§21.8.1obsidio deinde per paucos dies magis quam oppugnatio fuit, dum vulnus ducis curaretur.
After that, for a few days, there was a blockade rather than an assault, while the general's wound was being treated.
per quod tempus ut quies certaminum erat, ita ab apparatu operum ac munitionum nihil cessatum.
During this time, although there was a pause in the fighting, there was no cessation at all in the preparation of works and fortifications.
§21.8.2itaque acrius de integro coortum est bellum, pluribusque partibus, vix accipientibus quibusdam opera locis, vineae coeptae agi admoverique aries.
Therefore, the war began anew with greater violence, and although some areas scarcely admitted works, in many parts the penthouses began to be advanced and the battering ram brought up.
§21.8.3abundabat multitudine hominum Poenus; ad centum quinquaginta milia habuisse in armis satis creditur;
The Carthaginian was rich in the multitude of his men; it is well believed that he had about a hundred and fifty thousand under arms.
§21.8.4oppidani ad omnia tuenda atque obeunda, multifariam distineri coepti, non sufficiebant.
The townsmen, beginning to be distracted in many directions to defend and attend to everything, were not sufficient in number.
§21.8.5itaque iam feriebantur arietibus muri quassataeque multae partes erant; una continentibus ruinis nudaverat urbem: tres deinceps turres quantumque inter eas muri erat cum fragore ingenti prociderant.
And so now the walls were being battered by the rams, and many parts had been shaken; one section, by continuous ruins, had laid the city bare: three successive towers and all the wall between them had fallen down with a mighty crash.
§21.8.6captum oppidum ea ruina crediderant Poeni, qua, velut si pariter utrosque murus texisset, ita utrimque in pugnam procursum est.
The Carthaginians believed that the town was captured by that ruin, towards which, just as if the wall had protected both sides equally, they rushed from both sides into the fight.
§21.8.7nihil tumultuariae pugnae simile erat, quales in oppugnationibus urbium per occasionem partis alterius conseri solent, sed iustae acies velut patenti campo inter ruinas muri tectaque urbis modico distantia intervallo constiterant.
It was by no means like a chaotic skirmish, such as are usually joined in the sieges of cities when an opportunity is given to one side, but regular battle lines had stood between the ruins of the wall and the buildings of the city, separated by a moderate interval, as if on an open plain.
§21.8.8hinc spes, hinc desperatio animos inritat, Poeno cepisse iam se urbem, si paulum adnitatur, credente, Saguntinis pro nudata moenibus patria corpora opponentibus nec ullo pedem referente, ne in relictum a se locum hostem inmitteret.
On one side hope, on the other despair incited their minds, the Carthaginian believing that he had already captured the city if he strove a little more, while the Saguntines opposed their bodies on behalf of their country bare of walls, and not one of them gave way, lest he should admit the enemy into the place he had abandoned.
§21.8.9itaque quo acrius et confertim magis utrimque pugnabant, eo plures vulnerabantur nullo inter arma corporaque vano intercidente telo.
Therefore, the more fiercely and in closer order they fought on both sides, the more were wounded, since no missile fell in vain between the weapons and bodies.
§21.8.10phalarica erat Saguntinis missile telum hastili abiegno et cetera tereti praeterquam ad extremum, unde ferrum extabat; id, sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppa circumligabant linebantque pice;
The Saguntines had a missile weapon called the phalarica, with a shaft of fir, which was round elsewhere except at the end, from which the iron point projected; this part, which was square as in a javelin, they bound round with tow and smeared with pitch.
§21.8.11ferrum autem tres longum habebat pedes, ut cum armis transfigere corpus posset. sed id maxime, etiam si haesisset in scuto nec penetrasset in corpus,
Now the iron point was three feet long, so that it could pierce through the body together with the armor.
§21.8.12pavorem faciebat, quod, cum medium accensum mitteretur conceptumque ipso motu multo maiorem ignem ferret, arma omitti cogebat nudumque militem ad insequentes ictus praebebat.
But this, even if it had stuck in the shield and had not penetrated the body, caused the greatest terror, because, when it was thrown with its middle set on fire and carried a much greater flame conceived by its very motion, it compelled the armor to be cast aside and exposed the naked soldier to the following blows.