Fire-bearing constructions. Things like this were small wooden rods, some a foot [sc. long], some a cubit; but all were surface-touching[1] in their constructions. These had been divided with iron spurs at the heads; through the spurs had been woven oakum and torches, and pitch had been smeared over them. Some of the men grasped [these] and delivered them [sc. by hand], while others were throwing them from a torsion-spring towards the first of the houses; as they struck their targets with force and the spurs dug into the planking, the fire kept going and swiftly kindled.