MACHINES of War. Warlike Machines, such as are proper for besieging of Cities and Fortresses, are of a very modern Invention, in Respect of the earlier Antiquity. There is no Mention of them in Homer; and Diodorus Siculus observes1, that Sardanapalus, King of Assyria, held out a Siege of seven Years in the City of Niniveh, because at that Time such Machines as were fit for demolishing and taking Cities, were not yet invented. But about the same Time we read, that Uzziah King of Judah, had laid 2 Chron. xxvi. 14, 15.up in his Magazines, Shields, and Spears, and Helmets, and Harbergeons, and Bows, and Slings to cast Stones. And that he made in Jerusalem Engines invented by cunning Men, to be on the Towers, and upon the Bulwarks, to shoot Arrows and great Stones withal; and his Name spread far abroad, for he was marvellously helped till he was strong. Here we may see perhaps the first Instance of Machines of War.
About seventy Years after2, in the Sieges that Nebuchadnezzar laid to the Cities of Tyre and Jerusalem, he made Use of battering Rams and Slings. The Hebrew Word Car, which the Scripture uses to express this warlike Machine, signifies a real Ram3, and by a Metaphor it signifies a Machine, by which they battered down Gates, and beat down the Walls of Cities. The Prophet Ezekiel speaking of the Siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, insinuates the antient Ezek. xxvi. 8, 9.Manner of besieging Places. He shall slay with the Sword thy Daughters in the Field, and he shall make a Fort against thee, and cast a Mount against thee, and lift up the Buckler against thee. And he shall set Ensigns of War against thy Walls, and with his Axes he shall break down thy Towers.
Diodor. l. xvii.When the Ancients besieged a Place, they usually surrounded it with Mounds, Towers, and Trenches, that the Besieged might not be able to make any Sallies, or to receive any Succours from without. To lift up the Buckler may intimate what the Romans called facere testudinem, to make a Tortoise; when they caused their Soldiers to approach near to each other to join their Bucklers close to one another, in the Form of a Tortoise, in Order to sap the Walls, or to beat down Gates, or to set Fire to ‘em. The Engines of War here mentioned, or Machines of Cords, were the Balistæ or Catapultæ, which were used for hurling Stones or Darts; or else by this Name may be understood those great Hooks which were fastened to Cords, and thrown on the Tops of Walls, to tear them down and demolish them. Of these Iron Hooks or Fangs, may be understood that Passage of the second Book of Samuel. If he be gotten into a 2 Sam. xvii. 13.City, then shall all Israel bring Ropes to that City, and we will draw it into the River, until there be not one small Stone found there.
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