(Military Matters, Book I):
Recruits are to be taught the art of
throwing stones both with the hand
and sling. The inhabitants of the
Balearic Islands are said to have
been the inventors of slings, and to
have managed them with surprising
dexterity, owing to the manner of
bringing up their children. The
children were not allowed to have
their food by their mothers till they
had first struck it with their sling.
Soldiers, notwithstanding their
defensive armor, are often more
annoyed by the round stones from the
sling than by all the arrows of the