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#107051 07/04/03 07:50 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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Dear Bingley: what was this thing called "sambuca"?
"At the engine that Marcellus brought upon the bridge of ships, which was called Sambuca from some resemblance it had to an instrument of music, while it was as yet approaching the wall, there was discharged a piece of a rock of ten talents' weight, then a second and a third, which, striking upon it with immense force and with a noise like thunder, broke all its foundation to pieces, shook out all its fastenings, and completely dislodged it from the bridge."

So I'll go searching for it.Oh, happy day, I found it.
The site shows what looks like a very big harp. But here is what it said about naval siege engine:
"Sambuca was also the name of a military engine, used to scale the walls and towers of besieged cities. It was called by this name on account of its general resemblance to the form of the harp. Accordingly, we may conceive an idea of its construction by turning to the woodcut and supposing a mast or upright pole to be elevated in the place of the longest strings, and to have at its summit an apparatus of pulleys, from which ropes proceed in the direction of the top of the harp. We must suppose a strong ladder, 4 feet wide, and guarded at the sides with palisades, to occupy the place of the sounding-board, and to be capable of being lowered or raised at pleasure by means of the ropes and pulleys. At the siege of Syracuse Marcellus had engines of this description fixed upon vessels, which the rowers moved up to the walls so that the soldiers might enter the city by ascending the ladders (Polyb. viii.5; Plut. Marc. p558, ed. Steph.; Athen. xiv. p634b; Onosandr. Strat. 42; Vitruvius x.16 §9; Festus, s.v. Sambuca; Athen. de Mach. ap. Math. Vet. p7). When an inland city was beleaguered, the Sambuca was mounted upon wheels (Bito, ap. Math. Vet. pp110, 111; Veget. iv.21). "






#107052 07/05/03 02:23 AM
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Sambuca is an anice flavored liquor, that italian insist on adding to a good cup of expresso, and ruining it!


#107053 07/05/03 02:39 AM
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sjm Offline
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My hosts in San Marino never added their anice-flavoured liqueur to their coffee. Instead, they used it to rinse out their cups after having finished, so that they drank down the remains of the crema with the aid of the anice.


#107054 07/05/03 03:09 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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Maybe Marcellus serve Sambuca instead of grog to his saioors. To me, anise is not a nice flavor. (forgive me, of troy)


#107055 07/05/03 03:21 PM
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oh, I love anise. when I was a kid, when traveling, we would have a anise-flavored hard candy. it was dark red, a slightly flattened cube shape(I guess it's not really a cube then, is it? !). I haven't seen them in years... [sad]



formerly known as etaoin...
#107056 07/05/03 03:56 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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Most common anise flavored candy used to come in foot long
spiral grooved flexible rods,very chewy. But the red rods,
whose flavor I forget, I liked much better. The black ones were called licorice, but flavor was actually anise.
I also don't enjoy anise in sweet sausage. Just a quirk
of mine.



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