War-scythes, a Danish axe and an incendiary bomb (fragilica)
Antique blades, a recipe for tempering iron, and a stink-and-fire ball hurled among troops
The catalogue of antique arms continues with the sickle-shaped auctori (credited to 'Celidonio'), the Danish axe (danice), and the war-scythe (falce), each drawn beside its description. Leonardo notes how the falce was mounted on Roman ships to slice through the enemy's rigging like a razor, and inserts a recipe for tempering iron in oil, water or goat's blood. The sheet closes with the fragilica, an incendiary ball packed with paper cannons, pitch, sulfur and gunpowder that scatters snaking rockets over a hundred braccia.
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The auctori, a sickle-bladed weapon worn bare at the belt
After 'Celidonio', the auctori is a curved weapon a braccio long, cutting on one side only, with a forked handle shaped like a swallow. It is carried not in a sheath but bare, hung from the belt, and is drawn as the hooked blade at the top of the sheet.
The Danish axe (danice) and a recipe for tempering iron
Danice are somewhat long hatchets said to have been much used by the Danes. Leonardo adds a metallurgical note: iron quenched in oil takes a fine edge, iron quenched in water grows brittle, and iron quenched in goat's blood becomes hardest of all, while oil, ceruse and pitch guard iron from rust.
The war-scythe (falce) of the Thracians
The falce is a crescent-shaped iron joined at one horn to a shaft, much used by the people of Thrace in sea and land battles before it passed into the hands of farmers. It is drawn as a curved blade on a long pole.
Ship-mounted scythes that cut the enemy's rigging
The Romans mounted scythes of great size on their ships which, drawn by ropes through ingenious means, cut through the ropes of the enemy's yards like a razor and dropped their sails. What was meant to aid the enemy became instead a great hindrance. The drawing shows the scythe set on a mast above a boat.
The fragilica, an incendiary and asphyxiating fire-ball
The fragilica is a half-foot ball packed with small paper cannons pasted with pitch, sulfur and a Corsican substance whose smell makes one faint, with gunpowder at its core. A fuse is lit, the ball is hurled with a shaft-sling, and rockets scatter snaking over a hundred braccia.