Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Pilum

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. 

PILUM (κόπανον). A large and powerful instrument for bruising and braying things in a deep mortar (pila) (Cato, R. R. x. 5. Plin. H. N. xviii. 23). It was held in both hands, and the action employed when using it was that of pounding by repeated blows, as shown by the annexed example (Pilum/1.1) from an Egyptian painting, whence the operation is described by connecting it with such words as tundere (Pallad. i. 41. 2.), contundere (Ib. 3); whereas the ordinary pestle (pistillum) was used with one hand, and stirred round the mortar (mortarium), with an action adapted for kneading and mixing, rather than pounding; but the distinction between these two words is not always preserved.

2. (ὑσσός). The pilum, or national arm of the Roman infantry. It was a very formidable weapon, used chiefly as a missile, but also serving as a pike to thrust with when occasion required, though shorter, stronger, and larger in the head than the hasta or spear. It seems to have varied somewhat in length at different periods, the average being near about six feet three inches from point to butt. The shaft, which was made of wood, was square at the top, and of exactly the same length as the head, which was formed of iron; and this, when riveted on to the shaft, covered one half of its length, leaving about nine inches of solid metal projecting as a head-piece beyond (Liv. ix. 19. Flor. ii. 7. 9. Veg. Mil. ii. 15. Sil. Ital. xiii. 308. Polyb. vi. 23. Id. i. 40.) It appears a remarkable circumstance that we should have no authentic specimen remaining of this national weapon, either as the product of excavations, or in artistic representations, by which its exact form and character might be ascertained from demonstrative evidence. But as the head was made of iron, a material which suffers greatly from corrosion underground, when found, it is always so much eaten away and disfigured by rust as to have lost all distinctive character; and the figures on the columns, triumphal arches, and other sculptures illustrative of military scenes, are for the most part intended for officers, not soldiers of the rank and file, consequently who would not use the pilum; or, if the common soldiers are brought into a prominent position, they are engaged as fatigue parties, felling timber, collecting forage, transporting provisions, making stockades, raising field works, and such other duties as would preclude the artist, even if he wished it, from introducing offensive weapons into the scene. Moreover, the unartistic effect which would be produced by a forest of straight lines, the difficulty also attending the execution of such objects in sculpture, and the fragile nature of the object itself when carved into relief, induced the ancient sculptors, as a general rule of their art, to omit accessories of this kind in their works, and to content themselves with making the action represented obvious and unmistakeable by the mere thruthfulness of attitude and gesture. These reasons and motives will account for the want of an illustration, the absence of which might otherwise appear an unreasonable omission. But it may be suggested that the implement held by the figure in the last woodcut will also afford a probable proximate idea of the pilum of a Roman soldier; the description of which above given, and collected from various written authorities, corresponds in a remarkable manner, both as respects the squareness of the upper part, and relative proportions between the head and shaft, with the instrument there figured, which resemblance will thus explain why both objects were designated by the same name.

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  Pilum/1.1