THE most ancient offensive or defensive arms seem also to be those which are the most universal; because that simplicity of construction which leads to early invention, leads also to independent discovery among different and unconnected nations. This applies to the Bow, which we find to have been very extensively diffused. It exists among nations the most brutal, or ignorant, or savage, and even in the islands which lie most remote from the continent; although, indeed, there have been some nations among whom no trace of

its existence can be discovered. The Bow was well known to the Hebrews long before the time of David's engagement with the Philistines; a but it does not appear that it was used to any considerable extent as a military weapon. We read of no body of archers in the Hebrew army till after David's time; but very large bodies of archers are subsequently mentioned. They appear to have been chiefly Benjamites, who seem, throughout their history, to have been remarkable for their partiality to missile weapons. The archers of Ephraim are, however, mentioned once. The frequent reference to archery in the Psalms would alone suffice to show the interest which David took in the subject. The Bible itself bears witness to the extreme antiquity of the Bow. Ishmael, when banished from his father's tents, "dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer;" and his nephew, Esau, employed the Bow in his hunting. Very probably, the invention of the Bow originated in the desire to obtain a weapon for the distant attack of animals, whose strength or swiftness rendered a close assault difficult or dangerous. Such a weapon would, of course, soon come to be employed against man; and to this we find allusions towards the end of Genesis, where, speaking of Joseph, the dying Jacob says: "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his (own) Bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong."b the strength of the arms is properly alluded to, a strong arm being necessary to bend a strong Bow. The aged patriarch had on a former occasion, told Joseph :

a 1 Sam. xxxi. 3.

b Gen. xlix. 23, 24.

Here

"Moreover I have given thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my Bow."

The ancient Bows were, for the most part, of wood, but we sometimes read of horn being employed. Those of wood were tipped with horn, and those of horn, often gold or silver. Indeed, the Bow was sometimes wholly of metal, as steel or brass; and such are mentioned in Scripture. These, of course, were, from their stiffness, bent with great difficulty; whence David, in the lastcited text, properly mentions it as a proof of the extraordinary strength with which the Lord had endowed him, that a Bow of steel was broken by his arms. Thus, on account of the force required to bend some ancient Bows, whether of wood, metal, or horn, it was often proposed as a trial of strength to bend some particular Bow; and we find ancient heroes glorying in the possession and use of a Bow which no one could bend but themselves. Such was the famous Bow of Ulysses. It had remained among his treasures during the twenty years of his absence from Ithaca. In the end it was agreed, that the hand of his supposed widow should be given to him who, out of the numerous suitors, should be able to bend this Bow, and to send the Arrow through twelve rings. The Bow was of horn, and the string had remained unhitched at one end, as usual, when the weapon was not in use. Not one of the suitors was able even so far to bend the Bow as to hitch on the string at the loosened end, although they tried to relax the rigidity of the Bow by chafing

Gen. xlviii. 22.

d Job xx. 24; Ps. xviii. 34.