The "gladius" was structurally robust, very light for its size and superbly balanced, possessed razor-sharp blades and strong triangular point. It could wreak fearsome carnage: Livy relates the reaction of the Macedonians to the results of an early cavalry skirmish in the 2nd Macedonian War (200-197 BC): " The Macedonians were used to the relatively limited wounds caused by arrows and spears, as their traditional enemies were Greeks and Illyrians. When they saw the horrendous injuries inflicted with the Spanish sword - arms hacked off at the shoulder, heads entirely severed, bellies ripped open and guts hanging out - they realised the kind of weapons and the sort of enemy that they were up against, and a wave of fear spread through their ranks."