31.07.26: Level 3+; Comenius (1658) CXLIII; the besieging of a city [3] vocabulary and notes [ii]

Vel mūrōs per scālās trānscendendō, aut diruendō arietibus, aut dēmoliendō tormentīs, vel dirumpendō portās exōstrā, vel ēiaculandō globōs tormentāriōs ē mortāriīs (ballistīs) in urbem per ballistāriōs…

[1]

In Roman warfare:

[i] ballista, -ae [1/f]: ballista, a large free-standing catapult used for throwing stones or bolts

[ii] ballistārius, -ī [2/m]: the soldier who operated a ballista

Comenius equates the term with mortar although Roman ballistae were mechanically operated and did not employ gunpowder or explosive charges.

Ballista and other vocabulary referring to large-scale weaponry are often referred to as engines e.g. siege engines, hence the translator’s 17^th century use of engineers to describe the soldiers in charge of such devices.

[iii] tormentum, -ī [2/n]: any form of ‘engine’ for hurling missiles. We have in the text a Neo-Latin reworking of the word to refer to “big guns” i.e. cannons.

Two other devices similar to the ballista are:

[iv] onager, onagrī [2/m]: catapult for throwing stones

[v] scorpiō, scorpiōnis [3/m]: small catapult

scorpiōne ab latere dextrō trāiectus exanimātusque concidit (Caesar)

• He (was) pierced and killed on the right side by a scorpion and fell

Note also:

trāiciō, -ere, trāiēcī, trāiectus [3-iō]: pierce; stab

exanimō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus [1]: kill

[2]

[i] ariēs, -etis [3/m]: literally means the animal i.e. a male sheep, but was also used by the Romans to refer to a battering ram

In this excerpt from the Vulgate, the translator combines two ideas:

et vīneās et arietēs temperābit in mūrōs tuōs

• He shall set his battering engines against your walls.

[ii] vīnea, -ae [1/f]: mantlet, the Mediaeval military term for a portable wall or shed to stop projectiles. In Roman warfare, the vīnea was a moveable shed of wickerwork used to approach the walls of a besieged city.

In other words, they’ll get right up to the walls – safely – and then break them down!

[iii] testūdō, -inis [3/f]: [i] tortoise, turtle; [ii] the same function as vīnea above, but also the arrangement of shields over soldiers’ heads to afford protection

[iv] turris, -is [3/f] (acc. -em or -im): tower, especially military either for defence or mobile (turrēs ambulātōriae) for siege purposes

Quibus fortiter resistentibus vīneās turrēsque ēgit (Caesar)

• Since they were resisting bravely, he pushed forward mantlets and towers.

The use of the verb agō, -ere [3]: drive, clearly indicates that these are moveable.

testūdō, -inis [3/f]