Olympius distributed weapons, and went from one to another, speaking
words of encouragement; presently he found Gorgo who, with the bereaved
widow, was still sitting at the foot of the statue of justice. He told
her that her father was ill, and desired a servant to show her the way to
his private room, that she might help the leech in attending on him.
Berenice could not be induced to stir; she longed only for the end and
was persuaded that it could not be far off. She listened eagerly to the
blows of the battering-engine; each one sounded to her like a shock to
the very structure of the universe. Another--and another--and at last
the ancient masonry must give way and the grave that had already opened
for her husband and her son would yawn to swallow her up with her
sorrows. She shuddered and drew her hood over her face to screen it from
the sun which now began to shine in. Its light was a grievance to her;
she had hoped never to see another day.

The women, and with them a few helpless weaklings, had withdrawn to the
rotunda, and before long they were laughing as saucily as ever.

From the roof blocks of stone and broken statues were hailing down on the
besiegers, and in the halls below, the toiler who paused to wipe the
sweat from his brow would brook no idleness in his comrade; the most
recalcitrant were forced to bestir themselves, and the barricade inside
the southern wall soon rose to a goodly height. No rampart was ever
built of nobler materials; each stone was a work of art and had been
reverenced for centuries as something sacred, or bore in an elegant
inscription the memorial of noble deeds. This wall was to protect the
highest of the gods, and among the detachment told off to defend it, were
Karnis, his son, and his wife.