cataracta
cataracta, a drawbridge, portcullis
- I Lit., a waterfall, in gen.; the waterfalls of the Euphrates, Plin. 5, 24, 20, § 85.—Hence,
- B Meton. and κατʼ ἐξοχήν, the celebrated fall of the Nile on the southern borders of Egypt, the Cataract: novissimo catarracte, Plin. 5, 9, 10, § 54.—Acc. catarracten, Plin. 5, 9, 10, § 59; Sol. 32: pervenit ad cataractam, Vitr. 8, 2, 6.—Plur. fem.: cataractae, nobilis insigni spectaculo locus, Sen. Q. N. 4, 2, 4: praecipites cataractae, Luc. 10, 317; Amm.22, 15, 9.—
- II In milit. lang., a drawbridge, portcullis, Veg. Mil. 4, 4; Liv. 27, 28, 10 and 11.—
- III A water-sluice, floodgate, Plin. Ep. 10, 61 (69), 4; Rutil. 1, 481 Zumpt.—
- IV A waterbird (that pounces down quickly), Plin. 10, 44, 61, § 126.
non hic ‥ ~e obruunt, non terremotus absorbent
abyssus abyssum in voce ~arum Dei invocat, quia peccatorum abyssus tormentorum abyssum meretur [cf. ]Psalm. xli 8 (xlii 7)
quis dabit capiti meo aquam? quis aperiet ~as capitis mei, ut lugeam ‥ mala que commisi?
si ‥ repentinis imbribus ~a Olimpi guttatim rorantibus retardatus fuerit
‘~ae’, id est fenestre, ‘caeli’
apertis ~is [] celi, ‥ in facies eorum misit [ Gerv. Cant. I 152: cataracteribus [v. l. caracteribus] Deus ] inundationes
apertis viis aerearum ~arum
~e sunt fenestre celi, nubes vel meatus pluviarum
Dominus ‥ cateractas celi aperuit pluviasque ‥ distillare fecit
aquaeductum decursus ‥ celsis arcuum fornicibus ‥ sublimatus et tubo ~isque vorantibus
caractis,uuaeterpruh
~e,peotan, wæterpruh
defensores nostri opidi ‥ muniantur ‥ fonte jugiter scaturiente, posticis subtilibus, cateractibus [gl.: viis ] subterraneis, quibus opem et succursum alaturi latenter incedant
rex ‥ quandam pulcherimam catharactam [v. l. catheractam ] principiari constituit, qua ‥ inchoata fossores ‥ in ipsum monticulum medium duo fossata ‥ seperantem sudore sollicito pervenerunt
fornice marcebant kataractae dilapidato
si cautionem michi prestiteris ne edificium quod construis luminibus meis, hoc est fenestris vel catharactis meis, officiat
in j cateracta facta ante hostium Willelmi de Preston(
hec cateracta,a wyndowe
pro emendacione catharathe in lardaria carnium
ungula, egilopa, ~a, macula species sunt panni. ‥ ~a habet fieri ex humore collecto inter tunicas; alio modo dicitur sanguis replens venas oculorum et precipue †conjunctine [l. conjunctive ], unde dicitur a caracteribus
~a dicitur passio oculorum in qua humor vel aqua fluit inter uveam tunicam et cristallinum humorem in foramine pupille
catharacta inorbus est oculi, et interpretatur fluxus, quia fit de fluxu
concavitas gutturis ‥ habet quoddam corpus ‥ compositum ex glande et pinguedine et pelliculis et vocatur a medicis lingua gutturis sive ~a
- 1. (postklass.) waterval;
- 2. (postklass.) sluis;
- 3. valhek (bij een poort).
Interrogatus quo morbo viderat eum impeditum in oculis, dixit quod quodam morbo, qui vocatur Cataracta.Occurrit rursus in Vita B. Justinæ tom. 2. SS. Martii pag. 244. et in Miraculis B. Simonis de Lipnica tom. 4. SS. Julii pag. 575. verum hic paulo diversa notione :
Graviterque toto fere novitiatus sui anno laborans capite, sentiebat Cataractam, seu stridorem, obstructionem aurium et narium.Vide Cataractus.
- , καταρράκτης, a drawbridge, portcullis, L.
CATARACTA(καταρράκτης).
1. A portcullis, so called because it fell with great force and a loud noise. This contrivance for guarding against the surprise of a fortified town was in use in Italy in very early times (Dionys. 8.67); and the Romans had no occasion to borrow the thing itself, as they borrowed its name in classical Latin, from the Greeks. Vegetius (de Re Mil. 4.4) speaks of the cataracta as an invention of great antiquity; and something like it is found in very primitive buildings, such as the lake-dwellings of the Paeonians
(καταπακτὴ or perhaps κατεπακτὴ πύλη, Hdt. 5.16, with Stein‘s note). As early probably as the 4th century B.C. the simple portcullis had been improved in order to obviate the placing by the enemy of an obstruction in the line of its groove (Aen. Tact. Poliorc. 39); the ropes by which it was raised or lowered were called ἀνσσπαστήρια and χαλαστήρια (App. BC 4.78). Vegetius (l. c.) says that it was hung outside the regular gate: and this statement is confirmed by a narrative in Livy (Liv. 27.28) as well as by existing remains. In the above plan of the principal entrance to Pompeii, now called the Porta d'Ercolano, there are two sideways for foot-passengers, and a road between them, fourteen feet wide, for carriages. The gates were placed at A, A, turning on pivots [CARDO], as is proved by the holes in the pavement, which still remain. This end of the road was nearest to the town; in the opposite direction, the road led into the country. The portcullis was at B, B, and was made to slide in grooves cut in the walls. The sideways, secured with smaller gates, were roofed in, whereas the portion of the main road between the gates (A, A) and the portcullis (B, B) was open to the sky. When therefore an attack was made, the assailants were either excluded by the portcullis; or, if they forced their way into the barbican and attempted to break down the gates, the citizens, surrounding and attacking them from above, had the greatest possible facilities for impeding and destroying them. (Liv., App., Veget., ll. cc.)
2. A boarding bridge, something like the corvus of Duilius [CORVUS], so called because it descended like a portcullis (App. BC 5.82).
3. A sluice, or perhaps rather a weir with hatches or sluices in it for regulating the height of water in a running stream (Plin. Ep. 10.69; Rutil. Numat. de Reditu suo, 1.481, Tum cataractarum claustris excluditur humor; cf. Ammian. 24.1, 11; 3, 10; 6, 2: Heliod. Aeth. 9.8).
[J.Y] [W.W](καταρράκτης or βολίς). (1) A portcullis; so called because it fell with great force and a loud noise.
According to Vegetius, it was an additional defence, suspended by iron rings and ropes before the gates of a city, in such a manner that when the enemy had come up to the gates the portcullis might be let down so as to shut them in, and to enable the besieged to assail them from above. In the accompanying plan of the principal entrance to Pompeii, there are two sideways for foot-passengers, and a road between them, fourteen feet wide, for carriages. The gates were placed at A A, turning on pivots (see Cardo), as is proved by the holes in the pavement, which still remain. This end of the road was nearest to the town; in the opposite direction, the road led into the country. The portcullis was at B B, and was made to slide in grooves cut in the walls. The sideways, secured with smaller gates, were roofed in, whereas the portion of the main road between the gates (A A) and the portcullis (B B) was open to the sky. When, therefore, an attack was made, the assailants were either excluded by the portcullis, or, if they forced their way into the barbican, and attempted to break down the gates, the citizens, surrounding and attacking them from above, had the greatest possible facilities for impeding and destroying them. Vegetius speaks of the cataracta as an ancient contrivance; and it appears to have been employed by the Jews at Jerusalem as early as the time of David. (See Jer. xxix.)
(2) A boarding bridge like the corvus of Duilius, so called because it descended like a portcullis. See Corvus.
(3) A sluice, or perhaps a weir with sluices or hatches in it, for regulating the height of water in a running stream. See Plin. Epist. x. 69.