Its partisans extol it, listing its advantages—the havoc it wreaks upon forts and citadels and the telling force it delivers—an impact the hand-drawn bow can never achieve.

The ruling that settles the quarrel between the two camps is this: the hand-drawn bow is more useful when armies stand in battle array and when the enemy is met on the open desert plain, whereas the foot-drawn bow is more effective during the siege of castles and strongholds and inflicts heavier losses than the hand-bow. Indeed, shooting it from inside the walls at forces outside may be still more advantageous and more damaging to them(1). Each, then, has its own proper sphere.

The hand-drawn bow, however, brings broader benefit overall; most nations shoot with it, and its wielders are the true archers.

Section: The most effective(2) bows and those most worthy of use

Foremost and most serviceable is the bow whose injury is greatest(3), whose defects are few, whose weight is light(4), and whose action is powerful. Such a bow is commendable to its owner and wards off harm from its bearer.

This principle is universal for every weapon: the most useful and superior(5) is the one that is light—