§21.7.1dum ea Romani parant consultantque, iam Saguntum summa vi oppugnabatur.
While the Romans were preparing and consulting on these matters, Saguntum was already being attacked with the greatest force.
§21.7.2civitas ea longe opulentissima ultra Hiberum fuit, sita passus mille ferme a maria.
That state was by far the most opulent beyond the Ebro, situated about a mile from the sea.
oriundi a Zacyntho insula dicuntur, mixtique etiam ab Ardea Rutulorum quidam generis;
They are said to have originated from the island of Zacynthos, with some of the race of the Rutuli from Ardea also mixed in.
§21.7.3ceterum in tantas brevi creverant opes seu maritimis seu terrestribus fructibus seu multitudinis incremento seu disciplinae sanctitate, qua fidem socialem usque ad perniciem suam coluerunt.
Moreover, they had grown in a short time to such great wealth, whether by the fruits of sea or land, or by the increase of their population, or by the integrity of their discipline, through which they maintained their loyalty to their allies even to their own ruin.
§21.7.4Hannibal infesto exercitu ingressus finis pervastatis passim agris urbem tripertito adgreditur.
Hannibal, having entered their territory with a hostile army, thoroughly ravaged the fields everywhere and attacked the city from three sides.
§21.7.5angulus muri erat in planiorem patentioremque quam cetera circa vallem vergens.
A corner of the wall sloped down toward a valley that was flatter and more open than the rest of the surrounding area.
adversus eum vineas agere instituit, per quas aries moenibus admoveri posset.
Against this he decided to advance penthouses, through which a battering ram might be brought up to the walls.
§21.7.6sed ut locus procul muro satis aequus agendis vineis fruit, ita haudquaquam prospere, postquam ad effectum operis ventum est, coeptis succedebat.
But although the ground at a distance from the wall was flat enough for advancing the penthouses, yet, once they came to the execution of the work, the undertaking succeeded by no means favorably.
§21.7.7et turris ingens imuinebat, et murus, ut in suspecto loco, supra ceterae modum altitudinis emunitus erat, et iuventus delecta, ubi plurimum periculi ac timoris ostendebatur, ibi vi maiore obsistebant.
A huge tower also loomed over them, and the wall, as was natural in a suspected place, had been built up higher than the measure of the rest of the height, and the chosen youth opposed them with greater force in the very place where the greatest danger and fear were shown.
§21.7.8ac primo missilibus submovere hostem nec quicquam satis tutum munientibus pati; deinde iam non pro moenibus modo atque turri tela micare, sed ad erumpendum etiam in stationes operaque hostium animus erat;
And at first they kept the enemy off with missiles and allowed the builders no safety anywhere; then, weapons began to flash not only from the walls and tower, but they even had the courage to sally out against the enemy's outposts and works.
§21.7.9quibus tumultuariis certaminibus haud ferme plures Saguntini cadebant quam Poeni.
In these chaotic skirmishes, scarcely more Saguntines fell than Carthaginians.
§21.7.10ut vero Hannibal ipse, dum murum incautius subit, adversum femur tragula graviter ictus cecidit, tanta circa fuga ac trepidatio fuit, ut non multum abesset, quin opera ac vineae desererentur.
But when Hannibal himself, while approaching the wall rather incautiously, fell, severely wounded in the front of his thigh by a javelin, there was such flight and panic all around that they were not far from abandoning the works and the penthouses.