On Architecture

4. Having determined the size of the hole, design the “scutula,” termed in Greek peri/trhtos, . . . holes in length and two and one sixth in breadth. Bisect it by a line drawn diagonally from the angles, and after this bisecting bring together the outlines of the figure so that it may present a rhomboidal design, reducing it by one sixth of its length and one

5. It should be given the thickness of seven twelfths of a hole. The boxes are two holes (in height), one and three quarters in breadth, two thirds of a hole in thickness except the part that is inserted in the hole, and at the top one third of a hole in breadth. The sideposts are five holes and two thirds in length, their curvature half a hole, and their thickness thirty-seven forty-eighths of a hole. In the middle their breadth is increased as much as it was near the hole in the design, by the breadth and thickness of . . . hole; the height by one fourth of a hole.

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.

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 xelw/nion, 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?

8. The breadth of the inner slips is one quarter of a hole; their

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 e)sxa/ra 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.

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 e)pizugi/des are put in their places in the boxes.

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