Chapter XII

EXPORTS OF THE ISLANDS, ITALY, GAUL, AND SPAIN.

Before we describe the trade of Syria, Egypt, and the farther East, we shall endeavour to give some account of that carried on by the numerous islands of the Mediterranean, together with Italy, Gaul, and Spain, and the whole northern coast of Africa. The commodities furnished to commerce by the various groups and larger islands of the Ægæan and Ionian seas scarcely yielded in number to those of Asia Minor. Of these the most important were the wines, which fluctuated in value, strength, and flavour, according to the soil, temperature, and elevation above the sea, of the vineyards which produced them.

The island of Lesbos, during the flourishing ages of the Athenian republic, formed part, as it were, of the territory of that great maritime state which compelled it to carry its wines exclusively to Athens.[2110] Among these was the Pramnian,[2111] which, also produced in Achaia, was a strong, harsh wine, apparently resembling port. Most, however, of the islands,[2112] both large and small, supplied wine—as Tenedos,[2113] Chios,[2114] Cypros,[2115] which furnished, among others, a curious fig wine;[2116] Thasos,[2117] where one particular kind was somniferous,[2118] Peparethos, Lesbos, Eubœa,[2119] Crete, where among others was found the Malmsey;[2120] Leucadia, Cos,[2121] and Corcyra.

-----

Footnote 2110:

Athen. vii. 9.

Footnote 2111:

Athen. i. 55. Poll. vi. 16. Etym. Mag. 686. 30, seq. Schol. Aristoph.
Eq. 107.

Footnote 2112:

Bœckh. Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 134.

Footnote 2113:

Douglas, Essay on the Modern Greeks, p. 140.

Footnote 2114:

Plut. de Anim. Tranquil. § 10. Dioscor. v. 11. Vib. Sequest. p. 32,
ed. Oberlin.

Footnote 2115:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 2. Synes. Epist. 147.

Footnote 2116:

Κατορχίτης or Συκίτης. Dioscor. v. 41.

Footnote 2117:

Athen. vii. 67. x. 37, 40. i. 52. Florent. ap. Geopon. viii. 23. 1.
Theoph. de Odoribus, § 51. Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 9.

Footnote 2118:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 18. 11.

Footnote 2119:

Athen. vii. 13. Andocid. adv. Alcib. § 11.

Footnote 2120:

Athen. x. 56.

Footnote 2121:

Berytius, ap. Geopon. viii. 24. Cato, de Re Rustica, 112.

-----

Few of the islands grew more corn than they could consume, except Eubœa,[2122] which was for many years the granary of Athens. Lesbos,[2123] too, produced the most superb barley, which was grown upon the hills round Eresos, the birthplace of Theophrastus. The Thasians, likewise, cultivated an inferior kind of barley which, from the extreme productiveness of the island, seems occasionally to have been exported, though I remember no authority in proof of the fact. Samos furnished Greece with the best olive oil next to that of Attica.[2124]

-----

Footnote 2122:

Herod. v. 31.

Footnote 2123:

Athen. iii. 77.

Footnote 2124:

Id. ii. 74. A species of oil, called βομβοία the island of Cypros.
Hesych. v. Βομβοία.

-----

But of all the minor islands none appear to have supplied so many articles to the coasting trade of Greece as Thasos, whose productions were singularly rich and varied. There, in the earlier ages, the Phœnicians discovered and worked gold mines which in after times became exhausted, but the fertility of the island and the industry of its inhabitants seem never to have failed. From hence were exported radishes,[2125] fish sauce, pickles,[2126] almonds, and walnuts,[2127] with the trees of which the island was thickly shaded.

-----

Footnote 2125:

Athen. ii. 48.

Footnote 2126:

Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 192. 643. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 27.

Footnote 2127:

Athen. xiv. 57. Plin. Nat. Hist. xv. 24.

-----

Crete, Cypros, and Naxos exported hones;[2128] Paros figs[2129] and the best white marble[2130] drawn from quarries, the vast extent of which is still the admiration of travellers.[2131] Cypros, sory, a substance resembling verdigris,[2132] sulphate of copper, emeralds, and jasper.[2133] Linen, white and dyed purple, was brought from Amorgos;[2134] thapsia from Thapsos;[2135] painters’ earth of the best quality, that is of loose texture, crumbling, dry, and without fatness,[2136] obtained from the neighbourhood of Pharis; sulphur,[2137] alum,[2138] and pumice stone from Nisyros and Melos,[2139] where this latter substance was extremely light, and sometimes found imbedded in other stones. The pumices of the island of Nisyros[2140] were of an inferior description, and crumbled to pieces in the hand. They were, however, extremely plentiful, occurring in heaps, and generally about the size of the fist.

-----

Footnote 2128:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 47.

Footnote 2129:

Athen. iii. 9.

Footnote 2130:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 28. 29. 43. Bondelmont. § 34. Strab. x. 5. t.
ii. p. 390. Dapper, Description des Iles de l’Archipel. p. 260, seq.
Steph. Byzant. de Urb. v. Μάρπησσα. p. 537. c. Chandler, i. 295.

Footnote 2131:

Tournefort, Voyages, i. 238, seq.

Footnote 2132:

Dioscor. v. 119. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 30.

Footnote 2133:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 35.

Footnote 2134:

Schol. ad Æschin. Timarch. p. 381. Schol. Aristoph. Lysist. 150, 735.
Poll. vii. 74.

Footnote 2135:

Dioscor. iv. 157. Sibthorp, Flora Græca, tab. 287. See a description
of the plant in Tournefort, t. iii. p. 298, sqq. Theoph. Hist. Plant.
ix. 8. 3.

Footnote 2136:

Dioscor. v. 129.

Footnote 2137:

Dioscor. v. 124. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxv. “Le soufre de Milo est
parfaitement beau, et a un petit œil verdâtre et luisant, qui le
faisoit préférer par les anciens à celui d’Italie: on trouve ce soufre
en cette isle par gros morceaux en creusant la terre, et par grosses
veines dans les carrières d’où l’on tire les meules de moulin.”
Tournefort, Voyage du Levant. i. 187. Buondelmonti gives the following
account of the sulphur of Nisyros: “Circa medium (insulæ) mons
erigitur altissimus, quo in summitate per subterraneos meatus
sulphureus ignis die ac nocte eructat in altum, ut in insula Stronguli
apud Liparum habetur. In descensu vero montis, ad jactum lapidis, fons
calidissimus emanat in imum, et in plano circa lacum profundissimumque
obscurum aquæ descendunt; ibique colentes quantitatem maximam
sulphuris mercatoribus præparant.” § 17. p. 76, seq.

Footnote 2138:

Dioscor. v. 123.

Footnote 2139:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 21. Pumice stones are at present found in great
numbers on the shores of the Troad, whither Chandler supposes them to
have been floated by the waves from Mount Ætna or Vesuvius, though an
abundant supply appears to be constantly furnished by the volcanic
islands of the Archipelago. Travels, i. 26.

Footnote 2140:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 21. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 42. This island
likewise supplied the Greeks with excellent millstones Eustath. ad
Dion. Perieg. 526, and purple fish. Steph. de Urb. p. 594. c. Suid. v.
Νίσυρος t. ii. p. 234. d. Eustath. ad Il. β. t. i. p. 241.

-----

Carystos in Eubœa exported verde antico,[2141] and the amianthos, or stone from which towels and similar fabrics were manufactured, indestructible by fire;[2142] Eretria medicinal earth;[2143] Chalcis exported copper;[2144] Cimolos chalk and fullers’ earth;[2145] Samos jars[2146] and medicinal earths, ash-coloured and white,[2147] in which was found a stone used by jewellers in polishing gold.[2148]

-----

Footnote 2141:

Strab. ix. t. i. p. 667. Dion. Chrysost. Orat. lxxx. p. 664.

Footnote 2142:

Strab. x. ii. p. 684. Casaub. Coronelli, Mem. de la Morée, p. 208,
seq.

Footnote 2143:

Celsus, v. 19. 7.

Footnote 2144:

Steph. Byzant. v. Χαλκὶς.

Footnote 2145:

Ovid. Metamorph. vii. 463. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxv. 16. Tournefort, i.
p. 172. Strab. x. 5. t. ii. p. 386. Poll. x. 135. vii. 39. Zoroaster,
ap. Geopon. vii. 6. 11.

Footnote 2146:

“Morning Chronicle,” July 17, 1838, p. 3. Cicero, pro Muren. 36. Plin.
Nat. Hist. xxxv. 48. 46.

Footnote 2147:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxviii. 53. 77. xxxi. 46.

Footnote 2148:

Dioscor. v. 173. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 40.

-----

From Lemnos three different kinds of earth were obtained,—the first known among the ancients by the name of terra sigillata, was sold in small round cakes mingled, according to Dioscorides,[2149] with the blood of a goat and stamped with his image in the sacred seal of Artemis; though Galen, who visited the island on purpose to examine this earth, denies that, in his time, any blood was intermixed with it. The second of the Lemnian earths[2150] was reddle, and the third fullers’ earth. The first of these earths, of a slight red colour, was sometimes denominated sacred, apparently because used in sacrifices. In modern times the substance known under this name is usually brown or pink-coloured.

-----

Footnote 2149:

Ἡ δὲ Λημνία γενωμένη γῆ, ἔστιν ἐκ τινος ὑπονόμου, ἀντρώδους,
ἀναφερομένη ἀπὸ Λήμνου τῆς νήσου, ἐχούσης ἑλώδη τόπου, κᾀκεῖθεν
ἐκλέγεται καὶ μίγνυται αἵματι αἰγείῳ· ἣν οἱ ἐκεὶ ἄνθρωποι
ἀναπλάσσοντες καὶ σφραγίζοντες εἰκόνι αἰγὸς, σφραγίδα καλοῦσιν αἰγὸς.
Dioscor. v. 113.

Footnote 2150:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 52. Florent. ap. Geopon. x. 90. 1. Plin. Nat.
Hist. xxxvi. 14. Salmas. ad Solin. p. 1156.

-----

The mine[2151] whence the sealed earth is at present excavated lies on the summit of a precipitous mountain, on the eastern shore of the island, about four bowshots from the ancient city of Hephæstia. The road leading thither, after arriving at the chapel of Sotira, is divided, and branches off to the right and left. Both ways pass by a fountain; the one on the right bordered with elder, willow, and carob trees, by one which, though closely shaded from the sun’s rays, fails in summer; while that on the left conducts to a spring which, lying in a marshy spot, producing nothing but rushes, is perennial. Both these fountains are situated among the roots of the hill, now ascended by steps cut in the rock, but anciently by a road practicable all the way to the summit. The digging of the Lemnian earth appears to have been always under the protection of religion; for, during the operation, a priest anciently stood on the mountain near the mine, and, after having made a sort of libation of corn, which was cast as an offering upon the ground, and performed various other ceremonies, caused a waggon to be laden with the earth and conducted to the city, where it was prepared, sealed, and sold to merchants.

-----

Footnote 2151:

Dapper, Description des Iles de l’Archipel. p. 245. In the island of
Cea there were regular pits whence the best reddle was obtained. That
found in iron mines was esteemed inferior. Theoph. de Lapid. § 52.

-----

In modern times, ever since the period when the Venetians were in possession of the island, a different and more cumbrous set of ceremonies has been practised.[2152] The principal inhabitants of the island, both Turks and Christians, assembling on the sixth of August, march out in grand procession to the mountains of sealed earth, halting by the way at the chapel of Sotira, where the priests chant the liturgy of the Greek church, and repeat many prayers, after which they ascend the acclivity. Arrived at the summit, fifty or sixty stout men commence excavating in search of the stratum of precious clay, which being found, the priests fill therewith a number of skin sacks, which they deliver to the custody of the Subashi.

-----

Footnote 2152:

Cf. Busbeq. Epist. iii. p. 214, seq.

-----

When a sufficient quantity has been procured the mouth of the mine is closed, and never opened again until that day twelvemonths. A certain quantity is then despatched to the Sultan, who distributes it in presents to princes and monarchs. The remainder is sold as of old to the merchants. It is quite possible that this substance might be discovered in other parts of the island; but the Greeks would set no value upon it unless obtained from the spot in question, and excavated with the proper ceremonies. For any private individual to attempt digging it is a capital offence.

Copper dross or tutty[2153] was obtained from the muddy bottom of a copper mine in Cypros.[2154] Having been exposed to dry in the sun, a quantity of brushwood was cast around it and set on fire, by which means it underwent a second calcination, and thence obtained the name of diphryges, or twice-burned.

-----

Footnote 2153:

Διφρυγὲς, Dioscor. v. 120.

Footnote 2154:

Cf. Iorio, Storia del Commercio, t. iv. l. ii. c. vi. p. 249. Meurs.
Cypr. ii. 2. p. 84.

-----

In the same island was found the recrement of brass called Cadmia[2155] by the ancients. It was generated in the following manner: the furnaces in which they smelted copper were constructed of iron arched above, and of very large dimensions. As the metal underwent the action of the fire, the lighter and mere aërial particles, detaching themselves from the molten mass, ascended like sparks, rolling upwards along the sides of the furnace and settling on the roof.

-----

Footnote 2155:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 22.

-----

Here, these particles forming into layers, one above another, coalesced into a hard substance which was called Cadmia.[2156] Of this there were several kinds, one of which was produced by the burning of Pyrites, obtained from precipices overhanging the city of Soli. In these extraordinary mountains were found veins of copper ore,[2157] sulphate of copper,[2158] sory,[2159] verdigris,[2160] lapis lazuli,[2161] chrysocolla,[2162] copperas, and tutty.[2163]

-----

Footnote 2156:

Dioscor. v. 84.

Footnote 2157:

Χαλκῖτις. Foës. Œconom. Hippocrat. p. 405. Aristot. Hist. Animal. v.
19.

Footnote 2158:

Μίσυ. Dioscor. v. 117. Plin. Nat. Hist, xxxiv. 31. Oribas. Collect. l.
xiii.

Footnote 2159:

Dioscor. v. 119.

Footnote 2160:

Μελαντήρια. Dioscor. v. 118.

Footnote 2161:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 55.

Footnote 2162:

Dioscor. v. 104. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 29.

Footnote 2163:

Dioscor. v. 84.

-----

The recrement of silver was produced in a similar manner during the smelting of the silver ore, but it was in colour paler, and of an inferior quality. In various parts of the island were found in abundance black and white alum,[2164] nitre, sulphur, rock and sea salt,[2165] the former near Citium, the latter in the neighbourhood of Salamis. It likewise exported burnt copper and copper flakes. Several kinds of precious stones were moreover discovered here, as the diamond,[2166] the emerald, the agate,[2167] found also at Lesbos, the opal, the jasper, the sapphire, the eagle stone,[2168] the amethyst,[2169] crystal, and talc,[2170] and hones from the environs of Arsinoë.

-----

Footnote 2164:

Meurs. Cyprus, ii. 4. p. 91.

Footnote 2165:

Dioscor. v. 124. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxi. 39.

Footnote 2166:

Meurs. Cyprus, ii. 5. p. 93.

Footnote 2167:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 54.

Footnote 2168:

Id. xxxvi. 39.

Footnote 2169:

Meurs. Cyprus. ii. 5. p. 94.

Footnote 2170:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 39. 45.

-----

The Egyptians alloyed their silver money with a third part of gypsum, copper, and an equal portion of sulphur. Mines of gold have been in modern times worked in the islands near Nicosia.

The finely tempered steel of Cypros,[2171] known by the name of adamant among the ancients, was used in making the best cuirasses and deemed impenetrable.

-----

Footnote 2171:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 15. Marbod. Carm. de Gem. cap. i. Plut.
Demet. § 21.

-----

From this island were obtained the finest spodium and flowers of zinc, which were produced in the following manner: In a building, two stories high, was constructed a furnace, open at top, and having directly over it a small aperture, communicating with the upper room. The bellows were worked in an adjoining apartment, the snout passing through a wall into the furnace, with which the workman was enabled to communicate by a small door. The fossil Cadmian-stone having been broken into small pieces was cast into the fire through an aperture from above, after which the flames having been blown up to greater fierceness, the mineral converted itself into a dense white vapour, and a cloud of fiery sparks ascended through the mouth of the furnace, the lighter particles attaching themselves like white bubbles or flocks of wool to the walls and vaulted roof of the building, while the heavier, after cooling, fell back into the flames or were scattered about the floor, where they indurated and formed a sort of incrustation. This coarser and weightier substance was usually found when scraped off to contain hairs, splinters, and particles of earth, and received the name of spodion, while that detached from the walls or roof was either milk-white or azure, and was what we now denominate flowers of zinc.

Another mode of manufacturing this article was to cast the fossil Cadmia, reduced to powder, on the surface of the liquid metal in bronze furnaces which caused a similar evaporation. Spodion was likewise procured from gold, silver, and lead, and next after the above this last was considered the best.

Near the village of Amianthos was a celebrated asbestos quarry whose produce, a greyish filamentous stone, was carded like wool and spun and woven into cloth[2172] which when soiled was cast into the fire instead of being washed, and came forth brilliant and pure as from the loom, though at each burning it lost something of its weight. In cerecloths of asbestos the bodies of kings and illustrious personages were burned, in antiquity, to preserve their remains from mingling with the ashes of the pyre.[2173] Matches likewise were made of this substance, more particularly for those durable lamps which were kindled by the Pagans in sepulchres,[2174] and supposed to burn on for ever. Other quarries of asbestos were found in Cypros, chiefly at the foot of the precipices bordering the road leading from Gerandium to Soli.

-----

Footnote 2172:

Dioscor. v. 156. Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 4.

Footnote 2173:

Dapper, Description des Iles de l’Archipel. p. 52.

Footnote 2174:

Valmont de Bomare, v. Amiante. t. i. p. 144.

-----

There was found in the island of Siphnos a fossil substance, usually of a spherical form, which was scooped out, and turned into various articles, such as vases, plates, and even pots which would bear the fire. When rubbed with oil and exposed to the action of the air it became black and hard, and resembled the finest pottery:[2175] similar stones are in modern times brought from the island of Minorca.[2176]

-----

Footnote 2175:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 42. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 44. Isidor. Orig. xvi.
4. Tournefort, i. 209.

Footnote 2176:

Sir John Hill, Notes on Theophrastus, p. 180.

-----

Two kinds of medicinal earths, the one white, the other ash-coloured, were obtained from Eretria, in Eubœa.[2177] Chios, likewise, exported a white earth used in cosmetics and at the baths.[2178] From time immemorial the Greeks appear to have obtained from the island of Zacynthos[2179] tar impregnated with a bituminous scent. It was found anciently in a pool, about seventy feet in circumference, and of very great depth, situated in a small valley on the sea-shore nearly encircled by mountains. The tar ascended from the bottom in bubbles as large as a cannon-ball, through the clear water, and on reaching the surface spread over the pond in a kind of film. It was drawn forth with myrtle branches attached to the end of a pole, and laid in pits to harden, after which it was barrelled and exported. It now sells for about two shillings per cask.

-----

Footnote 2177:

Dioscor. v. 171.

Footnote 2178:

Plin. xxxv. 56. Dioscor. v. 174.

Footnote 2179:

Herod. iv. 195. Dioscor. i. 99. Chandler, ii. 340. Leontinus, ap.
Geopon. xv. 8. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxv. 51. Vitruv. viii. 3. Dr.
Wordsworth’s Greece, p. 287.

-----

Among the medicinal plants and substances produced in the Grecian islands were the argol,[2180] anis,[2181] germander,[2182] hemlock,[2183] hellebore,[2184] and dittany, found chiefly in Crete;[2185] together with the misletoe, the seeds of which[2186] were bruised and beaten into a paste; hyssop,[2187] the cyperus comosus which abounded in the Cyclades,[2188] from which also an excellent kind of honey[2189] was exported; marjoram,[2190] scammony, green terebinth; resin from Cypros,[2191] aloes from Andros,[2192] aspalathos from Nisyros, Crete, and Rhodes;[2193] hartwort or seseli[2194] and onions[2195] from Samothrace, an island much vexed by winds; origany from Tenedos; from Chios hemlock[2196] and gum mastic,[2197] which the Turkish ladies chew constantly to keep their breath sweet and their teeth white;[2198] Chios, also, as well as Cos and Crete, furnished also tragoriganon.[2199] The last-mentioned island alone produced the Idæan bramble, whose flowers were used in remedies for ophthalmia.[2200] The inhabitants of Rhodes obtained from the Egyptian, or Pharaoh’s fig-tree, a medicinal gum esteemed a remedy against the bite of serpents.[2201] In early spring, before the appearance of the fruit, they gently bruised the bark with a stone, upon which, on all sides, there gushed forth a kind of liquor which, collected with flocks of wool or with sponge, was suffered to harden, formed into small round cakes, and preserved in earthen vases.[2202]

-----

Footnote 2180:

Φύκος Θαλλασσίον. Dioscor. iv. 100.

Footnote 2181:

Dioscor. iii. 65. Plin. Nat. Hist. xx. 73.

Footnote 2182:

Σκορδίον. Dioscor. iii. 125.

Footnote 2183:

Dioscor. iv. 79. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxv. 95.

Footnote 2184:

Demet. Constantinop. de Cur. Accipit. c. clxxviii.

Footnote 2185:

Dioscor. iii. 39. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxv. 53. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix.
16. 3. Florent. ap. Geopon. xiii. 8. 8. Apuleius, de Virtut. Herb.
cap. lxii.

Footnote 2186:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. i. 3.

Footnote 2187:

Florent. ap. Geopon. vi. 8. 1.

Footnote 2188:

Τὸ δὲ χρίσμα τὸ Ἐρετρικὸν εκ τοῦ κυπείρου· κομίζεται δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν
Κυκλάδων τὸ κύπειρον. Theophrast. de Odor. § 28. Dioscor. i. 4.

Footnote 2189:

Dioscor. ii. 101.

Footnote 2190:

Σαμψύκον. Dioscor. iii. 47. Geopon. xi. 27.

Footnote 2191:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxiv. 22.

Footnote 2192:

Dioscor. iii. 25. Sibthorp, Flor. Græc. tab. 341.

Footnote 2193:

Prosper. Alpin. de Medicor. Ægypt. iv. 10. p. 296. Dioscor. i. 19.

Footnote 2194:

Πευκέδανος. Dioscor. iii. 92.

Footnote 2195:

Athen. i. 49. x. 18.

Footnote 2196:

Dioscor. iv. 79.

Footnote 2197:

Twenty-one villages were, last century, employed in the cultivation of
the lentiscus, from which this gum is procured by boring the trunks
during summer with a small sharp iron. Chandler, Travels, i. 60.

Footnote 2198:

Hazelquist, Travels, p. 297. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 36; xxiv. 74.
Dioscor. i. 90.

Footnote 2199:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 1. Dioscor. iii. 35. Plin. xix. 68.

Footnote 2200:

Dioscor. iv. 38.

Footnote 2201:

Id. i. 181.

Footnote 2202:

Id. ibid.

-----

The modes of collecting the ladanum,[2203] of which the best sort appears to have been found in Cypros,[2204] was still more curious. It was found in spring exuding from the leaves of a species of costus on which the goats delighted to feed. As they pastured among the plants the gum attached itself to their beards and the long hair about their legs, from whence it was removed by the goatherds, who melted and strained it like honey, after which it was rolled up into balls and sold to the merchants. Sometimes, however, a number of cords were thrown over the shrubs, about which the gum collected.

-----

Footnote 2203:

Cf. Chandler, i. 284.

Footnote 2204:

Dioscor. i. 128. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 37. Tournefort, who gives a
representation of the whip of numerous thongs used in collecting the
ladanum, describes one of the localities in which it is produced, and
the manner in which it is gathered. “Enfin tirant du côté de la mer,
nous nous trouvâmes sur des collines sèches et sablonneuses, couvertes
de ces petits arbrisseaux qui fournissent le ladanum. C’étoit dans la
plus grande chaleur du jour, et il ne faisoit pas de vent: cette
disposition du temps est nécessaire pour amasser le ladanum. Sept ou
huit paysans en chemise et en caleçon, rouloient leurs fouets sur ces
plantes: à force de les secouer et de les frotter sur les feuilles de
cet arbuste, leurs courroyes se chargeoient d’une espèce de glu
odoriférante, attachée sur les feuilles; c’est une partie du suc
nourricier de la plante, lequel transude au travers de la tissure de
ces feuilles comme une sueur grasse, dont les gouttes sont luisantes,
et aussi claires que la térébenthine. Lorsque les fouets sont bien
chargez de cette graisse on en ratisse les courroyes avec un couteau,
et l’on met en pains ce que l’on eu détache: c’est ce que nous
recevons sous le nom de ladanum.” Voyage du Levant, t. i. p. 88.

-----

In addition to the above, the islands furnished numerous other commodities, such as onions,[2205] of which the best came from Cypros and Corcyra;[2206] beans from Lemnos;[2207] from Rhodes ampelitis,[2208] pitch,[2209] the best white transparent glue,[2210] raisins,[2211] chalk,[2212] carobs,[2213] dried figs, which procured agreeable dreams,[2214] excellent aphyæ[2215] and cabbage-seed, which last was in great request at Alexandria,[2216] almonds from Naxos and Cypros,[2217] whence also came the best pomegranates,[2218] mustard,[2219] and excellent lettuces[2220] grown in the neighbourhood of Paphos.[2221]

-----

Footnote 2205:

Lucian. Dial. Meret. xiv. Sibthorp. Flor. Græc. tab. 326. Dioscor. ii.
181.

Footnote 2206:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 32. Cypros was likewise celebrated for its
garlic. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 4. 11.

Footnote 2207:

Athen. ix. 2.

Footnote 2208:

Strab. vii. 5. t. ii. p. 106.

Footnote 2209:

Didymus, ap. Geopon. vi. 5. 1.

Footnote 2210:

Dioscor. iii. 101.

Footnote 2211:

Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2212:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxiv. 1.

Footnote 2213:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 2. 4. Dioscor. iii. 101.

Footnote 2214:

Athen. iii. 19.

Footnote 2215:

Athen. vii. 24.

Footnote 2216:

Id. ix. 9. Cf. Demosth. cont. Dionysod. § 1, for the trade between
this island and Egypt.

Footnote 2217:

Athen. ii. 39. Ammon. v. ἀμυγδαλῆ, p. 12.

Footnote 2218:

Meurs. Cyprus, ii. 4. p. 89.

Footnote 2219:

Poll. vi. 67. Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2220:

Columell. de Re Rust. xi. 3. p. 454.

Footnote 2221:

Meurs. Cyprus, ii. 4. p. 89.

-----

Lesbos[2222] produced myrtle-berries and figs; Cos and Cypros[2223] exported odoriferous unguents[2224] and honey;[2225] Scyros, variegated marbles;[2226] Ceos, pears and service-berries;[2227] Eubœa, sheep,[2228] pears,[2229] shining apples,[2230] olives,[2231] walnuts, walnut-wood,[2232] an inferior kind of deal,[2233] marble,[2234] iron, phagroi, anchovies, turbots, and soles;[2235] Thera, variegated garments;[2236] Chios, soft beds and large casks or jars;[2237] Crete, cypress-wood,[2238] Cyprian figs,[2239] hemlock,[2240] honey,[2241] and bees’ wax,[2242] which was blanched in the rays of the sun and moon. These articles of merchandise were likewise supplied by Cypros;[2243] which also exported rich flowered or variegated hangings,[2244] triclinia cushions,[2245] table-cloths,[2246] oakum,[2247] bronze vessels,[2248] nails,[2249] &c. Snails,[2250] which formed an important article in the materia medica of the ancients, were exported from Chios and Astypalæa,[2251] a small island among the Sporades,[2252] which likewise carried on a considerable fishery,[2253] and boasted an excellent breed of horses.[2254] Thasos furnished the sculptors of Greece with a fine white marble which constituted the material of two celebrated statues of the Emperor Adrian at Athens.[2255] The marble of Chios was dead black, like the obsidian stone, and slightly transparent.

-----

Footnote 2222:

Athen. xiv. 67.

Footnote 2223:

Athen. xv. 39. In Cypros a delicate perfume was manufactured from the
œnanthe which in Greece was inodorous: αὕτη δ᾽ ἐν Κύπρῳ φύεται ὀρεινὴ
καὶ πολύοδμος· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι οὐ γίνεται διὰ τὸ ἄοδμον.
Theoph. de Odor. § 27. Plin. Nat. Hist. xiii. 2.

Footnote 2224:

Dioscor. i. 70.

Footnote 2225:

Diophan. ap. Geopon. xv. 7. 1. Synes. Epist. 147. Eustath. ad Il. β.
677. ad Dion. Perieg. 530.

Footnote 2226:

Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg. v. 521.

Footnote 2227:

Athen. xiv. 63.

Footnote 2228:

Id. v. 32.

Footnote 2229:

Id. i. 49.

Footnote 2230:

Id. i. 49.

Footnote 2231:

Dicæarch. Stat. Græc. ap. Geograph. Minor, t. ii. p. 19. Plin. iv. 12.

Footnote 2232:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 7. 7.

Footnote 2233:

Poll. vii. 48. 77. iv. 118.

Footnote 2234:

Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. v. 521.

Footnote 2235:

Athen. vii. 30. 45.

Footnote 2236:

Tibull. Eleg. iii. 3. 13.

Footnote 2237:

Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2238:

Id. i. 49. Lucian. Ver. Hist. c. ii. § 40. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxiv. 61.

Footnote 2239:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 2. 3.

Footnote 2240:

Dioscor. iv. 79. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxv. 95.

Footnote 2241:

Pashley, Travels, i. 228.

Footnote 2242:

Dioscor. ii. 105. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxi. 49.

Footnote 2243:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xx. 87. xv. 19. Synes. Epist. 147. Dioscor. i. 182.

Footnote 2244:

Τὸ παραπέτασμα Κύπριον τὸ ποικίλον. Aristoph. ap. Poll. x. 32.

Footnote 2245:

Trebell. Poll. Claud. § 13.

Footnote 2246:

Vopisc. Aurelian. § 12.

Footnote 2247:

Quint. Curt. ix.

Footnote 2248:

Dioscor. i. 134.

Footnote 2249:

Damogeron, ap. Geopon. x. 64. 4.

Footnote 2250:

Dioscor. ii. 11.

Footnote 2251:

Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 59. xxx. 11.

Footnote 2252:

Strab. x. 5. t. ii. p. 392. Bentley, Dissert. on Phal. i. 169. 357,
sqq. Steph. de Urb. p. 189, b. speaks of it as one of the Cyclades.

Footnote 2253:

Dapper, Description des Isles de l’Archipel. p. 185.

Footnote 2254:

Cf. Oppian. Cyneg. i. 170. where he celebrates the horses of Crete. In
a former chapter I have spoken of a breed of wild asses said to be
found in modern times in the island of Cythera or Cerigo. It is
Cerigotto, however, that is celebrated by Buondelmonti, for its asses,
§ 10. p. 65. But Boschini, whom Dapper perhaps follows (Descript. des
Isles de l’Archipel. p. 378), restores the animals to Cerigo: “ha gran
quantita d’Asini’ salvatichi ch’ hanno una certa pietra in la testa,
che vale contro il mal caduco; e facilita il parto alle donne.”
L’Arcipelago, p. 6. Venezia, 1658. 4^{o.}

Footnote 2255:

Winkel. Hist. de l’Art. t. i. p. 41.

-----

Cerinthos in Eubœa, furnished a sort of light dry earth,[2256] used to preserve corn in granaries. Malta supplied the idle and luxurious ladies of Greece with a domestic kind of lap-dogs.[2257] Sciathos was famous for its mullets; Melos exported kids;[2258] Naxos and Scyros, milch goats and lobsters;[2259] Leros, guinea fowl; Samos, peacocks; and Cypros, hairy sheep[2260] and doves.[2261] Among the wild and almost inaccessible cliffs of modern Crete is found a species of blue nightingale,[2262] in size somewhat inferior to the thrush, which it resembled in the richness and variety of its notes. This bird is often caught and kept in cages, where it is sometimes taught to imitate the human voice. Occasionally it forms an article of traffic, and is exported into Italy; but if the ancients traded in these birds, the passage in which it may be mentioned has escaped me. In the same island is found an elegant sort of merops which darts in flocks along the sides of the thymy mountains in pursuit of the bees, which delight in those fragrant places. It is of rich and variegated plumage like the parrokeet. The children take it in a very ingenious manner; passing a crooked pin with a fine thread attached through the hard corslet of the cicada, they let go the insect which mounts, thus transfixed, into the air. The merops, bold and voracious, immediately pounces upon and gorges it, when the pin sticks in the throat, the bird becomes hooked like a fish, and is easily drawn down and taken.

-----

Footnote 2256:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. viii. 10. 7.

Footnote 2257:

Casaub. ad Theoph. Char. p. 331.

Footnote 2258:

Athen. 1. 6.

Footnote 2259:

Athen. i. 49. vii. 45.

Footnote 2260:

Saligniac. Itin. Hierosol. t. iv. c. vii.

Footnote 2261:

Athen. xiv. 70. Ἡ Κύπρος Δ’ ἔχει πελείας διαφόρους.

Footnote 2262:

Dapper, Description des Isles de l’Archipel. p. 460. Travellers make
mention of a species of white nightingale in Abyssinia with a tail two
palms in length. Jerome Lobo, Voyage d’Abissinie, i. 89.

-----

The next branch of Greek commerce which demands our notice was that carried on with the countries on the Adriatic, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Gaul, and Spain. This trade was in most instances of later origin than that maintained with regions lying more to the East, but nevertheless came at length to be of considerable importance, especially after the Hellenic colonies in Italy and Sicily had risen to eminence. The cities founded, moreover, on the coasts of Illyria exercised considerable influence over the commerce of Greece, by imparting to the rude natives a taste for her productions and manufactures, and exciting them to the exercise of greater industry to supply suitable commodities in their turn. Nevertheless, the information we possess on this subject is extremely scanty.

The barn-door fowls of these regions,[2263] though inferior to those of Greece, and of a smaller size, were yet exported thither, simply because they were foreign, while the natives on the contrary were eager to enrich their country with the breed of Attica. Wild turnips and parsnips,[2264] it has been remarked by the ancients, were found growing in Dalmatia;[2265] but as they abound in most other countries, it seems not unreasonable to infer, from this particular mentioned of them, that they were exported.[2266] The best iris, the odoriferous roots of which were much used in the making of perfume, came from the interior of Illyria,[2267] where, having been dug up and cleared of the leaves, they were strung on a linen cord and dried in the shade.

-----

Footnote 2263:

Athen. vii. 23.

Footnote 2264:

Id. ix. 8.

Footnote 2265:

Among the exports of this country gold, found in a virgin state, near
the surface of the earth, was at one time included: aurum ...
invenitur aliquando in summa tellure protinus, rara felicitate: ut
nuper in Dalmatia principatu Neronis, singulis diebus etiam
quinquagenas libras fundens. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 21.

Footnote 2266:

Thus wild carrots have in modern times been exported from Crete for
medicinal purposes. Prosper. Alpin. de Medicin. Ægypt. iv. 11. p. 306.

Footnote 2267:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 5. 3. Damogeron, ap. Geopon. vii. 13. 4.
Florent. ap. id. vi. 8. 1. Leontin. ap. id. xi. 21. Plin. Nat. Hist.
xxi. 7.

-----

From the same country also were obtained the aspalathos[2268] and the wild spikenard,[2269] whose leaf resembled that of the ivy, though somewhat smaller and rounder. The wines of the Adriatic shore were in no great request. That which was called Prætutian[2270] was light and aromatic, and therefore deceived those who drank of it, being powerfully intoxicating and somniferous. The wines of Istria partook of the same character.

-----

Footnote 2268:

Dioscor. i. 19.

Footnote 2269:

Id. i. 9.

Footnote 2270:

Dioscor. v. 11. Cf. Sarracen. ad loc. p. 105. Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 6.

-----

From the city of Apollonia[2271] was exported the substance called pissasphaltos,[2272] brought down by the river from the Ceraunian mountains, and found in large lumps upon the shore. It exhaled a mingled odour of pitch and bitumen. Great quantities of salt[2273] were made in another part of Illyria, where, during the spring, they took of the water of a stream flowing forth from a cleft in the rock and poured it into shallow pits exposed apparently to the sun and air, where it hardened in about five days into salt. The beans of Apollonia were famous for keeping long.[2274] Other Illyrian commodities were slaves, ampelitis,[2275] cattle, and skins, for which the natives received wine and oil, and other productions of civilised countries in return.[2276]

-----

Footnote 2271:

Leontinus, ap. Geopon. xv. 8. 1.

Footnote 2272:

Strab. vii. 5. t. ii. p. 106. Dioscor. i. 100.

Footnote 2273:

Strab. vii. 5. t. ii. p. 108.

Footnote 2274:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. viii. 10. 3. The same quality is attributed to
the beans of Cyzicos, id. ib.

Footnote 2275:

Strab. vii. t. i. p. 487.

Footnote 2276:

Id. v. 1. t. i. p. 346.

-----

The wines of ancient Italy, which formed an important article in the commerce of that country,[2277] are so familiar to most persons that it will be sufficient barely to enumerate the principal of them,—as the Falernian, the Cæcuban,[2278] the Alban, the Surrentine, the Brundusian, and the Antheia, a Thurian wine.[2279] Of medicinal herbs and substances, Italy exported considerable quantities, and among them were the hyssop,[2280] the melilot,[2281] from the country round Nola, the wild spikenard,[2282] the madder,[2283] cultivated in the neighbourhood of Ravenna, and Celtic spikenard from the Ligurian Alps,[2284] which was kept tied up in handfuls, together with its roots. Of this article vast quantities, as much it is said as sixty tons per annum, were in the last century exported from hence into the inland parts of Africa, as Æthiopia and Abyssinia,[2285] where it was chiefly used in softening and rendering shining the skin. Another export of Italy was the Ligurian all-heal,[2286] from the lofty and umbrageous summits of the Apennines, where it flourished chiefly along the edge of the water-courses.

-----

Footnote 2277:

Lucian. Navig. seu Vot. § 23. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 331. Didymus, ap.
Geopon. viii. 22. 1.

Footnote 2278:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 6.

Footnote 2279:

Strab. v. t. i. p. 357. Casaub. Dioscor. v. 10, seq.

Footnote 2280:

Florent. ap. Geopon. vi. 8. 1.

Footnote 2281:

Dioscor. iii. 48.

Footnote 2282:

Id. i. 9.

Footnote 2283:

Ἐρυθρόδανον. Dioscor. iii. 60.

Footnote 2284:

Dioscor. i. 7. The leaves of this plant were used as a bait for fish
at all seasons of the year. Geopon. xx. 24. 1. Damogeron. ap. id. vii.
13. 4; 24. 4. Florent. ap. id. vi. 8. 1. Columell. de Re Rust. xii.
20.

Footnote 2285:

Hazelquist, Travels, p. 302.

Footnote 2286:

Λιγυστικὸν. Dioscor. iii. 58.

There was in this same mountainous district a species of snail,[2287] furnished with a shell in winter, which appears to have been both eaten and used as a medicine.

Footnote 2287:

Dioscor. ii. 11.

-----

In many parts of Italy they still make use of snails for the same purpose, digging them up out of the earth with an iron instrument. The ancients kept tame snails for eating, which they fatted with a mixture of flour and sweet wine.[2288] In France they are still fed on vine leaves[2289] in cages, where they attain an immense size. Connoisseurs in snails find a great difference in their flesh, according to the plants and trees on which they pasture. Those which attach themselves to the wormword plant are bitter, while such as are found among calamint, pennyroyal, and origany, have an extremely agreeable flavour.

-----

Footnote 2288:

Martin Mathée, Notes sur Dioscoride, p. 118.

Footnote 2289:

The Greeks on the coast of the Black Sea still esteem the large
vine-snail a delicacy, in which they chiefly indulge during Lent.
Pallas, Travels in Southern Russia, iv. 247. These delicacies are
probably not in season until they begin to fly the Pleiades and seek
the shade of the leaves:

Ἀλλ᾽ ὁποτ᾽ ἂν φερέοικος ἀπὸ χθονὸς ἀμφυτὰ βαίνῃ,
Πληϊάδας φεύγων, τότε δὴ σκάφος οὐκέτι οἰνέων.
Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 571, seq.

-----

Among the delicacies of Italy best known to the ancients, and doubtless exported, were mushrooms,[2290] of which several excellent sorts are still produced; those particularly which the Tuscans call Prignoli and Porcini, which, being boiled and afterwards dredged with flour and fried, are exceedingly savoury.[2291] The real Porcini are salted and preserved with peculiar care, to be eaten during Lent and other fasts.

There are found in the kingdom of Naples certain stones,[2292] which being sunk in the ground, covered with a thin layer of earth, and irrigated with warm water, produce mushrooms in four days. These stones are preserved both at Rome and at Naples in cellars, for the production of mushrooms. Occasionally, however, contrivances of this sort prove fatal. In a convent in France where the nuns cultivated mushrooms on a hot bed in a cellar, the noisome exhalations destroyed several persons sent down to collect them.[2293]

-----

Footnote 2290:

Dioscor. iv. 83.

Footnote 2291:

Martin Mathée, Notes sur Dioscoride, p. 385.

Footnote 2292:

Id. ib.

Footnote 2293:

Valmont de Bomare, Dict. d’Hist. Nat. t. ii. p. 594.

-----

It has been seen that the yew-tree of Arcadia was much used by cabinet-makers; but the Italian yew[2294] is mentioned by Greek botanists only for its singular and noxious properties, since the birds, they inform us, which ate of its berries turned black, while men were afflicted with troublesome diseases. Around that of Gaul the imagination had woven a tissue of terrors almost equal to that which modern times have cast about the upas; for, to sleep, or even to recline, beneath its shade, was supposed to cause dangerous maladies and occasionally even death.

-----

Footnote 2294:

Dioscor. iv. 80.

-----

The plant of most deadly qualities known to the ancients grew plentifully in the mountains of the Vestini, neighbours of the Sabines.[2295] It was identical in nature with that of Pontos, and many extraordinary circumstances are related of its effects. By the mere touch it was said to possess the power to benumb the scorpion, which again recovered its activity if brought in contact with the hellebore. It was used by hunters in the chace to destroy wild beasts, and by physicians for various purposes. At present it appears to be found chiefly among the recesses of the Rhætian Alps, from whence it passes to the Papal States and the kingdom of Naples, in both which countries there is a particular class of men whose sole occupation is the extirpation of wolves, and who formerly used to sell this poison openly on the bridge of St. Angelo, at Rome.[2296]

-----

Footnote 2295:

Dioscor. iv. 77, seq.

Footnote 2296:

Martin Mathée, Notes sur Dioscoride, p. 382.

-----

Among the other exports of Italy may be enumerated the squills of Minturnæ,[2297] which exceeded in size those of Smyrna, and the lobsters of Alexandria: amber, too, and coal, of which there are said to have been mines in Liguria,[2298] found their way into the channels of commerce. The amber of the Po existed only in the regions of mythology.[2299]

-----

Footnote 2297:

Athen. i. 12.

Footnote 2298:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 16.

Footnote 2299:

Lucian. de Electro seu Cygnis, § 1.

-----

Calabria supplied pitch,[2300] and bronze from Temessa;[2301] Etruria, resin,[2302] figured gold, plate and articles in bronze,[2303] Thurii, gypsum, and wine;[2304] Tarentum, fine gauze-like fabrics; Italy,[2305] generally, groats and salt-beef,[2306] whetstones, wax,[2307] and adarces, used as a dentifrice;[2308] Algidum, transparent radishes;[2309] Apulia, capparis;[2310] Campania, wheat, from which the best gruel was made, zea, and panic.[2311] Northern Italy, which abounded in forests, reared immense droves of pigs, which were fed on acorns, so that Rome was almost entirely supplied from thence with pork and bacon.[2312] It likewise exported millet, pitch,[2313] exceedingly fine wool from the neighbourhood of Mutina and the banks of the Scultenna,[2314] long coarse wool from Liguria and the country of the Symbri,[2315] with a middling sort from the neighbourhood of Padua, with which coats, carpets, with several varieties of shaggy cloth, were manufactured.[2316]

-----

Footnote 2300:

Dioscor. i. 97.

Footnote 2301:

Gog. Origine des Loix, iv. 223. Hom. Odyss. α. 182, seq. Steph.
Byzant. p. 703. d. Ἐνθα ἄριστος γίνεται χαλκὸς, ἢν καὶ τέμψαν ἄχοι τοῦ
νῦν οἱ Καλαβροὶ λέγουσι καὶ οἱ βάρβαροι, ὡσπερ αἰδούμενοι μεταποιῆσαι,
καθ᾽ ὁλοκληρίαν τὴν τοῦ Ὁμήρου φωνήν. Tzetz. Schol. in Lycoph. 854.
Strab. vi. t. i. p. 393. Casaub.

Footnote 2302:

Dioscor. i. 92.

Footnote 2303:

Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2304:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 64.

Footnote 2305:

Lucian. Dial. Meret. vii. § 2. Calumn. non Tem. Cred. § 16.

Footnote 2306:

Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2307:

Dioscor. ii. 194.

Footnote 2308:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 47. xvi. 66.

Footnote 2309:

Id. xix. 26.

Footnote 2310:

Dioscor. ii. 166.

Footnote 2311:

Strab. v. t. i. p. 372. Casaub. Plin. Nat. Hist. xviii. 11.

Footnote 2312:

Αἱ ὕλαι τοσαύτην ἔχουσι βάλανον, ὥστ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν ὑοφορβίων ἡ Ῥώμη
τρέφεται τὸ πλέον. Strab. v. 1. t. i. p. 352. From other parts of
Italy a similar supply was obtained. “The forest of Lucania, whose
acorns fattened large droves of wild hogs, afforded, as a species of
tribute, a plentiful supply of cheap and wholesome meat. During five
months of the year a regular allowance of bacon was distributed to the
poorer citizens; and the annual consumption of the capital, at a time
when it had much declined from its former lustre, was ascertained, by
an edict of Valentinian the Third, at three millions six hundred and
twenty-eight thousand pounds.” Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, v. 281.

Footnote 2313:

Dioscor. i. 97.

Footnote 2314:

Strab. v. 1. t. i. 352. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 7. Columell. de Re
Rust. vii. 2. Martial. xiv. 155.

Footnote 2315:

Strab. v. 1. t. i. p. 352.

Footnote 2316:

Id. v. 1. t. i. p. 353.

-----

This part of Italy, likewise, produced immense quantities of wine, which the inhabitants laid up in tuns as large as dwelling-houses.[2317] Gold mines were anciently worked in the country of the Vercelli.[2318]

-----

Footnote 2317:

Id. v. 1. t. i. p. 352.

Footnote 2318:

Id. v. 1. t. i. p. 353.

-----

The chief exports of Sicily were wheat,[2319] of which the best and cleanest came from the neighbourhood of Agrigentum;[2320] cheese,[2321] which appears to have been made in all parts of the island, as far back at least as the days of Polyphemos; hogs,[2322] pigeons, and doves,[2323] whose chief haunt was about the temple of Aphroditè[2324] on Mount Eryx; variegated robes,[2325] costly furniture, more particularly plate and pillows,[2326] and superbly wrought chariots.[2327] The Sicilian saffron,[2328] grown in the neighbourhood of Centuripa was of an inferior quality, but seems nevertheless to have been imported into Italy,[2329] where it is supposed to have been applied to the dyeing of the cedar beams used in the construction of temples.

-----

Footnote 2319:

Herod. vii. 158. Thucyd. iii. 86. Iorio, Storia del Commercio, t. iv.
1. ii. c. iii. p. 229. Demosth. cont. Dionysod. § 3. Theoph. Hist.
Plant. viii. 6. 6.

Footnote 2320:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. viii. 4. 6.

Footnote 2321:

Athen. xiv. 76. i. 49. Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 838. Pac. 249.

Footnote 2322:

Athen. i. 49.

Footnote 2323:

Casaub. ad Theoph. Char. p. 167.

Footnote 2324:

Larcher, Mem. sur Venus, p. 187.

Footnote 2325:

Athen. xiv. 76.

Footnote 2326:

Id. ii. 29, seq.

Footnote 2327:

Id. i. 49.

Footnote 2328:

Florent. ap. Geopon. vi. 8. 1.

Footnote 2329:

Dioscor. i. 25.

-----

The honey of Mount Hybla,[2330] celebrated through all antiquity, constituted another important article of commerce, as did likewise, more particularly, the Adrian and the Mamertinian.

-----

Footnote 2330:

Diophan. ap. Geopon. xv. 7. 1. Dioscor. ii. 101. Cluver. Sicil. Antiq.
i. 11. Sil. Ital. xiv. 200. Varro, de Re Rust. iii. 16. 14.

-----

Among the better known plants of Sicily were the marjoram,[2331] and the cactus, the latter of which was eaten, whether fresh or pickled.[2332]

-----

Footnote 2331:

Dioscor. iii. 47.

Footnote 2332:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 4. 10. Athen. ii.

-----

From the neighbourhood of Tetras, was obtained a sort of stone which became light and porous in burning so as to resemble the pumice.[2333]

About the Erinæan promontory a species of jet was found in great plenty, which when burnt emitted a bituminous odour.[2334]

-----

Footnote 2333:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 15.

Footnote 2334:

Id. ib.

-----

Sicily likewise exported salt,[2335] emeralds,[2336] lapis specularis,[2337] and agates.[2338] An abundant supply of coral was obtained from the sea around Cape Pachynos, near Syracuse;[2339] and from Agrigentum, a liquid bitumen found floating on the clear surface of fountains and burnt instead of oil in lamps, and therefore called by some the oil of Sicily.[2340] Poisons of great force were also found in the island. Among the favourite dishes of the ancients were the lampreys and eels of the Pharo of Messina,[2341] the bellies of thunnies caught near Cape Pachynos,[2342] snails,[2343] and oysters from Cape Peloros.[2344]

-----

Footnote 2335:

Dioscor. v. 126.

Footnote 2336:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 18.

Footnote 2337:

Id. xxxvi. 45.

Footnote 2338:

This stone appears to have derived its name from a Sicilian river:
Καλὸς δὲ λίθος καὶ ὁ ἀχάτης ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀχάτου ποταμοῦ τοῦ ἐν Σικελίᾳ,
καὶ πωλεῖται τίμιος. Theoph. de Lapid. § 31. Cf. Vib. Sequest. p. 3.
Oberlin.

Cernitur egregius lapis hic, cui nomen _achates_:
Hoc dederat fluvius cujus generatur ad undas:
Hanc simulacra vides venis ostendere gemmam.
Priscian. Perieg. 502, sqq.

Footnote 2339:

Dioscor. v. 139. On the Coral of modern Sicily see Spallanzani,
Travels, Introduction, vol. i. p. 36. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 7.
3.

Footnote 2340:

Dioscor. i. 99.

Footnote 2341:

Athen. i. 6. vii. 53.

Footnote 2342:

Id. iii. 85.

Footnote 2343:

Dioscor. ii. 18.

Footnote 2344:

Athen. i. 6. iii. 44.

-----

The Lipari islands exported sulphur,[2345] alum,[2346] reddle, pumice stone,[2347] crabs,[2348] and anchovies;[2349] Corsica, timber[2350] of a superior quality; Sardinia, carnelians,[2351] snails,[2352] salt provisions,[2353] wax,[2354] and honey, which though bitter, because the bee there fed on wormwood, was much used in cosmetics. In this island likewise was found the seseli,[2355] the juice of which, extracted from the root, was set to thicken in the shade, because, exposed to the sun, it evaporated altogether. It was esteemed a cure for the toothache. The persons employed in collecting it were careful to anoint their beard and nostrils with oil of roses, in order to escape those pains and vertigoes which would otherwise have been caused by its effluvia. The little island of Elba exported iron ore and a precious stone richly sprinkled with brilliant colours.[2356]

-----

Footnote 2345:

Dioscor. v. 124.

Footnote 2346:

Dioscor. v. 123. Strab. vi. 2. t. ii. p. 39. According to the
conjecture of Spallanzani the alum obtained by the ancients from
Lipari was the production of the neighbouring island of Vulcano.
Otherwise the vein must be lost, since though he traversed every foot
of the island he only found some traces or efflorescences of it.
Travels in the two Sicilies, iv. 118. Dolomieu, Voyage aux Iles de
Lipari. p. 78.

Footnote 2347:

Spallanzani, ii. 298.

Footnote 2348:

Athen. iii. 64.

Footnote 2349:

Id. i. 6.

Footnote 2350:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 8. 2.

Footnote 2351:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 23.

Footnote 2352:

Dioscor. ii. 11.

Footnote 2353:

Poll. vi. 48.

Footnote 2354:

Dydim. ap. Geopon. vi. 5. 8.

Footnote 2355:

Dioscor. iii. 92.

Footnote 2356:

Strab. v. 2. t. i. p. 361. Plin. Nat. Hist. iii. 12. xxxiv. 41. Vict.
Var. Lect. xix. 10.

-----

With Gaul Greece carried on no great trade. The few articles which it thence obtained were hams, reckoned among the best in the ancient world,[2357] pitch,[2358] larch, resin,[2359] wool; French lavender, from the island of Hieres; wormwood from Xaintonges;[2360] seseli,[2361] whetstones called passernices,[2362] and carbuncles from Marseilles, which were so highly esteemed, that a stone of very small size sold for fifty pieces of gold.[2363] In the environs of Ruscino[2364] a very fine sort of mullet was caught in certain sandy lagoons near the sea. Aquitania produced gold; Belgium a sort of white stone (_pierre franche_) which was sawed into tiles more easily than wood, and used for mosaics.[2365]

-----

Footnote 2357:

Athen. xiv. 75.

Footnote 2358:

Id. v. 40.

Footnote 2359:

Dioscor. i. 92.

Footnote 2360:

Id. iii. 28.

Footnote 2361:

Id. iii. 60.

Footnote 2362:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 47.

Footnote 2363:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 18.

Footnote 2364:

Strab. iv. 1. t. i. p. 292.

Footnote 2365:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 44.

-----

The produce of Spain and Portugal was richer and more varied: merino rams[2366] for breeding, valued at two hundred and forty pounds, were thence imported into Greece, together with wool of the very finest quality.[2367] At an earlier period superior cloth had been manufactured for exportation.[2368] The linen of Emporiæ and of the Saltiæti long continued to be famous.[2369] The kermes[2370] procured from Spain were of an inferior quality, but they always continued to be an article of commerce,[2371] as well as the alum,[2372] the slate used in medicine, the whetstone,[2373] lapis specularis,[2374] the sory,[2375] minium,[2376] and palmati, round pebbles having within the figure of a palm-tree, found near Munda.[2377]

-----

Footnote 2366:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 213. Casaub. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 49. Diod.
Sicul. v.

Footnote 2367:

Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 48.

Footnote 2368:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 213. Casaub.

Footnote 2369:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 213. Casaub. Sil. Italic. iii. 373.

Footnote 2370:

Dioscor. iv. 48. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 65.

Footnote 2371:

D. Juan Pablo Canàls y Martì, sob. la Purp. de los Antig. c. v.

Footnote 2372:

Dioscor. v. 123. See Don Guil. Bowles, Introd. à la Hist. Nat. &c., de
Espag. p. 39. Dillon, Trav. through Spain. 220. D. J. P. Canàls y
Martì, c. viii.

Footnote 2373:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 47.

Footnote 2374:

Id. xxxvi. 45.

Footnote 2375:

Dioscor. v. 119.

Footnote 2376:

Id. v. 109.

Footnote 2377:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 29.

-----

The cinnabar[2378] of this country was artificial,[2379] and produced from the mixture of a certain ore and argentiferous sand, which being cast into furnaces assumed a most brilliant and flame-like colour. In the mines the above ore emitted so pestilential a vapour that, to protect themselves from it, the workmen covered their faces with a mask of transparent bladders, which at once guarded their eyes and prevented their inhaling it, until by their own breath it had been somewhat tempered. This pigment was used by artists in painting the most costly and gorgeous frescoes.

-----

Footnote 2378:

Sometimes, however, the mineral would appear to have been found in a
natural state: κιννάβαρι ... εὑρίσκεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰβήρων ὁμοῦ τῷ χρυσῷ
λέγεται. Pausan. viii. 39. 6.

Footnote 2379:

Theoph. de Lapid. § 58. D. J. P. Canàls y Martì, cap. vi.

-----

It has often been remarked that Spain[2380] was to the ancient world what Peru and Mexico afterwards were to Spain. Gold and silver abounded almost throughout the land. The miners in constant working were numerous; the rivers and mountain-torrents rolled down golden sands; and frequently after floods morsels of this precious metal were discovered flashing and glittering among the rocks and stones.[2381] Silver was so plentiful, that the natives applied it to the most common uses, and the Phœnicians and Greeks who first touched upon the shore not only freighted their ships with it, but absolutely cast away their anchors and supplied their place with masses of silver.[2382]

-----

Footnote 2380:

Cf. Diodor. Sicul. v. 36, seq. t. i. p. 359. Wesseling. Iorio, Storia
del Commercio, t. v. 1. ii. c. vii. seq. p. 254, sqq.

Footnote 2381:

Καταφέρουσι δὲ οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ οἱ χείμαρῥοι τὴν χρυσίτην ἄμμον,
πολλαχοῦ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄνυδροις τόποις οὖσαν, κ. τ. λ. Strab. iii. t. i.
p. 216. Casaub. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 4.

Footnote 2382:

Cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 31.

-----

The large and opulent province of Bætica, now Andalusia, supplied the ancient world with numerous valuable commodities, among which were wheat,[2383] wine,[2384] oil,[2385] bees’ wax, honey, pitch,[2386] kermes,[2387] vermilion not inferior to that of Sinopè,[2388] rock-salt, and excellent salt-fish.[2389] The thunnies of this part of Spain were said to fatten, like droves of wild hogs,[2390] on the large acorns of the dwarf oak which grew plentifully along the coast, and dipped its fruit into the sea. Hence, too, were obtained numerous species of shellfish, among which were conchs of enormous size.[2391] The congers and murænas, likewise, attained extraordinary dimensions, some of them weighing no less than eighteen minæ, while polypi were found a full talent in weight, and cuttle-fish a yard in length.[2392]

-----

Footnote 2383:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xvii. 3.

Footnote 2384:

Id. xiv. 6.

Footnote 2385:

Lucian. Navig. § 23. Damogeron, ap. Geopon. ix. 26. Plin. Nat. Hist.
xv. 2.

Footnote 2386:

Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 20.

Footnote 2387:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 212, seq. Casaub. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 41. xvi.
8. Iorio, Storia del Commercio, t. iv. 1. ii. c. x. p. 269.

Footnote 2388:

Justin. xliv. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 7. Vitruv. vii. 8.

Footnote 2389:

Lucian. Navig. § 23. Athen. iii. 84. Poll. Onomast. vi. 48.

Footnote 2390:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 215. Casaub. Athen. vii. 14.

Footnote 2391:

Strab. iii. t. i. p. 215. Casaub.

Footnote 2392:

Id. ib.

-----

The Spartium, or Spanish broom, principally used in the manufacture of ropes[2393] and cables, grew chiefly[2394] along the high and arid plains of Valentia and Catalonia, through which passed the great high road from Italy.[2395] Spain exported, besides, cumin, together with wild rocket,[2396] which grew chiefly on the shores of the Atlantic.[2397] The seeds were substituted by the natives for mustard. In fact, we find that it was a common practice among the ancients to use the seed of rocket in seasoning their dishes; and in order to preserve it for constant use they reduced it with milk or vinegar to a kind of paste, which they fashioned into round cakes, and laid up when dry.

-----

Footnote 2393:

Athen. v. 40.

Footnote 2394:

It is now found in gardens on the gulf of Cadiz. “The _Spartium
Junceum_ (Spanish broom) showed its admirable flowers over a
garden-wall which was higher than a man’s head. This plant is
discoverable at a great distance by its fine smell.” Osbeck, Voyage to
China, i. 81.

Footnote 2395:

Strab. iii. 4. t. i. p. 275.

Footnote 2396:

Dioscor. ii. 69.

Footnote 2397:

Id. iii. 170.

-----