Roger Ascham Toxophilus 1545

Clje £d)0Ie at tifyiwtiiiQ. 69

Troye matters, what can be more prayfe for anye
thynge, I praye you, than that is for fhootyng, that
Troye could e neuer be deflroyed without the helpe
of Hercules ftiaftes, whiche thinge doeth fignifie,
that although al the worlde were gathered in an
army togyther, yet without fhotinge they can neuer
come to theyr purpofe, as Vlyffes in Sophocles very
plamlye doth faye vnto Pyrrhus, as concernyng Her-
cules ftiaftes to be caried vnto Troye.

Nor you without them> nor without you they do ought* Soph. phil.

Fourthlye where as Cyrus dyd chaunge xen.Cyn.
parte of his bowemen, wherof he had plen- instit. e.
tie, into other menne of warre, wherof he lacked, I
will not greatlye difpute whether Cyrus did well in
that poynt in thofe dayes or no, bycaufe it is not
playne in Xenophon howe flrong fhooters the Perfians
were, what bowes they had, what fhaftes and heades
they occupyed, what kynde of warre theyr enemies vfed.

But trulye as for the Parthians, it is playne, in
Plutarche, that in chaungyng theyr bowes piu. ;n. M.
in to fpeares, they brought theyr felfe Anton,
into vtter definition. For when they had chafed
the Romaynes many a myle, through reafon of theyr
bowes, at the laft the Romaynes afhamed of their
fleing, and remembrynge theyr owlde nobleneffe and
courage, ymagined thys waye, that they woulde kneele
downe on theyr knees, and fo couer all theyr body
wyth theyr ftvyldes and targattes, that the Parthians
ftiaftes might flyde ouer them, and do them no harme,
which thing when the Parthians perceyued, thinking
that ye Romaynes wer forweryed with laboure,
watche, and hungre: they layed downe their bowes, and
toke fperes in their handes, and fo ranne vpon them:
but the Romaynes perceyuinge them without their
bowes, rofe vp manfully, and ilewe them euery mother
fon, faue a fewe that faued them felues with runnyng
awaye. And herein our archers of Englande far paffe
the Parthians, which for fuche a purpofe, when they