4 To the consul, on his arrival at Ambracia, the siege appeared to be a work of no small difficulty. Ambracia stands at the foot of a rocky hill, called by the natives Perranthe: the city, where the wall faces the plain and the river, looks towards the west; the citadel, which is seated on the hill, towards the east. The river Arachthus, which rises in Athamania, falls here into a gulf of the sea, called the Ambracian, from the name of the adjacent city. Besides that the river defended it on one side and the hills on the other, it was also surrounded by a strong wall, extending in circuit somewhat more than three miles. Fulvius formed two camps at a short distance from each other, and one fort on the high ground opposite to the citadel; all which he intended to join together by a rampart and trench, in such a manner that there should be no exit from the city for the besieged, nor entrance For the introduction of assistance from without. The Ætolians, on the report of the siege of Ambracia, were by this time assembled at Stratus, in obedience to an edict of their prætor, Nicander. At first they intended to have marched hence, with their whole force, to raise the siege; afterwards, when they heard that the place was already, in a great measure, surrounded with works, and that the Epirots were encamped on level ground, on the other side of the river, they resolved to divide their forces. Eupolemus, with one thousand light troops, marching to Ambracia, made his way into the city, though the works were joined to each other. Nicander’s first plan was to have attacked the camp of the Epirots in the night, with the rest of the troops, as assistance could not be easily received from the Romans, because the river ran between them. Afterward, judging it too dangerous an undertaking, lest the Romans should by any means discover it, and his retreat become unsafe, he was deterred from this design, and marched away to ravage the country of Acarnania.
5 The consul having now finished the intrenchments with which it was necessary to surround the city, and likewise the works which he was preparing to bring forward to the walls, attacked the city in five different places; three attacks, at equal distances from each other, he directed against the quarter which they called Pyrrheum, as the approach was easier from the plain; one opposite to the temple of Æsculapius, and one against the citadel. He broke down the walls with battering-rams, and tore down the battlements with poles armed with scythes. At first, terror and dismay seized the townsmen, at the formidable appearance of the works, and the shocks given to the walls, which were attended with a dreadful noise: afterwards, when they beheld them contrary to their hopes standing, having again resumed courage, they, by means of cranes, threw down upon the battering-rams weighty masses of lead, or stone, or beams of timber; dragging the armed poles, with iron grapples, within the walls, they broke off the hooks; besides, by sallies, both by night against the watch-guards of the engines, and by day against the advanced posts, they kept the besiegers in a state of continual alarm. While affairs at Ambracia were in this state, the Ætolians had returned from ravaging Acarnania, to Stratus. Their prætor, Nicander, having conceived hopes of raising the siege by a bold effort, sent a person called Nicodamus, with five hundred Ætolians, into Ambracia, and appointed a certain night, and even the time of the night, on which, from within the city, they were to assault the works of the enemy, opposite to the Pyrrheum, while he himself should alarm the Roman camp. He supposed that, in consequence of the alarm on both sides, and night increasing the terror, something memorable might be achieved. And Nicodamus, in the dead of the night, (when he had escaped the notice of some of the parties on watch, and broken through others by his determined onset,) having passed the intrenchment, penetrated into the city; and gave the besieged considerable hope and courage for any enterprise; and as soon as the appointed time arrived, according to the plan preconcerted, he made a sudden assault on the works. This undertaking was more formidable in the attempt than in the effect, because no attack was made from without; for the prætor of the Ætolians had either been deterred by fear, or had judged it more advisable to carry succours to Amphilochia, which had been lately reduced; which Perseus, the son of Philip, who was sent to recover Dolopia and Amphilochia, was besieging with the greatest vigour.
6 The works of the Romans against the Pyrrheum were carried on in three different places, as has been mentioned before, all which works the Ætolians assaulted at once, but not with similar weapons or similar force. Some advanced with burning torches, others carrying tow and pitch, and fire-darts, their entire line being illuminated by the blaze. At the first assault they cut off many of the men on guard. Afterwards, when the shout and uproar reached the camp, and the signal was given by the consul, the troops took arms and poured out of all the gates to succour their friends. In one place the contest was carried on with fire and sword; from the other two, the Ætolians retired with disappointment, after essaying rather than supporting a fight. The whole brunt of the battle fell on the one quarter with great fury. Here the two commanders, Eupolemus and Nicodamus, in their different posts, encouraged their men and animated them with hope amounting almost to certainty, that Nicander would, according to his agreement, come up speedily and attack the enemy’s rear. This expectation for some time supported their courage in the fight. But at last, as they did not receive the concerted signal from their friends, and saw the number of their enemies continually increasing, they pressed on with less energy, as if deserted; finally, having abandoned the attempt, their retreat now becoming almost impracticable, they were driven in flight into the city, after having burned a part of the works, however, and killed a much greater number than they lost themselves. If the affair had been conducted according to the plan concerted, there was no reason to doubt but that one part at least of the works might have been stormed with great havoc of the Romans;. The Ambracians and the Ætolians, who were within, not only renounced the enterprise of that night, but supposing themselves betrayed by their friends, became much less spirited. None of them any longer sallied out, as before, against the enemy’s stations, but posted on the walls and towers, fought without danger.
7 Perseus, on hearing of the approach of the Ætolians, having raised the siege of the city in which he was employed, and having ravaged the country, quitted Amphilochia, and returned into Macedon. The devastation of their sea-coast called away the Ætolians from this region. Pleuratus, king of the Illyrians, entered the Corinthian gulf with sixty barks, and having formed a junction with the ships of the Achæans lying at Patræ, wasted the maritime parts of Ætolia. Against these one thousand Ætolians were sent, who, by taking short routes, met the fleet wherever it, while sailing around the indentations of the coast, attempted a landing. The Romans at Ambracia, by the battering of their rams in many places at once, laid open a great part of the city; but nevertheless were unable to penetrate into the heart of it. For instead of the wall knocked down a new one was raised with proportionate speed, while the armed men standing on the ruins, formed a kind of bulwark. The consul, therefore, when he made no progress by open force, resolved to form a secret mine, covering the ground first with his machines. And for a long time his workmen, though employed both night and day, not only in digging under the ground but also in carrying away the earth, escaped the observation of the enemy. A heap of it, however, rising suddenly, gave the townsmen intimation of their work, and terrified lest, the wall being undermined, a passage should be opened into the city, they determined to draw a trench within, opposite to the work that was covered with machines. In which when they reached such a depth as the bottom of the mine could well be, then keeping profound silence, having applied their ears to several different places, they endeavoured to catch the sound of the miners; which being heard, they opened a way directly towards them. Nor did it require much exertion, for they came in a short time to an open space where the wall was supported with props by the enemy. The works joining here, as the passage was open from the trench to the mine, the parties began to fight in the dark under ground, first of all with the tools which they had used in the works, but afterwards armed men came quickly up. Subsequently the contest became less spirited; as the besieged stopped the passage, sometimes by stretching strong hair-cloths across it, sometimes by hastily placing doors in the way of their antagonists. A new engine, requiring no great labour, was invented against those who were in the mine. The besieged bored a hole in the bottom of a cask, by which a moderate-sized pipe could be inserted, and made an iron pipe and iron head for the cask, which was perforated in many places. They placed this cask, filled with small feathers, with its mouth turned towards the mine. Through, the holes in the head of the cask projected those very long spears, which they call sarissas, to keep off