or ACROBATICUM, from ἀκρος, high, and βαθος, or βαθυς, I go; an ancient engine, whereby... whereby people were raised aloft, that they might see more conveniently about them. The aerobatica among the Greeks amounted to the same with what they call scariarium among the Latins. Authors are divided as to the office of this engine. Turnebus and Barbarus take it to have been of the military kind, raised by befeigers, high enough to overlook the walls, and discover the state of things on the other side. Baldus rather supposes it a kind of moveable scaffold, or cradle, contrived for raising painters, plasters, and other workmen, to the tops of houses, trees, &c. Some suspect that it might have been used for both purposes; which is the opinion of Vitruvius and Aquinas.