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Ancient Siege Engines in Warfare
of Vitellius and Vespasian, A.D. 69, writes : ' The Vitellians at this
time changed the position of their battering-engines, which in the beginning
were
Fig. 188. - A Stationary Balista for Use in a Siege.
Criticism. The skeins of cordage between which the
arms of the engine work are apparently cut off at their centres, and no
provision for holding the lower winches is shown. However great the power
of this engine, it could merely discharge its javelin some 50 yards along
the ground, as there was no means of elevating the groove in which the
arrow is laid.
placed in different parts of the field and could only play at random
against the woods and hedges that sheltered the enemy. They were .now moved
to-the Posthumian way, and thence having an open space before them could
discharge their missiles with good effect.'.1
1 Tacitus continues : ' The fifteenth legion
had an engine of enormous size, which was played off with dreadful execution
and discharged massy stones of a weight to crush whole ranks at once. Inevitable
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