Note 1424 — BOOK VII.835 MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, AND THE INVENTION OF THE ARTS. (continued 2)
John Bostock translation
Vitruvius informs us, that the catapulta and the balista were instruments formed upon the same principle, the former being adapted for the discharge of arrows, and the latter, masses of stone. Cæsar, however, in his account of the siege of Massilia, Bell. Civ. B. ii. c. 8, speaks of stones being thrown by the catapulta. Ælian, Hist. Var. B. vi. c. 12, says, that it was invented by Dionysius, the first king of Syracuse.—B.