Some of the defenders endeavoured to resist; but they were few in number, and exposed to the projectiles which the auxiliary troops of slingers and archers incessantly discharged upon them in an oblique direction. The rampart was soon taken; but darts, stones, and flaming balls of pitch and tow were hurled upon the assailants from the tower, and if they attempted to approach it, planks and pots filled with gravel. It was necessary, therefore, to set up screens on the rampart even; for to abandon that would have revived the courage of the defenders. Here the Romans lost several men, and many were wounded. To set fire to the tower was scarcely possible; for constructions of timber mingled with stone do not readily take fire Titurius, however, placed one of his catapults so that the projectiles thrown by it should reach the roof of the tower; and when satisfied that this object was attained (it was towards sunset), kept up a continuous discharge of burning missiles--consisting of darts wrapped in tow saturated with oil and tar--on the roof, which soon caught fire. The legate made sure that as the floors of the tower were of timber, the roof when it fell in would communicate the fire to the ground story; and in fact, the roof had not long fallen in when a dense column of smoke, accompanied by sparks which appeared as if issuing from a vast chimney, shot forth from the summit of the tower. Catognatus, and those of his followers who had crowded into the stronghold, despairing of maintaining it, then opened a concealed aperture, which gave egress on the sides of the upper town; and without bucklers, a sword in one hand, a flaming brand in the other, rushed with terrible cries on the Romans, who were keeping guard outside the palisading on that side, and who, surprised by this column of warriors, opposed but a feeble resistance, and made an attempt to rally and fall upon the flanks of the fugitives. It was night, and the slopes were steep, occupied here and there by houses and palisading enclosing gardens. The Romans were ill-acquainted with the ground, and often got into places whence there was no exit.