Explore "Aquileia" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
[On the election of the Roman Emperor Maximus, by the Senate, A. D. 238, a / powerful army, headed by the Thracian giant Maximus, laid siege to / Aquileia. Though poorly prepared for war, the constancy of her citizens / rendered her impregnable. The women of Aquileia cut off their hair to / make ropes for the military engines. The small body of troops was / directed by Chrispinus, a Lieutenant of the Senate. Apollo was the deity / supposed to protect them. -_Gibbon's Roman History_.]
"The ropes, the ropes! Apollo send us ropes," / Chrispinus cried, "or death attends our hopes. " / Then panic reigned, and many a mournful sound / Hurt the cleft air; for where could ropes be found?