])i;vKLni'MKXT OF Arms. 25 



As tho knowledge and use of lironze passed slowly from the 

 east to the west, until the remains are found as frequently in the 

 west and north as in classic localities, so did iron, by which the 

 liomans established their superiority and vast empire, travel in 

 the same direction, to be turned eventually ag'ainst themselves, 

 when the vigorous and fierce Cloth, and Hun, and Vandal con- 

 fronted the cohorts of Italy, armed with the same weapons. 

 These weapons differed but little in the early civilisations. 

 They were the spear or lance, sword, sling, and bow, while the 

 defensive armour consisted of helmet, round buckler or long- 

 shield, and later of a cuirass or corselet, with plates of metal sewn 

 on to woven stuffs or skins. The sword varied greatly, from the 

 short, straight blade of the Assyrian, the hatchet or chopper-like 

 implement of the Egyptians, the grand, shapely bronze of the 

 Grecian, the scimitar of the Arabian, and the w^ell-known short, 

 broad-bladed cut-and-thrust weapon of the invincible Roman foot 

 soldier. The throwing' knife, khop or tolla, was in common u.se 

 among the early Egj'ptians. The battle-axe, the enlarged suc- 

 cessor of the bronze celt, and the lance, doubtless, came in later, 

 when coats of mail and protective armour were used. Such 

 implements of war as scythe-chariots, battering-rams, catapults, or 

 balistas, for throwing missiles into besieged towns, &c., require 

 only passing enumeration. 



Varying only in form, in material, in fashion, and finish, the 

 weapons used for hand-to-hand combat must have remained the 

 same for centuries scarcely to be numbered ; and any improve- 

 ment in attack Avas met by improvement in panoply, in defensive 

 armour. Further development could, therefore, only be by way of 

 mi.ssiles discharged at a distance. The use of the helmet and coat 

 of mail must have speedily rirought to an end the art of the slinger, 

 whose stones and bolts would prove powerless against such pro- 

 tection ; while the yew bow^ and g-ood yard-long arrow were 

 effective only against the lightly armed, or when it chanced to 

 pierce a joint in the armour, or found its way through the holes of 

 a vizor or frontlet. The crossbow, a mechanical improvement on 

 the old bow% giving greater penetrative force, failed against the 

 magnificent suits of mail of the Middle Ages, and it required the 

 irresistible force of the bullet, propelled by explosion, to change 

 the entire system of warfare, and render .shield and l)uckler. cDrsct 

 and suit of steel, of no avail to protect thfir wearers in th." liiilit. 



