Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 32
Cyrus Evans, Ed.

17. The design on Carystus was then resumed, and the fleets sailed thither; on which the whole body of the inhabitants, before the troops were disembarked, deserted the city and fled into the citadel, whence they sent deputies to beg protection from the Roman general. [2] To the townspeople life and liberty were immediately granted; and it was ordered, that the Macedonians should pay a ransom of three hundred drachmas¹ a head, deliver up their arms, and quit the country. [3] After being ransomed for the said amount, they were transported, unarmed, to Bœotia. The combined fleets having, in the space of a few days, taken these two important cities of Eubœa, sailed round Sunium, a promontory of Attica, and steered their course to Cenchreae, the grand mart of the Corinthians. [4] In the mean time, the consul found the siege of Atrax more tedious and severe than had been universally expected, and the enemy resisted in the way which they had least anticipated. [5] He had supposed that the whole of the trouble would be in demolishing the wall, and that if he could once open a passage for his soldiers into the city, the consequence would then be, the flight and slaughter of the enemy, as usually happens on the capture of towns. [6] But when, on a breach being made in the wall by the rams, and when the soldiers, by mounting over the ruins, had entered the place, this proved only the beginning, as it were, of an unusual and fresh labour. [7] For the Macedonians in garrison, who were both chosen men and many in number, supposing that they would be entitled to extraordinary honour if they should [8??] maintain the defence of the city by means of arms and courage, rather than by the help of walls, formed them- [p. 1413]selves in a compact body, strengthening their line by an uncommon number of files in depth. These, when they saw the Romans entering by the breaches, drove them back, so that they were entangled among the rubbish, and with difficulty could effect a retreat. [9] This gave the consul great uneasiness; for he considered such a disgrace, not merely as it retarded the reduction of a single city, but as likely to affect materially the whole process of the war, which in general depends much on the influence of events in themselves unimportant. [10] Having therefore cleared the ground, which was heaped up with the rubbish of the half-ruined wall, he brought up a tower of extraordinary height, consisting of many stories, and which carried a great number of soldiers. [11] He likewise sent up the cohorts in strong bodies one after another, to force their way, if possible, through the wedge of the Macedonians, which is called a phalanx. [12] But in such a confined space, (for the wall was thrown down to no great extent,) the enemy had the advantage, both in the kind of weapons which they used, and in the manner of fighting. [13] When the Macedonians, in close array, stretched out before them their long spears against the target fence which was formed by the close position of their antagonists' shields, and when the Romans, after discharging their javelins without effect, drew their swords, these could neither press on to a closer combat, nor cut off the heads of the spears; [14] and if they did cut or break off any, the shaft, being sharp at the part where it was broken, filled up its place among the points of those which were unbroken, in a kind of palisade. [15] Besides this, the parts of the wall still standing rendered both the flanks of the Macedonians secure, who were not obliged, either in retreating or in advancing to an attack, to pass through a long space, which generally occasions disorder in the ranks. [16] An accidental circumstance also helped to confirm their courage: for as the tower was moved along a bank of not sufficiently solid soil, one of the wheels sinking into a rut, made the tower lean in such a manner that it appeared to the enemy as if [17??] falling, and threw the soldiers posted on it into consternation and affright.