24.07.26; Level 3+; Comenius (1658) CXLIII; the besieging of a city [1] text and translation

Military terminology is a frequent feature of Roman writing, and there is a very wide range of vocabulary associated with it.

Roman writers usually depict what they considered important, and this can skew our perception of ordinary life, which is less frequently described in depth. We might be forgiven for thinking that Romans were perpetually fighting. In fact, although the empire’s population may have reached around 70 million, most inhabitants never directly experienced warfare, which was typically confined to particular regions.

Nevertheless, war — and success in war — was a crucial part of Roman identity, and military campaigns were recorded, from a Roman perspective, by authors such as Caesar, Livy and Tacitus. For that reason, military vocabulary is common in Latin prose.

In this short text, Comenius makes extensive use of such vocabulary and, while some of it refers to weaponry unknown to the Romans, much of what you read here forms an important part of historical writing.

The besieging of a city │ Obsidium Urbis

[1]

A city that is like to [going to / about to] endure a siege, | Urbs passūra obsidiōnem,

is first summoned by a trumpeter | prīmum prōvocātur per tūbicinem (1)

and (is) persuaded to yield. | et invītātur ad dēditiōnem.

Which if it refuseth to do, | Quod sī abnuat facere,

it is assaulted by the besiegers | oppugnātur ab obsidentibus

and (is) taken by storm. | et occupātur.

[2]

Either by climbing over the walls with scaling-ladders (2) | Vel mūrōs per scālās (2) trānscendendō,

or (by) breaking (them) down with battering-engines (3) | aut diruendō arietibus (3),

or (by) demolishing (them) with great guns (4) | aut dēmoliendō tormentīs (4),

or (by) breaking through the gates with a petard (5) | vel dirumpendō portās exōstrā (5),

or (by) casting granadoes [“grenades”; cannonballs] (6) | vel ēiaculandō globōs tormentāriōs (6),

out of mortar-pieces (7) | ē mortāriīs (ballistīs) (7),

into the city, by engineers (8) | in urbem per ballistāriōs (8),

who lye behind leaguer-baskets  (9) | quī latitant post gerrās (9),

or (by) overthrowing (it) with mines by pioneers (10) | vel subvertendō cūniculīs per fossōrēs (10).

[3]

They that are besieged defend themselves from the walls (11) | Obsessī dēfendunt sē dē mūrīs (11),

with fire and stones, &c. | ignibus, lapidibus, etc.,

or break out by force (12) | aut ērumpunt (12).

A city that is taken by storm | Urbs vī expugnāta,

is plundered, | diripitur,

destroyed, | exciditur,

and sometimes laid even with the ground. | interdum aequātur solō.