I kept ten , and so did Pertinax . We lived and slept in the saddle , riding east or west , and we ate our worn-out ponies . The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered them all in one quarter behind Hunno . We broke down the Wall on either side of it to make as it were a citadel . Our men fought better in close order . ` By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep in a snowdrift , or in a dream . I think we fought in our sleep . At least I know I have gone on the Wall and come off again , remembering nothing between , though my throat was harsh with giving orders , and my sword , I could see , had been used . ` The Winged Hats fought like wolves -- all in a pack . Where they had suffered most , there they charged in most hotly . This was hard for the defenders , but it held them from sweeping on into Britain . ` In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway into Valentia the names of the towers , and the days on which they fell one by one . We wished for some record . ` And the fighting ? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the great statue of Roma Dea , near to Rutilianus 's house . By the Light of the Sun , that old fat man , whom we had not considered at all , grew young again among the trumpets ! I remember he said his sword was an oracle ! `` Let us consult the Oracle , '' he would say , and put the handle against his ear , and shake his head wisely . `` And this day is allowed Rutilianus to live , '' he would say , and , tucking up his cloak , he would puff and pant and fight well . Oh , there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of food !
` We endured for two months and seventeen XXXXX -- always being pressed from three sides into a smaller space .
Britain Dea Hunno Rutilianus Sun citadel days jests pant snowdrift