Viewing page 237 of 285

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

164  ANNUAL REGISTER  For the YEAR 1772. 165

corn: an exportation, which does not so much prove their being overstocked with that commodity, as their using but little. Of consequence, a scarcity of corn is not much felt, even by the common people, who could go without bread, if circumstances required it. 

From hence it may be inferred, by the way, that the cultivation of land is regulated by different principles in France from those which direct it in England, where one half of the ground, both is, and ought to be, laid out in pastures and fields for grazing cattle.

Account of the Siege of Syracuse, from the Second Volume of Hampton's Translation of Polybius.

THE consul Appius, having taken upon himself the command of the land forces, and stationed the army round the Scythian portico, from whence the wall was continued along the shore even to the mole of the harbour, resolved to make his approaches on that side. As the number of his artificers was very great, he prepared in five days only a sufficient quantity of blinds and darts, with every thing besides that was proper for the siege; and was persuaded that, by this celerity, he should be able to attack the enemy before they had made the necessary preparations for their defence. He had not, at this time, made due reflection upon the great skill of Archimedes; nor considered, that the mind of a single man is on some occasions far superior to the force of many hands. But this truth was soon discovered to him by the event. For, as Syracuse was in itself a place of very great strength, the wall that fur-rounded it being built upon lofty hills, whose tops, hanging over the plain, rendered all approach from without, except in certain parts, extremely difficult; so within the city likewise, and against all attempts that might be made on the side of the sea, so great a quantity of instruments of defence had been contrived by the person just now mentioned, that the besieged were at no time idle, but were ready, upon every new attack, to meet the motions, and repel the efforts of the enemy. Appius however, advancing with his blinds and ladders, endeavored to approach that part of the wall which was joined to the Hexapylum, on the eastern side of the city. At the fame time, Marcellus directed his course to-ward Achradina, with a fleet of sixty quinqueremes, all filled with soldiers, who were armed with bows, flings, and javelins, in order to drive the enemy from the walls. There were also eight other quinqueremes, from one side of which the benches of the rowers had been removed, from the right side of some, and from the left of others. These vessels being joined two and two together, on the sides from which the benches had been taken, were rowed by the oars on the opposite side, and carried to the walls certain machines called sackbuts, the construction and use of which may be thus described.
 
A ladder is made, which has four feet in breadth, and such a length as may make it equal, when raised, to the height of the walls. On either side of it is a high breastwork, in the form of ballustrade. This ladder is laid at length upon 
the

the sides in which the two vessels are joined, but extending far beyond the prows; and at the top of the masts of the vessels are fixed pullies and ropes. At the proper time the ropes are fastened to the top of the machine; and while some, standing on the stern of the vessels, draw the ladder upwards by the pullies, others on the prow, at the same time, assist in raising it with bars and levers. The vessels being then rowed near to the shore, endeavours are used to fix the machine against the walls. At the top of the ladder is a little stage, guarded on three sides with blinds, and containing four men upon it, who engage with those upon the walls that endeavour to obstruct the fixing of the machine. And when it is fixed, these men, being now raised above the top of the wall, throw down the blinds on either side and advance to attack the battlements and towers. The rest at the same time ascend the ladder, without any fear that it should fall, because it is strongly fastened with ropes to the two vessels. The name of sackbut is bestowed not improperly upon this machine; for, when it is raised, the appearance of the ladder and the vessels, joined thus together, very much resembles the figure of that instrument. 

In this manner then, when all things now were ready, the Romans designed to attack the towers. But Archimedes had prepared machines that were fitted to every distance. And, while the vessels were yet far removed from the walls, employing catapults and balistae, that were of the largest size, and worked by the strongest springs, he wounded the enemy with his darts and stones, and threw them into great disorder. When the darts passed beyond them, he then used other machines, of a smaller size, and still proportioned to the distance. By these means the Romans were so effectually repulsed, that it was not possible for them to approach. Marcellus therefore, perplexed with this resistance, was forced to advance silently with his vessels in the night. But, when they came so near to the land as to be within the reach of darts, they were exposed to new danger from another invention which Archimedes had contrived. He had caused opening to be made in many parts of the wall, equal in height to the stature of a man, and to the palm of a hand in breadth. And, having planted on the inside archers and little scorpions, he discharged a multitude of arrows through the openings, and disabled the soldiers that were on board. In this manner, whether the Romans were at a great distance, or whether they were near, he not only rendered useless all their efforts, but destroyed also many of their men. When they attempted also to raise the sackbuts, certain machines, which he had raised along the whole wall on the inside, and which were be-fore concealed from view, suddenly appeared above the walls, and stretched their long beaks far be-yond the battlements. Some of these machines carried masses of lead, and stones not less than ten talents in weight. And, when the vessels with the sackbuts came near, the beaks, being first turned by ropes and pullies to the proper point, let fall their stones, which broke not only the sackbuts, but

M3   the       

Transcription Notes:
Some of the f's are supposed to be the letter S ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-21 20:13:50 Transcribe as "s," per instructions of TC staff. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-22 12:19:00