We have the authority of Tacitus for the fact that the Germans of his day did not (like the Kelts)[981] affect the short straight sword: ‘rari ... gladiis utuntur.’[982] The national weapon was the spear[983] of a peculiar kind; ‘hastas vel ipsorum vocabulo frameas gerunt angusto et brevi ferro.’ The derivation of the word and the nature of the weapon are still undetermined.[984] Modern authorities hold the oldest _framée_ to have been a long spear, with a head of stone, copper, bronze, or iron, shaped like a Palstab or an expanding ‘Celt;’ and Demmin[985] shows the same broad shovel-shaped base in the Abyssinian lance. It was either thrown or thrust, and the weapon must not be confounded with the enormous _hastæ_ of Tacitus,[986] in whose day the Roman spear was fourteen feet long. It was a formidable weapon; those who knew it spoke with awe of ‘illam cruentam victricemque frameam’; and the Germans long preserved the saying ‘one spear is worth two Swords.’ Yet, strange to say, it is rarely found in graves, where the throwing-axe of stone and bronze, pierced or unpierced, one-edged or two-headed (πέλεκυς ἀμφιστόμος, bipennis), is so common. [Illustration: FIG. 289.—BRONZE. 75 centimètres long; Pommels of bronze and bone. From Hallstadt Diggings.] In time the word _framea_ was apparently applied to wholly different weapons. Thus Augustinus makes it an equivalent of _spatha_ or _rhomphaia_; and Johannes de Janua (‘Glossary’) explains it as ‘glaive aigu d’une part, et d’autre espée.’ Iron, according to Tacitus,[987] was known to the Germans, but was not common. His statement is supported by ‘finds’ in the old tumuli and stone rings, known as Riesenmauer, Hünnenringe,[988] Teufelsgraben, Burgwälle, and others. The myths of giants, dwarfs, and serpents suggest an Eastern origin for the metal. Bronze blades, on the other hand, are common. A typical specimen from the Elbe valley in the Klemm collection is thus described by Jähns.[989] The whole weapon is 23·25 centimètres long, the blade being 18·5, with a maximum breadth of 1·625. The shape is conical, tapering to the point; a high and rounded mid-rib is subtended on either side by a deepened line which runs to the end. Between shoulders and blade the front view shows on either side a crescent-shaped notch. The grip is narrower at the middle, where there is a long oval slit for making fast the handle; and there are two rivet holes on either side of the shoulders, whence the mid-rib springs. It shows no pommel, the place being taken by a shallow crutch.