COMMERCE OF DORIC STATES.
On the commerce of Greece, which would supply materials for an
interesting work, it is not my design to enter into very numerous
details, though a brief view of the subject belongs to this undertaking.
The blessings of commerce are well understood in our times, and the
grand scale upon which it is now conducted may perhaps induce some to
look back with something like contempt on its feeble beginnings in the
Mediterranean.[1465] There, however, lay the centre of that circle which
has gone on increasing until it at length embraces the whole world, and
almost renders the most distant races necessary to each other. It must
be interesting, therefore, to look
“O’er the dark backward and abysm of time,”
at the first movements of men towards forging the links of this chain
which binds together the whole human race in one society, disturbed
sometimes by evil passions, but cohering nevertheless, and apparently
becoming more interfused daily.
-----
Footnote 1465:
The reader will find in the work of Monsieur F. Thiersch, De l’Etat
actuel de la Grèce, t. ii. p. 72, sqq., an interesting and instructive
chapter on the trade carried on by the descendants of that people
whose manners and customs I have undertaken to describe. He there
enters at length into the advantageous position of the country, and
the upright and honourable character of its inhabitants, of whose
singular probity he produces many proofs. Other writers have taken a
different view of the modern Greek character. But I am disposed to
place more reliance on the statement of M. Thiersch than on that of
those prejudiced travellers who desire to obtain a reputation for
exactness by an ill-natured interpretation of a free people whose
hospitality they have enjoyed, and in too many cases abused.
-----
In this movement there were, doubtless, several nations that preceded
the Greeks. The civilisation of the East existing anterior to that of
Greece, it was the Orientals who made the first step towards opening up
that intercourse which afterwards became so intimate between the
inhabitants of Hellas and the Arabs of Phœnicia, the Egyptians, the
Persians, and other nations of the East. At first, indeed, the
camel,[1466] that important instrument of human improvement, revealed to
the rude tribes bordering on Arabia, the existence of wants within them,
of which they before knew nothing. He came with sweets and luxuries on
his back to the hamlet or the encampment, and by the sight of them
created desires, to gratify which the aid of industry was to be called
in. At a very early age strings of camels, laden with perfumes and
spices, and gold, traversed the plains of western Asia, ascended and
descended along the Nile, penetrated the northern coasts of Africa, and,
by barter and traffic, diffused the productions of the East much further
even than their own footsteps reached, as now the manufactures of
England find their way into the countries never beheld by an Englishman.
-----
Footnote 1466:
See a picture of this beast and his baskets, Antich. di Ercol. t. v.
p. 5. In the book of Genesis, chap. xxxvii. v. 25, we find a brief
picture of the commerce carried on by means of this animal, and an
enumeration of some of the principal commodities which he bore from
country to country. “And they (the sons of Jacob) sat down to eat
bread: and they lifted up their eyes, and looked, and, behold, a
company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing
spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.”
-----
Presently the blue and beautiful waters of the Mediterranean tempted the
adventurous Arabs who had settled in Phœnicia, the country of the
palm-tree, to launch their barks on it, and push from isle to isle till
they found themselves in Hellas, where the beauty of the women
occasionally, perhaps, when they were not to be enticed away, may have
tempted an adventurer[1467] to remain as other Arabs have done in every
land whither they have wandered.[1468] This, I am persuaded, is all that
can be conceded to those who see so many proofs of Oriental colonies in
Greece. But though the Orientals did not colonize Greece, they no doubt
aided very powerfully in civilizing it. For when the rude natives saw
that there were many desirable things to be obtained from the strangers
if they could give them any thing valuable in return, it must have set
their wits at work to invent new means of obtaining the things they
coveted. At the outset it was a rough system of barter. The Phœnicians
took the produce of the country in exchange for their merchandise, and
secured their own success by awakening an appetite for pleasures which
they alone could furnish.
-----
Footnote 1467:
This is, moreover, the common opinion. Thus Dionysios (Perieg. v. 907,
seq.)
—πρῶτοι νήεσσιν ἐπειρήσαντο θαλάσσης,
Πρῶτοι δ᾽ ἐμπορίης ἁλιδινέος ἐμνήσαντο.
They first in ships the billowy ocean tried,
And first sea-wandering commerce gave to man.
On this account Cicero observes: “Eos primos mercatores mercibus suis
avaritiam, magnificentiam et inexplebiles cupiditates primum in
Græciam intulisse.” De Rep. fr. l. 111. ap. Feith, Antiq. Hom. ii. 10.
1.
Footnote 1468:
Some such event as this is no doubt alluded to in the story of Cadmos.
-----
However, tradition has preserved evident traces of voyages of discovery
and commercial adventure undertaken by the Greeks[1469] themselves, in
imitation of the Phœnicians,—for, into this the Argonautic expedition,
in what direction soever it proceeded, resolves itself, in fact. The
Greeks possessed manufactures, ships, commerce, and, as a consequence,
considerable wealth, long before the birth of history, a circumstance
which goes far to overthrow the wild theories of certain modern scholars
respecting the Iliad and Odyssey; for, if the Greeks had constant
dealings with nations who were indisputably in possession of the art of
writing, with abundant materials, they must have been the slowest and
most stupid of mankind if they neglected to imitate those nations.
Besides, the Phœnicians would be as ready to supply them with paper,
parchment, and whatever else they wrote on, as with any other articles
of commerce, and must have desired to awaken in them the wish to consume
what they were deeply interested in supplying. Thus, if the
Phœnicians and Egyptians understood the art of writing, as from the
sacred Scriptures we know they did, it is all but impossible that the
Greeks should have remained ignorant of it.
-----
Footnote 1469:
Apollodoros, recounting the exploits of the Argonauts, mentions
incidentally a curious particular respecting the women of Lemnos, who,
he says, were deserted by their husbands on account of the ill odour
they exhaled. Their places were supplied by female slaves from Thrace;
upon which, in revenge, they murdered all the men in the island, with
the exception of Thoas, who was saved by his daughter, Hypsipyle.
Biblioth. i. 9. 17. Cf. Pind. Pyth. iv. 159, sqq. ed. Dissen. whose
commentary may be consulted, t. ii. p. 235.
Homer, of course, supplies the best account we can possess of Grecian
commerce in remote antiquity, though it had been carried on ages before
his time. Mariners, in the Odyssey, obtain the name of πρηκτῆρες, or
“merchants,” and are elsewhere said to plough the seas, ἐπὶ πρῆξιν καὶ
χρήματα,—“for traffic and gain.”[1470] The most celebrated mariners
known to Homer were the Phœnicians, whom he therefore terms,
Ναυσίκλυτοι ἄνδρες
Τρῶκται, μυρί᾽ ἄγοντες ἀθύρματα νηῒ μελαίνῃ.[1471]
Famous mariners,
Roguish, numerous trinkets bringing in black ships.
Footnote 1470:
Odys. θ. 162. Hymn. in Apoll. 397.
Footnote 1471:
Odyss. ο. 414, seq.
That from the beginning, moreover, they obtained celebrity for their
piratical arts, the story of Eunæos, in the Odyssey, and the rape of Io,
as related by Herodotus,[1472] clearly show. Nay, Thucydides himself, in
a recapitulation of the ancient history of Greece, observes that the
islanders, chiefly Carians and Phœnicians, were no less renowned than
their neighbours for piracy.[1473] The Phœnicians, however, would
appear to have led the way, and, probably, by their successes excited
the emulation of the Carians, who drove them from the island, and
adopted the business of piracy in their stead.[1474]
Footnote 1472:
L. i. c. 2. See, also, Philost. Vit. Apollon. iii. 24. p. 114.
Footnote 1473:
Thucyd. i. 8. Tournefort, Voyage, i. 154. The Phocians, also, about
the time when they founded Marseilles, distinguished themselves at
once by their mercantile and piratical habits. Namque Phocenses
exiguitate ac macie terræ coacti studiosius mare quam terras
exercuêre: piscando, mercando plerumque etiam latrocinio maris quod
illi temporibus gloriæ habebatur, vitam tolerabant. Justin. 43. 3.
Footnote 1474:
Conon. Dieg. 47. ap. Phot. Cod. 141. a. 20. Hudson, ad Thucyd. t. i.
p. 302. See in Scheffer, De Re Militiâ Navali, Addenda, Lib. Prim. p.
313, a list of the nations who anciently exercised the piratical art.
-----
Though the value of the precious metals was already well understood,
they had not been adopted as the sole instruments of exchange; for, from
the often-cited passage of the Iliad,[1475] it is clear that the
practice of barter still prevailed. The poet describes certain ships
arriving at the Grecian camp with a cargo of wine from Lemnos, on which
the chiefs and soldiers flock to the shore, and provide themselves with
what they needed, some giving in exchange for it a quantity of brass,
iron, skins; and others, oxen or slaves. Among the rustic population of
Greece, if the poets may be relied on, the system of barter prevailed
down to a very late period, since we find the goatherd, in
Theocritus,[1476] giving a she-goat and a cheesecake for a pastoral cup.
The Spartans, too, after the death of Polydoros, purchased his palace
from the widow for a certain number of oxen; whence it was afterwards
called βοώνητα,[1477] or “bought with oxen,” unless the legend was
invented to account for the name. Pausanias, however, states as a reason
for the transaction, that neither gold nor silver money was yet in use,
but that things were disposed of after the ancient fashion of exchanging
goods for their value in some other article,—oxen, slaves, or gold or
silver in ingots. He adds, in illustration, that the Indians, even in
his age, were ignorant of the use of money, though abounding with the
precious metals, and used to barter their own manufactures for the
merchandise brought by the Greeks: besides, at Sparta, there was a law,
attributed to Lycurgos, which prescribed barter in lieu of purchase and
sale.[1478]
-----
Footnote 1475:
Il. η. 472, sqq. Cf. Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 1.
Footnote 1476:
Eidyll. i. 57, seq. where, for τυρόεντα, both Porson and Kiessling
propose τυρῶντα. Ἄρτον τυρῶντα occurs in a fragment of Sophron. ap.
Athen. iii. 75.
Footnote 1477:
Paus. iii. 12. 1-3.
Footnote 1478:
Justin, iii. 2.
-----
From a passage in the Iliad, which would seem to signify the direct
contrary, it has been inferred, that the use of money in commerce was
known among the Greeks in the Homeric age. Speaking of the exchange of
armour, between Glaucos and Diomedes, the poet says:
Χρύσεα χαλκείων, ἑκατόμβοι ἐννεαβοίων.[1479]
Gold armour for brazen, a hundred-ox value for nine.
-----
Footnote 1479:
Il. ζ. 236.
An ancient scholiast on the passage understands by βοῦς a piece of
money, stamped on one side with the figure of an ox, and on the other
with that of a king.[1480] But one of the scholia published by
Villoison, observes on the word ἑκατόμβοια, “worth a hundred oxen, for
they did not as yet make use of money.” Another scholion,[1481] however,
remarks, οἱ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐν τοῖς ἐαυτῶν νομίσμασι βοῦν ἐνετύπουν.
Pollux[1482] relates the same fact, observing that, in remote antiquity,
the Athenians made use of a piece of money called βοῦς, because it had
impressed upon it the figure of an ox, and that, by many, Homer was
supposed to have alluded to this Attic coin in the verse above cited,
“indocte,” however, as Heyne[1483] observes. Mention of a fine called
δεκάβοιον occurred, according to Pollux, in the laws of Dracon; and in
the procession (θεωρία) to Delos, the herald used to proclaim when a
certain prize was given, that so many oxen were bestowed on such a one.
The value of the coin was two didrachmæ, so that the Bous was simply a
_didrachma_.[1484] The ox was stamped by the Athenians on their coins as
the symbol of peace and abundance.[1485]
Footnote 1480:
Ap. Feith, Antiq. Hom. ii. 10. 3.
Footnote 1481:
Tom. i. p. 188. ed. Bekk.
Footnote 1482:
Onomast. ix. 60.
Footnote 1483:
Ad Il. t. iv. p. 238. He remarks, that Arist. Ethic. v. 11,
quotes this verse on showing that no man can be injured
voluntarily—ἀδικεῖσθαι ἑκούσιον. That it became a proverb may be
inferred from Cicero, ad Ath. vi. 1.
Footnote 1484:
Διδραχμον· τὸ δ`ε παλαιὸν τοῦτο ἦν Αθ᾿ηναῖοις νόμισμα καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο
βοῦς, ὅτι βοῦν εἶχεν ἐντετυπωμένον Pollux. ix. 60.
Footnote 1485:
Spanheim, de Præstantia et Usu Numismatum Antiquorum, p. 129, 267.
-----
Plutarch[1486] assigns, by conjecture, two reasons; first, that Theseus,
whom he regards as its inventor, may have meant by the figure of the ox
to recall the memory of Minos’s general Tauros; or, second, because he
wished to turn the mind of the citizens to agriculture.
-----
Footnote 1486:
Thes. § 25. Cf. Goguet, t. iv. p. 228.
-----
The talent of gold is mentioned more than once by Homer;[1487] but we
are not to imagine with Feith[1488] that there was a piece of money so
called, though in the case of Homer he supposes it to signify a certain
weight of gold, and not a coin. Modern critics get over all difficulties
in the usual way by pronouncing the passage spurious.[1489] No doubt the
people of those early times did not greatly abound in wealth, which,
arising from the assiduous cultivation of the useful arts, could not be
plentiful where these arts were scarcely at all known. Even tyrants, who
always contrive to obtain their share of whatever riches exist in their
country, were long after the Homeric age possessed of but little wealth,
any more than their people.[1490] Money, however, does not constitute
opulence. There was a rude plenty of all the necessaries of life, and as
the secret representative of wealth had not been invented, men sought to
possess the realities,—herds of oxen, flocks of sheep, lands, houses,
and splendid apparel. Fine studs of horses, also, were naturally
desired, being at once useful in war, and showy in peace.[1491]
-----
Footnote 1487:
Il. ι. 122. 264. σ. 507, sqq. Cf. Herod. i. 14. et Adnot. ad Ælian. i.
22. Goguet, iv. 229.
Footnote 1488:
Antiq. Homer. ii. 10. 3.
Footnote 1489:
Heyne, ad Il. σ. 507, who observes, justly no doubt, that we are
ignorant what the Homeric talent weighed. Cf. Serv. ad Æneid. v. 112.
Footnote 1490:
Herod. viii. 137.
Footnote 1491:
Hymn. in Herm. 400. Pausan. iv. 3. 6.
-----
We observe in these ages, however, as well as in all others, that men no
sooner enjoyed the necessaries than they desired the luxuries and
ornaments of life. In several countries bordering upon the
Mediterranean, there was already great magnificence displayed. The kings
of Midian, for example, wore purple garments, golden earrings, and
jewelled collars; their camels, moreover, were covered with costly
trimmings and ornaments of gold.[1492]
-----
Footnote 1492:
Judges, viii. 21, sqq.
-----
Of the internal commerce of Greece, in the earlier ages, little,
comparatively, is known. Goguet[1493] appears to suppose, that hardly
any traffic can be carried on without the aid of sumpter animals, such
as camels, mules, or asses. But the natives of Canara[1494] drive a
pretty thriving trade, though nearly every article of merchandise is
transported on men’s heads. In Greece, however, the use of vehicles was
very ancient, its origin being lost in fable.[1495] Boats, canoes, &c.,
came early into vogue also; and yet Thucydides relates, that the
intercourse of the rural tribes of the Hellenes was for many ages so
slight as scarcely to merit attention. Bad roads, the absence of inns,
the want of a police, the great number of robbers, were great obstacles;
but the very existence of robbers attests the fact, that attempts were
constantly made to extend inland commerce, though it may have been long
before it was established on a solid basis.
-----
Footnote 1493:
Origine de Loix, t. iv. p. 204.
Footnote 1494:
Buchanan, Journey through the Mysore, ii. p. 347. Hindoos, i. p. 44.
Footnote 1495:
Ælian. iii. 38.
-----
Descending towards the historical periods we find the Æginetans first
distinguishing themselves as a commercial people. Their history, as far
as ancient fragments supply it, has been composed by a modern
scholar[1496] of eminence, whose researches must prove of the utmost
utility to all succeeding inquirers. This people, living on a small and
nearly barren island, early directed their attention to the arts, to the
various processes of industry, and to commerce, the only employment
suited to the nature of their soil. Too much stress has, perhaps, been
laid on the situation of Ægina, which will not at all explain the
commercial turn of its inhabitants, since Crete, with more abundant
means, and possibly a better situation, was never very remarkable as a
trading country. However, poverty and a good position combined with the
genius of the people to render them commercial. They enjoyed still fewer
advantages in the matter of soil even than Attica; their lands were of
little value; they could neither become hunters nor shepherds; nor could
even the most slender population subsist on the produce of the mines.
Fishing they, probably, tried at the outset, as well as piracy, but,
finding that neither led to opulence, they adopted the mercantile life;
for which reason they have, with much ingenuity, been termed the
Phœnicians of Greece,[1497] though no colonies from Phœnicia ever
settled in their island. The Æginetæ were already famous, however, from
remote antiquity, as mariners, and, in the course of time, converted
their whole island into an emporium.[1498]
-----
Footnote 1496:
Müller, in his Æginetica. See on the subject of Commerce and Industry,
c. iii. 74, sqq. And compare the account of Coronelli, Mémoires, &c.,
p. 187, sqq.
Footnote 1497:
By Müller, Æginetica, iii. p. 74.
Footnote 1498:
See Michaelo d’ Jorio, Storia del Commercio, i. 225, seq. and
Caryophilus de Mercatura Veterum.
-----
On the antiquity of the Æginetan trade a very curious passage occurs in
Pausanias. This writer relates, that, in the time of Pompos, king of
Arcadia, who flourished during the second century before the first
Olympiad, Æginetan ships landed at Cyllenè, the great harbour of Elis,
whence they transported their merchandise, on strings of sumpter
animals, to Arcadia. The king was so much pleased with them on this
account, that he named his son Æginetes, in remembrance of their
traffic.[1499] It was about this period that the Greeks first began to
trade in their own bottoms, and to possess merchandise of their own. It
has been observed, that in Homer the word ἔμπορος never signifies
merchant, and that where mention of real merchants occurs they are
always barbarians, or semi-barbarians,[1500] Phœnicians, Cretans,
Tyrsenians, Lemnians, Taphians, or Phæacians.[1501] No Achaian or Argive
is found who derived his subsistence from commerce, though there seem to
be passages from which the contrary may be inferred. But in Hesiod, who
lived later, and describes more homely scenes and manners, we find
commerce already spoken of as a profitable employment.[1502]
-----
Footnote 1499:
Pausan. viii. 5. 5.
Footnote 1500:
Hom. Hymn. in Dionys. 8.
Footnote 1501:
Müller, Æginetica, p. 75.
Footnote 1502:
Opp. et Dies, 644.
-----
Originally, the Æginetans were led by their piratical propensities to
apply themselves to maritime affairs; finding, no doubt, that robbery
was an easier and more agreeable profession than any modification of
industry, particularly as in those tolerant ages there was no disgrace,
but the contrary, attached to it, when exercised against men of a
different class. These worthy islanders, however, were impartial in
their rapine. For, no sooner had they thrown off the yoke of the
Epidaurians, than they made incursions[1503] into their mother country,
which they soon extended to the coasts of Attica; and they were,
probably, the buccaneers against whom the tyrant Hippias fitted out a
fleet.[1504] Afterwards, forming an alliance with the Thebans, they
plundered and devastated all the maritime towns of Attica, and even lay
in ambush to intercept the sacred galley on its way to Delos.
-----
Footnote 1503:
It was owing to such piratical descents that the early inhabitants of
Greece, for the most part, erected their towns and villages at some
distance from the sea-coast, in situations difficult of access.
Thucyd. § 7. Similar reasons have elsewhere led in modern times to
similar results. Thus, in Alicuda, the remotest and most exposed of
the Lipari islands, the dwellings of their simple natives and their
priests are perched high in the hills among rocks and steep
acclivities, through fear of the Barbary corsairs, who, from time to
time, land there, and carry away into captivity whomsoever they are
able to seize and subdue. Further, to guard against these incursions,
a sentinel is stationed on the Monte della Guardia, in the principal
isle, where he keeps watch day and night. Spallanzani, Travels in the
Two Sicilies, iv. 140, sqq. We have here a picture which carries back
the imagination to the most barbarous ages of Grecian history.
Footnote 1504:
Æginetica, p. 76.
-----
Having been restored to their country, after the Peloponnesian war, they
resumed their plundering habits, and obtained from the Spartan Ephori
permission to infest the Attic coasts, which they frequently did in
times of profound peace. Their taste for piracy was lasting. In the age
of Demosthenes their island was a nest of pirates, and a fair for the
sale of their plunder, which it continued for many centuries
after.[1505]
-----
Footnote 1505:
Demosth. de Nicostrat. § 3.
-----
Reverting, however, to the trade of Ægina: its ancient traffic with
Arcadia was marked by many curious circumstances. In the first place we
must infer from it, as the historian of the island remarks, the
existence of previous traffic elsewhere.[1506] For, if their merchandise
consisted merely of raw materials, these must still have been procured
from other lands; and, if of manufactured goods, then, in addition to
the existence of a foreign trade to supply them with the raw articles,
we must suppose in them the existence of considerable skill. Again, as
Pompos, the Cypselid, probably reigned at Orchomenos, they must have
been able to perform long voyages by sea, and long journeys by land;
though we can account for their taking the dangerous route round capes
Skylleion and Malea, and the mountainous roads from Eleia to Arcadia, in
preference to the shorter way from Corinthia or Argolis, only by
supposing them to have been driven to it by the rivalry of the Argives
and Corinthians. It must be admitted to be honourable to their ingenuity
thus to have opened up a road into Arcadia, which would seem to be shut
out by nature from all commerce.
-----
Footnote 1506:
Æginetica, p. 77.
-----
With the Arcadians alone, however, could inland trade be carried on upon
a large scale; among every other Hellenic people possessing sea-coasts
and harbours, it degenerated into mere peddling. Hence, the Æginetans
obtained the character, once possessed in this country by the Scotch, of
being a nation of pedlars—sometimes travelling from village to village,
with their packs; at other times settling, like the Maltese of the
present day, in towns on the coast of Greece, they became
corn-chandlers, vintners, toymen, or victuallers, in established shops
or stalls in the agora. Hence, all kinds of humble wares, or pedlary,
obtained the appellation of Æginetan wares. Like the Jews, too, both
they and the Cretans (noted liars, as St. Paul[1507] assures us) were
regarded as skin-flints, and, in many cases, betook themselves to the
practice of usury.[1508]
-----
Footnote 1507:
Epist. to Titus, i. 12, where he cites the testimony of Euripides,
though without naming him.
Footnote 1508:
Eustath. ad Il. β. p. 604. Hesych. v. Ἀιγιναῖα. Cf. Interp. i. 137.
Schol. Pind. Ol. viii. 26. Erasm. Adag. 71, 72.
-----
Frequently, however, they soared above these petty arts, and became
merchants on a large scale, trading with distant lands and acquiring
very great wealth. The entire island, in Strabo’s time, was regarded as
an emporium; and, even so far back as the age of Aristotle, their whole
marine was employed in commerce. In some cities, he says, nearly all the
shipping is engaged in one kind of service; those of Byzantium and
Tarentum in the fisheries; those of Athens in war; those of Chios and
Ægina as merchantmen; and those of Tenedos as transports.[1509] It has
been conjectured, not without reason, that Sostratos, the son of
Leodamos, celebrated by Herodotus for his riches, was a merchant. “The
Samians,” says this historian, “induced by divine command to undertake
the voyage of Tartessos, brought home with them greater wealth (sixty
talents) than any other Greeks ever gained by trade, if we except
Sostratos, with whom no one can contend in opulence.[1510]”
-----
Footnote 1509:
Polit. iv. 4. 1.
Footnote 1510:
Herod. iv. 152. Cf. Bœckh, Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 9.
-----
But the Æginetans also engaged in foreign trade, sending ships to
Tartessos towards the west, and to the Black Sea towards the east. It is
related, for example, that when Xerxes was at Abydos, he saw merchantmen
sailing down the Dardanelles with corn for Ægina and the
Peloponnesos,[1511] which were stopped by his fleet with the design of
taking both ships and men. But when Xerxes learned they were bound for
Greece, he dismissed them, considering the corn as so much provision for
his own army, which, he doubted not, would be able to subjugate the
whole country. From which Müller conjectures, but without reason, that
the great corn markets of the Black Sea were at that time exclusively in
the hands of the Æginetans; though afterwards, during the Peloponnesian
war, when Ægina fell, they passed over to the Athenians. The reason
“that the Æginetans stood so much in need of the supply, that they would
not have endured a rival,” could only hold good if they had the power to
command a monopoly, which, for any length of time at least, is highly
improbable, since although they are said to have been masters of the sea
about the age of Darius Hystaspes,[1512] their domination was extremely
short-lived.[1513] It would seem, however, that they were at that time
in the habit of supplying the Peloponnesos with grain. Slaves they
imported both from Pontos and from Crete, and it is doubtful whence they
obtained the greater number. A large proportion of their exports found
their way into Crete, where they had established a colony at Cydonia.
Besides lying one day’s sail distant from the Peloponnesos, and that of
a day and a night from Africa, this great island formed an excellent
midway station between Ægina and the mouth of the Nile.
-----
Footnote 1511:
Herod. vii. 147. Polyæn. Stratag. vii. 15. 3.
Footnote 1512:
Perizon. ad Æl. xii. 10. Gog. v. 302.
Footnote 1513:
The jealousy excited in antiquity by the Æginetæ, was, in the
seventeenth century, inspired into all the maritime states of Europe
by the Dutch, who somewhat resembled those hardy and unscrupulous
islanders. Observe the ingenuous alarms of our countryman, Sir Josiah
Child, whose studies had evidently carried him beyond the
counting-house,—“I think no true Englishman will deny that the season
cries aloud to us to be up and doing, before our fields become
unoccupied, and before the Dutch get too much the whip-hand of us,
whom (in such a case, were they freed from their French fears which
they labour under at present) I fear we should find as severe
task-masters as ever the Athenians were to the lesser trading cities
of Greece.” Discourse of Trade, Preface, p. 39.
-----
The port at which all the Greeks resided during their stay in Egypt was
Naucratis in the Delta, which the Pharaohs granted them in the same way
as the Chinese emperors now do Canton to the Europeans, as their only
abode. Here, by permission of Amasis, such Greeks as merely traded with
Egypt built altars and erected sacred enclosures in the neighbourhood of
the city, though I vainly sought, when on the spot, to discover the
slightest trace of them. The nine cities of Ionians, Dorians, and
Æolians erected at their common expense a sacred edifice, which they
called Hellenion. The Ionian cities were Chios, Teos, Phocea and
Clazomenæ; the Dorian, Rhodes, Cnidos, Halicarnassos, and Phaselis; of
the Æolian, Mitylene only. The Æginetans raised for their own use a
temple to Zeus,—the Samians to Hera,—the Milesians to Apollo.[1514] At
this time, however, Naucratis was the only harbour in Egypt; and as this
was pretty generally known, ships making land anywhere else were
naturally suspected of being pirates; for which reason the captain was
required to swear that he had come hither involuntarily. This done, he
was to steer from the Canopic mouth of the Nile; or, if the weather were
contrary, his cargo was conveyed round the Delta in barides to
Naucratis, which the historian[1515] understood to be done for the
benefit of the foreign settlers, for so greatly, says he, was Naucratis
honoured. At this time, one of the principal articles exported into
Egypt by the Greeks would appear to have been wine, since all then drunk
in the country was foreign, the vine not having been as yet introduced.
-----
Footnote 1514:
Herod. ii. 178.
Footnote 1515:
Hist. ii. 179. Müll. Æginet. p. 82.
-----
Of the trade of Sparta extremely little is known. In fact, until a
comparatively late period, it appears to have been inconsiderable, and
to have been conducted in the rudest manner possible. Each citizen, on
receiving the proceeds of his lands, laid up in his storehouses what he
judged sufficient for the consumption of the ensuing year, and disposed
of the remainder in the Agora, not, it has been conjectured, for money,
but by the ancient manner of barter.[1516] It is said that the
Lacedæmonians exhibited much ingenuity in their mode of preserving the
fruits of the earth; but in what that ingenuity consisted we are not
informed. They were likewise noted for the care and order with which the
implements of domestic economy were kept, so that everything was ready
at hand when wanted.[1517] The fact that they had granaries on their
estates, which were locked up and sealed, argues much greater connexion
with the country, than they are supposed to have maintained; for had
they never lived on those estates, it is not probable they would have
left their property there, subject, as Mr. Müller[1518] thinks, to the
conscientious visits of every poor man who might choose to out-hunt his
provisions.
-----
Footnote 1516:
Müll. Dor. ii. 218.
Footnote 1517:
Aristot. Œcon. vi. 6. 11. p. 278, seq. Cf. Xen. Rep. Lac. vi. 3. 4.
Aristot. Pol. ii. 2. 5. Plut. Laced. Instit.
Footnote 1518:
Dorians, ii. 218.
-----
Money, we are incessantly told, was prohibited at Sparta; but,
nevertheless, it seems to have been in constant use. It is affirmed,
indeed, by a writer somewhat too prone to panegyric, that “it was
employed more often as a medium of comparison than of exchange; small
coins were chiefly used, and no value was attributed to the possession
of large quantities.”[1519] But I do not see what is meant by employing
money “as a medium of comparison;” and with regard to the value set on
money by the Spartans, history incapacitates us for accepting the
generous gloss of Mr. Müller. It is perhaps true that Lycurgos aimed at
eradicating avarice from the Spartan breast, but, in the means to be
adopted for that end, only showed his ignorance of human nature; since,
though he might bring his vinegar-cooled iron medium of comparison into
contempt, he could not thereby diminish the value of the things
exchanged, that is of real wealth, which accordingly was estimated as
highly at Sparta as elsewhere. Thus we see that poor men, not able to
contribute their quota of provisions, were excluded from the common
tables, which therefore resembled the hospitality and common tables of
an inn,[1520]
Where the Red Lion staring o’er the way,
Invites each passing stranger—_that can pay_.
-----
Footnote 1519:
Müll. Dor. ii. 219. Bœckh. Econ. of Athen. ii. 389.
Footnote 1520:
Ἀναγκαῖον ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ πολιτείᾳ τιμᾶσθαι τὸν πλούτον, ἄλλως τε κἂν
τύχωσι γυναικοκρατούμενοι, καθάπερ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν στρατιωτικῶν καὶ
πολεμικῶν γενῶν. Aristot. Polit. ii. 9.
-----
The learned, with all their leaning towards scepticism, sometimes
interpret too literally the language of authors in whom license and
exaggeration are a merit. Thus Bœckh[1521] conceives “that, even in the
time of the Trojan war, the precious metals were well known in the
Peloponnesos,” because Homer describes Menelaus as possessed of both
gold and silver.[1522] But the Achæan prince had travelled in the East,
whence, according to the poet, he brought his gold, and it does not
appear historically that the precious metals were “well known,” which
extensive use only could render them, till some ages after the Trojan
war. The Dorians, however, whatever may have been the case with the
Achæans, long continued to be scantily supplied with the precious
metals, which may be accounted for from their isolated mountainous
country, want of industry, and aversion for all intercourse with
strangers, without adopting the unphilosophical fancy, that they were
instigated by a kind of argyrophobia strictly to prohibit the use of
gold and silver.[1523] Conceiving that, by cutting his people off from
human intercourse, he might render them more warlike, as dogs are made
savage by chaining, Lycurgos, or whoever was the author of the Spartan
constitution, may have desired to keep them poor, and therefore have
prohibited commerce. But even in their own domestic traffic, the
necessity of some instrument of exchange was soon perceived, and
iron[1524] being as plentiful as gold and silver were scarce, he adopted
the expedient of employing iron money. At first the metal was used in
bars or spits (ὀβελοὶ, ὀβελίσκοι) which were stamped with some mark in
the furnaces of Laconia, just as in other countries bars of silver or
copper were used; “whence the obolos or _spit_ and the drachma or
_handful_ received their names.”[1525]
-----
Footnote 1521:
Econ. of Athen. ii. 385.
Footnote 1522:
Od. δ. 80, sqq. 351, sqq. Cf. Strab. i. 2. p. 62.
Footnote 1523:
Which is Bœckh’s fancy. ii. 386.
Footnote 1524:
The people of Byzantium are said by some writers to have imitated the
Spartans in their numismatic taste, and like them to have used iron
money. Πλάτων Πεισάνδρῳ “χαλεπῶς ἂν οἰκησαίμεν ἐν Βυζαντίοις, ὅπου
σιδαρέοισι νομίσμασι χρῶνται.” Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 250.
Footnote 1525:
Bœckh, ii. 386. Plut. Lysand. § 17. See too the authorities quoted by
Bœckh. l. i. § 15.
-----
When the Argives, in the reign of Pheidon, abandoned the use of metallic
bars, and began to coin money, the Spartans followed in their train, but
still adhered to the use of iron, so that the coins which first
proceeded from a Laconian mint, probably resembled quoits more than
crown-pieces. Mr. Müller observes, but I know not on what authority,
that the chief coin was called from its _shape_, and perhaps also from
its _size_, πέλανορ, the cake used in sacrifices. If this was the case
it must have been a coin of extraordinary conformation, for the
_pelanos_ resembled, in figure, a bull, horns and all,[1526] and was
habitually offered to Apollo, Artemis, the Moon, and Hecatè. This
odd-looking piece of money was in value about four chalci or hemioboloi,
that is, about three farthings. But such an unwieldy coinage, which, as
tokens, might serve very well for the home currency, would be of no
service abroad; so that when Sparta began to aim at foreign conquest, it
found it necessary to set aside the ancient laws, and create a currency
for effecting its purpose. A tribute was therefore imposed on the
islands, and a contribution of a tenth was demanded from all those
Greeks who acknowledged its supremacy.[1527]
-----
Footnote 1526:
Pollux. vi. 76.
Footnote 1527:
Bœckh, ii. 387. Without such a currency, Sparta, says Mr. Müller,
would have been unable to send ambassadors to foreign states, or to
take foreign mercenaries into pay. ii. 220.
-----
It seems, however, to have been intended by the legislator, that
individuals should not possess gold and silver money; but the severity
of the punishment[1528] awarded transgressors, instead of proving how
strong the hold of this ancient custom (of being without money) was upon
the Spartan mind, shows the direct contrary, for there is no necessity
to be severe with men who obey from habit, but with those who evince a
disposition to break through all restraint. Besides, the law seems to
have permitted the use of the precious metals when wrought into
ornaments or articles of furniture. Offerings of gold, such as the stars
of the Dioscuri, were dedicated by the state at Delphi, and statues of
gold and ivory, the works of native artists, were set up within the city
about the period of the Persian war.[1529] A hundred years earlier, when
the state desired to gild the face of Apollo, at Thornax, they travelled
as far as Lydia[1530] in search of the necessary gold, which wholly
disproves the assumption of Bœckh mentioned above.
-----
Footnote 1528:
See the remarks of Monsieur Bitaubè, in his “Dissertation sur La
Richesse de Sparte.” Nouveaux Mémoires de l’Acad. Roy. des Sciences et
des Belles Lettres, de Berlin, t. xxxvii. 560.
Footnote 1529:
Müller. Dor. iii. 2. 3.
Footnote 1530:
Herod. i. 69.
-----
But after all the learned researches of modern writers, this Spartan
ordinance respecting the possession of money is surrounded by
insurmountable difficulties. For Sparta, unquestionably, carried on some
commerce, which it could not have done without possessing a coinage of
universal currency; though Mr. Müller is not authorized to state, as he
does, that there was a constant export of corn from Laconia and Arcadia
downwards to the coast of Corinth, since the passage in
Thucydides,[1531] on which he relies, merely relates in the words of the
Corinthians, that unless they joined in the war against Athens in aid of
the maritime states, they would find no market for the produce of their
lands, (including corn, no doubt,) nor would they be able to import what
they might stand in need of from abroad.[1532] However, so far back as
the Persian war, the Peloponnesos did not produce corn sufficient for
home consumption, since we find it importing it from the countries of
the Black Sea. It is, therefore, extremely improbable that it should
have done so in the time of the Peloponnesian war, when it had grown far
more populous, so that possibly among the things which ἡ θάλασση τῇ
ἠπείρῳ δίδωσι corn may have been included.
-----
Footnote 1531:
Book i. ch. iv. § 7.
Footnote 1532:
Thucyd. i. 120.
-----
It appears, therefore, that Sparta both exported and imported; but who
were the agents? The state, which alone it is supposed possessed an
available instrument of exchange, could not, it is argued, have carried
on the trade. But wherefore? “Because it would have required a
proportionate number of public officers.”[1533] Those officers, however,
might easily have been found, and, therefore, this is no reason; and
that no such officers existed, our knowledge of the government is too
scanty to enable us to affirm. Accordingly, it does not follow from this
that the trade “was in the hands of the Periœci.” However, if such was
the case, the possession of a gold and silver coinage must have been
permitted to them, which at once places the great majority of the free
inhabitants of Laconia in precisely the same condition as other nations
in this respect. Admitting this, it will be difficult to believe that
their neighbours and acquaintances, the military and ruling class, would
abstain from what they enjoyed. In fact, we cannot consent to believe,
that such a state of things “could not have had much influence on the
Spartans, since they had not any personal connexion with the Periœci,
the latter being only tributary to the state.” The reverse of all this
is true, as any one might know without any other testimony than his own
experience. Our countrymen in India occupy the same position as the
Dorians in the Peloponnesos, and for a short time kept much aloof from
the natives. But personal intercourse became inevitable, and it would
now be absurd to say, that the wealth of the Hindûs would exercise
little influence on the English, supposing the latter to be poor and
proud as the Spartans. The fact of the Periœci being tributary, which
seems to be offered as a reason, is no reason at all. It were far better
to confess our ignorance at once, than by a series of groundless
conjectures, put forward with confidence, to create a semblance of
knowledge. There does not appear to be any foundation for the statement,
that none but iron money was used in the Spartan market, where the
landlords and their serfs disposed of the produce of their lands. On the
contrary, it seems probable, that as, in many cases, it must have been
sold to the Periœci for exportation, (foreigners being excluded,) the
landlords would receive gold and silver unminted, perhaps, to evade the
law in return. Again, the kings of Sparta, it is evident, could possess
gold and silver. This, history proves so clearly that Mr. Müller is
constrained to confess it. And if the kings and the Periœci, nay, even
the very Helots could amass and enjoy the precious metals, and the
luxuries they purchase, it is too much to suppose that the masters of
the kings, of the Periœci and all, would have dwelt in ascetic
forbearance in the midst of so many temptations. Besides, we constantly
find the Spartans in situations in which their iron money could be of no
service to them. What, for example, could it have availed them at
Olympia? Yet there they were, the men in person, the women by proxy,
with their horses and their chariots, and every mark and indication of
wealth.
-----
Footnote 1533:
Müller, iii. ch. x. § 10.
-----
But to men travelling beyond the borders money was allowed. This sum
they might expend, or they might not. If they did not, were they
searched on their return, and the surplus taken from them? Otherwise men
would make journeys and accumulate cash in that way. Again, we are told,
that great obstacles were placed in the way of foreign travel by the
necessity of obtaining a passport along with the travelling expenses
(ἐφόδια) from the magistrates or the king, and reference is made to
Herodotus. But that historian in the passage referred to is speaking of
king Demaratos, who being driven from the country by his mother’s bad
character, takes what money he needs for his journey, and departs
without asking leave of any one.[1534]
-----
Footnote 1534:
Herod. vi. 70.
-----
However, when straitened in circumstances individuals had sometimes
recourse to the kings or to the state as to a bank; and that the thing
was customary appears from the fact, that princes, in order to start
with a popular measure, always upon their accession remitted the debts
of the citizens both to themselves and to the state.[1535] On this
occasion they destroyed all the bonds or instruments of mortgage
(κλάρια), bringing them into the agora, and there piling them up into a
heap and setting them on fire.[1536]
-----
Footnote 1535:
Id. vi. 69.
Footnote 1536:
Plut. Agis, § 13. But this was at a late period, when rich men and
usurers had monopolised all the wealth of Sparta.
-----
It is certain, therefore, and admitted even by Mr. Müller, that whatever
may have been the intention of the original Spartan institutions, their
severity was soon relaxed, and wealth with all its concomitants,
introduced into the state. Even so far back as the ages before the
Persian war, as we learn from the speech of Leutychides,[1537] at
Athens, foreigners found no obstacle to prevent their bringing gold and
silver to Sparta, where one of the most distinguished citizens undertook
the keeping of a rich Milesian’s money, whose children he afterwards
endeavoured to defraud. Could he have made no use of this money he would
scarcely have desired to retain it. The share of the plunder accruing to
Sparta in the Persian war was evidently not confined to the public
coffers, though we may possibly allow that the Persian subsidies went to
the defraying of national expenses.[1538] At all events certain it is
that Sparta, about the time of Socrates, was by many regarded as the
wealthiest state in Greece, and that not as a community, but
individually, reckoning their estates in Messenia, the number of their
slaves, Helots and others, their splendid studs, and vast droves of
cattle. Nay, their wealth in gold and silver is particularly specified,
with the additional remark, that for many ages the precious metals had
been flowing into that country, both from Grecian and barbarian
sources,[1539] but that no one had ever seen any flow out, an
observation which Montesquieu,[1540] and others have applied without
reflection, to Hindústân.
-----
Footnote 1537:
Herod, vi. 86.
Footnote 1538:
Müller, l. iii. ch. x. § 11.
Footnote 1539:
Plat. Alcib. i. t. v. p. 342, seq. This inferior production, with its
admiration of courts and eunuchs, cannot be Plato’s, but contains,
nevertheless, several curious facts. On the subject of Spartan wealth,
however, it perfectly agrees with Plato’s own opinion in the Hippias,
t. v. p. 414. Cf. Bitaubè, Sur la Richesse de Sparte. Nouveaux
Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles Lettres, de
Berlin, xxxvii. 559.
Footnote 1540:
Esprit des Loix, xxi. 12.
-----
It exceeds our faith in human nature to believe, with Mr. Müller, that,
in spite of these untoward circumstances, “the citizens maintained the
same proud indigence.” History, in fact, renders inexcusable the belief
in such virtue, though men occasionally arose at Sparta, as well as at
Athens and elsewhere, who, with a stoical firmness, resisted the
allurements of riches and pleasure. The greater number fell, and yielded
themselves up with so much enthusiasm to the pursuit of gain, adding
acre to acre and gold to gold, that from the Ephoralty of Epitadeus
downwards, the city was infested with usurers, great capitalists, and
extensive landed proprietors, who, by degrees, got into their hands the
whole property of the country. Much less ingenuity than the Spartans
possessed would, in fact, have enabled them to evade the old law, which
seems to have immediately grown obsolete when the arts of rendering it
powerless had been invented. They deposited their surplus wealth at
Delphi, in Arcadia, and several other countries, so that if driven into
exile,[1541] of which there was always a probability, they might be able
to subsist in splendour in their new country.[1542] But these
speculations sometimes failed; in the case of the Arcadians, the
possession of the gold converted bankers into enemies, as, by picking a
quarrel with the owners, they hoped to be able to defraud them.[1543]
Lysander, though he did not commence this practice, at least
countenanced it by his example. Gylippos, inheriting from his family the
thirst of gold, was condemned and starved to death, by the Ephori, for
purloining public property. His father Cleandridas, in conjunction with
king Pleistoanax, had accepted bribes from Pericles, and ended his days
in exile.[1544] From this period, as seems to be undeniable, the
possession of gold and silver by private individuals was permitted by
law, or connived at; and the Spartans proceeded, after the manner of all
other nations, to divide themselves into very rich and very poor, to
house together, in the same city, misery and splendour, extreme luxury
and extreme want, until the common fate, foreign conquest and slavery,
overtook them.
-----
Footnote 1541:
This was thought necessary even by so great a man as Lysander. Plut.
Lysand. § 18.
Footnote 1542:
As in the case of Cleandridas, father of Gylippos.
Footnote 1543:
Athen. vi. 24.
Footnote 1544:
Thucyd. vi. 104. Plut. Pericl. § 22. Müller, ii. 225.
-----
The trade which, meanwhile, was carried on by Laconia must have been at
times very considerable, though there were few points on the coast
provided with roadsteads, or harbours, capable of receiving ships of
burden. To facilitate intercourse with foreign nations, an artificial
harbour was constructed at Trinasos, around which the inhabitants of
Gythium, situated on an eminence some distance inland, gradually
clustered, deserting their ancient residence for one more convenient and
profitable. From hence the productions of Laconia, which will be
enumerated elsewhere, were shipped for foreign countries, Libya for
example, and Egypt, whence merchandise of various kinds were obtained in
return. But, as this port appears to have been little commodious or
secure, the merchantmen, on their return from Africa, usually put into
the island of Cythera,[1545] where are several harbours, amongst which
that of St. Nicholas, anciently Scandeia,[1546] on the eastern coast, is
sheltered and spacious, and provided with so narrow an entrance that it
may at pleasure be closed with a chain. The inhabitants of this island,
like those of the Laconian territories on the main, were free
Lacedæmonians, who appear to have directed their attention entirely to
commerce and agriculture, and the management of the productive purple
fishery, carried on among the shoals and rocks encircling their
island.[1547] Besides its use in dyeing, this fish is said to have been
employed as a bait in taking the pelamys, and there was, likewise, in
this sea, a considerable whale fishery. The nerves of these leviathans,
properly prepared, were used in stringing the psaltery, and other
musical instruments, and also for bowstrings. It may, therefore, be
presumed, that they formed an important article of commerce.[1548]
-----
Footnote 1545:
Thucyd. iv. 53.
Footnote 1546:
Pausan. iii. 23. 1. Steph. de Urb. p. 672.
Footnote 1547:
Strab. viii. 5. l. ii. p. 186. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 60. xi. 22. xxxv.
26. Horat. Carm. ii. 18. 8. The purple of Laconia was esteemed only
second to that of Phœnicia:—κόχλους δὲ ἐς βαφὴν πορφύρας παρέχεται τὰ
ἐπιθαλλάσσια τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐπιτηδειοτάτας μετά γε τὴν Φοινίκων
θάλασσαν. Pausan. iii. 21. 6.
Footnote 1548:
Dapper, Description des Iles de l’Archipel. 554. Ælian. De Animal.
xvii. 6.
-----
Here, likewise, were quarries of porphyry,[1549] from which, in earlier
ages, the island is said to have obtained the name of Porphyrussa. At
the distance of a mile and a quarter from Scandia stood the city of
Cythera, with an Acropolis situated on a very high rock. At this place
was a temple of the celestial Aphroditè, esteemed one of the most
ancient in Greece,[1550] the inhabitants having addicted themselves to
the worship of this goddess, because, when she first sprang from the
waves, she is said to have come floating thither on a shell of
mother-of-pearl.[1551] How many of the productions of this island passed
annually into commerce cannot be known. But, it is described as
abounding, in modern times, with wild asses, and deer, and hares, and
quails, and turtle-doves,[1552] which last were, of old, sacred to the
goddess of the isle. Corn, also, and oil, and wine of excellent quality,
were found in Cythera, though by no means in abundance. It likewise
produces tragoriganon and bastard dittany. The island being thus
productive, it is by no means surprising that the Spartans should have
set a high value on it, and sent thither, annually, a magistrate, named
Cytherodices, together with a garrison of heavy-armed men. Another
advantage which Sparta derived from the possession of this island was,
that it served it as a kind of defence against the incursions of
pirates, commanding, in some sort, the narrow sea between Peloponnesos
and Crete.
-----
Footnote 1549:
At least I find this notion in Dapper, Desc. de l’Arch. p. 375-378,
who observes “D’autres assurent qu’elle avoit été ainsi nommée à cause
du porphyre qu’on y trouve en abondance.” The name has with more
probability, however, been derived from the purple fish (Πορφύρα)
which abounds on the coast, ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ Πορφύρουσσα, διὰ τὸ κάλλος τὸ
παρὰ τῶν πορφυρῶν, ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης. Steph. de Urb. 487, a. To the same
purpose, Eustathius ad Dion. Perieg. 498: ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ, φασὶ, καὶ
Πορφυροῦσσα ποτὲ, διὰ τὸ καλλίστας ἔχειν πορφύρας. Cf. ad Il. ο. p.
1031. 13. Plin. Nat. Hist. iv. 19.
Footnote 1550:
Paus. iii. 23. 1.
Footnote 1551:
This mythological incident is beautifully engraved in the Museo Real
Borbonico, from an ancient painting found at Pompeia. Honest
Buondelmonte, who, instead of describing the island, amuses himself
with relating its mythology, delineates, elegantly enough, another
picture of the floating goddess: “Sculpebatur etenim puella
pulcherrima, nuda et in mari natans, tenens concham marinam in dextrâ,
ornata rosis et à columbis circumvolantibus comitata, &c.” Christ.
Buond. Lib. Insul. Archip. c. ix. p. 64.
Footnote 1552:
Dapper, Desc. de l’Archip. 375-379.
-----
That this was no small advantage will be evident if we consider to what
extent, and with how much cruelty, piracy was exercised in old times. It
dogged incessantly the heels of commerce, appearing on every sea and
penetrating to every land whither industry betook itself for the
acquisition of wealth. It may be said, indeed, to have been a kind of
bastard brother of trade, both proceeding from the desire of gain.
Against the masters of this craft the first war-galleys appear to have
been fitted out in the Mediterranean. For, among the principal exploits
of the half-fabulous king of Crete is enumerated his clearing the sea of
pirates, his object being to secure the transmission of his revenues
from the smaller islands to the seat of empire. For, in old times, both
the Greeks and barbarians of the continent, inhabiting the sea-coast,
and all those who dwelt in the islands, no sooner addicted themselves to
navigation, than they took to piracy, being led by their most powerful
fellow-citizens, partly for their own advantage, and partly with a view
of providing for the poor; and falling suddenly on unwalled cities, or
people dispersed in villages, they plundered the whole country, and thus
chiefly procured themselves subsistence. Nor, in fact, was this sort of
life attended with disgrace, but with some degree of honour. Even in
Thucydides’ own time, many tribes of the continent gloried in their
piratical skill, and from the ancient poets, he says, it was clear the
same feeling had always prevailed; for, the first question put to
seamen, on their landing, was, whether they were pirates or not; and
this without the persons interrogated considering it to be any offence,
or those who asked intending any.[1553] No idea of caste seems to have
existed. The reception of Pelops, who came with great wealth from Asia
into Peloponnesos, shows that riches, however acquired, were valued
before both; for he might have been, and, probably, was, a pirate.[1554]
-----
Footnote 1553:
Hom. Odyss. γ. 312.
Footnote 1554:
Thucyd. i. 9.
-----
In the interior, also, plundering expeditions were carried on by land,
as on the borders of England or Scotland, and more anciently on the
Welsh marshes. And up to the period of the Peloponnesian war, many Greek
nations still continued to live after the ancient manner, as the Ozolian
and Epicnemidian Locrians, the Ætolians, the Acarnanians, and other
neighbouring tribes, of which their habit of wearing arms may be
considered as a memento. To repress the ravages of these half-civilized
races was often an object of great concern to the Athenians, who, to
check the cruises of the Opuntians, long accustomed to enrich themselves
by plundering the coast of Eubœa during the Peloponnesian war, took and
fortified the uninhabited island of Atalantè.[1555] Some ages before,
they had, under the conduct of Cimon, expelled from Scyros the piratical
Dolopians, who not only scoured the neighbouring seas, but even
plundered such vessels as put into their harbour.[1556] Nothing,
however, could extirpate the evil, which has always continued to be the
curse of those seas, sometimes denounced, sometimes encouraged, by the
princes of the neighbouring countries, who, like Philip of Macedon, find
it convenient, according to the exigencies of their affairs, to make war
upon the buccaneers, or to unite with them in pursuit of plunder.
-----
Footnote 1555:
Thucyd. i. 151.
Footnote 1556:
Plut. Cim. § 8.
-----
Of all the Doric states the most commercial was undoubtedly Corinth.
That, situated on the isthmus by which the Peloponnesos is united with
the rest of Greece, became very early an emporium, and rose to
opulence[1557] and splendour; for whatever merchandise was transported
from northern Greece into any of the states of the peninsula by land,
necessarily passed through this city, and paying, as was customary,
transit dues, tended greatly to enrich it. The same thing may be said of
the productions of the Peloponnesos, which, by this road, found their
way into Hellas. Afterwards addicting themselves to navigation, the
Corinthians, from their two ports of Lechæum and Cenchreæ,[1558] carried
on an extremely extensive commerce with Italy and the countries on the
Adriatic on the one hand, and with Asia Minor[1559] and the islands on
the other; so that whatever articles of commerce are reckoned among the
imports of Athens were likewise in a measure to be found at Corinth. The
aversion of the ancient mariners to double Cape Malea long secured its
trade to Corinth. There was a proverb[1560] which said, that whoever
sailed round that redoubtable promontory must be unmindful of his
friends at home; and, in truth, the boisterous and contrary winds which
still encounter the mariner who passes from the Myrtoan to the Ionian
sea might well appear terrible to the small craft of remote antiquity.
To avoid this dangerous navigation these barks themselves, together with
the merchandise they carried, were drawn across the isthmus, and
launched again on the opposite sea. The project of Nero, therefore, who
designed to open a canal at this place, would, if completed, have proved
of the greatest service to the Corinthians, whose city might have
continued to be enriched by it to the present day.
-----
Footnote 1557:
Luc. Dial. Mort. 11.
Footnote 1558:
Steph. de Urb. p. 464. d.
Footnote 1559:
Strab. viii. 6. t. ii. 213. Pausan. ii. 2. 3.
-----
With respect to the articles which Corinth herself supplied to commerce,
they will be found enumerated among the exports and imports of Greece.
Her manufactures were numerous and important,[1561] consisting, among
others, of rich coverlets, fine woollen garments, costly pottery, and
works in that rich metal known under the name of Corinthian bronze.
This, it is said, consisted of a small mixture of gold and silver with
brass; though, according to another account, it was produced by heating
the metal red-hot, and in that state plunging it into the waters of
Peirenè.[1562]
-----
Footnote 1560:
Μαλεὰ δε κάμψας ἐπιλάθου τῶν οἴκαδε. See the long and interesting note
of Berkelius ad Steph. de Urb. p. 531, seq.
Footnote 1561:
And, doubtless, worked by their forty-six myriads of slaves. Athen.
vi. 103. The Pythian Oracle calls the Corinthians Chœnix Measurers,
probably because they allowed their slaves a chœnix of corn per day.
Footnote 1562:
Paus. ii. 3. 3. Florus, ii. 16.
-----
Much trade was carried on in the territories of Corinth during the
celebration of the Isthmian games, which, bringing together a vast
multitude of people from Ionia, Sicily, Italy, Libya, Thessaly, and the
extremities of the Black Sea, necessarily attracted thither, among the
rest, the retailers of all kinds of provisions. These finding a speedy
market for their goods, other tradesmen followed their example, so that
at length assemblies, originating in religion, resembled prodigious
fairs,[1563] whither every description of merchandise was conveyed for
the admiration and purchase of the pilgrims.[1564]
-----
Footnote 1563:
It is said, moreover, that Iphilos established a fair at Olympia,
together with the sacred games. Vel. Paterc. i. 8. Strab. viii. 3. t.
i. p. 178.
Footnote 1564:
Dion Chrysost. i. 289.
-----
It is, however, with much difficulty that we obtain an insight into the
manner[1565] in which the inland traffic of Greece was carried on in the
earlier ages; but it is probable, that, as in India, Egypt, and Arabia,
great fairs were held on some convenient spot, whither the sellers and
buyers resorted from all the countries around. That this was the case in
many places we know. There was, for example, a monthly fair held at
Aleision,[1566] near Amphidolis in Eleia, on the mountain road from Elis
to Olympia, to which all the peasants of the neighbourhood resorted.
Among the Romans smaller fairs or markets were held every nine days, and
were thence called nundinia.[1567] On these occasions the rustics
intermitted their usual employment and repaired to the city, as well to
furnish themselves with what they needed, as to learn what new laws or
regulations might have been promulgated in the interim.
-----
Footnote 1565:
Plat. De Rep. ii. t. vi. p. 79. 84. See in Mons. Thiersch Etat. Actuel
de la Grèce, t. ii. p. 74, a somewhat detailed description of the
internal trade of modern Greece.
Footnote 1566:
Strab. viii. 3. t. ii. p. 151.
Footnote 1567:
Columel. i. Præf. ii. 1. Dacier, in Fest. i. p. 501.
-----
The Epidamnians, who, as Müller[1568] observes, “retained much of
ancient custom, paid great attention to the intercourse with
foreigners,” and held great annual fairs, which were frequented by the
neighbouring Illyrians. By this is meant, strange as it would seem, that
they sought to cut off all such intercourse. For, as Plutarch[1569]
relates in his Greek Questions, the people of Epidamnia living in the
vicinity of the Illyrians, and observing, that such of their citizens as
associated with them grew corrupt, and fearing innovation, elected one
of their chief citizens to conduct the necessary intercourse and the
barter which took place annually at a great fair. This officer, called
Poletes, acted as broker-general for his fellow-citizens.
-----
Footnote 1568:
Dorians, ii. 223.
Footnote 1569:
Quæst. Græc. 29. Var. Script. t. ii. p. 317. Cf. Steph. de Urb. voce
Δυῤῥάχιον, p. 316, sqq. Palmer. Descrip. Græc. Antiq. p. 73, sqq. 118,
sqq. Pausan. vi. 10. 8.
-----