Hasta

(Gr. ἔγχος ). A spear used as a pike for thrusting, or as a mi ile for hurling from the hand, or as a bolt from an engine. Homer defines the spear as “a pole heavy with bronze.” The hasta ament at a, for hurling, had a leathern thong for a handle ( amentum ) in the middle; hasta pur a was a spear without a head, and was a much-valued decoration given to a Roman soldier who had saved a citizen’s life; hasta cel i barium was a spear which, having been thrust into the body of a gladiator as he lay dead in the arena, was afterwards used at marriages to part the hair of the bride. A spear was set up before a place where sales by auction were going on, and an auction-room was hence called Hastarium. Different kinds of spear were the lance a of the Greeks; the pilum, peculiar to the Romans; the veru, verutum, or “spit,” of the Roman light infantry; the gæsum, a Celtic weapon adopted by the Romans; the sparrus, our English spar or spear, the rudest mi ile of the whole cla ; and many others mentioned under their respective headings in this work.