§21.28.1οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι συνεχῶς ἐνεργοῦντες τοῖς κριοῖς ἀεί τι παρέλυον τῶν τειχῶν·
The Romans, continuously working their battering-rams with vigor, were always breaking down some part of the walls.
§21.28.2οὐ μὴν εἴς γε τὴν πόλιν ἐδύναντο βιάσασθαι διὰ τῶν πτωμάτων, τῷ καὶ τὴν ἀντοικοδομίαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἔνδον ἐνεργὸν εἶναι καὶ μάχεσθαι γενναίως ἐπὶ τοῦ πίπτοντος μέρους τοὺς Αἰτωλούς.
However, they were unable to force their way into the city through the breaches, because the rebuilding of the wall by those inside was actively carried on, and the Aetolians fought bravely at the falling part of the wall.
§21.28.3διόπερ ἀπορούμενοι κατήντησαν ἐπὶ τὸ μεταλλεύειν καὶ χρῆσθαι τοῖς ὀρύγμασιν ὑπὸ γῆς.
Therefore, being at a loss, they resorted to mining and making use of underground excavations.
§21.28.4ἀσφαλισάμενοι δὲ τὸ μέσον ἔργον τῶν τριῶν τῶν προϋπαρχόντων καὶ σκεπάσαντες ἐπιμελῶς [τὴν σύριγγα] τοῖς γέρροις, προεβάλοντο στοὰν παράλληλον τῷ τείχει σχεδὸν ἐπὶ δύο πλέθρα.
Having secured the middle work of the three pre-existing ones, and having carefully covered the gallery with wickerwork screens, they threw forward a gallery parallel to the wall for nearly two plethra.
§21.28.5καὶ λαβόντες ἀρχὴν ἐκ ταύτης ὤρυττον ἀδιαπαύστως καὶ τὴν νύκτα καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκ διαδοχῆς.
And taking this as their starting point, they dug without ceasing, day and night in shifts.
§21.28.6ἐφʼ ἱκανὰς μὲν οὖν ἡμέρας ἐλάνθανον τοὺς ἔνδον φέροντες ἔξω τὸν χοῦν διὰ τῆς σύριγγος.
For a good many days, therefore, they escaped the notice of those inside, carrying the excavated earth out through the gallery.
§21.28.7ὡς δὲ μέγας ὁ σωρὸς ἐγένετο τῆς ἐκφερομένης γῆς καὶ σύνοπτος τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, οἱ προεστῶτες τῶν πολιορκουμένων ὤρυττον τάφρον ἔσωθεν ἐνεργῶς παράλληλον τῷ τείχει καὶ τῇ στοᾷ τῇ πρὸ τῶν πύργων.
But when the heap of the earth carried out became large and visible to those in the city, the leaders of the besieged actively dug a trench from inside, parallel to the wall and to the gallery in front of the towers.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ βάθος ἔσχεν ἱκανόν, §21.28.8ἑξῆς ἔθηκαν παρὰ τὸν ἕνα τοῖχον τῆς τάφρου τὸν ἐγγὺς τῷ τείχει χαλκώματα συνεχῆ, λεπτότατα ταῖς κατασκευαῖς, καὶ παρὰ ταῦτα διὰ τῆς τάφρου παριόντες ἠκροῶντο τοῦ ψόφου τῶν ὀρυττόντων ἔξωθεν.
And when it attained a sufficient depth, next, they placed along one wall of the trench, the one close to the city wall, a continuous row of bronze vessels, extremely thin in construction, and passing along beside these through the trench, they listened for the noise of those digging from outside.
§21.28.9ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐσημειώσαντο τὸν τόπον, καθʼ ὃν ἐδήλου τινὰ τῶν χαλκωμάτων διὰ τῆς συμπαθείας, ὤρυττον ἔσωθεν ἐπικαρσίαν πρὸς τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν ἄλλην κατὰ γῆς τάφρον ὑπὸ τὸ τεῖχος, στοχαζόμενοι τοῦ συμπεσεῖν ἐναντίοι τοῖς πολεμίοις.
And when they marked the spot where some of the bronze vessels indicated the location by resonance, they dug from inside a cross-mine toward the existing other underground trench under the wall, aiming to meet the enemy face to face.
§21.28.10ταχὺ δὲ τούτου γενομένου, διὰ τὸ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους μὴ μόνον ἀφῖχθαι πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος ὑπὸ γῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διεστυλωκέναι τόπον ἱκανὸν τοῦ τείχους ἐφʼ ἑκάτερον τὸ μέρος τοῦ μετάλλου, συνέπεσον ἀλλήλοις.
This was quickly accomplished because the Romans had not only reached the wall underground, but had also propped up a sufficient space of the wall on both sides of the mine; thus they met with each other.
§21.28.11καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐμάχοντο ταῖς σαρίσαις ὑπὸ γῆν· ἐπεὶ δʼ οὐδὲν ἠδύναντο μέγα ποιεῖν διὰ τὸ προβάλλεσθαι θυρεοὺς καὶ γέρρα πρὸ αὑτῶν ἀμφότεροι, §21.28.12τὸ τηνικάδʼ ὑπέθετό τις τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις πίθον προθεμένους ἁρμοστὸν κατὰ τὸ πλάτος τῷ μετάλλῳ τρυπῆσαι τὸν πυθμένα καὶ διώσαντας αὐλίσκον σιδηροῦν ἴσον τῷ τεύχει πλῆσαι τὸν πίθον ὅλον πτίλων λεπτῶν καὶ πυρὸς παντελῶς μικρὸν ἐμβαλεῖν ὑπʼ αὐτὸ τὸ τοῦ πίθου περιστόμιον· §21.28.13κἄπειτα σιδηροῦν πῶμα τρημάτων πλῆρες τῷ στόματι περιθέντας ἀσφαλῶς εἰσάγειν διὰ τοῦ μετάλλου, νεύοντι τῷ στόματι πρὸς τοὺς ὑπεναντίους· §21.28.14ὁπότε δʼ ἐγγίσαιεν τοῖς πολεμίοις, περισάξαντας τὰ χείλη τοῦ πίθου πανταχόθεν τρήματα δύο καταλιπεῖν ἐξ ἑκατέρου τοῦ μέρους, διʼ ὧν διωθοῦντες τὰς σαρίσας οὐκ ἐάσουσι προσιέναι τῷ πίθῳ τοὺς ὑπεναντίους· §21.28.15μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λαβόντας ἀσκόν, ᾧπερ οἱ χαλκεῖς χρῶνται, καὶ προσαρμόσαντας πρὸς τὸν αὐλὸν τὸν σιδηροῦν φυσᾶν ἐνεργῶς τὸ πρὸς τῷ στόματι πῦρ ἐν τοῖς πτίλοις ἐγκείμενον, κατὰ τοσοῦτον ἐπαγομένους ἀεὶ τὸν αὐλὸν ἐκτός, καθʼ ὅσον ἂν ἐκκάηται τὰ πτίλα.
At first they fought with pikes underground; but since they could achieve nothing of importance because both sides held large shields and wickerwork screens in front of themselves, then someone suggested to the besieged that, placing in front of them a jar fitting the width of the mine, they should pierce its bottom, and having pushed through it an iron pipe equal in length to the jar, fill the whole jar with fine feathers, and put a very small fire just under the neck of the jar; and then, having securely fitted an iron lid full of holes onto the mouth, they should push it through the mine, with the mouth pointing toward the enemy; and whenever they got near the enemy, having packed the edges of the jar all around, they should leave two holes on each side, through which pushing their pikes they would not allow the enemy to approach the jar; after this, taking a bellows such as smiths use, and fitting it to the iron pipe, they should blow vigorously the fire near the mouth which was embedded in the feathers, always drawing the pipe back outwards as much as the feathers burned away.
γενομένων δὲ πάντων καθάπερ προείρηται, §21.28.16τό τε πλῆθος τοῦ καπνοῦ συνέβαινε πολὺ γίνεσθαι καὶ τῇ δριμύτητι διαφέρον διὰ τὴν φύσιν τῶν πτίλων, φέρεσθαί τε πᾶν εἰς τὸ τῶν πολεμίων μέταλλον.
When everything had been done as described above, it happened that the quantity of smoke was great and, owing to the nature of the feathers, extraordinarily pungent, and it was all carried into the enemy's mine.
§21.28.17ὥστε καὶ λίαν κακοπαθεῖν καὶ δυσχρηστεῖσθαι τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, οὔτε κωλύειν οὔθʼ ὑπομένειν δυναμένους ἐν τοῖς ὀρύγμασι τὸν καπνόν.
So that the Romans suffered extremely and were in great distress, being unable either to keep out the smoke or to endure it in their excavations.
§21.28.18τοιαύτην δὲ λαμβανούσης τριβὴν τῆς πολιορκίας ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Αἰτωλῶν πρεσβεύειν ἔγνω πρὸς τὸν στρατηγὸν τῶν Ῥωμαίων. —
While the siege was thus dragging on, the general of the Aetolians decided to send an embassy to the Roman general.