THE KING'S MIRROR 



cold as one may prefer. It must also be provided with 

 two firm and strong chains, one on each side, which can 

 be depended on to check the wagon even where it has 

 a long track to run upon. It is meant to run on planks 

 set with a downward slope, but one must be careful to 

 keep the wheels from skidding off the planks. When the 

 chains check the speed, the wagon shoots its load out 

 upon the men below. The more uneven the stones are, 

 some large and some small, the more effective the load 

 will be. Canny men, who are set to defend a wall and 

 wish to throw rocks down upon the attacking line or 

 upon the penthouse, make these rocks of clay with 

 pebbles, slingstones, and other hard stones placed in- 

 side. The clay is burned hard enough on the outside to 

 endure the flight while the load is being thrown; but as 

 soon as the rocks fall they break into fragments and 

 consequently cannot be hurled back again. To break 

 down stone walls, however, large, hard rocks are re- 

 quired. Similarly, when one hurls missiles from a stone 

 fortress against an opposing wooden tower or upon the 

 axletrees which support siege engines, towers, scaling 

 ladders, cats, or any other engine on wheels, the larger 

 and harder the rocks that are used, the more effective 

 they will be. 



Boiling water, molten glass, and molten lead are also 

 useful in defending walls.* But if a cat or any other 

 covered engine which cannot be damaged by hot water 

 is being pushed toward a castle, it is a good plan, if the 

 engine is lower than the walls, to provide beams care- 



* See the Soro edition, 424-425, where the editor cites a number of references 

 to the use of fire in defensive warfare; these are nearly all drawn from the 



