;'ii^^lpftSSIIiSSSi4iliiis-'' ^ MASTER NEGA TIVE NO.93-81394 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of c« luiiie • ^terial. m f Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other production. One of these specified conditions is that th photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for a purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. iBS^ ^Mi^^^^; ^TFJ'T^^^i^Sf^!^^^ I-:- ^-^ - - ■ f ^•^'^^^^-'-'-2 t,-;--^' ■■■s^=^'^rg^^|§5S!^^3^^^^i^!^gEf A UTHOR : MAHAFFY, JOHN TLAND TITLE: GREEK LIFE. PLACE: NEW YORK DAT 18 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOG RAPHIC MICRO FORM TATinVT ^Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 394 U278 rl ^'^m7r' '^°^'' Pentland, 1939-1019 '■^^'i^- '''■'■ '^-^y- '.wvo*. 101 p. front., iiius fm^^. by J. R. Green Vic ("^story primers, ed. ureen. Classical antiquities. I) Restrictions on Use: r X P78i88 Master Negative # TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: jS^^'fJ__ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA UaT'iB IIB DATE FILMED: jT/^f^ '- INITIALS ^^^^^^^•- RESEARCH PUbTjcXttomq iNrr- u^^^pppfp^^-^:^ REDUCTION RATIO:. //^yc c Association for Information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue. Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 lUiliiiiiyiiluuii^^ ITT Inches ITT 1 5 iiiiiiliiiiiii I 1 I I I 7 8 iiliiiiliiiilii I I I I I I 3 1.0 I.I 1.25 MJ l^ III 2-8 |S6 1^3 115 3.2 3.6 4.0 1.4 10 n 12 13 jimmilmmm^^ 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 TTT 14 15 mm MPNUFnCTURED TO fillM STflNDRRDS BY fiPPLIED IMRGE, INC. tIB' 4 /f '''^^i^^\''''''^t'^^'fif'IV''y&'W'*W'''^'^'^.'V"'^~',,' "^ ^1 1 la Columbia (Huittf rsittp mtl)fCttprfitmigork THE LIBRARIES GIFT OF NELSON GLENN McCREA D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, New York. r I !»^. ^ I LOCKYER'S ASTRONOMY. ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY: Accompanied with numerous Illustrations, a Colored Repre- sentation of the Solar, Stellar, and Nebular Spectra, and Celestial Charts ol the Nortliern . and the Southern Hemisphere. By J. Norman Lockyer. American edition, revised and specially adapted to the Schools of the United States. 12;//^. 312 pages. Price, $1.50. The volume is as practical as possible. To aid the student m identifying the stars and constellations, the fine Celestial Charts of Arago, which answer all the purposes of a costly Atlas of the Heavens, are appended to the work— this being the only text-book, as far as the Publishers are aware, that possesses this great advantage. Directions are given for finding the most in- teresting objects in the heavens at certain hours on different evenings throughout the year. Every device is used to make the study interesting; and the Publishers feel assured that teachers who once try this book will l)e unwilling to exchange it for any other. D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, New^ York. r Ijistoru |lrimtrs. Edited by J. R. Green. Fig. I.— Portrait of Posidippus, a c^mic poet (showing the xirwv and iV^Twv, and the design of an old Greek chair, cf. §i 21,11.) \ CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES. I. OLD GREEK LIFE. BY J. R MAHAFFY, A.M. PROFESSOR OF ANXIENT HISTORY IN THE UMVERSITV oF DUBLIN. • I '. D. VEW Y'OPwK: APr].ETOy AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1880. "=ii3««4w*t ■> r.ae.^^'^\fi^M^\j/^.Xi^*A'i^t.''' -^t ^:,tnd iftdnov, and the design of an old Greek chair, cf. §) 2i,ij.;i f ^jistonr 'Jlrimcrs. Edited by J. R. Green CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES. I V I. OLD GREEK LIFE. BY J. P. MAHAFFY. A.M. PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY oP DUBLIN. D. VEW YORK: APP;.ETOy AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1880. O' ^^ /■■ • • w • ,' * V • • : •: « • » • • • • « • ■ * « • • •< ► •• • • • • • t • " » I • I • • • « t • • « t , 1 1 I • • ■ ' • • • . . . IS" i iworf tV-^ - '- _ " - ^sw^m^is^r^' w^ '\ Z f t CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE GREEK NATION CHAPTER II. MEN AND PROPERTY CHAPTER HI. THE GREEK AT HOME CHAPTER IV. PUBLIC LIFE OF THE GREEK CITIZEN . CHAPTER V. GREEK RELIGION AND LAW . . . PAGE 7 (5 62 8r LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAIT OF POSIDIPPUS Fnmiispiece. i'.AGE PLAN OF GREEK HOUSE j- GREAT TEMPLE OF P^ESTUM ^O PLAN OF BUILDING . 22 PORTRAIT STATUE OF SOPHOCLES z^j FEMALE FIGURE ... 47 PART OF EQUESTRIAN PROCESSION go i\ li OLD GREEK LIFE. CHAPTER I. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE GREEK NATION. ia±i! t I. Introduction. — There is no doubt that Greek history and Greek literature are very important for us to know, because there is hardly any people that ever lived upon the earth who worked so hard at politics, or who wrote so many excellent books and wrote them so well. These things are described in the Primers of Greek History and 1 jteiatiire which have been published in this series. But we cannot under- stand Greek history, or enjoy Greek books, without knowing something of the private life and ways of the people, their habits and customs, their business and their sports, their law and their religion. For while on many points they thought exactly as we do, on others their notions were quite different from ours. At Athens, for example, as among us, it was thought vulgar and ill-bred to hurry along the streets, or to talk at the top of one's voice, but on the other hand, if a gentleman w^as found going about without a walking stick he was presumed by the police to be disorderly, and imprisoned for the night. Again, while they \yere more careful than we are about the nurture and right education of children, they often threw out little 8 OLD GREEK LIEE, [chap. I.] FEATURES OF THE GREEK NATION. |«r I U:\ m it 1* infants to perish, if they thought tliat there were already enough in the house. The private hfe of the Greeks seems in fact to us a curious mixture of cruelty and kindness, of rudeness and refinement. We shall find, however, as we describe it, that both their life and temper had as distinct a character of their own as the life and temper of the nations which are around us nowadays. 2. General Characteristics of the Race. — As all the Greeks spoke the same tongue, and \yor- shipped the same gods, so they felt themselves distinct from all the people around them, whom they called barbarians. This national pride is one of the leading points in their history. They were justified in this feeling ; for in contrast to the other races of southern Europe, the pure Greek was often fair in colour, and of very regular and beautiful features. He grew up slower than his neighbours, and so his education was more deliberate, his vigour more lasting, and his old age more protracted than theirs. Even now the tra- veller in Greece is suq^rised by the exceeding fairness and beauty of the peoj^le, and by the number of fine old men whom he meets. The excellent climate of the country, along with very temperate habits, have made the Greeks a very healthy race ; and of this there is no better evidence than the rare mention of tooth- ache in Greek books, and the remarkable whiteness and regularity of the teeth of modern Greeks. 3. Their Quick Sympathies.— As we might expect from people in good health, they were happy in their teniper, and ever ready to enjoy themselves, while their own natural good taste and beauty made them keen judges of beauty in other things, and very impatient of ugliness. In fact they set so much store upon beauty^ that they were even known to worship it, and were usually disposed to think it the same thing as goodness, if not superior. If they wished to say of a man that he was a perfect gentle- man, they saitl he was *' fair and good " (kaXoKuya^ioc), meaning by/rt/r, not only fair in his conduct, but in his looks, and meaning hy good^ not only good in character, but in birth. They also speak of it as a curious thing, that Socrates was a great and a good man, though he was very ugly. But they were not wanting in quick sympathy for other things than beauty. They were always ready to laugh at a blunder, and to weep over a misfortune ; to be indignant at injustice, and amused at knavery \ to be awed by solemnity and tickled by absurdity. 4. Their Reasonableness. — No doubt these very quick sympathies would have constantly led them astray, but for the great reasonableness which was another strong point in the nation. They in- sisted upon discussing and understanding things, upon hearing both sides, and were generally satisfied to be led by the majority. It was this quality which made them, in politics, love councils and cities, and hate tyrants and solitude ; in art it made them love symmetry and proportion, and hate vagueness and display. It made them also in literature love clearness and moderation, and hate both bombast and sentimentality. These are the chief good points of the Greeks, and the causes why they were so great and renowned a people. But they had their faults also — faults which have remained in the nation to the present day. They always had a strong bent for power, and for money as the key to power, and were not scrupulous as to the means they employed to obtain either. They were not truthful but were ready to tell lies and to deceive for their own advantage. They were un- grateful, just as people are nowadays, and only a little less cruel than their barbarian neighbours. They were exceedingly jealous of others, and full of envy if beaten or outwitted by a rival. Though always war- ring, they were not very courageous ; they often cried before a battle, and ran away as soon as it began. So, 10 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. w IS like all other men, the Greeks possessed a mixture of good and bad qualities. 5. Special Features of particular Tribes.— Wlien we speak of the Greeks as one people, we must not forget that they were separated into many distinct tribes, and that these again occupied separate cities, countries, and islands, with separate laws, and often different manners and customs. Some of the Greeks were hardy mountaineers, some sailors and merchants, some shepherds and husbandmen. Tlie dialects of these people varied as much as that of Somersetshire does from the English spoken in the Highlands, or in the west of Ireland, and as they did not belong to one Em- pire as we do, their manners and customs were even more various. This makes it very hard to describe them, for what was approved in some places was thought wrong in others. Eor example, young girls used to join in athletic sports publicly at Sparta, whereas at Athens they were not even allowed out to see them. It is hard to tell whether such differences of manners were caused by difference of tribe, or by the force of circumstances. It is commonly thouLrht that the orian race was stern, hard, and conservative in its temper, that the Ionic was soft, pliant, and luxurious, while the .-Eolian and Achaean was to some extent like eacli of them. But this came to be believed be- cause the ])eople of Sparta, wlio were Dorians, were trained to these habits of silence, simplicity, and obedience by Lycurgus. Otlier Dorians, such as the Corinthians and Tarentines, had the very opposite character. So the lonians were blamed for luxury and cowardice, and yet no Greek cities showed more vigour and bravery in their day than Miletus and Athens. 6. Unity of Greek Life.— Still in general we may say that the Greeks who inhabited the rich colonies of Asia Minor and of Southern Italy, and who were moreover close to wealth v barbarians, were \ls 1 «.] FEATURES OF THE GI^EEK NATION. 11 more given to luxury and indulgence than those of the mother country, * which was ever nurtured along with poverty,' and so developed in them a spirit of bravery and freedom as the natural result of thrift and diligence. The character of their various dialects is said to bear out this opinion. But to this, as well as to the usual opinion about the various character of lonians, Dorians, and ^:olians, there remain many exceptions. There were also some mountainous districts, such as Acarnania, .Etolia, and parts of Arcadia, where the culture of the people stood far below that of the rest of Greece, though their language and general habits always caused them to be classed among Greeks, and not among barbarians. For in spite of all differences, there was ever a striking unity in the Greeks, which made them feel quite dis- tinct from all other people and quite superior to them ; and this feeling, like a sort of great freemasonry, was a bond which united the most distant Greeks, when- ever and wherever they met. Thus the merchants of Massilia in Gaul and Trapezus near the Caucasus, of Olbia on the Euxine, and Cyrene in Africa, met as fellow countrymen, and talkedto one another with ease, while the other nations of the earth held intercourse with difficulty. This is that unity of the Hellenic race of which Hellenes were so proud, unity which was shown in a common language, a common religion or religions, in great national feasts, and in a general contrast to all the other world as mere barbarians. Perhaps the most kindred feeling we now can compare with it, is that of all English-speaking people in all parts of the world, when they meet among foreigners, as they call those who speak any other tongue. The pride which they feel m their Anglo-Saxon race and language is not unlike the national spirit of the Greek. We see this unity of type most of all in Hellenic art. Their paintings and music are lost to us, but in the remams of their buildings and their sculpture, as W^ 12 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. I.] FEATURES OF THE GREEK NATION. 13 : P: II. I? ic well as in the forms of their poetry, there breathes a subtle spirit of excellence, a combination of grace and dignity, a union of the natural and the ideal, which makes them quite unapproachable. Anyone who has studied these masterpieces with care can at once detect even the closest imitations of the Romans, made under the direction and by the advice of later Greek artists. 7. Prevalence of City Life.— Whereas modern hfe is very much a country life, and we see all our plains and hills studded with farmsteads and well-kept houses, it was seldom so with ancient, as it is never so with modern, Greece. In old days the fear of pirates and plunderers, in later days the taste for talking and for politics, kept men from staying in the country, and brought them into the towns, where they found safety and society. I1ie tyrants alone insisted upon country life. Thus we find in Homer that out- lying farms belonging to the nobles were managed by trusty slaves, who grazed cattle, and stall-fed them for city use. In Hesiod's time it was the poor farmer only who dwelt in the country; fashionable and idle people always came together in the towns. The very same facts meet us when we read the Greek novels of the latest age, such as the Story of Daphnis and Chloe. There the rich citizens of Mitylene only come out rarely, hke many Irish landlords, to visit their tenants and their flocks. There are only two large instances of Greek gentry living from choice in the country. The first is that of the old Attic gentry, whom Thucydides and Aristophanes describe as living luxuriously on their estates, and coming seldom to Athens. The second is that of the gentry of Elis, who were often, Polybius says, complete strangers for generations to the town. This was so because Attica was protected by her forts and fleets from sudden attack in these early days, and because the Greeks by common consent respected the land of p:iis as sacred on account of the Olympic games. Accordingly, Xeno- phon, who was a sporf-man, settled in this country when he retired from his wars. But we must pay our chief attention to city life as the almost universal form of Greek society. 8. General appearance of the Greek Cities. — The older Greek towns were usually some miles from the sea, because many pirates went about the coasts. These towns grew out from a castle, or Acro- polis, which at first had been the only fortified refuge for the neighbouring people in times of danger. Of this we have a remarkable example in the very old ruins of Tiryns on the plain of Argos. When the population increased, they built their towns round this fort, and walled them in. But the Acropolis or hill fort, generally on some steep crag, was of course the strongest and safest part of the town. It was also the seat of the oldest temples, and of the god who took the town un.der his especial charge. Hence it was often a sacred place altogether, and not occupied with common houses. If the town prospered, there grew up at the nearest harbour a roadstead or seaport town, where merchants and sailors carried on their trade. Thus Athens with its Acropolis is three miles from the nearest sea, and more than four miles from the Peir?eus, which became its port because the har- bour was so excellent. The same may be said of Argos, Megara, and other towns. Thus Corinth had even two ports, one on either sea, and both at some miles distance from the great rock on which its citadel, the Acrocorinthus, was situate. Sparta alone had no citadel, because the passes into its plain were very difticult and easily defended. It had not even walls, out looked like a few mean villages close together. This was a remarkable exception. 9. The citadel was defended by walls, wherever the natural rock was not steep enough, and supplied with tanks for water, except in such rare cases as that of 2 H OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. m Corinth which has a rich fountain on the top of its great rock. If you looked down from any of these great citadels upon the town beneath, the most striking objects were always the temples and other public buikhngs which were meant to be admired from with- out, whereas the private houses were externally poor and shabby. So also the public squares and markets were large and imposing, often surrounded bv colon- nades and porticoes where people lay in the'sun or even slept at night. These colonnades were adorned with rows of statues ; but the streets were narrow and dirty. The great contrast to any modern city mus«- have been tirst of all the absence of all spires and pinnacles, as all Greek architecture ioved flat roofs and never built even in many storeys. Then the forest of modern chimneys was also absent— an advantage which may be held fully to make up for the absence of even splendid steeples. All private houses were flat and insignificant, for the Greek never intended his house to be admired from without, he merely meant to shut out the noise and the thorough- fare of the street, and spent all his care on inner comforts. I will describe the temples when we come to the public buildings of the Greeks, and will now begin by explaining the main points of an ordinary private house. lo. General Plan of the Greek House (cf. FiV 2.)— While we build our houses facing the street, with most of their ornament intended to be seen bv those who pass by, the Greek did all he could to shut out com- pletely all connection with the street. He never had groundfloor windows facing the street, and his bourse looked like a dead wall with a strong door in it fur- nished with a knocker and a handle {p6^r^ov and l^^n^ra- irrrjp) I his door opened outwards, which made it safer for those within, but when they were coming out they used to knock inside (4.o ' ^i^'-y f ^"^3!^^ -Great Temple of Pastum, near Salerno (built in pure Doric .si\'e about the Sixth Century, b.c , ' I.] FEATCRES OF THE GREEK NATION. 21 have been discovered. Among the most celebrated in old tmies were those of Hera at Samos, of Artemis at Ephesus, of Apollo at Delphi, and of Athene (the Parthenon) at Atiiens. All the temples were built upon sites which had long been sacred to a ood generally on 'high places" like those mentioned in the Old Testament. At first the gods had been wor- shipped in the form of rude stones, or of trees, some- times carved roughly into the form of an 'image. 'Ihere had been an altar before the god, but no covermg or temple. But when the Greeks be^-an to carve marble statues, and otter rich gifts to their ^^ods It was necessary to provide them with a suitable covering. 14- For this ])urpose they imitated in stone the ordi- nary wooden building, which is made by upri-ht posts, beams lying across these posts, and a slopfncr roof made by others meeting in a gable. The principle of the arch was not employed. This simple plan was enriched by multiplying the upri-ht supi)orts, and carving the surfaces and ends of the^ cross beams as well as by richly colouring the whole with blue red, and gilding. The result was the so-called Doric style of temple, which was varied, but not improved by what is called the Ionic, and afterwards by the Corinthian style of architecture. These three styles are distinguished by the treatment of the pillars, and of the entablature, or course of building immediately over the pillars. The Doric pillar (cf Fig. 3) rose straight from the pavement, without having, as the others have, a base of different pattern. The shaft is fluted, with a sharp line separating the grooves, and Js tolerably stout, in older temples only 4.^ of its' own diameters in height. It swells slightly (cVcm.s) in the middle. At the top is the widening plain capital (e'xTi'os) circular in shape, and over it a flat square block, or abacus (cf. Fig. 4.?). The broad beams join- ing the tops of the pillars are called the architrave, OLD GREEK LIFE [chap. i.J FEATURES OF THE GREEK NATION: T Shaft 2. Capinl. 3. Abacus. 4. Architrave. Fig. 4rt 5. Metope )p • „ 7. Cornice. 1*1 lii L_J._I_1_1_^! ^TrJC^ .^ Fig. 4/*. and represent the beams of wood which were used in the earUest building. Over these lay the beams, which ran down the building and formed the ceiling, and these showed their ends over the architrave. Accord- ingly the second course of the Doric entablature, called the frieze, has triglyphs, which represent the ends of the beams scored with grooves for ornament, and between them empty spaces called metopes (/icroTTat), which were however in stone temples covered with a slab of stone, and ornamented with figures. Over the frieze came the corniee, or projecting part of the entablature, and then the gable (aVrw/xa) which was filled with a flat triangular surface, or pediment, and usually adorned with sculpture. All the pillars and sculptures were painted with red, blue and yellow, and much gilding was used. The Ionic and Corin- thian orders diftered in the design of the capital, in the entablature, which they made a flat band to receive sculpture and painting, and in having a base for the pillars, and slender shafts with separated flutings (cf. Figs. 4/;, and 4^.). Greek temples might have pillars in front only (prostyle), at both ends (am- phiprostyle), all round (peripteral), as in Fig. 3, and even in two rows (dipteral), as in the temple of Olym- pian Zeus at Athens. These were the principal features, and are sufiicient to give a general idea of the structure of the temples. 15. It may be observed that Ionic pillars, though generally employed in Asia Minor, were seldom used in Greece except for small and highly ornamented tem- ples or for interiors, and that Corinthian pillars, which were not known before Alexander's time, only came into fashion with Roman building in Greece. While the outside of these temples was so splen- did, and the broad steps and colonnades so conve- nient for crowds of worshippers, the walled-in part (or cella) was simple and dark. It was generally divided into the antechamber (Trporaoc), the shrine i.,&^i,jui^j?. 0I-... . i-A^ri ^^1.1 'vrfi '" itr ^ t^ H OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. II.] MEN AND PROPERTY. 25 (r«oc), and the treasury, with other small rooms behind the shrine (oTrt-rOo'eo/xor). The shnne was covered only over the statue of the god, the rest was partly open, to allow incense and smoke of ofter- itvT to rise freely. The Greeks had also a strong fedincT that prayers should be offered under an open sky. "in large temples there was a colonnade msidc the cella wall, parallel to the outer pillars, and this supported the roof. Of the various gods and their feasts I will speak when we come to consider the Greek relii^ion. Similar in style to the temples were the colonnades and porticoes which were usually built round market-places, and along quays in seaport towns. . . i6. Forts and Walls.— These were not imita- tions of woodwork, and were not built tor ornament, but merely for solidity, originally of huge natural blocks of stone, piled together as they would fit best. This sort of building is called Cyclopean, and at Tiryns we have even covered passages in a very thick wall with windows constructed in this rude way. ue find then a more advanced stage called poly^omif building in which the stones were cut partially, but not squared, and fitted with the aid of small stones, otten with rubble inside. But some of these polygonal walls are so carefully fitted that the joinings are hard to find, as we find in a wall at Megara. This close fitting without mortar, when the stones were cut square and merely clamped with iron or lead, is the general cha- racteristic of the best Greek walls, such as those of Eleuthera3, Phvl^e, and Messene, where the most smooth cutting, and the most accurate fitting, have made the Greek forts almost imperishable from natural decay. This sort of wall building has been particu- larly described by Thucydides as employed to fortify the Pin-eus, but in this case the work was deliberately destroyed, and hardly a trace now remains. f CHAPTER II. MEN AND PROPERTY. 17. The Greek Citizen. — Having now described the cities and buildings, it is time to approach the jjeople that lived in them more closely. We will begin with an average citizen of full age, and after explaining his manner of life, will regard other members of society in their relation to him. The Greek states recognized no other person than the citizen as a member of the body politic, and all laws and enactments were made with reference to his rights and his demands. There were of course times and places, when a tyrant or a few nobles ruled, and where the mass of the citizens had no public duties. But even there trade, gossip, and gymnastics filled up the day. In Sparta, too, silence and extreme modesty were taught to the young, and when even in conversation men were taught to ponder a long time, and then give utterance to their thoughts in the shortest and pithiest shape, somewhat like what we find described at state meetings of North American Indians. But this must be looked on as an excep- tional case, and all over the rest of Greece, ordinary life was much more like the life lived at Athens, than the life lived at Sparta. 18. How he usually spent his day. — The Greeks learned the division of the day into twelve hours from Babylon, and Plato is said to have invented a water-clock marking the hours of the night in the same way. But in ordinary life, according to the old fashion, a night and the following day were regarded as one whole (I'vxOfJiJLepov) and divided into seven parts. There were three for the night, one (tairepoc) when the lamps were lit, the next the dead hours of 3 26 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. II.] MEN AND PROPERTY. 27 I m the night {\iinai »'1'kt£(), and then the dawn (o/;0(jos) when the cocks begin to crow. The day was divided into four : early morning (Trpwt), the forenoon when the market-place began to fill {rtpt 7rX)]tioviTai' ayofjuv^, the midday heat (r/]c ^c(T/y/Li/3/u%v-W,itSi^'S!!^i£t^eniia%>X«*rn!! JO OLD GREEK LIFE. FCHAP. II.] MEN AND PROPERTY, 31 dress, the Greeks seem to have usually gone about their cities bareheaded. In case of bad weather, they put on a fur or leather cap {k\3v^) fitting closely to the head, and this was commonly worn by slaves. They also used in travelling, to keep off the sun's heat, broad- brimmed felt hats (Wraaoc, inXicioi'), very like our ' wide-awakes ' in form. They were often barefooted, but also wore ornamented slippers (t^pa^ts) at home, and in the streets sandals strapped with elegant thongs. In hunting or war, buskins (kudoproi) of various kinds, reaching high on the leg, were adopted. If we add a walking-stick (/3afc:T»y^m), which up to the time of Demosthenes was even obligatory at Athens, and was always carried at Sparta, and a seal-ring (aotia) were not so much esteemed as the various sea-fish (including shell-fish), with which the Greek waters abound. There vvas, moreover, a great trade in salt fish, not only from the Black Sea, but even from the coasts of Spain. 25. While the fish market, the cheese market, and the vegetable market are constantly mentioned at Athens, we seldom hear of butchers or a meat market. The eating of meat must have been almost confined to sacrificial feasts, for in ordinary language butcher's meat was called victim (lepriov), and opposed to game (drfpa). As of old they ate beef, mutton, kid, and pork, also salting the latter and making it into sau- sages. Of game, the hare was the most esteemed. Fowls were in common use, and of wild birds the thrush was thought the greatest delicacy. Eggs were usual, but butter scarce, its place being chiefly supplied (as is now the case in Greece) by olive oil. The cooking of all these materials became more and more elaborate as luxury increased, so that the profession of cook as- sumes a strange importance in the comedies, which depict to us later Greek society. 26. Of his Drink.— The old Greek, like his modern descendants, was very fond of good water, and prized it highly, though Greek towns were often badly supplied with water for other purposes. The cooling of water, and of other drinks, with snow was well understood. Next to water, milk must have been in the oldest times his principal drink. But cow's milk was not liked, and even regarded unwholesome, as the modern Greeks consider both it and butter. The first milk (beastings, ttvoc, Trvpinrt]) of goats and sheep was prized, but in general all milk was used for cheese, just as is now the case among Greek 1 II.] MEiV AND PROPERTY. 33 -r shepherds. The use of wine was early and universal. It was distinguished as to colour — black, the strongest and sweetest, white the weakest, and golden (ktp^(>s) which was dry, and thought most wholesome. It was also distinguished by the place of its growth and its age, but not as French wines are by the special year of the vintage, a distmction still, I think, unknown in Greece and Sicily. The rocky islands and coasts, many of them of volcanic soil, produced the best wine. It was made with great care ; the first juice which ran from the press before treading being thought the best, and the pressed grapes being used to make a common wine or vinegar. It was often boiled, and mixed with salt water for exportation, often made aromatic by various herbs and berries, and preserved in great jars of earthenware, sealed with pitch. When to be used, it was often strained and cooled with snow, and always mixed with a good deal of water. Half-and-half was the strongest mixture allowed among respectable people, and the use of pure wine was rejected as low and dangerous, and only fit for northern l>arbarians. In the i)resent day the wines of Greece, which are strong, are distasteful to the natives and even to travellers without water, and this natural consequence of a southern climate is increased by the strong flavour of fir-tree resin, which the Greeks add to almost all their wines. 27. Of his General Property.— All Greek pro- perty was divided both according to its use, and also according to its nature. If it was such as merely produced enjoyment to the owner it was called idle (apyoi) ; if it was directly profitable, it was called useful or fruitful (n'tpyoV, xPV^^Hoi'). But this distinction is less often mentioned than that into visi/^/e and invisibie property (oi/am (ftavepa and aarrji), which nearly corre- sponded to our division into rea/ and pcrstmal pro- perty. But the Greeks included ready money, lodged at a banker's, as a part of real property. Its principal 1^1 -^ ws aB^»!»P5;w^^r«3»»r-' 34 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. n.] MEN AND PROPERTY. 35 kind, however, was of course landed property (iyyttoc (nana), as well as town houses, country faims, and sometimes mining property held under perpetual lease from the state. Of all these public accounts were kept, and when special taxes were required they were paid on this kind of property and according to this estimate. Personal or invisible property consisted of all movables, such as furniture, factories, changes of raiment, cattle, and above all slaves, who were em- ployed in trades as well as in household work. In days of war and of heavy taxing it was common for the Greeks to ' make away with ' their property (aai'L^€tt' Tip' ovaiai) which then meant, not to spend it, but to make it invisible property, that is, invisible to the state, and therefore not taxable. 28. Of Landed Property. — At every epoch of Greek history land was considered the best and the most imj)ortant kind of wealth, and the landholder enjoyed privileges and rights not allowed to other men, however rich. This arose from the earlv form of Greek society. It is clear in Homer that the nobles possess the greater part of the land as their private property, and much of even the kings* wealth was made up of estates. These were also presented to public benefactors and other distinguished persons. What land was possessed by the common people can only be judged from Hesiod, who describes what we should call tenant farming — the occupying of small pieces of land in poverty, without telling us whether it was freehold or rented from the nobles. It was probably the former, at least in Rceotia, where we can imagine the rough slopes unoccupied of old as they now are, or covered with trees. These farms could be held by anyone who had the perseverance to clear and till them. In later days, when aristocracies prevailed, they also took for themselves the lands, so much so that at Syracuse and elsewhere they were called 'the land-sharers' (ya/iopot) as opposed to labourers and tradespeople. In some states, such as Sparta, it was said that the nobles, or conquering race, divided the land so as to leave the greater portion in equal lots for themselves to be worked by their slaves or fdependants, and a smaller portion to the former owners, who were obliged to pay a rent to the state. But of course no such equality of lots, if ever car- ried out, could last. In all states we find the per- petual complaint that property had come into the hands of a itw, while the many were starving. The Athenians met this complaint by allotting the lands of islands and coasts which they conquered among their poorer citizens, who retained their rights at Athens while holding their foreign possessions {K\ij()ov\iat). 29. Land was either ^tX;/, bare or arable land, or 7revT€vfiiir], planted with trees. There were also stony mountain pastures, called in Attica cfaWilg or cf>eX\ta, and generally ia^uTUii. In historical days, all these lands were either let by the state on leases, usually for ever (as was especially the case with mines), or were similarly let by political and religious cor- porations, or were worked by private owners for their own benefit by means of stewards and slaves. Such country farms are often mentioned in lists of property by the orators. The main produce has already been described (§ 24). We have no means of fixing the value of landed property in Greece, as we generally hear of prices without being told of the amount of land in question. But the low average of the actual prices mentioned in Attica points to a great subdivision of such property. 30. Of House Property. — As was before ob- served, the older Greek houses built in narrow irregu- lar streets were of little value, being very plain and without any ornament. Leotychides, who was king of Sparta in B.C. 500, could not contain his wonder at a ceiling panelled in wood, which he saw at Corinth, OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. and Demosthenes tells us that the houses of the most celebrated Athenians at the same period were so modest as to be in no way different from those of their neighbours. Such houses, which remained the ordi- nary fashion all through (ireek history, were of course not very valuable, and we hear of one worth only three mina; (about £^\ 2 of our money), of another at Eleusis worth hve, and Demosthenes speaks of what he calls a little house worth seven (about j[,2Z^. But we know that Alcibiades and other fashionable men of his time began to decorate their houses with paintings — a fashion which l)ecame quite common at Tanagra later on ; this and other improvements raised the price of some houses to forty or fifty minx, and the rich banker, Pasion, possessed one which was let in lodiiincfs and which was rated at 100. 31. All these prices are very low when compared witli our standard, and can only be explained by the fact that at Athens, which was probably the most crowded and the dearest place in Greece, the cir- cuit of the walls was greater than that recjuired for the houses, so that there was always building ground to spare. It appears that Athenian citizens did not invest more than the fifth part of their pro- perty in dwelling-houses, unless they kept them for letting out. A house let to many tenants was called not okm but (TviviKia, and its manager, whether the owner, his steward, or a middle man who rented it from him, was called mvi^Xrjoog, and the rent, lai'Aor. The ordinary rent of country houses in Attica was from eight to eight and three quarters per cent, of the total value, which is about the same that a builder now expects for the money he invests in houses. But when we reflect that the ordinary rate of interest was not five per cent, as among us, but twelve, we have another proof that houses and house-rent were cheap in Greece. But we should also remember the fact that as most of the day was spent abroad, the house was by no II.] MEJV AND PROPERTY. 37 A I Y ii^cans so important as it is in our colder and harsher climate. 32. Of Mining Property.— As to the other kinds of real property, that which we know most about, and which was perhaps the most important, was mining property. There were gold and silver mines in many parts of Greece, of which those of Thasos (gold) and Laurium (silver) are the best known. Both these were probably discovered by the Phoenicians. We are told that the Athenian state used to let the right of mining on leases for ever, for a fine at the outset, of which we cannot tell the amount, and a rent of four per cent, on the profit. The shafts in pits were thus divided into lots, and the holder of the lease could sell it, or borrow money upon it, just as upon any other real property. Owing to the fixed yearly rent or tax upon the produce of the mine, the occasional taxes (d(r6^jai) were not levied on this kind of property. There were officers appointed to watch the working of the mines and see that the rent was honestly paid, just as we have excise officers constantly super- vising distilleries, in order to see the taxes properly paid. The produce of the mines of Taurium was a great source of wealth to Athens ; just as the gold mines of Thrace were an important gain to Philip of Macedon. This was especially the case, because they were worked not by free labour, which is subject to strikes and the raising of wages, but by slaves bought and hired out for that purpose. 33. Of Personal or Movable Property.— Money. — By far the most important part of per- sonal property was the possession of slaves and of ready money. There is indeed some doubt among Greek writers about the classing of the latter, and generally we find the money left by a citizen in bank counted as a part of his real property in the law courts. There can be no doubt that gold and silver were very scarce in Greece up to the time of the 58 OLD GREEK LIFE, [chap. Persian wars, the first large quantities bemg pre- sents from the I.ydian and other Asiatic kings. Even in later days great fortunes were not frequent, and the Greeks always kept much of their wealth in- vested in slaves and in vessels of gold and silver or plate, as we shoukl call it. These latter are always specially mentioned in inventories of property, and the ready money seems always a small fraction of the full value in these lists. States, on the other hand, kept large reserve funds of ready money, because of this general scarcity of it among private citizens, and the difficulty of borrowing it during a sudden crisis. Accordingly the ordinary rate of interest obtained on money was twelve i)er cent., which was of course greatly increased when the investment was risky. Thus it was very common to lend money to a ship- owner in order to enable him to lay in a cargo, and carry it to a foreign port. But as the money was lost if die ship foundered the lender expected twenty-five or thirty per cent, in case of its safe return. We are told tliat most of the trade in the PiiKus was carried on in this way. Investments on the security of landed property, or of an established trade were, of course, safer, and therefore made at a lower rate of interest. 34. The oldest banks in Clreece had been the tem- ples, in which all manner of valuables were deposited for safety. The priests had also been in the habit of lending money, especially to states, upon public secu- ritv. IJut in later days we find banking, especially at Athens, altogether a matter of private speculation. A banking office was called rpnTreHa, originally the table of a money-changer, and there accounts were kept in books by careful and regular entries. These private bankers often failed, and such failure was politely called rramuij^i//^i,^ /lis table {iii'afTKtvnCtffdat rt)p rfmire^av). There was once an Athenian banker called Pasion, who had been originally a slave, but who received the freedom of tlie city, and was enrolled in one of the n.] MEN AND PROPERTY. 39 t t most important dcmcs, because his bank had stood firm when all the rest failed, and he had thus sustained the public credit. We are told that letters from his house gave a man credit when travelling through all the Greek waters, as all the merchants had dealings with him, and he doubdess issued circular notes, like those of Coutts' and other English banks, for the benefit of travellers. 35. Of the coinage of money I will speak hereafter. Though the Phoenicians, especially at Carthage, had invented the use of token money, like our notes, such a device was, as a rule, unknown to the Greeks, who did not advance beyond the use of formal bonds for the payment of money. We are told however that the peoi)le of Byzantium used iron money in this way. 36. Of Slaves. — It is difficult for us to put our- selves in the place of the ancients as regards slaves. They were looked upon strictly as part of the chattels of the house, on a level rather with horses and oxen than with human beings. No Greek philosopher, however humane, had the least idea of objecting to slavery in itself, which was, AristoUe thought, quite necessary and natural in all society ; but there were Greeks who objected to other Greeks being enslaved and thought that only barbarians should be degraded to this condition. Hence, any Greek general who sold his prisoners of war as slaves, was not indeed thought guilty of any crime or injustice, but was sometimes considered to have acted harshly. Still a vast number of Greeks who might have been brought up in luxury and refinement, were doomed to this misfortune, in early days, by the kidnapping of pirates, as Homer often tells us • in later, through the many fierce civil wars ; in both, by being taken up as foundlings, since the ex- posing of children was common, and most states allowed the finder to bring up such infants as his slaves. Frequently the men of captured cides were massacred, but in almost all cases the women and children were >^- b*^.^»'i ^s,-; ^ ' ^"^^ ^.Jsl._~ r^'- i *& 40 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. sold into slavery (cf. § 102. ) There were some parts of Greece, such as Laconia and Thessaly, in which old con- quered nations were enslaved under the conditions of what we call serfdom. They were attached to the land of their master, and supported themselves by it, payins? him a very lar^e rent out of the produce. These serfs, called by many names, helots at Sparta, penestce in Thes- saly, ciarohv in Crete, were also obliged in most places to attend their masters as lightarmed soldiers in war. J hat they were subject to much injustice and oppres- sion IS clear from the fact that they repeatedly made fierce and dangerous insurrections, and a writer on the Athenian state significantly complains that such was the license allowed at Athens to slaves, that thev actually went about dressed almost like free men, and did not show any fear or cringing when you met them m the street. 37- Still though slaves were on the whole better treated at Athens than elsewhere,they were always liable to torture in case their evidence was required, as it was common for the accused to ot^er his slaves* evidence n he was suspected of concealing any facts which they knew, and they were not believed without torture So also the respectable and pious Nicias let them out bv thousands to be worked in the Laurian silver mines where the poisonous smoke and the hardships were such that half the price of the slave was paid yearly by the contractor who hired them-in other words, if they ived three years Nicias received one and a half times the value of his slaves. The contractor was also obliged to restore them the same in number, no regard being had of the individual slave. Again, we find women slaves deliberately employed by their masters in the worst kmds of traftic. The general price of slaves was not high and seems to have averaged about two minifi under (^«) ; even in the case of special accomplishments it did not often exceed ten minae. Thev wore a tunic with one sleeve, and a fur cap, in fact the dress of the lower n] MEN AND PROPERTY. 41 4 class country people. On their occupation in trades, and of their chances of freedom. I shall speak by and by 38. Of Cattle.-The most important domestic animal in Greece, as in the rest of Europe, was the horse. .Among the Homeric nobles, who went both to war and to travel in chariots, the use of horses was ^ ery great and one Trojan chief is said to have pos- sessed a drove of 3,000. Ant one horse each as a state duty. We know that e vety cheapest price for a bad horse was three mina=- ho ,1'nnf-^'' T'u "1'"" ^'^^ ^^■^^''^Se for a good slave, S iL '" ^ ^^^ '' '■"■«^ '"'"• T«-elve minae seem about the average price for an ordinary cob The enormous and perfectly exceptional sum of hirteen ' Buclnhafu- '°T '"" ''"" '"'" """^ "^'-''-"ler-s horse breJ^l ; x\ 'if'T^ 7^^ °"'^ "^^-^ °'"a special hro^H """"^'"'V") called oxhcadal, from their short and The ' r nf "'"'^■' f '• "'"^'^ ''^'^ celebrated in Thessaly. O her good breeds came from Sicvon Cyrene, and Sicily, and were marked with letters such [ ■ H i ■ nwyiinPi i wn OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. 42 a.-, the old s (c) and k, and called aa^c^opat or KOTrTrartac. These letters may possibly refer to Sicyon ai\d Kyrene, as Cyrene was then written. On the whole horses in Greece were rather an expense than a source of w^ealth. 39. For draught purposes and for travelling with l)acks, much greater use was made of mules and donkeys, especially of the former, as is still the case all over Greece. We have no certain knowledge as to the prices i^iven for these animals. The history of the use of^oxen is, on the other hand, much better known. In Homeric times, and before the use of coined monev, prices were fixed by the number ot oxen a thing 'would cost, and this old practice is preserved in the Latin word pccitnia (from peats) for money, and in the English y^v*. But according as men, and with them farming, in- creased, so much land was withdrawn from pasture that few more oxen were kept than what were wanted for field-work and for sacrifices. Beef was thought heavy diet, except in Boeotia ; and cow's milk" was never much liked by the Greeks. In out-of-the-way i>arts of Greece, such as Euboea and Epirus, there were still large herds, and this was also the case about Orchomenus ; but in general we hear that hides and even cattle were imported from the Black Sea and from Cyrene. The price of an ox at Athens in Solon's time is said to have been 5 drachmae (4*'.), though much more was sometimes given. Tliis was not so much on account of the l>lenty or cheapness of oxen, as owing to the scarcity of coined money all through Greece. Accordingly about the year 400 B.C. we find the price greatly increased, and ranging from 50 to 80 drachmae. An ox fit for a prize at games was valued at 100 (£^i i8y.). 40. We are told that in Solon's days an ox was worth five sheep, but probably in later days the difference was greater, for, while oxen became scarce, the feeding II.] MEN AND PROPERTY. 43 It i of sheep and goats must at all times have been a very common employment throughout Greece. Even in the present day, the traveller can see that from a country for the most part Alpine, with steep ravines and cliffs and wild upland pastures, unfit for culture and difficult of access, no other profit could ever be derived. But now, in the day of its desolation, shepherds with their flocks of sheep and goats have invaded many rich districts, once the scene of good and prosperous agriculture. 41. The old Greek peasant dressed in sheepskins, made clothes of the wool, used the milk for cheese and the lambs for feasting and sacrifice. We hear of no im- porting of wool into Greece, but find that the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor, such as Miletus and Laodicea, were most celebrated for fine woollen garments, which they made of the wool of the flocks of Mysia and Phrygia. Many districts all over Greece were also famed for their woollen stufts, so much so that the wcollen cloaks of Pallene were given as prizes to victors in some of the local games. Perhaps Arcadia has remained the least chnnged part of Greece in this and in other respects. Even now the shepherds go up in summer with great flocks to the snowy heights of Cyllene, and live like Swiss peasants in chalets during the hot weather. In winter they come down to the warm pastures of Argos and Corinth, where a tent of skins under an old olive tree affords them sufficient shelter, with a hedged-in inclosure pro- tected by fierce dogs for their flocks. Such inclosures and even stalls are mentioned in Homer. The price of a sheep at Athens in the fourth century B.C. seems to have varied from 10 to 20 drachmae, its chief value being the quality of the wool. There is nothing very special known about goats, which were kept, as they now are, very much in the same way as sheep, and their hair used for making ropes and coarse stufts. 44 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. 43. In the same way we know little of pigs, beyond that their hides were used for rough coats, and that Homer's heroes were very fond of pork. W'e hear of large droves being kept in the mountainous parts of Arcadia, Laconia, and .-l^:toIia, where they fed on the acorns in the oak woods. Fowls were not a usual article of diet, and are therefore not prominent in our accounts of Greek property. The cock is spoken of as a Persian bird, the pheasant as a Colchian, and peacocks were an object of curiosity at Athens in Pericles' day. The culture of bees, on the other hand, was ot great importance, as it took the place of the sugar i)lantations of our day— all sweetmeats beincr flavoured with honey. That of Hymettus was, and is still, the best in Cireece, though that mountain is very barren, and only produces very small wild plants which, however, flower freely. ' 43. General Estimate of Greek Property.— It seems certain that the greatest part of the wealth of the (;reeks consisted in these out-of-door posses- sions, which were managed bv slave stewards and shepherds for their masters, if they lived in the city 1 here is reason to think that thev neither laid up much money in banks, nor kept any great treasures in the way of changes of raiment, like the Orientals nor in furniture and works of art, like the Romans and moderns. But owing to the many wars and in- vasions, this agricultural wealth was precarious, and liable to sudden destruction. House i)ropertv, a-ain which in walled towns was pretty safe, is Vrom its own nature perishable. Private wealth therefore was not great on the average, and the splendid monu- ments ot Cireek art m its best days were all the re- sult of public spirit and not of private enterprise or bounty. A fortune of ^50,000 in all kinds of property is the extreme limit we know of and IS spoken of much as ^5,000,000 would be now-a-days. III.] THE GREEK A T HOME. ♦ ♦ 4 45 44- Having now considered the dwellings, daily habits, and property of the Greek in themselves, we will describe his relation to his fellows— first of all to his household, his wife, children, and servants ; then to his fellow-citizens in business and pleasure, and to his gods in the exercise of his religion ; and lastly his notions of law and justice. CHAPTER HI. THE GREEK AT HOME. 45. General Features of the Greek House- hold.— While the citizen prized above all things his liberty and his rights as a member of the state— a feeling which produced in many cases a citizen demo- cracy—this principle was unknown within the house- hold, in which he was a despot, ruling absolutely the inferior members, who had no legal grades except as distinguished into free and slaves. The laws were very cautious about interfering with his rights, and he was permitted to exercise much injustice and cruelty without being punished. If in such a case he was murdered by his dependants, the whole household of slaves was put to death, unless the culprit was detected. Nor could a household exist (except per- haps in Sparta) without the master. If he died, his widow became again the ward of her father or eldest brother, or son ; and so strongly was this sometimes felt that men on their deathbeds betrothed their wives to friends, who were likely to treat them and their orphan children with kindness. Of course clever women and servants often practically had their own wa\', and ruled their lord or master j but the theory of 46 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. I the Greek home was nevertheless always that of an absolute monarchy, if not a (lesi)otism. 46. The Lady of the House— her Dress.— There were two distinct styles of female dress pre- valent. The first was the Dorian, which was noted for its simplicity. Unmarried girls at Sj^arta often wore but a single light garment {x"-'^''^'^^') fostened with clasps down the sides— a dress much criticized by their neighbours. Over this was the Doric TreVAoc, fastened on the shoulders with clasps, and leaving the arms bare (cf. Fig. 6). The lonians wore a long Tinen chiton with sleeves, which reached down to the ground, and over it a large flowing wrapper (/>aricir and ^fiTTExoyr}) fastened with a girdle, worn high or low according to fashion ; whereas the other band called (TTpuLoi' was worn under the x^to/i', and took the place of modern stays. As a general rule, un- married women confined their hairdressing to mere artistic arrangement of the hair itself, while married women wore bands, fillets, nets, and coronets. Dye- ing the hair was not uncommon, and the fashion- able colour was auburn, or reddish fair hair. Women's shoes were very carefully made, and they carried fans and parasols, as may be seen in the terra-cotta figures so common in our museums. Both sexes wore rin^-s, but in addition the women wore earrings, armlets, and ankle-rings, generally of gold. These were the orna- ments against which lawgivers made enactments, and which were forbidden or discouraged in days of trouble or poverty. The ornaments of one rich lady are spoken of as worth 50 mina^ (about £19$)^ a very large sum in those days. Tlie ordinary colour of women's dress was white, but saffron cloaks, and even flowered patterns, are mentioned. 47. Her Duties.— The constant outdoor life of the Greek gentleman, his many occupations in poli- tics, and campaigns in war, must have made a III. J THE GREEK A T HOME. 4*/ I J Fig. 6.-FemaIe figure (Car^'atid) in the long ,..«;., and ovc itth' Done -ni-nXaq. -mmma. ■^ i K^.'«-»J»"?Q**J^ ■^ - ■ ' 45 OLD GREEK IJEE. [chap. III.J the Greek home was nevertheless always that of an absohite monarchy, if not a despotism. 46. The Lady of the House— her Dress.— I'here were two distinct styles of female dress pre- valent. The first was the 'Dorian, which was noted for Its simplicity. Unmarried girls at S])arta often wore but a single light garment (xtrwi-toi') fastened with clasps down the sides— a dress much criticized by their neighbours. Over this was the Doric W;rAoc-, fastened on the shoulders with clasps, and leaving the arms bare (cf. Fig. 6). The lonians wore a long Tinen chiton with sleeves, which reached down to the ground, and over it a large trowing wrapper {'i^v'nwv and ufimxnrtj) fastened with a girdle, worn high or low acconling to fashion; whereas the other 'band called (Trpucf>ioi' was worn under the x^rwr, and took the place of modern stays. As a general rule, un- married women confined their hairdressiiiL,^ to mere artistic arrangement of the hair itself, white married women wore bands, fillets, nets, and coronets. Dye- ing the hair was not uncommon, and the fashion- able colour was auburn, or reddish fair hair. Women's shoes were very carefully made, and they carried fans and ])arasoIs, as may be seen in the terra-cotta figures so common in our museums. Both sexes wore rings, but in addition the women wore earrings, armlets, and ankle-rings, generally of gold. These were the orna- ments against which lawgivers made enactments, and which were forbidden or discouraged in days of trouble or poverty. The ornaments of one rich' lady are spoken of as worth 50 minai (about ^^195), a very large sum in those days. Tiie ordinary colour of women's dress was white, but saffron cloaks, and even flowered patterns, are mentioned. 47. Her Duties.— The constant outdoor lite of the (;reek gentleman, his m:iny occupations in poli- tics, and campaigns in war, must have made a yy/E GREEK AT HOME. 4'/ f Fig. 6.-FemaIe figure (Can'atjd) in t>ie long ,..^.. and ovc: lUl" Doric ir.irXoj. I a8 OLD GREEK LIFE. [CHA^ III.] THE GREEK AT HOME. 49 viTh«';;igriaUtles for J-eJ,npona„t duues ™'^»J"^ . , ^he chooses in public, ana LTn"c^;rranopinbn which is respected on pub c Ss In cultivated Athens, on the contrary, she tas only taught spinning and cooking, and w rude medicine might be wanting for ^1- trea men of her household in trifling illness One ot ner main dutks was always the weighing out of wool The women slaves, and her own working at the oom" If a lady of the Ws'-^'--; ^Jf/J^: re suDDOsed to appear to male visitors, but only saw ner advf lends ami her nearest male -latives m her own house She seldom went out, except ei her to the funeral of a near relation or to some religious pro- ces [on and sacrifice. Thus the ">^- ^ n Wa varied from a freedom as great as need be m Spa ta to a life of seclusion and neglect at Athens. Other states may have held an intermediate position. As KeTinted dignity and liberty of ladies ,n Horner it is to be remarke.l that he speaks of the wives and daughters of reigning princes, who probably re- tained the same importance in historical Greece, wherever they were to be found. For example, ans- ocratic ladiel such as Cimon's sister, Elpmice were unrestrained, even at Athens, and «ent whe e they rhose This was also the case everywhere with the poor people, who could not artbrd to keep their ^v°ves and^d^ighters in the idleness and the restraint unfortunately so fashionable in higher life. a8 Her Rights.-In Homeric days we find the old barbarous custom still surviving of buying a girl SI her father for a wife, and this was commonly done, unless the father himself offered her as a comi^liraent. The father, however, usually gave her an outfit from the price he received for her. In case of a separation this outfit came back to the father, but he was also obHged to restore the price he had received for his daughter. She does not appear to have had any legal rights whatever. In later days the custom of paying money was reversed, and the husband received with his wife a dowry, which was regarded as common property with his own, so long as she lived with him. In case of separation or divorce, this dowry had to be repaid to her father, and at Athens i8 per cent, was charged upon it in case of delay in repayment. In many states to marry a second wife during the life of the first was against the prac- tice, and probably the law, of the Greeks, but concu- bmage was tolerated and even recognized by them, though a married woman had at Athens a right to bring an action for general ill-treatment (ct'o; K-afcwo-ewc) against her husband, in which she was obliged to appear and give evidence in person. The dowry seems to have been partly intended as a useful obstacle to divorce, which required its repayment, but we find that heiresses made themselves troublesome by their airs of importance, and this is referred to in (ireek literature, in which men are frequently advised not to marry above them in wealth or connections. As all citizens were considered equal in birth, and as marriages with aliens were illegal and void, we do not hear of advice to young men not to marry beneath them. To marry a poor citizen girl was always considered a good deed, and is commended as such. 49. Wedding Customs. — Though marriage among the Greeks was recognized thoroughly as a civil contract, for the purpose of maintaining the household, and raising citizens for the state, yet a religious solemnity was considered by them not less essential to its dignity than by us, and though this cere- mony was not performed by an official priest, it consisted *1MMF««. 50 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. I* in prayers and offerings to the gods who presided over marriage I hese were generally Zeus, Hera, Aphro- dite, and Artemis, but many local flishions existed, bo also the full moon and the winter season were generally but not everywhere preferred. A bath in the most sacred water of the district was thou-ht necessary before the union, by way of purification. Omens were carefully observed, and votive offerin-s dedicated to the gods. The preliminaries closed with a solemn sacrifice and feast combined (./.orAaa), at which the bride was present, closely veiled, with her female friends. This was often a large dinner party for we find laws restricting the number to thirty and complaints of the bad taste of much display. She was then brought in solemn procession late in the evening to her husband's house, generally on a carnage, with the bridegroom and his best man sittin- at either side of her. Both were covered with Lrar° lands and perfumed, while the Hymenxus ormarriacrg song was sung by the company to the sound of harps and flutes. The bride's mother had the special duty of carrying a torch behind the carriage, while the bru egroom's mother received them torch in hand at his door. The bride brought with her some household utensils, and was presented with others and vvith sweetmeats, on her arrival. The next morn- ing the marrie.l pair separated for a day (a;ra.',A,a) and the bridegroom slept at the house of his father- in-law, when the bride sent him a j)resent of a garment. Then only the young couple were to receive their friends, who offered congratulations and wedding-presents, which were called a, a.aX..r,',o.a, ecause the br.de unveiled herself to her friends on tnat clay. Such were the general customs of a Greek marriage, but many old and rude habits survived m various places. Of these the most primitive was r.r vSk^T-,'''1'''^^''^ bridegroom pretended to carr> off his bride by violence, and visited her secretly III] THE GREEK AT HOME. 51 for some time even after his marriage. This mar- riage by capture is still common among savages, and points to a ruder state of life than the marriage by purchase, which was common in Homer's time. 50. Of the Birth and Treatment of Infants. — When a child was born in the house, it was usual in Attica, and probably elsewhere also, to hang a wreath of olive in case of a boy, a fillet of wool in case of a girl, over the door. This served as an announcement to friends and neighbours. Greek law permitted the parents absolutely to dispose of it as their property, and there was no provision against exposing it, which was often done in the case of girls, in order to avoid expense. These exposed children if found and brought up, became the slaves of the finder. But on the other hand, the laws showed special favour to the parents of large families. If a child was not exposed, there followed on the fifth day a solemn purification of all the people in the house, and on the seventh a sacri- fice, when the relations assembled and the child was named, generally after parents and grand-parents, sometimes by reason of special wants or fancies— in fact on the same principles which we follow in christening our children. There is no evidence until the later Macedonian times that birthday feasts were held yearly : and Epicurus' direction that his should be kept after his death was thought very peculiar. Children of rich people were often nursed by hired nurses— an employment to which respectable Athenian citizens were reduced in the hard times at the end of the Peloi)onnesian war. But a Lacedaemonian nurse was specially valued, and often bought at a great price among prisoners, as they were famed for bringing up the chikl without swaddling-clothes, and making him hardy and courageous. The Greeks used cradles for children as we do, and gave them honey as we do sugar, and the nurses represented on the vases are distinguished by a peculiar kerchief on the head, as ir 52 OLD GREEK LIFE. [CIIAP. IS. costume'" ^'^ '" °" *^''^' ^"^ ^ "''^ ""' "''*"°"^' 51. Of Toys and Games for Children.— As might be e.vpectecl, the inventive genius of the Greeks showed Itself in the constructing of all manner of toys and children devised for themselves perhaps al! tlie games now known and many more besides. Aristotle says you must provide them with toys, or they will break things m the house, and the older philosopher Archytas was celebrated for inventing thechilds rattle. Plato also complains of the jierpetual roaring of younger, and the niischievousness of older, children. We may infer from these things that the Greek boys were fully as trouble- some as our own. They had balls, hooi^s (rpavoi) swmgs («„.^„,), hobbyhorses, and dice, with dolls for the gir s and various animals of wood and earthen- ware, like the contents of our Noah's arks. They playe, hide and .seek, blln.l man's buff, French and tnghsh, hunt the slipper {^x'>"'oM-ca), the Italian morra, and many other games which the scholiasts and Germans have in vain endeavoured to explain. But for grown people, we do not find many games, properly speaking, played for the game's sake, like ou; cricket. 1 here was ^■ery simple ball playing, and, of course, gambling w.th dice. Of gymnistic ef;rcises I Will speak sei)aratelv. mrl 'nf?i'^f ^ Education generally.-As for the a HfH. t house they were brought up to see and hear as ittle as possible They only went out upon a few state occasions, and knew how to work wool and weave as well as to cook. AN'e may fairly infer that the "rea^ majority of them could not read or write. The boys on the contrary, were subjected to the most careful education, and on no point did the Greek lawgivers and philosophers spend more care than in the p^rope training both physical and mental, of their cilizens rhe modern system, however, of public school train^ ing was not practised anywhere save at Sparta III.] THE GREEK A T HOME. 53 where a state schoolmaster (ttoi^o/o^oc) was appointed and all the Spartan boys taken out of the control of their parents. They lived together under the care of elder boys, as well as masters, so that the system of monitors, and even that of fagging, was in ordinary practice. Ihey were encouraged to fight out their disputes, and were much given to sports and athletic amusements, just like our schoolboys. But the public school traming and discipline lasted much longer at bparta than among us, and embraced the university period, as well as the school period, of life. 53- In the other states of Greece, which were chiefly towns, or suburbs of towns, the system of day schools was universal, and the boys went to and from home under the charge of a special slave, chosen because he was no longer fit for hard work. He was called the boys leader, or pedagogue (7ra«^ayo>yoc), a word which never meant schoolmaster among the Greeks, thou^^h it IS so rendered in our English Bible (Gal. iii. 24). The discipline of boys was severe, and they were con- stantly watched and repressed, nor were they allowed to frequent the crowded market-place. Corporal punishment was commonly applied to them, and the quality most esteemed in boys was a blushing shyness and modesty, hardly equalled by the girls of our time Nevertheless Plato speaks of the younger boys as the most sharpwitted, insubordinate, and ^unmanageable of animals. 54- Of Schools and Schoolmasters.— It does not seem that the office of schoolmaster was thou-ht very honourable, except of course in Sparta, where^he was a sort of Minister of Education. It was, as with us a matter of private speculation, but controlled by police regulations that the school should open and close with sunrise and sunset and that no grown men should be allowed to go in and loiter there. The infant-school teachers, who merely taught children their letters \yp»ix.~ liaToctcd(TKaXo^), were of a low class in society, some- 54 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. III.] 155 i- times even teaching in the open air, like the old hedge schoolmasters in Ireland. The more advanced teach- ing of reading and writing was done by the ypu^f^a-iK6r, whose house was called, like that of philosophers and rhetoricians, ff^oXv, a place of leisure. For the phy- sical and the aesthetic side we have still to mention the trainer {Trauorplfhii;) and the teacher of music {Kidufn- arz/t), the former of whom taught in the palaestra the exercises and sports afterwards carried on by the full-grown citizens in the gymnasia, which were a feature m all Greek towns. 'I'he teachers of riper youth stood in social position above the mere teachers of letters, but beneath the professors of rhetoric and philosophy (sophists). These latter performed the func- tions of college tutors at our universities, and completed the literary side of Greek education. The fees paid to the various teachers were in proportion to their social importance. Some of the sophists made great for- tunes, and exacted very high fees ; the mere school- masters are spoken of as receiving a miserable pittance. 55. Of what they Taught.— The Greeks never thought of making foreign languages a matter of study, and contented themselves with learning to read and write their own. In so doing the schoolmasters used as text books the works of celebrated epic or elegiac poets, above all Homer, and then the proverbial phi- losophy of Hesiod, Solon, Phocylides, and others, so that the Greek boy read the great classics of his lan- guage at an early age. He was required to learn much of them by heart, especially when books were scarce ; and his teacher pointed out the moral lessons either professedly or accidentally contained in these poets. Thus they stood in the place of our Bible and Hymns in education. All this was yoa^/^ariK//, which with music (^ovfriui) and gymnastics (yvfjuarr- TLK))} made up the general education of the (ireeks. It^ excluded the elementary arithmetic of our '' three R's," and included what they do not, a gentlemanly T//E GREEK A T HOME 55 S cultivation in music and field sports. It is very doubt- ful whether swimming was included, though Herodotus speaks of the Greeks generally as being able to swim. There is, however, evidence that from the fourth century B.C. onwards both elementary geometry and arithmetic, and also drawing, were ordinarily taught. As regards music every Greek boy (like mod'ern young ladies) either had or was supposed to have a musical ear, and he was accordingly taught either the harp or the flute, and with it singing. Here again the lyric poems of the greatest poets were taught him, and the Greek music always laid the greatest stress on the words. Aristotle and others complain that amateurs were spending too much time on the practising of diffi- cult music, and we know from the musical treatises pre- served to us that the Greeks thought and taught a great deal more about musical theory and the laws of sound than we do. The Cireek tunes preserved are not pleasing, but we know that they used the strictest and most subtle principles in tuning instruments, and understood harmony and discord as well as we do. Great Athenians, like Cimon, were often able to sing and accompany themselves on the harp, or lyre as we should ratlier call it. The Greeks laid great stress on the moral effects of music, especially as regards the performer, and were very severe in their censure of certain styles of music. They distinguished their scales as modes, and are said to have put far greater stress on keys than we do, calling some manly and warlike (Dorian), others weak and effeminate, or even immoral (Mixo-Lydian). The modern Chinese have the same beliefs about the moral effects of music. The Greeks had their keynote in the middle of the scale, and used chiefly the minor scale of our music. They had different names and signs for the notes of the various octaves which they used, and also different signs for vocal and for instrumental music. 56. Gymnastics.— Among the various exercises 56 OLD GREEK LIFE, [CJIAP. ( \t taught were those in fashion at the public contest, in in-^ hi/ Tvi„ „f J I- ■ occasional biting ancL'oii.r. 11, ^y ^^iy o( additional resource. We liear of » wonderful jumpini: feat bv Pln,ii„ r -- '^ leaped fort -foir tlj but ah! °^ ^'i"'°"' ''^'° down-hiU, a'nd used Vrti.k I'liJ^ ,rca2t C" that tt was more than can be done nowXs The Spartans specially forbid bovin.r ,„^ .1 - .'"^ because the vannuishe wa, ohii / "^ l""*^""""- defeat and feel aC, j' ; and 5 °v d 1 T'"'^ "" professional trainers A 1 , j . "°' .'°'''"''^ developing muscle prac^Sdh oTr ' '"''^'''^ ^"^ i>ave been known, and t e™ " ,^'^''""'''^'''"' '" as being sunbur.'t was hfg rid'"''" The r^'f ' smeared themsehes first wfth oilanHri, ^''^f""^eks betore their exercises, and c eaned t u'""' '""'^ scraper or s/r/^// or in I tr^ ■ "'^'"^^•'^■^3 with a 57 Customs on Com n'l^^f':>-'f-«=^ '^^h. States seem to have uislunl to frl ^ — ^^^^^ ^^^^^ as possible from the ot^'J'^I'^^::}:'^ K ^°''" having passed the acre nf k„ t , P'^'^"^"'s. Hence, called children Lz^) ,h °^ "'"^' "'^•""^ ">-^y "'^re :;-n of age." JZ^ oSxtle'Ve 'h/'^'"^ °^ ^;ey were enrolled sotmml ■ 1 "he 1, f r'""' "■'^"" This was done at Athens widi a rcl^ln "'''"''' with a solemn oath on the mrf ^' »"°"5 ^ef^'ce, and dared his allegiance ?oK si J toT"' r''° '^^- h's city, and promised to deSirlgl'suir'S.t III.] ^ ■% THE GREEK A T HOME. 57 and seditions. He was then enrolled on the h'st of !?-;;;;=? -s: ;s sir *.t jss him so declared by an action in court, and so beconiH the owner during his fathers life. Before the vom^ men settled down, they were employed for twoCr^ of "t? lir :°" ^"'>', ^T' ■" Patr^olli„g°d,e fL t ",.>L.'1'h^;"fe;hem th"'" ""^ ^''^ ^^''^'^ s coir F--""^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ineir country. Many remanis of these fronti^^r fnrfc n('l ~'^' Savants of ihe Honse._TI,<»e .m To these cases we may add the cook (.,ly.,p„°) „ho was not an inmate of the house before the Macedonian dinner'p'rtr J Hh '°^ "" ^^' ''''''" waSZ' a "inner party. All the rest were slaves, and were verv numerous m every respectable household. The nHn w.K> had charge ^the sto^^n'S Sr f a^mS ing slave (ayoimarnc) ; a porter {evpwp6c) ■ bakimf inH cookmg slaves (..„.„,„/, <,V„.L,^ forVreiSS n 1 e S) Tn e ortT '" '"'"'^P'^^f ^le servant ; a ^cf S .;•.) and =, 1. f ^ (f«<"'r'-yoc) for the children 4«f^ in rfch^X^sr fh ;r::r:i;o"f r ^'^"^ niule-boy (<;,...„,„,). ,-his t't ^h'vs llbdl "stn of labour more like the habits of our East-Indian fSies .--■ttif»rti||lij3ii»q 58 OLD GREEK LIFE. [CIIAP. than those of ordinary households in England I have spoken above (§ 37) of the purchasing 'and value 01 these slaves. If faithful, they were often made ree, especially by the will of their master on his death- bed but they did not become citizens. They remained in the position of resident aliens under the patronp^e ot their former master or his representatives. '"^ 59. In proportion as the free population of Greece diminished the ixt^mg of slaves became more and more common, until it actually appears to have been the leading feature in the life of the small towns. 1 housands of inscriptions recording this settin- free of mdividual slaves are still found, and on so manv various stones, even tombstones, that it almost appears as It material for recording had failed them by reason of the quantity of these documents. The same "in- crease ot liberation was a leading feature in the Roman empire, but there the freedman obtained the rio. (out- Tnlnfi f commonest and most valued domestic animal was the dog, which maintains a very impor- i III.] THE GREEK AT HOME. 59 tant place in Greek society up to the present day. There were various kinds of breeds for hunting, chosen both for nose and for speed ; there were watch-dogs ; and also ornamental kinds, such as the little lap-dogs, which are represented in the sad scenes of leave-taking on the tombs. Many anecdotes are told of their faithfulness, and we hear of at least one case where a handsome dog which belonged to Alcibiades cost about 70/. Cats were also common, so '"ommon as to be charged with the breaking of household ware by guilty servants, and they are often described as wandering along the roofs of houses. Sundry birds were kept in cages, and for ornament, such as pheasants and peacocks ; the quail was used for combats corre- sponding to English cock-fights. 6:. Customs of Burial. — I will conclude our consideration of the Greek household by describ- ing the customs when death laid its hand upon one of the inmates. At the moment of the death-struggle the face was veiled, that no man might see it; then it was un- covered for a moment to close his eyes and mouth. The body was then washed by female relatives, scented with unguents, dressed in white and with a garland, and placed upon a couch adorned with branches, and with an unguent-bottle (X//kv^oc) beside it. This laying out (TTpoOifTic) was done in the entrance-hall of the house, and the feet were turned to the door. Outside was a cypress branch and water for sprinkling those who came out, as the dead defiled the house "and its inmates. The laying out was limited to one day, during which both male and female relatives, together with hired mourners, stood round the bier, and uttered laments in refrain very like the In's/i cry of our day. This almost universal custom in Asia was discounte- nanced and restricted by Greek lawgivers, especially the tearing of the hair and laceration of the face which accompanied it. Burial took place in the morning 6o OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. I dawn before the sun could shine upon the corpse • in ater days a small coin was placed in his mouth to pav his passage in the nether world— a custom which still survives in some parts of Greece. In the funeral procession the male relatives went before, the female tollowed after, and in Athens and other ijlaces where women hved secluded only aged women and near re latives were allowed to attend, as young men took this opportunity of seeing the ladies, who were at other times i.nisible. \Vhen the dead was laid in the tomb, he was called byname aloud, and farewell (v„7p,) was bidden him. There was afterwards a funera S and ohenngs at the tomb, but the time of mournh g and of wearing black or grey garments was short : in Si>arta twelve days, at Athens a month ; at Ceos, excep- tionally, a mother mourned her growing son for^ whole )ear. Fraising speeches were not delivered over pri- vate persons as at Rome, but only in the case of a public funeral, such as that of the bones of the dead who had tallen m battle, and were burned on the battle-field Ihese ashes were brought home in urns, and trea'ted as the corpses of the dead would have been at home. The burning ot the dead, though known early, and often practised in war and tra,el, was decided ■ the e.xcept,on. To cast earth upon the dead was of the last importance, and even when the body could not be found an empty grave received the due honours. 62. Sepulchral Monuments.— In the oldest times the dead were buried in their own ground and close beside the house they had occupied. ^Vterwaid the burying of the dead within the walls of ci tie TcLS who'" "'"'P' ■■","'^ "^^ """^-^^ public bene! lactors, who were worshipped as heroes and had a shnne set over them. The rest were buried in he S^de, o^'^heT'h ''°"f "^ ^"'^"''^' S'^"'^^^">- ^'""S both sides of the high road, as at Athens and at Syracuse where their tombs and the inscriptions occji 'd the attention of everyone that passed by. The oldest m.) THE GREEK AT HOME. 61 1^5^- and rudest monuments placed over the tomb were great mounds of earth, then these mounds came to be surrounded by a circle of great stones; afterwards chambers were cut underground in the earth or rock, and family vaults established. Handsome monuments in marble, richly painted and covered with sculpture, >yere set up over the spot. These monuments some- times attained a size almost as great as a temple. The scenes sculptured on the marble were from the life and occupation of the deceased, more often parting scenes, where they were represented taking leave of their family and friends, nor do we possess any more beautiful and touching remains of Greek life than some of these tombs (Fig. 7). In the chamber of the dead many little presents, terra-cotta figures, trinkets, and vases were placed, nay, in early times favourite animals, and even slaves or captives were sacrificed in order to be with hun ; for the Greeks believed that though the parting with the dead was for ever, he still continued to exist^ and to interest himself in human afi"airs and in pursuits like those of living men. The crowded suburbs where the tombs were placed were generally ornamented with trees and flowers, and were a favourite resort of the citizens. The dead bodies of executed criminals were either given back to their relations or, in extreme cases, cast into a special place, generally some natural ravine or valley hidden from view and ordinary thoroughfare. Here the executioner dwelt, who was generally a public slave (^/z/xn^mvo?). This place was called barathrum at Athens, and Ceadas at Sparta. 6 62 OLD GREEK LIFE, [CHAP. CHAPTER IV. PUBLIC LIFE OF THE GREEK CITIZEN. ^ We now pass to the consideration of the life of the (ireek as regards society— his relation to his fello^v citizens beyond the pale of his household. (t^. Ranks and Classes in Greek Society. The aristocracy of the older Greek society was one based on the exclusive owning of land and of civic rights, and was not marked by titles as among us, but by the name of the clan. Thus at Athens an Alcmasonid was respected much as the member of an old Scottish clan is now by his fellows. But poverty mjured the position of the old Greek more than that of the Scotchman. In the aristocratic days all work in the way of trade or business was despised by the landed gentry, and idleness was called the sister of freedom. In such states (as, for example, in Sparta) the pursuit of a trade often disqualified a man from political rights, and in any case, deprived him of all public influence. This feeling did not die out even in the complete democracies of later days, and there was always a prejudice in the Greek mind against trades and handicrafts, because they compelled men to sit at home and neglect the proper training of the body by sports, and the mind by society. Mercan- tile pursuits (IfiTropta) were also objected to by Greek gentlemen, but on different grounds. It was con- sidered that the making of profits by retail trading (KUTrriXeia) was of the nature of cheating, and the life of a merchant in any Greek city not his own was always one of dependence and fear, for nowhere were aliens treated with real justice and liberality. Thus even the poor citizen of Athens, living by the small pay (4^. daily) given him for sitting on juries, and per- i IV.] FL'jyL/C LIFE OF THE GREEK CITIZEN-. 63 forming other public duties, looked down with contempt upon the rich tradesman, who was confined all day to a close dark shop, or still worse did his work in the hot atmosphere of a furnace (JSdi^avaog). Conse- quently the greater part of the shops in Athens, and most of the trades were in the hands of licensed aliens (ueToiKoi), who paid certain taxes to the state, and by making large profits recouped themselves for the risk of being persecuted and plundered by the citizens m days of danger and distress. These people may be compared as to their social and political position with the Jews in the middle ages, who lived all through the cities of Europe without civic rights or landed property, merely by trade and usury. I^hey were despised and persecuted, but still tolerated as useful, and even necessary, by the governments of those days. Rich capitalists on the contrary, who were able to manage a large business throu-h an overseer and a number of slaves, were not at all despised, even though their ways of making profits were some- times very shameful. But any free man who was compelled by poverty to perform this manual labour was held little better than a slave. There were cer- tain privileged classes {tnfjuoepyol) in Homer's day, such as the leech, the seer, the bard, and the cunning worker of brass. So in later days the sculptor and the sophist were in some respects considered good society but still the gaining of money by giving up their time to others told very seriously against them 64. The Principal Trades.-A great part of the ordinary clothing and breadstuffs were prepared bv the slave within the Greek house. The principal tradesmen who supjjlied the other necessaries of life were the architect, who was often a great and important ])erson— indeed the only tradesman very honourably mentioned ; under him masons {\tOo\6yoi), carpenters (reKTovec), and Cabinet-makers. There were potters (Kepa^elc), who must have been a very large body 64 OLD GREEK LIFE. [chap. considering the great demand for their wares, as neither glass nor wooden vessels were much used. So there were separate makers of lamps, jewelry, weapons of war, musical instruments, (Ai/xioTrotot, ^laxcupoTrowi &c.). There were a few weavers, and hardly any tailors, as the forms of dress were perfectly simple and the fashions did not change, but many bleachers (yiaipe'u:) and dyers of clothes \f3a(p€7g). The making of shoes ((TKvTOTojjia) was even subdivided among several tradesmen. There were in the market, cooks (hired by the day), ropemakers (frxotyiofrrputpoi), tanners (^vpaoct-^ai), and also many perfumers and druggists. Tanners were generally compelled to have their work- shops outside the city. We may also without doubt consider military service by sea or land one of the ordinary trades of Greece, practised from very early times in Asia, and all through Greek history by the Arcadians who were the Swiss of the old world. The usual pay for a mercenary soldier or sailor was four obols, which was of course often raised in times of difficulty. When the former outlet which enterprising young men had found in new colonies throughout Asia Minor, Pontus, and Magna Graecia, was closed by the rise of new races and new empires, this trade, disreputable as it was, became very common indeed. The celebrated 10,000 whom Xenophon brought safely from the heart of the Persian empire were an army made up of these adventurers, who had followed the younger Cyrus merely for the sake of pay and plunder. Thus Agesilaus and Cleomencs kings of Sparta were not ashamed to serve in Ei^ypt as mercenaries. 65, Mercantile Pursuits.— We mav first notice the lower sort, the retail merchants (^:«7r/7\oi) who were employed in buying the husbandman's and the trades- man's goods, and selling them in the markets, or through the towns, at a profit. It was indeed much in fashion among the Greeks to sell one's own produce in the market, but of course such people as fishermen, IV.] PUBLLC LIFE OF THE GREEK CITIZEN. 65 or as shepherds, could not leave their business to journey often a long* way to a market-town. Thus we find in large places like Athens many butchers, fish- mongers, vegetable and other grocers, and particularly wme sellers, who went about widi their wine in carts. All these people were accused of extortion and in- solence, the fishmongers of selling stale fish, the vint- ners of watering their wine (a very harmless adultera- tion). There were street cries, and often even the buyer going into the market called out what he wanted. 66. The wholesale merchant was of course a m.ore important person, and the rise of this larger trade was in fact what raised up a wealthy city class in opposi- tion to the landed aristocracy, and was generally the cause of overthrowing oligarchies. Many respectable citizens (except in Sparta) thought it no disgrace to follow this sort of business, and none of them scorned to invest money in it as a speculation. As the land traffic in Greece is unusually difficult and roundabout, almost all commerce was carried on by sea, so that a merchant (c^ro^jc) was often called a skipper (lav- K\i]poq). We are fully informed about Athenian com- merce only (§ 19). We must imagine the Greek waters not as they are now, lonely and desolate, with often not a single boat to give life to a great bay or reach of water, but rather covered in the summer with traffic and with life, so much so that a Greek poet speaks of sailors as the 'ants of the sea,' hurryini^ in all directions with ceaseless industry. There were pub- lic wharfs and warehouses (ceiyA^ara) close to the quays, where the skipper brought samples of his cargo. With the exception of the corn and slave factors, the Greek merchants did not confine themselves to trading in one kind of goods, but conveved any- thing according as they saw chances of profit.' Pottery from Samos and Athens, fine woollen stufts and Assyrian carpets from Miletus, paper, unguents, and 66 OLD GREEK LIFE, [chap. glass from Egypt- salt fish skms, and corn from the Black Sea, sh.p timber and slaves from Ihrace and Macedonia, ivory and sp.ces from Cyrene-these ^ ere among the usual articles miporied and exported through the Creek waters. Merchants were m some Dlaces treated with peculiar favour, had the.r taxes Sid mil a?y duty forgiven, and above all, were granted a speedy trial, and in the idle winter months, m case of disputes about contracts, or other la";^tuts^ 67 Of Weights, Measures and Coinage. _\li these great helps to trade were origmally imported from the Babylonians through the Phcem- ciaJTsinto Greece, but with so '-^"y/X^diffe ent the computing of values according to the different standards is very intricate. . ,i,„ nivmnir .\s to measures of length n seems that the Oympic Stadium or furlong was generally received through Greece. It was the ^th of our geographical mile, and was divided into six plethra of too feet eacj, and into .00 opy.-a.' (the German Klafter) of srx feet. Each foot, which was nearly equal to our English foot, was divided into four hands (^«-^<"""') an