C what goodnesse is ioyned with it, is tolde: onelye howe it is to be learned and brought to a perfectnesse amonges men, is not toulde. PHI. Than Toxophile, if it be so as you do saye, let vs go forwarde and examin howe plentifullie this is done that you speke, and firste of the inuention of it, than what honestie & profit is in the vse of it, bothe for warre & peace, more than in other pastimes, laste of all howe it ought to be learned amonges men for the encrease of it, whiche thinge if you do, not onelye I nowe for youre comunication but many other mo, when they shall knowe of it, for your labour, & shotying it selfe also (if it coulde speke) for your kyndnesse, wyll can you very moche thanke. TOXOPH. What good thynges mē speake of shoting & what good thinges shooting bringes to men as my wit & knowlege will serue me, gladly shall I say my mind. But how the thing is to be learned I will surely leue to some other which bothe for greater experience in it, & also for their lerninge, can set it out better than I. PHI. Well as for that I knowe both what you can do in shooting by experience, & yt you ca also speke well ynough of shooting, for youre learning, but go on with the first part. And I do not doubt, but what my desyre, what your loue toward it, the honestie of shoting, the profite that may come therby to many other, shall get the seconde parte out of you at the last. Claudianus in histri. TOXOPH. Of the first finders out of shoting, diuers men diuerslye doo wryte. Claudiane the poete sayth that nature gaue example of shotyng first, by the Porpentine, whiche doth shote his prickes, and will hitte any thinge that fightes with it: whereby men learned afterwarde to immitate the same in Plin. 7. 56. findyng out both bowe and shaftes. Plinie referreth it to Schythes the sonne of Iupiter. Better and more noble wryters bringe shoting from a more noble inuentour: as Plato, Calimachus, and Galene from Apollo. Yet longe afore those dayes do we reade in the bible of shotinge expreslye. And also if we shall beleue Nicholas de Lyra, Lamech killed Cain Nic. de lyra. with a shafte. So this great continuaunce of shoting doth not a lytle praise shotinge: nor that neither doth not a litle set it oute, that it is referred to thinuention of Apollo, for the which poynt shoting is highlye praised of In sympo. Apoll. Gen. 21. first foūd out Galen in ex hor. ad bo nas artes. Galene where he sayth, yt mean craftes be by men or beastes, as weauing by a spider, and suche other: but high and comendable sciences by goddes, as shotinge and musicke by Apollo. And thus shotynge for the necessitie of it vsed in Adams dayes, for the noblenesse of it referred to Apollo, hath not ben onelie comended in all tunges and writers, but also had in greate price, both in the best comune wealthes in warre tyme for the defece of their countrie, and of all degrees of men in peace tyme, bothe for the honestie that is ioyned with it, and the profyte that foloweth of it. PHILOL. Well, as concerning the fyndinge oute of it, litle prayse is gotten to shotinge therby, seinge good wittes maye mooste easelye of all fynde oute a trifelynge matter. But where as you saye that mooste commune wealthes haue vsed it in warre tyme, and all degrees of men maye verye honestlye vse it in peace tyme: I thynke you can neither shewe by authoritie, nor yet proue by reason. TOXOPHI. The vse of it in warre tyme, I wyll declare hereafter. And firste howe all kindes and sortes of men (what degree soeuer they be) hath at all tymes afore, and nowe maye honestlye vse it: the example of mooste noble men verye well doeth proue. Cyaxares the kynge of the Medees, and greate graundefather to Cyrus, kepte a sorte of Sythians with him onely for this purpose, to teache his sonne Astyages to shote. Cyr being a childe was brought vp in shoting, which thinge Xenophon wolde neuer haue made mention on, except it had ben fitte for all princes to haue vsed : vsed: seing that Xenopho wrote Cyrus lyfe (as Tullie sayth) not what Cyrus did, but what all maner of princes both in pastimes and ernest matters ought to do. Herod. i clio. Xen. in insti. Cyri. I. Darius the first of that name, and king of Persie shewed plainly howe fit it is for a kinge to vse shotynge, whiche commaunded this sentence to in his tombe, for a Princelie memorie and prayse. Darius the King lieth buried here That in shoting and riding had neuer pere. Agayne, Domitian the Emperour was so shoting that he coulde shote betwixte a mans to shewe Ad. Quint. loue and be grauen Strabo. 15. cũning in Tranq. suet. fingers standing afarre of, and neuer hurt him. Herodia. I. you Comodus also was so excellent, and had so sure a hande in it, that there was nothing within his retche & shote, but he wolde hit it in what place he wolde: as beastes runninge, either in the heed, or in the herte, and neuer mysse, as Herodiane sayeth he sawe him selfe, or els he coulde neuer haue beleued it. PHI. In dede you praise shoting very wel, in yt shewe that Domitian and Commodus loue shotinge, suche an vngracious couple I am sure as a man shall not fynde agayne, if he raked all hell for them. TOXOPH. Wel euen as I wyll not commende their ilnesse, so ought not you to dispraise their goodnesse, and in dede, the iudgement of Herodian vpon Commodus is true of them bothe, and that was this: that beside strength of bodie and good shotinge, they hadde no princelie thing in them, which saying me thinke commendes shoting wonderfullie, callinge it a princelie thinge. Furthermore howe commendable shotinge is for princes: Themist. in ora. 6. Themistius the noble philosopher sheweth in a certayne oration made to Theodosius themperoure, wherein he doeth commende him for .iii. thinges, that he vsed of a childe. For shotinge, for rydinge of an horse well, and for feates of armes. Herod. i clio. Leo de stratag. 20. Moreouer, not onelye kinges and emperours haue ben brought vp in shoting, but also the best comune wealthes that euer were, haue made goodlie actes & lawes for it, as the Persians which vnder Cyrus cōquered in a maner all the worlde, had a lawe that their children shulde learne thre thinges onelie, from v. yeare oulde vnto .xx. to ryde an horse well, to shote well, to speake truthe alwayes & neuer lye. The Romaines (as Leo themperour in his boke of sleightes of warre telleth) had a lawe that euery man shoulde vse shoting in peace tyme, while he was .xl. yere olde and that euerye house shoulde haue a bowe, and .xl. shaftes ready for all nedes, the omittinge of whiche lawe (sayth Leo) amonges the youthe, hath ben the onely occasion why the Romaynes lost a great dele of their empire. But more of this I wil speake whe I come to the profite of shoting in warre. If I shuld rehearse the statutes made of noble princes of Englande in parliamentes for the settyng forwarde of shoting, through this realme, and specially that acte made for shoting the thyrde yere of the reygne of our moost drad soueraygne lorde king Henry the .viii. I could be very long. But these fewe exaples specially of so great men & noble cōmon wealthes, shall stand in stede of many. PHI. That suche princes and suche comune welthes haue moche regarded shoting, you haue well declared. But why shotinge ought so of it selfe to be regarded, you haue scarcelye yet proued. TOX. Examples I graunt out of histories do shew a thing to be so, not proue a thing why it shuld be so. Yet this I suppose, yt neither great mens qualities being comedable be without great authoritie, for other men honestly to folow them: nor yet those great learned men that wrote suche thinges, lacke good reasō iustly at al tymes for any other to approue the. Princes beinge children oughte to be brought vp in shoting: both bycause it is an exercise moost holsom, and also a pastyme moost honest wherin labour prepareth the body to hardnesse, the minde to couragiousnesse, sufferyng neither the one to be marde with tendernesse, nor yet the other to be hurte with ydlenesse : as we reade how Sardanapalus and suche other were, bycause they were not brought vp wt outwarde honest payneful pastymes to be men but cockerde vp with inwarde noughtie ydle wantonnesse to be women. For how fit labour is for al youth, Iupiter or else Minos amonges them of Grece, and Lycurgus amonges the Lacedemonians, do shewe Cic. 2. Tus. Qu. by their lawes, which neuer ordeyned any thing for ye bringyng vp of youth that was not ioyned with labour. And the labour which is in shoting of al other is best, both bycause it encreaseth strength, and preserueth health moost, beinge not vehement, but moderate, not ouerlaying any one part with werysomnesse, but softly exercisynge euery parte with equalnesse, as the armes and breastes with drawinge, the other parties with going, being not so paynfull for the labour as pleasaunt for the pastyme, which exercise by the iudgement of the best physicions, is most alowable. By shoting also is the mynde honestly exercised where a mă alwaies desireth to be best (which is a worde of honestie) and that by the same waye, that vertue it selfe doeth, couetinge to come nighest a moost perfite ende or meane standing betwixte .ii. extremes, eschewinge shorte, or gone, or eithersyde wide, for the which causes Gal. Arist. 1. de morib. Aristotle him selfe sayth that shoting and vertue be very like. Moreouer that shoting of all other is the moost honest pastyme, and hath leest occasion to noughtinesse ioyned with it .ii. thinges very playnelye do proue, which be as a man wolde saye, the tutours and ouerseers to shotinge: Daye light and open place where euerye man doeth come, the maynteyners and kepers of shoting, from all vnhonest doing. If shotinge faulte at any tyme, it hydes it not, it lurkes not in corners and huddermother: but openly accuseth & bewrayeth it selfe, which is the nexte waye to amendement, as wyse men do saye. And these thinges I suppose be signes, not of noughtinesse, for any man to disalowe it but rather verye playne tokens of honestie, for euerye man to prayse it. Iso. in nic. The vse of shotinge also in greate mennes chyldren shall greatlye encrease the loue and vse of shotinge in all the residue of youth. For meane mennes myndes loue to be lyke greate menne, as Plato and Isocrates do saye. And that euerye bodye shoulde learne to shote when they be yonge, defence of the comune wealth, doth require whe they be olde, which thing can not be done mightelye when they be men, excepte they learne it perfitelye when they be boyes. And therfore shotinge of all pastymes is moost fitte to be vsed in childhode: bycause it is an imitation of moost ernest thinges to be done in manhode. Wherfore, shoting is fitte for great mens children, both bycause it strengthneth the body with holsome labour, and pleaseth the mynde with honest pastime and also encourageth all other youth ernestlye to folowe the same. And these reasons (as I suppose) stirred vp both great men to bring vp their chyldren in shotinge, and also noble commune wealthes so straytelye to commaunde shoting. Therfore seinge Princes moued by honest occasions, hath in al commune wealthes vsed shotynge, I suppose there is none other degree of men, neither D lowe nor hye, learned nor leude, yonge nor oulde. PHIL. You shal nede wade no further in this matter Toxophile, but if you can proue me that scholers and men gyuen to learning maye honestlie vse shoting, I wyll soone graut you that all other sortes of men maye not onelye lefullie, but ought of dutie to vse it. But I thinke you can not proue but that all |