Chapter 5.40

The defense.

pertulissent: for the future perfect, implied indirect discourse. (A&G 592); the subject is unexpressed, but we should understand something like 'messengers' or 'couriers' (Gaisser).

turres: these were open at the sides and behind, solidly timbered towards the enemy, and their object was, like that of the modern bastion, to shorten the length of wall to be occupied by the defence as well as to give the soldiers a still higher position from which to throw their missiles. In this case they were probably not more than three stories, or perhaps thirty feet, high. Each story was floored with a platform, on which the soldiers stood. The front and sides of each platform were protected by a parapet (loricae) of hurdles, to the height of about four feet. Above this projected a sort of battlement of stakes {pinnae), or of hurdles standing erect, with spaces at intervals, through which the spears were hurled. The structure was square, of about ten feet on a side. Of these towers, it appears that on the first night only the framework was erected. On succeeding nights they were completed. (Allen & Greenough; see their figure 103)

fossam: 'ditch.' Each Roman camp was fortified by a palisade (vallum) and a deep v-shaped ditch (fossa) (Smith).

eadem ratione qua: 'in the same way as' (Gaisser).

Quaecumque…opus sunt: 'whatever things were necessary' (Gaisser).

praeustae sudes: heavy stakes or piles of wood, sharpened at the end, and charred to harden the point. They were hurled by the tormenta. (Allen & Greenough) It appears…that these improvised weapons were intended to be thrown. We often hear of them in ancient warfare. (Stock)

muralium pilorum: long pikes, to defend the wall (Allen & Judson).

turres: Here a light movable tower used for defensive purposes. They might be several storeys high. From them missiles could be thrown down on the enemy (Gaisser).

contabulantur: 'floored with plank'. Possibly also the towers were connected by galleries, one for each story. (Allen & Judson)

pinnae loricaeque: ‘battlements and breastworks’. (Stock)

cum: 'although' (Gaisser) (A&G 549).

ultro militum concursu…cogeretur: ‘he was compelled by the spontaneous pressure and expostulation of the soldiers’ (Moberly); concursu ac vocibus: 'by the spontaneous movement and entreaties' (Allen & Greenough).

sibi: dat., depending on parcere. (Hodges)(A&G 367)