FLAVIUS VEGETIUS RENATUS "MILITARY MATTERS" BOOK ONE The Selection and Training of New Levies Table of Contents | The Library | Next THE USE OF THE BOW A third or fourth of the youngest and fittest soldiers should also be exercised at the post with bows and arrows made for that purpose only. The masters for this branch must be chosen with care and must apply themselves diligently to teach the men to hold the bow in a proper position, to bend it with strength, to keep the left hand steady. to draw the right with skill, to direct both the attention and the eye to the object, and to take their aim with equal certainty either on foot or on horseback. But this is not to be acquired without great application, nor to be retained without daily exercise and practice. The utility of good archers in action is evidently demonstrated by Cato in his treatise on military discipline. To the institution of a body of troops of this sort Claudius owed his victory over an enemy who, till that time, had constantly been superior to him. Scipio Africanus, before his battle with the Numantines, who had made a Roman army ignominiously pass under the yoke, thought he could have no likelihood of success except by mingling a number of select archers with every century. Table of Contents | Next Home | The Library | The Temple | Top of Page Site Map Copyright © 1999 - 2004 Sonshi.com. All Rights Reserved.