amlets and rich villas,
nothing could be seen but smoking ruins; the fruit-trees had been
uprooted, the vines pulled up, the crops laid waste. Here and there
were the bodies of peasants swinging from the trees, the ground was
strewed with booty abandoned carelessly by the marauders. The plain
once so green and smiling, appeared as sad and barren as a Russian
steppe.

This desolation afflicted. Erwin painfully, and he rode rapidly forward
to escape the mournful spectacle. Soon could be seen the tents of the
Imperial camp, with the varied standards floating proudly above the
sharp roofs of the canvas city. The vague hum of the multitude was
mingled with the clang of arms and the strains of martial music, and
the noise of the workmen in the trenches. From the elevated point on
which he stood, Erwin could distinguish the beleaguered city with its
mighty walls above which towered the brilliant edifices and lofty
turrets. As he gazed with admiration upon the town, Rechberg could not
but experience a feeling of sorrow at the thought that all this
greatness and power was doomed to destruction. After a short ride he
found himself in the interior of the camp, where it was easy to
perceive that he was almost entirely surrounded by the Italian
contingents.

The complete investment of the city was impossible, and Frederic, in
consequence, had established four distinct attacks, surrounded by
strong palisades and deep ditches as a protection to the sorties of the
besieged. Although, at intervals of distance, the camps commanded all
the avenues of approach, and it was impossible for the garrison to
receive any supplies or reinforcements, or hold any communication with
the exterior. As it had been decided to reduce the place by famine, a
rigid blockade was enforced, and the different leaders were relieved
from the necessity of constructing any of those clumsy machines, under
cover of which in those days the assaults upon the works were
conducted. However, Henry the Lion had ordered the building of an
immense tower whose proportions excited general astonishment. It was
upon wheels, six stories in height, and could accommodate beneath it a
thousand soldiers. The upper part was narrower and provided with doors,
through which the garrison could pass, by means of temporary bridges,
on to the walls of the city. Sorties from the town were of almost daily
occurrence, and the personal hatred of the combatants gave to these
engagements a most