Pikes, axes and clubs: sarissa, clava, cathegia
Antiquarian arms after Pompeius, Caesar, Horace and Virgil, with a spiked mace and a returning missile
The arms glossary turns to pikes, axes and clubs: a note on 'clipei' (shields), the Macedonian sarissa, the Illyrian gabina (a boar-spear form), the securis (axe), the throwable tragula, Hercules's nail-studded clava, and the cathegia. This last is a Gaulish missile that returns to the thrower, said to be favoured by German horsemen against infantry. Definitions cite Pompeius, Varro, Caesar's Commentaries, Horace and Virgil, and the drawings include a spiked mace and a weapon whose curling line suggests its return path.
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Sarissa and gabina, Macedonian and Illyrian shafts
The Macedonian sarissa is defined after Pompeius as a long shaft (pike), and the Illyrian gabina as a weapon almost in the form of a hunting-spear or boar-spear (spiedo).
Clava, Hercules's nail-studded club
The clava is defined as the knotty club full of sharp nails used by Hercules, reckoned a most noble weapon in those rude times. It is drawn as a spiked mace with radiating points.
Cathegia, the returning Gaulish missile
The cathegia (which Horace calls 'caia') is a Gaulish missile that returns backward at the thrower's will, said by Virgil to be much used among the Germans and by horsemen against foot-soldiers. Its drawing includes a looping line suggesting the return flight.
Securis, glossed as if 'semicuris'
The axe (securis) is glossed etymologically as if from 'semicuris' or 'semiquiris.' The tragula is added on the authority of Varro, Pompeius and Caesar's fifth Commentary as a sharp shaft thrown by hand.