and above there are statues of the
same marble, representing men and horses, of wonderful workmanship.[112]
But since this tomb seemed to the men of ancient times a fortress
threatening the city, they enclosed it by two walls, which extend to it
from the circuit-wall,[113] and thus made it a part of the wall. And,
indeed, it gives the appearance of a high tower built as a bulwark
before the gate there. So the fortifications at that point were most
adequate. Now Constantinus, as it happened, had been appointed by
Belisarius to have charge of the garrison at this tomb. And he had
instructed him also to attend to the guarding of the adjoining wall,
which had a small and inconsiderable garrison. For, since that part of
the circuit-wall was the least assailable of all, because the river
flows along it, he supposed that no assault would be made there, and so
stationed an insignificant garrison at that place, and, since the
soldiers he had were few, he assigned the great majority to the
positions where there was most need of them. For the emperor's army
gathered in Rome at the beginning of this siege amounted at most to
only five thousand men. But since it was reported to Constantinus that
the enemy were attempting the crossing of the Tiber, he became fearful
for that part of the fortifications and went thither himself with all
speed, accompanied by some few men to lend assistance, commanding the
greater part of his men to attend to the guarding of the gate and the
tomb. But meanwhile the Goths began an assault upon the Aurelian Gate
and the Tower of Hadrian, and though they had no engines of war, they
brought up a great quantity of ladders, and thought that by shooting a
vast number of arrows they would very easily reduce the enemy to a state
of helplessness and overpower the garrison there without any trouble on
account of its small numbers. And as they advanced, they held before
them shields no smaller than the long shields used by the Persians, and
they succeeded in getting very close to their opponents without being
perceived by them. For they came hidden under the colonnade which
extends[114] to the church of the Apostle Peter. From that shelter they
suddenly appeared and began the attack, so that the guards were neither
able to use the engine called the ballista (for these engines do not
send their missiles except straight out), nor, indeed, could they ward
off their assailants with their arrows, since the situation was a