ortunity of defending the
walls given them. At length several stones being picked away from the
foundation of that turret next the musculus, part of it fell down
suddenly, and the rest, as if following it, leaned forward.

XII.--Hereupon, the enemy, distressed at the sudden fall of the turret,
surprised at the unforeseen calamity, awed by the wrath of the gods, and
dreading the pillage of their city, rush all together out of the gate
unarmed, with their temples bound with fillets, and suppliantly stretch
out their hands to the officers and the army. At this uncommon
occurrence, the whole progress of the war was stopped, and the soldiers,
turning away from the battle, ran eagerly to hear and listen to them.
When the enemy came up to the commanders and the army, they all fell
down at their feet, and besought them "to wait till Caesar's arrival;
they saw that their city was taken, our works completed, and their tower
undermined, therefore they desisted from a defence; that no obstacle
could arise, to prevent their being instantly plundered at a beck, as
soon as he arrived, if they refused to submit to his orders." They
inform them that, "if the turret had entirely fallen down, the soldiers
could not be withheld from forcing into the town and sacking it, in
hopes of getting spoil." These and several other arguments to the same
effect were delivered, as they were a people of great learning, with
great pathos and lamentations.

XIII.--The lieutenants, moved with compassion, draw off the soldiers
from the work, desist from the assault, and leave sentinels on the
works. A sort of a truce having been made through compassion for the
besieged, the arrival of Caesar is anxiously awaited; not a dart was
thrown from the walls or by our men, but all remit their care and
diligence, as if the business was at an end. For Caesar had given
Trebonius strict charge not to suffer the town to be taken by storm,
lest the soldiers, too much irritated both by abhorrence of their
revolt, by the contempt shown to them, and by their long labour, should
put to the sword all the grown-up inhabitants, as they threatened to do.
And it was with difficulty that they were then restrained from breaking
into the town, and they were much displeased, because they imagined that
they were prevented by Trebonius from taking possession of it.

XIV.--But the enemy, destitute of all honour, only waited a time and
opportunity for fraud and treachery. And after an i