Romanæ historiæ anthologia An English exposition of the Romane antiquities, wherein many Romane and English offices are paralleld and divers obscure phrases explained. By Thomas Godwyn Master of Arts: for the vse of Abingdon Schoole.

CHAP. 3.

De oppugnatione vrbis, & ijs quae ad oppugnatio∣nem requiruntur.

IF the siege of a towne seemed difficult and hard to com∣passe, then did the Romanes vse certaine meanes of poli∣cie for the better effecting thereof. They invironed the towne with a broad and deepe ditch, adding therevnto a rampier, fortified with many castles and fortresses, where∣by they both kept the towne from any forraigne succour, and withall secured themselues from sallies and other stra∣tagems. This rampier did extend it selfe toward the wals of the city, so that by making (as it were) a great hill, they might overtop the city, and fight with the greater advan∣tage. Now that this great heape of earth might become firme and well able to support the buildings to bee erected vpon it, they did cast in much timber & stones amongst the earth; and this heape of earth, stones, and timber when it was reared, was properly called Agger; whence commeth both the Latin verbe Exaggerare••, and the English to Ex∣aggerate .i. to amplifie or encrease a matter. The stakes, posts, & trees, which were ramined in about this bulwarke or rampire to vpholde the earth, were sometimes called q 1.1 Ceru, because of their forked and sharpe tops; but more properlyr 1.2 Valli, and Valla. The distance or space betweene each stake was called Intervallum; though now Intervallū doth signifie not onely such a distance, but any distance either of place or time, as it appeareth by that ofs 1.3 Tully: In∣tervallo locorum, & temporum d••siuncti. Sometimes Vallus

doth signifie a pole or stake, wherevnto vines are tyed; ac∣cording to that received adage, which we vse when a spe∣ciall friend forsaketh one, Vallus vitem decepit. From the first signification it is, that Vallum doth often signifie the inclosure, or hedging in of trees and stakes, wherwith the bulwarke is vpheld: Alluding wherevntot 1.4 A. Gellius tran∣slateth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Vallum dentium. The meanes of their defense, whiles they were making this their rampire, was a certaine engine or ordinance of warreu 1.5 made of plankes and hurdles, running vpon wheeles, vnder which they might rest secure frō all stones and darts cast from the wals of the city: It was called Vinea. A second engine was Mus∣culus: The matter wherof it was made I haue not read: but the vse of it was, that vnder it the souldiers might approch vnto the wals of the city, and vndermine them. Thus much x 1.6 Lipsius seemeth to inferre, when he rendreth the reason of the name: Musculus ideò dictus, quia instar eius animal∣culi foderent sub eo terram. A third meanes of their defense was Militaris testudo. This word Testudo in the art Milita∣ry had a double acception, both being borrowed from the resemblance of the Tortoise shell, which is the true & ge∣nuine signification of this word. In the first acception Te∣studo, y 1.7 doth signifie a warlike engine or fense made with boards covered over with raw hides, which served against fire and stones cast at the souldiers: vnder this they might safely assaile the wals.z 1.8 In the second acceptiō it signifieth a target-fense, which was a close holding togither of tar∣gets over head like a vault or roofe, wherewith the foote∣men did defend themselues from the thicke shot of arrows or slinging of stones. Their rampier or countermure being finished, they vsed certaine great timber towers made vp∣on wheeles to run to and fro, which they called Turres am∣bulatoriae, moueable turrets. These towers had many sto∣ries one over the other,a 1.9 wherein they carryed ladders & casting bridges thereby to scale the wals. The engines hi∣thervnto haue been defensiue, such wherwith the Romanes

defended themselues in their siege: others there were of∣fensiue, wherwith they did assaile the city; and of those the chiefe were Balista sive Catapulta, Scorpius sive Onager, Aries, & Malleoli. The first of these engines, as it was cal∣led Balista 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, from darting or casting forth any thing,b 1.10 so was it in old time called Catapulta 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifieth a shaft or dart. The forme thereof fol∣loweth trāslated word for word out ofc 1.11 Marcellinus. [Be∣tweene two plankes there is set in frame, and fast ioyned a strong & bigge yron, reaching out in length after the mā∣ner of a good great rule; out of the round body whereof, which is artificially wrought, there lyeth forth farther out a fowre square beame, made hollow with a direct passage in manner of a narrow trough, tyed fast with many cords of ••inewes twisted one within the other, and therevnto are ioined two wooden skrewes; neere vnto one of which standeth the cunning Balistier, & subtilly putteth into the hollow passage of the beame a wooden shaft with a bigge head glewed fast to it. This done on both sides, two lustie young men doe bend the engine by turning about certaine wheeles. When the top of the head is drawne to the vtter∣most end of the cords, the shaft being carried forth of the Balista, by the inward force thereof, it flyeth out of sight.] That the reader may receaue the more light in the vnder∣standing of this obscure description. I haue added the very words of Marcellinus. [Ferrum inter axiculos duos firmum compaginatur & vastum; in modum regulae maioris extentū: cuius ex volumine teretis, quod in medio ars polita componit, quadrat us eminet stylus extensius recto canalis angustimeatu cavatus, & hac multiplici cordâ nervorum tortiliū illigatus: ei{que} cochleaeduae ligneae coniunguntur aptissimè, quarum propè vnam adsistit artifex contemplabilis, & subtiliter adponit in temonis cavamine sagit tam ligneam spiculo maiore congluti∣natam: hoc{que} facto hinc inde validi iuvenes versant agilitèr rotabilem flexum. Quum ad extremiatem nervorum acumen venerit summum, percita interno pulsu à balista ex oculis e∣volat.

In respect of its vse we may english it a Crossebowe: but it was much bigger, and of a different forme. The Scor∣pion, which now they call Onager, is described by Mar∣cellinus in the same place thus. [Two oaken or elme beames are hewen out, and somewhat bended, so that they seeme to bunch out in backs; and these in maner of a* 1.12 saw engine are tied fast together, being bored through with wide holes, through (which by the meanes of those holes) strong cords are tied, keeping in the whole frame, that it start not asunder:* 1.13 From betweene these bunches, another wooden beame reaching forth overthwa••t, and in maner of a waine beame erected vp, is tied with such devises vnto certaine ropes, that it may be pulled vp higher, or let downe lower at ones pleasure; and at the top thereof certain yron hooks are fastned, from which hookes there hangeth down a cer∣tain sling either of iron or tow: Vnder which erected beam there lyeth a great peece of haire-cloath full of small chaffe tied fast with cords, and placed vpon a bancke of tur••es, or a heape of bricks: When therefore it commeth to the point of skirmish, a round stone being put into the sling, foure young men on one side loosing the beames, into which the ropes are incorporated, doe drawe backe the erected beam vnto the hooke. Thus at length the master of the engine standing in some high place, giving a mightie stroke with a hammer (and, as I suppose, vpon the cord, wherevnto the erected beame was fastned, with his hooke) se••teth opē the rayles, that containe the whole worke, insomuch that this erected beam being now at liberty with that quick stroke, and hitting against the soft haire-cloath, it hurleth out the stone, that will batter whatsoever is in the way. And it is called Tormentum, quod ex eo omnis explicatio torquebatur. It is also called Scorpio, because when the long beame or tillar is erected, it hath a sharpe top in maner of a sting. The moderne time hath imposed vnto it the name of Onager .i. a wild Asse; because that wild Asses, when they are coursed by hunters, fling backe stones with their heeles a farre off.

so that often times they pierce the breasts of those that fol¦low them.] The Latine word is made from the Greeke 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .i. Asinus & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, rus vel ager. Now if any aske me, why that sa••k cloath of ashes was interposed, the reason is ren∣dered by Marcellinus in two lines, which I purposely did not translate in their place, because I would continue the sense, without such a long parenthesis. The reason is there delivered thus; because the violence and force of the erec∣ted beame recoiling, after it had beene by the stroke dis∣charged, was such, that it would shake in peeces the stron∣gest wals, except there were some soft thing interposed, whereby the forceable strength of the recoile might bee by degrees slacked. The Aries or Ram is described also by Marcellin. in the same place. [The Ram was a great tree, or beame like vnto a mast of a ship, having a peece of iron in maner of a Rams head, fastned at the end thereof, where∣with they did demolish and batter downe the wals of a ci∣ty. It was hung vnto a beam, which lay a crosse over a cou∣ple of pillars, and hanged thus equally ballanced, it was by force of men pulled backward, and then recoiled vpon the wals.] In lieu of these Rammes another engine was found out, called Helepolis, ab invsitato 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .i. capio, & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .i. ci∣vitas. The forme of it is to bee seene also in Marcell. ibid. [There was (saith hee) a Testudo, or vaulted frame made, strengthned with very long peeces of timber: it was cove∣red over with oxe hides, and greene wicker hurdles: the vp∣per part or convexe sur-face thereof was overlaid with mud, to the end that it might keepe of the fal of fire and ca∣sting of weapons. Now there were fastned in the front of it certaine Cuspides tri••ulcae .i. iron pikes with three edges ve∣ry massy, in maner of the thunderbolts, which painters and poets exhibite vnto vs. This great engine the souldiers ru∣ling within with divers wheeles & ropes, with maine force they thrust it against the wals.] [Malleoli (saith the same Marcellinus) were certaine darts fashioned on this maner; there was an arrow made of a cane, betwixt the head & the

nocke whereof was fastned an iron full of cle••ts; which ar∣row like vnto a womans distaffe, on which linnen is spin∣ned, was finely made hollow within the belly, yet open in many places: In the belly it receaved fire with fuell to feed vpō. And thus being gently discharged out of a weak bow (for with an over strong shooting the fire was extingui∣shed) if it tooke fast hold on any place, it burned the same, & water being cast thereon, the fire increased: neither was there any meanes to quench it, but by casting duston it.] Now if they could not prevaile by these engines called Machinae, then did they make certain passages vnder groūd which they called Cuniculi from Cuniculus signifying a co∣ny-berry: insomuch that these two phrases are opposite, Machinis, & Cuniculis oppugnare, as it appeareth by that ofd 1.14 Plutarch: Caesar non iam cuniculis, sed machinis tollit rempublicam .i. He doth not now covertly, but with open violence assault the common weale.

Notes

• q 1.1

  Lips polio•• lib 2 dial 2.
• r 1.2

  Serv. Aenei. lib. 10.
• s 1.3

  Cic. ep. fam. lib. 1. ep. 7.
• t 1.4

  A Gel. Noc. Attic. l. 1. c. 15
• u 1.5

  Rosin. ant. Rom. l. 10. c. ••6
• x 1.6

  Lips. polior. lib. 1. dial. 9.
• y 1.7

  Rosin. ant Rom. l. 10. c. 16
• z 1.8

  Stad. in Flor. l 4. c. 10.
• a 1.9

  Rosin. ant. Rom. lib. 10. cap 16.
• b 1.10

  Lips. Poli∣orc. lib. 3. dial 2.
• c 1.11

  Am. Marc. lib. 23. cap. 3.
• * 1.12

  Machinae Serrat••••iae.
• * 1.13

  Ab hac me∣di••tate testi∣••••] Here we must 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that this significatiō of testes is bor∣rowed from the Anatomists, which doe call certaine eminēt parts behind 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Testes. Vid Fuchs. inst••t. med. l. 1. sec. 5.
• d 1.14

  Plutarc. in vit. C▪ Caes.