ACROBATICA, or ACROBATICUM, from acros, high,
and batos or bas, I go; an ancient engine whereby peo-
ple were raised aloft, that they might see more conven-
iently about them. The acrobatica among the Greeks
amounted to the same with what they call scansorium
among the Latins. Authors are divided as to the use of
this engine. Turnebus and Barbarus take it to have been
of the military kind, raised by besiegers, high enough to
overlook the walls and discover the state of things on the
other side. Baldus rather supposes it a kind of movable Acro-
scaffold, or cradle, contrived for raising painters, plaster-
ers, and other workmen, to the tops of houses, trees, &c.
Some suspect that it might have been used for both pur-
poses; which is the opinion of Vitruvius and Aquinas.