Why change to the Spatha?

[john m roberts]

One of the sagas (I'm too lazy to look it up now) mentions a man who owned a sword with a finely ornamented silver hilt and a crap blade. He was so vain that he continued to carry it even after the blade had failed him in a fight. In a later combat, an enemy razzed him for it: "Still carrying the silver-hilted sword, I see!" Some fools cared more for good looks than for function (a not uncommon quality today).