Quae vixdum ambigua luce, defensores intentius contemplati, eo accedente quod angularem turrim ictus foravit arietis violentior, relictis civitatis duplicibus muris, continentem occupant arcem, asperi montis interrupta planitie superpositam, cuius medietas in sublime consurgens, tereti ambitu Argolici scuti speciem ostendebat, nisi quod e septemtrione, id quod rotunditati defuerat, in Euphratis fluenta proiectae cautes eminentius tuebantur, in qua excellebant minae murorum, bitumine et coctilibus laterculis fabricatae, quo aedificii genere nihil esse tutius constat.
When the defenders, who were watching intently, made this out by the still uncertain light, and besides, that a mighty blow of the ram had breached a corner tower, they abandoned the double walls of the city and took possession of the citadel connected with them, which stood on a precipitous plateau at the top of a rough mountain. The middle of this mountain rose to a lofty height, and its rounded circuit had the form of an Argolic shield, except that on the north side, where its roundness was broken, cliffs which descended into the current of the Euphrates still more strongly protected it. On this stronghold, battlements of walls rose high, and were built of bitumen and baked brick, a kind of structure (as is well known) than which nothing is safer.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book24.json