ian prefect, having been appointed to the office by
Belisarius, and for this reason he seemed above all others to be well
disposed toward the emperor.

XXI

The envoys then betook themselves to their own army. And when Vittigis
enquired of them what manner of man Belisarius was and how his purpose
stood with regard to the question of withdrawing from Rome, they replied
that the Goths were hoping for vain things if they supposed that they
would frighten Belisarius in any way whatsoever. And when Vittigis heard
this, he began in great earnest to plan an assault upon the wall, and
the preparations he made for the attempt upon the fortifications were as
follows. He constructed wooden towers equal in height to the enemy's
wall, and he discovered its true measure by making many calculations
based upon the courses of stone. And wheels were attached to the floor
of these towers under each corner, which were intended, as they turned,
to move the towers to any point the attacking army might wish at a given
time, and the towers were drawn by oxen yoked together. After this he
made ready a great number of ladders, that would reach as far as the
parapet, and four engines which are called rams. Now this engine is of
the following sort. Four upright wooden beams, equal in length, are set
up opposite one another. To these beams they fit eight horizontal
timbers, four above and an equal number at the base, thus binding them
together. After they have thus made the frame of a four-sided building,
they surround it on all sides, not with walls of wood or stone, but with
a covering of hides, in order that the engine may be light for those who
draw it and that those within may still be in the least possible danger
of being shot by their opponents. And on the inside they hang another
horizontal beam from the top by means of chains which swing free, and
they keep it at about the middle of the interior. They then sharpen the
end of this beam and cover it with a large iron head, precisely as they
cover the round point of a missile, or they sometimes make the iron head
square like an anvil. And the whole structure is raised upon four
wheels, one being attached to each upright beam, and men to the number
of no fewer than fifty to each ram move it from the inside. Then when
they apply it to the wall, they draw back the beam which I have just
mentioned by turning a certain mechanism, and then they let it swing
forward with great force agains