Livy 42.65.10

[Archimedes]

In Livy 42.65.10 a sling that throws darts is described as funda media duo scutalia imparia habebat. One translation says that the sling had two “beds” in its length, presumably to cradle each end of the dart, while another has the sling “held by two thongs, one shorter than the other.” So do we have a sling with two cradles instead of one, or do we have a sling with the usual single cradle that has extending from it two cords of unequal length instead of the usual two cords of the same length?

[Carolus_Raeticus]

Salve Archimedes,

you are refering to the following Livy-passage:

@Livy

maxime cestrosphendonis vulnerabantur. hoc illo bello novum genus teli inventum est. bipalme spiculum hastili semicubitali infixum erat, crassitudine digiti; huic abiegnae breves pinnae tres, velut sagittis solent, circumdabantur; funda media duo scutalia inparia habebat; cum maiori nisu libratum funditor habena rotaret, excussum velut glans emicabat.

As mentioned in this passage the weapon is called “cestrosphendone”. The French dictionary “Daremberg & Saglio” has an article about it. On page two of this articles you will find an image of this weapon. It seems to have required quite a bit of dexterity.
The image depicted shows an experimental design created by Alexandre Bertrand (early experimental archeology!) who found that the different length of the cords, the length of the missile, and the position of the “wings” in the middle of the missile are important for the functioning of this weapon. As for the cords:

@Daremberg & Saglio

L’inégalité de ces soutiens doit être telle que l’angle formé par le trait incliné et la ligne de terre soit de 39 degrés. M. Joseph Bertrand, confirmant par ses calculs les expériences de son frère, a reconnu que la direction rectiligne du trait, issue en apparence du mouvement giratoire de la fronde, provenait de l’action exercée par le soutien le plus court dans l’instant qui suit celui où la pointe de l’arme devient libre, et que cette action dépendait de l’inclinaison de la flèche.

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus

[Archimedes]

Thank you for the detailed response; I’m familiar with the reconstruction illustrated by Bertrand. If you do a Google image search or youtube search on “cestrosphendone,” you’ll pull up some very recent reconstructions that are much more elegant than Bertrand’s. One simple design that I came across in a journal article claimed a greater range than Bertrand’s, 100 m as opposed to 70 m. So that’s why I wanted to get back to the Latin text and get a handle on exactly what is being described. Could media be taken as nominative feminine along with funda, “the sling middle (i.e., the cradle) had two unequal thongs”? Or should media be taken as ablative, “the sling had from its middle two unequal thongs”? Are the duo scutalia imparia indeed the thongs or cords by which the sling is swung, or are they dual cradles that hold each end of the dart?