Greek Fire of the Middle Ages. 1 7 



people !" This petrary only threw it three times in the night, 

 but it was also thrown four times from a cross-bow. 



Here we have apparently two kinds of artillery ; since, as 

 it is described to have come from " the bottom of the petrary," 

 that machine can scarcely have been any thing but a piece of 

 ordnance ; a mortar, perhaps, of large bore. The cross-bow, 

 or balista, might have been used for the same purpose for a 

 smaller projectile of the same nature, or possibly for some 

 other kind of fire. 



To confirm the opinion already given of the nature of the 

 fire which thus annoyed St. Louis, it must be remarked, that it 

 came forward as large as a barrel of verjuice, with a tail 

 issuing from it as big as a great sword ; making a noise in its 

 passage like thunder, and seeming like a dragon flying through 

 the air; while, from the great quantity of fire which it threw 

 out, it gave such a light that one might see in the camp as if 

 it had been day. 



Now we are here still left to our conjectures as to the exact 

 nature of this fire ; as we have no other account of it than that 

 of Geoffrey de Vinesauf, who attended Richard to the crusade, 

 and who describes it as consuming even flint and iron, and as 

 being unextinguishable by water, while it was also attended by 

 a pernicious stench and a livid flame. 



It is apparent, on considering this evidence, that the fire 

 now under review bore no relation to those which were first 

 described, and that we have to choose between a rocket and a 

 carcass. There are difficulties both ways. The fact of its 

 having been projected from a petrary, is in favour of a carcass ; 

 as a rocket would not have borne the explosion of a piece of 

 ordnance, and which indeed could not have been necessary, 

 since it is capable of flying by its own energy. As little could 

 a cross-bow be required for a rocket ; while small carcasses, or 

 inflamed balls, like our modern light-balls, of a firm texture, 

 might easily have been projected in this manner. 



On the other hand, though the fuse of a carcass would pro- 

 duce a tail of light, that would not have been equal to a long 

 sword, nor could it hare illuminated the whole camp. This is 



