Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Malleolus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

MALL'EOLUS (σφυρίον). Diminutive of MALLEUS. Cels. viii. 3.

2. A missile employed for firing the works, shipping, or military engines of an enemy. It consisted of a reed shaft, fitted at the top with a frame of wire-work, like the head of a distaff (see the illustration s. COLUS), which was filled with inflammable materials, such as tow steeped in pitch, and had an arrow head affixed to the top, so that the whole figure resembled a mallet, as shown by the subsequent figures. It was set alight before being discharged, and when it reached the object against which it was directed, the arrow head stuck firmly into it, while the tow blazed away, and ignited whatever it had fastened upon. Liv. xxxviii. 6. xlii. 64. Cic. Cat. i. 13. Vitruv. x. 16. 9. Veg. Mil. iv. 18. Ammian. xxiii. 4. 14.