herodotus

city, proposing to the inhabitants that they should give up those whowere guilty of the murder of Arkesilaos: but as all their people hadtaken a share in the guilt, they did not accept the proposals. Thenthey besieged Barca for nine months, both digging underground passageswhich led to the wall and making vigorous attacks upon it. Now thepassages dug were discovered by a worker of bronze with a shieldcovered over with bronze, who had thought of a plan as follows:--carrying it round within the wall he applied it to the ground in thecity, and whereas the other places to which he applied it werenoiseless, at those places where digging was going on the bronze ofthe shield gave a sound; and the men of Barca would make a counterminethere and slay the Persians who were digging mines. This then wasdiscovered as I have said, and the attacks were repulsed by the men ofBarca. 201. Then as they were suffering hardship for a long time andmany were falling on both sides, and especially on that of thePersians, Amasis the commander of the land-army contrived as follows:--perceiving that the Barcaians were not to be conquered by force butmight be conquered by guile, he dug by night a broad trench and overit he laid timber of no great strength, and brought earth and laid itabove on the top of the timber, making it level with the rest of theground: then at daybreak he invited the men of Barca to a parley; andthey gladly consented, and at last they agreed to make a treaty: andthe treaty they made with one another was taken over the hiddentrench, namely that so long as this earth should continue to be as itwas, so long the oath should remain firm, and that the men of Barcashould promise to pay tribute of due amount to the king, and thePersians should do no further violence to the men of Barca.[182] Afterthe oath the men of Barca trusting to these engagements both wentforth themselves from their city and let any who desired it of theenemy pass within their walls, having opened all the gates; but thePersians first broke down the concealed bridge and then began to runinside the city wall. And the reason why they broke down the bridgewhich they had made was that they might keep their goats, since theyhad sworn to the men of Barca that the oath should remain firmcontinually for so long time as the earth should remain as it thenwas, but after that they had broken it down, the oath no longerremained firm. 202. Now the most guilty of the Barcaians, when theywere delivered to her by the Persians, Pheretime impaled in a ringround about the wall; and she cut off the breasts of their wives andset the wall round with these also in order: but the rest of the menof Barca she bade the Persians carry off as spoil, except so many ofthem as were of the house of Battos and not sharers in the guilt ofthe murder; and to these Pheretime gave the city in charge.203. So the Persians having made slaves of the rest of the Barcaiansdeparted to go back: and when they appeared at the gates of the city