Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/277

 STRATAGEMS, III. vm. 2-ix. 2

the costume of the townspeople. When the besieged had been terrified by these demonstrations, deeming themselves already defeated in one quarter, they ceased to offer resistance.'-

Cvrus, king of the Persians, at one time forced Croesus to take refuge in Sardis. On one side a steep hill jirevented access to the town. Here near the walls Cyrus erected masts equal to the height of the ridge of the hill, and on them placed dummies of armed men dressed in Persian uniforms. At night he brought these to the hill. Then at dawn he attacked the walls from the other side. As soon as the sun rose and the dummies, flashing in the sun- light, revealed the garb of warriors, the townspeople, imagining that their city had been captured from the rear, scattered in flight and left the field to the enemy. ^

IX. On Attacks from an Unexpected Quarter

SciiMO, when fighting before Carthage, approaclied the walls of the city, just before the turn of the tide, guided, as he said, by some god. Then, when the tide went out in the shallow lagoon, he burst in at that point, the enemy not expecting him there. ^

Fabius Maximus, son of Fabius Cunctator, finding Arpi occupied by Hannibal's forces, first inspected the site of the town, and then sent six hundred soldiei's on a dark night to mount the walls with scaling-ladders at a part of the town which was fortified and therefore less guarded, and to tear down the gates. These men were aided in the execution of their orders by the noise of the falling rain, which deadened the sound of their operations.

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