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[21] When these preparations had been sufficiently made, just before dawn our men were drawn up in three divisions and tried an assault upon the walls, [p. 83] the cones of their helmets nodding in threatening wise and many carrying scaling-ladders. And now, while arms clashed and trumpets brayed, both sides fought with equal ardour and courage. And as the Romans extended their forces more widely and saw that the Persians were in hiding through fear of the engines placed upon the mounds, they attacked a tower with the ram; and in addition to mattocks, pickaxes, and crowbars the scaling- ladders also drew near, while missiles flew thick and fast from both sides.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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