Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Pondus

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. 

PO'NDUS (σταθμός). A weight, for weighing objects in a pair of scales (Liv. v. 48. Ulp. Dig. 19. 1. 32). The illustration (Pondus/1.1) represents an original found at Herculaneum, similar to the larger weights in use amongst ourselves; but sets of smaller ones, made to stand upon a counter, and divided into fractional parts which fit into one another, like those commonly employed in our retail shops, have also been found in the same city.

2. A weight fastened to the extremities of the warp threads (stamina) in an upright loom (Senec. Ep. 90.), for the purpose of keeping them steady, and imparting a sufficient degree of tension to the warp, while the woof (subtemen) was driven home and compressed by the comb (pecten) or batten (spatha). The ancient method of fixing these weights is shown by the illustration (Pondus/2.1) representing a loom of very primitive construction, still employed in Iceland (Schneider, Index R. R. Script. s. Tela), in which they are composed of large stones tied by a number of threads collected into separate parcels. In modern weavings, weights are placed upon the yarn beam for a similar purpose.

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  Pondus/1.1
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  Pondus/2.1