Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part Iv.
An affecting trait that ! Memories too deep for utterance rushed upon her soul at the sight , and she would give vent to tbem only in tears . Resuming her sad serenity , the queen now descended to the festal hall , attended by her maids of honour , bearing the bow ancl quiver . There sat the sensual suitors ; and them , pausing at the portal , Penelope thus addressed : — " Ve bold intruders herewho never meet
, Hut to devour the subs'anee of a chief Long absent from his home , nor can invent Pretext or pa Hal ive for such abuse , Save your desire lo make a bride of me , Attend this game to which I call you forth . BEHOLD THIS I ' . YDEROUS BOW . ' my godlike spouse Hath bent it oft ; thesuitor who shall bend This bow with case , and who shall speed a shaft Through these twelve rings , him following I forsake The mansions of my youth , so fair , so filled With all abundanceand winchdoubtlessoft
, , , I shall remember , even in my dreams . " Here was an astonisher to the assembled rivals , as well as to all present , except one poor and scorned beggar , to whom Penelope had , in the simplicity of her heart , imparted her purpose the preceding day . Let us look at the literal version of the princess ' s private and previous communication to the unknown wanderer . " For now will I a
contestpropose , The axes whieh he ( Ulysses ) in liis own courts Set up in order , like thy props of a ship , twelve in all . And lie , standing at a distance , shot through them his arrows . Now truly to the suitors will I propose this contest . He , indeed , who shall with ease bend tlie bow in his hands , And shall shoot through the axes , —all the twelve , Him will 1 follow , " & c .
This is the first intimation of the game or contest , in which there is no mention whatever of "rings , " but " axes , " as the marks to be set up and shot at . The word employed in both passages is TreAeW , axes or hatchets , which certainly cannot be legitimately twisted into rings . The same expression occurs repeatedly , and sometimes the general term of "iron " or "brass " is used ; but never any word that can be clearly construed into rings . Cowper , Pope , and Dacier , all , however , translate it suchIt would be in to
. presumption us say that they are wrong , though we confess we cannot see that they are correct . Perhaps they did not advert to the fact that a man , aye and a modern , could drive an arrow into ancl through a steel plate or target of some inches thick ; ancl therefore they had recourse to the substitution of a ring or rings , which , certainly , though requiring some skill to thread , did not demand the strength and power imbedded in a hero's arm , ancl by which the exploits of Ul almost al characterized
ysses are ways . Poiver , in fact , is the pervading principle of the whole episode of the bending of the bow . If the Turks of the present day are not the bowmen which that people once were , it is because the use of fire-arms now generally prevails . But in the days of Sandys , who sojourned among them during the - seventeenth century , they excelled in feats of archery , and used bows of an exceeding strength . The English ambassador at that timein shoot
, - ing with such a weapon , sent an arrow through a steel target of two inches thick . What could not a native , therefore , have clone ? Lord Bacon mentions the same fact . As to skill and precision of aim , the modern Persians have been known to divide a horsehair , and put an ¦ arrow through a finger-ring with perfect ease . Taking these points into consideration , is there anything extraor-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part Iv.
An affecting trait that ! Memories too deep for utterance rushed upon her soul at the sight , and she would give vent to tbem only in tears . Resuming her sad serenity , the queen now descended to the festal hall , attended by her maids of honour , bearing the bow ancl quiver . There sat the sensual suitors ; and them , pausing at the portal , Penelope thus addressed : — " Ve bold intruders herewho never meet
, Hut to devour the subs'anee of a chief Long absent from his home , nor can invent Pretext or pa Hal ive for such abuse , Save your desire lo make a bride of me , Attend this game to which I call you forth . BEHOLD THIS I ' . YDEROUS BOW . ' my godlike spouse Hath bent it oft ; thesuitor who shall bend This bow with case , and who shall speed a shaft Through these twelve rings , him following I forsake The mansions of my youth , so fair , so filled With all abundanceand winchdoubtlessoft
, , , I shall remember , even in my dreams . " Here was an astonisher to the assembled rivals , as well as to all present , except one poor and scorned beggar , to whom Penelope had , in the simplicity of her heart , imparted her purpose the preceding day . Let us look at the literal version of the princess ' s private and previous communication to the unknown wanderer . " For now will I a
contestpropose , The axes whieh he ( Ulysses ) in liis own courts Set up in order , like thy props of a ship , twelve in all . And lie , standing at a distance , shot through them his arrows . Now truly to the suitors will I propose this contest . He , indeed , who shall with ease bend tlie bow in his hands , And shall shoot through the axes , —all the twelve , Him will 1 follow , " & c .
This is the first intimation of the game or contest , in which there is no mention whatever of "rings , " but " axes , " as the marks to be set up and shot at . The word employed in both passages is TreAeW , axes or hatchets , which certainly cannot be legitimately twisted into rings . The same expression occurs repeatedly , and sometimes the general term of "iron " or "brass " is used ; but never any word that can be clearly construed into rings . Cowper , Pope , and Dacier , all , however , translate it suchIt would be in to
. presumption us say that they are wrong , though we confess we cannot see that they are correct . Perhaps they did not advert to the fact that a man , aye and a modern , could drive an arrow into ancl through a steel plate or target of some inches thick ; ancl therefore they had recourse to the substitution of a ring or rings , which , certainly , though requiring some skill to thread , did not demand the strength and power imbedded in a hero's arm , ancl by which the exploits of Ul almost al characterized
ysses are ways . Poiver , in fact , is the pervading principle of the whole episode of the bending of the bow . If the Turks of the present day are not the bowmen which that people once were , it is because the use of fire-arms now generally prevails . But in the days of Sandys , who sojourned among them during the - seventeenth century , they excelled in feats of archery , and used bows of an exceeding strength . The English ambassador at that timein shoot
, - ing with such a weapon , sent an arrow through a steel target of two inches thick . What could not a native , therefore , have clone ? Lord Bacon mentions the same fact . As to skill and precision of aim , the modern Persians have been known to divide a horsehair , and put an ¦ arrow through a finger-ring with perfect ease . Taking these points into consideration , is there anything extraor-