These chambers were cut into
the rocky foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults,
with pillars set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained
old armour; the second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from
tufts of feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind
of tapestry made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of
the fourth were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell,
rows of helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion
of fiery serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers;
the seventh, greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth
vault was filled with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the
remaining vaults disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even
catapults, and bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended
deeper into the rocky foundation, it became evident that the whole mass
was a veritable honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen
were many others.
Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the
publicans, walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs
bearing torches.
In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could
be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers
resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in
his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
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