ns to
surrender to him and acknowledge his authority, they withdrew all
their property and the whole of their population within the walls, and
bid him defiance. Polysperchon then advanced and laid siege to the
city.

After fully investing the city and commencing operations on various
sides, to occupy the attention of the garrison, he employed a corps of
sappers and miners in secretly undermining a portion of the wall. The
mode of procedure, in operations like this, was to dig a subterranean
passage leading to the foundations of the wall, and then, as fast as
these foundations were removed, to substitute props to support the
superincumbent mass until all was ready for the springing of the mine.
When the excavations were completed, the props were suddenly pulled
away, and the wall would cave in, to the great astonishment of the
besieged, who, if the operation had been skillfully performed, knew
nothing of the danger until the final consummation of it opened
suddenly before their eyes a great breach in their defenses.
Polysperchon's mine was so successful, that three towers fell into it,
with all the wall connecting them. These towers came down with a
terrific crash, the materials of which they had been composed lying,
after the fall, half buried in the ground, a mass of ruins.

The garrison of the city immediately repaired in great numbers to the
spot, to prevent the ingress of the enemy; while, on the other hand, a
strong detachment of troops rushed forward from the camp of
Polysperchon to force their way through the breach into the city. A
very desperate conflict ensued, and while the men of the city were
thus engaged in keeping back the invaders, the women and children were
employed in throwing up a line of intrenchments further within, to
cover the opening which had been made in the wall. The people of the
city gained the victory in the combat. The storming party were driven
back, and the besieged were beginning to congratulate themselves on
their escape from the danger which had threatened them, when they were
suddenly terrified beyond measure by the tidings that the besiegers
were arranging a train of elephants to bring in through the breach.
Elephants were often used for war in those days in Asiatic countries,
but they had seldom appeared in Greece. Polysperchon, however, had a
number of them in the train of his army, and the soldiers of
Megalopolis were overwhelmed with consternation at the prospect of
being tr