– It is enough of a blot on your record that the bow-string may sometimes ride on top of the groove; the arrow then ricochets toward the shooter’s face and kills him. At other times the arrow’s nock (1) is tighter than the string, so the bow slings the shaft off to one side, away from the target, killing whoever happens to stand nearby. The nut, too, may sit far too high, and the string will fling the arrow off in some other direction—or straight back at the archer’s face, and it kills him. Indeed, people have seen a man shoot this kind of bow: his bow tilted as he nocked the arrow, and he meant to strike a savage predator that had been tormenting the townsfolk. But the moment he aimed at the beast, the arrow sprang back into his own face, struck him in the eye, and stuck there; wrenching it out took great exertion (2) and enormous pain, the blood running down his cheek. The man swore thereafter that he would never shoot with that bow again.

– As for the rattle and clatter that accompany you, they are what have misled the ignorant into thinking the foot-bow possesses great benefits. The moment they hear that din and witness the fearsome uproar, they imagine it proceeds from your own might and power, or from the strength of the archer who wields you. Yet, as the proverb goes, “I hear the millstones rumble, but I see no flour; I hear a crash, yet I see no deed.” (3)

– In reality, all your force and vigor are spent along the groove where the string rests (4); for the string does not conceal the place of the shaft—it lies exposed on the very surface of the track.