Artillarie was the thing, wherin both Europe and Asia at those dayes trusted moost vppon. The best parte of Alexanders hoste were archers as playnelye doth appeare by Arianus, and other yt wrote his life and those so stronge archers, that they onely, sundrye tymes ouercame their enemies, afore any other neded to fyght: as Arianus. 8. was sene in the battayl which Nearchus one of Alexanders capitaynes had besyde the ryuer of Thomeron. And therfore as concerning all these kyngdomes and cōmune wealthes, I maye cōclude with this sentence of Plinie, whose wordes be, as I suppose thus: If any man woulde remēbre the Ethiopians, Egyptians, Arabians, the men of Inde, of Scythia, so many people in ye east of the Sarmatianes, and all the kyngdomes of the Parthians, he shall well perceyue halfe the parte of the worlde, to lyue in subiection, ouercome by the myght and power of shotinge. Plin. lib. 16. In the commune wealth of Rome, which exceded all other in vertue, noblenesse, and dominion litle mêtion is made of shoting, not bycause it was litle vsed amonges them, but rather bycause it was bothe so necessarye and comune, that it was thought a thing not necessarye or requyred of anye man to be spoken vpon, as if a man shoulde describe a greate feaste, he woulde not ones name bread, although it be mooste common and necessarye of all: but surely yf a feaste beynge neuer so great, lacked bread, or had fewsty and noughty bread, all the other daynties shulde be vnsauery, and litle regarded, and than woulde men talke of the commodity of bread, whan they lacke it, that would not ones name it afore, whan they had it: And euen so dyd the Romaynes as concernynge shootyng. Seldome is shootinge named, and yet it dyd the moste good in warre, as didde appere, verye playnlye in that battell, whiche Scipio Aphrican had with the Numantines in Spayne, whome he coulde neuer ouercome, before he sette bowemen amonges his horse men, by whose myght they were clean vanquished. Cor. Tac. 2 Agayne, Tiberius fyghtynge with Armenius and Inguiomerus princis of Germanie, had one wing of archers on horseback, an other of archers on foot, by whose might the Germanes were slayne downe ryghte, and so scattered and beate oute of the feelde, that the chase lasted .x. myles, the Germanes clame vp in to trees for feare, but the Romanes dyd fetche them downe with theyr shaftes as they had bē birdes, in whyche battell the Romaynes lost fewe or none, as dothe appeare in the historie. But as I began to saye, the Romaynes dyd not so muche prayse the goodnesse of shootinge, whan they had it, as they dyd lament the lacke of it, whan they wanted it, as Leo the .v. the noble Emperour doth playnly testifie in sundrie places in those bokes whiche he wrote in Greke, of the sleyghtes and pollicies of warre. PHIL. Surelie of that booke I haue not heard before, and howe came you to the syghte of it. TOX. The booke is rare trulie, but this laste yeare when master Cheke translated the sayd booke out of greke in to Latin, to ye kinges maiestie, he of his gentlenesse, wolde haue me very ofte in hys chaber, and for the familiaritie that I had wyth hym, more than manye other, woulde suffer me to reade of it, whan I woulde, the whiche thinge to do, surelye I was very desirous and glad, because of the excellent handelynge of all thynges, that euer he taketh in hande. And verily Philologe, as ofte as I remembre the departynge of that man from the vniuersitie, (whiche thinge I do not seldome) so ofte do I well perceyue our moste helpe and furtheraunce to learnynge, to haue gon awaye with him. For by ye great comoditie yt we toke in hearyng hym reade priuatly in his chambre, all Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Isocrates and Plato, we feele the great discommoditie in not hearynge of hym, Aristotle & Demosthenes, whiche ii. authours with all diligence last of all he thought to haue redde vnto us. And when I consider howe manye men he succoured with his helpe, & hys ayde to abyde here for learninge, and howe all men were prouoked and styrred vp, by his councell and daylye example, howe they shulde come to learning, surely I perceyue that sentence of Plato to be true, which sayeth that there is nothyng better in any common wealthe, than that there shoulde be alwayes one or other, excellent passyng man, whose lyfe and vertue, shoulde plucke forwarde the will, diligence, laboure and hope of all other, that folowyng his footesteppes, they myght comme to the same ende, wherevnto labour, lerning & vertue, had cōueied him before. The great hinderance of learning, in lackinge thys man greatly I shulde lament, if this discōmoditie of oures, were not ioyned with the comoditie & welth, of ye hole realme, for which purpose, our noble king full of wysedome hath called vp this excellent man full of learnynge, to teache noble prince Edwarde, an office ful of hope, comforte & solace to al true hertes of England: For whome al England dayly doth praye, yt he passing his Tutour in learnyng & knowledge, folowynge his father in wisedome & felicitie, accordyng to yt example which is set afore his eyes, may so set out and mayntayne goddes worde to the abolishment of al papistry, the confusion of al heresie, that therby he feared of his ennemies, loued of al his subiectes, maye bring to his own glory, immortal fame & memorie, to this realme, welthe, honour & felicitie, to true and vnfayned religion perpetuall peace, concorde and vnitie. But to retourne to shootynge agayne, what Leo sayeth of shootynge amonges the Romaynes, hys woordes, be so muche for the prayse of shootynge, and the booke also so rare to be gotten, that I learned the places by harte, whyche be as I Leo. 6. 5. suppose, euen thus. Fyrste in his sixte booke, as concerning what harneys is best: Lette all the youth of Rome be compelled to vse shootyng, eyther more or lesse, & alwayes to bear theyr bowe & theyr quiuer aboute with them, untyll they be .xl. yeares oulde. For sithens shootynge was necglected and decayed among the Romaynes, many a battayle and fyelde hath been loste. Agayne in the II. booke and .50. chapiter, (I call Leo. II. 50. that by bookes and chapiters, whyche the greke booke deuideth by chapiters and paragraphes) Let your souldyers haue theyr weapons wel appoynted and trimmed, but aboue all other thynges regarde moste shootinge, and therfore lette men when there is no warre, vse shootynge at home: For the leauynge of, onely of shotynge, hath broughte in ruyne and decaye, the hole Empire of Rome. Afterwarde he commaundeth agayne, hys capitayne by these wordes: Arme your hoste as I haue appoynted you, but specially with bowe and arrowes plentie. For shootynge is a thinge of muche myghte and power in warre, and chyefely agaynst the Sarracenes and Turkes, whiche people hath all their hope of victorie in theyr bowe and shaftes: Besydes all this, in an other Leo. 18. 21. place, he wryteth thus to his Captayne: Artillerie is easie to be prepared, and in time of great nede, a thing moste profitable, therfore we straytlye commaunde you to make proclamation to al men vnder our dominion, which be eyther in war or peace, to all cities, borowes and townes, and fynally to all maner of men, that euerye seare persone haue bowe and shaftes of his owne, & euerye house besyde this, to haue a standing bearyng bowe, and xl. shaftes for all nedes, and that they exercise them selues in holtes, hilles, and dales, playnes and wodes, for all maner of chaunces in warre. Leo. 20. 79. Howe muche shooting was vsed among the olde Romanes and what meanes noble captaynes and Emperou[r]s made, to haue it encrease amonge them, and what hurte came by the decaye of it, these wordes, of Leo the emperour, which in a maner I haue rehersed woorde for woorde, playnly doth declare. And yet shotynge, although they set neuer so muche by it, was neuer so good than, as it is nowe in Englande, whiche thing to be true, is very probable, in that Leo doth saye, that he woulde haue his souldiers take of theyr arrowe heads, and one shote at an other, for theyr exercise, whiche playe yf Englyshe archers vsed, I thinke they shoulde fynde smal play and lesse pleasure in it at all. Leo. 7. 18. The great vpperhande maynteyned alwayes in warre by artillery, doeth appeare verye playnlye by this reason also, that whan the spanyardes, franchmen, and germanes, grekes, macedonians, and egyptians, eche contry vsing one singuler weapon, for whyche they were greatelye feared in warre, as the Spanyarde Lancea, the Francheman Gesa, the German Framea, the Grecian Machera, the Macedonian Sarissa, yet coulde they not escape, but be subiectes to the Empire of Rome, whan the Parthians hauyng all theyr hope in artillerie, gaue no place to the, but ouercame the Romanes, ofter than the Romaynes them, and kepte battel with them, many an hundred yeare, and slue the ryche Crassus and hys son wyth Plutarch. ī many a stoute Romayne more, with their bowes. They draue Marcus Antonius ouer the hylles of Media & Armenia, to his great shame and reproch. Ael. Spart. They slue Iulianus Apostata, and Antoninus Caracalla, they helde in perpetual pryson, ye most noble emperour Valerian in despite of all the Romaynes and many other princes, whiche M. Crass. & i M. Anto. wrote for his delyueraunce, as Bel solis called kynge of kynges, Valerius kynge of Cadusia, Arthabesdes kyng of Armenia, and many other princes more, whom ye Parthians by reason of theyr artillerie, regarded neuer one whitte, and thus with the Romaynes, I maye conclude, that the borders of theyr empyre were not at the sunne rysinge and sunne settynge, as Tullye sayeth but so farre they went, as artillarie woulde gyue them leaue. For I thinke all the grounde that they had, eyther northewarde, farther than the borders of Scythia, or Eastewarde, farther than the borders of Parthia, a man myght haue boughte wt a small deale of money, of whiche thynge surely shotyng was the cause. From the same contrie of Scythia the Gothians Hunnes, and Wandalians came wyth the same wepons of Paul. Diac. artillarie, as Paulus Diaconus doth saye, & so berafte Rome of her empyre wyth fyre, spoyle, & waste, so yt in suche a learned citie was lefte scarce one man behynde, that had learnynge or leysoure to leue in writinge to them whiche shoulde come after howe so noble an Empyre, in so shorte a whyle, by a rable of banyshed bondemen, wythoute all order and pollicie, saue onelye theyr naturalle and daylye excercise in artillarye, was broughte to suche thraldome and ruine. After them the Turkes hauing an other name, but yet the same people, borne in Scythia, brought vp onely P. Mela. I. in artillarie, by the same weapon haue subdued and beraft from the Christen men all Asia and Aphrike (to speake vpon,) and the moost noble countries of Europe, to the greate diminishing of Christe his religion, to the great reproche of cowardyse of al christianitie, a manifest token of gods high wrath & displeasure ouer the synne of the worlde, but speciallye amonges Christen men, which be on slepe made drunke with the frutes of the flesh, as infidelitie, disobedience to Goddes worde, and heresie, grudge, euelwyll, stryfe, contention, and priuie enuye, coueytousnesse, oppression, vnmercifulnesse, with innumerable sortes of vnspeakeable daylye bawdrye which thinges surely, yf God holde not his holy hande ouer vs, and plucke vs from them, wyl bryng vs to a more Turkishnesse and more beastlye blynde barbarousnesse : as callyng ill thinges good, and good thynges ill, contemnyng of knowledge & learnynge, settynge at nought, and hauyng for |