Lfjent'ion of Fire Engines. 243 



foldiers fquirted it from hand engines, ofj as appears, by 

 blowing it through tubes : but neither thefe hand engines 

 nor fuch tubes could have been the machines employed for 

 projecting it from the fore part of fliips againft tliofe of the 

 enemy. They were couftruCtod of copper and iron ; the ex- 

 tremity of them had the appearance fometimes of the open 

 mouth and jaws of a lion or other animals ; they were 

 painted, and even gilded ; and it appears that the fire could 

 be thrown from them to a great diftance. 



Thefe machines are called exprefsly by various authors 

 /pouting engines. Thus Johannes Camcniata, fpeaking of 

 the taking of his native city The.Talonica by the Saracens in 

 the year 904, favs that the enemy threw fire into the wooden 

 works of the befietjed, which was blown into them by means 

 of tubes, and thTowa from other vciFels *. This paffage, 

 which I do not find quoted in any of the works that fpeak 

 of the Greek fire, proves, at the fame time, that at the be- 

 ffinnins of the tenth centurv the Greeks were not the only 

 poireflbrs of the art of preparing this fire, the forerunner of 

 our gunpowder. The emperor Leo, who about this time 

 wrote his Art of War, recommends the ufe of fuch tubes on 

 the fore part of fliips, and to be placed under the Shelter of a 

 proper covering t : he mentions the /quirting of the Greek 

 fire in two more pallagest. In a word, people may have 

 eafily conceived the idea of difcharging the Greek fire by 

 means of a forcino- pump, becaufe the ufe of this machine 

 for extinguifliinff fires was known there long before the in- 

 vention of Callinicus. 



At what period the cities in Germany began to be fur- 

 niflied with fire entwines 1 have not been able to determine. 



o 

 ar/xo^ e-v/J-TT-nyii aai <rx»Ti?[£: reu; ■Tro^lfinv^, xai f^yi* EfxTroJiov yivaT.ti. Ollas 

 calce Viva plcnas alii mjiciunt, quious contrudtii, caicii viv.k' pulvis dilU- 

 patus futiocac ct ftraiigulit holies, et magno ad prxliandum iinpsdi- 

 mento ell. 



* In Leonis Allatii ru/>tf*.xra. Colonia; A^ripp. 1653. Svo. p. 389. 



ITif T£ Jia -rai rtipmxv ry) aipi ^uTtiTMrs;] xai Tivs «NXa a-xivif . . . . iglicoi 



fiptionibus tfflinics, et alia vai'a, ilanWiarum pkna.in niurum conjicientcs. 



f Cap. xix,§ 6. p. 321. EX-^* " WiVTHC Tsv a-i^xva Ka.rit Tnv nftt3.v ty.- 



T.«; (.--.ccoroiiig 10 ilic reading 111 Fabihii Bibliotbeca Gra'ca, vi. p. 373.): 

 In prora fiphoncm aerc oi)tei>uni de more habeas ad iirncm in hofies ujacu- 

 linclum, et ctll'e fupra fiphonem picudopatium ex I'.flcribu? confeftum et ' 

 afleribus circumteia^um, in quo viri ad beliandum inftrufti fmt. 



+ P^. 344. [nterduin iVoiittm claHis dircdntr. inftrues, ut ubi ufus 

 ferat in holliuin proras irruat, et fiphonibus ignem ciicicntibiis naves illo- 

 rum inccndat. Aia tcu Tru^-ef tw> ir:<|>aiiiv. P. 34(1. Multx moliiiones exco- 

 gitars funtj cuius trcncris limr, ignis cum tonitru ct fumoigiiitoi)erfiphonfs 

 cmilTus, et inccndtns n ive5. 'Otev -nrt «rKsuar,u5»>y 7iv» /wit» 0t'mni xcii x«b>ou 



Q a la 



