Hero's Belopoeica (Treatise on Artillery Construction)

[Image: Photograph of a reconstructed ancient gastraphetes (belly-bow) on a wooden stand, showing the long slider and the bow arms.]
[Image: Photograph of a man in a modern suit demonstrating the "belly-press" method; he leans his weight onto the curved end of the slider while bracing the other end against the floor to cock the weapon.]

| English Translation (from Greek) |

| English Translation (from German) |
| :--- | :---: | :--- |
| 5 ...lifting up, the hand original: "cheir"; the claw or trigger-hook would pass over the bowstring; it is situated above the slider original: "diostra". Then, pressing it down, they would insert the trigger-bar original: "schastēria", so that the hand could no longer be raised. After this, they braced the outward-extended end of the slider against a wall or the ground; and holding 10 the ends of the spanning-piece original: "katagōgis"; labeled ΤΥΦΧΥ with their hands, they pressed their belly against the XY hollow, and straining with the whole body, they pushed p. 79 the slider and 15 pulled back the bowstring, which caused the AB, ΓΔ arms of the bow to bend. When it seemed sufficient... | | ...reaching forward, lifting over the bowstring, which lies over the slider. Then the claw was pressed down and the trigger pushed under, so that the claw could no longer lift. Thereupon, the outward-pushed end of the slider was braced against a wall or on the floor; one grasped with the hands the ends of the spanning-wood ΤΥΦΧΥ, pressed the belly into the hollow XY, pushed the slider back with the full strength of the body, and thus pulled back the bowstring, whereby the bow-arms AB, ΓΔ were bent... |

Critical notes on the source text:
4 autēn [it, feminine] in Manuscript M: auton [it, masculine] in Manuscripts P and V. upeballon [they inserted] in M.
6 tauta [to] [these (the)] addition by editor Köchly.
8 antereidon [braced] in M.
11 ta akra tēs ΤΥΦΧΥ katagōgidos [the ends of the ΤΥΦΧΥ spanning-piece] corrected by R. Schneider: the manuscripts MPV read "the ΤΥΦΧΥ ends of the spanning-piece." epereidon [pressing] in M.
17 ot' oun [whenever then] editor Köchly: ot' an oun in PV: tanoun [at present] in M. autarkēs [sufficient] in M.