ARROWPOINTS, SPEARHEADS, AND KN1VE8. 835 



of some spear — or swordsman, aud this may have had such implication 

 of cowardice or degradation as to account for the rarity of the use of 

 the bow and arrow, for it seems certain that while it was used in 

 the Trojan war it performed but a subordinate part. Paris was an 

 expert archer; Teucer had a bow; Meriones discharges an arrow which 

 strikes Menelaus. " Pandarus the god-like, Lycao's son,'' was the 

 skilled archer from Crete. His bow, arrow, and quiv^er are described, 

 and how he was called to act the i)art of the sharpshooter. Diomedes 

 was dealing destruction among the Greeks when .Eneas sought 

 Pandarus — 



* * * and addi'essed him thus: 

 "Where, Paudarus, are now thy wingod shafts, 

 Thy bow, and well-known skill, wherein with thee 

 Can no man here contend':? Nor Lycia boasts 

 Through all her wide-spread ^ilains a truer aim. 

 Then raise to ,Iove thj' hands, and with thy shaft 

 Strike down this chief, whoe'er he be, that thus 

 Is making fearful havoc in our host!" [Iliad, V, 196. 



The bow of Pandarus, with its accompaniments, and the operation of 

 shooting JJiomedes, are thus described : 



Straight he uncased his polished bow, his spoil 

 Won from a mountain ibex, which himself, 

 In ambush lurking, through the breast had shot, 

 True to his aim, as from behind a crag 

 He came in sight; prone im the rock he fell, 

 With horns of sixteen palms bis head was crowned. 

 These deftly wrought a skilful workman's hand, 

 And polished smooth, and tipped the ends with gold. 

 He bent, and resting on the ground his bow. 

 Strung it anew. * * * 

 His quiver then withdrawing from its case, 

 With care a shaft he chose, ne'er shot before, 

 Well-feathered, messenger of jiangs aud death, 

 The stinging arrow fitted to the string. » * * 

 At once the sinew to the notch he drew; 

 The sinew to his breast and to the bow 

 The iron head; then when the mighty bow 

 Was to a circle strained, sharp rang the horn. 

 And loud the sinew twanged as toward the crowd 

 With deadly speed the eager arrow sprang — it struck 

 Just where the golden clasps the belt restrained, 

 And where the breast-plate, doubled, checked its force. 

 On the close-tittiug belt of curious workmanship 

 It drove, and through the breastplate richly wrought 

 And through the coat of mail he wore beneath, 

 His inmost guard, and best defence to check 

 The hostile weapon's force; yet onward still 

 The arrow drove. [Iliad,' V. 119. 



At the extremity of the plain of Marathon, Greece, is the tumulus 

 mentioned by Pausanias as having been erected over the Athenians 



Earl Derby's translation, London, 1867. 



