has his
head sawed off with a short dagger, and other unfortunates are
flayed alive, or have their tongues torn out.

The archives of the palace at Knossos certainly show that a military
force was kept on foot, and was thoroughly organized and well looked
after. There are records of numbers of chariots, and of the issue
of equipments to the charioteers of the force; and many of the
tablets refer to stores of lances, swords, bows, and arrows, a
store of nearly 9,000 arrows being mentioned in one of the finds;
while an actual magazine, containing hundreds of bronze arrow-heads,
has been discovered. We may remember that in ancient warfare the
Cretan bowmen were as famous as the Balearic slingers or the archers
of England. On the whole, however, the genius of the Minoans, like
our own, was more commercial than military, though, no doubt, they
were not devoid of the fighting spirit when occasion arose. Their
kinsmen of Mycenae and Tiryns, less happily situated, were forced
to develop the military side of life; but the position and the
maritime power of Crete secured for the fortunate island those
long centuries of tranquil growth which were so fruitful in the
arts of peace. With one possible exception, no records appear to
have been found as yet dealing with the Minoan marine; but it is
impossible to believe that a people so methodical, who kept such
careful record of their military stores, should not have had a
thoroughly organized department to deal with the infinitely more
important matter of their navy, and perhaps the records of the
Minoan Board of Admiralty may yet come to light and be deciphered,
to enable us to understand how the first great sea-power of history
dealt with its fleets.

Comparatively few agricultural tools have survived, probably because
few were used; but some bronze sickles have been found. These are
not curved like the modern ones, but are bent at an angle, and
have a longer handle, so that the peasants would not be obliged
to bend down so much in the work of reaping. The figures on the
Harvester Vase carry a curious implement, which has been variously
described, according as those who deal with it believe the vase
to represent a triumphal march of warriors returning from battle
or a harvest procession. In the first case it is described as a
kind of trident with a hook attached to it, for the purpose of
grappling the rigging of an opponent's vessel; in the second, it
is looked upon as a common