A legion of 4,800 men would have 60 of these scorpiones, each of which could fire 3-4 shots per minute. They could be remarkably accurate, even at a distance - Caesar notes in his Commentaries on the Gallic War that he observed one of the scorpiones under his command during a siege score several strikes in a row on Gallic warriors trying to man a specific section of the wall. Such precision would be difficult enough with a weapon like a bow or a sling - for an artillery piece of antiquity, it was astounding!
[H]ere happened in my own view a circumstance which, having appeared to be worthy of record, we thought it ought not to be omitted. A certain Gaul before the gate of the town, who was casting into the fire opposite the turret balls of tallow and fire which were passed along to him, was pierced with a dart on the right side and fell dead. One of those next him stepped over him as he lay, and discharged the same office: when the second man was slain in the same manner by a wound from a scorpio, a third succeeded him, and a fourth succeeded the third: nor was this post left vacant by the besieged, until, the fire of the mound having been extinguished, and the enemy repulsed in every direction, an end was put to the fighting.
Or blood-slick stone streets! If memory serves, the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus relates an incident in which a Roman soldier during the Siege of Jerusalem lost his footing because of the blood in the streets and those hobnails on his sandals, and was promptly killed by the enemy before his comrades could reach him.
Alright, back from the road. Imma level with you - I'm lazy as fuck. I'll try to include links from now on, but I can't promise consistency. Consistency sounds too much like work.
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