228 PLINT'S NATU11A.L HISTORY. [Book Vll. 



thong^^ attaclied, by ^tolus/ the son of Mars ; the spear of 

 the light infantry-^ by Tyrrhenus ; the dart^ by Penthesilea, 

 the Amazon ; the axe by Pisaeus ; the hiinting-spear, and the 

 scorpion to hurl missiles, by the Cretans ;* the catapulta, the 

 balista,^ and the sling, by the SjTophoenicians.^ Pisaeus, the 

 Tyrrhenian, was the first to invent the brazen trumpet,' and 

 Artemon, of Clazomense, the use of the testudo.^ The batter- 



99 The " amentum" was a leather tliongtied to the middle of the jave- 

 lin, to assist in throwing it, though it is unknown how it added to the 

 eifect. It has been suggested that it was by imparting rotation, and con- 

 sequent steadiness. 



^ ^tolus was said to have been the son of Endymion, of Elis, who, 

 having accidentally killed one of liis countrymen, left his native place, and 

 settled in the part of Greece named after him, ^tolia. — B. 



~ See B. xxviii. c. 6. This was the Eoman " veru," or "verutum," so 

 called from its resemblance to a spit. Its shaft was three feet and a half 

 long, and its point live inches. The " Velites" did not form part of the 

 Eoraan legion, but fought in scattered parties wherever they were required. 



3 The " pilum" was short and thick ; its shaft, often made of cornel, was 

 partly square, and five feet and a half long. The head was nine inches 

 long. It was used eitlier to throw or thrust with, and, in spite of what 

 Pliny says, was peculiar to the Romans. 



* Julius Firmicus ascribes the invention of the apparatus used in hunt- 

 ing to the Cretans ; and Gratius, Cyneg. 1. 108, that of the hunting spear, 

 with its iron spike, to Dercylus, of Amycla?. — B. 



^ Vitruvius informs us, that the catapulta and the balista were instru- 

 ments formed upon the same principle, tlie former being adapted for the 

 discharge of arrows, and the latter, masses of stone. Caesar, however, in 

 his account of the siege of Massilia, Bell. Civ. B. ii. c. 8, speaks of stones 

 being thrown by the catapulta. iElian, Hist. Var. B. vi. c. 12,. says, that 

 it was invented by Dionysius, the first king of Syracuse. — B. 



6 Strabo ascribes the invention of the sling to the -Sltolians ; he in- 

 forms us, that the inhabitants of the Balearic Isles, so famous for their 

 dexterity in tlie use of this instrument, originally obtained it from the 

 Phrygians. — B. 



' According to Hyginus, Tyrrhenus, the son of Hercules, invented the 

 trumpet ; Clemens, of Alexandria, and Athenaeus, ascribe tlie invention to 

 the Tyrrhenians. — B. Virgil speaks, B. viii. 1. 526, of the " clangor of 

 the Tyrrhenian trumpet." 



8 The " tortoise." He probably means a military machine, moved on 

 wheels and roofed over, used in besieging cities, and under which the 

 soldiers worked in undermining the walls. It was usually covered with 

 raw hides or other materials, which could not easily be set on fire. The 

 same name was also applied to the covering formed by a compact body of 

 soldiers, who placed their shields over their heads, and linked them toge- 

 ther, to secure themselves against the darts of the enemy. The latter 

 kind of "testudo" was sometimes formed, by way of an exercise, in the 

 games of the Circus. 



