§1. Speed has the greatest importance for taking cities, for the besieged cannot prepare what is necessary, and they do everything in alarm. Cato secretly completed a journey of four days in two days and took a strong town in Spain. No city, when unexpectedly besieged, long sustains force, because something necessary must inevitably be lacking. None is so weak that it is defeated without difficulty if it foresaw its fate, prepared its forces, and resolved steadfastly to resist. Yet, even when thus prepared, they can never be secure.
§2. The Lucensians were certainly deceived all too easily by Domitius Calvinus. For, when he repeatedly went around the walls with his army without attacking, they thought that he did this for the sake of exercise; and when they took no precautions, he suddenly occupied the fortifications. A commander, therefore, will always do something by which he may lead them into error; and even if they do not believe it, they will nevertheless entertain various suspicions.
§3. Hannibal captured cities by sending many men ahead in Roman dress who knew Latin. Antiochus brought the fortress of Suenda into his power in this way: after the foragers had been killed, he dressed his own soldiers in their clothes and sent them back with the grain. Thymarchus the Aetolian, using the cloak and cap of the slain Chamardes, was admitted in his place into the harbor of the Samians. The Arcadians were besieging a fortress of the Messenians; when they heard that other reinforcements were coming, they assumed arms and dress like theirs and, once admitted, occupied everything.
If you set fire to something nearby and the citizens pour out to extinguish it, the city can be taken amid that alarm. Thus Cimon the Athenian occupied a city in Caria after setting fire to a place and to a temple of Diana. Provision is therefore now made for one part to run to fires and another to arms.
It was already customary in ancient times to send soldiers into a city in another’s dress. When women were wandering around a city in Arcadia on a festival day, Epaminondas mixed his soldiers among them in women’s clothing; admitted into the city as night approached, they occupied the gates and opened them to their own men.
They are also accustomed to take cities by sending soldiers in the dress of merchants. Aristippus the Spartan took Tegea in this way, sending pack animals with sacks of grain.
The Thebans occupied the harbor of the Sicyonians by enclosing soldiers in a ship while merchandise lay above the decks.
Mainius took Dieppe through pretended deserters. Alençon, pretending to depart, returned and almost occupied Antwerp when one of the servants cried out that he had broken his leg and the horsemen and infantry halted; but at last he was repulsed by the strength of the citizens and withdrew. He undertook so great an enterprise too hastily.
Ranzovius relates in book 4, chapter 2, that a city was even set on fire by domestic birds by Hadding. Indeed, a city can be taken by a stratagem of this kind: if birds which are familiar and domestic to the besieged city, and nest in its houses, are caught by fowlers, and lighted pieces of tinder are fastened to their feet and feathers, and they are then released, these birds, returning to their customary lodgings in the houses, will set the city on fire everywhere. The fire, moreover, will not only bring enormous destruction upon the city, but will also compel the townsmen, running together from every quarter to extinguish the fire, to leave their posts for defending their walls and gates; and these, then deprived of their defenders, can be stormed. By this device Hadding, son of Gram, king of Denmark, stormed the city of Duna. For, when he was unable to gain possession of it because of its very high ramparts and walls, he had birds of different kinds, accustomed to dwellings in that place, caught by men skilled in fowling, and caused pieces of tinder kindled with fire to be fastened to their feathers. Returning to their nests, they filled the city with fire. While the townsmen ran together to extinguish it, Hadding stormed the gates, which were empty of defenders, and thereby took the whole city.
A commander may certainly imitate, when occasion permits, those things which are done without perfidy and perjury. But to proceed by frauds and perjuries is impious and detestable. And yet examples of this kind are more numerous than examples of a just stratagem.
Milo betrayed Tarentum after bargaining for his safety; Sosistratus betrayed Syracuse to Marcellus; Tarquinius, Gabii to his father; Eoneus, Tarentum to Hannibal; Mandro the pirate, Ephesus to Lysimachus; Zopyrus, Babylon to Cyrus. The histories of the gentiles contain innumerable examples.
The best-fortified cities have been compelled by hunger to surrender, and hunger has been increased by stratagem. Fabius withdrew from Campania at sowing-time, so that they would expend more grain upon the sowing; then, returning, he trampled down what had been sown. Antigonus likewise afflicted the Athenians in this manner. Others permitted many persons to take refuge in the cities under siege, so that the grain would be consumed more quickly. Thus Alexander took Leucadia.
By an evil deception, under the appearance of peace, Dionysius subdued the people of Rhegium and of Himera by hunger. For, after making a treaty and granting peace, he required them to furnish what was necessary for his army; when their grain had been exhausted, he compelled them to surrender.
Phalaris took certain fortified places by a more ingenious wickedness. For, after feigning the establishment of peace, he placed his own grain among them as a pledge and assurance of his friendship, and thereby brought it about that the townsmen consumed or sold their own grain. The tyrant, however, had deliberately ordered the roof-vaults to be opened so that his grain would spoil. Therefore, at the beginning of summer he besieged them and soon took them.
Nothing disturbs cities as much as the fear of a long siege. For ordinarily no spirit for defense remains unless they hope that the enemy will depart shortly or that assistance will come. Hence Clearchus the Spartan, knowing that the Thracians sustained themselves with the hope that food for the besiegers would run short, ordered a captive to be killed in the sight of their ambassadors and his flesh to be distributed among the soldiers’ quarters as though for food. Terrified by this, they surrendered themselves.
When towns are held by a stronger garrison than can be overcome, one must act so that they withdraw it, and this can be effected in various ways. First, if you depart while feigning fear and despair, as Scipio brought cities in Africa into his power through Masinissa and the Numidians. For citizens, although they scarcely admit a garrison in the utmost danger, desire, once they have passed through the crisis, to be relieved of it.
Next, if many allies defend one city, should an army lay waste their fields or carry terror against them, they will presently disperse to defend their own possessions. In this way Scipio occupied Delminium. For, by pretending to despair of taking that town and to be preparing himself for other enterprises, he caused all who were defending it by common agreement to be summoned away, and he himself entered the city when it was empty of defenders. By the same device Pyrrhus took the capital of the Illyrians, and Rufinus took Croton, except that the latter also employed the perjury of a deserter.
When Fabius Maximus was about to fight the Etruscans, Umbrians, Samnites, and Gauls, he ordered Fulvius and Postumius to go against Sutrium; in this way he called the Umbrians and Etruscans away to defend their own possessions.
§4. Concord among those conducting a siege must be maintained, and suspicions must be avoided.
Domenico Michiel, doge of the Venetians, when he was under suspicion during the siege of Tyre, sent the planks of the ships’ hulls to Warmund in the camp in order to show that he was not thinking about sailing away.
§5. It is also an ingenious device to bring one’s own reinforcement in as though it belonged to the enemy. When Iphicrates understood that a Spartan garrison was to be brought into Corinth by night, he waited at the gates and entered with the last of them, and killed them.
§6. If a city is being besieged in vain, one must withdraw with the utmost caution.
When Philip was besieging Carrhae in vain and could not easily withdraw his artillery, he ordered it to be taken apart, but with the same sound with which it was usually assembled. The people of Carrhae, supposing that their walls were to be battered more fiercely, were fortifying them while he meanwhile departed.
§7. It is a harsh necessity when one’s own villages and towns are burned lest they assist the enemy. This was customary among the Persians. Vercingetorix so thoroughly persuaded the Bituriges of this course in Caesar, book 7, that more than twenty towns were burned in one day. The same is found in Ammianus, book 24.
§8. Nor is the complaint less when the infirm are sent away; yet at times this is done necessarily. The Gauls do this: they order those feeble in health and age to depart. Caesar, book 7, and likewise book 8. At the same time they send away all the baggage.
§9. A shortage of water has compelled invincible cities in many places to surrender. Thus Bethulia came into the utmost danger and was saved by the prudent piety of one woman.
Scipio dug wells in the Spanish war, as Appian relates, but salt water was frequently found. Vitruvius, book 8, chapter 1, and Cassiodorus, book 3, teach how to find water.
It is a wretched practice, yet a customary one, to distribute water by measure. Josephus did this in book 3 of The Jewish War.
§10. Fortifications are the chief defense. They make walls not straight but angular. Vegetius, book 4, chapter 2:
“The ancients did not wish the circuit of a wall to be carried in a straight line, lest it be exposed to the blows of rams; but after laying the foundations, they enclosed cities with winding bends and erected more numerous towers at the very angles for this reason: because, if anyone wished to apply either ladders or machines to a wall constructed according to such an arrangement, he is overwhelmed not only from the front but also from the sides and almost from the rear, being enclosed as though within a curve.”
Now they construct projecting fortifications and bastions, and separate them by a longer interval, because the artillery more easily reaches those who wish to occupy the intervening spaces.
In former times many fortifications were unconquerable; now scarcely any are. A fortification consists of nature, art, or both. Vegetius, book 4, chapter 1:
“Cities and fortresses are fortified either by nature or by hand, or by both, which is deemed stronger. By nature they are fortified either by an elevated or precipitous position, by the sea or marshes flowing around them, or by rivers; by hand, by ditches and walls. In that natural advantage, the very safe judgment of the person selecting the site is required; on level ground, the skill of the founder is sought. We see that the most ancient cities were established in open plains in such a way that, although the aid of favorable locations was lacking, they were nevertheless rendered unconquerable by art and labor.”
In the siege of cities this is generally observed: all approaches and exits are closed, and the strength of the camp is of chief importance; for in this way they can sometimes shut in a great multitude with a smaller body of soldiers.
They are accustomed to approach the walls through trenches, because no arms can resist the enemy if artillery thunders against those approaching.
When the walls are battered, they do this continually, so that in one day they may cast down more than can be repaired in two days. They sometimes also discharge missiles at night, so as to impede those making repairs.
When a city is being attacked, all stand in order, so that, if some are driven back, fresh men may promptly succeed them. When the signal to attack has been given, the ruins of the demolished wall are battered with the smaller pieces of artillery until hand-to-hand fighting has begun; and because only a few can fight at one time, if the garrison is courageous it is scarcely possible to take the city unless they prevail through the exhaustion of the besieged.
As for fire-darts, they are nothing if compared with fiery cannonballs. In the game of chess, however it is begun, it is never concluded in the same manner. So too it happens in war and in a siege.
§11. Many towns are taken by fear alone. Philip ordered earth to be carried to a mound against the fortress of Trinassus; its defenders, supposing themselves to have been undermined by tunnels, gave themselves up.
Pelopidas the Theban, while besieging two towns of the Magnesians, ordered horsemen wearing wreaths to come from one of them in the dress of captives and to affirm that the other had been taken. Consequently the one which was being besieged surrendered itself through false fear, and the other through true fear.
A siege is also raised by fear alone. When Cato could neither send assistance to the Vergetes nor wished to refuse it, he ordered a third part of his soldiers to board ships, to plead the wind as an excuse, and to return; the mere report of assistance liberated his allies. Tynnichus liberated the city of Theodosia by the sound of trumpets, when the enemy believed that a great fleet was arriving.
§12. Vegetius, book 4, chapter 24, shows the great use of tunnels:
“Another kind of attack is subterranean and secret, which they call a tunnel, from the hares which dig caverns beneath the earth and are hidden there. Accordingly, a multitude of men is employed after the fashion of mines in which the skill of the Bessi searches for veins of gold and silver; the earth is dug with great labor and, after a cavern has been hollowed out for the destruction of the city, a path below ground is sought. This fraud operates by a twofold ambush. For either the tunnel penetrates the city, and at night, without the townsmen perceiving it, men emerge through it, open the gates, lead in the column of their own men, and kill the enemy unawares in their very houses; or else, when they have reached the foundations of the walls, they undermine a very great part of them and, after setting dry timbers beneath them, temporarily support the impending fall of the wall by this work. On top they add bundles of brushwood and other kindling for the flames. Then, when the fighting men have been made ready, fire is put underneath; and, once the wooden columns and floors have burned, the wall suddenly collapses and an entrance is opened for an assault.”
The Gauls were most skilled in tunnels because there are workings of copper mines among them. Caesar, book 3.
Alexander took Gaza through tunnels; the Romans likewise attacked Fidenae and Veii. Tunnels were made so that they might secretly reach the interior. Thus men went from the camp into the citadel of Fidenae. Livy, book 4. The tunnels driven toward Veii required great labor. Livy, book 5:
“Then the army was led to Veii and forts were constructed at closer intervals. By an edict that no one should fight without orders, the soldiers were transferred from the sallies—which were numerous and conducted rashly between the wall and the rampart—to the work. By far the greatest and most laborious of all the works was the tunnel begun toward the enemy citadel. Lest the work be interrupted, or continuous labor underground wear out the same men, he divided the number of workers into six divisions; six hours in rotation were allotted to the work by night and by day, and it was never abandoned before they made a way into the citadel.”
This is generally observed: when the tunnelers are about to break out, they display threats elsewhere, so that those intent upon empty dangers may not perceive the true ones.
Sometimes they undermined the wall alone and supported it with beams; when these had been burned, the fortifications fell. In our age, walls, towers, and bastions that have been undermined are hurled high into the air.
Sometimes they pretend to make tunnels when these cannot be completed. Charles of Naples deceived the garrison of the fortress of Matrone. For, after pretending that he was driving tunnels, he took care that rubble be brought from elsewhere and thrown down in their sight. Supposing it to have come from the foundations of the wall, they surrendered themselves. Fulgosius, book 7, chapter 4.
§13. Tunnels are rendered useless by opposing trenches. Sometimes they keep the soldiers away with stones and burning pitch. Caesar, book 7 of The Gallic War. During the siege of Apollonia, Trypho of Alexandria discovered where the enemy were about to enter by suspending bronze vessels, for these sound at the blows of those digging; he then killed them with water and heated dung. The people of Themiscyra sent bears and swarms of bees into the tunnels. To have discovered a tunnel, however, is to have conquered it. A bronze vessel sounds if you dig underneath it; in this way a bronze-worker detected a tunnel in the siege of Barca. Our basins and drums sufficiently indicate such places if peas are placed upon them.
§14. The diversion of rivers to other places is akin to tunnels. By diverting the Euphrates Alexander took Babylon, as Semiramis had done before him and as others relate of Cyrus. Lest the enemy perceive what was being done, Alexander constructed a mound, for which the Babylonians believed the earth was being carried out.
Publius Servilius compelled Isaura to surrender by diverting its river. Caesar compelled a city of the Cadurci to do so by drying up its spring through tunnels and denying access to the river by means of archers.
Cleisthenes acted more wickedly. For, after cutting off the watercourse of the Crisaeans, he restored it to them when they were afflicted by thirst, but poisoned the water with hellebore and killed them through looseness of the bowels.
§15. Other cities have been taken by fires and by smoke spread around them. The Turk took Famagusta. They heaped up and kindled a great pile of pine-torches, which burns very readily and exhales a deadly and foul smoke; bundles and timbers were added, and while it burned for four days and could not be extinguished, they meanwhile drove tunnels and compelled the defenders to accept terms.
§16. The Alexandrians entered the tunnels which Frederick had dug and killed his soldiers. Others dig wells to oppose tunnels.