on the walls till the third hour of
the following day.
