, and Homer, the attestation of the recovered implements from Egypt and Nineveh, and the Egyptian paintings, render it useless to cite the facts within the notice of the gossiping and credulous Pliny, who professes to give the early history of the metal.
Palestine, Asia Minor, Scythia, Elba, and Spain were each celebrated in their time for the production of iron.
From Iberia the art spread to Gaul, and from the latter, probably, to Germany.
An army of Gauls was defeated by the Romans, 222 B. C., chiefly because the swords of the former bent after a blow or two, and required straightening by the foot, while the superior metal of the Romans stood the brunt.
Strabo mentions that one of the exports of Britain was iron; the bold islanders met their invaders with scythes, hooks, broadswords, and spears of iron.
The arrival of the Romans and the introduction of artificial blast, which the Romans had derived from their Eastern neighbors, gave a great impulse to the iron works of En
Gnaeus Scipio
Cornelius, brother of Publius (see following); consul (222) with Marcus Marcellus; with Publius in Spain (217-211); a gallant soldier, 1.61; 3.16.
