11.6. 6. The (inner) strip on the “table” has a length of eight holes, a breadth and thickness of half a hole. Its tenons are one hole and one sixth long, and one quarter of a hole in thickness. The curvature of this strip is three quarters of a hole. The outer strip has the same breadth and thickness (as the inner), but the length is given by the obtuse angle of the design and the breadth of the sidepost at its curvature. The upper strips are to be equal to the lower; the cross-pieces of the “table,” one half of a hole.
11.6. Regulae, quae est in mensa, longitudo foraminum VIII; latitudo et crassitudo dimidium foraminis. cardines, crassitudo foraminis. curvatura regulae. exterioris regulae latitudo et crassitudo tantundem; longitudo, quam dederit ipsa versura deformationis et parastaticae latitudo ad suam curvaturam K. superiores autem regulae aequales erunt inferioribus K. mensae transversarii foraminis k.
11.7. 7. The shafts of the “ladder” are thirteen holes in length, one hole in thickness; the space between them is one hole and a quarter in breadth, and one and one eighth in depth. Let the entire which is the one adjoining the arms and fastened to the table-be divided into five parts. Of these let two parts be given to the member which the Greeks call the χελώνιον, its breadth being one and one sixth, its thickness one quarter, and its length eleven holes and one half; the claw projects half a hole and the “winging” three sixteenths of a hole. What is at the axis which is termed the... face... the crosspieces of three holes?
11.7. Climacidos scapi longitudo foraminum XIII, crassitudo IK, intervallûm mediûm latitudo foraminis et parte quarta, crassitudo pars VIII K. climacidos superioris pars quae est proxima bracchiis, quae coniuncta est mensae, tota longitudine dividatur in partes V. ex his dentur duae partes ei membro, quod Graeci χῆλην vocant, crassitudo 9, longitudo foraminum III et semis K; extantia cheles foraminis S; †plentigomatos foraminis et sicilicus. quod autem est ad axona, quod appellatur frons transversarius, foraminum trium.
11.8. 8. The breadth of the inner slips is one quarter of a hole; their thickness one sixth. The coverjoint or lid of the chelonium is dovetailed into the shafts of the ladder, and is three sixteenths of a hole in breadth and one twelfth in thickness. The thickness of the square piece on the ladder is three sixteenths of a hole,... the diameter of the round axle will be equal to that of the claw, but at the pivots seven sixteenths of a hole.
11.8. Interiorum regularum latitudo foraminis, crassitudo chelonii replum, quod est operimentum, securiculae includitur K. scaporum climacidos latitudo, crassitudo foraminis XII K. crassitudo quadrati, quod est ad climacida, foraminis FC, in extremis K, rotundi autem axis diametros aequaliter erit cheles, ad claviculas autem minus parte sexta decuma K.
11.9. 9. The stays are... holes in length, one quarter of a hole in breadth at the bottom, and one sixth in thickness at the top. The base termed ἐσχάρα has the length of... holes, and the antibase of four holes; each is one hole in thickness and breadth. A supporter is jointed on, halfway up, one and one half holes in breadth and thickness. Its height bears no relation to the hole, but will be such as to be serviceable. The length of an arm is six holes, its thickness at the base two thirds of a hole, and at the end one half a hole. I have now given those symmetrical proportions of ballistae and catapults which I thought most useful. But I shall not omit, so far as I can express it in writing, the method of stretching and tuning their strings of twisted sinew or hair.
11.9. Anteridon longitudo foraminum †eius, latitudo in imo foraminis, in summo crassitudo. basis, quae appellatur ἐσχάρα, longitudo foraminum::::, antibasis foraminum IIII, utriusque crassitudo et latitudo foraminis. compingitur autem dimidia altitudinis K. columna, latitudo et crassitudo IS. altitudo autem non habet foraminis proportionem, sed erit quod opus erit ad usum. bracchii longitudo foraminum VI, crassitudo in radice foraminis, in extremis F. De ballistis et catapultis symmetrias, quas maxime expeditas putavi, exposui. quemadmodum autem contentionibus eae temperentur e nervo capilloque tortis rudentibus, quantum comprehendere scriptis potuero, non praetermittam.
12.1. 1. BEAMS of very generous length are selected, and upon them are nailed socket-pieces in which windlasses are inserted. Midway along their length the beams are incised and cut away to form framings, and in these cuttings the capitals of the catapults are inserted, and prevented by wedges from moving when the stretching is going on. Then the bronze boxes are inserted into the capitals, and the little iron bolts, which the Greeks call ἐπιζυγίδες are put in their places in the boxes.
12.1. Sumuntur tigna amplissima longitudine; supra figuntur chelonia, in quibus includuntur suculae. per media autem spatia tignorum insecantur ⟨et⟩ exciduntur formae, in quibus excisionibus includuntur capitula catapultarum, cuneisque distinentur, ne in contentionibus moveantur. tum vero modioli aerei in ea capitula includuntur et in eos cuneoli ferrei, quas ἐπιζυγίδας Graeci vocant, conlo cantur.
12.2. 2. Next, the loops of the strings are put through the holes in the capitals, and passed through to the other side; next, they are put upon the windlasses, and wound round them in order that the strings, stretched out taut on them by means of the handspikes, on being struck by the hand, may respond with the same sound on both sides. Then they are wedged tightly into the holes so that they cannot slacken. So, in the same manner, they are passed through to the other side, and stretched taut on the windlasses by means of the handspikes until they give the same sound. Thus with tight wedging, catapults are tuned to the proper pitch by musical sense of hearing. On these things I have said what I could. There is left for me, in the matter of sieges, to explain how generals can win victories and cities be defended, by means of machinery.
12.2. deinde ansae rudentum induntur per foramina capitulorum, in alteram partem traiciuntur, deinde in suculas coiciuntur ⟨et⟩ involvuntur, uti vectibus per eas ext⟨enti⟩ rudentes, cum manibus sunt tacti, aequalem utrique sonitus habeant responsum. tunc autem cuneis ad foramina concluduntur, ut non possint se remittere. ita traiecti in alteram partem eadem ratione vectibus per suculas extenduntur, donec aequaliter sonent. ita cuneorum conclusionibus ad sonitum musicis auditionibus catapultae temperantur. De his rebus quae potui dixi. restat mihi de oppugnatoriis rebus, quemadmodum machinationibus et duces victores et civitates defensae esse possint.
13.1. 1. IT is related that the battering ram for sieges was originally invented as follows. The Carthaginians pitched their camp for the siege of Cadiz. They captured an outwork and attempted to destroy it. But having no iron implements for its destruction, they took a beam, and, raising it with their hands, and driving the end of it repeatedly against the top of the wall, they threw down the top courses of stones, and thus, step by step in regular order, they demolished the entire redoubt.
13.1. Primum ad oppugnationes aries sic inventus memoratur esse. Carthaginienses ad Gadis oppugnandas castra posuerunt. cum autem castellum ante cepissent, id demoliri sunt conati. posteaquam non habuerunt ad demolitionem ferramenta, sumpserunt tignum idque manibus sustinentes capiteque eius summum murum continenter pulsantes summos lapidum ordines deiciebant, et ita gradatim ex ordine totam communitionem dissipaverunt.
13.2. 2. Afterwards a carpenter from Tyre, Bright by name and by nature, was led by this invention into setting up a mast from which he hung another crosswise like a steelyard, and so, by swinging it vigorously to and fro, he threw down the wall of Cadiz. Geras of Chalcedon was the first to make a wooden platform with wheels under it, upon which he constructed a framework of uprights and crosspieces, and within it he hung the ram, and covered it with oxhide for the better protection of the men who were stationed in the machine to batter the wall. As the machine made but slow progress, he first gave it the name of the tortoise of the ram.
13.2. Postea quidam faber Tyrius nomine Pephrasmenos hac ratione et inventione inductus malo statuto ex eo alterum transversum uti trutinam suspendit et reducendo et inpellendo vementibus plagis deiecit Gaditanorum murum. Geras autem Chalcedonius de materia primum basim subiectis rotis fecit supraque compegit arrectariis et iugis varas et in his suspendit arietem coriisque bubulis texit, uti tutiores essent, qui in ea machinatione ad pulsandum murum essent conlocati. is autem, quod tardos conatus habuerat, testudinem arietariam appellare coepit.
13.3. 3. These were the first steps then taken towards that kind of machinery, but afterwards, when Philip, the son of Amyntas, was besieging Byzantium, it was developed in many varieties and made handier by Polyidus the Thessalian. His pupils were Diades and Charias, who served with Alexander. Diades shows in his writings that he invented moveable towers, which he used also to take apart and carry round with the army, and likewise the borer, and the scaling machine, by means of which one can cross over to the wall on a level with the top of it, as well as the destroyer called the raven, or by others the crane.
13.3. His tunc primis gradibus positis ad id genus machinationis, postea cum Philippus, Amyntae filius, Byzantios oppugnaret, Polyidos Thettalos pluribus generibus et facilioribus explicavit, a quo receperunt doctrinam Diades et Charias, qui cum Alexandro militaverunt. Itaque Diades scriptis suis ostendit se invenisse turres ambulatorias, quas etiam dissolutas in exercitu circumferre solebat, praeterea terebram et ascendentem machinam, qua ad murum plano pede transitus esse posset, etiam corvum demolitorem, quem nonnulli gruem appellant.
13.4. 4. He also employed the ram mounted on wheels, an account of which he left in his writings. As for the tower, he says that the smallest should be not less than sixty cubits in height and seventeen in breadth, but diminishing to one fifth less at the top; the uprights for the tower being nine inches at the bottom and half a foot at the top. Such a tower, he says, ought to be ten stories high, with windows in it on all sides.
13.4. Non minus utebatur ariete subrotato, cuius rationes scriptas reliquit. turrem autem minimam ait oportere fieri ne minus altam cubitorum LX, latitudinem XVII, contracturam autem summam imae partis quintam, arrectaria turris in imo dodrantalia, in summo semipedalia. fieri autem ait oportere eam turrem tabulatorum decem, singulis partibus in ea fenestratis.
13.5. 5. His larger tower, he adds, was one hundred and twenty cubits high and twenty-three and one half cubits broad, diminishing like the other to one fifth less; the uprights, one foot at the bottom and six digits at the top. He made this large tower twenty stories high, each story having a gallery round it, three cubits wide. He covered the towers with rawhide to protect them from any kind of missile.
13.5. Maiorem vero turrem altam cubitorum CXX, latam cubitorum XXIII ⟨S⟩, contracturam item quinta parte, arrectaria pedalia in imo, in summo sedigitalia. hanc magnitudinem turris faciebat tabulatorum XX, cum haberent singula tabulata circumitionem cubitorum ternûm. tegebat autem coriis crudis, ut ab omni plaga essent tutae.
13.6. 6. The tortoise of the battering ram was constructed in the same way. It had, however, a base of thirty cubits square, and a height, excluding the pediment, of thirteen cubits; the height of the pediment from its bed to its top was seven cubits. Issuing up and above the middle of the roof for not less than two cubits was a gable, and on this was reared a small tower four stories high, in which, on the top floor, scorpiones and catapults were set up, and on the lower floors a great quantity of water was stored, to put out any fire that might be thrown on the tortoise. Inside of this was set the machinery of the ram, termed in Greek κπιοδόχη, in which was placed a roller, turned on a lathe, and the ram, being set on top of this, produced its great effects when swung to and fro by means of ropes. It was protected, like the tower, with rawhide.
13.6. Testudinis arietariae comparatio eadem ratione perficiebatur. habuerat autem intervallum cubitorum XXX, altitudinem praeter fastigium XIII S, fastigii autem altitudo ab strato ad summum cubita XVI. exibat autem in altum et supra medium tectum fastigium non minus cubita duo, et supra extollebatur turricula III tabulatorum, inque tabulato summo statuebantur scorpiones et catapultae, inferioribus congerebatur aquae magna multitudo ad extinguendum, si qua vis ignis inmitteretur. constituebatur autem in ea arietaria machina, quae graece dicitur κριοδόκις, in qua conlocabatur torus perfectus in torno, in quo insuper constitutus aries rudentium ductionibus et reductionibus efficiebat magnos operis effectus. tegebatur autem is coriis crudis quemadmodum turris.
13.7. 7. He explained the principles of the borer as follows: that the machine itself resembled the tortoise, but that in the middle it had a pipe lying between upright walls, like the pipe usually found in catapults and ballistae, fifty cubits in length and one cubit in height, in which a windlass was set transversely. On the right and left, at the end of the pipe, were two blocks, by means of which the iron-pointed beam, which lay in the pipe, was moved. There were numerous rollers enclosed in the pipe itself under the beam, which made its movements quicker and stronger. Numerous arches were erected along the pipe above the beam which was in it, to hold up the rawhide in which this machine was enveloped.
13.7. De terebra has explicuit scriptis rationes. ipsam machinam uti testudinem in medio habentem conlocatum in orthostatis canalem, quemadmodum in catapultis aut ballistis fieri solet, longitudine cubitorum L, altitudine cubiti, in quo constituebatur transversa sucula. in capite autem dextra ac sinistra trocleae duae, per quas movebatur quod inerat in eo canali capite ferrato tignum. sub eo autem in ipso canali inclusi tori crebriter celeriores et vehementiores efficiebant eius motus. supra autem tignum, quod inibi erat, arcus tegebantur ad canalem crebriter, uti sustinerent corium crudum, quo ea machina erat involuta.
13.8. 8. He thought it needless to write about the raven, because he saw that the machine was of no value. With regard to the scaling machine, termed in Greek ἐπιβάθρα and the naval contrivances which, as he wrote, could be used in boarding ships, I have observed that he merely promised with some earnestness to explain their principles, but that he has not done so. I have set forth what was written by Diades on machines and their construction. I shall now set forth the methods which I have learned from my teachers, and which I myself believe to be useful.
13.8. De corace nihil putavi scribendum, quod animadverterest eam machinam nullam habere virtutem. de accessu, quae ἐπιβάθρα graece dicitur, et de marinis machinationibus, †quae per navium aditus habere posse scripsit, tantum pollicitum esse vehementer animadverti neque rationes eorum eum explicavisse. Quae sunt ab Diade de machinis scripta, quibus sint comparationibus, exposui. nunc quemadmodum a praeceptoribus accepi et utilia mihi videntur, exponam.
14.1. 1. A TORTOISE intended for the filling of ditches, and thereby to make it possible to reach the wall, is to be made as follows. Let a base, termed in Greek ἐσχάρα, be constructed, with each of its sides twenty-one feet long, and with four crosspieces. Let these be held together by two others, two thirds of a foot thick and half a foot broad; let the crosspieces be about three feet and a half apart, and beneath and in the spaces between them set the trees, termed on Greek ἁμαξόποδες in which the axles of the wheels turn in iron hoops. Let the trees be provided with pivots, and also with holes through which levers are passed to make them turn, so that the tortoise can move forward or back or towards its right or left side, or if necessary obliquely, all by the turning of the trees.
14.1. Testudo, quae ad congestionem fossarum paratur (eaque etiam accessus ad murum potest habere), sic erit facienda. basis compingatur, quae graece ἐσχάρα dicitur, quadrata habens quoqueversus latera singula pedum XXI et transversaria IIII. haec autem contineantur ab alteris duobus crassis FS, latis S; distent autem transversaria inter se circiter pedes III S. supponanturque in singulis intervallis eorum arbusculae, quae graece ἁμαξόποδες dicuntur, in quibus versantur rotarum axes conclusi lamnis ferreis. eaeque arbusculae ita sint temperatae, ut habeant cardines et foramina, quo vectes traiecti versationes earum expediant, uti ante et post et ad dextrum seu sinistrum latus, sive oblique ad angulos opus fuerit, ad id per arbusculas versatis progredi possint.
14.2. 2. Let two beams be laid on the base, projecting for six feet on each side, round the projections of which let two other beams be nailed, projecting seven feet beyond the former, and of the thickness and breadth prescribed in the case of the base. On this framework set up posts mortised into it, nine feet high exclusive of their tenons, one foot and a quarter square, and one foot and a half apart. Let the posts be tied together at the top by mortised beams. Over the beams let the rafters be set, tied one into another by means of tenons, and carried up twelve feet high. Over the rafters set the square beam by which the rafters are bound together.
14.2. Conlocentur autem insuper basim tigna duo in utramque partem proiecta pedes senos, quorum circa proiecturas figantur altera proiecta duo tigna ante frontes pedes XII, crassa et lata uti in basi sunt scripta. insuper hanc compactionem erigantur postes compactiles praeter cardines pedum VIIII, crassitudine quoquoversus palmopedales, intervalla habentes inter se sesquipedis. ea concludantur superne intercardinatis trabibus. supra trabes conlocentur capreoli cardinibus alius in alium conclusi, in altitudine excitati pedes XII. supra capreolos conlocetur quadratum tignum, quo capreoli coniungantur.
14.3. 3. Let the rafters themselves be held together by bridgings, and covered with boards, preferably of holm oak, or, this failing, of any other material which has the greatest strength, except pine or alder. For these woods are weak and easily catch fire. Over the boardings let there be placed wattles very closely woven of thin twigs as fresh as possible. Let the entire machine be covered with rawhide sewed together double and stuffed with seaweed or straw soaked in vinegar. In this way the blows of ballistae and the force of fires will be repelled by them.
14.3. Ipsi autem laterariis circa fixis contineantur teganturque tabulis maxime palmeis, si non, ex cetera materia, quae maxime habere potest virtutem, praeter pinum aut alnum; haec enim sunt fragilia et faciliter recipiunt ignem. circum tabulata conlocentur crates ex tenuibus virgis creberrime textae maximeque recentibus. percrudis coriis duplicibus consutis, fartis alga aut paleis in aceto maceratis, circa tegatur machina tota. ita ab his reicientur plagae ballistarum et impetus incendiorum.
15.1. 1. THERE is also another kind of tortoise, which has all the other details as described above except the rafters, but it has round it of boards, and eaves sloping down wards, and is covered with boards and hides firmly fastened in place. Above this let clay kneaded with hair be spread to such a thickness that fire cannot injure the machine. These machines can, if need be, have eight wheels, should it be necessary to modify them with reference to the nature of the ground. Tortoises, however, which are intended for excavating, termed in Greek have all the other details as described above, but their fronts are constructed like the angels of triangles, in order that when missiles are shot against them from a wall, they may receive the blows not squarely in front, but glancing from the sides, and those excavating within may be protected without danger.
15.1. Est autem et aliud genus testudinis, quod reliqua omnia habet, quemadmodum quae supra scripta sunt, praeter capreolos, sed habet circa pluteum et pinnas ex tabulis et superne subgrundas proclinatas, supraque tabulis et coriis firmiter fixis continentur. insuper vero argilla cum capillo subacta ad eam crassitudinem inducatur, ut ignis omnino non possit ei machinae nocere. possunt autem, si opus fuerit, eae machinae ex VIII rotis esse, si ad loci naturam ita opus fuerit temperare. quae autem testudines ad fodiendum comparantur ( ὀρυκτίδες graece dicuntur), cetera omnia habent, uti supra scriptum est, frontes vero earum fiunt quemadmodum anguli trigoniorum, uti a muro tela cum in eas mittantur, non planis frontibus excipiant plagas sed ab lateribus labentes, sine periculoque fodientes, qui intus sunt, tueantur.
15.2. 2. It does not seem to me out of place to set forth the principles on which Hegetor of Byzantium constructed a tortoise. The length of its base was sixty-three feet, the breadth forty-two. The corner posts, four in number, which were set upon this framework, were made of two timbers each, and were thirty-six feet high, a foot and a quarter thick, and a foot and a half broad. The base had eight wheels by means of which it was moved about. The height of these wheels was six and three quarters feet, their thickness three feet. Thus constructed of three pieces of wood, united by alternate opposite dovetails and bound together by cold-drawn iron plates, they revolved in the trees or amaxopodes.
15.2. Non mihi etiam videtur esse alienum de testudine, quam Hegetor Byzantius fecit, quibus rationibus sit facta, exponere. fuerat enim eius baseos longitudo pedum LXIII, latitudo XLII. arrectaria, quae supra compactionem erant quattuor conlocata, ex binis tignis fuerant compacta, in altitudinibus singula pedum XXXVI, crassitudine palmopedali, latitudine sesquipedali. basis eius habuerat rotas VIII, quibus agebatur. fuerat autem earum altitudo pedum VI S÷, crassitudo pedum iii, ita fabricata triplici materia: alternis se contra subscudibus inter se coagmentatae lamnisque ferreis ex frigido ductis alligatae, Eae in arbusculis, sive amaxopodes dicuntur, habuerant versationes.
15.3. 3. Likewise, on the plane of the crossbeams above the base, were erected posts eighteen feet high, three quarters of a foot broad, two thirds of a foot thick, and a foot and three quarters apart; above these, framed beams, a foot broad and three quarters of a foot thick, held the whole structure together; above this the rafters were raised, with an elevation of twelve feet; a beam set above the rafters united their joinings. They also had bridgings fastened transversely, and a flooring laid on them protected the parts beneath.
15.3. ita supra transtrorum planitiem, quae supra basim fuerat, postes erant erecti pedes XVIII, latitudine S÷, crassitudine FZ, distantes inter se IS÷. supra eos trabes circumclusae continebant totam compactionem latae pede I, crassae S÷. supra eam capreoli extollebantur altitudine pedum XII; supra capreolos tignum conlocatum coniungebat capreolorum compactiones. item fixa habuerant lateraria in transverso, quibus insuper contabulatio circumdata contegebat inferiora.
15.4. 4. It had, moreover, a middle flooring on girts, where scorpiones and catapults were placed. There were set up, also, two framed uprights forty-five feet long, a foot and a half in thickness, and three quarters of a foot in breadth, joined at the tops by a mortised crossbeam and by another, halfway up, mortised into the two shafts and tied in place by iron plates. Above this was set, between the shafts and the crossbeams, a block pierced on either side by sockets, and firmly fastened in place with clamps. In this block were two axles, turned on a lathe, and ropes fastened from them held the ram.
15.4. Habuerat autem mediam contabulationem supra trabiculas, ubi scorpiones et catapultae conlocabantur. erigebantur et arrectaria duo compacta pedum XXXXV, crassitudine sesquipedali, latitudine ΡΙΙ, coniuncta capitibus transversario cardinato tigno et altero mediano inter duos scapos cardinato et lamnis ferreis religato. quo insuper conlocata erat alternis materies inter scapos et transversarium traiecta e cheloniis et anconibus firmiter inclusa. in ea materia fuerunt ex torno facti axiculi duo, e quibus funes alligati retinebant arietem.
15.5. 5. Over the head of these (ropes) which held the ram, was placed a parapet fitted out like a small tower, so that, without danger, two soldiers, standing in safety, could look out and report what the enemy were attempting. The entire ram had a length of one hundred and eighty feet, a breadth at the base of a foot and a quarter, and a thickness of a foot, tapering at the head to a breadth of a foot and a thickness of three quarters of a foot.
15.5. Supra caput eorum, qui continebant arietem, conlocatum erat pluteum turriculae similitudine ornatum, uti sine periculo duo milites tuto stantes prospicere possent et renuntiare, quas res adversarii conarentur. aries autem eius habuerat longitudinem pedum CLXXX, latitudine in imo palmopedali, crassitudine ⟨bi⟩pedali, contracto capite in latitudine †pes, crassitudine S.
15.6. 6. This ram, moreover, had a beak of hard iron such as ships of war usually have, and from the beak iron plates, four in number, about fifteen feet long, were fastened to the wood. From the head to the very heel of the beam were stretched cables, three in number and eight digits thick, fastened just as in a ship from stem to stern continuously, and these cables were bound with cross girdles a foot and a quarter apart. Over these the whole ram was wrapped with rawhide. The ends of the ropes from which the ram hung were made of fourfold chains of iron, and these chains were themselves wrapped in rawhide.
15.6. Is autem aries habuerat de ferro duro rostrum, ita uti naves longae solent habere, et ex ipso rostro lamminae ferreae IIII circiter pedum XV fixae fuerant in materia. a capite autem ad imam calcem tigni contenti fuerunt funes III crassitudine digitorum VIII, ita religati, quemadmodum naves a puppi ad proram continentur, eique funes praecinctura e transversis erant religati habentes inter se palmipedalia spatia. insuper coriis crudis totus aries erat involutus. ex quibus autem funibus pendebat, eorum capita fuerunt ex ferro factae quadruplices catenae, et ipsae coriis crudis erant involutae.
15.7. 7. Likewise, the projecting end of the ram had a box framed and constructed of boards, in which was stretched a net made of rather large ropes, over the rough surfaces of which one easily reached the wall without the feet slipping. And this machine moved in six directions, forward (and backward), also to the right or left, and likewise it was elevated by extending it upwards and depressed by inclining it downwards. The machine could be elevated to a height sufficient to throw down a wall of about one hundred feet, and likewise in its thrust it covered a space from right to left of not less than one hundred feet. One hundred men controlled it, though it had a weight of four thousand talents, which is four hundred and eighty thousand pounds.
15.7. Item habuerat proiectura eius ex tabulis arcam compactam et confixam, in qua … rudentibus maioribus extentis, per quarum asperitates non labentibus pedibus faciliter ad murum perveniebatur. atque ea machina sex modis movebatur: progressu, ⟨regressu,⟩ item latere dextra et sinistra, porrectiones non minus in altitudinem extollebantur et in imum inclinatione demittebantur. erigebatur autem machina in altitudinem ad disiciendum murum circiter pedes C, item a latere dextra ac sinistra procurrendo praestringebat non minus pedes C. gubernabant eam homines C habentem pondus talentûm quattuor milium, quod fit CCCC De scorpionibus et catapultis et ballistis etiamque testudinibus et turribus, quae maxime mihi videbantur idonea et a quibus essent inventa et quemadmodum fieri deberent, explicui.
16.1. 1. WITH regard to scorpiones, catapults, and ballistae, likewise with regard to tortoises and towers, I have set forth, as seemed to me especially appropriate, both by whom they were invented and in what manner they should be constructed. But I have not considered it as necessary to describe ladders, cranes, and other things, the principles of which are simpler, for the soldiers usually construct these by themselves, nor can these very machines be useful in all places nor in the same way, since fortifications differ from each other, and so also the bravery of nations. For siege works against bold and venturesome men should be constructed on one plan, on another against cautious men, and on still another against the cowardly.
16.1. scalarum autem et carchesiorum et eorum, quorum rationes sunt inbecilliores, non necesse habui scribere. haec etiam milites per se solent facere. neque ea ipsa omnibus locis neque eisdem rationibus possunt utilia esse, quod differentes sunt munitiones munitionibus nationumque fortitudines. namque alia ratione ad audaces et temerarios, alia ad diligentes, aliter ad timidos machinationes debent comparari.
16.2. 2. And so, if any one pays attention to these directions, and by selection adapts their various principles to a single structure, he will not be in need of further aids, but will be able, without hesitation, to design such machines as the circumstances or the situations demand. With regard to works of defence, it is not necessary to write, since the enemy do not construct their defences in conformity with our books, but their contrivances are frequently foiled, on the spur of the moment, by some shrewd, hastily conceived plan, without the aid of machines, as is said to have been the experience of the Rhodians.
16.2. Itaque his praescriptionibus si qui attendere voluerit ⟨et⟩ ex varietate eorum eligendo in unam comparationem conferre, non indigebit auxiliis, sed quascumque res ex rationibus aut locis opus fuerit, sine dubitatione poterit explicare. de repugnatoriis vero non est scriptis explicandum. non enim ad nostra scripta hostes comparant res oppugnatorias, sed machinationes eorum ex tempore sollerti consiliorum celeritate sine machinis saepius evertuntur. quod etiam Rhodiensibus memoratur usu venisse.
16.3. 3. For Diognetus was a Rhodian architect, to whom, as an honour, was granted out of the public treasury a fixed annual payment commensurate with the dignity of his art. At this time an architect from Aradus, Callias by name, coming to Rhodes, gave a public lecture, and showed a model of a wall, over which he set a machine on a revolving crane with which he seized an helepolis X as it approached the fortifications, and brought it inside the wall. The Rhodians, when they had seen this model, filled with admiration, took from Diognetus the yearly grant and transferred this honour to Callias.
16.3. Diognetus enim fuerat Rhodius architectus, et ei de publico quotannis certa merces pro artis dignitate tribuebatur ad honorem. eo tempore quidam architectus ab Arado nomine Callias Rhodum cum venisset, acroasin fecit exemplarque protulit muri et supra id machinam in carchesio versatili constituit, quae helepolim ad moenia accedentem corripuit et transtulit intra murum. hoc exemplar Rhodii cum vidissent, admirati ademerunt Diogneto, quod fuerat quotannis constitutum, et eum honorem ad Calliam transtulerunt.
16.4. 4. Meanwhile, king Demetrius, who because of his stubborn courage was called Poliorcetes, making war on Rhodes, brought with him a famous Athenian architect named Epimachus. He constructed at enormous expense, with the utmost care and exertion, an helepolis one hundred and thirty-five feet high and sixty feet broad. He strengthened it with hair and rawhide so that it could withstand the blow of a stone weighing three hundred and sixty pounds shot from a ballista; the machine itself weighed three hundred and sixty thousand pounds. When Callias was asked by the Rhodians to construct a machine to resist this helepolis, and to bring it within the wall as he had promised, he said that it was impossible.
16.4. Interea rex Demetrius, qui propter animi pertinaciam Poliorcetes est appellatus, contra Rhodum bellum comparando Epimachum Atheniensem nobilem architectum secum adduxit. is autem comparavit helepolim sumptibus inmanibus industria laboreque summo, cuius altitudo fuerat pedum CXXXV, latitudo pedum LX. ita eam ciliciis et coriis crudis confirmavit, ut posset pati plagam lapidis ballista inmissi pondo CCCLX; ipsa autem machina fuerat milia pondo CCCLX. cum autem Callias rogaretur ab Rhodiis, contra eam helepolim machinam pararet, ut illam, uti pollicitus erat, transferret intra murum, negavit posse.
16.5. 5. For not all things are practicable on identical principles, but there are some things which, when enlarged in imitation of small models, are effective, others cannot have models, but are constructed independently of them, while there are some which appear feasible in models, but when they have begun to increase in size are impracticable, as we can observe in the following instance. A half inch, inch, or inch and a half hole is bored with an auger, but if we should wish, in the same manner, to bore a hole a quarter of a foot in breadth, it is impracticable, while one of half a foot or more seems not even conceivable.
16.5. Non enim omnia eisdem rationibus agi possunt, sed sunt alia, quae exemplaribus non magnis similiter magna facta habent effectus; alia autem exemplaria non possunt habere, sed per se constituuntur; nonnulla vero sunt, quae in exemplaribus videntur veri similia, cum autem crescere coeperunt, dilabantur. ut etiam possumus sic animum advertere. terebratur terebra foramen semidigitale, digitale, sesquidigitale. si eadem ratione voluerimus palmare facere, non habet explicationem, semipedale autem ⟨aut⟩ maius ne cogitandum quidem videtur omnino.
16.6. 6. So too, in some models it is seen how they appear practicable on the smallest scale and likewise on a larger. And so the Rhodians, in the same manner, deceived by the same reasoning, inflicted injury and insult on Diognetus. Therefore, when they saw the enemy stubbornly hostile, slavery threatening them because of the machine which had been built to take the city, and that they must look forward to the destruction of their state, they fell at the feet of Diognetus, begging him to come to the aid of the fatherland. He at first refused.
16.6. Sic item in nonnullis exemplaribus videntur, quae admodum in minimis fieri videntur, absque eodem modo in maioribus. ideo eodem modo Rhodii ea de ratione decepti iniuriam cum contumelia Diogneto fecerunt. itaque posteaquam viderunt hostem pertinaciter infestum, machinationem ad capiendam urbem comparatam, periculum servitutis, vastitatem civitatis expectandam, procubuerunt Diogneto rogantes, ut auxiliaretur patriae.
16.7. 7. But after free-born maidens and young men came with the priests to implore him, he promised to do it on condition that if he took the machine it should be his property. When these terms had been agreed upon, he pierced the wall in the place where the machine was going to approach it, and ordered all to bring forth from both public and private sources all the water, excrement, and filth, and to pour it in front of the wall through pipes projecting through this opening. After a great amount of water, filth, and excrement had been poured out during the night, on the next day the helepolis moving up, before it could reach the wall, came to a stop in the swamp made by the moisture, and could not be moved forwards, nor later even backwards. And so Demetrius, when he saw that he had been baffled by the wisdom of Diognetus, withdrew with his fleet.
16.7. Is primo negavit se facturum. posteaquam ingenuae virgines et ephebi cum sacerdotibus venerunt ad deprecandum, tunc est pollicitus his legibus, uti, si eam machinam cepisset, sua esset. his ita constitutis, qua machina accessura erat, ea regione murum pertudit et iussit omnes publice et privatim quod quisque habuisset aquae, stercoris, luti per eam fenestram per canales progredientes effundere ante murum. cum ibi magna vis aquae, luti, stercoris nocte profusa fuisset, postero die helepolis accedens, antequam adpropinquaret ad murum, in umido voragine facta consedit nec progredi nec egredi postea potuit. itaque Demetrius, cum vidisset sapientia Diogneti se deceptum esse, cum classe sua discessit.
16.8. 8. Then the Rhodians, freed from the war by the cunning of Diognetus, thanked him publicly, and decorated him with all honours and distinctions. Diognetus brought that helepolis into the city, set it up in a public place, and put on it an inscription: “Diognetus out of the spoils of the enemy dedicated this gift to the people.” Therefore, in works of defence, not merely machines, but, most of all, wise plans must be prepared.
16.8. Tunc Rhodii Diogneti sollertia liberati bello publice gratias egerunt honoribusque omnibus eum et ornamentis exornaverunt. Diognetus eam helepolim reduxit in urbem et in publico conlocavit et inscripsit 'Diognetus e manubiis id populo dedit munus'. ita in repugnatoriis rebus non tantum machinae, sed etiam maxime consilia sunt comparanda.
16.9. 9. Likewise at Chios, when the enemy had prepared storming bridges on their ships, the Chians, by night, carried out earth, sand, and stones into the sea before their walls. So, when the enemy, on the next day, tried to approach the walls, their ships grounded on the mound beneath the water, and could not approach the wall nor withdraw, but pierced with fire-darts were burned there. Again, when Apollonia was being besieged, and the enemy were thinking, by digging mines, to make their way within the walls without exciting suspicion, and this was reported by scouts to the people of Apollonia, they were much disturbed and alarmed by the news, and having no plans for defence, they lost courage, because they could not learn either the time or the definite place where the enemy would come out.
16.9. Non minus Chio cum supra naves sambucarum machinas hostes comparavissent, noctu Chii terram, harenam, lapides progesserunt in mare ante murum. ita illi postero die cum accedere voluissent, naves supra aggerationem, quae fuerat sub aqua, sederunt nec ad murum accedere nec retrorsus se recipere potuerunt, sed ibi malleolis confixae incendio sunt conflagratae. Apollonia quoque cum circumsederetur et specus hostes fodiendo cogitarent sine suspicione intra moenia penetrare, id autem a speculatoribus esset Apolloniatibus renuntiatum, perturbati nuntio propter timorem consiliis indigentes animis deficiebant, quod neque tempus neque certum locum scire poterant, quo emersum facturi fuissent hostes.
16.10. 10. But at this time Trypho, the Alexandrine architect, was there. He planned a number of countermines inside the wall, and extending them outside the wall beyond the range of arrows, hung up in all of them brazen vessels. The brazen vessels hanging in one of these mines, which was in front of a mine of the enemy, began to ring from the strokes of their iron tools. So from this it was ascertained where the enemy, pushing their mines, thought to enter. The line being thus found out, he prepared kettles of hot water, pitch, human excrement, and sand heated to a glow. Then, at night, he pierced a number of holes, and pouring the mixture suddenly through them, killed all the enemy who were engaged in this work.
16.10. Tum vero Trypho Alexandrinus ibi fuerat architectus. ⟨is⟩ intra murum plures specus designavit et fodiendo terram progrediebatur extra murum dumtaxat extra sagittae missionem et in omnibus vasa aenea suspendit. ex his in una fossura, quae contra hostium specus fuerat, vasa pendentia ad plagas ferramentorum sonare coeperunt. ita ex eo intellectum est, qua regione adversarii specus agentes intra penetrare cogitabant. sic lineatione cognita temperavit aenea aquae ferventis et picis de superne contra capita hostium et stercoris humani et harenae coctae candentis. dein noctu pertudit crebra foramina et per ea repente perfundendo qui in eo opere fuerunt hostes omnes necavit.
16.11. 11. In the same manner, when Marseilles was being besieged, and they were pushing forward more than thirty mines, the people of Marseilles, distrusting the entire moat in front of their wall, lowered it by digging it deeper. Thus all the mines found their outlet in the moat. In places where the moat could not be dug they constructed, within the walls, a basin of enormous length and breadth, like a fish pond, in front of the place where the mines were being pushed, and filled it from wells and from the port. And so, when the passages of the mine were suddenly opened, the immense mass of water let in undermined the supports, and all who were within were overpowered by the mass of water and the caving in of the mine.
16.11. Item Massilia cum oppugnaretur et numero supra XXX specus tum agerent, Massilitani suspicati totam quae fuerat ante murum fossam altiore fossura depresserunt. ita specus omnes exitus in fossam habuerunt. quibus autem locis fossa non potuerat fieri, intra murum barathrum amplissima longitudine et amplitudine uti piscinam fecerunt contra eum locum, qua specus agebantur, eamque e puteis et e portu impleverunt. itaque cum specus esset repente naribus apertis, vehemens aquae vis inmissa supplantavit fulturas, quique intra fuerunt, et ab aquae multitudine et ab ruina specus omnes sunt oppressi.
16.12. 12. Again, when a rampart was being prepared against the wall in front of them, and the place was heaped up with felled trees and works placed there, by shooting at it with the ballistae red-hot iron bolts they set the whole work on fire. And when a ram-tortoise had approached to batter down the wall, they let down a noose, and when they had caught the ram with it, winding it over a drum by turning a capstan, having raised the head of the ram, they did not allow the wall to be touched, and finally they destroyed the entire machine by glowing fire-darts and the blows of, ballistae. Thus by such victory, not by machines but in opposition to the principle of machines, has the freedom of states been preserved by the cunning of architects. Such principles of machines as I could make clear, and as I thought most serviceable for times of peace and of war, I have explained in this book. In the nine earlier books I have dealt with single topics and details, so that the entire work contains all the branches of architecture, set forth in ten books. FINIS
16.12. Etiam cum agger ad murum contra eos compararetur et arboribus excisis eoque conlocatis locus operibus exaggeraretur, ballistis vectes ferreos candentes in id mittendo totam munitionem coegerunt conflagrare. testudo autem arietaria cum ad murum pulsandum accessisset, permiserunt laqueum et eo ariete constricto, per tympanum ergata circumagentes suspenso capite eius non sunt passi tangi murum. denique totam machinam malleolis candentibus et ballistarum plagis dissipaverunt. ita eae [victoriae civitatum] ⟨civitates⟩ non machinis, sed contra machinarum rationem architectorum sollertia sunt liberatae. Quas potui de machinis expedire rationes pacis bellique temporibus et utilissimas putavi, in hoc volumine perfeci. in prioribus vero novem de singulis generibus et partibus comparavi, uti totum corpus omnia architecturae membra in decem voluminibus haberet explicata.