Agens itaque negotiosam hiemem apud oppidum ante dictum, inter rumores, qui volitabant assidui, comperit Augustuduni civitatis antiquae muros spatiosi quidem ambitus sed carie vetustatis invalidos, barbarorum impetu repentino insessos, torpente praesentium militum manu, veteranos concursatione pervigili defendisse, ut solet abrupta saepe discrimina salutis ultima desperatio propulsare.
Accordingly, while he was passing a busy winter in the above-mentioned town, in the thick of rumours which kept persistently flying about, he learned that the walls of the ancient city of Autun, of wide circuit, to be sure, but weakened by the decay of centuries, had been besieged by a sudden onset of the savages; and then, though the force of soldiers garrisoned there was paralysed, it had been defended by the watchfulness of veterans who hurried together for its aid, as it often happens that the extreme of desperation wards off imminent danger of death.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book16.json