Other blades like that of Ceretolo—long, narrow, and pointed—have
been found in tombs notably Etruscan. Such, for instance, was that of
Cære, now in the Gregorian Museum, Rome. In December 1879 two other
blades were produced by a necropolis in Valdichiana, between Chiusi
and Arezzo, where a long Etruscan inscription was engraved upon the
foot of a tazza. Two similar blades are also portrayed in relief
and colour upon the stuccoed wall of a Cære tomb. Des Vergers[644]
describes them as follows: ‘La frise supérieure est ornée d’Épées
longues à deux tranchants, à la lame large et droite avec garde à la
poignée, se rapprochant de celle que les Romains désignaient par le nom
de _spatha_. Les unes sont nues, les autres dans le fourreau.’ Four
such Swords were also produced at Pietrabbondante in the district of
far-famed Isernia, and are preserved in the National Museum of Naples.
Signor Campanari discovered in an Etruscan tomb a Sword-hilt in bronze
attached to a blade of iron.[645] Finally, the Benacci property near
the Certosa of Bologna also yielded an iron blade and iron chisels like
those of Ceretolo.
The late learned Prof. Conestabile truly asserts, ‘Des Épées de même
forme et de même dimension ont été trouvées dans d’autres localités
étrusques, situées dehors la sphère des invasions Gauloises, notamment
en Toscane.’ It is certain that such blades have been discovered on
both sides of the Alps. As the Romans adopted the Iberic or Spanish
blade; so the Gauls may have substituted for their own imperfect arms
the weapons taken from the Italians; in fact, we know from history
that they did so. Moreover, the Etruscans extended their commerce, not
only over Transalpine regions, but to that vast region extending from
Switzerland to Denmark, and from Wallachia to England and Ireland.[646]
This has been proved by the investigations of many scholars: in
Germany by Lindenschmidt, Von Sacken, Virchow, Kenner, Weihold, Von
Conhausen, and Genthe; by the Swiss Morlot, De Rougemont, Desor, and
De Bonstetten; by the Dane Worsäae; by Gray, Dennis, Hamilton, and
Wyllie in England; by the Belgian Schuermans; and by the Italians
Gozzadini, Conestabile, Garrucci, and Gamurrini. Desor, when receiving
the drawing of an iron Sword with bronze handle discovered at Sion, and
declared by Thioly to resemble exactly those of Hallstadt, declared:
‘De pareilles Épées sont évidemment fabriquées à l’étranger et non dans
le pays: elles nous conduisent donc vers ce grand commerce Étrusque
qui se faisait pendant la première époque de fer, époque sur laquelle
on s’est trompé si souvent.’ Livy,[647] in fact, proves the extent of
arms-manufactory in Etruria, when he relates that in B.C. 205, at which
time the Boiian occupation of Felsina ended, Arezzo alone could furnish
Scipio’s fleet in forty-five days with three thousand helmets, as many
Scuta and lances of three different kinds.
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