43.
On the seventh day of the attack, a very high wind having sprung up, they began
to discharge by their slings hot balls made of burned or hardened clay, and
heated javelins, upon the huts, which, after the Gallic custom,
were thatched with straw. These quickly took fire, and by the violence of the
wind, scattered their flames in every part of the camp. The enemy following up
their success with a very loud shout, as if victory were already obtained and
secured, began to advance their towers and mantelets, and climb the rampart with
ladders. But so great was the courage of our soldiers, and such their presence
of mind, that though they were scorched on all sides, and harassed by a vast
number of weapons, and were aware that their baggage and their possessions were
burning, not only did no one quit the rampart for the purpose of withdrawing
from the scene, but scarcely did any one even then look behind; and they all
fought most vigorously and most valiantly. This day was by far the most
calamitous to our men; it had this result, however, that on that day the largest
number of the enemy was wounded and slain, since they had crowded beneath the
very rampart, and the hindmost did not afford the foremost a retreat. The flame
having abated a little, and a tower having been brought up in a particular place
and touching the rampart, the centurions of the third cohort retired from the
place in which they were standing, and drew off all their men: they began to
call on the enemy by gestures and by words, to enter if they wished; but none of
them dared to advance. Then stones having been cast from every quarter, the
enemy were dislodged, and their tower set on fire.
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