The cuirass of the heroic and historic periods is shorter than that which was customary with the Romans, but still descends far enough to cover the greater part of the body below, and may be seen on works of art; but, as a rule, the massive parts do not extend below the waist, and there are movable lappets attached to it to protect the parts below. The cuirass was generally made of bronze, and consisted of two plates, one of which covered the breast, the other the back, and these were fastened together at the lower edges, and also below and above the shoulders by buckles or other fastenings. In later times, shoulder-pieces were added, which are not mentioned in Homer; these were fastened to the back, and when the cuirass was put on drawn from there over the shoulder, and made firm in front with little chains or cords to rings or hooks. In Fig. 168, the man on the right, who is putting on his armour, has already drawn on his cuirass; the two shoulder-pieces are still open, and he is just on the point of pulling the right shoulder-piece [Illustration: FIG. 171.] [Illustration: FIG. 172.] forward, in order to fasten it there to the front piece of his cuirass. In Fig. 170, a heroic _genre_ picture, we see this more clearly. Here Achilles bandages the arm of the wounded. Patroclus; the right shoulder-piece of Patroclus is fastened, but the left is opened in order not to hurt the wounded arm. The mode in which the shoulder-pieces were fastened to the cuirass is very clearly represented in the figure of Amphiaraus, in Fig. 171, a vase painting representing the “Farewell of Amphiaraus.” There were two kinds of cuirass: those with stiff plates, and those with scales. In the former, those plates are commonest which do not fit closely to the body, but only roughly represent its shape; of this kind are the cuirasses of the warriors in Figs. 167 and 168, and also that of Amphiaraus in Fig. 171. In Fig. 172, taken from a bowl painted by Duris, the youth who is going to battle receives a cuirass of this kind (compare also Fig. 166). Sometimes this cuirass was made in a shape common among the Romans, imitating the form of the human body and representing its chief features. The warriors in Fig. 170 wear scale armour; the cuirasses are evidently made of leather, covered with little brass plates, arranged one over another like scales. Some parts of the cuirasses seem also to be made of plates; for instance, the girdle of Achilles and a strip behind, also the upper part of the breast-plate of Patroclus; the shoulder-pieces, however, are made of scales, for flexibility was of special importance here. The belly was protected by leather strips or lappets, covered with metal, hanging down at the lower edge of the cuirass, and covering part of the thighs (compare Figs. 169 and 170). The cuirass was generally fastened round the hips by a leathern belt, with brass coverings; perhaps this is the object which the boy in Fig.