Hasta
（
ἔγκος, παλτόν). The lance. In the earlier
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Spear with Amentum. (From an Etruscan Vase.)
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history of the Roman army the first four classes under the Servian constitution, and
in later times, the
triarii, or hindmost rank, were armed with this
weapon. (See
Legio.) At length, however, the
pilum was introduced for the whole infantry of the legion. (See
Pilum.) To deprive a soldier of his
hasta was equivalent to degrading him to the rank of the
velites,
who were armed with javelins. A blunt hasta with a button at the end (
hasta
pura) continued to be used in later times as a military decoration. The spear
frequently had a leathern thong tied to the middle of the shaft, which was called
ἀγκύλη by the Greeks, and
amentum or
ammentum by the Romans, and which was of assistance in throwing the
spear. The javelin to which the
ἀγκύλη was attached was
called
μεσάγκυλον (
Poll.i. 136;
Xen. Anab. iv. 2.28;
Verg. Aen. ix. 665). The preceding figure, taken
from Sir W. Hamilton's
Etruscan Vases (iii. pl. 33), represents the
amentum attached to the spear at the centre of gravity, a little above the
middle. The
amentum added to the effect of throwing the lance by giving
it rotation, and hence a greater degree of steadiness and directness in its course.
The hasta was employed in many symbolical ceremonies. The
fetialis (q.
v.), for instance, hurled a blood-stained hasta into the enemy's territory as a token of
declaration of war, and if a general devoted his life for his army he stood on a hasta while
repeating the necessary formula.
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Greek Warrior with Spears. (Hope.)
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The hasta was also set up as a symbol of legal ownership when the censor farmed out
the taxes, when state property—booty, for instance—was sold; at private
auctions (hence called
subhastationes), where it was the ancient
equivalent of our red flag, and at the sittings of the court of the
centumviri, which had to decide questions of property.
