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Article WINGED WORDS OF ANCIENT ARCHERS.—PART III. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part Iii.
Altogether this portrait of Pandarus is , perhaps , the most minute we can have of an Ancient Archer and his accoutrements—artitteric , as thc old English term went—and hence the designation of the honourable Artillery Company of London , who were , Ave believe , all , or part of them , originally Archers . Without elaborating , like AAllkie or Sir AVilliam Allen , Homer touches off each detail of his piece with a single stroke ; yet is all apparentand filled upand in keeping throughout .
, , The only part that does not seem perfectly distinct to our distant and imperfect vision , is the position of the Archer , the precise attitude he assumes when taking aim . That he placed himself at first in a prone posture is indeed specified—" ad terram inclinans , " literally in the Latin —but then this was when stringing the bow and ordering it aright ; if he continued so stooping when he took aim , the attitude must have been highly constrained and unfavourable to the free use of his arms . Apollo
sat—Ulysses sat—but Lycaon ' s son did not assuredly sit ; but being , from the first in a somewhat stooping posture , he would , very naturally , kneel down on one knee , on which he ivould find himself much more steady than when half doubled up , or down . In an engraving we have seen , after the antique , of Greeks and Trojans contending for the body of Patroclus , but , out of four Archers , all in the act of loosing , two are clown on the kneeivith the bow-string drawn to the collar bone . Neither
, Greeks nor Trojans , it may be remarked , pulled to the ear—always to the breast—and that , too , with tbe fore finger and thumb , as some Orientals yet do . This method must have required great poiver of arm to have been effectual at a distance , as we knoiv it was—• "' experto crede Pandaro . " But we must follow his arrows to find that out . In the gold it will be fixed , though not in the exact centra ! point where it was
intendedthe heart of Menelaus—bloiA'n aside from its true course , as by one of those provoking spirits of air , or invisible causes , Avhich the steadiest Archer must at times have experienced . Here , hoAA-ever , it was no less an interloper than Minerva herself ,
for" I ' alla . ' , huntress ofthe spoil Approaching , half suppressed the cruel shaft , And as a Toother wafts tire fly aside That haunts her slumbering babe , she gave its course A downward slope , directing itherseif To his belt ' s golden ringlets , where the fold Of his strong corslet should oppose it most . Tlie hitter weapon plunged into the belt , Transpierc'd the broider'd cincture , thro' its folds His gorgeous corslet ; stayed not even there But next encountering his interior quilt , Deemed yhroto-proo / and his s curest guard . It passed thatalso , with its point inscribed The hero ' s skin , and dived at lastso deep That life ' s warm current sallied from the wound . "
But for that side-wind of the unseen one , that shaft had drunk his heart ' s blood to the dregs . As it was , the wound looked ominous . Go , call the doctor ! cried the King of Men : — "Summon Ihe sacred ^ Hsculapius' son , Tlie Prince Maehaon , whom my brother needs . Brave Menelaus , by an archer pierced . " and he , the Baron Larrey of the Greek army , forthwith arrived—a king
among surgeons , and a surgeon among kings . Unlike the modern military medico ' s he fought himself in the midst of the melee and could use the lance , perhaps , better than the lancet , cutting out work
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part Iii.
Altogether this portrait of Pandarus is , perhaps , the most minute we can have of an Ancient Archer and his accoutrements—artitteric , as thc old English term went—and hence the designation of the honourable Artillery Company of London , who were , Ave believe , all , or part of them , originally Archers . Without elaborating , like AAllkie or Sir AVilliam Allen , Homer touches off each detail of his piece with a single stroke ; yet is all apparentand filled upand in keeping throughout .
, , The only part that does not seem perfectly distinct to our distant and imperfect vision , is the position of the Archer , the precise attitude he assumes when taking aim . That he placed himself at first in a prone posture is indeed specified—" ad terram inclinans , " literally in the Latin —but then this was when stringing the bow and ordering it aright ; if he continued so stooping when he took aim , the attitude must have been highly constrained and unfavourable to the free use of his arms . Apollo
sat—Ulysses sat—but Lycaon ' s son did not assuredly sit ; but being , from the first in a somewhat stooping posture , he would , very naturally , kneel down on one knee , on which he ivould find himself much more steady than when half doubled up , or down . In an engraving we have seen , after the antique , of Greeks and Trojans contending for the body of Patroclus , but , out of four Archers , all in the act of loosing , two are clown on the kneeivith the bow-string drawn to the collar bone . Neither
, Greeks nor Trojans , it may be remarked , pulled to the ear—always to the breast—and that , too , with tbe fore finger and thumb , as some Orientals yet do . This method must have required great poiver of arm to have been effectual at a distance , as we knoiv it was—• "' experto crede Pandaro . " But we must follow his arrows to find that out . In the gold it will be fixed , though not in the exact centra ! point where it was
intendedthe heart of Menelaus—bloiA'n aside from its true course , as by one of those provoking spirits of air , or invisible causes , Avhich the steadiest Archer must at times have experienced . Here , hoAA-ever , it was no less an interloper than Minerva herself ,
for" I ' alla . ' , huntress ofthe spoil Approaching , half suppressed the cruel shaft , And as a Toother wafts tire fly aside That haunts her slumbering babe , she gave its course A downward slope , directing itherseif To his belt ' s golden ringlets , where the fold Of his strong corslet should oppose it most . Tlie hitter weapon plunged into the belt , Transpierc'd the broider'd cincture , thro' its folds His gorgeous corslet ; stayed not even there But next encountering his interior quilt , Deemed yhroto-proo / and his s curest guard . It passed thatalso , with its point inscribed The hero ' s skin , and dived at lastso deep That life ' s warm current sallied from the wound . "
But for that side-wind of the unseen one , that shaft had drunk his heart ' s blood to the dregs . As it was , the wound looked ominous . Go , call the doctor ! cried the King of Men : — "Summon Ihe sacred ^ Hsculapius' son , Tlie Prince Maehaon , whom my brother needs . Brave Menelaus , by an archer pierced . " and he , the Baron Larrey of the Greek army , forthwith arrived—a king
among surgeons , and a surgeon among kings . Unlike the modern military medico ' s he fought himself in the midst of the melee and could use the lance , perhaps , better than the lancet , cutting out work