Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/559

 IN MILITARY Ol'HliATluNS. 389 British Mu.scuni (Cod. liuiu. <il), i'. 37) ; mid altliougli this MS. was written so late as a.]). 1545, yet the author Hved as iLiLIJ_ JLJ)- 11 T Mi^Mnm early as the time of" the emperor Trajaii, under whom he was extensively employed as a civil and military architect, and there is no reason to doubt that his drawings, made from machines, with Avhich he was famihar, have been copied with sufficient accuracy in the MSS. of a much later date. We also find copies of these drawings in a Latin translation of the work published at Venice, a.d. 1572 ;'- in the Polior- cetica of Lipsius, Antwerp, 1596 ; and in the only edition of the Greek text which has yet appeared, published at Paris in 1693. From these drawings, as well as from the words of Apollodorus in the passage to which they relate, we learn that the drill was either simply turned by the hand, or was worked by means of a bow, or by the use of spoke-staves. It was commonly applied to the joint between the bricks or stones with the point slanting upwards, in order that the mortar, reduced to dust, might more readily fall to the ground, and it was moved from one part of the wall to another, as was deemed most eflectual to the purpose. The drawing, which is copied in the annexed wood-cut, appears to represent vei-y faithfully all the essential parts of - Heroiiis Liber dc MachinU Bcllicis, a Barocio, Vcnet. 1.57-.