Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a Ballista before every tower, while carroBallistas were to move about in the rear.
"Salammbo"
Gustave Flaubert
Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the Ballista trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were shooting in rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his whole body and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them.
"Salammbo"
Gustave Flaubert
The mangonels and petraries, and other implements for battering walls, and the Ballista, with every efficient means of throwing missive weapons, were ready to discharge their artillery upon the heads of the beseiged.
"The Scottish Chiefs"
Jane Porter