Verum unus aries residuis celsior, umectis taurinis opertus exuviis, ideoque minus casus flammeos pertimescens aut tela, antegressus omnes erepsit nisibus magnis ad murum, vastoque acumine coagmenta lapidum fodiens, turrim laxatam evertit. Qua sonitu lapsa ingenti, superstantes quoque repentina ruina deiecti, diffractique vel obruti, mortibus interiere diversis et insperatis, inventoque tutiore ascensu, armata irruit multitudo.
Translation :
However, one ram, higher than the rest, which was covered with wet bull's hide and therefore less exposed to danger from fire or darts, having gone ahead of all the others, made its way with mighty efforts to the wall. There, digging into the joints of the stones with its huge beak, it weakened a tower and overthrew it. As this fell with a mighty roar, those also who stood upon it were thrown down by its sudden collapse and either dashed to pieces or buried. Thus they perished by varied and unlooked-for forms of death, while the armed hordes of the enemy, finding the ascent safer, rushed into the town.
Edition :
Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.
