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the multitude had turned to another, more terrible device, having moved to the more northerly parts opposite the ducal seat, which was called the praetorium. The nature of the site was as follows. The place rose to a hill, and I mean a hill not of rock, but of earth; on which very hill the city wall was built. Directly opposite this, as we said, Bohemond’s men began to dig with great precision. This was another evil devised by the besiegers against the cities and another siege engine craftily employed by them against the city. For they advanced by digging underground, like certain moles, boring through the subterranean soil, and in some places protecting the parts above with roofed sheds because of the missiles of stones and arrows thrown from above, and in others propping up the elevated earth with certain posts, they tunneled, proceeding in a straight line, making a very wide and very long ditch, and continually carrying out the soil from the digging by means of wagons. And when they had bored far enough, they rejoiced as if they had accomplished something great. 13.3.5 But those inside were not negligent, but digging up the earth at intervals and making a considerable trench, they sat along the extent of the trench, paying attention to where, indeed, the besieging party was about to make its piercing through from there to here. And immediately, in a certain spot, having discovered them striking and digging up and undermining the foundations of the wall, they both perceived them and, breaking through the hole from their side opposite them, and seeing the crowd through the opening being made from within, they blackened their faces with fire. 13.3.6 This fire had been prepared for them from such contrivances. From the pine and certain other such evergreen trees a flammable resin is collected. This, ground with sulfur, is put into reed pipes, and is blown by the user with a forceful and continuous breath, and so it meets the fire at the tip and ignites and, like a lightning flash, falls upon the faces opposite. Using this fire, those holding Dyrrachium from within, since they were face to face with the enemy, burned both their beards and their faces. And it was possible to see them being driven out in disorder, like a swarm of bees driven by smoke, from the place they had entered in an orderly fashion. 13.3.7 And when this too had been labored upon by them in vain, and this barbarian care had ended up being for nothing, a third device was devised by them, a wooden tower, which siege engine, as report has it, had not been begun after the failure of the previously prepared engines, but for a whole year before them. This was the main work, while the aforementioned engines were a side-work. 13.3.8 But first I must relate a few things about the form of the city of Dyrrachium. Its wall is let down to the towers; and the towers rise up all around it, being elevated as much as eleven feet, having their ascent through a certain spiral staircase and secured with battlements. So the city is disposed for both form and security. The thickness of the wall extends to a considerable breadth, and so much so that horsemen, more than four of them, riding shoulder to shoulder, can ride across safely. Thus, then, let the things concerning the wall be described by me, as having related in passing some clarity for the things about to be said. 13.3.9 But the details of the tower-making of this device, which the barbarians around Bohemond had contrived like a tortoise-tower, were both difficult to relate and frightening to see, as those who had seen it said, let alone for those whom it approached, a most dreadful sight. And it was as follows. A wooden tower had been constructed from a square base, raised to a considerable height, and so much so as to rise above the towers of the city by about five and

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πλῆθος πρὸς ἄλλο μηχάνημα φοβερώτερον μετελήλυθεν ἐπὶ τὰ βορειότερα μεταστρέψαν ἀντικρὺ τῆς δουκικῆς καθέδρας, ὅπερ πραιτώριον προσωνόμαστο. Ἦν δὲ τὰ τῆς θέσεως τοῦ τόπου τοιάδε. Εἰς λόφον ὁ τόπος ἀνίστατο, λέγω δὲ οὐ πετρώδη τὸν λόφον, ἀλλὰ γεώδη· ἐφ' οὗπερ λόφου τὸ τεῖχος τῆς πόλεως ἵδρυτο. Τούτου καταν τικρύ, καθάπερ ἔφημεν, εὐστοχώτατα ὀρύττειν οἱ περὶ τὸν Βαϊμοῦντον ἀπήρξαντο. Ἄλλο τοῦτο κακὸν ταῖς πόλεσι μεμηχανημένον παρὰ τοῖς πολιορκηταῖς καὶ ἄλλο πολιορκη τικὸν ὄργανον κατὰ τῆς πόλεως τούτοις πανουργευόμενον. Ὀρύττοντες γὰρ ἐπῄεσαν ὑπὸ γῆν καθάπερ τινὲς ἀσπά λακες τὸν ὑπόγειον χοῦν διατιτραίνοντες, καὶ ποῦ μὲν χελώναις ἀκροστέγοις περιφρουροῦντες τὰ ἄνω μέρη διὰ τὰς ἄνωθεν βαλλομένας βολὰς πετρῶν τε καὶ τόξων, ποῦ δὲ καὶ τὸ μετέωρον τῆς γῆς στύλοις τισὶν ὑπερείδοντες ὑπώρυττον ἐξ εὐθείας φερόμενοι, πλατύτατόν τε καὶ εὐμη κέστατον τάφρον ποιούμενοι καὶ δι' ἁμαξῶν ἀεὶ ἐκφερό μενοι τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀρύγματος χοῦν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶχον ἀρκούντως τῆς διατρήσεως, ἔχαιρον ὥσπερ τι μέγα κατειργασμένοι. 13.3.5 Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠμέλησαν οἱ ἐντός, ἀλλὰ κατὰ διάστημα τὴν γῆν ἀνορύξαντες καὶ τάφρον ἀξιόλογον ποιησάμενοι κατὰ τὸ διατεῖνον τῆς τάφρου ἐκάθηντο προσέχοντες, ὅπου δῆτα τὸ πολιορκοῦν μέρος τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνθάδε διάτρησιν μέλλει ποιήσασθαι. Καὶ εὐθὺς κατά τινα τόπον ἐφευρηκότες αὐτοὺς κρούοντάς τε καὶ ἀνασκάπτον τας καὶ τὰς ῥίζας τοῦ τείχους ὀρύττοντας, ᾔσθοντό τε αὐτοὺς καὶ μᾶλλον τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνων ὀπὴν ἀνερρωγότες καταντικρὺ καὶ θεασάμενοι τὸ πλῆθος ἀπὸ τῆς ἐντὸς γινο μένης τρυμαλιᾶς, πυρὶ τὰ τούτων πρόσωπα κατῃθάλωσαν. 13.3.6 Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἀπὸ τοιούτων μηχανημάτων αὐτοῖς διεσκεύαστο. Ἀπὸ τῆς πεύκης καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν τοιούτων δένδρων ἀειθαλῶν συνάγεται δάκρυον εὔκαυστον. Τοῦτο μετὰ θείου τριβόμενον ἐμβάλλεταί τε εἰς αὐλίσκους καλά μων καὶ ἐμφυσᾶται παρὰ τοῦ παίζοντος λάβρῳ καὶ συνεχεῖ πνεύματι, κᾆθ' οὕτως ὁμιλεῖ τῷ πρὸς ἄκραν πυρὶ καὶ ἐξάπ τεται καὶ ὥσπερ πρηστὴρ ἐμπίπτει ταῖς ἀντιπρόσωπον ὄψεσι. Τούτῳ τῷ πυρὶ κεχρημένοι οἱ τἄνδον τοῦ ∆υρρα χίου κατέχοντες, ἐπείπερ ἀντιπρόσωποι ἦσαν τοῖς πολε μίοις, τάς τε γενειάδας αὐτῶν κατέφλεξαν καὶ τὰ πρό σωπα. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν τούτους καθάπερ σμῆνος μελισσῶν ὑπὸ καπνοῦ διωκόμενον ἐξαγομένους ἀτάκτως, ὅθεν εὐτάκτως εἰσῄεσαν. 13.3.7 Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοῖς εἰς μάτην ἐπε πόνητο καὶ ἡ βαρβαρικὴ φροντὶς αὕτη εἰς οὐδὲν δέον ἀπετελεύτησε, τρίτον αὐτοῖς ἐπινοεῖται μηχάνημα πύργος ξύλινος, ὅπερ, ὡς ἡ φήμη φησί, πολιορκητικὸν ὄργανον οὐ μετὰ τὴν ἀστοχίαν τῶν προεσκευασμένων ὀργάνων κατῆρκτο γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τούτων εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν ὅλον. Τοῦτο μὲν ἔργον εἶχε, τὰ δὲ προειρημένα ὄργανα πάρεργον. 13.3.8 Ἀλλὰ δεῖ με πρότερον ὀλίγα περὶ τοῦ σχήματος τῆς πόλεως ∆υρραχίου ἀφηγήσασθαι. Τὸ μὲν τεῖχος ταύτης ὑποχαλᾶται τοῖς πύργοις· οἱ δὲ πύργοι κυκλόθεν ταύτης ἐξυπανίστανται ὅσον εἰς ἕνδεκα πόδας ὑψούμενοι, διὰ κοχλίου τινὸς τὴν ἄνοδον ἔχοντες ἐπάλξεσί τε ἠσφαλισμέ νοι. Οὕτως ἔχει σχήματός τε καὶ ἀσφαλείας ἡ πόλις. Τὸ δὲ πάχος τοῦ τείχους εἰς ἀξιόλογον πλάτος ἐκτέταται, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε ἱππότας ἄνδρας καὶ πλείους τῶν τεσσάρων τοὺς ὤμους συμμίξαντας διιππάσασθαι ἀσφαλῶς. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἐκπεφράσθω μοι τὰ περὶ τοῦ τείχους ὡς ἐν παρα δρομῇ τινα σαφήνειαν τῶν μελλόντων ῥηθῆναι προαφηγη σαμένῃ. 13.3.9 Τὰ δὲ τῆς πυργοποιίας τοῦ μηχανήματος τούτου, ὅπερ καθάπερ χελώνης πύργον ἐμηχανήσαντο οἱ περὶ τὸν Βαϊμοῦντον βάρβαροι, καὶ ἀφηγήσασθαι χαλεπὸν καὶ ἰδεῖν φοβερόν, ὡς οἱ ἑωρακότες ἔλεγον, μὴ ὅτι γε οἷς προσεπέλασε φρικωδέστατον θέαμα. Εἶχε δὲ τοιῶσδε. Πύργος ξύλινος κατεσκεύαστο ἐκ τετραγώνου βάσεως εἰς ἀξιόλογον μῆκος ἠρμένος, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε τῶν τῆς πόλεως πύργων ὑπερανέχειν εἰς πέντε που καὶ