Note 086
Balista, Balestra, Arbalestre. See Muratori, Antiq. tom. ii. p. 517 - 524. Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. i. p. 531, 532. In the time of Anna Comnena, this weapon, which she describes under the name of tzangra, was unknown in the East, (l. x. p. 291.) By a humane inconsistency, the pope strove to prohibit it in Christian wars.

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The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire —Fall In The East —Chapter 58