Notes Chapter 3
| 30. |
La figure de l'arc eft affez uniforme dans les monumens que nous reftent. Il eft a deux courbures, en forte que le milieu de 1'arc par ou on l'empoignoit en tirant, eft en ligne droite. L'arc des Grecs avoit la figure de Sigma. Montf. Vol. IV. pg. 68. |
| 31. | See Potetr’s Archælogia. |
| 32. |
The words in Athenaeus are thefe:—
|
| 33. | The Bow from which the drawing is taken, is of horn, and is very ftrong. |
| 34. |
 Arrian. Rer. Ind. pg. 541. |
| 35. | See Mr. Barrington's Effay, Archaeologia. vol. vii. |
| 36. | The cubit was about a foot and an half of our meafure. |
| 37. |
This ftrong fhooting continued among the de¬fcendants of the Carducians till the time of M. Craf-fus, whofe foldiers, Plutarch fays, were flaughtered by their Arrows in vaft numbers, as no part of their armour could withftand the force of them. See Plut. in M. Craffu's Life. |
| 38. | We find, in the Bib. Orient. par D'Herbelot, " that one Arecfch. le meilleur Archer de fon tems tira une Fleche, que fu marque pour être reconnue, du haut de la Montagne de Damavend jufque fur les bords du fleuve Gihon." I fuppofe this wonderful man was the Eaftern Robin Hood. |
| 39. | We are told, the Scythians could ufe the Bow in either, hand with indifference " Scythis autem adeo fagittarum ftudium fuit, ut dextra ac finiftra pariter jaculari, et vice in alterna in hoftes mittere, fublato difcrimine callerent." Alex. ab Alex. vol. ii. |
| 40. | We are told that Apollo, by obferving the dif¬ferent tones given out by the ftring of his Bow, while trying its power by weights, difcovered the notes of mufic, and conftructed the Monochord, which he formed in the fame figure as the Bow ufed by his fifter Diana. |
| 41. |
Lord Bacon fays, " The Turkifh Bow giveth a very forcible
fhoot; infomuch as it hath been known, that the Arrow hath pierced a
fteel target, or a piece of brafs of two inches thick !!!" See Nat. Hift. Expt. 704. vol. iii. Thefe feem marvelous facts; but fhould one dare to contradict fuch high authorities, it might do greater violence, perhaps, to good manners, than truth. |
| 42. | Voyages de le Chevalier Chardin, Tom. II. |
| 43. |
At the battle of Fornova, under Charles VIII. there were a number of
Italian knights, who, though overthrown, could not be killed, on
account of the thicknefs and ftrength of their armour, till broke
up, like huge lobfters, by the fervants and followers of the army,
with large wood-cutters' axes, each man at arms having three or four
men employed about him. See Philip
de Comines, B. 8, C. 6, |
| 44. | See Montagne's Effays, Tom. II. pg. 120; and Cicero Tufcul, Lib. II. pg. 157. " Nam fcutum, gladium, galeam, in onere noftri milites non plus numerant, quam humeros, lacertos, manus: arma enim, membra militis effe dicunt. |
| 45. | It may be obferved, that the arms ufed in exer-cifing were double the weight of thofe ufed in action. |
| 46. | See Gib. Hift. Vol. I. pg. 14. |
| 47. |
Arcu quoque & fagittis plerumque Cretenfibus et Cydoniis
exactiffima cura milites inftruebantur, ficut apud Graecos
palaeftra. Alex. ab. Alex. Vol. I. pg. 151. In America, according to Gumilla, the boys are not fuffered to eat their victuals till they have firft hit them with an Arrow from a diftance,—" Les Indi¬ennes exercent auffi leurs enfans a tirer la fleche, ne leur donnant jamais a manger qu'ils n'ayent attrapè d'une certaine diftance la viande ou la fruit dont its ont envie, avec la pointe de cette arme." Gumilla,
Vol. II. pg. 283.— |
ita pinxiffe vetuftiores Graecos, quemadmodum C latinum. Verum omnino eos errare exiftimo. Quamvis enim non ignorem ita hanc litteram expreffam fuiffe olim, in anti-quioribus tamen monumentis aliter pingitur, hoc nempe modo Σ.