The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Marcus Furius Camillus, Dictator (446 BC - 365 BC)
Called "The Second Founder of Rome," Camillus was a powerful Roman patrician and soldier, who organized defenses against the Gauls. He held the offices of censor, consular tribune and dictator. Dictionary of National Biography entry: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-2758?rskey=011odW&result=2 Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Furius_Camillus References in Documents:Part of a Letter from
Mr.Ralph Thoresby
to
Dr.Martin Lister
Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians and
concerning aRoman Sheild.
Roman Sheild, of
a different form from that I had before, and observing
them both to be of different Materials from the usual Descrip
tions of them (which I also apprehend to be in other parts de
fective) I resolved to make a more particular Inspection into
their Texture, and whereas they are generally said to be
no, corio superinducto
Wood, but the Handle, in either of them. The Ancient
Ro
mansI observe had Three Words,
mans
for that defensive Weapon we generally English a
Sheild, which
notwithstanding their different Forms or Matter, their Au
thors (especially in the Declension of the Empire) frequently
confound, as, if I mistake not, we do
Sheild, Buckler, and
Target. The
Scutum, & Clypeus, in Form,
& in orbem justum relata, Clypeos dixere
those votive Sheilds upon the Colums or Trunk of Palm Trees.
inscribed, VIC. AVG. or DAC. PAR. &
c. In their old
Coins)
ma
dern, positively said to be of Wood covered with Leather,
and so particularly
Ob. Walker
of Coins
dus ipse non videt omnia
ma
par
bricatum
Diameter, whereof a little more than a third part is taken up
with the
made of an Iron
ConvexPlate, wrought hollow on the inside,
to receive the Gladiator’s Hand, upon the Center of this is a
lesser Boss, wherein there seems to have been fixed, some
kind of
they came to fight Hand to Hand, but the Form of this I
cannot describe, both the Sheilds being defective in that point;
nor can I receive any Light from my Collection of Coins, for
tho’ it seem to be the same that
with, yet the Sheild being carried in the Left-Hand, only the
Back Part of it is apparent. From the said
is Four Inches and an half broad on each side, in which are
11 circular equidistant Rows of Brass Studs of that Size, that
3 Inches, (for that is the Circumference of the Buckler) and so
proportionably in the lesser Circles to the Center of these 11
Rows of Brazen Studs, the inmost Circle is placed upon the
each a third of an Inch broad. The two outermost upon one
thicker Plate and Inch broad: in the little Intervals between
these circular Plates are plainly discovered certain cross
Lami
næ, that pass on the Back of the other, from the
næ
exterior Circle; and these Iron Plates are also about the third
part of an Inch at the broader End towards the Circumference,
but gradually contracted into a narrower Breadth, that they
may be brought into the Compass of the
The inner Coat next to those Iron Plates (for I cut it a little
open behind, that I might more distinctly discern the Work)
is made of very thick hard strong Leather, which cuts bright,
somewhat like Parchment. Upon that is a second Cover of
the same, and on the outside of this are plaited the Iron Pins
that run through the Brass Studs; for the above-mentioned
Brass Studs are cast purely for Ornament upon the Heads of
the said Iron Pins the sixth part of an Inch long, that none
of the Iron appears: this reminds me of
who, as
Ostentation in his Army,
naret, simul & ad speciem, & quo tenaciores eorum in prælio essent,
metu damni
(which pass through the circular and cross Iron Plates, and
both the Leather Covers) is a pure linnen Cloth, but disco
loured, though perhaps not with Age only, but sower Wine
and Salt, or some other Liquid wherein it seems to have been
steeped. And lastly, upon the said Linnen is the outmost
Cover, which is of softer Leather, all which Coats that com
pose the Sheild, are bound together by two circular Plates of
Iron, a thin and narrow one towards the Center, and a thick
er and large one, an Inch broad at the Circumference, which
is curiously nailed with two rows of very small Tackets, above
400 in Number, the vacant Holes whence some of the Nails
are dropt out, are little bigger than to admit the Point of a
Pair of small Compasses, both which Rims do likewise fasten
the Handle (the only part of Wood) which has also Six other
Iron Plates about three or four Inches long, to secure it.
Size (though it is compleatly a Foot larger in the Circumfe
rence) as in the Form, for whereas this already described is al
most flat, except the swelling Concave,
and from the Skirts of the protuberant Boss in the middle, it
rises gradually to the Circumference, which is nigh three in
ches perpendicular from the Center; this has Fourteen Rows
of the like Brass Studs, but the circular Plates of Iron they are
fixed in, do not lie upon other cross Plates, as the former does,
but each from the Center, upon the outer Edge of the other,
which occasions its rising in that Concave manner.
That these were part of Equites, rather than either the Velites or Hastati, I conclude,
because that, though all in general had Sheilds, yet those of
the Velites, who were as the Forlorn Hopes, seem more slight,
and are expresly said to be,
the Hastati are not only said,
constit, &c.
Body, when stooping; of which kind were likewise those of
the Principes and Triarii. Whereas the Description that the A
nonymous Author of
gives in his
sive Parman habebant ex bovillo corio, arte leviter durata
then he adds,
only the ornamental Studs, but the Iron Work, which
lus
the Gauls. I have endeavoured to make this Description more
intelligible by a Draught of the Sheild above-mentioned.
Vide Fig. 9.
Febr. 1697/8