falarica
falarica, a fire-brand
- a sort of missile wrapped with tow and pitch, set on fire, and thrown by the catapult (cf. for syn.: tragula, sagitta, sparus, spicula, telum, missile, etc.), Liv. 21, 8, 10 sq.; Sil. 1, 351; 9, 239; Luc. 6, 198; Veg. Mil. 4, 18.—
- II Transf., a similar missile thrown by hand, Verg. A. 9, 705; Enn. ap. Non. 555, 15 (Ann. v. 534 ed. Vahl.); Liv. 34, 14, 11; Grat. Cyneg. 342.
~a, †œgtœro [l. ]œtgœro
~a, i. theca gladii, tele genus vel aste grandis, vel lancea magna,œtgar
lancea, ~a,spere
~a vel fala,wigspere
~um, telum rotundum
contra tironum Christi catervas ‥ cum innumera strofarum ~a et densis deceptionum telis ‥ certare non cessant
neque dirissima elationis turgidae ~a confixum perhorresco
~a, theca gladii
lapidem grandem ex ~a cum impetu emisit ad dominum ducem perimendum
Londonienses maximam domino regi Henrico miserunt ~am quam fabricari London’ fecerunt ‥ que ~a ‘London’ vocabatur. que cum ad ‥ obsidionem advecta fuisset, rex continuo pulverem in earn mitti jussit et lapidem grandem in ejus ore poni et igni accendi. et sic ‥ in civitatem lapidem magnum valde terribiliter sagittavit
- fala, a fire-brand(as a missile in war), thrown by the catapult, L.; by hand, V., L.
FALA´RICA[HASTA]
(1) A peculiar kind of spear intended to be discharged as a missile from the hand, and employed in warfare as well as the chase (Verg. Aen. ix. 705; Livy, xxxiv. 14; Cyneg. 342). It is described as a missile of the largest dimensions ( Non. s. v.), with an immense iron head and strong wooden shaft, weighted near the top by a circular mass of lead (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 7, 8), exactly as represented by the annexed figure, from an ancient monument published by Alstorp (De Hastis Veterum, p. 158). Another specimen of very similar character is exhibited on a sepulchral marble discovered at Aquileia, published by Bertoli.
(2) A missile invented by the people of Saguntum, similar in many respects to the preceding, but of a still more formidable description (Livy, xxi. 8). It was chiefly employed in sieges, and discharged with prodigious violence, by the assistance of machinery (Lucan, vi. 198), from a lofty wooden tower.