Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Pedica

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. 

PED'ICA (πέδη). A general term for any snare or gin by which birds and wild animals are caught by the leg (Virg. Georg. i. 307. Liv. xxi. 36.); and sometimes applied to a fetter for men (Plaut. Poen. iii. 1. 11.).

2. Pedica dentata (ποδάγρα, ποδοστράβη). A particular kind of trap, employed by the ancient huntsmen for taking wild deer (Grat. Cyneg. 92.), an account of which is given by Xenophon (Cyneg. ix. 12 — 20. Cyrop. i. 6. 28.), and Pollux (v. 32 — 34.) It consisted of a circular wooden frame, set round with teeth of wood and iron, within which a slip noose was fitted, with a heavy log of wood attached to its opposite extremity. The trap was set in a hole dug for the purpose, and covered over with earth, and the log concealed in another one at a little distance off. When the stag trod on the trap, the spikes pricked his foot, which induced him to withdraw his leg with a jerk, and thus upset the trap. That action slipped the noose on to his foot, and consequently fixed the clog to his leg, which by trailing along the ground, displacing stones, and marking the earth along the course taken in his flight, put the huntsman upon his track, whilst it also materially checked and hampered his speed; for if it got fixed on a front leg, it would fly upwards with every bound, and strike against his breast, neck, or face; if on a hind leg, it would keep knocking against his thighs or belly; and sometimes, by getting wedged amongst stones or stumps, would bring him up to a complete stand-still. A trap very closely resembling this description is used for a similar purpose by the modern Arabs (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 6.), which is supposed to be an old Egyptian invention; so that we may conclude it to have been common to several nations of antiquity.