ARMS AND ARMOUR. 119 



judges of questions of boundaries. They were not un- 

 acquainted with certain manufactures. In some countries 

 they fabricated serges, which were in great repute, and 

 cloths or felts ; in others they worked the mines with skill, 

 and employed themselves in the fabrication of metals. 

 The Bituriges w^orked in iron, and were acquainted with 

 the art of tinning. The artificers of Alesia plated copper 

 with silver leaf to ornament horses' bits and trappings.' 



They were also excellent workers in gold, of which 

 they made bracelets, leg-rings, collars, and even breast- 

 plates.^ 



In the time of C^sar, the greater part of the peoples 

 of Gaul were armed with long iron swords, two-edged 

 ((TTra^Tj), sheathed in scabbards similarly of iron, suspended 

 to the side by chains. These swords were generally made 

 to strike with the edge rather than to stab. The Gauls 

 had also spears, the iron of which, xtry long and very 

 broad, presented sometimes an undulated form (materis, 

 (radviov). Their helmets were of metal, more or less 

 precious, ornamented with the horns of animals, and with 

 a crest representing some figures of birds or savage beasts. 

 They carried a great buckler, a breast-plate of iron or 

 bronze, or a coat of mail — the latter a Gaulish invention. 



Diodorus Siculus^ says that the Gauls had iron coats 

 of mail. He adds : ' Instead of glaive {^i^og), they have 

 long swords (o-Tra^rj), which they carry suspended to their 

 right side by chains of iron or bronze. Some bind their 



' Pliny, xxxiv. 17. Deinde et argentum incoquere simili modo 

 coepere, equorum maxime ornamentis, jumentorumque ac jugoruni, in 

 Alesia oppido. 



" Diodorus Siculus, v. 27. ^ Ibid. v. 30. 



