Et tormentum quidem appellatur ex eo quod omnis explicatio torquetur, scorpio autem quoniam aculeum desuper habet erectum, cui etiam onagri vocabulum indidit aetas novella ea re, quod asini feri cum venatibus agitantur, ita eminus lapides post terga calcitrando emittunt, ut perforent pectora sequentium aut perfractis ossibus capita ipsa displodant.
And the machine is called tormentum as all the released tension is caused by twisting (torquetur); and scorpion, because it has an upraised sting; modern times have given it the new name onager, because when wild asses are pursued by hunters, by kicking they hurl back stones to a distance, either crushing the breasts of their pursuers, or breaking the bones of their skulls and shattering them.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book23.json