I have heard that he casteth the pilum even better than do other Romans. |
Then picked he up a pilum from the hand of a slain legionary and he cast it with his might. |
The pilum is a stout wooden shaft 41 feet long, with an iron spit about three feet long fixed in it. |
The pilum was sometimes used at close quarters, but more commonly it was thrown. |
The pilum was the Roman pike, and the spatha the short single-edged Roman sword. |
The day of the sword and pilum had given place to that of the lance and bow. |