Mr. Ferguson on the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. 27 



lunatis agmina peltis, Penthesllea furens.' The Amazonian shields approached 

 nearly to the form of a leaf, as did those of the Gothic nations. Pliny says of 

 the Indian fig, ' Foliorum latidudo peltae eflSgiera Amazoni?e habet.' Upon 

 these shields they had more lunettes than one ; and from them the custom was 

 derived to the Turks and other Tartar nations." — (Anal. Anc. Myth. v. iii. 

 p. 472.) 



Whether or not the lunette, which is still the ensign of a very numerous 

 nation, was an Arkite emblem, as this learned, but somewhat fanciful writer 

 supposes, it is extremely probable, that if his interpretation of " lunatse peltse" 

 be correct, this is the same blazonry described by Valerius Flaccus, whose 

 omitting so marked a characteristic would otherwise be singularly inconsistent 

 with the propriety observed throughout the remainder of his poem. " Albentes 

 gemin^ fert aclyde parmas" may then be rendered — " Advances shields charged 

 with the white blazonry of the double lunette" and thus the curved form of the 

 aclys, if this argument of Bryant be correct, will become as apparent as that 

 of the " panda Cateia." 



This view is strongly confirmed by the description given of this weapon by 

 Servius. " The aclys," he says, " is a weapon of so great an antiquity, that the 

 use of it in war has not been recorded (meaning probably, not otherwise than by 

 poetical writers.) We read, however, that these were bats, of half a cubit in 

 length, with horns projecting at either side, {eminentibus hinc et hinc acumini- 

 bus,) which were so cast against the enemy attached to a line, as to be capable of 

 being retracted after having inflicted the wound;" (Sertnus in JEneid. 1. vii. 

 v. 730.) Here, while Servius clearly describes the shape, and refers to the 

 peculiar flight of the Cateia, he seems to consider the latter as produced by the 

 retraction of thongs to which the weapon was attached ; and in this view he has 

 been followed by all the commentators down to our time. He admits, however, 

 immediately after, that this was but a guess, and refers to the tradition which 

 appears to have preserved the true account ; " putatur tamen esse teli genus 

 quod per flagellum in immensum jaci potest," which will safely bear this 

 translation, •' some, however, are of opinion, that the thong was only used in its 

 projection, and that by its means it could be cast to an immense distance." 



Such was the Aclys, according to the uncertain report of Servius, and, 

 whatever it may have appeared to him to be, he identifies it with the Cateia, 



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