DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0160
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GLASGOW ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the guarding of any vallum occupied defensively. Vegetius1
says—" Round stones from the brooks are diligently collected,
because by their compactness they are heavier and handier
for those who throw them, and thus the walls and forts
are well stocked with them. The smallest ones are thrown
by hand or in slings; the larger ones are hurled by the
onager." The last-named weapon was a kind of catapult,
to be made the subject of remark hereafter. The principle
of flank fire on assailants was well understood. Thus,
Vitruvius2 recommends that in building the wall of a city
provision should be made for that very end. " From the
exterior face of the wall towers must be projected, from which
the approaching enemy may be annoyed by missiles from the
embrasures of these towers to right and left." And again3 he
says—" The distance from tower to tower should not exceed an
arrow's flight, so that if at any point between them an attack be
made, the besiegers may be repulsed by the scorpions and other
missile engines stationed on the towers to right and left of the
point in question." Caesar used the same expedient in the field.
He had marched to Bibracte, then besieged by the BelgEe. On
approaching the enemy he encamped on a hillside. Apprehensive
of a flank attack, he dug along the slope on each side of him a
fosse 400 paces long, and at each end of each fosse he made a
fort or castellum, planting his artillery there.4 These engines,
it is evident, were to command and sweep the line of the ditches
connecting the forts and thus secure Cesar's flank, because the
1 Vegetius, iv. 8. " Saxa rotunda de fluviis quia pro soliditate graviora sunt et
aptiora mittentibus diligentissime colliguntur: ex quibus muri replentur et
turres; minima ad fundas sive fustibalos vel manibus jacienda; majora per
onagros diriguntur, maxima vero pondere formaque volubili in propugnaeulis
digeruntur."
2 Vitruvius, i. 5. "Item turres sunt projiciendae in exteriorem partem uti cum
ad murum hostis impetu velit appropinquare a turribus dextra ae sinistra,
lateribus apertis, telis vulneretur." This principle could be illustrated by very
many references to existing ancient portions of Roman walls where the projecting
towers still stand.
3 Vitruvius, i. 5. " Intervalla autem turrium ita sunt facienda ut ne longius
sit alia ab alia sagittae missiohe; uti si qua oppugnetur turn a turribus quae
erunt dextra ac sinistra scorpionibus reliquisque telorum missionibus hostes
rejiciantur."
4 Caesar, Gallic War, ii. 8. " Ab utroque latere ejus collis transversam fossam
obduxit eirciter passuum c d et ad extremas fossas castella constituit ibique
tormenta collocavit."
GLASGOW ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the guarding of any vallum occupied defensively. Vegetius1
says—" Round stones from the brooks are diligently collected,
because by their compactness they are heavier and handier
for those who throw them, and thus the walls and forts
are well stocked with them. The smallest ones are thrown
by hand or in slings; the larger ones are hurled by the
onager." The last-named weapon was a kind of catapult,
to be made the subject of remark hereafter. The principle
of flank fire on assailants was well understood. Thus,
Vitruvius2 recommends that in building the wall of a city
provision should be made for that very end. " From the
exterior face of the wall towers must be projected, from which
the approaching enemy may be annoyed by missiles from the
embrasures of these towers to right and left." And again3 he
says—" The distance from tower to tower should not exceed an
arrow's flight, so that if at any point between them an attack be
made, the besiegers may be repulsed by the scorpions and other
missile engines stationed on the towers to right and left of the
point in question." Caesar used the same expedient in the field.
He had marched to Bibracte, then besieged by the BelgEe. On
approaching the enemy he encamped on a hillside. Apprehensive
of a flank attack, he dug along the slope on each side of him a
fosse 400 paces long, and at each end of each fosse he made a
fort or castellum, planting his artillery there.4 These engines,
it is evident, were to command and sweep the line of the ditches
connecting the forts and thus secure Cesar's flank, because the
1 Vegetius, iv. 8. " Saxa rotunda de fluviis quia pro soliditate graviora sunt et
aptiora mittentibus diligentissime colliguntur: ex quibus muri replentur et
turres; minima ad fundas sive fustibalos vel manibus jacienda; majora per
onagros diriguntur, maxima vero pondere formaque volubili in propugnaeulis
digeruntur."
2 Vitruvius, i. 5. "Item turres sunt projiciendae in exteriorem partem uti cum
ad murum hostis impetu velit appropinquare a turribus dextra ae sinistra,
lateribus apertis, telis vulneretur." This principle could be illustrated by very
many references to existing ancient portions of Roman walls where the projecting
towers still stand.
3 Vitruvius, i. 5. " Intervalla autem turrium ita sunt facienda ut ne longius
sit alia ab alia sagittae missiohe; uti si qua oppugnetur turn a turribus quae
erunt dextra ac sinistra scorpionibus reliquisque telorum missionibus hostes
rejiciantur."
4 Caesar, Gallic War, ii. 8. " Ab utroque latere ejus collis transversam fossam
obduxit eirciter passuum c d et ad extremas fossas castella constituit ibique
tormenta collocavit."