The earliest smiths[[863]] in Greece wrought not in iron but in brass, of which, at first, both arms and domestic implements were fashioned. In Mexico and Peru, where, likewise, copper[[864]] was known before iron, they possessed the art of hardening it to so great a degree, that it would even cut stones and the closest-grained wood. The same or a similar process was known to the ancients, and might still, perhaps, be easily recovered were it any longer an object to be desired. The Greeks always retained a strong partiality for articles of brass, copper, and bronze, and besides statues,[[865]] pillars,[[866]] and trees, where the fruit was sometimes of gold,[[867]] employed them in cups, urns, vases, and caldrons, with covers of the same metal.[[868]] We also find mention made of brazen mangers, and even maps.[[869]]

With tin, also, the Greeks, even in the Homeric age, were acquainted;[[870]] and, among other uses which they, in later ages, made of it, was that of lining the inside of their cooking utensils.[[871]]

At a period beyond the reach of history they obtained a knowledge of the use of both iron[[872]] and steel, the invention of which they attributed to Hephaistos.[[873]] Homer, who speaks of axes and other implements of steel, or, rather, of iron steeled at the edge, describes the process of forming it by immersion in cold water.[[874]] In the manufacture of the Homeric swords steel only would appear to have been, in most cases, employed, since they were extremely brittle, and often shivered to pieces by a mere blow upon shield or helmet. To guard against this effect the superior and more delicate articles were, in later times, cooled not in water but in oil.[[875]] The Spartans, we are told, quenched their iron money in vinegar which rendered it, they supposed, brittle and unmalleable, consequently of no value but as a token.[[876]]

Among the earliest nations who excelled in the smelting of iron and the manufacture of steel were the Chalybes,[[877]] who are said to have collected the ore from the beds of their rivers, and to have mingled therewith a certain quantity of the mineral pyrimachos. Aristotle, in describing the process of smelting, observes, that steel, in passing through the furnace, not only diminishes in quantity but in specific gravity also, that is to say, becomes less valuable. It was one merit of the Chalybean steel that it was not liable to rust. The method of preparing this metal which prevailed among the Celtiberians was this:[[878]] they buried a number of iron plates in the earth, where they suffered them to remain until the greater portion was converted into rust.[[879]] They then drew them forth and wrought them into various kinds of weapons, particularly swordblades, which were so keen that neither shields, nor helmets, nor sculls, were able to resist their edge. To this the complimentary Plutarch likens the language of the Spartans.[[880]]

It was thought of much importance by the ancients to select for the quenching of steel water possessing certain occult qualities, whose existence was only to be detected by experiment. By these the river of the Chalybeans was thought to be distinguished,[[881]] as well as the waters near Como, at Calatayud and Tarragona in Spain. Water has, likewise, been prepared, by a variety of infusions, for communicating a finer temper and greater hardness to steel, an example of which is mentioned in the history of the Duke Cosmo, who invented, according to Vasari,[[882]] a liquid wherein were hardened the tools with which Francesco del Tadda was enabled to cut a fountain-basin, and several other articles, from a block of the hardest porphyry. Nothing, however, was more common than this operation among the ancients, both Greeks and Egyptians, by whom porphyry was cut into every variety of form, and invested with the highest polish.[[883]]

The best steel appears to have been obtained from the Seres, from Parthia, and from India,[[884]] where, when polished, it assumed the bright appearance of silver, and probably like that of Damascus contained a small proportion of this metal. That which came from Sinope and the Chalybes served for the manufacture of ordinary tools; the Laconian[[885]] was wrought into files, augers, chisels, and the other implements of stone-cutters; the Lydian stood in high estimation with the sword-cutlers, and the manufacturers of razors and surgical instruments.[[886]] The locks and keys[[887]] of the ancients, if we may judge from the specimens found at Pompeii, were of a somewhat rude construction, though probably manufactured of the best iron.

The workshop and tools of the smith bore the closest possible resemblance to those of the present day; the bellows[[888]] consisting of thin boards connected by flaps of cow-hide, and having a snout of iron, the anvil mounted on a high block, the hammer, the tongs, the vice, which require no particular description.

Respecting the quality of Grecian cutlery it must be acknowledged that our information is exceedingly scanty, though we may reasonably infer, that it often possessed the greatest excellence and beauty from the perfection to which they had undoubtedly brought the manufacture of arms. In this branch of industry the Delphians would seem to have obtained celebrity, though the form and uses of their knives, alluded to in a comparison by Aristotle,[[889]] can be looked upon only as matter of conjecture. It seems to me, that, like Hudibras’ dagger, they would serve for a variety of purposes, as a poignard for example, as a sacrificial instrument, and as a common knife:

When it had stabbed, or broke a head,

It would scrape trenchers or chip bread,