Πέρσαι δὲ ἐξ ἐκείνου τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον παραφυλάξαντες, ὡς ἐξ ἐφόδου τὴν Συρίαν ληψόμενοι, πᾶσαν ἐξαναστήσαντες ἡλικίαν καὶ φύσιν καὶ τύχην ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὥρμηντο, ἄνδρες, μειράκια, πρεσβῦται καὶ γυναικῶν πλῆθος καὶ θεραπόντων, οὐ μόνον τῶν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ὑπουργιῶν χάριν, ἐκ περιουσίας δὲ πλεῖστον ἑπόμενον. διενοοῦντο γὰρ ὡς καὶ τὰς πόλεις [B] καθάξοντες καὶ τῆς χώρας ἤδη κρατήσαντες κληρούχους ἡμῖν ἐπάγειν.(117) κενὰς δὲ ἀπέφηνεν αὐτοῖς τὰς προσδοκίας τῆς παρασκευῆς τῆς σῆς τὸ μέγεθος. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐς πολιορκίαν κατέστησαν, ἐπετειχίζετο μὲν ἡ πόλις κύκλῳ τοῖς χώμασιν, ἐπέρρει δὲ ὁ Μυγδόνιος πελαγίζων τὸ περὶ τῷ τείχει χωρίον, καθάπερ ὁ Νεῖλος, φασὶ, τὴν Αἴγυπτον. προσήγετο δὲ ἐπὶ νεῶν ταῖς ἐπάλξεσι τὰ μηχανήματα, καὶ ἐπιπλεῖν ἄλλοι διενοοῦντο τοῖς τείχεσιν, [C] ἄλλοι δὲ ἔβαλλον ἀπὸ τῶν χωμάτων τοὺς ἀμυνομένους ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῶν τειχῶν ἤμυνον καρτερῶς τῇ πίλει. μεστὰ δὲ ἦν ἅπαντα σωμάτων καὶ ναυαγίων καὶ ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν, τῶν μὲν ἄρτι καταδυομένων, τῶν δέ, ἐπειδὴ τὸ πρῶτον ὑπὸ τῆς βίας κατενεχθέντα κατέδυ, κουφιζομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ κύματος. ἀσπίδες μὲν ἐπενήχοντο βαρβάρων παμπληθεῖς καὶ νεῶν σέλματα(118) συντριβομένων ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς τῶν μηχανημάτων. [D] βελῶν πλῆθος ἐπινηχόμενον μικροῦ δεῖν ἐπεῖχεν ἅπαν τὸ μεταξὺ τοῦ τείχους καὶ τῶν χωμάτων. ἐτέτραπτο δὲ ἡ λίμνη πρὸς λύθρον, καὶ κύκλῳ τὸ τεῖχος ἐπήχουν οἰμωγαὶ βαρβάρων ὀλλύντων μὲν οὐδαμῶς, ὀλλυμένων(119) δὲ πολυτρόπως καὶ τιτρωσκομένων ποικίλοις τραύμασι. (But the Persians ever since the last campaign had been watching for just such an opportunity, and had planned to conquer Syria, by a single invasion. So they mustered all forces, every age, sex, and condition, and marched against us, men and mere boys, old men and crowds of women and slaves, who followed not merely to assist in the war, but in vast numbers beyond what was needed. For it was their intention to reduce the cities, and once masters of the country, to bring in colonists in spite of us. But the magnitude of your preparations made it manifest that their expectations were but vanity. They began the siege and completely surrounded the city(120) with dykes, and then the river Mygdonius flowed in and flooded the ground about the walls, as they say the Nile floods Egypt. The siege‐engines were brought up against the ramparts on boats, and their plan was that one force should sail to attack the walls while the other kept shooting on the city’s defenders from the mounds. But the garrison made a stout defence of the city from the walls. The whole place was filled with corpses, wreckage, armour, and missiles, of which some were just sinking, while others, after sinking from the violence of the first shock, floated on the waters. A vast number of barbarian shields and also ship’s benches, as a result of the collisions of the siege‐engines on the ships, drifted on the surface. The mass of floating weapons almost covered the whole surface between the wall and the mounds. The lake was