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he proceeded to attack the city by land and sea, Appius leading up the land forces, and he himself having a fleet of sixty quinqueremes filled with all sorts of arms and missiles. Moreover, he had erected an engine of artillery on a huge platform supported by eight galleys fastened together,1 and with this sailed up to the city wall, confidently relying on the extent and splendour of his equipment and his own great fame. But all this proved to be of no account in the eyes of Archimedes and in comparison with the engines of Archimedes.
1 See chapter xv. 3. According to Polybius (viii. 6). Marcellus had eight quinqueremes in pairs, and on each pair, lashed together, a ‘sambuca’ (or harp) had been constructed. This was a pent-house for raising armed men on to the battlements of the besieged city.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. with an English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1917. 5.
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