154 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



simple enough. A long and heavy beam, generally the trunk 

 of a tree, was suspended by ropes at the centre of gravity, so 

 that it could be swung backwards and forwards. Although a 

 simple beam was an effective weapon, its value was much 

 enhanced by loading the thickest end with a heavy mass of 

 metal, usually iron, and, when there was time for adorn- 

 ment, roughly modelled into the form of a ram's head. 



Generally the Battering-ram was mounted on an elevated 

 platform, and the soldiers who worked it protected by a roof, 

 which was called by the name of Testudo, or Tortoise. The 

 force of this weapon was tremendous, and no wall, however 

 strong, could resist it. Sometimes the beam was considerably 

 more than a hundred feet in length, being composed of several 

 pieces bolted and banded together with iron. 



It may easily be imagined that such a weapon as this must 

 have been a most terrible one, and, indeed, the whole success 

 of the siege practically depended upon it. The assailants did 

 their best to bring the Battering-ram into position under the 

 walls, and the besieged did their best either to keep it away, 

 or to neutralise its effects by catching it with nooses, dropping 

 large stones upon it so as to break or dismount it, or, if they 

 could not succeed in either of these attempts, they deadened 

 the force of its blows as well as they could by interposing 

 large sacks of wool between the wall and the head of the ram. 



Considering the style of architecture which was then used 

 in fortification, namely, a combination of height with thickness, 

 the force of the Battering-ram would be even greater than 

 that of artillery. The regular and rhythmical swing of the 

 ram would soon communicate a vibratory motion to the wall, 

 which would of itself tend to disintegrate the whole structure, 

 while the blows of the iron head beneath broke away the 

 stones, and rendered the downfall of the fort a mere matter of 

 time. 



The reader need hardly be reminded that the Battering-ram 

 was so called because its mode of attack was practically the 

 same as that of the animal from which it took its title. 



MISCELLANEA. 



BY slow degrees, mankind, as they advance in civilisation, 

 have robbed warfare of many horrors. Non-combatants, for 



