Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cervi

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CERVI. In military language, large branches of trees, having the smaller ones left on, and shortened at a certain distance from the stock, so as to present the appearance of a stag's horn. (Varro, L. L. v. 117.) They were stuck in the ground, to impede the advance of an enemy's column, a charge of cavalry over a plain, which afforded no natural obstructions (Sil. Ital. x. 412. Liv. xliv. 11.), and as a palisade or protection to any vulnerable or important position. Caes. B. G. vii. 72.