Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/105

 Weapons, Metal Work. 87 seen without it, or for his well-known dexterity and unerring aim in plying it. Having enumerated the almost endless variety of shape to be found in daggers associated with statuettes or otherwise, 1 a word or two respecting the cruciform dagger, the object of much atten- tion, may be said here. Its diminutive size caused it to be viewed as a mili- tary decoration. 2 This, however, is one of those hypotheses which, although possible, have the demerit of being supported by neither historical docu- ment nor the remotest allusion by ancient writers of such a custom having existed among the Sardi or the Barbarians who composed the Phoenician armies. Why not admit that we have here a re- duced copy of a weapon characteristic of these tribes ? If hilt and blade bear no proportion to each other, the former being longer than the latter in the real arms, three or four times as long, it was quite capable of causing ugly wounds. 3 Not un- frequently these handles show good design and good workmanship (Fig. 94)- Fig. 93.— Stilettos from Teti. From Baux. The dagger under notice, re- 1 Pais, Boll., pp. 123-130, 1884. 2 It is the opinion of MM. Baux and Gouin. 8 This dagger, of unknown origin, belongs to a bronze statuette in the Louvre collection, and was published in our Art Hist., torn. iii. As surmised by Longpérier, it must be due to Sardinia, the sole country whence have come daggers of similar form.