464 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. xin. 



and the use of the lotus pattern. At a later time they 

 were intimately associated with the early Greeks, and to 

 such an extent was the intercourse carried on between 

 them that Greek vases and statues abound in their tombs, 

 and the terra cotta sarcophagi, in which rested the ashes 

 of the Etruskan nobles, were copied from Greek designs. 

 After an examination of the principal collections in Italy, 

 it seems to me probable that there were Greek artists in 

 the principal Etruskan cities, who carried on the business 

 of modelling and designing, in the same fashion as the 

 Italians of the present day carry on the manufacture of 

 plaster casts over the whole of Europe. The Greek 

 influence, however, is scarcely perceptible in the metal- 

 work, which was allowed by the early Greeks them- 

 selves to be of remarkable excellence. Etruskan candel- 

 abra 1 were famous in Athens in the days of Perikles. 

 Pheidias gave his Minerva sandals of Etruskan fashion ; 

 and various articles in gold and bronze were imported 

 for the use and ornament of the houses of the Greeks. 

 The metal-work of the Etruskans was as widely dis- 

 tributed in ancient Greece 2 as the Greek vases and 

 statues were distributed throughout the Italian dominions 

 of the Etruskans. The commerce between the two was 

 considerable, and before the invention of coins was 

 carried on by means of barter. Nor did the reputation 

 of the Etruskans for metal-work diminish in much later 

 times after their conquest by the Eomans. We read in 

 Pliny that their works of art were to be found through- 

 out the world. 3 



The Etruskans appear before us in the earliest records 



1 Dennis, op. cit. i. p. Ixxiv. 2 Athenaeus, i. c. 50. 



3 Pliny, xxxiv. 7, 16, 1. Signa Tuscanica per terras dispersa qnse 

 in Etruria factita non est dubiuni. 



