Roger Ascham Toxophilus 1545

76

of Scythia, fo many people in ye eafl of the Sarmatianes,
and all the kyngdomes of the Parthians, he (hall well
perceyue halfe the parte of the worlde, to lyue in
fubie6lion, ouercome by the myght and power of
fhotinge.

In the commune wealth of Rome, which exceded
all other in vertue, nobleneffe, and dominion litle
mention is made of fhoting, not bycaufe it was litle
vfed amonges them, but rather bycaufe it was bothe fo
neceffarye and commune, that it was thought a thing
not neceffarye or requyred of anye man to be fpoken
vpon, as if a man fhoulde defcribe a greate feafte,
he woulde not ones name bread, although it be
moofle common and neceffary for all: but furely yf
a feafte beynge neuer fo great, lacked bread, or had
fewfly and noughty bread, all the other daynties
fhulde be vnfauery, and litle regarded, and than
woulde men talke of the commodity of bread, whan
they lacke it, that would not ones name it afore, whan
they had it: And euen fo dyd the Romaynes as con-
cernynge mootyng. Seldome is ihootinge named, and
yea it dyd the mofte good in warre, as didde appere,
verye playnlye in that battell, whiche Scipio Aphricanus
had with the Numantines in Spayne, whome he coulde
neuer ouercome, before he fette bowemen amonges his
horfe men, by whofe myght they were clean vanquifhed.

Agayne, Tiberius fyghtynge with Armenius and Ing-
uiomerus princis of Germanic, had one
wing of archers on horfeback, an other of °r' ac"3
archers on foot, by whofe might the German es were
ilayne downe ryghte, and fo fcattered and beate oute
of the feelde, that the chafe lafled. x. myles, the Ger-
manes clame vp in to trees for feare, but the Romanes
dyd fetch e them downe with theyr fhaftes as they had
ben birdes, in whyche battell the Romaynes loft fewe
or none, as doth appeare in the hiftorie

But as I began to faye, the Romaynes dyd not fo
muche prayfe the goodneffe of fhootinge, whan they
had it, as they dyd lament the lacke of it, whan they