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Library/Paris Manuscript B/119

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Paris Manuscript B — 119

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Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Diagramma, con:

b n - a - f - d c1

Se volessi sapere la vera distanzia della larghezza d'uno fiume, tieni questo modo. Cioè ficca una aste sulla riva del fiume ch'è di verso te, e fa ch'ella resti tanto fori della terra quanto è alto da terra l'occhio tuo; di poi ti tira in dirieto quanto tu apri nelle braccia, e riguarda all'altra riva del fiume, tenendo dalla sommità del bastone all'occhio tuo uno filo o vuoi bacchetta, e guarda dove l'opposita riva si scontra nel bastone; e tanto quanto a b entra in b n, tanto b f entra in d c appunto, ed è giusto.

Difesa delle mura lanciando botti lungo il pendio:

Chi ha sospetto di questo, ficchi pali con 2 sostegni dirieto.

Modo come si debbe riparare a una furia di soldati che dessi battaglia a un castel di montagna. Cioè debbesi torre botti e quelle empiere di terra, e quell[e] rotolando incontra i nemici alla china, vengano a fare gran favore a chi le manda2.

Diagram, with:

b n - a - f - d c. If you wished to know the true distance of the width of a river, hold to this method. That is, fix a staff on the bank of the river that is on your side, and let it stand out of the ground as high as your eye is above the ground; then draw yourself back as far as you open your arms, and look to the other bank of the river, holding from the top of the staff to your eye a thread - or, if you wish, a rod - and see where the opposite bank meets upon the staff; and as much as a b enters into b n, so much does b f enter into d c exactly, and it is correct.

Defence of the walls by hurling barrels down the slope:

Whoever has fear of this, let him fix stakes with two supports behind them. A method how one should counter a rush of soldiers giving battle to a mountain castle. That is, one should take barrels and fill them with earth, and these, rolling against the enemy down the slope, come to do great service to whoever sends them.

Measuring a river's width; barrels rolled down a slope in defence

A staff-and-thread sighting method (a, b, n, f, d, c) and earth-filled barrels against an assault

Geometry Weapons & Fortification Arithmetic & Proportion

The upper diagram shows a man measuring the width of a river without crossing it: a staff is fixed on the near bank as high as his eye, he steps back an arm's span and sights the far bank along a thread from the staff's top, so that the width follows from how many times a b enters b n. Below, a mountain-castle defence is drawn in which barrels are filled with earth and rolled down the slope into an assaulting force. A note adds that anyone fearing the same tactic should fix stakes with two supports behind them.

On this page

Measuring a river's width by staff and sighting thread

A staff is fixed on the near bank as high as the eye; stepping back an arm's span and sighting the far bank along a thread from the staff's top, the width is found because as much as a b enters b n, so b f enters d c exactly.

Earth-filled barrels rolled down a slope

To repel a rush of soldiers assaulting a mountain castle, barrels are filled with earth and rolled down the slope into the enemy. Stakes with two rear supports are advised for anyone fearing the same tactic.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.