The attack was begun by Appius bringing his penthouses, and scaling ladders, and attempting to fix the latter
against that part of the wall which abuts on Hexapylus towards
the east. At the same time Marcus Claudius Marcellus with
sixty quinqueremes was making a descent upon Achradina. Each
of these vessels were full of men armed with bows and slings
and javelins, with which to dislodge those who fought on the
battlements. As well as these vessels he had eight quinqueremes in pairs. Each pair had had their oars removed,
one on the larboard and the other on the starboard side, and
then had been lashed together on the sides thus left bare.
On these double vessels, rowed by the outer oars of each of
the pair, they brought up under the walls some
engines called "Sambucae," the construction
of which was as follows:—A ladder was made
four feet broad, and of a height to reach the top of the wall
from the place where its foot had to rest; each side of the
ladder was protected by a railing, and a covering or pent-house
was added overhead. It was then placed so that its foot
rested across the sides of the lashed-together vessels, which
touched each other with its other extremity protruding a
considerable way beyond the prows. On the tops of the masts
pulleys were fixed with ropes: and when the engines were
about to be used, men standing on the sterns of the vessels
drew the ropes tied to the head of the ladder, while others
standing on the prows assisted the raising of the machine and
kept it steady with long poles. Having then brought the
ships close in shore by using the outer oars of both vessels
they tried to let the machine down upon the wall. At the
head of the ladder was fixed a wooden stage secured on three
sides by wicker-shields, upon which stood four men who
fought and struggled with those who tried to prevent the
Sambuca from being made to rest on the battlements. But
when they have fixed it and so got above the level of the top
of the wall, the four men unfasten the wicker-shields from
either side of the stage, and walk out upon the battlements
or towers as the case may be; they are followed by their
comrades coming up by the Sambuca, since the ladder's
foot is safely secured with ropes and stands upon both the
ships. This construction has got the name of "Sambuca,"
or "Harp," for the natural reason, that when it is raised the
combination of the ship and ladder has very much the appearance of such an instrument.
