ABSTRACT
THE traces of ancient ruins in the kingdoms of the North show quite plainly how very many strong positions, set upon rocks and with impassable approaches, have apparently been shattered and destroyed by man-made fires lit from cavities under the ground, as though struck by thunderbolts. For, when fortresses of this kind were discovered to have been behind a succession of robberies, especially on the borders of provinces, the local people, by common consent and the command of the magistrate, were summoned together, all under arms, and attacked them, and with their amazing talents managed to raze them to the ground.1
