Caltrops, or triboli.

Caltrops, or triboli, are to be used in the field, sown on the side where a man fears an assault by his enemies, and also to be thrown among the enemy when they are pursuing their victory.

Scalpro.

The scalpro was a sharp iron for wounding and controlling elephants. Livy says, in the seventh book of the Carthaginian war, that many more elephants died at the hands of their own keepers than at the hands of the enemy. And they did this: when these beasts grew enraged against their own side, the keeper, with a great blow, would drive the sharp scalpro between the ears, where the neck joins the nape. And this was the swiftest death that could be given to so great a beast.

Vervina.

The vervina, as I find in a comedy of Plautus, is a long shaft with a sharp iron for throwing.

Soliferreo.

The soliferreo is a kind of weapon made entirely of iron, which the soldiers used to hurl in the first assaults. Livy makes mention of this in the fourth book of the Macedonian war.

Sling (fonda).

The sling is made of a doubled cord, somewhat wide at its fold, in which a stone is set. Then, turned twice around with the arm, one of the cords is let go and the stone flies with a roar through the air, as if it had come from a mangonel. Flavius [Josephus] says this was found among the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, and that they held the excellence of the throw, and that the mothers did not let their children touch any kind of food except that which was struck down for them at the mark by the stone shot from the sling, although Pliny says this same thing was the invention of the Syro-Phoenician peoples.

Glande (lead shot).

Glande are lead balls hurled with crossbows and with slings.