Citations:catapultæ

English citations of catapultæ

Noun: plural of catapulta

					1826 1832 1841 1849
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1826, translation by Joseph Gwilt, The Architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, Priestley and Weale; Book 10, Chapter XV, page 325:

  I SHALL now proceed to an explanation of those instruments which have been invented for defence from danger, and for the purposes of self‐preservation ; I mean the construction of scorpions, catapultæ, and balistæ, and their proportions. And first of catapultæ and scorpions. Their proportions depend on the length of the arrow which the instrument is to throw, a ninth part of whose length is assigned for the sizes of the holes in the capitals through which the cords are stretched, that retain the arms of the catapultæ.

• 1832, ‘D.E.W.’, in The United Service Magazine, Richard Bentley; page 33:

  That other modes of throwing arrows than from the bow would have been adopted is evident, for the Roman catapultæ used to throw immense arrows, as well as stones weighing thirty‐six pounds, to the distance of half a mile.

• 1841, Henry Wilkinson, Engines of War, Longmans, Green, and company; part I, page 41:

  Livy says, there were 120 great and 200 small catapultæ taken at the siege of Carthage, with 33 great and 52 small balistæ ; and Josephus mentions the same difference among the Romans, who had 300 catapultæ and 40 balistæ at the siege of Jerusalem.

• 1849, Titus Livius, translated by D. Spillan and Cyrus Edmonds, The History of Rome‎^[1], volume 2, Book XXI, chapter 11, page 711:

  When being brought up it had cleared the walls of their defenders by means of the catapultæ and ballistæ ranged through all its stories, then Hannibal, thinking it a favourable opportunity, sends about five hundred Africans with pickaxes to undermine the wall […]