§2.76.1οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι αἰσθόμενοι ἐν ταρσοῖς καλάμου πηλὸν ἐνίλλοντες ἐσέβαλλον ἐς τὸ διῃρημένον, ὅπως μὴ διαχεόμενον ὥσπερ ἡ γῆ φοροῖτο.
But the Peloponnesians, perceiving this, packed clay into baskets of reeds and threw it into the breach, so that it might not, by dispersing like the earth, be carried away.
§2.76.2οἱ δὲ ταύτῃ ἀποκλῃόμενοι τοῦτο μὲν ἐπέσχον, ὑπόνομον δὲ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὀρύξαντες καὶ ξυντεκμηράμενοι ὑπὸ τὸ χῶμα ὑφεῖλκον αὖθις παρὰ σφᾶς τὸν χοῦν·
The Plataeans, being blocked in this way, on the one hand stopped this work, but on the other hand, digging a mine from the city and calculating the direction under the mound, they pulled the earth back to themselves again.
καὶ ἐλάνθανον ἐπὶ πολὺ τοὺς ἔξω, ὥστε ἐπιβάλλοντας ἧσσον ἁνύτειν ὑπαγομένου αὐτοῖς κάτωθεν τοῦ χώματος καὶ ἱζάνοντος αἰεὶ ἐπὶ τὸ κενούμενον.
And they went unnoticed by those outside for a long time, so that those who threw earth on it made less progress, because the mound was being drawn away from underneath them below and was constantly settling into the hollowed-out space.
§2.76.3δεδιότες δὲ μὴ οὐδ’ οὕτω δύνωνται ὀλίγοι πρὸς πολλοὺς ἀντέχειν, προσεπεξηῦρον τόδε· τὸ μὲν μέγα οἰκοδόμημα ἐπαύσαντο ἐργαζόμενοι τὸ κατὰ τὸ χῶμα, ἔνθεν δὲ καὶ ἔνθεν αὐτοῦ ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ τοῦ βραχέος τείχους ἐκ τοῦ ἐντὸς μηνοειδὲς ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἐσῳκοδόμουν, ὅπως, εἰ τὸ μέγα τεῖχος ἁλίσκοιτο, τοῦτ’ ἀντέχοι, καὶ δέοι τοὺς ἐναντίους αὖθις πρὸς αὐτὸ χοῦν καὶ προχωροῦντας ἔσω διπλάσιόν τε πόνον ἔχειν καὶ ἐν ἀμφιβόλῳ μᾶλλον γίγνεσθαι.
Fearing, however, that even so, being few against many, they might not be able to hold out, they devised this further plan: they stopped working on the great structure opposite the mound, and starting from both sides of it, from the low wall, they built a crescent-shaped wall inward into the city, so that, if the great wall were taken, this might hold out, and the enemy would have to throw up a mound against it in turn, and as they advanced inward, they would have double the labor and be more exposed to crossfire.
§2.76.4ἅμα δὲ τῇ χώσει καὶ μηχανὰς προσῆγον οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι τῇ πόλει, μίαν μὲν ἣ τοῦ μεγάλου οἰκοδομήματος κατὰ τὸ χῶμα προσαχθεῖσα ἐπὶ μέγα τε κατέσεισε καὶ τοὺς Πλαταιᾶς ἐφόβησεν, ἄλλας δὲ ἄλλῃ τοῦ τείχους, ἃς βρόχους τε περιβάλλοντες ἀνέκλων οἱ Πλαταιῆς, καὶ δοκοὺς μεγάλας ἀρτήσαντες ἁλύσεσι μακραῖς σιδηραῖς ἀπὸ τῆς τομῆς ἑκατέρωθεν ἀπὸ κεραιῶν δύο ἐπικεκλιμένων καὶ ὑπερτεινουσῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τείχους ἀνελκύσαντες ἐγκαρσίας, ὁπότε προσπεσεῖσθαί πῃ μέλλοι ἡ μηχανή, ἀφίεσαν τὴν δοκὸν χαλαραῖς ταῖς ἁλύσεσι καὶ οὐ διὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντες, ἡ δὲ ῥύμῃ ἐμπίπτουσα ἀπεκαύλιζε τὸ προῦχον τῆς ἐμβολῆς.
At the same time as the mounding, the Peloponnesians also brought engines against the city. One indeed, which was brought up against the great structure from the mound, shook down a large part of it and terrified the Plataeans; and others at other points of the wall, which the Plataeans would catch with nooses and break off, and suspending great beams by long iron chains from both ends, which they hauled up crosswise from two spars projecting and leaning over the wall, whenever the engine was about to strike anywhere, they would let go the beam with slack chains and not holding it by hand, and this, falling with a rush, would shear off the projecting head of the battering ram.