Читать книгу No Way Out at the Entrance - Дмитрий Емец - Страница 1

One should put together with the greatest effort a reserve of strands, since onagers, 1 ballistae, and other missile weapons are of no use, if they cannot be drawn with ropes or strands. The hair from the manes and tails of horses is also very well suited to ballistae.

There is no doubt that women’s hair is also very good for similar types of machinery; that has been proven by experience at the moment of the plight of Rome. When the Capitol was besieged, as a result of constant and long use the missile machines deteriorated, but there was not a reserve of strands, then Roman matrons cut off their hair and gave it to their husbands in battle; the machines were repaired, and the enemy attack repelled.

Vegetius 2

1

An onager was a siege engine of the Roman Empire, basically an ancient military catapult for throwing stones.

2

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, commonly known as Vegetius, was a writer of the Roman Empire. One of his two surviving works is Epitoma rei militaris or De Re Militari, a Roman military treatise.