The wall shook and wavered until we feared even to stand upon it. Then, when overthrow seemed inevitable, two muscular stevedores from the waterfront appeared with a heavy beam on their shoulders. Another pair followed them. Each pair placed his beam atop the battlements over one of the rams.
Timing their actions to the swing of the ram, one pair pushed their beam off the wall so that it fell straight down. This first beam missed the head of the ram, which drew back just before it struck.
The second pair narrowly watched the swing of the ram. One gave a short, deep shout. Over went the beam.
This time the beam struck the ram's head squarely. There was a crash and a jangle of snapped chains inside the tortoise. The ram ceased moving, with its head lying on the ground. We danced and cheered on the wall. The Antigonians pulled the damaged ram back for repairs.
The other ram continued to pound as the sun went down. As dark came on, a long chain of our men came up to the wall, each carrying a bundle of faggots or brush. These bundles they dropped over the wall above the remaining ram. As the brush piled up, it got between the head of the ram and the wall, cushioning its blows. The Antigonians stopped pounding the wall to pull the brush aside, whereupon we dropped more upon them before they could resume. When they brought out links to see by, the Cretan archers feathered them with shafts and drove them back to cover. Lastly we fired the mass, so that, to save their ram, the Antigonians had to pull back the tortoise.
The next morning, as a gusty rain slanted over the battlefield, an Antigonian trumpeter blew "parley."
Our general of infantry, Ananias, put his head over the wall and bawled: "What do you want?"
A herald called back: "The Great King, Demetrios Antigonou, at the behest of the envoys from Knidos, requests a conference."
General Ananias sent a messenger to fetch President Damoteles. When things had been explained, the President called:
"We will come by sea into the South Harbor. Expect us within the hour."
The President went away, and I saw no more of high politics that day. The President collected some Councilmen, and a fisherman rowed them around the end of the South Mole into Demetrios' territory.
The long closure of Rhodes's port had begun to hurt the other maritime Greek cities, whose favorite transshipment port it was. Moreover, they were not insensible of the benefits of our long campaigns against the pirates. Therefore the city of Knidos, nearby on the Karian coast, had sent a delegation to Demetrois, asking him to moderate his terms and promising to try to persuade the Rhodians to accept them.
So, for a ten-day, fighting was suspended. Antigonian soldiers strolled by within easy bowshot. They caroused and gambled and shouted taunts up to us, but Ananias sternly forbade us to reply.
Meanwhile Makar's masons worked furiously to raise the-secondary wall. Our sentries patrolled with two spears apiece, to give the foe an impression of greater numbers than we truly had.
On the fifty day of the truce a squadron of ships loomed up. The Antigonians went out with a couple of battleships to intercept them, but to no avail. Surely the god who had wind duty that day fought for us. In came the ships, the red lion blazing on their sails. This Was the shipment of three hundred thousand medimnoi that the Ptolemaios had promised us. Next day we ate heartily.
Drooping spirits revived; shrunken bellies filled out. The following night a ship arrived from Kasandros with ten thousand medimnoi of barley; two nights later in came a squadron from Lysimachos with forty thousand medimnoi each of wheat and barley. I never realized how good a loaf of wheaten bread can be until I had spent half a month on barley porridge.
Then the word was passed: The king has called off the conferences; prepare for another attack. From friends with political connections I learnt that Demetrios had refused to yield a digit from the terms he had originally demanded, nearly three years before.
Skylla and Charybdis now had an ample supply of brick balls. On the other hand, Demetrios' engineers had also repaired their engines.
On the morning when the trumpets blew the assault, the ram tortoises rumbled back up to the wall. One moved up a little east of its former position, so that it attacked a big square tower.
Boom! Boom!
All morning the pounding went on, despite our counter-measures, from the rams and from the heavy stone throwers in the belfry. Early in the afternoon Ananias and Makar appeared on the wall in heavy, frowning conference. The general said quietly:
"Get off this section, boys. It's going any minute."
Boom! went a ram. There was a deep rumble.
With a frightful roar the wall gave way, carrying several men shrieking to their deaths. When I could see through the cloud of dust, it transpired that the curtain wall had fallen in front of Charybdis, down to a height of a mere ten or twelve feet.
Trumpets blew; the Antigonian infantry rushed into the breach. Spears, gilded standards, and long ladders bobbed amidst the flood. The foe swarmed over the pile of debris and down the other side—to be stopped by Makar's lune. Fighting swirled around the bases of the towers on which my stone throwers stood.
These continued to bombard the battered belfry. Several of its catapults were out of action; half its shutters hung awry with the woolen stuffing dribbling out of them.
The other ram and the stone throwers continued their attack on the wall. One more boom, another roar, and the square tower crumbled. One side fell away, leaving half the tower's interior, with stairs and storerooms, exposed to view.
More trumpets, trampings, clangor of arms, and screams of rage, fear, and death. Again I prayed to the Bright One.
I know not how we did it, but the setting sun saw every Antigonian slain or driven from his lodgment in our works. Some of our men collapsed, lying listlessly with sobbing breath. Many bled or limped; the slain were carried off. Blood was everywhere; red and slippery, or brown and dry, on shoe and kilt and skin.
Bias appeared, followed by a baker with a sackful of loaves, which he passed out. The carpenter said:
"Looks like so much of the hides and ironwork of the belfry are knocked loose that we can try a fire attack. Beginning at the second watch, on signal, all stone throwers are to throw incendiaries while dart throwers are to maintain a barrage around the belfry to keep their fire fighters away. Catch some early sleep if you can."
Despite our exhaustion, sleep was hard to come by, because during the evening Bias moved several smaller catapults to the sections of the wall near the belfry. There was a continual chatter of commands, grunting of men, creaking of ropes, and rumbling of rollers.
The second watch was nearly over when the preparations were complete. Then Bias cried: "Shoot!"
Crash! Off went Skylla and Charybdis, hurling jars of the largest size; off went all the other catapults on the South Wall. The jugs struck home with crashing, splashing sounds.
Then incendiary darts and arrows cut fiery arcs towards the dim black shape that towered into the stars. Flames sprang up its sides.
The Antigonian camp sprang to life, with torches and trumpet calls. Men poured across the field towards the burning belfry. Our dart throwers laid down a bombardment; men screamed and fell in the flickering light.
"Shoot faster!" cried Bias.
We cranked and shot until our cockers were ready to drop. But it was like trying to beat down a swarm of flies with a cudgel. The Antigonians swarmed into the engine. Hundreds began pushing, while others climbed around the narrow balconies with water buckets. With a mighty groan, the engine lurched into motion away from the wall.