21.7
During
these proceedings in Rome the siege of Saguntum was being pressed with
the utmost vigour. That city was by far the most wealthy of all beyond the
Ebro; it was situated about a mile from the sea. It is said to have been
founded by settlers from the island of Zacynthus, with an admixture of
Rutulians from Ardea. In a short time, however, it had attained to great
prosperity, partly through its land and sea-borne commerce, partly through
the rapid increase of its population, and also through the maintenance of a
high standard of political integrity which led it to act with a loyalty towards
its allies that brought about its ruin. After carrying his ravages everywhere
throughout the territory, Hannibal attacked the city from three separate
points. There was an angle of the fortifications which looked down on a
more open and level descent than the rest of the ground surrounding the city,
and here he decided to bring up his vineae to allow the battering rams to be
placed against the walls. But although the ground to a considerable distance
from the walls was sufficiently level to admit of the vineae being brought up,
they found when they had succeeded in doing this that they made no
progress. A huge tower overlooked the place, and the wall, being here more
open to attack, had been carried to a greater height than the rest of the
fortifications. As the position was one of especial danger, so the resistance
offered by a picked body of defenders was of the most resolute character. At
first they confined themselves to keeping the enemy back by the discharge of
missiles and making it impossible for them to continue their operations in
safety. As time went on, however, their weapons no longer flashed on the
walls or from the tower, they ventured on a sortie and attacked the outposts
and siege works of the enemy. In these irregular encounters the
Carthaginians lost nearly as many men as the Saguntines. Hannibal himself,
approaching the wall somewhat incautiously, fell with a severe wound in his
thigh from a javelin, and such was the confusion and dismay that ensued that
the vineae and siege works were all but abandoned.
