… vel ēiaculandō globōs tormentāriōs ē mortāriīs (ballistīs) in urbem per ballistāriōs, quī latitant post gerrās, vel subvertendō cūniculīs per fossōrēs.
[i] gerrae,
-ārum [1/f]: twigs woven together; wattled twigs
[ii] also: crātis,
-is [3/f]: wickerwork
The translator of
Comenius’ work uses the noun “leaguer-baskets”, a now obsolete term and only
recorded in the mid-1600s, leaguer meaning a siege. The term
“beleagured” (surrounded by enemy troops or tormented by trouble or
difficulty) still exists in Modern English. Images #1 and #2 show bundles of
sticks woven together as a “basket” and filled with sand as a means of defence
against missile attack. We still use sandbags.
A Roman army on the move isn’t building stone castles;
fortifications need to be constructed quickly, and our interest here is the use
of wicker or timber as a means of protection
asserēs enim pedum XII cuspidibus praefīxī
atque hī maximīs ballistīs missī per quattuor ōrdinēs crātium in
terram dēfīgēbantur (Caesar)
- For they had wooden bars, twelve feet in length, armed at the point with iron, which were shot with such force from their ballistae, that they pierced four rows of hurdles, and entered a considerable way into the ground.
asser, -is [3/m]: stake; beam; pole
cuspis, cuspidis [3/f]: tip / point of an object e.g.
an arrow
Note: ‘hurdles’ referring here to wickerwork fortifications
Images #3 andd #4:
Dē Mīlitiā Rōmānā (Lipsius: 1596) shows wickerwork defences: [A] vīnea, -ae [1/f], providing overhead protection; [B] pluteus, -ī [2/m], providing frontal protection. Both are moveable, and both can be referred to as mantlets.
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