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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Day In Old Athens
+by William Stearns Davis
+(#1 in our series by William Stearns Davis)
+
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+Title: A Day In Old Athens
+
+Author: William Stearns Davis
+
+Release Date: December, 2003  [EBook #4716]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 6, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1)
+
+***
+
+
+
+A Day in Old Athens
+
+By William Stearns Davis
+Professor of Ancient History in the University of Minnesota
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+
+
+This little book tries to describe what an intelligent person would
+see and hear in ancient Athens, if by some legerdemain he were
+translated to the fourth century B.C. and conducted about the city
+under competent guidance.  Rare happenings have been omitted and
+sometimes, to avoid long explanations, PROBABLE matters have been
+stated as if they were ascertained facts; but these instances are
+few, and it is hoped no reader will be led into serious error.
+
+The year 360 B.C. has been selected for the hypothetical time of
+this visit, not because of any special virtue in that date, but
+because Athens was then architecturally almost perfect, her civic
+and her social life seemed at their best, the democratic constitution
+held its vigor, and there were few outward signs of the general
+decadence which was to set in after the triumph of Macedon.
+
+I have endeavored to state no facts and to make no allusions, that
+will not be fairly obvious to a reader who has merely an elementary
+knowledge of Greek annals, such information, for instance, as may be
+gained through a good secondary school history of ancient times.
+This naturally has led to comments and descriptions which more
+advanced students may find superfluous.
+
+The writer has been under a heavy debt to the numerous and excellent
+works on Greek "Private Antiquities" and "Public Life" written in
+English, French, or German, as well as to the various great Classical
+Encyclopædias and Dictionaries, and to many treatises and monographs
+upon the topography of Athens and upon the numerous phases of Attic
+culture.  It is proper to say, however, that the material from
+such secondary sources has been merely supplementary to a careful
+examination of the ancient Greek writers, with the objects of this
+book kept especially in view.  A sojourn in modern Athens, also,
+has given me an impression of the influence of the Attic landscape
+upon the conditions of old Athenian life, an impression that I have
+tried to convey in this small volume.
+
+I am deeply grateful to my sister, Mrs. Fannie Davis Gifford, for
+helpful criticism of this book while in manuscript; to my wife,
+for preparing the drawings from Greek vase-paintings which appear
+as illustrations; and to my friend and colleague, Professor Charles
+A. Savage, for a kind and careful reading of the proofs.  Thanks
+also are due to Henry Holt and Company for permission to quote
+material from their edition of Von Falke's "Greece and Rome."
+
+
+W. S. D.
+
+University of Minnesota,
+Minneapolis, Minnesota.
+May, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+
+
+                                                                    Page
+Maps, Plans, and Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
+
+Chapter I.  The Physical Setting of Athens.
+
+Section
+  1. The Importance of Athens in Greek History . . . . . . . . . . .   1
+  2. Why the Social Life of Athens is so Significant . . . . . . . .   1
+  3. The Small Size and Sterility of Attica  . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
+  4. The Physical Beauty of Attica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
+  5. The Mountains of Attica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
+  6. The Sunlight in Attica  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+  7. The Topography of the City of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
+  8. 360 B.C.--The Year of the Visit to Athens . . . . . . . . . . .   8
+
+Chapter II.  The First Sights in Athens.
+
+  9. The Morning Crowds bound for Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
+ 10. The Gate and the Street Scenes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
+ 11. The Streets and House Fronts of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
+ 12. The Simplicity of Athenian Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
+
+Chapter III.  The Agora and its Denizens.
+
+ 13. The Buildings around the Agora  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
+ 14. The Life in the Agora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
+ 15. The Booths and Shops in the Agora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
+ 16. The Flower and the Fish Vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
+ 17. The Morning Visitors to the Agora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
+ 18. The Leisured Class in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
+ 19. Familiar Types around the Agora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
+ 20. The Barber Shops  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
+
+Chapter IV.  The Athenian House and its Furnishings.
+
+ 21. Following an Athenian Gentleman Homeward  . . . . . . . . . . .  26
+ 22. The Type and Uses of a Greek House . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
+ 23. The Plan of a Greek House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
+ 24. Modifications in the Typical Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
+ 25. Rents and House Values  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
+ 26. The Simple yet Elegant Furnishings of an Athenian House . . . .  32
+
+Chapter V.  The Women of Athens.
+
+ 27. How Athenian Marriages are Arranged . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
+ 28. Lack of Sentiment in Marriages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
+ 29. Athenian Marriage Rites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
+ 30. The Mental Horizon of Athenian Women  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
+ 31. The Honor paid Womanhood in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
+ 32. The Sphere of Action of Athenian Women  . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
+
+Chapter VI.  Athenian Costume.
+
+ 33. The General Nature of Greek Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
+ 34. The Masculine Chiton, Himation, and Chlamys . . . . . . . . . .  44
+ 35. The Dress of the Women  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
+ 36. Footwear and Head Coverings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
+ 37. The Beauty of the Greek Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
+ 38. Greek Toilet Frivolities  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49
+
+Chapter VII.  The Slaves.
+
+ 39. Slavery an Integral Part of Greek Life  . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
+ 40. The Slave Trade in Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
+ 41. The Treatment of Slaves in Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
+ 42. Cruel and Kind Masters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
+ 43. The "City Slaves" of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  56
+
+Chapter VIII.  The Children.
+
+ 44. The Desirability of Children in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
+ 45. The Exposure of Infants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
+ 46. The Celebration of a Birth  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59
+ 47. Life and Games of Young Children  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59
+ 48. Playing in the Streets  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  60
+ 49. The First Stories and Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  61
+ 50. The Training of Athenian Girls  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  62
+
+Chapter IX.  The Schoolboys of Athens.
+
+ 51. The Athenians Generally Literate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
+ 52. Character Building the Aim of Athenian Education  . . . . . . .  63
+ 53. The Schoolboy's Pedagogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  64
+ 54. An Athenian School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  65
+ 55. The School Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  66
+ 56. The Study of the Poets  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  68
+ 57. The Greeks do not study Foreign Languages . . . . . . . . . . .  70
+ 58. The Study of "Music"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  70
+ 59. The Moral Character of Greek Music  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72
+ 60. The Teaching of Gymnastics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  73
+ 61. The Habits and Ambitions of Schoolboys  . . . . . . . . . . . .  74
+ 62. The "Ephebi"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  75
+
+Chapter X.  The Physicians of Athens.
+
+ 63. The Beginnings of Greek Medical Science . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
+ 64. Healing Shrines and their Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  78
+ 65. An Athenian Physician's Office  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  79
+ 66. The Physician's Oath  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  80
+ 67. The Skill of Greek Physicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  81
+ 68. Quacks and Charlatans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  82
+
+Chapter XI.  The Funerals.
+
+ 69. An Athenian's Will  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  84
+ 70. The Preliminaries of a Funeral  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  84
+ 71. Lamenting the Dead  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  85
+ 72. The Funeral Procession  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  86
+ 73. The Funeral Pyre  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  87
+ 74. Honors to the Memory of the Dead  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  88
+ 75. The Beautiful Funeral Monuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  89
+
+Chapter XII.  Trade, Manufactures, and Banking.
+
+ 76. The Commercial Importance of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  91
+ 77. The Manufacturing Activities of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . .  91
+ 78. The Commerce of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  93
+ 79. The Adventurous Merchant Skippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  95
+ 80. Athenian Money-changers and Bankers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  95
+ 81. A Large Banking Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  96
+ 82. Drawbacks to the Banking Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  97
+ 83. The Pottery of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  98
+ 84. Athenian Pottery an Expression of the Greek Sense of Beauty . .  99
+
+Chapter XIII.  The Armed Forces of Athens.
+
+ 85. Military Life at Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
+ 86. The Organization of the Athenian Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
+ 87. The Hoplites and the Light Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
+ 88. The Cavalry and the Peltasts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
+ 89. The Panoply of the Hoplites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
+ 90. The Weapons of a Hoplite  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
+ 91. Infantry Maneuvers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
+ 92. The Preliminaries of a Greek Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
+ 93. Joining the Battle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
+ 94. The Climax and End of the Battle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
+ 95. The Burial Truce and the Trophy after the Battle  . . . . . . . 114
+ 96. The Siege of Fortified Towns  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
+ 97. The Introduction of New Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
+
+Chapter XIV.  The Peiræus and the Shipping.
+
+ 98. The "Long Walls" down to the Harbor Town  . . . . . . . . . . . 117
+ 99. Munychia and the Havens of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
+100. The Glorious View from the Hill of Munychia . . . . . . . . . . 119
+101. The Town of Peiræus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
+102. The Merchant Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
+103. The Three War Harbors and the Ship Houses . . . . . . . . . . . 124
+104. The Great Naval Arsenal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
+105. An Athenian Trierarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
+106. The Evolution of the Trireme  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
+107. The Hull of a Trireme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
+108. The Rowers' Benches of a Trireme  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
+109. The Cabins, Rigging, and Ram of a Trireme . . . . . . . . . . . 129
+110. The Officers and Crew of a Trireme  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
+111. A Trireme at Sea  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
+112. The Tactics of a Naval Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
+113. The Naval Strength of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
+
+Chapter XV.  An Athenian Court Trial.
+
+114. The Frequency of Litigation in Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
+115. Prosecutions in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
+116. The Preliminaries to a Trial  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
+117. The Athenian Jury Courts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
+118. The Juryman's Oath  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
+119. Opening The Trial.  The Plaintiff's Speech  . . . . . . . . . . 140
+120. The Defendant's Speech.  Demonstrations by the Jury . . . . . . 141
+121. The First Verdict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
+122. The Second and Final Verdict  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
+123. The Merits and Defects of the Athenian Courts . . . . . . . . . 144
+124. The Usual Punishments in Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
+125. The Heavy Penalty of Exile  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
+126. The Death Penalty of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
+
+Chapter XVI.  The Ecclesia of Athens.
+
+127. The Rule of Democracy in Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
+128. Aristocracy and Wealth.  Their Status and Burdens . . . . . . . 147
+129. Athenian Society truly Democratic up to a Certain Point . . . . 148
+130. The Voting Population of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
+131. Meeting Times of the Ecclesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
+132. The Pnyx (Assembly Place) at Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
+133. The Preliminaries of the Meeting  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
+134. Debating a Proposition  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
+135. Voting at the Pnyx  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
+136. The Ecclesia as an Educational Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . 156
+
+Chapter XVII.  The Afternoon at the Gymnasia
+
+137. The Gymnasia.  Places of General Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
+138. The Road to the Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
+139. The Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
+140. The Social Atmosphere and Human Types at the Academy  . . . . . 160
+141. Philosophers and Cultivated Men at the Gymnasia . . . . . . . . 161
+142. The Beautiful Youths at the Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
+143. The Greek Worship of Manly Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
+144. The Detestation of Old Age  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
+145. The Greeks unite Moral and Physical Beauty  . . . . . . . . . . 165
+146. The Usual Gymnastic Sports and their Objects  . . . . . . . . . 166
+147. Professional Athletes:  the Pancration  . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
+148. Leaping Contests  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
+149. Quoit Hurling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
+150. Casting the Javelin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
+151. Wrestling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
+152. Foot Races  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
+153. The Pentathlon:  the Honors paid to Great Athletes  . . . . . . 172
+
+Chapter XVIII.  Athenian Cookery and the Symposium
+
+154. Greek Meal Times  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
+155. Society desired at Meals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
+156. The Staple Articles of Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
+157. Greek Vintages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
+158. Vegetable Dishes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
+159. Meat and Fish Dishes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
+160. Inviting Guests to a Dinner Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
+161. Preparing for the Dinner:  the Sicilian Cook  . . . . . . . . . 182
+162. The Coming of the Guests  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
+163. The Dinner Proper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
+164. Beginning the Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
+165. The Symposiarch and his Duties  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
+166. Conversation at the Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
+167. Games and Entertainments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
+168. Going Home from the Feast:  Midnight Revelers . . . . . . . . . 189
+
+Chapter XIX.  Country Life around Athens.
+
+169. The Importance of his Farm to an Athenian . . . . . . . . . . . 191
+170. The Country by the Ilissus:  the Greeks and Natural Beauty . . 191
+171. Plato's Description of the Walk by the Ilissus  . . . . . . . . 193
+172. The Athenian Love of Country Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
+173. Some Features of the Attic Country  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
+174. An Attic Farmstead  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
+175. Plowing, Reaping, and Threshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
+176. Grinding at the Mill  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
+177. The Olive Orchards  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
+178. The Vineyards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
+179. Cattle, Sheep, and Goats  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
+180. The Gardens and the Shrine  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
+
+Chapter XX.  The Temples and Gods of Athens.
+
+181. Certain Factors in Athenian Religion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
+182. What constitutes "Piety" in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
+183. The Average Athenians Idea of the Gods  . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
+184. Most Greeks without Belief in Immortality . . . . . . . . . . . 207
+185. The Multitude of Images of the Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
+186. Greek Superstition  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
+187. Consulting Omens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
+188. The Great Oracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
+189. Greek Sacrifices  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
+190. The Route to the Acropolis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
+191. The Acropolis of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
+192. The Use of Color Upon Athenian Architecture and Sculptures  . . 216
+193. The Chief Buildings on the Acropolis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
+194. The Parthenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
+195. A Sacrifice on the Acropolis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
+196. The Interior of the Parthenon and the Great Image of Athena . . 222
+197. Greek Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
+
+Chapter XXI.  The Great Festival of Athens.
+
+198. The Frequent Festivals in Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
+199. The Eleusinia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
+200. The Holy Procession to Eleusis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
+201. The Mysteries of Eleusis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
+202. The Greater Dionysia and the Drama  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
+203. The Theater of Dionysus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
+204. The Production of a Play  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
+205. The Great Panathenaic Procession  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
+206. The View from the Temple of Wingless Victory  . . . . . . . . . 237
+
+Index  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
+
+
+
+
+Maps, Plans, and Illustrations.
+
+
+
+ 1. Athenian Acropolis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Frontispiece
+                                                                    Page
+ 2. Sketch Map of Attica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
+ 3. Sketch Map of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
+ 4. Peasant going to Market  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
+ 5. At the Street Fountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
+ 6. A Wayside Herm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
+ 7. A Carpenter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
+ 8. Conjectural Plan for the house of a Wealthy Athenian . . . . . .  29
+ 9. Spinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
+10. The Maternal Slipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  60
+11. Athenian Funeral Monument  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  FACING PAGE 88
+12. At the Smithy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  92
+13. Hoplite in Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
+14. The Town of Peiræus and the Harbors of Athens  . . . . . . . . . 118
+15. Fishermen  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
+16. An Athenian Trireme  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
+17. The Race in Armor  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
+18. Itinerant Piper with his Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
+19. Women pounding Meal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
+20. Gathering the Olive Harvest  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
+21. Rural Sacrifice to a Wooden Statue of Dionysus . . . . . . . . . 202
+22. Sketch Map of the Acropolis of Athens  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
+23. Sacrificing a Pig  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
+24. Athena Parthenos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
+25. Comic Actors dressed as Ostriches  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
+26. Actor in Costume as a Fury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
+
+
+
+
+
+A Day in Old Athens
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.  The Physical Setting of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+1. The Importance of Athens in Greek History.--To three ancient
+nations the men of the twentieth century owe an incalculable debt.
+To the Jews we owe most of our notions of religion; to the Romans
+we owe traditions and examples in law, administration, and the
+general management of human affairs which still keep their influence
+and value; and finally, to the Greeks we owe nearly all our ideas
+as to the fundamentals of art, literature, and philosophy, in
+fact, of almost the whole of our intellectual life.  These Greeks,
+however, our histories promptly teach us, did not form a single
+unified nation.  They lived in many "city-states" of more or less
+importance, and some of the largest of these contributed very little
+directly to our civilization.  Sparta, for example, has left us
+some noble lessons in simple living and devoted patriotism, but
+hardly a single great poet, and certainly never a philosopher or
+sculptor.  When we examine closely, we see that the civilized life
+of Greece, during the centuries when she was accomplishing the most,
+was peculiarly centered at Athens.  Without Athens, Greek history
+would lose three quarters of its significance, and modern life and
+thought would become infinitely the poorer.
+
+
+2. Why the Social Life of Athens is so Significant.--Because,
+then, the contributions of Athens to our own life are so important,
+because they touch (as a Greek would say) upon almost every side
+of "the true, the beautiful, and the good," it is obvious that
+the outward conditions under which this Athenian genius developed
+deserve our respectful attention.  For assuredly such personages
+as Sophocles, Plato, and Phidias were not isolated creatures, who
+developed their genius apart from, or in spite of, the life about
+them, but rather were the ripe products of a society, which in its
+excellences and weaknesses presents some of the most interesting
+pictures and examples in the world.  To understand the Athenian
+civilization and genius it is not enough to know the outward history
+of the times, the wars, the laws, and the lawmakers.  We must see
+Athens as the average man saw it and lived in it from day to day,
+and THEN perhaps we can partially understand how it was that during
+the brief but wonderful era of Athenian freedom and prosperity[*],
+Athens was able to produce so many men of commanding genius as to
+win for her a place in the history of civilization which she can
+never lose.
+
+[*]That era may be assumed to begin with the battle of Marathon
+(490 B.C.), and it certainly ended in 322 B.C., when Athens passed
+decisively under the power of Macedonia; although since the battle
+of Chæroneia (338 B.C.) she had done little more than keep her
+liberty on sufferance.
+
+
+3. The Small Size and Sterility of Attica.--Attica was a very small
+country according to modern notions, and Athens the only large city
+therein.  The land barely covered some 700 square miles, with 40
+square miles more, if one includes the dependent island of Salamis.
+It was thus far smaller than the smallest of our American "states"
+(Rhode Island = 1250 square miles), and was not so large as many
+American counties.  It was really a triangle of rocky, hill-scarred
+land thrust out into the Ægean Sea, as if it were a sort of
+continuation of the more level district of Bœotia. Yet small as it
+was, the hills inclosing it to the west, the seas pressing it form
+the northeast and south, gave it a unity and isolation all its own.
+Attica was not an island; but it could be invaded only by sea, or
+by forcing the resistance which could be offered at the steep mountain
+passes towards Bœotia or Megara.  Attica was thus distinctly separated
+from the rest of Greece.  Legends told how, when the half-savage
+Dorians had forced themselves southward over the mainland, they
+had never penetrated into Attica; and the Athenians later prided
+themselves upon being no colonists from afar, but upon being
+"earth-sprung,"--natives of the soil which they and their twenty-times
+grandfathers had held before them.
+
+This triangle of Attica had its peculiar shortcomings and virtues.
+It was for the most part stony and unfertile.  Only a shallow layer
+of good soil covered a part of its hard foundation rock, which
+often in turn lay bare on the surface.  The Athenian farmer had a
+sturdy struggle to win a scanty crop, and about the only products
+he could ever raise in abundance for export were olives (which seemed
+to thrive on scanty soil and scanty rainfall) and honey, the work
+of the mountain bees.
+
+
+4. The Physical Beauty of Attica.--Yet Attica had advantages which
+more than counterbalanced this grudging of fertility.  All Greece,
+to be sure, was favored by the natural beauty of its atmosphere,
+seas, and mountains, but Attica was perhaps the most favored portion
+of all, Around her coasts, rocky often and broken by pebbly beaches
+and little craggy peninsulas, surged the deep blue Ægean, the most
+glorious expanse of ocean in the world.  Far away spread the azure
+water[*],--often foam-crested and sometimes alive with the dolphins
+leaping at their play,--reaching towards a shimmering sky line
+where rose "the isles of Greece," masses of green foliage, or else
+of tawny rock, scattered afar, to adapt the words of Homer, "like
+shields laid on the face of the glancing deep."
+
+[*]The peculiar blueness of the water near Attica is probably caused
+by the clear rocky bottom of the sea, as well as by the intensity
+of the sunlight.
+
+Above the sea spread the noble arch of the heavens,--the atmosphere
+often dazzlingly bright, and carrying its glamour and sparkle almost
+into the hearts of men.  The Athenians were proud of the air about
+their land.  Their poets gladly sung its praises, as, for example,
+Euripides[*], when he tells how his fellow countrymen enjoy being--
+
+
+Ever through air clear shining brightly
+As on wings uplifted, pacing lightly.
+
+
+[*]Medea:829.
+
+
+5. The Mountains of Attica.--The third great element, besides the
+sea and the atmosphere of Athens, was the mountains.  One after
+another the bold hills reared themselves, cutting short all the
+plainlands and making the farmsteads often a matter of slopes and
+terraces.  Against the radiant heavens these mountains stood out
+boldly, clearly; revealing all the little gashes and seams left from
+that long-forgotten day when they were flung forth from the bowels
+of the earth.  None of these mountains was very high:  Hymettus,
+the greatest, was only about 3500 feet; but rising as they often
+did from a close proximity to the sea, and not from a dwarfing
+table-land, even the lower hills uplifted themselves with proud
+majesty.
+
+These hills were of innumerable tints according to their rocks,
+the hue of the neighboring sea, and the hour of the day.  In spring
+they would be clothed in verdant green, which would vanish before
+the summer heats, leaving them rosy brown or gray.  But whatever
+the fundamental tone, it was always brilliant; for the Athenians
+lived in a land where blue sky, blue sea, and the massive rock blent
+together into such a galaxy of shifting color, that, in comparison,
+the lighting of almost any northern or western landscape would
+seem feeble and tame.  The Athenians absorbed natural beauty with
+their native air.
+
+
+6. The Sunlight in Athens.--The Athenian loved sunshine, and Helios
+the Sun God was gracious to his prayers.  In the Athens of to-day
+it is reckoned that the year averages 179 days in which the sun is
+not concealed by clouds one instant; and 157 days more when the sun
+is not hidden more than half an hour[*].  Ancient Athens was surely
+not more cloudy.  Nevertheless, despite this constant sunshine and
+a southern latitude, Athens was stricken relatively seldom with
+semitropical heat.  The sea was a good friend, bringing tempering
+breezes.  In the short winter there might be a little frost, a
+little snow, and a fair supply of rain.  For the rest of the year,
+one golden day was wont to succeed another, with the sun and the
+sea breeze in ever friendly rivalry.
+
+[*]The reason for these many clear days is probably because when
+the moist west and southwest winds come in contact with the dry,
+heated air of the Attic plain, they are at once volatilized and
+dispersed, not condensed (as in northern lands); therefore the day
+resolves itself into brilliant sunshine.
+
+The climate saved the Athenians from being obliged to wage a stern
+warfare with nature as did the northern peoples.  Their life and
+civilization could be one developed essentially "in the open air";
+while, on the other hand, the bracing sea breeze saved them from
+that enervating lethargy which has ruined so many southern folk.
+The scanty soil forced them to struggle hard to win a living; unless
+they yielded to the constant beckoning of the ocean, and sought
+food, adventure, wealth, and a great empire across the seas.
+
+
+7. The Topography of the City of Athens.--So much for the land of
+Attica in general; but what of the setting of the city of Athens
+itself?  The city lay in a plain, somewhat in the south central
+part of Attica, and about four miles back from the sea.  A number
+of mountains came together to form an irregular rectangle with the
+Saronic Gulf upon the south.  To the east of Athens stretched the
+long gnarled ridge of Hymettus, the wildest and grayest mountain
+in Attica, the home of bees and goatherds, and (if there be faith
+in pious legend) of innumerable nymphs and satyrs.  To the west
+ran the lower, browner mountains, Ægaleos, across which a road (the
+"Sacred Way") wound through an easy pass towards Eleusis, the only
+sizable town in Attica, outside of Athens and its harbors.  To the
+rear of the plain rose a noble pyramid, less jagged than Hymettus,
+more lordly than Ægaleos; its summits were fretted with a white which
+turned to clear rose color under the sunset.  This was Pentelicus,
+from the veins whereof came the lustrous marble for the master
+sculptor.  Closer at hand, nearer the center of the plain, rose
+a small and very isolated hill,--Lycabettus, whose peaked summit
+looked down upon the roofs of Athens.  And last, but never least,
+about one mile southwest of Lycabettus, upreared a natural monument
+of much greater frame,--not a hill, but a colossal rock.  Its
+shape was that of an irregular oval; it was about 1000 feet long,
+500 feet wide, and its level summit stood 350 feet above the plain.
+This steep, tawny rock, flung by the Titans, one might dream,
+into the midst of the Attic plain, formed one of the most famous
+sites in the world, for it was the Acropolis of Athens.  Its full
+significance, however, must be explained later.  From the Acropolis
+and a few lesser hills close by, the land sloped gently down towards
+the harbors and the Saronic Bay.
+
+These were the great features of the outward setting of Athens.  One
+might add to them the long belt of dark green olive groves winding
+down the westward side of the plain, where the Cephisus (which
+along among Attic rivulets did not run dry in summer) ran down to
+the sea.  There was also a shorter olive belt west of the city,
+where the weaker Ilissus crept, before it lost itself amid the
+thirsty fields.
+
+Sea, rock, and sky, then, joined together around Athens as around
+almost no other city in the world.  The landscape itself was adjusted
+to the eye with marvelous harmony.  The colors and contours formed
+one glorious model for the sculptor and the painter, one perpetual
+inspiration for the poet.  Even if Athens had never been the seat
+of a famous race, she would have won fame as being situated in one
+of the most beautiful localities in the world.  Rightly, therefore, did
+its dwellers boast of their city as the "Violet-crowned" (Iostephanos).
+
+
+8. 360 B.C.--The Year of the Visit to Athens.--This city let us
+visit in the days of its greatest outward glory.  We may select the
+year 360 B.C.  At that time Athens had recovered from the ravages
+of the Peloponnesian War, while the Macedonian peril had not as
+yet become menacing.  The great public buildings were nearly all
+completed.  No signs of material decadence were visible, and if
+Athens no longer possessed the wide naval empire of the days of
+Pericles, her fleets and her armies were still formidable.  The
+harbors were full of commerce; the philosophers were teaching their
+pupils in the groves and porticoes; the democratic constitution was
+entirely intact.  With intelligent vision we will enter the city
+and look about us.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II.  The First Sights in Athens.
+
+
+
+
+9. The Morning Crowds bound for Athens.--It is very early in the
+morning.  The sun has just pushed above the long ridge of Hymettus,
+sending a slanting red bar of light across the Attic plain, and
+touching the opposite slopes of Ægaleos with livid fire.  Already,
+however, life is stirring outside the city.  Long since, little
+market boats have rowed across the narrow strait from Salamis,
+bringing the island farmer's produce, and other farmers from the
+plain and the mountain slopes have started for market.  In the
+ruddy light the marble temples on the lofty Acropolis rising ahead
+of these hurrying rustics are standing out clearly; the spear
+and helmet of the great brazen statue of the Athena Promachos are
+flashing from the noble citadel, as a kind of day beacon, beckoning
+onward toward the city.  From the Peiræus, the harbor town, a
+confused him of mariners lading and unlading vessels is even now
+rising, but we cannot turn ourselves thither.  Our route is to
+follow the farmers bound for market.
+
+The most direct road from the Peiræus to Athens is hidden indeed,
+for it leads between the towering ramparts of the "Long Walls,"
+two mighty barriers which run parallel almost four miles from the
+inland city to the harbor, giving a guarded passage in wartime and
+making Athens safe against starvation from any land blockade; but
+there is an outside road leading also to Athens from the western
+farmsteads, and this we can conveniently follow.  Upon this route
+the crowd which one meets is certainly not aristocratic, but it
+is none the less Athenian.  Here goes a drover, clad in skins, his
+legs wound with woolen bands in lieu of stockings; before him and
+his wolf-like dog shambles a flock of black sheep or less manageable
+goats, bleating and baaing as they are propelled toward market.
+After him there may come an unkempt, long-bearded farmer flogging on
+a pack ass or a mule attached to a clumsy cart with solid wheels,
+and laden with all kinds of market produce.  The roadway, be it
+said, is not good, and all carters have their troubles; therefore,
+there is a deal of gesticulating and profane invocation of Hermes
+and all other gods of traffic; for, early as it is, the market
+place is already filling, and every delay promises a loss.  There
+are still other companions bound toward the city:  countrymen
+bearing cages of poultry; others engaged in the uncertain calling
+of driving pigs; swarthy Oriental sailors, with rings in their
+ears, bearing bales of Phœnician goods from the Peiræus; respectable
+country gentlemen, walking gravely in their best white mantles
+and striving to avoid the mud and contamination; and perhaps also
+a small company of soldiers, just back from foreign service, passes,
+clattering shields and spear staves.
+
+
+10. The Gate and the Street Scenes.--The crowds grow denser
+as everybody approaches the frequented "Peiræus Gate," for nearly
+all of Attica which lies within easy reach of Athens has business
+in the Market Place every morning.  On passing the gate a fairly
+straight way leads through the city to the market, but progress for
+the multitude becomes slow.  If it is one of the main thoroughfares,
+it is now very likely to be almost blocked with people.  There are
+few late risers at Athens; the Council of Five Hundred[*], the huge
+Jury Courts, and the Public Assembly (if it has met to-day[+]) are
+appointed to gather at sunrise.  The plays in the theater, which,
+however, are given only on certain festivals, begin likewise at
+sunrise.  The philosophers say that "the man who would accomplish
+great things must be up while yet it is dark."  Athenians, therefore,
+are always awake and stirring at an hour when men of later ages and
+more cold and foggy climes will be painfully yawning ere getting
+out of bed.
+
+[*]The "Boule," the great standing committee of the Athenian people
+to aid the magistrates in the government.
+
+[+]In which case, of course, the regular courts and the Council
+would hardly meet.
+
+The Market Place attracts the great masses, but by no means all;
+hither and thither bevies of sturdy slave girls, carrying graceful
+pitchers on their heads, are hurrying towards the fountains which
+gush cool water at most of the street corners.  Theirs is a highly
+necessary task, for few or no houses have their own water supply;
+and around each fountain one can see half a dozen by no means
+slatternly maidens, splashing and flirting the water one at another,
+while they wait their turn with the pitchers, and laugh and exchange
+banter with the passing farmers' lads.  Many in the street crowds
+are rosy-cheeked schoolboys, walking decorously, if they are lads
+of good breeding, and blushing modestly when they are greeted
+by their fathers' acquaintances.  They do not loiter on the way.
+Close behind, carrying their writing tablets, follow the faithful
+'pedagogues,' the body-servants appointed to conduct them to
+school, give them informal instruction, and, if need be, correct
+their faults in no painless manner.  Besides the water maids
+and the schoolboys, from the innumerable house doors now opening
+the respective masters are stepping forth--followed by one, two,
+or several serving varlets, as many as their wealth affords.  All
+these join in the crowd entering from the country.  "Athenian
+democracy" always implies a goodly amount of hustling and pushing.
+No wonder the ways are a busy sight!
+
+
+11. The Streets and House Fronts of Athens.--Progress is slower near
+the Market Place because of the extreme narrowness of the streets.
+They are only fifteen feet wide or even less,--intolerable alleys
+a later age would call them,--and dirty to boot.  Sometimes they
+are muddy, more often extremely dusty.  Worse still, they are
+contaminated by great accumulations of filth; for the city is without
+an efficient sewer system or regular scavengers.  Even as the crowd
+elbows along, a house door will frequently open, an ill-favored
+slave boy show his head, and with the yell, "Out of the way!" slap
+a bucket of dirty water into the street.  There are many things to
+offend the nose as well as the eyes of men of a later race.  It is
+fortunate indeed that the Athenians are otherwise a healthy folk,
+or they would seem liable to perpetual pestilence; even so, great
+plagues have in past years harried the city[*].
+
+[*]The most fearful thereof was the great plague of 430 B.C. (during
+the Peloponnesian War), which nearly ruined Athens.
+
+The first entrance to Athens will thus bring to a stranger, full of
+the city's fame and expectant of meeting objects of beauty at every
+turn, almost instant disappointment.  The narrow, dirty, ill-paved
+streets are also very crooked.  One can readily be lost in a
+labyrinth of filthy little lanes the moment one quits the few main
+thoroughfares.  High over head, to be sure, the red crags of the
+Acropolis may be towering, crowned with the red, gold, and white
+tinted marble of the temples, but all around seems only monotonous
+squalor.  The houses seem one continuous series of blank walls;
+mostly of one, occasionally of two stories, and with flat roofs.
+These walls are usually spread over with some dirty gray or perhaps
+yellow stucco.  For most houses, the only break in the street walls
+are the simple doors, all jealously barred and admitting no glance
+within.  There are usually no street windows, if the house is only
+one story high.  If it has two stories, a few narrow slits above
+the way may hint that here are the apartments for the slaves or
+women.  There are no street numbers.  There are often no street
+names.  "So-and-so lives in such-and-such a quarter, near the
+Temple of Heracles;" that will enable you to find a householder,
+after a few tactful questions from the neighbors; and after all,
+Athens is a relatively small city[*] (as great cities are reckoned),
+very closely built, and her regular denizens do not feel the need
+of a directory.
+
+[*]Every guess at the population of Athens rests on mere conjecture;
+yet, using the scanty data which we possess, it seems possible
+that THE POPULATION OF ALL ATTICA at the height of its prosperity
+was about 200,000 FREE PERSONS (including the METICS--resident
+foreigners without citizenship); and a rather smaller number of
+slaves--say 150,000 or less.  Of this total of some 350,000, probably
+something under one half resided in the city of Athens during times
+of peace, the rest in the outlying farms and villages.  ATHENS MAY
+BE IMAGINED AS A CITY OF ABOUT 150,000--possibly a trifle more.
+During serious wars there would be of course a general removal into
+the city.
+
+So the crowd elbows its way onward:  now thinning, now gaining,
+but the main stream always working towards the Market Place.
+
+
+
+12.  The Simplicity of Athenian Life.--It is clear we are entering
+a city where nine tenths of what the twentieth century will consider
+the "essential conveniences" of life are entirely lacking; where
+men are trying to be civilized--or, as the Greeks would say, to lay
+hold upon "the true, the beautiful, and the good," without even the
+absolute minimum of those things which people of a later age will
+believe separate a "civilized man" from a "barbarian."  The gulf
+between old Athens and, for instance, new Chicago is greater than
+is readily supposed[*].  It is easy enough to say that the Athenians
+lacked such things as railways, telephones, gas, grapefruit,
+and cocktails.  All such matters we realize were not known by our
+fathers and grandfathers, and we are not yet so removed from THEM
+that we cannot transport ourselves in imagination back to the
+world of say 1820 A.D.; but the Athenians are far behind even our
+grandfathers.  When we investigate, we will find conditions like
+these--houses absolutely without plumbing, beds without sheets,
+rooms as hot or as cold as the outer air, only far more drafty.  We
+must cross rivers without bridges; we must fasten our clothes (or
+rather our "two pieces of cloth") with two pins instead of with
+a row of buttons; we must wear sandals without stockings (or go
+barefoot); must warm ourselves over a pot of ashes; judge plays or
+lawsuits on a cold winter morning sitting in the open air; we must
+study poetry with very little aid from books, geography without
+real maps, and politics without newspapers; and lastly, "we must
+learn how to be civilized without being comfortable!"[+]
+
+[*]See the very significant comment on the physical limitations
+of the old Athenian life in Zimmern's "The Greek Commonwealth," p.
+209.
+
+[+]Zimmern, ibid.
+
+Or, to reverse the case:  we must understand that an Athenian would
+have pronounced our boasted "civilization" hopelessly artificial,
+and our life so dependent on outward material props and factors
+as to be scarcely worth the living.  He would declare himself well
+able to live happily under conditions where the average American
+or Englishman would be cold, semi-starved, and miserable.  He would
+declare that HIS woe or happiness was retained far more under his own
+control than we retain ours, and that we are worthy of contemptuous
+pity rather than of admiration, because we have refined our
+civilization to such a point that the least accident, e.g. the
+suspension of rail traffic for a few days, can reduce a modern city
+to acute wretchedness.
+
+Probably neither the twentieth century in its pride, nor the fourth
+century B.C. in its contempt, would have all the truth upon its
+side.[*]  The difference in viewpoint, however, must still stand.
+Preëminently Athens may be called the "City of the Simple Life."
+Bearing this fact in mind, we may follow the multitude and enter
+the Marketplace; or, to use the name that stamps it as a peculiarly
+Greek institution,--the Agora.
+
+[*]The mere matter of CLIMATE would of course have to come in as
+a serious factor.  The Athenian would have found his life becoming
+infinitely more complex along the material side when he tried
+to live like a "kalos-k'agathos"--i.e. a "noble and good man," or
+a "gentleman,"--in a land where the thermometer might sink to 15°
+below zero Fahrenheit (or even lower) from time to time during the
+winter.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III.  The Agora and its Denizens.
+
+
+
+
+13.  The Buildings around the Agora.--Full market time![*]  The great
+plaza of the Agora is buzzing with life.  The contrast between the
+dingy, dirty streets and this magnificent public plaza is startling.
+The Athenians manifestly care little for merely private display,
+rather they frown upon it; their wealth, patriotism, and best
+artistic energy seem all lavished upon their civic establishments
+and buildings.
+
+[*]Between nine and twelve A.M.
+
+The Agora is a square of spacious dimensions, planted here and
+there with graceful bay trees.  Its greatest length runs north and
+south.  Ignoring for the time the teeming noisy swarms of humanity,
+let our eyes be directed merely upon the encircling buildings.  The
+place is almost completely enclosed by them, although not all are
+of equal elegance or pretension.  Some are temples of more or less
+size, like the temple of the "Paternal Apollo" near the southwestern
+angle; or the "Metroön," the fane of Cybele "the Great Mother
+of the Gods," upon the south.  Others are governmental buildings;
+somewhat behind the Metroön rise the imposing pillars of the Council
+House, where the Five Hundred are deliberating on the policy of
+Athens; and hard by that is the Tholos, the "Round House," with a
+peaked, umbrella-shaped roof, beneath which the sacred public hearth
+fire is ever kept burning, and where the presiding Committee of
+the Council[*] and certain high officials take their meals, and a
+good deal of state business is transacted.  The majority of these
+buildings upon the Agora, however, are covered promenades, porticoes,
+or stoæ.
+
+[*]This select committee was known technically as the "Prytanes."
+
+The stoæ are combinations of rain shelters, shops, picture galleries,
+and public offices.  Turn under the pillars of the "Royal Stoa"
+upon the west, and you are among the whispering, nudging, intent
+crowd of listeners, pushing against the barriers of a low court.
+Long rows of jurors are sitting on their benches; the "King Archon"
+is on the president's stand, and some poor wight is being arraigned
+on a charge of "Impiety"[*]; while on the walls behind stand graved
+and ancient laws of Draco and Solon.
+
+[*]The so-called "King Archon" had special cognizance of most cases
+involving religious questions; and his court was in this stoa.
+
+Cross the square, and on the opposite side is one of the most
+magnificent of the porticoes, the "Painted Porch" ("Stoa Poikilë"),
+a long covered walk, a delightful refuge alike from sun and rain.
+Almost the entire length of the inner walls (for it has columns
+only on the side of the Agora) is covered with vivid frescoes.  Here
+Polygnotus and other master painters have spread out the whole
+legendary story of the capture of Troy and of the defeat of the
+Amazons; likewise the more historical tale of the battle of Marathon.
+Yet another promenade, the "Stoa of Zeus," is sacred to Zeus, Giver
+of Freedom.  The walls are not frescoed, but hung with the shields
+of valiant Athenian warriors.
+
+In the open spaces of the plaza itself are various alters, e.g. to
+the "Twelve Gods," and innumerable statues of local worthies, as
+of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the tyrant-slayers; while across the
+center, cutting the Market Place from east to west, runs a line of
+stone posts, each surmounted with a rude bearded head of Hermes,
+the trader's god; and each with its base plastered many times over
+with all kinds of official and private placards and notices.
+
+
+14.  The Life in the Agora.--So much for the physical setting of
+the Agora:  of far greater interest surely are the people.  The
+whole square is abounding with noisy activity.  If an Athenian has
+no actual business to transact, he will at least go to the Agora
+to get the morning news.  Two turns under the "Painted Porch" will
+tell him the last rumor as to the foreign policy of Thebes;  whether
+it is true that old King Agesilaus has died at Sparta; whether corn
+is likely to be high, owning to a failure of crops in the Euxine
+(Black Sea) region; whether the "Great King" of Persia is prospering
+in his campaign against Egypt.  The crowd is mostly clad in white,
+though often the cloaks of the humbler visitors are dirty, but there
+is a sprinkling of gay colors,--blue, orange, and pink.  Everybody
+is talking at once in melodious Attic; everybody (since they are
+all true children of the south) is gesticulating at once.  To the
+babel of human voices is added the wheezing whistle of donkeys,
+the squealing of pigs, the cackle of poultry.  Besides, from many
+of the little factories and workshops on or near the Agora a great
+din is rising.  The clamor is prodigious.  Criers are stalking
+up and down the square, one bawling out that Andocides has lost a
+valuable ring and will pay well to recover it; another the Pheidon
+has a desirable horse that he will sell cheap.  One must stand
+still for some moments and let eye and ear accustom themselves to
+such utter confusion.
+
+
+15.  The Booths and Shops in the Agora.--At length out of the chaos
+there seems to emerge a certain order.  The major part of the square
+is covered with little booths of boards and wicker work, very frail
+and able to be folded up, probably every night.  There are little
+lanes winding amid these booths; and each manner of huckster has
+its own especial "circle" or section of the market.  "Go to the
+wine," "to the fish," "to the myrtles" (i.e. the flowers), are
+common directions for finding difficult parts of the Agora.  Trade
+is mostly on a small scale,--the stock of each vendor is distinctly
+limited in its range, and Athens is without "department stores."  Behind
+each low counter, laden with its wares, stands the proprietor, who
+keeps up a din from leathern lungs:  "Buy my oil!"  "Buy charcoal!"
+"Buy sausage!" etc., until he is temporarily silenced while dealing
+with a customer.
+
+In one "circle" may be found onions and garlic (a favorite food
+of the poor); a little further on are the dealers in wine, fruit,
+and garden produce.  Lentils and peas can be had either raw, or
+cooked and ready to eat on the spot.  An important center is the
+bread market.  The huge cylindrical loaves are handed out by shrewd
+old women with proverbially long tongues.  Whosoever upsets one of
+their delicately balanced piles of loaves is certain of an artistic
+tongue lashing.  Elsewhere there is a pottery market, a clothes
+market, and, nearer the edge of the Agora, are "circles," where
+objects of real value are sold, like jewelry, chariots, good
+furniture.  In certain sections, too, may be seen strong-voiced
+individuals, with little trays swung by straps before them, pacing
+to and fro, and calling out, not foods, but medicines, infallible
+cure-alls for every human distemper.  Many are the unwary fools
+who patronize them.
+
+
+16.  The Flower and the Fish Vendors.--Two circles attract especial
+attention, the Myrtles and the Fish.  Flowers and foliage, especially
+when made up into garlands, are absolutely indispensable to the
+average Greek.  Has he a great family festival, e.g. the birth
+of a son, then every guest should wear a crown of olives; is it a
+wedding, then one of flowers.[*]  Oak-leaves do the honors for Zeus;
+laurel for Apollo; myrtle for Aphrodite (and is not the Love-Goddess
+the favorite?).  To have a social gathering without garlands, in
+short, is impossible.  The flower girls of Athens are beautiful,
+impudent, and not at all prudish.  Around their booths press
+bold-tongued youths, and not too discreet sires; and the girls can
+call everybody familiarly by name.  Very possibly along with the
+sale of the garlands they make arrangements (if the banquet is
+to be of the less respectable kind) to be present in the evening
+themselves, perhaps in the capacity of flute girls.
+
+[*]The Greeks lacked many of our common flowers.  Their ordinary
+flowers were white violets, narcissus, lilies, crocuses, blue
+hyacinths, and roses ("the Flower of Zeus").  The usual garland
+was made of myrtle or ivy and then entwined with various flowers.
+
+More reputable, though not less noisy, is the fish market.  Athenians
+boast themselves of being no hearty "meat eaters" like their Bœotian
+neighbors, but of preferring the more delicate fish.  No dinner
+party is successful without a seasonable course of fish.  The arrival
+of a fresh cargo from the harbor is announced by the clanging of
+a bell, which is likely to leave all the other booths deserted,
+while a crowd elbows around the fishmonger.  He above all others
+commands the greatest flow of billingsgate, and is especially notorious
+for his arrogant treatment of his customers, and for exacting the
+uttermost farthing.  The "Fish" and the "Myrtles" can be sure of
+a brisk trade on days when all the other booth keepers around the
+Agora stand idle.
+
+All this trade, of course, cannot find room in the booths of the
+open Agora.  Many hucksters sit on their haunches on the level
+ground with their few wares spread before them.  Many more have
+little stands between the pillars of the stoæ; and upon the various
+streets that converge on the market there is a fringe of shops,
+but these are usually of the more substantial sort.  Here are the
+barbers' shops, the physicians' offices (if the good leech is more
+than an itinerant quack), and all sorts of little factories, such
+as smithies, where the cutler's apprentices in the rear of the shop
+forge the knives which the proprietor sells over the counter, the
+slave repositories, and finally wine establishments of no high
+repute, where wine may not merely be bought by the skin (as in the
+main Agora), but by the potful to be drunk on the premises.
+
+
+17.  The Morning Visitors to the Agora.--The first tour of inspection
+completed, several facts become clear to the visitor.  One is the
+extraordinarily large proportion of MEN among the moving multitudes.
+Except for the bread women and the flower girls, hardly one female
+is to be found among the sellers.  Among the purchasers there is
+not a single reputable lady.  No Athenian gentlewoman dreams of
+frequenting the Agora.  Even a poor man's wife prefers to let her
+spouse do the family marketing.  As for the "men folk," the average
+gentleman will go daily indeed to the Agora, but if he is really
+pretentious, it will be merely to gossip and to meet his friends;
+a trusted servant will attend to the regular purchasing.  Only when
+an important dinner party is on hand will the master take pains to
+order for himself.  If he does purchase in person, he will never
+CARRY anything himself.  The slaves can attend to that; and only
+the slaveless (the poorest of all) must take away their modest
+rations of boiled lentils, peas, beans, onions, and garlic, usually
+in baskets, though yonder now is a soldier who is bearing off a
+measure of boiled peas inside his helmet.
+
+Another thing is striking.  The average poor Athenian seems to
+have no purse.  Or rather he uses the purse provided by nature.  At
+every booth one can see unkempt buyers solemnly taking their small
+change from their mouths.[*]  Happy the people that has not learned
+the twentieth century wisdom concerning microbes!  For most Athenians
+seem marvelously healthy.
+
+[*]A wealthier purchaser would, of course, have his own pouch, or
+more probably one carried for him by a slave.
+
+Still one other fact is brought home constantly.  "Fixed prices"
+are absolutely unknown.  The slightest transaction involves a war of
+bargaining.  Wits are matched against wits, and only after a vast
+deal of wind do buyer and seller reach a fair compromise.  All
+this makes retail trade in the Agora an excellent school for public
+affairs or litigation.
+
+
+18.  The Leisured Class in Athens.--Evidently Athens, more than
+many later-day cities, draws clear lines between the workers and the
+"gentlemen of leisure."  There is no distinction of dress between
+the numerous slaves and the humbler free workers and traders; but
+there is obvious distinction between the artisan of bent shoulders
+who shambles out of yonder pungent tannery, with his scant garments
+girded around him, and the graceful gentleman of easy gestures
+and flowing drapery who moves towards the Tholos.  There is great
+POLITICAL democracy in Athens, but not so much SOCIAL democracy.
+"Leisure," i.e. exemption from every kind of sordid, money-getting,
+hard work, is counted the true essential for a respectable existence,
+and to live on the effort of others and to devote oneself to public
+service or to letters and philosophy is the open satisfaction or
+the private longing of every Athenian.
+
+A great proportion of these, therefore, who frequent the Agora are
+not here on practical business, unless they have official duties
+at the government offices.[*]  But in no city of any age has the
+gracious art of doing nothing been brought to such perfection.
+The Athenians are an intensely gregarious people.  Everybody knows
+everybody else.  Says an orator, "It is impossible for a man to
+be either a rascal or an honest man in this city without your all
+knowing it."  Few men walk long alone; if they do keep their own
+company, they are frowned on as "misanthropes."  The morning visit
+to the Agora "to tell or to hear some new thing"[+] will be followed
+by equally delightful idling and conversation later in the day at
+the Gymnasia, and later still, probably, at the dinner-party.  Easy
+and unconventional are the personal greetings.  A little shaking
+out of the mantle, an indescribable flourish with the hands.  A
+free Greek will despise himself for "bowing," even to the Great
+King.  To clasp hands implies exchanging a pledge, something for
+more than mere salutation.
+
+"Chaire, Aristomenes!"
+
+"Chaire, Cleandros!"
+
+Such is the usual greeting, using an expressive word which can mean
+equally well "hail!" and "farewell!"
+
+[*]To serve the state in any official capacity (usually without any
+salary attached to the office) would give the highest satisfaction
+to any Greek.  The desire for participation in public affairs might
+be described as a mania.
+
+[+]Acts of the Apostles, 17:21.
+
+
+19.  Familiar Types around the Agora.--These animated, eager-faced
+men whose mantles fall in statuesque folds prefer obviously to walk
+under the Painted Porch, or the blue roof of heaven, while they
+evolve their philosophies, mature their political schemes, or
+organize the material for their orations and dramas, rather than to
+bend over desks within close offices.  Around the Athenian Agora,
+a true type of this preference, and busy with this delightful
+idleness, half a century earlier could have been seen a droll
+figure with "indescribable nose, bald head, round body, eyes rolling
+and twinkling with good humor," scantily clad,--an incorrigible
+do-nothing, windbag, and hanger-on, a later century might assert,--yet
+history has given to him the name of Socrates.
+
+Not all Athenians, of course, make such justifiable use of their
+idleness.  There are plenty of young men parading around in long
+trailing robes, their hair oiled and curled most effeminately,
+their fingers glittering with jewels,--"ring-loaded, curly-locked
+coxcombs," Aristophanes, the comic poet, has called them,--and
+they are here only for silly display.  Also there are many of their
+elders who have no philosophy or wit to justify their continuous
+talking; nevertheless, all considered, it must be admitted that
+the Athenian makes a use of their dearly loved "leisure," which
+men of a more pragmatic race will do well to consider as the fair
+equivalent of much frantic zeal for "business."  Athenian "leisure" has
+already given the world Pericles, Thucydides, Æschylus, Sophocles,
+Euripides, Socrates, and Plato, not to name such artists as Phidias,
+whose profession cannot exempt them from a certain manual occupation.
+
+
+20.  The Barber Shops.--This habit of genteel idleness naturally
+develops various peculiar institutions.  For example, the barber
+shops are almost club rooms.  Few Hellenes at this time shave their
+beards[*], but to go with unkempt whiskers and with too long hair
+is most disgraceful.  The barber shops, booths, or little rooms let
+into the street walls of the houses, are therefore much frequented.
+The good tonsors have all the usual arts.  They can dye gray hair
+brown or black; they can wave or curl their patrons' locks (and
+an artificially curled head is no disgrace to a man).  Especially,
+they keep a good supply of strong perfumes; for many people will
+want a little scent on their hair each morning, even if they wish
+no other attention.  But it is not an imposition to a barber to
+enter his shop, yet never move towards his low stool before the
+shining steel mirror.  Anybody is welcome to hang around indefinitely,
+listening to the proprietor's endless flow of talk.  He will pride
+himself on knowing every possible bit of news or rumor:  Had the
+Council resolved on a new fleet-building program?  Had the Tyrant
+of Syracuse's "four" the best chance in the chariot race in the
+next Olympic games?  The garrulity of barbers is already proverbial.
+
+[*] Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.) required his soldiers to be
+shaved (as giving less grasp for the enemy!), and the habit then
+spread generally through the whole Hellenic world.
+
+"How shall I cut your hair, sir?" once asked the court tonsure of
+King Archeläus of Macedon.
+
+"In silence," came the grim answer.
+
+But the proprietor will not do all the talking.  Everybody in the
+little room will join.  Wits will sharpen against wits; and if the
+company is of a grave and respectable sort, the conversation will
+grow brisk upon Plato's theory of the "reality of ideas," upon
+Euripides's interpretation of the relations of God to man, or upon
+the spiritual symbolism of Scopas's bas-reliefs at Halicarnassus.
+
+The barber shops by the Agora then are essential portions of
+Athenian social life.  Later we shall see them supplemented by the
+Gymnasia;--but the Agora has detained us long enough.  The din and
+crowds are lessening.  People are beginning to stream homeward.
+It lacks a little of noon according to the "time-staff" (gnomon),
+a simple sun dial which stands near one of the porticoes, and we
+will now follow some Athenian gentleman towards his dwelling.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.  The Athenian House and its Furnishings.
+
+
+
+
+21.  Following an Athenian Gentleman Homeward.--Leaving the Agora
+and reëntering the streets the second impression of the residence
+districts becomes more favorable.  There are a few bay trees planted
+from block to block; and ever and anon the monotonous house walls
+recede, giving space to display some temple, like the Fane of
+Hephæstos[*] near the Market Place, its columns and pediment flashing
+not merely with white marble, but with the green, scarlet, and gold
+wherewith the Greeks did not hesitate to decorate their statuary.
+
+[*]Wrongly called the "Theseum" in modern Athens.
+
+At street corners and opposite important mansions a Hermes-bust
+like those in the plaza rises, and a very few houses have a couple
+of pillars at their entrances and some outward suggestion of hidden
+elegance.
+
+We observe that almost the entire crowd leaving the Agora goes
+on foot.  To ride about in a chariot is a sign of undemocratic
+presumption; while only women or sick men will consent to be borne
+in a litter.  We will select a sprucely dressed gentleman who has
+just been anointed in a barber's shop and accompany him to his home.
+He is neither one of the decidedly rich, otherwise his establishment
+would be exceptional, not typical, nor is he of course one of
+the hard-working poor.  Followed by perhaps two clean and capable
+serving lads, he wends his way down several of the narrow lanes that
+lie under the northern brow of the Acropolis[*].  Before a plain
+solid house door he halts and cries, "Pai!  Pai!" ["Boy!  Boy!"].
+There is a rattle of bolts and bars.  A low-visaged foreign-born
+porter, whose business it is to show a surly front to all unwelcome
+visitors, opens and gives a kind of salaam to his master; while
+the porter's huge dog jumps up barking and pawing joyously.
+
+[*]This would be a properly respectable quarter of the city, but
+we do not know of any really "aristocratic residence district" in
+Athens.
+
+As we enter behind him (carefully advancing with right foot foremost,
+for it is bad luck to tread a threshold with the LEFT) we notice
+above the lintel some such inscription as "Let no evil enter here!"
+or "To the Good Genius," then a few steps through a narrow passage
+bring us into the Aula, the central court, the indispensable feature
+of every typical Greek house.
+
+
+22.  The Type and use of a Greek House.--All domestic architecture,
+later investigators will discover, falls into two great categories--of
+the northern house and the southern house.  The northern house begins
+with a single large room, "the great hall," then lesser rooms are
+added to it.  It gets its light from windows in the outer walls,
+and it is covered by a single steep roof.  The southern (Greek and
+Oriental) house is a building inclosing a rectangular court.  The
+rooms, many or few, get their light from this court, while they
+are quite shut off from the world outside.  All in all, for warm
+climates this style of house is far more airy, cool, comfortable
+than the other.  The wide open court becomes the living room of
+the house save in very inclement weather.
+
+Socrates is reported to have uttered what was probably the average
+sensible view about a good house.[*]  The good house, he thought,
+should be cool in summer, and warm in winter, convenient for the
+accommodation of the family and its possessions.  The central rooms
+should therefore be lofty and should open upon the south, yet for
+protection in summer there should be good projecting eaves (over
+the court) and again the rooms on the northern exposure should be
+made lower.  All this is mere sense, but really the average male
+Athenian does not care a great deal about his dwelling.  He spends
+surprisingly little money beautifying it.  Unless he is sick, he
+will probably be at home only for sleeping and eating.  The Agora,
+the Public Assembly, the Jury Courts, the Gymnasium, the great
+religious festivals consume his entire day.  "I never spend my time
+indoors," says Xenophon's model Athenian, "my wife is well able
+to run the household by herself."[+]  Such being the case, even
+wealthy men have very simple establishments, although it is at length
+complained (e.g. by Demosthenes) that people are now building more
+luxurious houses, and are not content with the plain yet sufficient
+dwellings of the great age of Pericles.[@]
+
+[*]In Xenophon's "Memorabilia," III. 8, §§ 9,10.
+
+[+]Xenophon, "Economics," VII. 3.
+
+[@]Very probably in such outlying Greek cities as Syracuse, Taras
+(Tarentum), etc., more elegant houses could be found than any at
+this time in Athens.
+
+
+23.  The Plan of a Greek House.--The plan of a Greek house naturally
+varies infinitely according to the size of the land plot, the size
+of the owner's family, his own taste, and wealth.  It will usually
+be rectangular, with the narrower side toward the street; but this
+is not invariable.  In the larger houses there will be two courts
+(aulæ), one behind the other, and each with its own circuit of
+dependent chambers.  The court first entered will be the Andronitis
+(the Court of the Men), and may be even large enough to afford a
+considerable promenade for exercise.  Around the whole of the open
+space run lines of simple columns, and above the opening swings an
+awning if the day is very hot.  In the very center rises a small
+stone alter with a statue of Zeus the Protector (Zeus Herkeïos),
+where the father of the family will from time to time offer sacrifice,
+acting as the priest for the household.  Probably already on the
+alter there has been laid a fresh garland; if not, the newcomers
+from the Agora have now fetched one.
+
+
++---------------------+
+|                     |
+|        GARDEN       |
+|                     |
++----+-----------+----+  Conjectural Plan for the House
+| Y  |     D     | Y  |     of A Wealthy Athenian.
+|    |           |    |
++--+=+-----=-----+=+--+    A  = Alter of Zeus Herkelos.
+|  |               |  |    B  = Alter of Hestia.
+|Y =   o o   o o   = Y|    C  = Entrance Hall.
+|  |   o       o   |  |    D  = Kitchen.
++--+ GYNAECONITIS  +--+    T  = Thalmos.
+|  |   o       o   |  |    T' = Anti-thalmos.
+|Y =   o o   o o   = Y|    X  = Rooms for the Men.
+|  |               |  |    Y  = Rooms for the Women.
++--+=+-----=-+---+=+--+
+|    |       |B o|    |
+|  T |       +---+ T' |
+|    |  ANDRON   |    |
++----+           +----+
+| X  |           |  X |
++--+=+----' '----+=+--+
+|X =  o o     o o  = X|
++--+  o    A    o  +--+
+|X =  o    O    o  = X|
++--+  ANDRONITIS   +--+
+|X =  o o     o o  = X|
++--+=+-=-+   +-=-+=+--+
+|    |   |   |   |    |
+| X  | X | C | X |  X |
+|    |   |   |   |    |
++----+---+===+---+----+
+
+
+The Andronitis is the true living room of the house:  here the
+master will receive his visitors, here the male slaves will work,
+and the women also busy themselves (promptly retiring, however,
+on the appearance of masculine strangers).  The decoration is very
+plain:  the walls are neatly tinted with some kind of wash; the
+floor is of simple plaster, or, in a humbler house, common earth
+pounded hard.  Under the colonnade at all four sides open the
+various chambers, possibly twelve in all.  They really are cells
+or compartments rather than rooms, small and usually lighted only
+by their doors.  Some are used for storerooms, some for sleeping
+closets for the male slaves and for the grown-up sons of the
+house, if there are any.  Dark, ill ventilated, and most scantily
+furnished, it is no wonder that the average Athenian loves the
+Agora better than his chamber.
+
+The front section of the house is now open to us, but it is time
+to penetrate farther.  Directly behind the open court is a sizable
+chamber forming a passage to the inner house.  This chamber is the
+Andron, the dining hall and probably the most pretentious room in
+the house.  Here the guests will gather for the dinner party, and
+here in one corner smokes the family hearth, once the real fire for
+the whole household cooking, but now merely a symbol of the domestic
+worship.  It is simply a little round alter sacred to Hestia, the
+hearth goddess,[*] and on its duly rekindled flame little "meat
+offerings and drink offerings" are cast at every meal, humble or
+elaborate.
+
+[*]Who corresponds to the Roman goddess Vesta.
+
+In the rear wall of the Andron facing the Andronitis is a solid
+door.  We are privileged guests indeed if we pass it.  Only the
+father, sons, or near male kinsmen of the family are allowed to go
+inside, for it leads into the Gynæconitis, the hall of the women.
+To thrust oneself into the Gynæconitis of even a fairly intimate
+friend is a studied insult at Athens, and sure to be resented by
+bodily chastisement, social ostracism, and a ruinous legal prosecution.
+The Gynæconitis is in short the Athenian's holy of holies.  Their
+women are forbidden to participate in so much of public life that
+their own peculiar world is especially reserved to them.  To invade
+this world is not bad breeding; it is social sacrilege.
+
+In the present house, the home of a well-to-do family, the Gynæconitis
+forms a second pillared court with adjacent rooms of substantially
+the same size and shape as the Andronitis.  One of the rooms in
+the very rear is proclaimed by the clatter of pots and pans and
+the odor of a frying turbot to be the kitchen; others are obviously
+the sleeping closets of the slave women.  On the side nearest to
+the front of the house, but opening itself upon this inner court,
+is at least one bed chamber of superior size.  This is the Thalamos,
+the great bedroom of the master and mistress, and here are kept all
+the most costly furnishings and ornaments in the house.  If there
+are grown-up unmarried daughters, they have another such bedroom
+(anti-thalamos) that is much larger than the cells of the slave
+girls.  Another special room is set apart for the working of wool,
+although this chief occupation of the female part of the household
+is likely to be carried on in the open inner court itself, if the
+weather is fine.  Here, around a little flower bed, slave girls
+are probably spinning and embroidering, young children playing or
+quarreling, and a tame quail is hopping about and watching for a
+crumb.  There are in fact a great many people in a relatively small
+space; everything is busy, chattering, noisy, and confusing to an
+intruding stranger.
+
+24.  Modifications in the Typical Plan.--These are the essential
+features of an Athenian house.  If the establishment is a very
+pretentious one, there may be a small garden in the rear carefully
+hedged against intruders by a lofty wall.[*]  More probably the
+small size of the house lot would force simplifications in the
+scheme already stated.  In a house one degree less costly, the
+Gynæconitis would be reduced to a mere series of rooms shut off in
+the rear.  In more simple houses still there would be no interior
+section of the house at all.  The women of the family would be
+provided for by a staircase rising from the main hall to a second
+story, and here a number of upper chambers would give the needful
+seclusion.[+]  Of course as one goes down the social scale, the
+houses grow simpler and simpler.  Small shops are set into the
+street wall at either side of the entrance door, and on entering
+one finds himself in a very limited and utterly dingy court with
+a few dirty compartments opening thence, which it would be absurd
+to dignify by the name of "rooms."  Again one ceases to wonder
+that the male Athenians are not "home folk" and are glad to leave
+their houses to the less fortunate women!
+
+[*]Such a luxury would not be common in city houses; land would be
+too valuable.
+
+[+]Houses of more than two stories seem to have been unknown
+in Athens.  The city lacked the towering rookeries of tenements
+(insulæ) which were characteristic of Rome; sometimes, however, a
+house seems to have been shared between several families.
+
+
+25.  Rents and House Values.--Most native Athenians own their houses.
+Houses indeed can be rented, usually by the foreign traders and
+visitors who swam into the city; and at certain busy seasons one can
+hire "lodgings" for a brief sojourn.  Rents are not unreasonable,
+8% or 8 1/3% of the value of the house being counted a fair annual
+return.  But the average citizen is also a householder, because
+forsooth houses are very cheap.  The main cost is probably for
+the land.  The chief material used in building, sun-dried brick,
+is very unsubstantial,[*] and needs frequent repairs, but is
+not expensive.  Demosthenes the Orator speaks of a "little house"
+(doubtless of the kind last described) worth only seven minuæ [about
+$126.00 (1914) or $2,242.80 (2000)], and this is not the absolute
+minimum.  A very rich banker has had one worth 100 minuæ [about
+$1,800.00 (1914) or $32,040.00 (2000)], and probably this is close
+to the maximum.  The rent question is not therefore one of the
+pressing problems at Athens.
+
+[*]This material was so friable and poor that the Greek burglar
+was known as a "Wall-digger."  It did not pay him to pick a lock;
+it was simpler for him to quarry his way through the wall with a
+pickax.
+
+
+26.  The Simple yet Elegant Furnishings of an Athenian Home.--These
+houses, even owned by the lordly rich, are surprisingly simple
+in their furnishings.  The accumulation of heavy furniture, wall
+decorations, and bric-a-brac which will characterize the dwellings
+of a later age, would be utterly offensive to an Athenian--contradicting
+all his ideas of harmony and "moderation."  The Athenian house
+lacks of course bookcases and framed pictures.  It probably too
+lacks any genuine closets.  Beds, couches, chairs (usually backless),
+stools, footstools, and small portable tables,--these alone seem
+in evidence.  In place of bureaus, dressers and cupboards, there
+are huge chests, heavy and carved, in which most of the household
+gear can be locked away.  In truth, the whole style of Greek
+household life expresses that simplicity on which we have already
+commented.  Oriental carpets are indeed met with, but they are
+often used as wall draperies or couch covers rather than upon the
+floors.  Greek costume (see p. 43) is so simple that there is small
+need for elaborate chests of drawers, and a line of pegs upon the
+wall cares for most of the family wardrobe.
+
+All this is true; yet what furniture one finds is fashioned with
+commendable grace.  There is a marked absence of heavy and unhealthful
+upholstery; but the simple bed (four posts sustaining a springless
+cushion stuffed with feathers or wool) has its woodwork adorned
+with carving which is a true mean betwixt the too plain and the
+too ornate; and the whole bed is given an elegant effect by the
+magnificently embroidered scarlet tapestry which overspreads it.
+The lines of the legs of the low wooden tables which are used at
+the dinner parties will be a lesson (if we have time to study them)
+upon just proportion and the value of subtle curves.  Moreover,
+the different household vessels, the stone and bronze lamps, the
+various table dishes, even the common pottery put to the humblest
+uses, all have a beauty, a chaste elegance, a saving touch of deft
+ornamentation, which transforms them out of "kitchen ware" into
+works of art.  Those black water pots covered with red-clay figures
+which the serving maids are bearing so carelessly into the scullery
+at the screaming summons of the cook will be some day perchance
+the pride of a museum, and teach a later age that costly material
+and aristocratic uses are not needful to make an article supremely
+beautiful.
+
+Of course the well-to-do Athenian is proud to possess certain
+"valuables."  He will have a few silver cups elegantly chased,
+and at least one diner's couch in the andron will be made of rare
+imported wood, and be inlaid with gilt or silver.  On festival
+days the house will be hung with brilliant and elaborately wrought
+tapestries which will suddenly emerge from the great chests.  Also,
+despite frowns and criticisms, the custom is growing of decorating
+one's walls with bright-lined frescoes after the manner of the Agora
+colonnades.  In the course of a few generations the homes of the
+wealthier Greeks will come to resemble those of the Romans, such
+as a later age has resurrected at Pompeii.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V.  The Women of Athens.
+
+
+
+27.  How Athenian Marriages are Arranged.--Over this typical Athenian
+home reigns the wife of the master.  Public opinion frowns upon
+celibacy, and there are relatively few unmarried men in Athens.
+An Athenian girl is brought up with the distinct expectation of
+matrimony.[*]  Opportunities for a romance almost never will come
+her way; but it is the business of her parents to find her a suitable
+husband.  If they are kindly people of good breeding, their choice
+is not likely to be a very bad one.  If they have difficulties,
+they can engage a professional "matchmaker," a shrewd old woman
+who, for a fee, will hunt out an eligible young man.  Marriage is
+contracted primarily that there may be legitimate children to keep
+up the state and to perpetuate the family.  That the girl should
+have any will of her own in the matter is almost never thought of.
+Very probably she has never seen "Him," save when they both were
+marching in a public religious procession, or at some rare family
+gathering (a marriage or a funeral) when there were outside guests.
+Besides she will be "given away" when only about fifteen, and
+probably has formed no intelligent opinion or even prejudices on
+the subject.
+
+[*]The vile custom of exposing unwelcome female babies probably
+created a certain preponderance of males in Attica, and made it
+relatively easy to marry off a desirable young girl.
+
+If a young man (who will marry at about thirty) is independent in
+life, the negotiations will be with him directly.  If he is still
+dependent on the paternal allowance, the two sets of parents will
+usually arrange matters themselves, and demand only the formal
+consent of the prospective bridegroom.  He will probably accept
+promptly this bride whom his father has selected; if not, he risks
+a stormy encounter with his parents, and will finally capitulate.
+He has perhaps never seen "Her," and can only hope things are for
+the best; and after all she is so young that his friends tell him
+that he can train her to be very useful and obedient if he will only
+take pains.  The parents, or, failing them, the guardians, adjust
+the dowry--the lump sum which the bride will bring with her towards
+the new establishment.[*]  Many maxims enjoin "marry only your equal
+in fortune."  The poor man who weds an heiress will not be really
+his own master; the dread of losing the big dowry will keep him in
+perpetual bondage to her whims.
+
+[*]The dowry was a great protection to the bride.  If her husband
+divorced her (as by law he might), the dowry must be repaid to her
+guardians with 18 per cent. interest.
+
+
+28.  Lack of Sentiment in Marriages.--Sometimes marriages are
+arranged in which any sentiment is obviously prohibited.  A father
+can betroth his daughter by will to some kinsman, who is to take
+her over as his bride when he takes over the property.  A husband
+can bequeath his wife to some friend who is likely to treat her and
+the orphan children with kindness.  Such affairs occur every day.
+Do the Athenian women revolt at these seemingly degrading conditions,
+wherein they are handed around like slaves, or even cattle?--According
+to the tragic poets they do.  Sophocles (in the "Tereus") makes
+them lament,
+
+
+"We women are nothing;--happy indeed is our childhood, for THEN we
+are thoughtless; but when we attain maidenhood, lo! we are driven
+away from our homes, sold as merchandise, and compelled to marry
+and say 'All's well.'"
+
+
+Euripides is even more bitter in his "Medea":--
+
+
+Surely of creatures that have life and wit,
+We women are of all things wretchedest,
+Who first must needs, as buys the highest bidder,
+Thus buy a husband, and our body's master.[*/
+
+
+[*]Way's translation.
+
+
+29.  Athenian Marriage Rites.--However, thus runs public custom.
+At about fifteen the girl must leave her mother's fostering care
+and enter the house of the stranger.  The wedding is, of course,
+a great ceremony; and here, if nowhere else, Athenian women can
+surely prepare, flutter, and ordain to their heart's content.  After
+the somewhat stiff and formal betrothal before witnesses (necessary
+to give legal effect to the marriage), the actual wedding will
+probably take place,--perhaps in a few days, perhaps with a longer
+wait till the favorite marriage month Gamelion [January].[*]  Then
+on a lucky night of the full moon the bride, having, no doubt
+tearfully, dedicated to Artemis her childish toys, will be decked
+in her finest and will come down, all veiled, into her father's
+torchlit aula, swarming now with guests.  Here will be at last
+that strange master of her fate, the bridegroom and his best man
+(paranymphos).  Her father will offer sacrifice (probably a lamb),
+and after the sacrifice everybody will feast on the flesh of the
+victim; and also share a large flat cake of pounded sesame seeds
+roasted and mixed with honey.  As the evening advances the wedding
+car will be outside the door.  The mother hands the bride over to
+the groom, who leads her to the chariot, and he and the groomsman
+sit down, one on either side, while with torches and song the
+friends to with the car in jovial procession to the house of the
+young husband.
+
+[*]This winter month was sacred to Hera, the marriage guardian.
+
+
+"Ho, Hymen!  Ho, Hymen!  Hymenæous!  Io!"
+
+
+So rings the refrain of the marriage song; and all the doorways
+and street corners are crowded with onlookers to shout fair wishes
+and good-natured raillery.
+
+At the groom's house there is a volley of confetti to greet the
+happy pair.  The bride stops before the threshold to eat a quince.[*]
+There is another feast,--possibly riotous fun and hard drinking.  At
+last the bride is led, still veiled, to the perfumed and flower-hung
+marriage chamber.  The doors close behind the married pair.  Their
+friends sing a merry rollicking catch outside, the Epithalamium.
+The great day has ended.  The Athenian girl has experienced the
+chief transition of her life.
+
+[*]The symbol of fertility.
+
+
+30.  The Mental Horizon of Athenian Women.--Despite the suggestions
+in the poets, probably the normal Athenian woman is neither degraded
+nor miserable.  If she is a girl of good ancestry and the usual
+bringing up, she has never expected any other conditions than
+these.  She knows that her parents care for her and have tried to
+secure for her a husband who will be her guardian and solace when
+they are gone.  Xenophon's ideal young husband, Ischomachus, says
+he married his wife at the age of fifteen.[*]  She had been "trained
+to see and to hear as little as possible"; but her mother had taught
+her to have a sound control of her appetite and of all kinds of
+self-indulgence, to take wool and to make a dress of it, and to
+manage the slave maids in their spinning tasks.  She was at first
+desperately afraid of her husband, and it was some time before he
+had "tamed" her sufficiently to discuss their household problems
+freely.  Then Ischomachus made her join with him in a prayer to
+the gods that "he might teach and she might learn all that could
+conduce to their joint happiness"; after which they took admirable
+counsel together, and her tactful and experienced husband (probably
+more than twice her age) trained her into a model housewife.
+
+[*]See Xenophon's "The Economist," VII ff.  The more pertinent
+passages are quoted in W. S. Davis's "Readings in Ancient History,"
+Vol. I, pp. 265-271.
+
+
+31.  The Honor paid Womanhood in Athens.--Obviously from a young
+woman with a limited intellectual horizon the Athenian gentleman
+can expect no mental companionship; but it is impossible that he
+can live in the world as a keenly intelligent being, and not come
+to realize the enormous value of the "woman spirit" as
+it affects all things good.  Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, above
+all Pallas-Athena,--city-warder of Athens,--who are they all
+but idealizations of that peculiar genius which wife, mother, and
+daughter show forth every day in their homes?  An Athenian never
+allows his wife to visit the Agora.  She cannot indeed go outside
+the house without his express permission, and only then attended by
+one or two serving maids; public opinion will likewise frown upon
+the man who allowed his wife to appear in public too freely[*];
+nevertheless there are compensations.  Within her home the Athenian
+woman is within her kingdom.  Her husband will respect her, because
+he will respect himself.  Brutal and harsh he may possibly be, but
+that is because he is also brutal and harsh in his outside dealings.
+In extreme cases an outraged wife can sue for divorce before the
+archon.  And very probably in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
+the Athenian woman is contented with her lot:  partly because she
+knows of nothing better; partly because she has nothing concrete
+whereof to complain.
+
+[*]Hypereides, the orator, says, "The woman who goes out of her
+own home ought to be of such an age that when men meet her, the
+question is not 'Who is her husband?' but 'Whose mother is she?'"
+Pericles, in the great funeral oration put in his mouth by Thucydides,
+says that the best women are those who are talked of for good or
+ill the very least.
+
+Doubtless it is because an Athenian house is a "little oasis
+of domesticity," tenderly guarded from all insult,--a miniature
+world whose joys and sorrows are not to be shared by the outer
+universe,--that the Athenian treats the private affairs of his
+family as something seldom to be shared, even with an intimate
+friend.  Of individual women we hear and see little in Athens, but
+of NOBLE WOMANHOOD a great deal.  By a hundred tokens, delightful
+vase paintings, noble monuments, poetic myths, tribute is paid to
+the self-mastery, the self-forgetfulness, the courage, the gentleness "of
+the wives and mothers who have made Athens the beacon of Hellas";
+and there is one witness better than all the rest.  Along the
+"Street of Tombs," by the gate of the city, runs the long row of
+stelæ (funeral monuments), inimitable and chaste memorials to the
+beloved dead; and here we meet, many times over, the portrayal of
+a sorrow too deep for common lament, the sorrow for the lovely and
+gracious figures who have passed into the great Mystery.  Along
+the Street of the Tombs the wives and mothers of Athens are honored
+not less than the wealthy, the warriors, or the statesmen.
+
+
+32.  The Sphere of Action of Athenian Women.--Assuredly the Athenian
+house mother cannot match her husband in discussing philosophy or
+foreign politics, but she has her own home problems and confronts
+them well.  A dozen or twenty servants must be kept busy.  From
+her, all the young children must get their first education, and the
+girls probably everything they are taught until they are married.
+Even if she does not meet many men, she will strive valiantly to
+keep the good opinion of her husband.  If she has shapely feet and
+hands (whereupon great stress is laid in Hellas), she will do her
+utmost to display them to the greatest advantage[*]; and she has,
+naturally, plenty of other vanities (see § 38).  Her husband has
+turned over to her the entire management of the household.  This
+means that if he is an easy-going man, she soon understands his
+home business far better than he does himself, and really has him
+quite at her mercy.  Between caring for her husband's wants, nursing
+the sick slaves, acting as arbitress in their inevitable disputes,
+keeping a constant watch upon the storeroom, and finally in attending
+to the manufacture of nearly all the family clothing, she is not
+likely to rust in busy idleness, or sit complaining of her lot.  At
+the many great public festivals she is always at least an onlooker
+and often she marches proudly in the magnificent processions.  She
+is allowed to attend the tragedies in the theater.[+]  Probably,
+too, the family will own a country farm, and spend a part of the
+year thereon.  Here she will be allowed a delightful freedom of
+movement, impossible in the closely built city.  All in all, then,
+she will complain of too much enforced activity rather than of too
+much idleness.
+
+[*]The custom of wearing sandals instead of shoes of course aided
+the developing of beautiful feet.
+
+[+]Not the comedies--they were too broad for refined women.  But
+the fact that Athenian ladies seem to have been allowed to attend
+the tragedies is a tribute to their intellectual capacities.  Only
+an acute and intelligent mind can follow Æschylus, Sophocles, and
+Euripides.
+
+Nevertheless our judgment upon the Athenian women is mainly one
+of regret.  Even if not discontented with their lot, they are not
+realizing the full possibilities which Providence has placed within
+the reach of womanhood, much less the womanhood of the mothers of
+the warriors, poets, orators, and other immortals of Athens.  One
+great side of civilization which the city of Athens might develop
+and realize is left unrealized.  THIS CIVILIZATION OF ATHENS IS
+TOO MASCULINE; it is therefore one sided, and in so far it does not
+realize that ideal "Harmony" which is the average Athenian's boast.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.  Athenian Costume.
+
+
+
+
+33.  The General Nature of Greek Dress.--In every age the important
+kingdom of dress has been reserved for the peculiar sovereignty of
+woman.  This is true in Athens, though not perhaps to the extent of
+later ages.  Still an Athenian lady will take an interest in "purple
+and fine linen" far exceeding that of her husband, and where is there
+a more fitting place than this in which to answer for an Athenian,
+the ever important question "wherewithal shall I be clothed"?
+
+Once again the Athenian climate comes in as a factor, this time
+in the problem of wardrobe.  Two general styles of garment have
+divided the allegiance of the world,--the clothes that are PUT ON
+and the clothes that are WRAPPED AROUND.  The former style, with
+its jackets, trousers, and leggings, is not absolutely unknown to
+the Athenians,--their old enemies, the Persians, wear these[*];
+but such clumsy, inelegant garments are despised and ridiculed as
+fit only for the "Barbarians" who use them.  They are not merely
+absurdly homely; they cannot even be thrown off promptly in an
+emergency, leaving the glorious human form free to put forth any
+noble effort.  The Athenians wear the wrapped style of garments,
+which are, in final analysis, one or two large square pieces of cloth
+flung skillfully around the body and secured by a few well-placed
+pins.  This costume is infinitely adjustable; it can be expanded
+into flowing draperies or contracted into an easy working dress
+by a few artful twitches.  It can be nicely adjusted to meet the
+inevitable sense of "beauty" bred in the bone of every Athenian.
+True, on the cold days of midwinter the wearers will go about
+shivering; but cold days are the exception, warm days the rule, in
+genial Attica.[+]
+
+[*]The Persians no doubt learned to use this style of garment during
+their life on the cold, windy steppes of Upper Asia, before they
+won their empire in the more genial south.
+
+[+]The whole civilization of Athens was, of course, based on a
+climate in which artificial heat would be very little needed.  A
+pot of glowing charcoal might be used to remove the chill of a
+room in the very coldest weather.  Probably an Athenian would have
+regarded a climate in which furnace heat was demanded nearly eight
+months in the year as wholly unfit for civilized man.
+
+This simplicity of costume has produced certain important results.
+There are practically no tailors in Athens, only cloth merchants,
+bleachers, and dyers.  Again fashions (at least in the cut of the
+garments) seldom change.  A cloak that was made in the days of
+Alcibiades (say 420 B.C.) can be worn with perfect propriety to-day
+(360 B.C.) if merely it has escaped without severe use or moth
+holes.  It may be more usual this year to wear one's garments a
+little higher or a little more trailing than formerly; but THAT is
+simply a matter for a shifting of the pins or of the girdle.
+
+As a result, the Athenian seldom troubles about his "spring" or
+"winter" suit.  His simple woolen garments wear a very long time;
+and they have often been slowly and laboriously spun and woven by
+his wife and her slave girls.  Of course even a poor man will try
+to have a few changes of raiment,--something solid and coarse for
+every day, something of finer wool and gayer color for public and
+private festivals.  The rich man will have a far larger wardrobe,
+and will pride himself on not being frequently seen in the same
+dress; yet even his outfit will seem very meager to the dandies of
+a later age.
+
+
+34.  the Masculine Chiton, Himation, and Chlamya.--The essential
+garments of an Athenian man are only two--the CHITON and the HIMATION.
+The chiton may be briefly described as an oblong of woolen cloth
+large enough to wrap around the body somewhat closely, from the
+neck down to just above the knees.  The side left open is fastened
+by fibulæ--elegantly wrought pins perhaps of silver or gold; in the
+closed side there is a slit for the arm.  There is a girdle, and,
+if one wishes, the skirt of the chiton may be pulled up through it,
+and allowed to hang down in front, giving the effect of a blouse.
+The man of prompt action, the soldier, traveler, worker, is "well
+girded,"--his chiton is drawn high, but the deliberate old gentleman
+who parades the Agora, discussing poetry or statecraft, has his
+chiton falling almost to a trailing length.  Only occasionally short
+sleeves were added to this very simple garment; they are considered
+effeminate, and are not esteemed.  If one's arms get cold, one can
+protect them by pulling up the skirt, and wrapping the arms in the
+blouse thus created.
+
+An Athenian gentleman when he is in the house wears nothing but
+his chiton; it is even proper for him to be seen wearing nothing
+else upon the streets, but then more usually he will add an outer
+cloak,--his HIMATION.
+
+The himation is even simpler than the chiton.  It is merely a generous
+oblong woolen shawl.  There are innumerable ways of arranging it
+according to the impulse of the moment; but usually it has to be
+worn without pins, and that involves wrapping it rather tightly
+around the body, and keeping one of the hands confined to hold the
+cloak in place.  That is no drawback, however, to a genteel wearer.
+It proclaims to the world that HE does not have to work, wearing
+his hands for a living; therefore he can keep them politely idle.[*]
+The adjustment of the himation is a work of great art.  A rich man
+will often have a special slave whose business it is to arrange
+the hang and the folds before his master moves forth in public;
+and woe to the careless fellow if the effect fails to display due
+elegance and dignity!
+
+[*]Workingmen often wore no himation, and had a kind of chiton (an
+exömis) which was especially arranged to leave them with free use
+of their arms.
+
+There is a third garment sometimes worn by Athenians.  Young men
+who wish to appear very active, and genuine travelers, also wear
+a CHLAMYS, a kind of circular mantle or cape which swings jauntily
+over their shoulders, and will give good protection in foul weather.
+
+There are almost no other masculine garments.  No shirts (unless
+the chiton be one), no underwear.  In their costume, as in so many
+things else, the Athenians exemplify their oft-praised virtue of
+simplicity.
+
+
+35.  The Dress of the Women.--The dress of the women is like that
+of the men, but differs, of course, in complexity.  They also have
+a chiton,[*] which is more elaborately made, especially in the
+arrangement of the blouse; and probably there is involved a certain
+amount of real SEWING[+]; not merely of PINNING.
+
+[*]This robe was sometimes known by the Homeric name of PEPLOS.
+
+[+]Probably with almost all Greek garments the main use of the
+needle was in the embroidery merely, or in the darning of holes
+and rents.  It was by no means an essential in the real manufacture.
+
+Greater care is needed in the adjustment of the "zone" (girdle),
+and half sleeves are the rule with women, while full sleeves are
+not unknown.  A Greek lady again cannot imitate her husband, and
+appear in public in her chiton only.  A himation, deftly adjusted,
+is absolutely indispensable whenever she shows herself outside the
+house.
+
+These feminine garments are all, as a rule, more elaborately
+embroidered, more adorned with fringes and tassels, than those of
+the men.  In arranging her dress the Athenian lady is not bound
+by the rigid precepts of fashion.  Every separate toilette is an
+opportunity for a thousand little niceties and coquetries which she
+understands exceedingly well.  If there is the least excuse for an
+expedition outside the house, her ladyship's bevy of serving maids
+will have a serious time of it.  While their mistress cools herself
+with a huge peacock-feather fan, one maid is busy over her hair; a
+second holds the round metallic mirror before her; a third stands
+ready to extend the jewel box whence she can select finger rings,
+earrings, gold armlets, chains for her neck and hair, as well as the
+indispensable brooches whereon the stability of the whole costume
+depends.  When she rises to have her himation draped around her,
+the directions she gives reveal her whole bent and character.  A
+dignified and modest matron will have it folded loosely around her
+entire person, covering both arms and hands, and even drawing it
+over her head, leaving eyes and nose barely visible.  Younger ladies
+will draw it close around the body so as to show the fine lines of
+their waists and shoulders.  And in the summer heat the himation
+(for the less prudish) will become a light shawl floating loose
+and free over the shoulders, or only a kind of veil drawn so as to
+now conceal, now reveal, the face.
+
+Children wear miniature imitations of the dress of their elders.
+Boys are taught to toughen their bodies by refraining from thick
+garments in cold weather.  In hot weather they can frequently be
+seen playing about with very little clothing at all!
+
+
+36.  Footwear and Head Coverings.--Upon his feet the Athenian
+frequently wears nothing.  He goes about his home barefoot; and not
+seldom he enjoys the delight of running across the open greensward
+with his unsandaled feet pressing the springing ground; but normally
+when he walks abroad, he will wear SANDALS, a simple solid pair of
+open soles tied to his feet by leather thongs passing between the
+toes.  For hard country walking and for hunting there is something
+like a high leather boot,[*] though doubtless these are counted
+uncomfortable for ordinary wear.  As for the sandals, simple as
+they are, the Attic touch of elegance is often upon them.  Upon the
+thongs of the sandals there is usually worked a choice pattern, in
+some brilliant color or even gilt.
+
+[*]Actors, too, wore a leather boot with high soles to give them
+extra height--the COTHURNUS.
+
+The Athenians need head coverings even less than footgear.  Most of
+them have thick hair; baldness is an uncommon affliction; everybody
+is trained to walk under the full glare of Helios with little
+discomfort.  Of course certain trades require hats, e.g. sailors
+who can be almost identified by their rimless felt caps.  Genteel
+travelers will wear wide-brimmed hats; but  the ladies, as a rule,
+have no headgear besides their tastefully arranged hair, although
+they will partly atone for the lack, by having a maid walk just
+behind them with a gorgeously variegated parasol.
+
+
+37.  The Beauty of the Greek Dress.--Greek Costume, then, is
+something fully sharing in the national characteristics of harmony,
+simplicity, individuality.  It is easy to see how admirably this
+style of dress is adapted to furnish over ready models and inspiration
+for the sculptor.[*]  Unconventional in its arrangement, it is
+also unconventional in its color.  A masculine crowd is not one
+unmitigated swarm of black and dark grays or browns, as with the
+multitude of a later age.  On the contrary, white is counted as
+theoretically the most becoming color on any common occasion for
+either sex;[+] and on festival days even grave and elderly men
+will appear with chitons worked with brilliant embroidery along the
+borders, and with splendid himatia of some single clear hue--violet,
+red, purple, blue, or yellow.  As for the costume of the groom at
+a wedding, it is far indeed from the "conventional black" of more
+degenerate days.  He may well wear a purple-edged white chiton of
+fine Milesian wool, a brilliant scarlet himation, sandals with blue
+thongs and clasps of gold, and a chaplet of myrtle and violets.
+His intended bride is led out to him in even more dazzling array.
+Her white sandal-thongs are embroidered with emeralds, rubies, and
+pearls.  Around her neck is a necklace of gold richly set,--and
+she has magnificent golden armlets and pearl eardrops.  Her hair
+is fragrant with Oriental nard, and is bound by a purple fillet
+and a chaplet of roses.  Her ungloved fingers shine with jewels
+and rings.  Her main costume is of a delicate saffron, and over it
+all, like a cloud, floats the silvery tissue of the nuptial veil.
+
+[*]"The chiton became the mirror of the body," said the late writer
+Achilles Tatius.
+
+[+]No doubt farmers and artisans either wore garments of a
+non-committal brown, or, more probably, let their originally white
+costume get utterly dirty.
+
+
+38.  Greek Toilet Frivolities.--From the standpoint of inherent
+fitness and beauty, this Athenian costume is the noblest ever seen
+by the world.  Naturally there are ill-advised creatures who do
+not share the good taste of their fellows, or who try to deceive
+the world and themselves as to the ravages of that arch-enemy of
+the Hellene,--Old Age.  Athenian women especially (though the men
+are not without their follies) are sometimes fond of rouge, false
+hair, and the like.  Auburn hair is especially admired, and many
+fine dames bleach their tresses in a caustic wash to obtain it.
+The styles of feminine hair dressing seem to change from decade to
+decade much more than the arrangements of the garments.  Now it is
+plaited and crimped hair that is in vogue, now the more beautiful
+"Psyche-knots"; yet even in their worst moods the Athenian women
+exhibit a sweet reasonableness.  They have not yet fallen into the
+clutches of the Parisian hairdresser.
+
+The poets, of course, ridicule the foibles of the fair sex.[*]
+Says one:--
+
+
+The golden hair Nikylla wears
+   Is hers, who would have thought it?
+She swears 'tis hers, and true she swears
+   For I know where she bought it!
+
+
+And again:--
+
+
+You give your cheeks a rosy stain,
+With washes dye your hair;
+But paint and washes both are vain
+To give a youthful air.
+An art so fruitless then forsake,
+Which, though you much excel in,
+You never can contrive to make
+Old Hecuba young Helen.
+
+
+[*]Translated in Falke's "Greece and Rome" (English translation,
+p. 69).  These quotations probably date from a time considerably
+later than the hypothetical period of this sketch; but they are
+perfectly proper to apply to conditions in 360 B.C.
+
+But enough of such scandals!  All the best opinion--masculine and
+feminine--frowns on these follies.  Let us think of the simple,
+dignified, and æsthetically noble costume of the Athenians as not
+the least of their examples to another age.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.  The Slaves.
+
+
+
+
+39.  Slavery an Integral Part of Greek Life.--An Athenian lady cares
+for everything in her house,--for the food supplies, for the clothing,
+yet probably her greatest task is to manage the heterogeneous
+multitude of slaves which swarm in every wealthy or even well-to-do
+mansion.[*]
+
+[*]The Athenians never had the absurd armies of house slaves which
+characterized Imperial Rome; still the numbers of their domestic
+servants were, from a modern standpoint, extremely large.
+
+Slaves are everywhere:  not merely are they the domestic servants,
+but they are the hands in the factories, they run innumerable little
+shops, they unload the ships, they work the mines, they cultivate
+the farms.  Possibly there are more able-bodied male slaves in
+Attica than male free men, although this point is very uncertain.
+Their number is the harder to reckon because they are not required
+to wear any distinctive dress, and you cannot tell at a glance
+whether a man is a mere piece of property, or a poor but very proud
+and important member of the "Sovereign Demos [People] of Athens."
+
+No prominent Greek thinker seems to contest the righteousness and
+desirability of slavery.  It is one of the usual, nay, inevitable,
+things pertaining to a civilized state.  Aristotle the philosopher
+puts the current view of the case very clearly.  "The lower sort
+of mankind are BY NATURE slaves, and it is better for all inferiors
+that they should be under the rule of a master.  The use made of
+slaves and of tame animals is not very different; for both by their
+bodies minister to the needs of life."  The intelligent, enlightened,
+progressive Athenians are naturally the "masters"; the stupid,
+ignorant, sluggish minded Barbarians are the "inferiors."  Is it
+not a plain decree of Heaven that the Athenians are made to rule,
+the Barbarians to serve?--No one thinks the subject worth serious
+argument.
+
+Of course the slave cannot be treated quite as one would treat an
+ox.  Aristotle takes pains to point out the desirability of holding
+out to your "chattel" the hope of freedom, if only to make him work
+better; and the great philosopher in his last testament gives freedom
+to five of his thirteen slaves.  Then again it is recognized as
+clearly against public sentiment to hold fellow Greeks in bondage.
+It is indeed done.  Whole towns get taken in war, and those of
+the inhabitants who are not slaughtered are sold into slavery.[*]
+Again, exposed children, whose parents have repudiated them, get
+into the hands of speculators, who raise them "for market."  There
+is also a good deal of kidnapping in the less civilized parts of
+Greece like Ætolia.  Still the proportion of genuinely GREEK slaves
+is small.  The great majority of them are "Barbarians," men born
+beyond the pale of Hellenic civilization.
+
+[*]For example, the survivors, after the capture of Melos, in the
+Peloponesian War.
+
+
+40.  The Slave Trade in Greece.--There are two great sources of
+slave supply:  the Asia Minor region (Lydia and Phrygia, with Syria
+in the background), and the Black Sea region, especially the northern
+shores, known as Scythia.  It is known to innumerable heartless
+"traders" that human flesh commands a very high price in Athens
+or other Greek cities.  Every little war or raid that vexes those
+barbarous countries so incessantly is followed by the sale of the
+unhappy captives to speculators who ship them on, stage by stage,
+to Athens.  Perhaps there is no war; the supply is kept up then
+by deliberately kidnapping on a large scale, or by piracy.[*]  In
+any case the arrival of a chain gang of fettered wretches at the
+Peiræus is an everyday sight.  Some of these creatures are submissive
+and tame (perhaps they understand some craft or trade); these can
+be sold at once for a high price.  Others are still doltish and
+stubborn.  They are good for only the rudest kind of labor, unless
+they are kept and trained at heavy expense.  These brutish creatures
+are frequently sold off to the mines, to be worked to death by the
+contractors as promptly and brutally as one wears out a machine;
+or else they become public galley slaves, when their fate is
+practically the same.  But we need not follow such horrors.
+
+[*]A small but fairly constant supply of slaves would come from
+the seizure of the persons and families of bankrupt debtors, whose
+creditors, especially in the Orient, might sell them into bondage.
+
+The remainder are likely to be purchased either for use upon the
+farm, the factory, or in the home.  There is a regular "circle"
+at or near the Agora for traffic in them.  They are often sold at
+auction.  The price of course varies with the good looks, age,[*]
+or dexterity of the article, or the abundance of supply.  "Slaves
+will be high" in a year when there has been little warfare and
+raiding in Asia Minor.  "Some slaves," says Xenophon, "are well
+worth two minæ [$36.00 (1914) or $640.80 (2000)] and others barely
+half a mina [$9.00 (1914) or $160.20 (2000)]; some sell up to five
+minæ [$90.00 (1914) or $1,602.00 (2000)] and even for ten [$180.00
+(1914) or $3,204.00 (2000)].  Nicias, the son of Nicaretus, is
+said to have given a talent [over $1,000.00 (1914) or $17,800.00
+(2000)] for an overseer in the mines."[+]  The father of Demosthenes
+owned a considerable factory.  He had thirty-two sword cutters
+worth about five minæ each, and twenty couch-makers (evidently less
+skilled) worth together 40 minæ [about $720.00 (1914) or $12,816.00
+(2000)].  A girl who is handsome and a clever flute player, who will
+be readily hired for supper parties, may well command a very high
+price indeed, say even 30 minæ [about $540.00 (1914) or $9,612.00
+(2000)].
+
+[*]There was probably next to no market for old women; old men in
+broken health would also be worthless.  Boys and maids that were
+the right age for teaching a profitable trade would fetch the most.
+
+[+]Xenophon, "Memorabilia," ii. 5, § 2.
+
+
+41.  The Treatment of Slaves in Athens.--Once purchased, what is
+the condition of the average slave?  If he is put in a factory, he
+probably has to work long hours on meager rations.  He is lodged
+in a kind of kennel; his only respite is on the great religious
+holidays.  He cannot contract valid marriage or enjoy any of the
+normal conditions of family life.  Still his evil state is partially
+tempered by the fact that he has to work in constant association
+with free workmen, and he seems to be treated with a moderate amount
+of consideration and good camaraderie.  On the whole he will have
+much less to complain of (if he is honest and industrious) than
+his successors in Imperial Rome.
+
+In the household, conditions are on the whole better.  Every Athenian
+citizen tries to have at least ONE slave, who, we must grant, may
+be a starving drudge of all work.  The average gentleman perhaps
+counts ten to twenty as sufficient for his needs.  We know of
+households of fifty.  There must usually be a steward, a butler in
+charge of the storeroom or cellar, a marketing slave, a porter,
+a baker, a cook,[*] a nurse, perhaps several lady's maids,
+the indispensable attendant for the master's walks (a graceful,
+well-favored boy, if possible), the pedagogue for the children,
+and in really rich families, a groom, and a mule boy.  It is the
+business of the mistress to see that all these creatures are kept
+busy and reasonably contented.  If a slave is reconciled to his
+lot, honest, cheerful, industrious, his condition is not miserable.
+Athenian slaves are allowed a surprising amount of liberty, so
+most visitors to the city complain.  A slave may be flogged most
+cruelly, but he cannot be put to death at the mere whim of his
+master.  He cannot enter the gymnasium, or the public assembly; but
+he can visit the temples.  As a humble member of the family he has
+a small part usually in the family sacrifices.  But in any case he is
+subject to one grievous hardship:  when his testimony is required
+in court he must be "put to the question" by torture.  On the
+other hand, if his master has wronged him intolerably, he can take
+sanctuary at the Temple of Theseus, and claim the privilege of being
+sold to some new owner.  A slave, too, has still another grievance
+which may be no less galling because it is sentimental.  His name
+(given him arbitrarily perhaps by his master) is of a peculiar
+category, which at once brands him as a bondsman:  Geta, Manes,
+Dromon, Sosias, Xanthias, Pyrrhias,--such names would be repudiated
+as an insult by a citizen.
+
+[*]Who, however, could not be trusted to cook a formal dinner.  For
+such purpose an expert must be hired.
+
+
+42.  Cruel and Kind Masters.--Slavery in Athens, as everywhere
+else, is largely dependent upon the character of the master; and
+most Athenian masters would not regard crude brutality as consistent
+with that love of elegance, harmony, and genteel deliberation
+which characterizes a well-born citizen.  There do not lack masters
+who have the whip continually in their hands, who add to the raw
+stripes fetters and branding, and who make their slaves unceasingly
+miserable; but such masters are the exception, and public opinion
+does not praise them.  Between the best Athenians and their slaves
+there is a genial, friendly relation, and the master will put up
+with a good deal of real impertinence, knowing that behind this
+forwardness there is an honest zeal for his interests.
+
+Nevertheless the slave system of Athens is not commendable.  It
+puts a stigma upon the glory of honest manual labor.  It instills
+domineering, despotic habits into the owners, cringing subservience
+into the owned.  Even if a slave becomes freed, he does not become
+an Athenian citizen; he is only a "metic," a resident foreigner,
+and his old master, or some other Athenian, must be his patron and
+representative in every kind of legal business.  It is a notorious
+fact that the MERE STATE of slavery robs the victim of his self-respect
+and manhood.  Nevertheless nobody dreams of abolishing slavery as
+an institution, and the Athenians, comparing themselves with other
+communities, pride themselves on the extreme humanity of their
+slave system.
+
+
+43.  The "City Slaves" of Athens.--A large number of nominal "slaves"
+in Athens differ from any of the creatures we have described.  The
+community, no less than an individual, can own slaves just as it
+can own warships and temples.  Athens owns "city slaves" (Demosioi)
+of several varieties.  The clerks in the treasury office, and the
+checking officers at the public assemblies are slaves; so too are
+the less reputable public executioners and torturers; in the city
+mint there is another corps of slave workers, busy coining "Athena's
+owls"--the silver drachmas and four-drachma pieces.  But chiefest
+of all, THE CITY OWNS ITS PUBLIC POLICE FORCE.  The "Scythians"
+they are called from their usual land of origin, or the "bowmen,"
+from their special weapon, which incidentally makes a convenient
+cudgel in a street brawl.  There are 1200 of them, always at the
+disposal of the city magistrates.  They patrol the town at night,
+arrest evil-doers, sustain law and order in the Agora, and especially
+enforce decorum, if the public assemblies or the jury courts become
+tumultuous.  They have a special cantonment on the hill of Areopagus
+near the Acropolis.  "Slaves" they are of course in name, and
+under a kind of military discipline; but they are highly privileged
+slaves.  The security of the city may depend upon their loyal zeal.
+In times of war they are auxiliaries.  Life in this police force
+cannot therefore be burdensome, and their position is envied by
+all the factory workers and the house servants.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.  The Children.
+
+
+
+
+44.  The Desirability of Children in Athens.--Besides the oversight
+of the slaves the Athenian matron has naturally the care of the
+children.  A childless home is one of the greatest of calamities.
+It means a solitary old age, and still worse, the dying out of the
+family and the worship of the family gods.  There is just enough
+of the old superstitious "ancestor worship" left in Athens to make
+one shudder at the idea of leaving the "deified ancestor" without
+any descendants to keep up the simple sacrifices to their memory.
+Besides, public opinion condemns the childless home as not contributing
+to the perpetuation of the city.  How Corinth, Thebes, or Sparta
+will rejoice, if it is plain that Athens is destroying herself by
+race suicide!  So at least ONE son will be very welcome.  His advent
+is a day of happiness for the father, of still greater satisfaction
+for the young mother.
+
+
+45.  The Exposure of Infants.--How many more children are welcome
+depends on circumstances.  Children are expensive luxuries.  They
+must be properly educated and even the boys must be left a fair
+fortune.[*]  The girls must always have good dowries, or they cannot
+"marry according to their station."  Public opinion, as well as
+the law, allows a father (at least if he has one or two children
+already) to exercise a privilege, which later ages will pronounce
+one of the foulest blots on Greek civilization.  After the birth
+of a child there is an anxious day or two for the poor young mother
+and the faithful nurses.--Will he 'nourish' it?  Are there boys
+enough already?  Is the disappointment over the birth of a daughter
+too keen?  Does he dread the curtailment in family luxuries necessary
+to save up for an allowance or dowry for the little stranger?  Or
+does the child promise to be puny, sickly, or even deformed?  If
+any of these arguments carry adverse weight, there is no appeal
+against the father's decision.  He has until the fifth day after
+the birth to decide.  In the interval he can utter the fatal words,
+"Expose it!"  The helpless creature is then put in a rude cradle,
+or more often merely in a shallow pot and placed near some public
+place; e.g. the corner of the Agora, or near a gymnasium, or the
+entrance to a temple.  Here it will soon die of mere hunger and
+neglect unless rescued.  If the reasons for exposure are evident
+physical defects, no one will touch it.  Death is certain.  If,
+however, it seems healthy and well formed, it is likely to be
+taken up and cared for.  Not out of pure compassion, however.  The
+harpies who raise slaves and especially slave girls, for no honest
+purposes, are prompt to pounce upon any promising looking infant.
+They will rear it as a speculation; if it is a girl, they will
+teach it to sing, dance, play.  The race of light women in Athens
+is thus really recruited from the very best families.  The fact
+is well known, but it is constantly winked at.  Aristophanes, the
+comic poet, speaks of this exposure of children as a common feature
+of Athenian life.  Socrates declares his hearers are vexed when
+he robs them of pet ideas, "like women who have had their children
+taken from them."  There is little or nothing for men of a later
+day to say of this custom save condemnation.[+]
+
+[*]The idea of giving a lad a "schooling" and then turning him loose
+to earn his own living in the world was contrary to all Athenian
+theory and practice.
+
+[+]About the only boon gained by this foul usage was the fact that,
+thanks to it, the number of physically unfit persons in Athens
+was probably pretty small, for no one would think of bringing up
+a child which, in its first babyhood, promised to be a cripple.
+
+
+46.  The Celebration of a Birth.--But assuredly in a majority
+of cases, the coming of a child is more than welcome.  If a girl,
+tufts of wool are hung before the door of the happy home; if a boy,
+there is set out an olive branch.  Five days after the birth, the
+nurse takes the baby, wrapped almost to suffocation in swaddling
+bands, to the family hearth in the "andron," around which she runs
+several times, followed doubtless, in merry, frolicking procession,
+by most of the rest of the family.  The child is now under the care
+of the family gods.  There is considerable eating and drinking.
+Exposure now is no longer possible.  A great load is off the mind
+of the mother.  But on the "tenth day" comes the real celebration
+and the feast.  This is the "name day."  All of the kinsmen are
+present.  The house is full of incense and garlands.  The cook is
+in action in the kitchen.  Everybody brings simple gifts, along with
+abundant wishes of good luck.  There is a sacrifice, and during
+the ensuing feast comes the naming of the child.  Athenian names
+are very short and simple.[*]  A boy has often his father's name,
+but more usually his grandfather's, as, e.g., Themistocles, the
+son of Neocles, the son of Themistocles:  the father's name being
+usually added in place of a surname.  In this way certain names
+will become a kind of family property, and sorrowful is the day
+when there is no eligible son to bear them!
+
+The child is now a recognized member of the community.  His father
+has accepted him as a legitimate son, one of his prospective heirs,
+entitled in due time to all the rights of an Athenian citizen.
+
+[*]Owing to this simplicity and the relatively small number of
+Athenian names, a directory of the city would have been a perplexing
+affair.
+
+47.  Life and Games of Young Children.--The first seven years of a
+Greek boy's life are spent with his nurses and his mother.  Up to
+that time his father takes only unofficial interest in his welfare.
+Once past the first perilous "five days," an Athenian baby has
+no grounds to complain of his treatment.  Great pains are taken
+to keep him warm and well nourished.  A wealthy family will go to
+some trouble to get him a skilful nurse, those from Sparta being
+in special demand, as knowing the best how to rear healthy infants.
+He has all manner of toys, and Aristotle the philosopher commends
+their frequent donation; otherwise, he says, children will be
+always "breaking things in the house."  Babies have rattles.  As
+they grow older they have dolls of painted clay or wax, sometimes
+with movable hands and feet, and also toy dishes, tables, wagons,
+and animals.  Lively boys have whipping toys, balls, hoops, and
+swings.  There is no lack of pet dogs, nor of all sorts of games on
+the blind man's bluff and "tag" order.[*]  Athenian children are,
+as a class, very active and noisy.  Plato speaks feelingly of their
+perpetual "roaring."  As they grow larger, they begin to escape
+more and more from the narrow quarters of the courts of the house,
+and play in the streets.
+
+[*]It is not always easy to get the exact details of such ancient
+games, for the "rules" have seldom come down to us; but generally
+speaking, the games of Greek children seem extremely like those of
+the twentieth century.
+
+
+48.  Playing in the Streets.--Narrow, dirty, and dusty as the
+streets seem, children, even of good families, are allowed to play
+in them.  After a rain one can see boys floating toy boats of
+leather in every mud puddle, or industriously making mud pies.  In
+warm weather the favorite if cruel sport is to catch a beetle, tie
+a string to its legs, let it fly off, then twitch it back again.
+Leapfrog, hide-and-seek, etc., are in violent progress down every
+alley.  The streets are not all ideal playgrounds.  Despite genteel
+ideas of dignity and moderation, there is a great deal of foul talk
+and brawling among the passers, and Athenian children have receptive
+eyes and ears.  Yet on the other hand, there is a notable regard
+and reverence for childhood.  With all its frequent callousness and
+inhumanity, Greek sentiment abhors any brutality to young children.
+Herodotus the historian tells of the falling of a roof, whereby one
+hundred and twenty school children perished, as being a frightful
+calamity,[*] although recounting cold-blooded massacres of thousands
+of adults with never a qualm; and Herodotus is a very good spokesman
+for average Greek opinion.
+
+[*]Herodotus, VI. 27.
+
+
+49.  The First Stories and Lessons.--Athens has no kindergartens.
+The first teaching which children will receive is in the form of
+fables and goblin tales from their mothers and nurses,--usually
+with the object of frightening them into "being good,"--tales of the
+spectral Lamiæ, or of the horrid witch Mormo who will catch nasty
+children; or of Empusa, a similar creature, who lurks in shadows
+and dark rooms; or of the Kabaloi, wild spirits in the woods.  Then
+come the immortal fables of Æsop with their obvious application
+towards right conduct.  Athenian mothers and teachers have no
+two theories as to the wisdom of corporeal punishment.  The rod
+is never spared to the spoiling of the child, although during the
+first years the slipper is sufficient.  Greek children soon have
+a healthy fear of their nurses; but they often learn to love them,
+and funeral monuments will survive to perpetuate their grateful
+memory.
+
+
+50.  The Training of Athenian Girls.--Until about seven years old
+brothers and sisters grow up in the Gynæconitis together.  Then the
+boys are sent to school.  The girls will continue about the house
+until the time of their marriage.  It is only in the rarest of
+cases that the parents feel it needful to hire any kind of tutor
+for THEM.  What the average girl knows is simply what her mother
+can teach her.  Perhaps a certain number of Athenian women (of good
+family, too) are downright illiterate; but this is not very often
+the case.  A normal girl will learn to read and write, with her
+mother for school mistress.[*]  Very probably she will be taught
+to dance, and sometimes to play on some instrument, although this
+last is not quite a proper accomplishment for young women of good
+family.  Hardly any one dreams of giving a woman any systematic
+intellectual training.[+]  Much more important it is that she
+should know how to weave, spin, embroider, dominate the cook, and
+superintend the details of a dinner party.  She will have hardly
+time to learn these matters thoroughly before she is "given a
+husband," and her childhood days are forever over (see § 27).
+
+[*]There has come down to us a charming Greek terra-cotta (it is
+true, not from Athens) showing a girl seated on her mother's knee,
+and learning from a roll which she holds.
+
+[+]Plato suggested in his "Republic" (V. 451 f.) that women should
+receive the same educational opportunities as the men.  This was
+a proposition for Utopia and never struck any answering chord.
+
+Meantime her brother has been started upon a course of education
+which, both in what it contains and in what it omits, is one of
+the most interesting and significant features of Athenian life.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.  The Schoolboys of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+51.  Athenians Generally Literate.--Education is not compulsory by
+law in Athens, but the father who fails to give his son at least a
+modicum of education falls under a public contempt, which involves no
+slight penalty.  Practically all Athenians are at least literate.
+In Aristophanes's famous comedy, "The Knights," a boorish
+"sausage-seller" is introduced, who, for the purposes of the play,
+must be one of the very scum of society, and he is made to cry,
+"Only consider now my education!  I can but barely read, just in
+a kind of way."[*]  Evidently if illiterates are not very rare in
+Athens, the fellow should have been made out utterly ignorant.  "He
+can neither swim[+] nor say his letters," is a common phrase for
+describing an absolute idiot.  When a boy has reached the age of
+seven, the time for feminine rule is over; henceforth his floggings,
+and they will be many, are to come from firm male hands.
+
+[*]Aristophanes, "Knights", II. 188-189.
+
+[+]Swimming was an exceedingly common accomplishment among the
+Greeks, naturally enough, so much of their life being spent upon
+or near the sea.
+
+
+52.  Character Building the Aim of Athenian Education.--The true
+education is of course begun long before the age of seven.  CHARACTER
+NOT BOOK-LEARNING, IS THE MAIN OBJECT OF ATHENIAN EDUCATION, i.e.
+to make the boy self-contained, modest, alert, patriotic, a true
+friend, a dignified gentleman, able to appreciate and participate
+in all that is true, harmonius and beautiful in life.  To that end
+his body must be trained, not apart from, but along with his mind.
+Plato makes his character Protagoras remark, "As soon as a child
+understands what is said to him, the nurse, the mother, the pedagogue,
+and the father vie in their efforts to make him good, by showing
+him in all that he does that 'THIS is right,' and 'THAT is wrong';
+'this is pretty,' and 'that is ugly'; so that he may learn what to
+follow and what to shun.  If he obeys willingly--why, excellent.
+If not, then try by threats and blows to correct him, as men
+straighten a warped and crooked sapling."  Also after he is fairly
+in school "the teacher is enjoined to pay more attention to his
+morals and conduct than to his progress in reading and music."
+
+
+53.  The Schoolboy's Pedagogue.--It is a great day for an Athenian
+boy when he is given a pedagogue.  This slave (perhaps purchased
+especially for the purpose) is not his teacher, but he ought to be
+more than ordinarily honest, kindly, and well informed.  His prime
+business is to accompany the young master everywhere out-of-doors,
+especially to the school and to the gymnasium; to carry his books
+and writing tablets; to give informal help upon his lessons; to
+keep him out of every kind of mischief; to teach him social good
+manners; to answer the thousand questions a healthy boy is sure to
+ask; and finally, in emergencies, if the schoolmaster or his father
+is not at hand, to administer a needful whipping.  A really capable
+pedagogue can mean everything to a boy; but it is asking too much
+that a purchased slave should be an ideal companion.[*]  Probably
+many pedagogues are responsible for their charges' idleness or
+downright depravity.  It is a dubious system at the best.
+
+[*]No doubt frequently the pedagogue would be an old family servant
+of good morals, loyalty, and zeal.  In that case the relation might
+be delightful.
+
+The assigning of the pedagogue is simultaneous with the beginning
+of school days; and the Athenians are not open to the charge
+of letting their children waste their time during possible study
+hours.  As early as Solon's day (about 590 B.C.) a law had to be
+passed forbidding schools to open BEFORE daybreak, or to be kept
+open after dusk.  This was in the interest not of good eyesight,
+but of good morals.  Evidently schools had been keeping even longer
+than through the daylight.  In any case, at gray dawn every yawning
+schoolboy is off, urged on by his pedagogue, and his tasks will
+continue with very little interruption through the entire day.
+It is therefore with reason that the Athenian lads rejoice in the
+very numerous religious holidays.
+
+
+54.  An Athenian School.--Leaving the worthy citizen's home, where
+we have lingered long chatting on many of the topics the house and
+its denizens suggest, we will turn again to the streets to seek
+the school where one of the young sons of the family has been duly
+conducted (possibly, one may say, driven) by his pedagogue.  We
+have not far to go.  Athenian schools have to be numerous, because
+they are small.  To teach children of the poorer classes it is
+enough to have a modest room and a few stools; an unrented shop
+will answer.  But we will go to a more pretentious establishment.
+There is an anteroom by the entrance way where the pedagogues can
+sit and doze or exchange gossip while their respective charges are
+kept busy in the larger room within.  The latter place, however,
+is not particularly commodious.  On the bare wall hang book-rolls,
+lyres, drinking vessels, baskets for books, and perhaps some simple
+geometric instruments.  The pupils sit on rude, low benches, each
+lad with his boxwood tablet covered with wax[*] upon his lap, and
+presumably busy, scratching letters with his stylus.  The master
+sits on a high chair, surveying the scene.  He cultivates a grim
+and awful aspect, for he is under no delusion that "his pupils
+love him."  "He sits aloft," we are told, "like a juryman, with an
+expression of implacable wrath, before which the pupil must tremble
+and cringe."[+]
+
+[*]This wax tablet was practically a slate.  The letters written
+could be erased with the blunt upper end of the metallic stylus,
+and the whole surface of the tablet could be made smooth again by
+a judicious heating.
+
+[+]The quotation is from the late writer Libanius, but it is
+perfectly true for classic Athens.
+
+Athenian schoolboys have at least their full share of idleness, as
+well as of animal spirits.  There is soon a loud whisper from one
+corner.  Instantly the ruling tyrant rises.  "Antiphon!  I have
+heard you.  Come forward!"  If Antiphon is wise, he will advance
+promptly and submit as cheerfully as possible to a sound caning;
+if folly possesses him, he will hesitate.  At a nod from the master
+two older boys, who serve as monitors, will seize him with grim
+chuckles.  He will then be fortunate if he escapes being tied to a
+post and flogged until his back is one mass of welts, and his very
+life seems in danger.  It will be useless for him to complain to
+his parents.  A good schoolmaster is supposed to flog frequently to
+earn his pay; if he is sparing with the rod or lash, he is probably
+lacking in energy.  Boys will be boys, and there is only one remedy
+for juvenile shortcomings.
+
+This diversion, of course, with its attendant howling, interrupts
+the course of the school, but presently matters again become normal.
+The scholars are so few that probably there is only one teacher,
+and instruction is decidedly "individual," although poetry and
+singing are very likely taught "in concert."
+
+
+55.  The School Curriculum.--As to the subjects studied, the
+Athenian curriculum is well fixed and limited:  letters, music, and
+gymnastics.  Every lad must have a certain amount of all of these.
+They gymnastics will be taught later in the day by a special
+teacher at a "wrestling school."  The "music" may also be taught
+separately.  The main effort with a young boy is surely to teach
+him to read and write.  And here must be recalled the relative
+infrequency of complete books in classic Athens.[*]  To read public
+placards, inscriptions of laws, occasional epistles, commercial
+documents, etc., is probably, for many Athenians, reading enough.
+The great poets he will learn by ear rather than by eye; and he
+may go through a long and respected life and never be compelled to
+read a really sizable volume from end to end.  So the teaching of
+reading is along very simple lines.  It is perhaps simultaneous
+with the learning of writing.  The twenty-four letters are learned
+by sheer power of memory; then the master sets lines upon the
+tablets to be copied.  As soon as possible the boy is put to learning
+and writing down passages from the great poets.  Progress in mere
+literacy is very rapid.  There is no waste of time on history,
+geography, or physical science; and between the concentration on a
+singly main subject and the impetus given by the master's rod the
+Athenian schoolboy soon becomes adept with his letters.  Possibly
+a little arithmetic is taught him, but only a little.  In later life,
+if he does not become a trader or banker, he will not be ashamed
+to reckon simple sums upon his fingers or by means of pebbles;
+although if his father is ambitious to have him become a philosopher,
+he may have him taught something of geometry.
+
+Once more we see the total absence of "vocational studies" in this
+Athenian education.  The whole effort is to develop a fair, noble,
+free, and lofty character, not to earn a living.  To set a boy
+to study with an eye to learning some profitable trade is counted
+illiberal to the last degree.  It is for this reason that practical
+arithmetic is discouraged, yet a little knowledge of the art
+of outline drawing is allowed; for though no gentleman intends to
+train his son to be a great artist, the study will enable him to
+appreciate good sculpture and painting.  Above all the schoolmaster,
+who, despite his brutal austerity, ought to be a clear-sighted
+and inspiring teacher, must lose no opportunity to instill moral
+lessons, and develop the best powers of his charges.  Theoginis,
+the old poet of Megara, states the case well:--
+
+
+To rear a child is easy; but to teach
+Morals and manners is beyond our reach.
+To make the foolish wise, the wicked good,
+That science never yet understood.
+
+
+56.  The Study of the Poets.--It is for the developing of the best
+moral and mental qualities in the lads that they are compelled to
+memorize long passages of the great poets of Hellas.  Theoginis,
+with his pithy admonitions cast in semi-proverb form, the worldly
+wisdom of Hesiod, and of Phocylides are therefore duly flogged
+into every Attic schoolboy.[*]  But the great text-book dwarfing
+all others, is Homer,--"the Bible of the Greeks," as later ages
+will call it.  Even in the small school we visit, several of the
+pupils can repeat five or six long episodes from both the "Iliad"
+and the "Odyssey," and there is one older boy present (an extraordinary,
+but by no means an unprecedented case) who can repeat BOTH of the
+long epics word for word.[+]  Clearly the absence of many books has
+then its compensations.  The average Athenian lad has what seems
+to be a simply marvelous memory.
+
+[*]Phocylides, whose gnomic poetry is now preserved to us only in
+scant fragments, was an Ionian, born about 560 B.C.  His verses
+were in great acceptance in the schools.
+
+[+]For such an attainment see Xenophon's "Symposium," 3:5.
+
+And what an admirable text-book and "second reader" the Homeric poems
+are!  What characters to imitate:  the high-minded, passionate, yet
+withal loyal and lovable Achilles who would rather fight gloriously
+before Troy (though death in the campaign is certain) than live a
+long life in ignoble ease at home at Phthia; or Oysseus, the "hero
+of many devices," who endures a thousand ills and surmounts them
+all; who lets not even the goddess Calypso seduce him from his
+love to his "sage Penelope"; who is ever ready with a clever tale,
+a plausible lie, and, when the need comes, a mighty deed of manly
+valor.  The boys will all go home to-night with firm resolves to
+suffer all things rather than leave a comrade unavenged, as Achilles
+was tempted to do and nobly refused, and to fight bravely, four
+against forty, as Odysseus and his comrades did, when at the call
+of duty and honor they cleared the house of the dastard suitors.
+True, philosophers like Plato complain:  "Homer gives to lads very
+undignified and unworthy ideas of the gods"; and men of a later
+age will assert:  "Homer has altogether too little to say about
+the cardinal virtues of truthfulness and honesty."[*]  But making
+all allowances the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are still the two grandest
+secular text-books the world will ever know.  The lads are definitely
+the better for them.
+
+[*]The virtue of unflinching HONESTY was undoubtedly the thing least
+cultivated by the Greek education.  Successful prevarication, e.g.
+in the case of Odysseus, was put at altogether too high a premium.
+It is to be feared that the average Athenian schoolboy was only
+partially truthful.  The tale of "George Washington and the cherry
+tree" would never have found favor in Athens.  The great Virginian
+would have been blamed for failing to concoct a clever lie.
+
+Three years, according to Plato, are needed to learn the rudiments
+of reading and writing before the boys are fairly launched upon
+this study of the poets.  For several years more they will spend
+most of their mornings standing respectfully before their master,
+while he from his chair reads to them from the roll of one author
+or another,--the pupils repeating the lines, time and again, until
+they have learned them, while the master interrupts to explain
+every nice point in mythology, in real or alleged history, or a
+moot question in ethics.
+
+
+57.  The Greeks do not study Foreign Languages.--As the boys
+grow older the scope of their study naturally increases; but in
+one particular their curriculum will seem strangely limited.  THE
+STUDY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HAS NO PLACE IN A GREEK COURSE OF STUDY.
+That any gentleman should learn say Persian, or Egyptian (unless
+he intended to devote himself to distant travel), seems far more
+unprofitable than, in a later age, the study of say Patagonian
+or Papuan will appear.[*]  Down at the Peiræus there are a few
+shipmasters, perhaps, who can talk Egyptian, Phœnecian, or Babylonish.
+They need the knowledge for their trade, but even they will disclaim
+any cultural value for their accomplishment.  The euphonious,
+expressive, marvelously delicate tongue of Hellas sums up for the
+Athenian almost all that is valuable in the world's intellectual
+and literary life.  What has the outer, the "Barbarian," world
+to give him?--Nothing, many will say, but some gold darics which
+will corrupt his statesmen, and some spices, carpets, and similar
+luxuries which good Hellenes can well do without.  The Athenian
+lad will never need to crucify the flesh upon Latin, French, and
+German, or an equivalent for his own Greek.  Therein perhaps he
+may be heavily the loser, save that his own mother tongue is so
+intricate and full of subtle possibilities that to learn to make
+the full use thereof is truly a matter for lifelong education.
+
+[*]This fact did not prevent the Greeks from having a considerable
+respect for the traditions and lore of, e.g., the Egyptians, and
+from borrowing a good many non-Greek usages and inventions; but
+all this could take place without feeling the least necessity for
+studying foreign languages.
+
+
+58.  The Study of "Music."--But the Athenian has a substitute for
+this omission of foreign language study:  MUSIC.  This is something
+more comprehensive than "the art of combining tones in a manner to
+please the ear" [Webster].  It is practically the study of whatever
+will develop the noble powers of the emotions, as contrasted to
+the mere intellect.[*]  Indeed everything which comes within the
+ample provinces of the nine Muses, even sober history, might be
+included in the term.  However, for special purposes, the study of
+"Music" may be considered as centering around playing instruments
+and singing.  The teacher very likely resides in a house apart
+from the master of the school of letters.  Aristophanes gives this
+picture of the good old customs for the teaching of music.  "The
+boys from the same section of the town have to march thinly clad
+and draw up in good order--though the snow be thick as meal--to the
+house of the harp master.  There he will teach them [some famous
+tune] raising a mighty melody.  If any one acts silly or turns any
+quavers, he gets a good hard thrashing for 'banishing the Muses!'"[+]
+
+[*]Aristotle ["Politics," V. (or VIII.) 1] says that the literary
+education is to train the mind; while music, though of no practical
+use, "provides a noble and liberal employment of leisure."
+
+[+]Aristophanes's "The Clouds".  The whole passage is cited in
+Davis's "Readings in Ancient History," vol. I, pp. 252-255.
+
+Learning to sing is probably the most important item, for every
+boy and man ought to be able to bear his part in the great chorals
+which are a notable element in most religious festivals; besides,
+a knowledge of singing is a great aid to appreciating lyric poetry,
+or the choruses in tragedy, and in learning to declaim.  To learn
+to sing elaborate solo pieces is seldom necessary,--it is not quite
+genteel in grown-up persons, for it savors a little too much of the
+professional.  So it is also with instrumental music.  The Greeks
+lack the piano, the organ, the elaborate brass instruments of a
+later day.  Their flutes and harps, although very sweet, might seem
+thin to a twentieth-century critic.  But one can gain considerable
+volume by the great NUMBER of instruments, and nearly everybody
+in Athens can pick at the lyre after a fashion.  The common type of
+harp is the lyre, and it has enough possibilities for the average boy.
+The more elaborate CITHERA is usually reserved for professionals.[*]
+An Athenian lad is expected to be able to accompany his song upon
+his own lyre and to play in concert with his fellows.
+
+[*]For the details of these harp types of instruments see Dictionary
+of Antiquities.
+
+The other instrument in common use is the FLUTE.  At its simplest,
+this is a mere shepherd's pipe.  Anybody can make one with a knife
+and some rushes.  Then come elaborations; two pipes are fitted
+together into one wooden mouthpiece.  Now, we really have an
+instrument with possibilities.  But it is not in such favor in the
+schools as the lyre.  You cannot blow day after day upon the flute
+and not distort your cheeks permanently.  Again the gentleman's
+son will avoid "professionalism."  There are amateur flute players
+moving in the best society, but the more fastidious frown upon the
+instrument, save for hired performers.
+
+
+59.  The Moral Character of Greek Music.--Whether it is singing,
+harp playing, or flute playing, a most careful watch is kept upon
+the CHARACTER of the music taught the lads.  The master who lets
+his pupils learn many soft, dulcet, languishing airs will find his
+charges' parents extremely angry, even to depriving him of their
+patronage.  Very soft music, in "Lydian modes," is counted effeminate,
+fit only for the women's quarters and likely to do boys no good.
+The riotous type also, of the "Ionic mode," is fit only for drinking
+songs and is even more under the ban.[*]  What is especially in
+favor is the stern, strenuous Dorian mode.  This will make boys
+hardy, manly, and brave.  Very elaborate music with trills and
+quavers is in any case frowned upon.  It simply delights the trained
+ear, and has no reaction upon the character; and of what value is
+a musical presentation unless it leaves the hearers and performer
+better, worthier men?  Let the average Athenian possess the
+opportunity, and he will infallibly stamp with disapproval a great
+part of both the popular and the classical music of the later
+ages.[+]
+
+[*]The "Phrygian mode" from which the "Ionic" was derived was still
+more demoralizing; it was counted "orgiastic," and proper only in
+certain excited religious rhapsodies.
+
+[+]We have extremely few Greek melodies preserved to us and these
+few are not attractive to the modern ear.  All that can fairly be
+said is that the Hellenes were obvious such æsthetic, harmoniously
+minded people that it is impossible their music should have failed
+in nobility, beauty, and true melody.
+
+
+60.  The Teaching of Gymnastics.--The visits to the reading school
+and to the harp master have consumed a large part of the day; but
+towards afternoon the pedagogues will conduct their charges to the
+third of the schoolboys' tyrants:  the gymnastic teacher.  Nor do
+his parents count this the least important of the three.  Must not
+their sons be as physically "beautiful" (to use the common phrase
+in Athens) as possible, and must they not some day, as good citizens,
+play their brave part in war?  The palæstras (literally "wrestling
+grounds") are near the outskirts of the city, where land is cheap
+and a good-sized open space can be secured.  Here the lads are
+given careful instruction under the constant eye of an expert in
+running, wrestling, boxing, jumping, discus hurling, and javelin
+casting.  They are not expected to become professional athletes,
+but their parents will be vexed if they do not develop a healthy
+tan all over their naked bodies,[*] and if they do not learn at
+least moderate proficiency in the sports and a certain amount of
+familiarity with elementary military maneuvers.  Of course boys
+of marked physical ability will be encouraged to think of training
+for the various great "games" which culminate at Olympia, although
+enlightened opinion is against the promoting of professional
+athletics; and certain extreme philosophers question the wisdom of
+any extensive physical culture at all, "for (say they) is not the
+human mind the real thing worth developing?"[+]
+
+[*]To have a pale, untanned skin was "womanish" and unworthy of a
+free Athenian citizen.
+
+[+]The details of the boys' athletic games, being much of a kind
+with those followed by adults at the regular public gymnasia, are
+here omitted.  See Chap. XVII.
+
+Weary at length and ready for a hearty meal and sleep, the boys
+are conducted homeward by their pedagogues.
+
+As they grow older the lads with ambitious parents will be given
+a more varied education.  Some will be put under such teachers of
+the new rhetoric and oratory, now in vogue, as the famous socrates,
+and be taught to play the orator as an aid to inducing their fellow
+citizens to bestow political advancement.  Certain will be allowed
+to become pupils of Plato, who has been teaching his philosophy
+out at the groves of the Academy, or to join some of his rivals in
+theoretical wisdom.  Into these fields, however, we cannot follow
+them.
+
+
+61.  The Habits and Ambitions of Schoolboys.--It is a clear fact,
+that by the age say of thirteen, the Athenian education has had a
+marked effect upon the average schoolboy.  Instead of being "the
+most ferocious of animals," as Plato, speaking of his untutored
+state describes him, he is now "the most amiable and divine of
+living beings."  The well-trained lad goes now to school with his
+eyes cast upon the ground, his hands and arms wrapped in his chiton,
+making way dutifully for all his elders.  If he is addressed by an
+older man, he stands modestly, looking downward and blushing in a
+manner worthy of a girl.  He has been taught to avoid the Agora,
+and if he must pass it, never to linger.  The world is full of
+evil and ugly things, but he is taught to hear and see as little of
+them as possible.  When men talk of his healthy color, increasing
+beauty, and admire the graceful curves of his form at the wrestling
+school, he must not grow proud.  He is being taught to learn relatively
+little from books, but a great deal from hearing the conversation
+of grave and well-informed men.  As he grows older his father will
+take him to all kinds of public gatherings and teach him the working
+details of the "Democratic Government" of Athens.  He becomes
+intensely proud of his city.  It is at length his chief thought,
+almost his entire life.  A very large part of the loyalty which
+an educated man of a later age will divide between his home, his
+church, his college, his town, and his nation, the Athenian lad
+will sum up in two words,--"my polis"; i.e. the city of Athens.
+His home is largely a place for eating and sleeping; his school
+is not a great institution, it is simply a kind of disagreeable
+though necessary learning shop; his church is the religion of his
+ancestors, and this religion is warp and woof of the government,
+as much a part thereof as the law courts or the fighting fleet;
+his town and his nation are alike the sovran city-state of Athens.
+Whether he feels keenly a wider loyalty to Hellas at large, as
+against the Great King of Persia, for instance, will depend upon
+circumstances.  In a real crisis, as at Salamis,--yes.  In ordinary
+circumstances when there is a hot feud with Sparta,--no.
+
+
+62.  The "Ephebi."--The Athenian education then is admirably adapted
+to make the average lad a useful and worthy citizen, and to make
+him modest, alert, robust, manly, and a just lover of the beautiful,
+both in conduct and in art.  It does not, however, develop his
+individual bent very strongly; and it certainly gives him a mean
+view of the dignity of labor.  He will either become a leisurely
+gentleman, whose only proper self-expression will come in warfare,
+politics, or philosophy; or--if he be poor--he will at least envy
+and try to imitate the leisure class.
+
+By eighteen the young Athenian's days of study will usually come
+to a close.  At that age he will be given a simple festival by
+his father and be formally enrolled in his paternal deme.[*]  His
+hair, which has hitherto grown down toward his shoulders, will be
+clipped short.  He will allow his beard to grow.  At the temple
+of Aglaurus he will (with the other youths of his age) take solemn
+oath of loyalty to Athens and her laws.  For the next year he will
+serve as a military guard at the Peiræus, and receive a certain
+training in soldiering.  The next year the state will present
+him with a new shield and spear, and he will have a taste of the
+rougher garrison duty at one of the frontier forts towards Bœtia or
+Megara.[+]  Then he is mustered out.  He is an ephebus no longer,
+but a full-fledged citizen, and all the vicissitudes of Athenian
+life are before him.
+
+[*]One of the hundred or more petty townships or precincts into
+which Attica was divided.
+
+[+]These two years which the ephebi of Athens had to serve under
+arms have been aptly likened to the military service now required
+of young men in European countries.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X.  The Physicians of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+63.  The Beginnings of Greek Medical Science.--As we move about
+the city we cannot but be impressed by the high average of fine
+physiques and handsome faces.  Your typical Greek is fair in color
+and has very regular features.  The youths do not mature rapidly,
+but thanks to the gymnasia and the regular lives, they develop not
+merely admirable, but healthy, bodies.  The proportion of hale and
+hearty OLD men is great; and probably the number of invalids is
+considerably smaller than in later times and in more artificially
+reared communities.[*]  Nevertheless, the Athenians are certainly
+mortal, and subject to bodily ills, and the physician is no unimportant
+member of society, although his exact status is much less clearly
+determined than it will be in subsequent ages.
+
+[*]A slight but significant witness to the general healthiness of
+the Greeks is found in the very rare mention in their literature
+of such a common ill as TOOTHACHE.
+
+Greek medicine and surgery, as it appears in Homer, is simply a
+certain amount of practical knowledge gained by rough experience,
+largely supplemented by primitive superstition.  It was quite as
+important to know the proper prayers and charms wherewith to approach
+"Apollo the Healer," as to understand the kind of herb poultice
+which would keep wounds from festering.  Homer speaks of Asclepius;
+however, in early days he was not a god, but simply a skilful leach.
+Then as we approach historic times the physician's art becomes
+more regular.  Asclepius is elevated into a separate and important
+deity, although it is not till 420 B.C. that his worship is formally
+introduced into Athens.  Long ere that time, however, medicine and
+surgery had won a real place among the practical sciences.  The
+sick man stands at least a tolerable chance of rational treatment,
+and of not being murdered by wizards and fanatical exorcists.
+
+
+64.  Healing Shrines and their Methods.--There exist in Athens and
+in other Greek cities real sanataria[*]; these are temples devoted
+to the healing gods (usually Asclepius, but sometimes Apollo,
+Aphrodite, and Hera).  Here the patient is expected to sleep over
+night in the temple, and the god visits him in a dream, and reveals
+a course of treatment which will lead to recovery.  Probably there
+is a good deal of sham and imposture about the process.  The canny
+priests know more than they care to tell about how the patient is
+worked into an excitable, imaginative state; and of the very human
+means employed to produce a satisfactory and informing dream.[+]
+Nevertheless it is a great deal to convince the patient that he
+is sure of recovery, and that nobody less than a god has dictated
+the remedies.  The value of mental therapeutics is keenly appreciated.
+Attached to the temple are skilled physicians to "interpret" the
+dream, and opportunities for prolonged residence with treatment by
+baths, purgation, dieting, mineral waters, sea baths, all kinds of
+mild gymnastics, etc.  Entering upon one of these temple treatments
+is, in short anything but surrendering oneself to unmitigated quackery.
+Probably a large proportion of the former patients have recovered;
+and they have testified their gratitude by hanging around the
+shrine little votive tablets,[$] usually pictures of the diseased
+parts now happily healed, or, for internal maladies, a written
+statement of the nature of the disease.  This is naturally very
+encouraging to later patients:  they gain confidence knowing that
+many cases similar to their own have been thus cured.
+
+[*]The most famous was at Epidaurus, where the Asclepius cult seems
+to have been especially localized.
+
+[+]The "healing sleep" employed at these temples is described, in
+a kind of blasphemous parody, in Aristophanes's "Plutus."  (Significant
+passages are quoted in Davis's "Readings in Ancient History," vol.
+I, pp. 258-261.)
+
+[$]Somewhat as in the various Catholic pilgrimage shrines (e.g.
+Lourdes) to-day.
+
+These visits to the healing temples are, however, expensive:  not
+everybody has entire faith in them; for many lesser ills also they
+are wholly unnecessary.  Let us look, then, at the regular physicians.
+
+
+65.  An Athenian Physician's Office.--There are salaried public
+medical officers in Athens, and something like a public dispensary
+where free treatment is given citizens in simple cases; but the
+average man seems to prefer his own doctor.[*]  We may enter the
+office of Menon, a "regular private practitioner," and look about
+us.  The office itself is a mere open shop in the front of a house
+near the Agora; and, like a barber's shop is something of a general
+lounging place.  In the rear one or two young disciples (doctors
+in embryo) and a couple of slaves are pounding up drugs in mortars.
+There are numbers of bags of dried herbs and little glass flasks
+hanging on the walls.  Near the entrance is a statue of Asclepius
+the Healer, and also of the great human founder of the real medical
+science among the Greeks--Hippocrates.
+
+[*]We know comparatively little of these public physicians; probably
+they were mainly concerned with the health of the army and naval
+force, the prevention of epidemics, etc.
+
+Menon himself is just preparing to go out on his professional
+calls.  He is a handsome man in the prime of his life, and takes
+great pains with his personal appearance.  His himation is carefully
+draped.  His finger rings have excellent cameos.  His beard has
+been neatly trimmed, and he has just bathed and scented himself
+with delicate Assyrian nard.  He will gladly tell you that he is
+in no wise a fop, but that it is absolutely necessary to produce
+a pleasant personal impression upon his fastidious, irritable
+patients.  Menon himself claims to have been a personal pupil of
+the great Hippocrates,[*] and about every other reputable Greek
+physician will make the same claim.  He has studied more or less
+in a temple of Asclepius, and perhaps has been a member of the
+medical staff thereto attached.  He has also become a member of
+the Hippocratic brotherhood, a semi-secret organization, associated
+with the Asclepius cult, and cheerfully cherishing the dignity of
+the profession and the secret arts of the guild.
+
+[*]Who was still alive, an extremely old man.  He died in Thessaly
+in 357 B.C., at an alleged age of 104 years.
+
+66.  The Physician's Oath.--The oath which all this brotherhood has
+sworn is noble and notable.  Here are some of the main provisions:--
+
+
+"I swear by Apollo the Physician, and Asclepius and Hygeia; a
+[Lady Health] and Panaceia [Lady All-Cure] to honor as my parents
+the master who taught me this art, and to admit to my own instruction
+only his sons, my own sons, and those who have been duly inscribed
+as pupils, and who have taken the medical oath, and no others.  I
+will prescribe such treatment as may be for the benefit of my
+patients, according to my best power and judgment, and preserve
+them from anything hurtful or mischievous.  I will never, even if
+asked, administer poison, nor advise its use.  I will never give
+a criminal draught to a woman.  I will maintain the purity and
+integrity of my art.  Wherever I go, I will abstain from all mischief
+or corruption, or any immodest action.  If ever I hear any secret
+I will not divulge it.  If I keep this oath, may the gods give me
+success in life and in my art.  If I break this oath, may all the
+reverse fall upon me."[*]
+
+
+[*]For the unabridged translation of this oath, see Smith's
+"Dictionary of Antiquities" (revised edition), vol. II, p. 154.
+
+
+67.  The Skill of Greek Physicians.--Menon's skill as a physician
+and surgeon is considerable.  True, he has only a very insufficient
+conception of anatomy.  His THEORETICAL knowledge is warped, but
+he is a shrewd judge of human nature and his PRACTICAL knowledge
+is not contemptible.  In his private pharmacy his assistants have
+compounded a great quantity of drugs which he knows how to administer
+with much discernment.  He has had considerable experience in dealing
+with wounds and sprains, such as are common in the wars or in the
+athletic games.  He understands that Dame Nature is a great healer,
+who is to be assisted rather than coerced; and he dislikes resorting
+to violent remedies, such as bleedings and strong emetics.  Ordinary
+fevers and the like he can attack with success.  He has no modern
+anæsthetics or opium, but has a very insufficient substitute in
+mandragora.  He can treat simple diseases of the eye; and he knows
+how to put gold filling into teeth.  His surgical instruments,
+however, are altogether too primitive.  He is personally cleanly;
+but he has not the least idea of antiseptics; the result is that
+obscure internal diseases, calling for grave operations, are likely
+to baffle him.  He will refuse to operate, or if he does operate
+the chances are against the patient.[*]  In other words, his medical
+skill is far in advance of his surgery.
+
+[*]Seemingly a really serious operation was usually turned over
+by the local physician to a traveling surgeon, who could promptly
+disappear from the neighborhood if things went badly.
+
+Menon naturally busies himself among the best families of Athens,
+and commands a very good income.  He counts it part of his equipment
+to be able to persuade his patients, by all the rules of logic and
+rhetoric, to submit to disagreeable treatment; and for that end
+has taken lessons in informal oratory from Isocrates or one of his
+associates.  Some of Menon's competitors (feeling themselves less
+eloquent) have actually a paid rhetorician whom they can take to
+the bedside of a stubborn invalid, to induce him by irrefutable
+arguments to endure an amputation.[*]
+
+[*]Plato tells how Gorgias, the famous rhetorician, was sometimes
+thus hired.  A truly Greek artifice--this substitution of oratory
+for chloroform!
+
+No such honor of course is paid to the intellects of the poorer fry,
+who swarm in at Menon's surgery.  Those who cannot pay to have him
+bandage them himself, perforce put up with the secondary skill and
+wisdom of the "disciples."  The drug-mixing slaves are expected to
+salve and physic the patients of their own class; but there seems
+to be a law against allowing them to attempt the treatment of
+free-born men.
+
+
+68.  Quacks and Charlatans.--Unluckily not everybody is wise enough
+to put up with the presumably honest efforts of Menon's underlings.
+There appears to be no law against anybody who wishes to pose as
+a physician, and to sell his inexperience and his quack nostrums.
+Vendors of every sort of cure-all abound, as well as creatures who
+work on the superstitions and pretend to cure by charms and hocus-pocus.
+In the market there is such a swarm of these charlatans of healing
+that they bring the whole medical profession into contempt.  Certain
+people go so far as to distrust the efficacy of any part of the
+lore of Asclepius.  Says one poet tartly:--
+
+
+The surgeon Menedemos, as men say,
+  Touched as he passed a Zeus of marble white;
+  Neither the marble nor his Zeus-ship might
+Avail the god--they buried him to-day.
+
+
+And again even to dream of the quacks is dangerous:--
+
+
+Diophantes, sleeping, saw
+  Hermas the physician:
+Diophantes never woke
+  From that fatal vision.[*]
+
+
+[*]Both of these quotations probably date from later than 360 B.C.,
+but they are perfectly in keeping with the general opinion of Greek
+quackery.
+
+All in all, despite Menon's good intentions and not despicable
+skill, it is fortunate the gods have made "Good Health" one of
+their commonest gifts to the Athenians.  Constant exercise in the
+gymnasia, occasional service in the army, the absence of cramping
+and unhealthful office work, and a climate which puts out-of-door
+existence at a premium, secure for them a general good health that
+compensates for most of the lack of a scientific medicine.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.  The Funerals.
+
+
+
+
+69.  An Athenian's Will.--All Menon's patient's are to-day set
+out upon the road to recovery.  Hipponax, his rival, has been less
+fortunate.  A wealthy and elderly patient, Lycophron, died the
+day before yesterday.  As the latter felt his end approaching, he
+did what most Athenians may put off until close to the inevitable
+hour--he made his will, and called in his friends to witness it;
+and one must hope there can be no doubt about the validity, the
+signets attached, etc., for otherwise the heirs may find themselves
+in a pretty lawsuit.
+
+The will begins in this fashion:  "The Testament of Lyophron the
+Marathonian.[*]  May all be well:--but if I do not recover from
+this sickness, thus do I bestow my estate."  Then in perfectly
+cold-blooded fashion he proceeds to give his young wife and the
+guardianship of his infant daughter to Stobiades, a bachelor friend
+who will probably marry the widow within two months or less of the
+funeral.  Lycophron gives also specific directions about his tomb;
+he gives legacies of money or jewelry to various old associates;
+he mentions certain favorite slaves to receive freedom, and as
+specifically orders certain others (victims of his displeasure)
+to be kept in bondage.  Lastly three reliable friends are names as
+executors.
+
+[*]In all Athenian legal documents, it was necessary to give the
+deme of the interested party or parties.
+
+
+70.  The Preliminaries of a Funeral.--An elaborate funeral is the
+last perquisite of every Athenian.  Even if Lycophron had been a poor
+man he would now receive obsequies seemingly far out of proportion
+to his estate and income.  It is even usual in Greek states to have
+laws restraining the amount which may be spent upon funerals,--otherwise
+great sums may be literally "burned up" upon the funeral pyres.
+When now the tidings go out that Lycophron's nearest relative has
+"closed his mouth," after he has breathed his last, all his male
+kinsfolk and all other persons who HOPE to be remembered in the
+will promptly appear in the Agora in black himatia[*] and hasten
+to the barber shops to have their heads shaved.  The widow might
+shave her hair likewise, with all her slave maids, did not her
+husband, just ere his death, positively forbid such disfigurements.
+The women of the family take the body in charge the minute the
+physician has declared that all is over.  The customary obol is put
+in the mouth of the corpse,[+] and the body is carefully washed in
+perfumed water, clothed in festal white; then woolen fillets are
+wound around the head, and over these a crown of vine leaves.  So
+arrayed, the body is ready to be laid out on a couch in the front
+courtyard of the house, with the face turned toward the door so
+as to seem to greet everybody who enters.  In front of the house
+there stands a tall earthen vase of water, wherewith the visitors
+may give themselves a purifying sprinkling, after quitting the
+polluting presence of a dead body.
+
+[*]In the important city of Argos, however, WHITE was the proper
+funeral color.
+
+[+]This was not originally (as later asserted) a fee to Charon the
+ferryman to Hades, but simply a "minimum precautionary sum, for the
+dead man's use" (Dr. Jane Harrison), placed in the mouth, where a
+Greek usually kept his small change.
+
+
+71.  Lamenting of the Dead.--Around this funeral bed the relatives
+and friends keep a gloomy vigil.  The Athenians after all are
+southern born, and when excited seem highly emotional people.  There
+are stern laws dating from Solon's day against the worst excesses,
+but what now occurs seems violent enough.  The widow is beating
+her breast, tearing her hair, gashing her cheeks with her finger
+nails.  Lycophron's elderly sister has ashes sprinkled upon her gray
+head and ever and anon utters piteous wails.  The slave women in
+the background keep up a hideous moaning.  The men present do not
+think it undignified to utter loud lamentation and to shed frequent
+tears.  Least commendable of all (from a modern standpoint) are the
+hired dirge singers, who maintain a most melancholy chant, all the
+time beating their breasts, and giving a perfect imitation of frantic
+grief.  This has probably continued day and night, the mourners
+perhaps taking turns by relays.
+
+All in all it is well that Greek custom enjoins the actual funeral,
+at least, on the second day following the death.[*]  The "shade"
+of the deceased is not supposed to find rest in the nether world
+until after the proper obsequies.[+]  To let a corpse lie several
+days without final disposition will bring down on any family severe
+reproach.  In fact, on few points are the Greeks more sensitive
+than on this subject of prompt burial or cremation.  After a land
+battle the victors are bound never to push their vengeance so far
+as to refuse a "burial truce" to the vanquished; and it is a doubly
+unlucky admiral who lets his crews get drowned in a sea fight,
+without due effort to recover the corpses afterward and to give
+them proper disposition on land.
+
+[*]It must be remembered that the Greeks had no skilled embalmers
+at their service, and that they lived in a decidedly warm climate.
+
+[+]See the well-known case of the wandering shade of Patrocius
+demanding the proper obsequies from Achilles (Iliad, XXIII. 71).
+
+
+72.  The Funeral Procession.--The day after the "laying-out" comes
+the actual funeral.  Normally it is held as early as possible in
+the morning, before the rising of the sun.  Perhaps while on the
+way to the Agora we have passed, well outside the city, such a
+mournful procession.  The youngest and stoutest of the male relatives
+carry the litter:  although if Lycophron's relatives had desired
+a really extravagant display they might have employed a mule car.
+Ahead of the bier march the screaming flute players, earning their
+fees by no melodious din.  Then comes the litter itself with the
+corpse arrayed magnificently for the finalities, a honey cake set
+in the hands,[*] a flask of oil placed under the head.  After this
+come streaming the relatives in irregular procession:  the widow and
+the chief heir (her prospective second husband!) walking closest,
+and trying to appear as demonstrative as possible:  nor (merely
+because the company is noisy and not stoical in its manner) need
+we deny that there is abundant genuine grief.  All sorts of male
+acquaintances of the deceased bring up the rear, since it is good
+form to proclaim to wide Athens that Lycophon had hosts of friends.[+]
+
+[*]The original idea of the honey cake was simply that it was a
+friendly present to the infernal gods; later came the conceit that
+it was a sop to fling to the dog Cerberus, who guarded the entrance
+to Hades.
+
+[+]Women, unless they were over sixty years of age, were not allowed
+to join in funeral processions unless they were first cousins, or
+closer kin, of the deceased.
+
+
+73.  The Funeral Pyre.--So the procession moves through the still
+gloomy streets of the city,--doubtless needing torch bearers as
+well as flute players,--and out through some gate, until the line
+halts in an open field, or better, in a quiet and convenient garden.
+Here the great funeral pyre of choice dry fagots, intermixed with
+aromatic cedar, has been heaped.  The bier is laid thereon.  There
+are no strictly religious ceremonies.  The company stands in
+a respectful circle, while the nearest male kinsman tosses a pine
+link upon the oil-soaked wood.  A mighty blaze leaps up to heaven,
+sending its ruddy brightness against the sky now palely flushed
+with the bursting dawn.  The flutists play in softer measures.  As
+the fire rages a few of the relatives toss upon it pots of rare
+unguents; and while the flames die down, thrice the company shout
+their farewells, calling their departed friend by name--"Lycophron!
+Lycophron!  Lycophron!"
+
+So fierce is the flame it soon sinks into ashes.  As soon as these
+are cool enough for safety (a process hastened by pouring on water
+or wine) the charred bones of the deceased are tenderly gathered
+up to be placed in a stately urn.  The company, less formally now,
+returns to Athens, and that night there will probably be a great
+funeral feast at the house of the nearest relative, everybody
+eating and drinking to capacity "to do Lycophron full honor"; for
+it is he who is imagined as being now for the last time the host.
+
+
+74.  Honors to the memory of the Dead.--Religion seems to have
+very little place in the Athenian funeral:  there are no priests
+present, no prayers, no religious hymns.  But the dead man is now
+conceived as being, in a very humble and intangible way, a deity
+himself:  his good will is worth propitiating; his memory is not
+to be forgotten.  On the third, ninth, and thirtieth days after
+the funeral there are simple religious ceremonies with offerings
+of garlands, fruits, libations and the like, at the new tomb; and
+later at certain times in the year these will be repeated.  The
+more enlightened will of course consider these merely graceful
+remembrances of a former friend; but there is a good deal of
+primitive ancestor worship even in civilized Athens.
+
+BURNING is the usual method for the Greeks to dispose of their
+dead, but the burial of unburned bodies is not unknown to them.
+Probably, however, the rocky soil and the limited land space around
+Athens make regular cemeteries less convenient than elsewhere:  still
+it would have been nothing exceptional if Lycophron had ordered in
+his will that he be put in a handsome pottery coffin to be placed
+in a burial ground pertaining to his family.
+
+
+75.  The Beautiful Funeral Monuments.--If the noisy funeral customs
+permitted to the Athenians may repel a later day observer, there
+can be only praise for the Athenian tombs, or rather the funeral
+monuments (stëlæ) which might be set over the urns or ashes or the
+actual coffins.  Nearly every Athenian family has a private field
+which it uses for sepulchral purposes:  but running outside of
+the city, near the Itonian Gate along the road to the Peiræus, the
+space to either side of the highway has been especially appropriated
+for this purpose.  Waling hither along this "Street of the Tombs"
+we can make a careful survey of some of the most touching memorials
+of Athenian life.
+
+The period of hot, violent grief seems now over; the mourners have
+settled down in their dumb sense of loss.  This spirit of calm,
+noble resignation is what is expressed upon these monuments.  All
+is chaste, dignified, simple.  There are no labored eulogies of
+the deceased; no frantic expressions of sorrow; no hint (let it
+be also said) of any hope of reunions in the Hereafter.  Sometimes
+there is simply a plain marble slab or pillar marked with the name
+of the deceased; and with even the more elaborate monuments the
+effort often is to concentrate, into one simple scene, the best and
+worthiest that was connected with the dear departed.  Here is the
+noble mother seated in quiet dignity extending her hand in farewell
+to her sad but steadfast husband, while her children linger wonderingly
+by; here is the athlete, the young man in his pride, depicted not
+in the moment of weakness and death, but scraping his glorious form
+with his strigil, after some victorious contest in the games; here
+is the mounted warrior, slain before Corinth whilst battling for
+his country, represented in the moment of overthrowing beneath
+his flying charger some despairing foe.  We are made to feel that
+these Athenians were fair and beautiful in their lives, and that
+in their deaths they were not unworthy.  And we marvel, and admire
+these monuments the more when we realize that they are not the work
+of master sculptors but of ordinary paid craftsmen.  We turn away
+praising the city that could produce such noble sculpture and
+call it mere handicraft, and praising also the calm poise of soul,
+uncomforted by revealed religion, which could make these monuments
+common expressions of the bitterest, deepest, most vital emotions
+which can ever come to men.[*]
+
+[*]As Von Falke (Greece and Rome, p. 141) well says of these
+monuments, "No skeleton, no scythe, no hour-glass is in them to
+bring a shudder to the beholder.  As they [the departed] were in
+life, mother and daughter, husband and wife, parents and children,
+here they are represented together, sitting or standing, clasping
+each other's hands and looking at one another with love and sympathy
+as if it were their customary affectionate intercourse.  What the
+stone perpetuates is the love and happiness they enjoyed together,
+while yet they rejoiced in life and the light of day."
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.  Trade, Manufactures, and Banking.
+
+
+
+
+76.  The Commercial Importance of Athens.--While the funeral mourners
+are wending their slow way homeward we have time to examine certain
+phases of Athenian life at which we have previously glanced, then
+ignored.  Certain it is, most "noble and good" gentlemen delight
+to be considered persons of polite uncommercial leisure; equally
+certain it is that a good income is about as desirable in Athens
+as anywhere else, and many a stately "Eupatrid," who seems to
+spend his whole time in dignified walks, discoursing on politics
+or philosophy, is really keenly interested in trades, factories,
+or farms, of which his less nobly born stewards have the active
+management.  Indeed one of the prime reasons for Athenian greatness
+is the fact that Athens is the richest and greatest commercial city
+of Continental Hellas, with only Corinth as a formidable rival.[*]
+
+[*]Syracuse in distant Sicily was possibly superior to Athens in
+commerce and economic prosperity, although incomparably behind her
+in the empire of the arts and literature.
+
+To understand the full extent of Athenian commercial prosperity we
+must visit the Peiræus, yet in the main city itself will be found
+almost enough examples of the chief kinds of economic activity.
+
+
+77.  The Manufacturing Activities of Athens.--Attica is the seat
+of much manufacturing.  Go to the suburbs:  everywhere is the rank
+odor of the tanneries; down at the harbors are innumerable ship
+carpenters and sail and tackle makers, busy in the shipyards; from
+almost every part of the city comes the clang of hammer and anvil
+where hardware of all kinds is being wrought in the smithies; and
+finally the potter makers are so numerous as to require special
+mention hereafter.  But no list of all the manufacturing activities
+is here possible; enough that practically every known industry is
+represented in Athens, and the "industrial" class is large.[*]  A
+very large proportion of the industrial laborers are slaves, but
+by no means all.  A good many are real Athenian citizens; a still
+larger proportion are "metics" (resident foreigners without political
+rights).  The competition of slave labor, however, tends to keep
+wages very low.  An unskilled laborer will have to be content with
+his 3 obols (9 cents [1914] or $1.51 [2000]) per day; but a trained
+workman will demand a drachma (18 cents [1914] or $3.02 [2000])
+or even more.  There are no labor unions or trade guilds.  A son
+usually, though not invariably, follows his father's profession.
+Each industry and line of work tends to have its own little street
+or alley, preferably leading off the Agora.  "The Street of the Marble
+Workers," the "Street of the Box Makers," and notably the "Street
+of the Potters" contain nearly all the workshops of a given kind.
+Probably you can find no others in the city.  Prices are regulated
+by custom and competition; in case any master artisan is suspected
+of "enhancing" the price of a needful commodity, or his shady business
+methods seem dangerous to the public, there is no hesitation in
+invoking an old law or passing a new one in the Assembly to bring
+him to account.
+
+[*]For a very suggestive list of the numerous kinds of Greek industries
+(practically all of which would be represented in Athens) see H.
+J. Edwards, in Whibley's "Companion to Greek Studies," p. 431.
+
+Manufacturers are theoretically under a social ban, and indeed
+yonder petty shoemaker, who, with his two apprentices, first makes
+up his cheap sandals, then sells them over the low counter before
+his own ship, is very far from being a "leisurely" member of the
+"noble and the good."  But he who, like the late Lycophron, owns
+a furniture factory employing night threescore slaves, can be sure
+of lying down on his couch at a dinner party among the very best;
+for, as in twentieth century England, even manufacture and "trade," if
+on a sufficiently large scale, cover a multitude of social sins.[*]
+
+[*]Plato, probably echoing thoughtful Greek opinion, considered it
+bad for manufacturers to be either too wealthy or too poor; thus
+a potter getting too rich will neglect his art, and grow idle;
+if, however, he cannot afford proper tools, he will manufacture
+inferior wares, and his sons will be even worse workmen then he.
+Such comment obviously comes from a society where most industrial
+life is on a small scale.
+
+
+78.  The Commerce of Athens.--Part of Athenian wealth comes from
+the busy factories, great and small, which seem everywhere; still
+more riches come in by the great commerce which will be found
+centered at the Peiræus.  Here is the spacious Deigma, a kind
+of exchange-house where ship masters can lay out samples of their
+wares on display, and sell to the important wholesalers, who will
+transmit to the petty shopkeepers and the "ultimate consumer."[*]
+
+[*]Of course a very large proportion of Greek manufactures wares
+were never exported, but were sold direct by the manufacturer to
+the consumer himself.  This had various disadvantages; but there
+was this large gain:  ONLY ONE PROFIT was necessary to be added
+to the mere cost of production.  This aided to make Greece (from
+a modern standpoint) a paradise of low prices.
+
+There are certain articles of which various districts make a
+specialty, and which Athens is constantly importing:  Bœtia sends
+chariots; Thessaly, easy chairs; Chios and Miletos, bedding; and
+Miletos, especially, very fine woolens.  Greece in general looks
+to Syria and Arabia for the much-esteemed spices and perfumes; to
+Egypt for papyri for the book rolls; to Babylonia for carpets.  To
+discuss the whole problem of Athenian commerce would require a book
+in itself; but certain main facts stand out clearly.  One is that
+Attica herself has extremely few natural products to export--only her
+olive oil, her Hymettus honey, and her magnificent marbles--dazzling
+white from Pentelicos, gray from Hymettus, blue or black from
+Eleusis.  Again we soon notice the great part which GRAIN plays in
+Athenian commerce.  Attica raises such a small proportion of the
+necessary breadstuffs, and so serious is the crisis created by any
+shortage, that all kinds of measures are employed to compel a steady
+flow of grain from the Black Sea ports into the Peiræus.  Here is
+a law which Domsthenes quotes to us:--
+
+"It shall not be lawful for any Athenian or any metic in Attica,
+or any person under their control [i.e. slave or freedman] to lend
+out money on a ship which is not commissioned to bring grain to
+Athens."
+
+A second law, even more drastic, forbids any such person to
+transport grain to any harbor but the Peiræus.  The penalties for
+evading these laws are terrific.  At set intervals also the Public
+Assembly (Ecclesia) is in duty bound to consider the whole state
+of the grain trade:  while the dealers in grain who seem to be
+cornering the market, and forcing up the price of bread, are liable
+to prompt and disastrous prosecution.
+
+
+79.  The Adventurous Merchant Skippers.--Foreign trade at Athens
+is fairly well systematized, but it still partakes of the nature
+of an adventure.  The name for "skipper" (nauklëros) is often used
+interchangeably for "merchant."  Nearly all commerce is by sea,
+for land routes are usually slow, unsafe, and inconvenient[*]; the
+average foreign trader is also a shipowner, probably too the actual
+working captain.  He has no special commodity, but will handle
+everything which promises a profit.  A war is breaking out in
+Paphlagonia.  Away he sails thither with a cargo of good Athenian
+shields, swords, and lances.  He loads up in that barbarous but
+fertile country with grain; but leaves enough room in his hold for
+some hundred skins of choice wine which he takes aboard at Chios.
+The grain and wine are disembarked at the Piræus.  Hardly are they
+ashore ere rumor tells him that salt herring[+] are abundant and
+especially cheap at Corcyra; and off he goes for a return cargo
+thereof, just lingering long enough to get on a lading of Athenian
+olive oil.
+
+[*]Naturally there was a safe land route from Athens across the
+Isthmus to Corinth and thence to Sparta or towards Ellis; again,
+there would be fair roads into Bœtia.
+
+[+]Salt fish were a very usual and important article of Greek
+commerce.
+
+
+80.  Athenian Money-changers and Bankers.--An important factor in the
+commerce of Athens is the "Money-changer."  There is no one fixed
+standard of coinage for Greece, let alone the Barbarian world.  Athens
+strikes its money on a standard which has very wide acceptance,
+but Corinth has another standard, and a great deal of business is
+also transacted in Persian gold darics.  The result is that at the
+Peiræus and near the Agora are a number of little "tables" where
+alert individuals, with strong boxes beside them, are ready to sell
+foreign coins to would-be travelers, or exchange darics for Attic
+drachmæ, against a pretty favorable commission.
+
+This was the beginning of the Athenian banker; but from being a mere
+exchanger he has often passed far beyond, to become a real master
+of credit and capital.  There are several of these highly important
+gentlemen who now have a business and fortune equal to that of the
+famous Pasion, who died in 370 B.C.  While the firm of Pasion and
+Company was at its height, the proprietor derived  a net income of
+at least 100 minæ (over $1,800 [1914] or $30,248.07 [2000]) per year
+from his banking; and more than half as much extra from a shield
+factory.[*]
+
+[*]These sums seem absurdly small for a great money magnate, but
+the very high purchasing power of money in Athens must be borne in
+mind.  We know a good deal about Pasion and his business from the
+speeches which Deosthenes composed in the litigation which arose
+over his estate.
+
+
+81.  A Large Banking Establishment.--Enter now the "tables"
+of Nicanor.  The owner is a metic; perhaps he claims to come from
+Rhodes, but the shrewd cast of his eyes and the dark hue of his skin
+gives a suggestion of the Syrian about him.  In his open office a
+dozen young half-naked clerks are seated on low chairs--each with
+his tablet spread out upon his knees laboriously computing long
+sums.[*]  The proprietor himself acts as the cashier.  He has
+not neglected the exchange of foreign moneys; but that is a mere
+incidental.  His first visitor this morning presents a kind of letter
+of credit from a correspondent in Syracuse calling for one hundred
+drachmæ.  "Your voucher?" asks Nicanor.  The stranger produces the
+half of a coin broken in two across the middle.  The proprietor
+draws a similar half coin from a chest.  The parts match exactly,
+and the money is paid on the spot.  the next comer is an old
+acquaintance, a man of wealth and reputation; he is followed by
+two slaves bearing a heavy talent of coined silver which he wishes
+the banker to place for him on an advantageous loan, against a due
+commission.  The third visitor is a well-born but fast and idle
+young man who is squandering his patrimony on flute girls and
+chariot horses.  He wishes an advance of ten minæ, and it is given
+him--against the mortgage of a house, at the ruinous interest of
+36 per cent, for such prodigals are perfectly fair play.  Another
+visitor is a careful and competent ship merchant who is fitting
+for a voyage to Crete, and who requires a loan to buy his return
+cargo.  Ordinary interest, well secured, is 18 per cent, but a sea
+voyage, even at the calmest season, is counted extra hazardous.
+The skipper must pay 24 per cent at least.  A poor tradesman also
+appears to raise a trifle by pawning two silver cups; and an unlucky
+farmer, who cannot meet his loan, persuades the banker to extend
+the time "just until the next moon"[+]--of course at an unmerciful
+compounding of interest.
+
+[*]Without the Arabic system of numerals, elaborate bookkeeping surely
+presented a sober face to the Greeks.  Their method of numeration
+was very much like that with the so-called Roman numerals.
+
+[+]"Watching the moon," i.e. the end of the month when the debts
+became due, appears to have been the melancholy recreation of many
+Athenian debtors.  See Aristophanes's "Clouds," I. 18.
+
+
+82.  Drawbacks to the Banking Business.--Nicanor has no paper money
+to handle, no stocks, no bonds,--and the line between legitimate
+interest and scandalous usury is by no means clearly drawn.  There
+is at least one good excuse for demanding high interest.  It
+is notoriously hard to collect bad debts.  Many and many a clever
+debtor has persuaded an Athenian jury that ALL taking of interest
+is somewhat immoral, and the banker has lost at least his interest,
+sometimes too his principal.  So long as this is the case, a banker's
+career has its drawbacks; and Demosthenes in a recent speech has
+commended the choice by Pasion's son of a factory worth 60 minæ
+per year, instead of his father's banking business worth nominally
+100.  The former was so much more secure than an income depending
+on "other people's money!"
+
+Finally it must be said that while Nicanor and Pasion have been
+honorable and justly esteemed men, many of their colleagues have
+been rogues.  Many a "table" has been closed very suddenly, when
+its owner absconded, or collapsed in bankruptcy, and the unlucky
+depositors and creditors have been left penniless, during the
+"rearrangement of the tables," as the euphemism goes.
+
+
+83.  The Potter of Athens.--There is one other form of economic
+activity in Athens which deserves our especial notice, different as
+it is from the bankers' tables,--the manufacture of earthen vases.
+A long time might be spent investigating the subject; here there
+is room only for a hasty glance.  For more than two hundred years
+Attica has been supplying the world with a pottery which is in
+some respects superior to any that has gone before, and also (all
+things considered) to any that will follow, through night two and
+a half millenniums.  The articles are primarily tall vases and
+urns, some for mere ornament or for religious purposes,--some for
+very humble household utility; however, besides the regular vases
+there is a great variety of dishes, plates, pitchers, bowls, and
+cups all of the same general pattern,--a smooth, black glaze[*]
+covered with figures in the delicate red of the unglazed clay.  At
+first the figures had been in black and the background in red, but
+by about 500 B.C. the superiority of the black backgrounds had been
+fully realized and the process perfected.  For a long time Athens
+had a monopoly of this beautiful earthenware, but now in 360 B.C.
+there are creditable manufactories in other cities, and especially
+in the Greek towns of Southern Italy.  The Athenian industry is,
+however, still considerable; in fifty places up and down the city,
+but particularly in the busy quarter of the Ceramicus, the potters'
+wheels are whirling, and the glazers are adding the elegant patterns.
+
+[*]Sometimes this glaze tended to a rich olive green or deep brown.
+
+
+84.  Athenian Pottery an Expression of the Greek Sense of
+Beauty.--Athens is proud of her traditions of naval and military
+glory; of the commerce of the Peiræus; of her free laws and
+constitution; of her sculptured temples, her poets, her rhetoricians
+and philosophers.  Almost equally well might she be proud of her
+vases.  They are not made--let us bear clearly in mind--by avowed
+artists, servants of the Muses and of the Beautiful; they are the
+regular commercial products of work-a-day craftsmen.  But what
+craftsmen!  In the first place, they have given to every vase
+and dish a marvelous individuality.  There seems to be absolutely
+no duplication of patterns.[*]  Again, since these vases are made
+for Greeks, they must--no matter how humble and commonplace their
+use--be made beautiful--elegantly shaped, well glazed, and well
+painted:  otherwise, no matter how cheap, they will never find a
+market.
+
+[*]It is asserted that of the many thousands of extant Greek vases
+that crowd the shelves of modern museums, there are nowhere two
+patterns exactly alike.
+
+The process of manufacture is simple, yet it needs a masterly touch.
+After the potter has finished his work at the wheel and while the
+clay is still soft, the decorator makes his rough design with a
+blunt-pointed stylus.  A line of black glaze is painted around each
+figure.  Then the black background is freely filled in, and the
+details within the figure are added.  A surprisingly small number
+of deft lines are needed to bring out the whole picture.[*]  Sometimes
+the glaze is thinned out to a pale brown, to help in the drawing
+of the interior contours.  When the design is completed, we have an
+amount of life and expression which with the best potters is little
+short of startling.  The subjects treated are infinite, as many as
+are the possible phases of Greek life.  Scenes in the home and on
+the farm; the boys and their masters at school; the warriors, the
+merchants, the priests sacrificing, the young gallants serenading
+a sweet-heart; all the tales, in short of poet-lore and mythology,--time
+would fail to list one tenth of them.  Fairly we can assert that
+were all the books and formal inscriptions about the Athenians to
+be blotted out, these vase paintings almost photographs one might
+say, of Athenian daily life, would give us back a very wide knowledge
+of the habits of the men in the city of Athena.
+
+[*]In this respect the Greek vase paintings can compete with the
+best work in the Japanese prints.
+
+The potters are justly proud of their work; often they do not
+hesitate to add their signatures, and in this way later ages can
+name the "craftsmen" who have transmitted to them these objects
+of abiding beauty.  The designers also are accommodating enough to
+add descriptive legends of the scenes which they depict,--Achilles,
+Hercules, Theseus, and all the other heroes are carefully named,
+usually with the words written above or beside them.
+
+The pottery of Athens, then, is truly Athenian; that is to say,
+it is genuinely elegant, ornamental, simple, and distinctive.  The
+best of these great vases and mixing bowls are works of art no less
+than the sculptures of Phidias upon the Parthenon.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.  The Armed Forces of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+85.  Military Life at Athens.--Hitherto we have seen almost nothing
+save the peaceful civic side of Athenian life, but it is a cardinal
+error to suppose that art, philosophy, farming, manufacturing, commerce,
+and bloodless home politics sum up the whole of the activities of
+Attica.  Athens is no longer the great imperial state she was in
+the days of Pericles, but she is still one of the greatest military
+powers in Greece,[*] and on her present armed strength rests a
+large share of her prestige and prosperity.  Her fleet, which is
+still her particular boast, must of course be seen at the Peiræus;
+but as we go about the streets of the main city we notice many men,
+who apparently had recently entered their house doors as plain,
+harmless citizens, now emerging, clad in all the warrior's bravery,
+and hastening towards one of the gates.  Evidently a review is to
+be held of part of the citizen army of Athens.  If we wish, we can
+follow and learn much of the Greek system of warfare in general
+and of the Athenian army in particular.
+
+[*]Of course the greatest military power of Greece had been Sparta
+until 371 B.C., when the battle of Leuctra made Thebes temporarily
+"the first land power."
+
+Even at the present day, when there is plenty of complaint that
+Athenians are not willing to imitate the sturdy campaigning of their
+fathers, the citizens seem always at war, or getting ready for it.
+Every citizen, physically fit, is liable to military service from
+his eighteenth to his sixtieth year.  To make efficient soldiers
+is really the main end of the constant physical exercise.  If a
+young man takes pride in his hard and fit body, if he flings spears
+at the stadium, and learns to race in full armor, if he goes on
+long marches in the hot sun, if he sleeps on the open hillside, or
+lies on a bed of rushes watching the moon rise over the sea,--it
+is all to prepare himself for a worthy part in the "big day" when
+Athens will confront some old or new enemy on the battlefield.  A
+great deal of the conversation among the younger men is surely not
+about Platonic ideals, Demosthenes's last political speech, nor
+the best fighting cocks; it is about spears, shield-straps, camping
+ground, rations, ambuscades, or the problems of naval warfare.
+
+It is alleged with some show of justice that by this time Athenians
+are so enamored with the pleasures of peaceful life that they prefer
+to pay money for mercenary troops rather than serve themselves on
+distant expeditions; and certain it is that there are plenty of
+Arcadians, Thracians, and others, from the nations which supply
+the bulk of the mercenaries, always in Athenian pay in the outlying
+garrisons.  Still the old military tradition and organization for
+the citizens is kept up, and half a generation later, when the freedom
+of Athens is blasted before Philip the Macedonian at Chæroneia, it
+will be shown that if the Athenian militia does not know how to
+conquer, it at least knows how to die.  So we gladly follow to the
+review, and gather our information.
+
+
+86.  The Organization of the Athenian Army.--After a young "ephebus"
+has finished his two years of service in the garrisons he returns
+home subject to call at the hour of need.  When there is necessity
+to make up an army, enough men are summoned to meet the required
+number and no more.  Thus for a small force only the eligibles
+between say twenty and twenty-four years of age would be summoned;
+but in a crisis all the citizens are levied up to the very graybeards.
+The levy is conducted by the ten "Strategi" (at once 'generals,'
+'admirals,' and 'war ministers') who control the whole armed power
+of Athens.  The recruits summoned have to come with three days'
+rations to the rendezvous, usually to the Lyceum wrestling ground
+just outside the city.  In case of a general levy the old men are
+expected to form merely a home guard for the walls; the young men
+must be ready for hard service over seas.
+
+The organization of the Athenian army is very simple; each of the
+ten Attic tribes sends its own special battalion or "taxis," which
+is large or small according to the total size of the levy.[*]  These
+"taxeis" are subdivided into companies or "lochoi," of about an
+average of 100 men each.  The "taxeis" are each under a tribal-colonel
+("taxiarch"), and each company under its captain ("locharch").  The
+ten strategi theoretically command the whole army together, but
+since bitter experience teaches that ten generals are usually nine
+too many, a special decree of the people often entrusts the supreme
+command of a force to one commander, or at most to not over three.
+The other strategi must conduct other expeditions, or busy themselves
+with their multifarious home duties.
+
+[*]Thus if 3000 men were called out, the average "taxis" would be
+300 strong, but if 6000, then 600.
+
+
+87.  The Hoplites and the Light Troops.--The unit of the Athenian
+citizen army, like practically all Greek armies, is the heavy armed
+infantry soldier, the HOPLITE.  An army of "three thousand men"
+is often an army of so many hoplites, unless there is specific
+statement to the contrary.  But really it is of six thousand men,
+to be entirely accurate:  for along with every hoplite goes an
+attendant, a "light-armed man," either a poor citizen who cannot
+afford a regular suit of armor,[*] or possibly a trusted slave.
+These "light-armed men" carry the hoplites' shields until the battle,
+and most of the baggage.  They have javelins, and sometimes slings
+and bows.  They act as skirmishers before the actual battle:  and
+while the hoplites are in the real death-grip they harass the foe
+as they can, and guard the camp.  When the fight is done they do
+their best to cover the retreat, or slaughter the flying foe if
+their own hoplites are victorious.
+
+[*]The hoplite's panoply (see description later) was sufficiently
+expensive to imply that its owner was at least a man in tolerable
+circumstances.
+
+
+88.  The Cavalry and the Peltasts.--There are certain divisions of
+the army besides the hoplites and this somewhat ineffective light
+infantry.  There is a cavalry corps of 1000.  Wealthy young Athenians
+are proud to volunteer therein; it is a sign of wealth to be able
+to provide your war horse.  The cavalry too is given the place of
+honor in the great religious processions; and there is plenty of
+chance for exciting scouting service on the campaign.  Again, the
+cavalry service has something to commend it in that it is accounted
+MUCH SAFER than the infantry![*]  The cavalry is, however, a rather
+feeble fighting instrument.  Greek riders have no saddles and no
+stirrups.  They are merely mounted on thin horse pads, and it is
+very hard to grip the horse with the knees tightly enough to keep
+from being upset ignominiously while wielding the spear.  The best
+use for the cavalry perhaps is for the riders to take a sheaf of
+javelins, ride up and discharge them at the foe as skirmishers,
+then fall back behind the hoplites; though after the battle the
+horsemen will have plenty to do in the retreat or the pursuit.
+
+[*]Greeks could seldom have been brought to imitate the reckless
+medieval cavaliers.  The example of Leonidas at Thermopylæ was more
+commended than imitated.  Outside of Sparta at least, few Greeks
+would have hesitated to flee from a battlefield, when the day
+(despite their proper exertions) had been wholly lost.
+
+The Athenians have of course the Scythian police archers to send
+into any battle near Athens; they can also hire mercenary archers
+from Crete, but the Greek bows are relatively feeble, only three
+or four feet long--by no means equal to the terrible yew bows which
+will win glory for England in the Middle Ages.  There has also come
+into vogue, especially since the Peloponnesian war, an improved
+kind of light-javelin-men,--the "Peltasts,"--with small shields,
+and light armor, but with extra long lances.  In recent warfare
+this type of soldier, carefully trained and agile, has been known
+to defeat bodies of the old-style over-encumbered hoplites.[*]
+Nevertheless, most veteran soldiers still believe that the heavy
+infantryman is everything, and the backbone of nearly every Greek
+army is still surely the hoplite.  He will continue to be the regular
+fighting unit until the improved "phalanx," and the "Companion
+Cavalry" of Philip and Alexander of Macedon teach the captains of
+the world new lessons.
+
+[*]Especially the Athenian general Iphicrates was able to cut
+to pieces a "mora" (brigade) of Spartan hoplites, in 392 B.C., by
+skillful use of a force of peltasts.
+
+89.  The Panoply of the Hoplite.--We have passed out one of the
+gates and are very likely in a convenient open space south and east
+of the city stretching away toward the ever visible slopes of gray
+Hymettus.  Here is a suitable parade ground.  The citizen soldiers
+are slipping on their helmets and tightening up their cuirasses.
+Trumpets blow from time to time to give orders to "fall in" among
+the respective "lochoi" and "taxeis."  There is plenty of time to
+study the arms and armor of the hoplites during these preliminaries.
+
+A very brief glance at the average infantryman's defensive weapons
+tells us that to be able to march, maneuver, and fight efficiently
+in this armor implies that the Athenian soldier is a well-trained
+athlete.  The whole panoply weighs many pounds.[*]  The prime
+parts in the armor are the helmet, the cuirass, the greaves, and
+the shield.  Every able-bodied citizen of moderate means has this
+outfit hanging in his andronitis, and can don it at brief notice.
+The HELMET is normally of bronze; it is cut away enough in front
+to leave the face visible, but sometimes a cautious individual will
+insist on having movable plates (which can be turned up and down)
+to protect the cheeks.[+]  Across the top there runs a firm metal
+ridge to catch any hard down-right blow, and set into the ridge is
+a tall nodding crest either of horsehair or of bright feathers--in
+either case the joy and glory of the wearer.
+
+[*]Possibly fifty or more--we have no correct means for an
+exact estimate. [A note from Brett:  Looking at web sites where
+reconstruction of the armor has been done and estimates made (ca.
+1999) there seems to be a consistent top end of 70 pounds.  Scholarly
+circles (e.g. Rudolph Storch of the University of Maryland) seem
+to lock the estimate more tightly, with the consensus saying that
+a fully armored Hoplite carried between 60 and 70 pounds.  Most
+of this weight seems to be in the cuirass, which in some cases
+was linen and weighed only 10-15 pounds (the actual thickness is
+unknown, so the broad range of weight estimate covers the minimum
+to maximum reasonable thickness).  For reference, a modern (2000)
+soldier is generally limited to 50 pounds of gear when fighting
+and 70 pounds when marching.]
+
+[+]The "Corinthian" type of helmets came more closely over the face,
+and the cheek protectors were not movable; these helmets were much
+like the closed helms of the medieval knights.  The Spartans, in
+their contempt for danger, wore plain pointed steel caps which gave
+relatively little protection.
+
+Buckled around the soldier's body is the CUIRASS.  It comprises
+a breastplate and a back piece of bronze, joined by thongs, or by
+straps with a buckle.  The metal comes down to the hips.  Below it
+hangs a thick fringe of stout strips of leather strengthened with
+bright metallic studs, and reaching halfway to the knees.  From this
+point to the knees the legs are bare, but next come the GREAVES,
+thin pliable plates of bronze fitted to the shape of the leg, and
+opening at the back.  They have to be slipped on, and then are
+fastened at the knees and ankle with leathern straps.
+
+But the warrior's main protection is his SHIELD.  With a strong,
+large shield you can fight passing well without any regular body
+armor; while with the best outfit of the latter you are highly
+vulnerable without your shield.  To know how to swing your shield
+so as to catch every possible blow, to know how to push and lunge
+with it against an enemy, to know how to knock a man down with it,
+if needs be, THAT is a good part of the soldier's education.  The
+shield is sometimes round, but more often oval.  It is about four
+feet by the longest diameter.  It is made of several layers of heavy
+bull's hide, firmly corded and riveted together, and has a good
+metal rim and metal boss in the center.  On the inside are two
+handles so that it can be conveniently wielded on the left arm.[*]
+These shields are brilliantly painted, and although the Greeks have
+no heraldic devices, there are all manner of badges and distinguishing
+marks in vogue.  Thus all Theban shields are blazoned with a club;
+Sicyonian shields are marked with the initial "Sigma" (S), and we
+note that the Athenian shields are all marked Alpha (A).[+]
+
+[*]Earlier Greek shields seem to have been very large and
+correspondingly heavy.  These had only a single handle; and to aid
+in shifting them they were swung on straps passed over the left
+shoulder.
+
+[+]This last is a matter of safe inference rather than of positive
+information.
+
+
+90.  The Weapons of a Hoplite.--The hoplites have donned their
+armor.  Now they assume their offensive weapons.  Every man has a
+lance and a sword.  The LANCE is a stout weapon with a solid wooden
+butt, about six feet long in all.  It is really too heavy to use
+as a javelin.  It is most effective as a pike thrust fairly into a
+foeman's face, or past his shield into a weak spot in his cuirass.
+The sword is usually kept as a reserve weapon in case the lance
+gets broken.  It is not over 25 inches in length, making rather a
+huge double-edged vicious knife than a saber; but it is terrible
+for cut and thrust work at very close quarters.  Simple as these
+weapons are, they are fearful instruments of slaughter in well-trained
+hands, and the average Greek has spent a considerable part of his
+life in being taught how to use them.
+
+
+91.  Infantry Maneuvers.--The final trumpets have blown, and the
+troops fall into their places.  Each tribal "taxis" lines up its
+"lochoi."  The Greeks have no flags nor standards.  There is a
+great deal of shouting by the subaltern officers, and running up
+and down the ranks.  Presently everything is in formal array.  The
+hoplites stand in close order, each man about two feet from the
+next,[*] leaving no gaps between each division from end to end of
+the lines.  The men are set in eight long ranks.  This is the normal
+"phalanx"[+] order.  Only those in front can actually lunge and
+strike at the enemy.  The men in the rear will add to the battering
+force of the charge, and crowding in closely, wedge themselves
+promptly to the front, when any of the first rank goes down.
+
+[*]The object would be to give each man just enough distance to
+let him make fair use of his lance, and yet have his shield overlap
+that of his neighbor.
+
+[+]The "phalanx" is sometimes spoken of as a Macedonian invention,
+but Philip and Alexander simply improved upon an old Greek military
+formation.
+
+It is an imposing sight when the strategos in charge of the maneuvers,
+a stately man in a red chlamys, gives the final word "March!"
+
+Loud pipes begin screaming.  The long lines of red, blue, and orange
+plumes nod fiercely together.  The sun strikes fire out of thousands
+of brandished lance tips.  The phalanx goes swinging away over the
+dusty parade ground, the subalterns up and down the files muttering
+angrily to each inapt recruit to "Keep your distance:" or "Don't
+advance your shield."  The commandant duly orders the "Half turn:"
+"Left" or "Right turn:" "Formation by squares," and finally the
+critical "Change front to rear."  If this last maneuver is successfully
+accomplished, the strategos will compliment the drill sergeants;
+for it is notoriously difficult to turn a ponderous phalanx around
+and yet make it keep good order.  The drilling goes on until the
+welcome order comes, "Ground arms!" and every perspiring soldier
+lets his heavy shield slip from his arm upon the ground.
+
+
+92.  The Preliminaries of a Greek Battle.--Later in the day, if
+these are happy times of peace, the whole phalanx, so bristling
+and formidable, will have resolved itself into its harmless units
+of honest citizens all streaming home for dinner.
+
+Our curiosity of course asks how does this army act upon the
+campaign; what, in other words, is a typical Greek battle?  This
+is not hard to describe.  Greek battles, until lately, have been
+fought according to set formulæ in which there is little room for
+original generalship, though much for ordinary circumspection and
+personal valor.  A battle consists in the charging together of two
+phalanxes of hoplites of about equal numbers.  If one army greatly
+overmatches the other, the weaker side will probably retire without
+risking a contest.  With a common purpose, therefore, the respective
+generals will select a broad stretch of level ground for the
+struggle, since stony, hilly, or uneven ground will never do for
+the maneuvering of hoplites.  The two armies, after having duly
+come in sight of one another, and exchanged defiances by derisive
+shouts, catcalls, and trumpetings, will probably each pitch its camp
+(protected by simple fortifications) and perhaps wait over night,
+that the men may be well rested and have a good dinner and breakfast.
+The soldiers will be duly heartened up by being told of any lucky
+omens of late,--how three black crows were seen on the right, and
+a flash of lightning on the left; and the seers and diviners with
+the army will, at the general's orders, repeat any hopeful oracles
+they can remember or fabricate, e.g. predicting ruin for Thebes,
+or victory for Athens.  In the morning the soldiers have breakfast,
+then the lines are carefully arrayed a little beyond bowshot from
+the enemy, who are preparing themselves in similar fashion.  Every
+man has his arms in order, his spear point and sword just from the
+whetstone, and every buckle made fast.  The general (probably in
+sight of all the men) will cause the seers to kill a chicken, and
+examine its entrails.  "The omens are good; the color is favorable;
+the gods are with us!"[*] he announces; and then, since he is
+a Greek among Greeks, he delivers in loud voice an harangue to as
+many as can hear him, setting forth the patriotic issues at stake
+in the battle, the call of the fatherland to its sons, the glory
+of brave valor, the shame of cowardice, probably ending with some
+practical directions about "Never edging to the right!" and exhorting
+his men to raise as loud a war-cry as possible, both to encourage
+themselves and to demoralize the enemy.
+
+[*]It may be suspected that it was very seldom the omens were
+ALLOWED to be unfavorable when the general was really resolved on
+battle.
+
+
+93.  Joining the Battle.--The troops answer with a cheer then join
+in full chorus in the "Pæan--" a fierce rousing charging-song that
+makes every faint-heart's blood leap faster.  Another pæan bellowed
+from the hostile ranks indicates that similar preliminaries have been
+disposed of there.  The moment the fierce chorus ends, the general
+(who probably is at the post of danger and honor--the right wing)
+nods to his corps of pipers.  The shrill flutes cut the air.  The
+whole phalanx starts forward like one man, and the enemy seem springing
+to meet it.  The tossing color, the flashing arms and armor, make
+it a sight for men and gods.  If the enemy has a powerful archery
+force, as had the Persians at Marathon, then the phalanx is allowed
+to advance on the run,--for at all costs one must get through the
+terrible zone of the arrow fire and come to grips; but if their
+bowmen are weak, the hoplites will be restrained,--it is better
+not to risk getting the phalanx disorganized.  Running or marching
+the troops will emit a terrible roaring:  either the slow deep "A!
+la! la! la!" or something quicker, "Eluleu!"  "Eluleu!" and the
+flutes will blow all the while to give the time for the marching.
+
+Closer at hand the two armies will fairly spring into unfriendly
+embrace.  The generals have each measured his enemy's line and
+extended his own to match it.[*]  With files of about equal depth,
+and well-trained men on both sides, the first stage of the death
+grapple is likely to be a most fearful yet indecisive pushing:
+the men of the front ranks pressing against each other, shield to
+shield, glaring out of their helmets like wild beasts against the
+foeman three feet away, and lunging with their lances at any opening
+between the hostile shields or above them.  The comrades behind
+wedge in the front ranks closer and closer.  Men are crushed to
+death, probably without a wound, just by this hellish impact.  The
+shouts and yells emitted are deafening.  There is an unearthly
+clashing of steel weapons on bronze armor.  Every now and then a
+shrill, sharp cry tells where a soldier has been stabbed, and has
+gone down in the press, probably trampled to death instantly.  In
+this way the two writhing, thrusting phalanxes continue to push
+on one another at sheer deadlock, until a cool observer might
+well wonder whether the battle would not end simply with mutual
+extermination.
+
+[*]Any sudden attempt to extend your line BEYOND the foe's, so as
+to outflank him, would probably have produced so much confusion in
+your own phalanx as to promise certain disaster.  Of course for an
+inferior force to accept battle by thinning its line, to be able
+by extending to meet the long lines of the enemy, would involve
+the greatest risk of being broken through at the center.  The best
+remedy for inferior numbers was manifestly to decline a decisive
+battle.
+
+
+94.  The Climax and End of the Battle.--Boot look away now from the
+center, towards the two wings.  What the generals of BOTH contending
+armies have feared and warned against has come to pass.  Every
+hoplite is admirably covered by his great shield on his left side;
+but his right is unprotected.  It is almost impossible to resist
+the impulse to take a step toward the right to get under the cover
+of a comrade's shield.  And he in turn has been edging to the
+right likewise.  The whole army ahs in fact done so, and likewise
+the whole phalanx of the enemy.  So after a quarter of an hour of
+brisk fighting, the two hosts, which began by joining with lines
+exactly facing each other, have each edged along so much that each
+overlaps the other on the right wing, thus:
+
+
++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+          | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+          +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+
+What will happen now is easy to predict with assurance up to a
+certain point.  The overlapping right wings will EACH promptly turn
+the left flank of their enemies, and falling upon the foe front
+and rear catch them almost helpless.  The hoplite is an admirable
+soldier when standing shoulder to shoulder with his comrades facing
+his foe; but once beset in the rear he is so wedged in by the press
+that it is next to impossible for him to turn and fight effectively.
+Either he will be massacred as he stands or the panic will spread
+betimes, and simultaneously both left wings will break formation
+and hurry off the field in little better than flight.
+
+Now will come the real test of discipline and deliberate valor.  Both
+centers are holding stoutly.  Everything rests on the respective
+victorious right wings.  Either they will foolishly forget that
+there is still fighting elsewhere on the field, and with ill-timed
+huzzaing pursue the men they have just routed, make for their camp
+to plunder it, or worse still, disperse to spoil the slain; or,
+if they can heed their general's entreaties, keep their ranks,
+and wheeling around come charging down on the rear of the enemy's
+center.  If one right wing does this, while the hostile right
+wing has rushed off in heedless pursuit, the battle is infallibly
+won by the men who have kept their heads; but if both right wings
+turn back, then the real death grapple comes when these two sets
+of victors in the first phase of the contest clash together in a
+decisive grapple.
+
+By this time the original phalanx formations, so orderly, and
+beautiful, have become utterly shattered.  The field is covered by
+little squares or knots of striking, cursing, raging men--clashing
+furiously together.  If there are any effective reserves, now is
+the time to fling them into the scale.  The hitherto timorous light
+troops and armor bearers rush up to do what they can.  Individual
+bravery and valor count now to the uttermost.  Little by little the
+contest turns against one side or the other.  The crucial moment
+comes.  The losing party begins to fear itself about to be surrounded.
+Vain are the last exhortations of the officers to rally them.
+"Every man for himself!" rings the cry; and with one mad impulse
+the defeated hoplites rush off the field in a rout.  Since they
+have been at close grip with their enemies, and now must turn
+their ill-protected backs to the pursuing spears, the massacre of
+the defeated side is sometimes great.  Yet not so great as might
+be imagined.  Once fairly beaten, you must strip off helmet and
+cuirass, cast away shield and spear, and run like a hare.  You
+have lightened yourself now decidedly.  But your foe must keep HIS
+ponderous arms, otherwise he cannot master you, if he overtakes
+you.  Therefore the vanquished can soon distance the victors unless
+the latter have an unusually efficient cavalry and javelin force.
+However, the victors are likely to enter the camp of the vanquished,
+and to celebrate duly that night dividing the plunder.
+
+
+95.  The Burial Truce and the Trophy after the Battle.--A few
+hours after the battle, while the victors are getting breath and
+refreshing themselves, a shamefaced herald, bearing his sacred
+wand of office, presents himself.  He is from the defeated army,
+and comes to ask a burial truce.  This is the formal confession of
+defeat for which the victors have been waiting.  It would be gross
+impiety to refuse the request; and perhaps the first watch of the
+nigh is spent by detachments of both sides in burying or burning
+the dead.
+
+The fates of prisoners may be various.  They may be sold as slaves.
+If the captors are pitiless and vindictive, it is not contrary to
+the laws of war to put the prisoners to death in cold blood; but
+by the fourth century B.C. Greeks are becoming relatively humane.
+Most prisoners will presently be released against a reasonable
+ransom paid by their relatives.
+
+The final stage of the battle is the trophy:  the visible sign on
+the battlefield that here such-and-such a side was victorious.  The
+limbs are lopped off a tree, and some armor captured from the foe
+is hung upon it.  After indecisive battles sometimes both sides
+set up trophies; in that case a second battle is likely to settle
+the question.  Then when the victors have recovered from their
+own happy demoralization, they march into the enemy's country; by
+burning all the farmsteads, driving off the cattle, filling up the
+wells, girdling the olive and fruit trees, they reduce the defeated
+side (that has fled to its fortified town) to desperation.  If
+they have any prisoners, they threaten to put them to death.  The
+result, of course, is frequently a treaty of peace in favor of the
+victors.
+
+
+96.  The Siege of Fortified Towns.--If, however, one party cannot
+be induced to risk an open battle; or if, despite a defeat, it allows
+the enemy to ravage the fields, and yet persists in defending the
+walls of its town,--the war is likely to be tedious and indecisive.
+It is notorious that Greeks dislike hard sieges.  The soldiers
+are the fellow townsmen of the generals.  If the latter order an
+assault with scaling ladders and it is repulsed with bloody loss,
+the generals risk a prosecution when they get home for "casting
+away the lives of their fellow citizens."[*]  In short, fifty men
+behind a stout wall and "able to throw anything" are in a position
+to defy an army.
+
+[*]In siege warfare Oriental kings had a great advantage over Greek
+commanders.  The former could sacrifice as many of their "slaves"
+as they pleased, in desperate assaults.  The latter had always to
+bear in mind their accountability at home for any desperate and
+costly attack.
+
+The one really sure means of taking a town is to build a counter
+wall around it and starve it out,--a slow and very expensive,
+thought not bloody process.  Only when something very great is at
+stake will a Greek city-state attempt this.[*]  There is always
+another chance, however.  Almost every Greek town has a discontented
+faction within its walls, and many a time there will be a traitor
+who will betray a gate to the enemy; and then the siege will be
+suddenly ended in one murderous night.
+
+[*]As in the siege of Potidea (432-429 B.C.), when if Athens had
+failed to take the place, her hold upon her whole empire would have
+been jeopardized.
+
+
+97.  The Introduction of New Tactics.--Greek battles are thus very
+simple things as a rule.  It is the general who, accepting the
+typical conditions as he finds them, and avoiding any gross and
+obvious blunders, can put his men in a state of perfect fitness,
+physical and moral, that is likely to win the day.  Of late there
+has come indeed a spirit of innovation.  At Leuctra (371 B.C.)
+Epaminodas the Theban defeated the Spartans by the unheard-of
+device of massing a part of his hoplites fifty deep (instead of
+the orthodox eight or twelve) and crushing the Spartan right wing
+by the sheer weight of his charge, before the rest of the line
+came into action at all.  If the experiment had not succeeded,
+Epaminondas would probably have been denounced by his own countrymen
+as a traitor, and by the enemy as a fool, for varying from the
+time-honored long, "even line" phalanx; and the average general will
+still prefer to keep to the old methods; then if anything happens,
+HE at least will not be blamed for any undue rashness.  Only in
+Macedon, King Philip II (who is just about to come to the throne)
+will not hesitate to study the new battle tactics of Epaminondas,
+and to improve upon them.
+
+The Athenians will tell us that their citizen hoplites are a match
+for any soldiers in Greece, except until lately the Spartans, and
+now (since Leuctra) possibly the Thebans.  But Corinthians, Argives,
+Sicyonians, they can confront more readily.  They will also add,
+quite properly, that the army of Athens is in the main for home
+defense.  She does not claim to be a preëminently military state.
+The glory of Athens has been the mastery of the sea.  Our next
+excursion must surely be to the Peiræus.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.  The Peiræus and the Shipping.
+
+
+
+
+98.  The "Long Walls" down to the Harbor Town.--It is some five
+miles from the city to the Peiræus, and the most direct route this
+time lies down the long avenue laid between the Long Walls, and
+running almost directly southwest.[*]  The ground is quite level.
+If we could catch glimpses beyond the walls, we would see fields,
+seared brown perhaps by the summer sun, and here and there a
+bright-kerchiefed woman gleaning among the wheat stubble.  The two
+walls start from Athens close together and run parallel for some
+distance, then they gradually diverge so as to embrace within their
+open angle a large part of the circumference of the Peiræus.  This
+open space is built up with all kinds of shops, factories, and
+houses, usually of the less aristocratic kind.  In fact, all the
+noxious sights and odors to be found in Athens seem tenfold multiplied
+as we approach the Peiræus.
+
+[*]These were the walls whereof a considerable section was thrown
+down by Lysander after the surrender of Athens [404 B.C.].  The
+demolition was done to the "music of flute girls," and was fondly
+thought by the victors to mean the permanent crippling of Athens,
+and therefore "the first day of the liberty of Greece."  In 393
+B.C., by one of the ironies of history, Conon, an Athenian admiral,
+but in the service of the king of Persia, who was then at war with
+Sparta, appeared in the Peiræus, and WITH PERSIAN MEN AND MONEY
+rebuilt the walls amid the rejoicings of the Athenians.
+
+The straight highroad is swarming with traffic:  clumsy wagons are
+bringing down marble from the mountains; other wains are headed
+toward Athens with lumber and bales of foreign wares.  Countless
+donkeys laden with panniers are being flogged along.  A great deal
+of the carrying is done by half-naked sweating porters; for, after
+all, slave-flesh is almost as cheap as beast-flesh.  So by degrees
+the two walls open away from us:  before us now expands the humming
+port town; we catch the sniff of the salt brine, and see the tangle
+of spars of the multifarious shipping.  Right ahead, however,
+dominating the whole scene, is a craggy height,--the hill of Munychia,
+crowned with strong fortifications, and with houses rising terrace
+above terrace upon its slopes.  At the very summit glitters in its
+white marble and color work the temple of Artemis Munychia, the
+guardian goddess of the port town and its citadel.[*]
+
+[*]This fortress of Munychia, rather than the Acropolis in Athens
+was the real citadel of Attica.  It dominated the all-important
+harbors on which the very life of the state depended.
+
+
+99.  Munychia and the Havens of Athens.--Making our way up a steep
+lane upon the northwestern slope, we pass within the fortifications,
+the most formidable near Athens.  A band of young ephebi of
+the garrison eye us as we enter; but we seem neither Spartans nor
+Thebans and are not molested.  From a convenient crag near the
+temple, the whole scheme of the harbors of Athens is spread out
+before us, two hundred and eighty odd feet below.  Behind us is
+the familiar plain of Athens with the city, the Acropolis, and the
+guardian mountains.  Directly west lies the expanse of roof of the
+main harbor town, and then beyond is the smooth blue expanse of
+the "Port of the Peiræus," the main mercantile harbor of Athens.
+Running straight down from Munychia, southwest, the land tapers off
+into a rocky promontory, entirely girt with strong fortifications.
+In this stretch of land are two deep round indentations.  Cups
+of bright water they seem, communicating with the outer sea only
+by narrow entrances which are dominated by stout castles.  "Zea"
+is the name of the more remote; the "haven" of "Munychia" is that
+which seems opening almost at our feet.  These both are full of
+the naval shipping, whereof more hereafter.  To the eastward, and
+stretching down the coast, is a long sandy beach whereon the blue
+ripples are crumbling between the black fishing boats drawn up
+upon the strand.  This is Phaleron, the old harbor of Athens before
+Themistocles fortified the "Peiræus"--merely an open roadstead in
+fact, but still very handy for small craft, which can be hauled up
+promptly to escape the tempest.
+
+
+100.  The Glorious View from the Hill of Munychia.--These are
+the chief points in the harbors; but the view from Munychia is
+most extensive.  Almost everything in sight has its legend or its
+story in sober history.  Ten miles away to the southward rise the
+red rocky hills of Ægina, Athens' old island enemy; and the tawny
+headlands of the Argolic coasts are visible yet farther across he
+horizon.  Again as we follow the purplish ridge of Mount Ægaleos
+as it runs down the Attic coast to westward, we come to a headland
+then to a belt of azure water, about a mile wide, then the reddish
+hills of an irregular island.  Every idler on the citadel can tell
+us all the story.  On that headland on a certain fateful morning
+sat Xerxes, lord of the Persians, with his sword-hands and mighty
+men about him and his ships before him, to look down on the naval
+spectacle and see how his slaves would fight.  The island beyond
+is "holy Salamis," and in this narrow strip of water has been
+the battle which saved the life of Hellas.  Every position in the
+contest seems clearly in sight, even the insignificant islet of
+Psytteleia, where Aristeides had landed his men after the battle,
+and massacred the Persions stationed there "to cut off the Greeks
+who tried to escape."
+
+The water is indescribably blue, matching the azure of the sky.
+Ships of all kinds under sails or oars are moving lightly over the
+havens and the open Saronic bay.  It is matchless spectacle--albeit
+very peaceful.  We now descend to the Peiræus proper and examine
+the merchant shipping and wharves, leaving the navy yards and the
+fighting triremes till later.
+
+
+101.  The Town of Peiræus.--The Peiræus has all the life of the
+Athenian Agora many times multiplied.  Everywhere there is work
+and bustle.  Aristophanes has long since described the impression
+it makes on strangers,[*]--sailors clamoring for pay, rations
+being served out, figureheads being burnished, men trafficking for
+corn, for onions, for leeks, for figs,--"wreaths, anchovies, flute
+girls, blackened eyes, the hammering of oars from the dock yards,
+the fitting of rowlocks, boatswains' pipes, fifes, and whistling."
+There is such confusion one can hardly analyze one's surroundings.
+However, we soon discover the Peiræus has certain advantages over
+Athens itself.  The streets are much wider and are quite straight,[+]
+crossing at right angles, unlike the crooked alleys of old Athens
+which seem nothing but built-up cow trails.  Down at the water
+front of the main harbor ("the Peiræus" harbor to distinguish it
+from Zea and Munychia) we find about one third, nearest the entrance
+passage and called the Cantharus, reserved for the use of the
+war navy.  This section is the famous "Emporium," which is such
+a repository of foreign wares that Isocrates boasts that here one
+can easily buy all those things which it is extremely hard to purchase
+anywhere else in Hellas.  Along the shore run five great stoas or
+colonnades, all used by the traders for different purposes;--among
+them are the Long Stoa (Makra' Stoa'), the "Deigma" (see section
+78) used as a sample house by the wholesalers, and the great Corn
+Exchange built by Pericles.  Close down near the wharves stands also
+a handsome and frequented temple, that of Athena Euploia (Athena,
+Giver of good Voyages), to whom many a shipman offers prayer
+ere hoisting sail, and many another comes to pay grateful vows
+after surviving a storm.[&]  Time fails us for mentioning all the
+considerable temples farther back in the town.  The Peiræus in
+short is a semi-independent community; with its shrines, its agoras,
+its theaters, its court rooms, and other public buildings.  The
+population contains a very high percentage of metics, and downright
+Barbarians,--indeed, long-bearded Babylonians, clean bronze Egyptians,
+grinning Ethiopians, never awaken the least comment, they are so
+familiar.
+
+[*]"Acharn."  54 ff.
+
+[+]Pericles employed the famous architect Hippodamus to lay out
+the Peiræus.  It seems to have been arranged much like many of the
+newer American cities.
+
+[&]There seems to have been still another precinct, sacred to
+"Zeus and Athena the Preservers," where it was very proper to offer
+thanksgivings after a safe voyage.
+
+
+102.  The Merchant Shipping.--We can now cast more particular
+eyes upon the shipping.  Every possible type is represented.  The
+fishing craft just now pulling in with loads of shining tunnies
+caught near Ægina are of course merely broad open boats, with only
+a single dirty orange sail swinging in the lagging breeze.  Such
+vessels indeed depend most of the time upon their long oars.  Also
+just now there goes across the glassy surface of the harbor a slim
+graceful rowing craft, pulling eight swiftly plying oars to a side.
+She is a "Lembus:"  probably the private cutter of the commandant
+of the port.  Generally speaking, however, we soon find that all
+the larger Greek ships are divided into two categories, the "long
+ships" and the "round ships."  The former depend mainly on oars
+and are for war; the latter trust chiefly to sail power and are
+for cargo.  The craft in the merchant haven are of course nearly
+all of this last description.
+
+Greeks are clever sailors.  They never feel really happy at a great
+distance from the sea which so penetrates their little country;
+nevertheless, they have not made all the progress in navigation
+which, considering the natural ingenuity of the race, might well
+be expected.  The prime difficulty is that Greek ships very seldom
+have comfortable cabins.  The men expect to sleep on shore every
+night possible.  Only in a great emergency, or when crossing an
+exceptionally wide gulf or channel,[*] can a captain expect the
+average crew to forego the privilege of a warm supper and bivouac
+upon the strand.  This means (since safe anchorages are by no means
+everywhere) the ships must be so shallow and light they can often
+be hauled up upon the beach.  Even with a pretty large crew,
+therefore, the limit to a manageable ship is soon reached; and
+during the whole of the winter season all long-distance voyaging
+has to be suspended; while, even in summer, nine sailors out of ten
+hug close to the land, despite the fact that often the distance of
+a voyage is thereby doubled.
+
+[*]For example, the trip from Crete to Cyrene--which would be
+demanded first, before coasting along to Egypt.
+
+However, the ships at Peiræus, if not large in size, are numerous
+enough.  Some are simply big open boats with details elaborated.
+They have a small forecastle and poop built over, but the cargo in
+the hold is exposed to all wind and weather.  The propulsion comes
+from a single unwieldy square sail swinging on a long yard the whole
+length of the vessel.  Other ships are more completely decked, and
+depend on two square sails in the place of one.  A few, however,
+are real "deep sea" vessels--completely decked, with two or even
+three masts; with cabins of tolerable size, and forward and aft
+curious projections, like turrets,--the use whereof is by no means
+obvious, but we soon gather that pirates still abound on the distant
+seas, and that these turrets are useful when it comes to repelling
+boarders.  The very biggest of these craft run up to 250 gross tons
+(later day register),[*] although with these ponderous defense-works
+they seem considerably larger.  The average of the ships, however,
+will reckon only 30 to 40 tons or even smaller.  It is really a
+mistake, any garrulous sailor will tell us, to build merchant ships
+much bigger.  It is impossible to make sailing vessels of the Greek
+model and rig sail very close to the wind; and in every contrary
+breeze or calm, recourse must be had to the huge oars pile up along
+the gunwales.  Obviously it is weary work propelling a large ship
+with oars unless you have a huge and expensive crew,--far better
+then to keep to the smaller vessels.
+
+[*]The Greeks reckoned their ships by their capacity in talents
+(= about 60 lbs.), e.g. a ship of 500 talents, of 2000, or (among
+the largest) 10,000.
+
+
+103.  The Three War Harbors and the Ship House.--Many other points
+about these "round ships" interest us; but such matters they share
+with the men-of-war, and our inspection has now brought us to the
+navy yard.  There are strictly three separate navy yards, one at
+each of the harbors of Munychia, Zea, and Cantharus, for the naval
+strength of Athens is so great that it is impossible to concentrate
+the entire fleet at one harbor.  Each of these establishments is
+protected by having two strong battlements or breakwaters built
+out, nearly closing the respective harbor entrances.  At the end of
+each breakwater is a tower with parapets for archers, and capstans
+for dragging a huge chain across the harbor mouth, thus effectively
+sealing the entrance to any foe.[*]  The Zea haven has really the
+greatest warship capacity, but the Cantharus is a good type for
+the three.[+]  As we approach it from the merchant haven, we see
+the shelving shore closely lined with curious structures which do
+not easily explain themselves.  There are a vast number of dirty,
+shelving roofs, slightly tilted upward towards the land side, and
+set at right angles to the water's edge.  They are each about 150
+feet long, some 25 feet wide, about 20 feet high, and are set up side
+by side with no passage between.  On close inspection we discover
+these are ship houses.  Under each of the roofs is accommodated the
+long slim hull of a trireme, kept safe from sea and weather until
+the time of need, when a few minutes' work at a tackle and capstan
+will send it down into harbor, ready to tow beside a wharf for
+outfitting.
+
+[*]Ancient harbors were much harder to defend than modern ones,
+because there was no long-range artillery to prevent an enemy from
+thrusting into an open haven among defenseless shipping.
+
+[+]Zea had accommodation for 196 triremes, Munychia, 82, and the
+Cantharus, 94.
+
+
+104.  The Great Naval Arsenal.--The ship houses are not the only
+large structures at the navy yard.  Here is also the great naval
+arsenal, a huge roofed structure open at the sides and entirely
+exposed to public inspection.  Here between the lines of supporting
+columns can be seen stacked up the staple requisites for the
+ships,--great ropes, sail boxes, anchors, oars, etc.  Everybody
+in Athens is welcome to enter and assure himself that the fleet
+can be outfitted at a minute's notice[*]; and at all times crews
+of half-naked, weather-beaten sailors are rushing hither and yon,
+carrying or removing supplies to and from the wharves where their
+ships are lying.
+
+[*]This arsenal was replaced a little later than the hypothetical
+time of this narrative by one designed by the famous architect,
+Philo.  It was extremely elegant as well as commodious, with handsome
+columns, tiled roofs, etc.  In 360 B.C., however, the arsenal seems
+to have been a strictly utilitarian structure.
+
+
+105.  An Athenian Triearch.--Among this unaristocratic crowd we
+observe a dignified old gentleman with an immaculate himation and
+a long polished cane.  Obsequious clerks and sailing masters are
+hanging about him for his orders; it is easy to see that he is a
+TRIERARCH--one of the wealthiest citizens on whom it fell, in turn,
+at set intervals, to provide the less essential parts of a trireme's
+outfit, and at least part of the pay for the crew for one year,
+and to be generally responsible for the efficiency and upkeep of
+the vessel.[*]  This is a year of peace, and the patriotic pressure
+to spend as much on your warship as possible is not so great as
+sometimes; still Eustatius, the magnate in question, knows that he
+will be bitterly criticized (nay, perhaps prosecuted in the courts)
+if he does not do "the generous thing."  He is therefore ordering
+an extra handsome figurehead; promising a bonus to the rowing master
+if he can get his hands to row in better rhythm than the ordinary
+crew; and directing that wine of superior quality be sent aboard for
+the men.[+]  It will be an anxious year in any case for Eustathius.
+He has ill wishers who will watch carefully to see if the vessel
+fails to make a creditable record for herself during the year, and
+whether she is returned to the ship house or to the next trierarch
+in a state of good repair.  If the craft does not then appear
+seaworthy, her last outfitter may be called upon to rebuild her
+completely, a matter which will eat up something like a talent.
+Public service therefore does not provide beds of roses for the
+rich men of Athens.
+
+[*]Just how much of the rigging and what fraction of the pay
+of the crew the government provided is by no means clear from our
+evidence.  It is certain that a public-spirited and lavish trierarch
+could almost ruin himself (unless very wealthy) during the year he
+was responsible for the vessel.
+
+[+]According to various passages in Demosthenes, the cost of
+a trierachy for a year varied between 40 minæ (say $540 [1914 or
+$9,304.20 in 2000]) and a talent (about $1000 [1914 or $17,230 in
+2000]), very large sums for Athenians.  The question of the amount
+of time spent in active service in foreign waters would of course
+do much to determine the outlay.
+
+Eustathius goes away towards one of the wharves, where his trireme,
+the "Invincible," is moored with her crew aboard her.  Let us
+examine a typical Athenian warship.
+
+
+106.  The Evolution of the Trireme.--The genesis of the trireme
+was the old PENTECONTER ("fifty-oar ship") which, in its prime
+features, was simply a long, narrow, open hull, with slightly raised
+prow and stern cabins, pulling twenty-five oars to a side.  There
+are a few penteconters still in existence, though the great naval
+powers have long since scorned them.  It was a good while before
+the battle of salamis that the Greek sea warriors began to feel the
+need of larger warships.  It was impossible to continue the simple
+scheme of the penteconter.  To get more oars all on one tier you
+must make a longer boat, but you could not increase the beam, for,
+if you did, the whole craft would get so heavy that it would not
+row rapidly; and the penteconter was already so long in relation
+to its beam as to be somewhat unsafe.  A device was needed to get
+more oars into the water without increasing the length over much.
+The result was the BIREME (two-banker) which was speedily replaced
+by the still more efficient TRIREME (three-banker), the standard
+battleship of all the Greek navies.[*]
+
+[*]By the end of the fourth century B.C., vessels with four and
+five banks of oars (quadriremes and quinqueremes) had become the
+regular fighting ships, but they differed probably only in size,
+not in principle, from the trireme.
+
+
+107.  The Hull of a Trireme.--The "Invincible" has a hull of fir
+strengthened by a solid oak keel, very essential if she is to be hauled
+up frequently.  Her hull is painted black, but there is abundance
+of scarlet, bright blue, and gilding upon her prow, stern, and
+upper works.  The slim hull itself is about 140 feet long, 14 feet
+wide, and rides the harbor so lightly as to show it draws very little
+water; for the warship, even more perhaps than the merchantman, is
+built on the theory that her crew must drag her up upon the beach
+almost every night.
+
+While we study the vessel we are soon told that, although triremes
+have been in general use since, say, 500 B.C., nevertheless the
+ships that fought at Salamis were decidedly simpler affairs than
+those of three generations later.  In those old "aphract" vessels
+the upper tier of rowers had to sit exposed on their benches with
+no real protection from the enemy's darts; but in the new "cataphract"
+ships like the "Invincible" there is a stout solid bulwark built up
+to shield the oarsmen from hostile sight and missiles alike.  All
+this makes the ships of Demosthene's day much handsomer, taller
+affairs than their predecessors which Themistocles commanded;
+nevertheless the old and the new triremes have most essentials in
+common.  The day is far off when a battleship twenty years old will
+be called "hopelessly obsolete" by the naval critics.[*]
+
+[*]There is some reason for believing that an Athenian trireme was
+kept in service for many years, with only incidental repairs, and
+then could still be counted as fit to take her place in the line
+of battle.
+
+The upper deck of the trireme is about eleven feet above the harbor
+waves, but the lowest oar holes are raised barely three feet.  Into
+the intervening space the whole complicated rowing apparatus has
+to be crammed with a good deal of ingenuity.  Running along two
+thirds of the length of the hull nearly the whole interior of the
+vessel is filled with a series of seats and foot rests rising in
+sets of three.  Each man has a bench and a kind of stool beneath
+him, and sits close to a porthole.  The feet of the lowest rower
+are near the level of the water line; swinging two feet above him
+and only a little behind him is his comrade of the second tier;
+higher and behind in turn is he of the third.[*]  Running down
+the center of the ship on either side of these complicated benches
+is a broad, central gangway, just under the upper deck.  Here the
+supernumeraries will take refuge from the darts in battle, and here
+the regular rowers will have to do most of their eating, resting,
+and sleeping when they are not actually on the benches or on shore.
+
+[*]The exact system by which these oar benches were arranged, the
+crew taught to swing together (despite the inequalities in the
+length of their oars), and several other like problems connected
+with the trireme, have received no satisfactory solution by modern
+investigators.  [Note from Brett:  Between 1985 and 1987 John
+Morrison and John Coates oversaw a reproduction of a trireme which
+has an excellent study of bench arrangements and several other
+problems connected with the trireme were likely solved.]
+
+
+108.  The Rowers' Benches of a Trireme.--With her full complement
+of rowers the benches of the "Invincible" fairly swarm with life.
+There are 62 rowers to the upper tier (thranites), 58 for the middle
+tier (zygites), and 54 for the lower (thalamites), each man with
+his own individual oar.  The TRHANITES with the longest oars (full
+13 feet 6 inches) have the hardest pull and the largest pay, but
+not one of the 174 oarsmen holds a sinecure.  In ordinary cruising,
+to be sure, the trireme will make use of her sails, to help out a
+single bank of oars which must be kept going almost all the time.
+Even then it is weary work to break your back for a couple of hours
+taking your turn on the benches.  But in battle the trireme almost
+never uses sails.  She becomes a vast, many-footed monster, flying
+over the foam; and the pace of the three oar banks, swinging
+together, becomes maddening.  Behind their bulwarks the rowers can
+see little of what is passing.  Everything is dependent upon their
+rowing together in absolute rhythm come what may, and giving instant
+obedience to orders.  The trireme is in one sense like a latter-day
+steamer in her methods of propulsion; but the driving force is 174
+straining, panting humans, not insensate water vapor and steel.
+
+
+109.  The Cabins, Rigging, and Ram of a Trireme.--Forward and aft of
+the rowers' benches and the great central gangway are the fore and
+stern cabins.  They furnish something akin to tolerable accommodations
+for the officers and a favored fraction of the crew.  Above the
+forecastle rises a carved proudly curing prow, and just abaft it
+are high bulwarks to guard the javelin men when at close quarters
+with the foe.  There is also on either side of the prow a huge red
+or orange "eye" painted around the hawse holes for the anchors.
+Above the stern cabin is the narrow deck reserved for the pilot,
+the "governor" of the ship, who will control the whole trireme with
+a touch now on one, now on the other, of the huge steering paddles
+which swing at the sides near the stern.  Within the stern cabin
+itself is the little altar, sacred to the god or goddess to whom
+the vessel is dedicated, and on which incense will be burned before
+starting on a long cruise and before going into battle.  Two masts
+rise above the deck, a tall mainmast nearly amidships, and a much
+smaller mast well forward.  On each of these a square sail (red,
+orange, blue, or even, with gala ships, purple) will be swung from
+a long yard, while the vessel is cruising; but it is useless to set
+sails in battle.  One could never turn the ship quickly enough to
+complete the maneuvers.  The sails and yards will ordinarily be
+sent ashore as the first measure when the admiral signals "clear
+ship for action."
+
+We have now examined all of the "Invincible" except for her main
+weapon,--her beak; for the trireme is really herself one tremendous
+missile to be flung by the well-trained rowers at the ill-starred
+foe.  Projecting well in front of the prow and close to the water
+line are three heavy metal spurs serrated one above the other,
+somewhat thus[*]:
+
+   |_______
+   |=======\
+   |====|___
+   |========\
+  =====|______   /=============\  / / */
+
+Let this fang once crush against a foeman's broadside, and his
+timbers are crushed in like eggshells.
+
+[*]Probably at Salamis and in the earlier Athenian army the ram
+had been composed of a single long, tapering beak.
+
+
+110.  The Officers and Crew of a Trireme.--So much for the "Invincible"
+herself, but obviously she is a helpless thing without an efficient
+crew.  The life of an oarsman is far from luxurious, but the pay
+seems to be enough to induce a goodly number of THETES (the poorest
+class of the Athenian citizens) to accept service, and the rest
+can be supplied by hired metics or any kind of foreign nondescript
+who can be brought into discipline.  The rowers are of course the
+real heart and soul of the trireme; but they are useless without proper
+training.  Indeed it was the superior discipline of the Athenian
+crews which in the days of Themistocles and Pericles gave Athens
+the supremacy of the seas.  The nominal, and sometimes actual,
+commander of the trireme is her trierarch; but obviously a cultivated
+old gentleman like Eustathius is no man to manage the ship in a
+sea fight.  He will name some deputy, perhaps a stout young friend
+or a son, for the real naval work.  Even he may not possess great
+experience.  The real commander of the "Invincible" is the "governor"
+(KYBERNATES), a gnarled old seaman, who has spent all his life upon
+the water.  Nominally his main duty is to act as pilot, but actually
+he is in charge of the whole ship; and in battle the trierarch (if
+aboard) will be very glad to obey all his "suggestions."  Next to
+the "governor" there is the PROIREUS, another experienced sailor
+who will have especial charge of the forecastle in battle.  Next in
+turn are two "oar-masters" (TOIXARCHOI), who are each responsible
+for the discipline and working of one of the long rowers' benches;
+and following in grade, though highly important, are the KELEUSTËS,
+and the TRIËRAULËS, who, by voice and by flute respectively, will
+give the time and if needs be encouragement to the rowers.  These
+are all the regular officers, but naturally for handling the sails
+and anchors some common sailors are desirable.  The "Invincible"
+carries 17 of these.  She also has 10 marines (EPIBATŒ), men trained
+to fight in hoplite's armor and to repel boarders.  The Persian
+ships at Salamis carried 30 such warriors, and often various Greek
+admirals have crowded their decks with these heavy marines; but
+the true Athenian sea warrior disdains them.  Given a good helmsman
+and well-trained rowers, and you can sink your opponent with your
+ram, while he is clumsily trying to board you.  Expert opinion
+considers the EPIBATΠsomewhat superfluous, and their use in most
+naval battles as disgracefully unscientific.
+
+
+111.  A Trireme at Sea.--A trireme, then is an heroic fighting
+instrument.  She goes into battle prepared literally to do or die.
+If her side is once crushed, she fills with water instantly, and
+the enemy will be too busy and too inhumane to do anything but cheer
+lustily when they see the water covered with struggling wretches.
+But the trireme is also a most disagreeable craft before and after
+the battle.  Her light draft sets her tossing on a very mild sea.
+In the hot southern climate, with very little ventilation beneath
+the upper deck, with nigh two hundred panting, naked human beings
+wedged in together below so closely that there is scarce room for
+one more, the heat, the smells, the drudgery, are dreadful.  No
+wonder the crew demanded that the trierarch and governor "make
+shore for the night," or that they weary of the incessant grating
+of the heavy oars upon the thole-pins.
+
+Thus the "Invincible" will seem to any squeamish voyager, but not
+so to the distant spectator.  For him a trireme is a most marvelous
+and magnificent sight.  A sister ship, the "Danaë,"[*] is just
+entering the Peiræus from Lemnos (an isle still under the Athenian
+sovereignty).  Her upper works have been all brightened for the
+home-coming.  Long, brilliant streams trail from her sail yards
+and poop.  The flute player is blowing his loudest.  The marines
+stand on the forecastle in glittering armor.  A great column of
+foam is spouting from her bow.[+]  Her oars, eighty-seven to the
+side, pumiced white and hurling out the spray, are leaping back
+and forth in perfect unison.  The whole vessel seems a thing of
+springing, ardent life.  It is, indeed, a sight to stir the blood.
+No later sailing ship in her panoply of canvas, no steam battleship
+with her grim turrets and smoking funnels can ever match the
+spectacle of a trireme moving in her rhythm and glory.
+
+[*]The Greek ships seem to have been named either for mythological
+characters, or for desirable qualities and virtues.
+
+[+]At her best a trireme seems to have been capable of making 8 to
+9 knots per hour.
+
+
+112.  The Tactics of a Naval Battle.--Imagination can now picture
+a Greek naval battle, fifty, a hundred, two hundred, or more of these
+splendid battleships flying in two hostile lines to the charge.[*]
+Round and round they will sail, each pilot watching the moment when
+an unlucky maneuver by the foe will leave a chance for an attack;
+and then will come the sudden swinging of the helm, the frantic
+"Pull hard!" to the oarsmen, the rending crash and shock as the
+ram tears open the opponents side, to be followed by almost instant
+tragedy.  If the direct attack on the foe's broadside fails, there
+is another maneuver.  Run down upon your enemy as if striking bow
+to bow; the instant before contact let your aim swerve--a little.
+Then call to your men to draw in their oars like lightning while
+the enemy are still working theirs.  If your oarsmen can do the
+trick in time, you can now ride down the whole of the foemen's
+exposed oar bank, while saving your own.  He is left crippled
+and helpless, like a huge centipede with all the legs on one side
+stripped away.  You can now back off deliberately, run out your
+oars, an in cold blood charge his exposed flank.  If he does not
+now surrender, his people are dead men.  Excellent to describe!
+Not always so excellent in performance.  Everything depends on the
+perfect discipline and handiness of your crew.
+
+[*]A more detailed picture of an ancient naval battle and its
+tactics can be found in the author's historical novel, "A Victor
+of Salamis" (Chap. XXIX).
+
+
+113.  The Naval Strength of Athens.--The strength of Athens is
+still upon the sea.  Despite her defeats in the Peloponnesian War
+she has again the first navy in Hellas.  All in all she can send
+out 400 triremes and since each trireme represents a crew of over
+200 men, this means that Athens can dispose of over 80,000 souls
+in her navy, whereof, however, only a minor fraction are Athenian
+citizens.  Athens is quite right in thus laying stress upon her
+sea power.  Her long walls and the Peiræus make her practically an
+island.  Even after Chæroneia, Philip of Macedon will be obliged
+to give her honorable terms,--she has still her great navy.  Only
+after the defeat of her fleet at Amorgos in 322 B.C. will she have
+to know all the pangs of vassalage to Macedon.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.  An Athenian Court Trial.
+
+
+
+
+114.  The Frequency of Litigation in Athens.--The visit to the
+Peiræus and the study of the shipping have not been too long to
+prevent a brief visit to one of the most characteristic scenes of
+Athenian life--a law court.  Athens is notorious for the fondness
+which her citizens display for litigation.  In fact it is a somewhat
+rare and exceptionally peaceable, harmless, and insignificant
+citizen who is not plaintiff or defendant in some kind of action
+every few years or so.  Says Aristophanes, "The cicada [grasshopper]
+sings for only a month, but the people of Athens are buzzing with
+lawsuits and trials their whole life long."  In the jury courts the
+contentious, tonguey man can spread himself and defame his enemies
+to his heart's content; and it must be admitted that in a city like
+Athens, where everybody seems to know everybody else's business almost
+every citizen is likely to have a number both of warm friends and
+of bitter enemies.  Athenians do not have merely "cold acquaintances,"
+or "business rivals," as will men of the twentieth century.  They
+make no pretenses to "Christian charity."  They freely call an
+obnoxious individual their "personal foe" (ECHTHROS), and if they
+can defeat, humiliate, and ruin him, they bless the gods.  The
+usual outlet for such ill-feeling is a fierce and perhaps mutually
+destructive lawsuit.
+
+Then too, despite Athenian notions of what constitutes a gentleman,
+many citizens are people of utterly penurious, niggardly habits.
+Frequently enough the fellow who can discuss all Socrates's theories
+with you is quarreling with his neighbor over the loan of salt or
+a lamp wick or some meal for sacrifice.[*]  If one of the customary
+"club-dinners"[+] is held at his house, he will be caught secreting
+some of the vinegar, lamp oil, or lentils.  If he has borrowed
+something, say some barley, take care; when he returns it, he will
+measure it out in a vessel with the bottom dented inward.  A little
+ill feeling, a petty grievance carefully cultivated,--the end in
+due time will be a lawsuit, costly far out of proportion to the
+originating cause.
+
+[*]Persons of this kidney are delineated to us as typical characters
+by Theophrastus.
+
+[+]The nearest modern equivalent is a "basket lunch."
+
+
+115.  Prosecutions in Athens.--Athens does not draw a sharp line
+between public and private litigation.  There is no "state" or
+"district attorney" to prosecute for the offenses against public
+order.  Any full citizen can prosecute anybody else upon such
+a criminal charge as murder, no less than for a civil matter like
+breach of contract.  All this leads to the growth of a mischievous
+clan--the SYCOPHANTS.  These harpies are professional accusers
+who will prosecute almost any rich individual upon whom they think
+they can fasten some technical offense.  Their gains are from two
+quarters.  If they convict the defendant, about half of the fine
+or property taken will go to the informer.  But very likely there
+will be no trial.  The victim (either consciously guilty, or
+innocent but anxious to avoid the risk) will pay a huge blackmail
+at the first threat of prosecution, and the case is hushed up.
+
+It is true there are very heavy penalties for trumped-up cases,
+for unwarranted threat of legal proceedings, for perjured evidence;
+still the abuse of the sycophants exists, and a great many of the
+lawsuits originate with this uncanny tribe.
+
+
+116.  The Preliminaries to a Trial.--There are official arbitrators
+to settle petty cases, but it is too often that one or both parties
+declare "the dicasts must settle it," and the lawsuit has to take
+its way.  Athenian legal methods are simple.  Theoretically there are
+no professional lawyers, and every man must look out for himself.
+The first business is to file your complaint with one of the magistrates
+(usually one of nine ARCHONS), and then with two witnesses give
+formal summons to your opponent, the defendant, to appear on a set
+day in court.  If he has defaulted, the case is usually ended then
+in your favor.  This hearing before the magistrate is in any event
+an important part of the trial.  Here each side proffers the laws
+it cites to sustain its claims, and brings its witnesses, who can
+be more or less cross-examined.  All the pertinent testimony is
+now written down, and the tablets sealed up by the magistrate.  At
+the final trial this evidence will be merely READ to the jury, the
+witness in each instance standing up before the court and admitting
+when duly asked, "This is my testimony on the case."
+
+Free men testify under oath, but a slave's oath is counted worthless.
+The slaves may be the only important witnesses to a given act,
+but under only one condition can they testify.  With the consent
+of their master they may testify UNDER TORTURE.  It is a critical
+moment at this hearing when a litigant who is confident of his case
+proudly announces, "I challenge my enemy to put my slaves under
+torture"; or the other, attacking first, cries out, "I demand that
+my enemy submit his slaves to torture."  Theoretically the challenged
+party might refuse, practically a refusal is highly dangerous.  "If
+his slaves didn't know something bad, why were they kept silent?"
+the jury will ask.  So the rack is brought forth.  The wretched
+menials are stretched upon it.  One must hope that often the whole
+process involves more show of cruelty than actual brutality.  What
+now the slaves gasp out between their twists and howls is duly
+taken down as "important evidence," and goes into the record.[*]
+
+[*]Athenian opinion was on the whole in favor of receiving as valid
+testimony the evidence extorted thus from slaves by mere animal
+fear.  Antiphon the orator speaks of how truth may be wrung from
+slaves by torture; "by which they are compelled to speak the truth
+though they must die for it afterward [at the hands of the master
+they have incriminated], for the present necessity is to each
+stronger than the future."  This has been well called one of the
+few cases of extreme STUPIDITY on the part of the Athenians.
+
+
+117.  The Athenian Jury Courts.--A convenient interval has elapsed
+since one of these preliminary hearings.  To-day has been set for
+the actual trial before a member of the archons in the "Green" court.
+Ariston, a wealthy olive farmer, is suing Lamachus, an exporter of
+the Peiræus, for failing to account for the proceeds of a cargo of
+olives lately shipped to Naxos.  To follow the trial in its entirety
+we should have been at the courthouse at first dawn.  Then we would
+have seen the jurymen come grumbling in, some from the suburbs,
+attended by link boys.  These jurors represent a large fraction of
+the whole Athenian people.  There are about six thousand in all.
+Pretty nearly every citizen above thirty years of age can give in
+his name as desiring jury duty; but naturally it is the elderly
+and the indolent who must prefer the service.  One thousand of the
+six act as mere substitutes; the rest serve as often as the working
+of a complicated system of drawing by lot assigns them to sit as
+jurors on a particular case.  It is well there are five thousand
+always thus available, for Athenian juries are very large; 201,
+401, 501, 1001 are numbers heard of, and sometimes even greater.[*]
+The more important the case, the larger the jury; but "Ariston v.
+Lamachus" is only a commonplace affair; 401 jurors are quite enough.
+Even with that "small court," the audience which the pleaders now
+have to address will seem huge to any latter-day lawyer who is
+accustomed to his "twelve men in a box"; and needless to say, quite
+different methods must be used in dealing with such a company.
+
+[*]The odd unit was no doubt added to prevent a tie.
+
+Each "dicast" (to use the proper name) has a boxwood tablet to show
+at the entrance as his voucher to the Scythian police-archers on
+duty; he has also a special staff of the color of the paint on the
+door of the court room.[*]  The chamber itself is not especially
+elegant; a long line of hard benches rising in tiers for the dicasts,
+and facing these a kind of pulpit for the presiding magistrates,
+with a little platform for orators, a small alter for the preliminary
+sacrifice, and a few stools for attendants and witnesses complete
+the simple furnishings.  There are open spaces for spectators,
+though no seats; but there will be no lack of an audience today,
+for the rumor has gone around, "Hypereides has written Ariston's
+argument."  The chance to hear a speech prepared by that famous
+oration-monger is enough to bring every dicast out early, and to
+summon a swarm of loiterers up from the not distant Agora.
+
+[*]Each court room had is distinguishing color.  There were about
+ten regular court rooms, besides some for special tribunals; e.g.
+the Areopagus for the trial of homicides.
+
+
+118.  The Juryman's Oath.--The dicasts are assumed to approach their
+duty with all due solemnity.  They have sworn to vote according to
+the laws of Athens, never to vote for a repudiation of debts, nor
+to restore political exiles, nor to receive bribes for their votes,
+nor take bribes in another's behalf, nor let anybody even tempt
+them with such proffers.  They are to hear both sides impartially
+and vote strictly according to the merits of the case:  and the oath
+winds up awfully--"Thus do I invoke Zeus, Poseidon, and Demeter to
+smite with destruction me and my house if I violate any of these
+obligations, but if I keep them I pray for many blessings."[*]
+
+[*]We have not the exact text of all the dicasts' oath, but we can
+reproduce it fairly completely from Demosthenes's "Oration against
+Timocrates."
+
+
+119.  Opening the Trial.  The Plaintiff's Speech.--The oath
+is admirable, but the dicasts are not in a wholly juridical state
+of mind.  Just before the short sacrifice needful to commence
+proceedings, takes place, old Zenosthenes on the second row nudges
+his neighbor:  "I don't like the looks of that Lamachus.  I shall
+vote against him."  "And I--my wife knows his wife, and--"  The
+archon rises.  The crier bids, "Silence!"  The proceedings begin:
+but all through the hearing there is whispering and nudging along
+the jurors' benches.  The litigants are quite aware of the situation
+and are trying their best to win some advantage therefrom.
+
+Ariston is the first to speak.  He has taken great pains with the
+folds of his himation and the trim of his beard this morning.  He
+must be thoroughly genteel, but avoid all appearances of being a
+dandy.  In theory every man has to plead his own case in Athens,
+but not every man is an equally good orator.  If a litigant is
+very inept, he can simply say a few words, then step aside with "My
+friend so-and-so will continue my argument"; and a readier talker
+will take his place.[*]  Ariston, however, is a fairly clever
+speaker.  Having what he conceives a good case, he has obtained the
+indirect services of Hypereides, one of the first of the younger
+orators of Athens.  Hyperedies has written a speech which he thinks
+is suitable to the occasion, Ariston has memorized it, and delivers
+it with considerable gusto.  He has solid evidence, as is proved
+from time to time when he stops to call, "Let the clerk read
+the testimony of this or that."  There often is a certain hum of
+approbation from the dicasts when he makes his points.  He continues
+bravely, therefore, ever and anon casting an eye upon the CLEPSYDRA
+near at hand, a huge water-clock which, something like an hour
+glass, marks off the time allotted him.  Some of his arguments seem
+to have nothing to do with the alleged embezzlement.  He vilifies
+his opponent:  calls Lamachus's mother coarse names, intimates that
+as a boy he had no decent schooling, charges him with cowardice
+in the recent Mantinea campaign in which he served, hints that
+he has quarreled with his relatives.  On the other hand, Ariston
+grandiloquently praises HIMSELF as well born, well educated, an
+honorable soldier and citizen, a man any Athenian would be glad to
+consider a friend.  It is very plain all these personalia delight
+the jury.[+]  When Ariston's "water has run out" and he concludes
+his speech, there is a loud murmur of applause running along the
+benches of the dicasts.
+
+[*]These "friends," however, were never regularly professional
+advocates; it would have been ruinous to let the jury get the
+impression that an orator was being directly hired to speak to
+them.
+
+[+]For the depths of personal insult into which Greek litigants could
+descend there is no better instance than Demosthenes's (otherwise
+magnificent) "Oration on the Crown," wherein he castigates his foe
+Æschines.
+
+
+120.  The Defendant's Speech.  Demonstrations by the Jury.--It is
+now Lamachus's turn.  He also has employed a professional speech-writer
+("logographos") of fame, Isæus, to prepare his defense.  But almost
+at the outset he is in difficulties.  Very likely he has a bad case
+to begin with.  He makes it worse by a shrill, unpleasant voice
+and ungainly gestures.  Very soon many dicasts are tittering and
+whispering jibes to their companions.  As his harangue proceeds,
+the presiding archon (who has really very little control of the
+dicasts) is obliged "to remind the gentlemen of the jury that the
+have taken solemn oath to hear both sides of the question."
+
+Lamachus fights doggedly on.  Having put in all his real arguments,
+he takes refuge also in blackguarding his opponent.  Did Ariston
+get his wealth honestly? was not his father a rascally grain dealer
+who starved the people?  Yet there is still more impatience among
+the dicasts.  Lamachus now uses his last weapon.  Upon the pleader's
+stand clamber his five young children clad in black mourning
+garments.  They all weep together, and when not wiping their eyes,
+hold out their hands like religious suppliants, toward the dicasts.[*]
+
+[*]For such an appeal to an Athenian dicastery, see Aristophanes's
+"Wasps."  The pertinent passages are quoted in "Readings in Ancient
+History," vol. I, p. 238-40.
+
+"Ah! Gentlemen of the jury," whines their father, "if you are moved
+by the voices of your lambs at home, pity these here.  Acquit me
+for THEIR sakes.  Do not find against me and plunge these innocent
+darlings into want and misery, by impoverishing their father."
+
+Appeals like this have swayed more than one jury during the last
+year, but the fates are all against Lamachus.  From a back bench
+comes a dreaded shout that is instantly caught up by the front
+tiers also:
+
+"Kataba! Kataba!--Go down! Go Down!"
+
+Lamachus hesitates.  If he obeys, he loses all the rest of his
+defense.  If he continues now, he enrages many of the dicasts, who
+will be absolutely sure to find against him.  The presiding archon
+vainly rises, and tries to say something about "fair play."  Useless.
+The uproar continues.  Like a flock of scared doves Lamachus and
+all his five children flee incontinently from the tribune, amid
+ironical cheers and laughter.
+
+
+121.  The First Verdict.--There is silence at length.  "The dicasts
+will proceed to vote," announces the court crier.  The huge urns
+(one of bronze, one of wood) with narrow mouths are passed among
+the benches.  Each juror has two round bronze disks, one solid,
+one with a hole bored in the middle.  The solid acquit, the pierced
+ones convict.  A juror drops the ballot he wishes to count into
+the bronze urn; the other goes into the wooden urn.  The bronze
+urn is carried to the archon, and there is an uneasy hush while the
+401 ballots are counted by the court officers.  As expected, more
+than 300 dicasts vote that Ariston is entitled to damages against
+Lamachus as an embezzler.
+
+
+122.  The Second and Final Verdict.--Ariston is smiling; his
+friends are congratulating him, but the trial is by no means over.
+If Lamachus had been found guilty of something for which the
+law provided an absolute fixed penalty, this second part of the
+proceedings would be omitted.  But here, although the jury has
+said SOME damage or penalty or penalties are due, it has still to
+fix the amount.  Ariston has now to propose to the dicasts a sum
+which he thinks is adequate to avenge his wrongs and losses; Lamachus
+can propose a smaller sum and try to persuade the court that it is
+entirely proper.  Each side must act warily.  Athenian jurors are
+fickle folk.  The very men who have just howled down Lamachus may,
+in a spasm of repentance, vote for absurdly low damages.  Again,
+Lamachus must not propose anything obviously inadequate, otherwise
+the jurors who have just voted against him may feel insulted,
+and accept Ariston's estimate.[*]  Ariston therefore says that he
+deserves at least a talent.  Lamachus rejoins that half a talent
+is more than ample, even conceding Arison's alleged wrongs.  The
+arguments this time are shorter and more to the point.  Then comes
+the second balloting.  A second time a majority (smaller this time,
+but enough) is in favor of Ariston.  The better cause has conquered;
+and there is at least this advantage to the Athenian legal system,
+there will be no appeal nor tedious technicalities before a "higher
+court."  The verdict of the dicastery is final.
+
+[*]Undoubtedly Socrates would have escaped with his life, if (after
+his original condemnation) he had proposed a real penalty to the
+jury, instead of an absurdly small fine.  The only alternative for
+the dicasts was to accept the proposition of his opponents,--in
+his case, death.
+
+
+123.  The Merits and Defects of the Athenian Courts.--No doubt
+injustice is sometimes done.  Sometimes it is the honest man who
+hears the dreaded "Kataba!"  Sometimes the weeping children have
+their intended effect.  Sometimes it is the arguments about "My
+opponent's scoundrelly ancestry" which win the verdict.  At the
+same time, your Athenian dicast is a remarkably shrewd and acute
+individual.  He can distinguish between specious rhetoric and a
+real argument.  He is probably honestly anxious to do justice.  In
+the ordinary case where his personal interests or prejudices do
+not come into play, the decision is likely to match with justice
+quite as often perhaps as in the intricate court system of a great
+republic many centuries after the passing of Athens.
+
+Certain features of some Athenian trials have not explained
+themselves in the example just witnessed.  To prevent frivolous or
+blackmailing litigation it is provided that, if the plaintiff in
+a suit gets less than one fifth of the ballots in his favor (thus
+clearly showing he had no respectable case), he is liable to a heavy
+fine or, in default thereof, exile.  Again, we have not waited for
+the actual closing scene--the dicasts each giving up his colored
+staff as a kind of voucher to the court officers, and in return
+getting his three obols (9 cents) daily jury fee, which each man
+claps promptly in his cheek, and then goes off home to try the case
+afresh at the family supper.
+
+
+124.  The Usual Punishments in Athens.--Trials involving murder or
+manslaughter come before the special court of Areopagus, and cannot
+well be discussed here, but most other criminal cases are tried
+before the dicasts in much the same way as a civil trial.  When the
+law does not have a set penalty, the jury virtually has to sentence
+the defendant after convicting him, choosing between one of two
+proposed penalties.  Greek courts can inflict death, exile, fines,
+but almost never imprisonment.  There is no "penitentiary" or
+"workhouse" in Athens; and the only use for a jail is to confine
+accused persons whom it is impossible to release on bail before
+their trial.  The Athens city jail ("The House," as it is familiarly
+called--"Oikema") is a very simple affair, one open building,
+carelessly guarded and free to visitors all through the daylight.
+The inmates have to be kept in heavy fetters, otherwise they would
+be sure to take flight; and indeed escapes from custody are somewhat
+common.
+
+
+125.  The Heavy Penalty of Exile.--An Athenian will regard locking
+a criminal up for a term of years as a very foolish and expensive
+proceeding.  If he has nothing wherewith to pay a round fine, why,
+simply send him into exile.  This penalty is direful indeed to a
+Greek.  The exile has often no protector, no standing in the courts
+of the foreign city, no government to avenge any outrage upon him.
+He can be insulted, starved, stripped, nay, murdered, often with
+impunity.  Worse still, he is cut off from his friends with whom
+all his life is tied up; he is severed from the guardian gods of
+his childhood,--"THE City," the city of his birth, hopes, longings,
+exists no more for him.  If he dies abroad, he is not sure of a
+decent funeral pyre; and meanwhile his children may be hungering
+at home.  So long as the Athenians have this tremendous penalty of
+exile at their disposal, they do not feel the need of penitentiaries.
+
+
+126.  The Death Penalty at Athens.--There are also the stocks and
+whipping posts for meting out summary justice to irresponsible
+offenders.  When the death penalty is imposed (and the matter
+often lies in the discretion of the dicasts), the criminal, if of
+servile or Barbarian blood, may be put to death in some hideous
+manner and his corpse tossed into the Barathron, a vile pit on the
+northwest side of Athens, there to be dishonored by the kites and
+crows.  The execution of Athenian citizens, however, is extremely
+humane.  The condemned is given a cup of poisonous hemlock juice
+and allowed to drink it while sitting comfortably among his friends
+in the prison.  Little by little his body grows numb; presently
+he becomes senseless, and all is over without any pain.[*]  The
+friends of the victim are then at liberty to give his body a suitable
+burial.
+
+[*]No one can read the story of the death of Socrates in the prison,
+as told by Plato in the "Phædo," without feeling (aside from the
+noble philosophical setting) how much more humane were such executions
+by hemlock than is the modern gallows or electric chair.
+
+An Athenian trial usually lasts all day, and perhaps we have been
+able to witness only the end of it.  It may well happen, however,
+that we cannot attend a dicastery at all.  This day may be one which
+is devoted to a meeting of the public assembly, and duty summons
+the jurors, not in the court room, but to the Pnyx.  This is no
+loss to us, however.  We welcome the chance to behold the Athenian
+Ecclesia in action.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI.  The Ecclesia of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+127.  The Rule of Democracy in Athens.--The Ecclesia, or Public
+Assembly, of Athens is something more than the chief governmental
+organ in the state.  It is the great leveling engine which makes
+Athens a true democracy, despite the great differences in wealth
+between her inhabitants, and the marked social pretensions of "the
+noble and the good"--the educated classes.  At this time Athens
+is profoundly wedded to her democratic constitution.  Founded by
+Solon and Clisthenes, developed by Themistocles and Pericles, it
+was temporarily overthrown at the end of the Peloponnesian War;
+but the evil rule then of the "Thirty Tyrants" has proved a better
+lesson on the evils of oligarchic rule than a thousand rhetoricians'
+declamations upon the advantages of the "rule of the many" as
+against the "rule of the few."  Attica now acknowledges only one
+Lord--KING DEMOS--"King Everybody"--and until the coming of bondage to
+Macedon there will be no serious danger of an aristocratic reaction.
+
+
+128.  Aristocracy and Wealth.  Their Status and Burdens.--True,
+there are old noble families in Athens,--like the Alcmæonidæ
+whereof Pericles sprang, and the Eumolpidæ who supply the priests
+to Demeter, the Earth Mother.  But these great houses have long
+since ceased to claim anything but SOCIAL preëminence.  Even then
+one must take pains not to assume airs, or the next time one is
+litigant before the dicastery, the insinuation of "an undemocratic,
+oligarchic manner of life" will win very many adverse votes among
+the jury.  Nobility and wealth are only allowed to assert themselves
+in Athens when justified by an extraordinary amount of public
+service and public generosity.
+
+Xenophon in his "Memorabilia" makes Socrates tell Critobuls, a
+wealthy and self-important individual, that he is really so hampered
+by his high position as to be decidedly poor.  "You are obliged,"
+says Socrates, "to offer numerous and magnificent sacrifices; you
+have to receive and entertain sumptuously a great many strangers,
+and to feast [your fellow] citizens.  You have to pay heavy contributions
+towards the public service, keeping horses and furnishing choruses
+in peace times and in war bearing the expense of maintaining triremes
+and paying the special war taxes; and if you fail to do all this,
+they will punish you with as much severity as if you were caught
+stealing their money."
+
+
+129.  Athenian Society Truly Democratic up to a Certain Point.--Wealth,
+then, means one perpetual round of public services and obligations,
+sweetened perhaps with a little empty praise, an inscription, an
+honorary crown, or best of all, an honorary statue "to the public
+benefactor" as the chief reward.  On the other hand one may be
+poor and be a thoroughly self-respecting, nay, prominent citizen.
+Socrates had an absurdly small invested fortune and the gods knew
+that he did little enough in the way of profitable labor.[*]  He
+had to support his wife and three children upon this income.  He
+wore no chiton.  His himation was always an old one, unchanged
+from summer to winter.  He seems to have possessed only one pair
+of good sandals all his life.  His rations were bread and water,
+save when he was invited out.  Yet this man was welcome in the "very
+best society."  Alcibiades, leader of the fast, rich set, and many
+more of the gilded youth of Athens dogged his heels.  One meets not
+the slightest evidence that his poverty ever prevented him from
+carrying his philosophic message home to the wealthy and the noble.
+There is no snobbishness, then, in this Athenian society.  Provided
+a man is not pursuing a base mechanic art or an ignoble trade,
+provided he has a real message to convey,--whether in literature,
+philosophy, or statecraft,--there are no questions "who was
+your father?" or "what is your income?"[+]  Athens will hear him
+and accept his best.  For this open-mindedness--almost unique in
+ancient communities--one must thank King Demos and his mouthpiece,
+the Ecclesia.
+
+[*]Socrates's regular income from invested property seems to have
+been only about $12 per year.  It is to be hoped his wife, Xanthippe,
+had a little property of her own!
+
+[+]Possibly the son of a man whose parents notoriously had been
+slaves in Athens would have found many doors closed to him.
+
+Athenians are intensely proud of their democracy.  In Æschylus's
+"Persians," Atossa, the Barbarian queen, asks concerning the
+Athenians:--
+
+
+"Who is the lord and shepherd of their flock?"
+
+
+Very prompt is the answer:--
+
+
+"They are not slaves, they bow to no man's rule."
+
+
+Again in Euripides's "Supplicants" there is this boast touching
+Athens:--
+
+
+       "No will of one
+Holdeth this land:  it is a city and free.
+The whole folk year by year, in parity of service is our king."
+
+
+130.  The Voting Population of Athens.--Nevertheless when we ask
+about this "whole folk," and who the voters are, we soon discover
+that Athens is very far from being a pure democracy.  The multitudes
+of slaves are of course without votes, and so is the numerous
+class of the important, cultivated, and often wealthy metics.  To
+get Athenian citizenship is notoriously hard.  For a stranger (say
+a metic who had done some conspicuous public service) to be given
+the franchise, a special vote must be passed by the Ecclesia itself;
+even then the new citizen may be prosecuted as undeserving before
+a dicastery, and disfranchised.  Again, only children both of whose
+parents are free Athenian citizens can themselves be enrolled on the
+carefully guarded lists in the deme books.  The status of a child,
+one of whose parents is a metic, is little better than a bastard.[*]
+
+[*]Of course women were entirely excluded from the Ecclesia, as from
+all other forms of public life.  The question of "woman's rights"
+had been agitated just enough to produce comedies like Aristophanes's
+"Parliament of Women," and philosophical theories such as appear
+in Plato's "Republic."
+
+Under these circumstances the whole number of voters is very much
+less than at a later day will appear in American communities of
+like population.  Before the Peloponneisan War, when the power of
+Athens was at its highest point, there were not less than 30,000
+full citizens and possibly as many as 40,000.  But those days of
+imperial power are now ended.  At present Athens has about 21,000
+citizens, or a few more.  It is impossible, however, to gather all
+these in any single meeting.  A great number are farmers living
+in the remote villages of Attica; many city dwellers also will be
+too busy to think the 3-obol (9-cent [1914 or $1.55 2000]) fee for
+attendance worth their while.[*]  Six thousand seems to be a good
+number for ordinary occasions and no doubt much business can be
+dispatched with less, although this is the legal quorum set for most
+really vital matters.  Of course a great crisis, e.g. a declaration
+of war, will bring out nearly every voter whose farm is not too
+distant.
+
+[*]Payment for attendance at the Pnyx seems to have been introduced
+about 390 B.C.  The original payment was probably only one obol,
+and then from time to time increased.  It was a sign of the relative
+decay of political interest in Athens when it became needful thus
+to reward the commonalty for attendance at the Assembly.
+
+
+131.  Meeting Time of the Ecclesia.--Four times in every prytany[*]
+the Ecclesia must be convened for ordinary business, and oftener
+if public occasion requires.  Five days' notice has to be given of
+each regular meeting, and along with the notice a placard announcing
+the proposals which are to come up has to be posted in the Agora.
+But if there is a sudden crisis, formalities can be thrown to the
+winds; a sudden bawling of the heralds in the streets, a great
+smoky column caused by burning the traders' flimsy booths in the
+Agora,--these are valid notices of an extraordinary meeting to
+confront an immediate danger.
+
+[*]"A prytany" was one tenth of a year, say 35 or 36 days, during
+which time the 50 representatives of one of the ten Athenian tribes
+then serving as members of the Council of 500 (each tribe taking
+its turn) held the presidency of the Council and acted as a special
+executive committee of the government.  There were thus at least
+40 meetings of the Ecclesia each year, as well as the extraordinary
+meetings.
+
+If this has been a morning when the Ecclesia has been in session,
+nothing unusual has occurred at first in the busy Agora, except
+that the jury courts are hardly in action, and a bright flag is
+whipping the air from the tall flagpole by the Pnyx (the Assembly
+Place).  Then suddenly there is a shouting through the Agora.  The
+clamor of traffic around the popular flower stalls ceases; everybody
+who is not a slave or metic (and these would form a large fraction
+of the crowd of marketers) begins to edge down toward one end of
+the Agora.  Presently a gang of Scythian police-archers comes in
+sight.  They have a long rope sprinkled with red chalk wherewith
+they are "netting" the Agora.  The chalk will leave an infallible
+mark on the mantle of every tardy citizen, and he who is thus marked
+as late at the meeting will lose his fee for attendance, if not
+subject himself to a fine.  So there is a general rush away from
+the Agora and down one of the various avenues leading to the Pnyx.
+
+
+132.  The Pnyx (Assembly Place) at Athens.--The Pnyx is an open
+space of ground due west from the Acropolis.  It originally sloped
+gently away towards the northeast, but a massive retaining wall
+had been built around it, in an irregular semicircle, and the space
+within filled with solidly packed earth sloping inwards, making a
+kind of open air auditorium.  It is a huge place, 394 feet long,
+and 213 feet at the widest.  The earthen slope is entirely devoid
+of seats; everybody casts himself down sprawling or on his haunches,
+perhaps with an old himation under him.  Directly before the sitters
+runs a long ledge hewn out of the rock, forming, as it were, the
+"stage" side of the theater.  Here the rock has been cut away, so
+as to leave a sizable stone pulpit standing forth, with a small
+flight of steps on each side.  This is the "Bema," the orator's
+stand, whence speak the "demagogues,"[*] the molders of Athenian
+public opinion.  In front of the Bema there is a small portable
+altar for the indispensable sacrifices.  In the rear of the Bema
+are a few planks laid upon the rock.  Here will sit the fifty
+"Pryantes" in charge of the meeting.  There is a handsome chair
+for the presiding officer upon the Bema itself.  These are all the
+furnishings of the structure wherein Athens makes peace and war,
+and orders her whole civil and foreign policy.  The Hellenic azure
+is the only roof above her sovran law makers.  To the right, as
+the orators stand on the Bema, they can point toward the Acropolis
+and its glittering temples; to the left towards the Peiræus, and
+the blue sea with the inevitable memories of glorious Salamis.
+Surely it will be easy to fire all hearts with patriotism!
+
+[*]A "demagogue" (=people-leader) might well be a great statesman,
+and not necessarily a cheap and noisy politician.
+
+
+133.  The Preliminaries of the Meeting.--Into this space the voters
+swarm by hundreds--all the citizens of Athens, from twenty years
+and upward, sufficiently interested to come.  At each crude entrance
+stands a crops of watchful LEXIARCHS and their clerks, checking
+off those present and turning back interlopers.  As the entering
+crowds begin to thin, the entrance ways are presently closed by wicker
+hurdles.  The flag fluttering on high is struck.  The Ecclesia is
+ready for action.
+
+Much earlier than this, the farmers and fishmen from the hill
+towns or from Salamis have been in their places, grumbling at the
+slowness of the officials.  People sit down where they can; little
+groups and clans together, wedged in closely, chattering up to the
+last minute, watching every proceeding with eyes as keen as cats'.
+All the gossip left over from the Agora is disposed of ere the
+prytanes--proverbially late--scramble into their seats of honor.
+The police-archers move up and down, enforcing a kind of order.
+Amid a growing hush a suckling pig is solemnly slaughtered by some
+religious functionary at the altar, and the dead victim carried
+around the circuit of the Pnyx as a symbolic purification of the
+audience.
+
+"Come inside the purified circuit," enjoins a loud herald to the
+little groups upon the edge.[*]
+
+[*]Aristophanes's "Acharnians" (ll. 50 ff.) gives a valuable
+picture of this and other proceedings at the Pnyx, but one should
+never forget the poet's exaggerations for comedy purposes, nor his
+deliberate omission of matters likely to be mere tedious detail to
+his audience.
+
+Then comes a prayer invoking the gods' favor upon the Athenians,
+their allies, and this present meeting in particular, winding up
+(the herald counts this among the chief parts of his duty) with
+a tremendous curse on any wretch who should deceive the folk with
+evil counsel.  After this the real secular business can begin.
+Nothing can be submitted to the Ecclesia which has not been previously
+considered and matured by the Council of 500.  The question to be
+proposed is now read by the heralds as a "Pro-bouleuma"--a suggested
+ordinance by the Council.  Vast as is the audience, the acoustic
+properties of the Pnyx are excellent, and all public officers and
+orators are trained to harangue multitudes in the open air, so that
+the thousands get every word of the proposition.
+
+
+134.  Debating a Proposition.--"Resolved by the Boule, the tribe
+Leontis holding the prytany, and Heraclides being clerk, upon the
+motion of Timon the son of Timon the Eleusinian,[*] that"--and then
+in formal language it is proposed to increase the garrison of the
+allied city of Byzantium by 500 hired Arcadian mercenaries, since
+the king of Thrace is threatening that city, and its continued
+possession is absolutely essential to the free import of grain into
+Attica.
+
+[*]This seems to have been the regular form for beginning a
+"probouleuma" although nearly all our information comes from the
+texts of proposals AFTER they have been made formal decrees by the
+sovran Demos.
+
+There is a hush of expectancy; a craning of necks.
+
+"Who wishes to speak?" calls the herald.
+
+After a decent pause Timon, the mover of the measure, comes forward.
+He is a fairly well-known character and commands a respectable
+faction among the Demos.  There is some little clapping, mixed with
+jeering, as he mounts the Bema.  The president of the prytanes--as
+evidence that he has now the right to harangue--hands him a myrtle
+wreath which he promptly claps on his head, and launches into his
+argument.  Full speedily he has convinced at least a large share
+of the audience that it was sheer destruction to leave Byzantium
+without an efficient garrison.  Grain would soon be at famine
+prices if the town were taken, etc., etc.  The only marvel is that
+the merciful gods have averted the disaster so long in the face of
+such neglect.--Why had the board of strategi, responsible in such
+matters, neglected this obvious duty?  [Cheers intermixed with
+catcalls.]  This was not the way the men who won Marathon had dealt
+with dangers, nor later worthies like Nicias or Thrasybulus.  [More
+cheers and catcalls.]  He winds up with a splendid invocation to
+Earth, Sky, and Justice to bear witness that all this advice is
+given solely with a view to the weal of Athens.
+
+"He had Isocrates teach him how to launch that peroration," mutters
+a crabbed old citizen behind his peak-trimmed beard, as Timon
+descends amid mingled applause and derision.
+
+"Very likely; Iphicrates is ready to answer him," replies a fellow.
+
+"Who wishes to speak?" the herald demands again.  From a place
+directly before the Bema a well-known figure, the elderly general,
+Iphicrates, is rising.  At a nod from the president, he mounts the
+Bema and assumes the myrtle.  He has not Timon's smooth tones nor
+oratorical manner.  He is a man of action and war, and no tool of
+the Agora coteries.  A salvo of applause greets him.  Very pithily
+he observes that Byzantium will be safe enough if the city will only
+be loyal to the Athenian alliance.  Athens needs all her garrisons
+nearer home.  Timon surely knows the state of the treasury.  Is
+he going to propose a special tax upon his fellow countrymen to
+pay for those 500 mercenaries?  [Loud laughter and derisive howls
+directed at Timon.]  Athens needs to keep her strength for REAL
+dangers; and those are serious enough, but not at Byzantium.  At
+the next meeting he and the other strategi will recommend--etc.,
+etc.  When Iphicrates quits the Bema there is little left of Timon's
+fine "Earth, Sky and Justice."
+
+
+135.  Voting at the Pnyx.--But other orators follow on both sides.
+Once Timon, egged on by many supporters, tries to gain the Bema
+a second time, but is told by the president that one cannot speak
+twice on the same subject.  Once the derision and shouting becomes
+so violent that the president has to announce, "Unless there is
+silence I must adjourn the meeting."  Finally, after an unsuccessful
+effort to amend the proposal, by reducing the garrison at Byzantium
+to 250, the movers of the measure realize that the votes will
+probably be against them.  They try to break up the meeting.
+
+"I hear thunder!"  "I feel rain!" they begin shouting, and such ill
+omens, if really in evidence, would be enough to force an adjournment;
+but the sky is delightfully clear.  The president simply shrugs
+his shoulders; and now the Pnyx is fairly rocking with the yell,
+"A vote!  A vote!"
+
+The president rises.  Taking the vote in the Ecclesia is a very
+simple matter when it is a plain question of "yes" or "no" on a
+proposition.[*]
+
+[*]When an INDIVIDUAL had to be voted for, then ballots were used.
+
+"All who favor the 'probouleuma' of Timon will raise the right
+hand!"
+
+A respectable but very decided minority shows itself.
+
+"Those who oppose."
+
+The adverse majority is large.  The morning is quite spent.  There
+is a great tumult.  Men are rising, putting on their himatia,
+ridiculing Timon; while the herald at a nod from the president
+declares the Ecclesia adjourned.
+
+
+136.  The Ecclesia as an Educational Instrument.--Timon and his
+friends retire crestfallen to discuss the fortunes of war.  They
+are not utterly discouraged, however.  The Ecclesia is a fickle
+creature.  What it withholds to-day it may grant to-morrow.
+Iphicrates, whose words have carried such weight now, may soon be
+howled down and driven from the Bema much as was the unfortunate
+litigant in the jury court.  Still, with all its faults, the Ecclesia
+is the great school for the adults of Athens.  All are on terms of
+perfect equality.  King Demos is not the least respecter of wealth
+or family.  Sophistries are usually penetrated in a twinkling
+by some coarse expletive from a remote corner of the Pnyx.  Every
+citizen understands the main issues of the public business.  HE IS
+PART OF THE ACTUAL WORKING GOVERNMENT, not once per year (or less
+often) at the ballot box, but at least forty times annually; and
+dolt he would be, did he not learn at least all the superficialities
+of statecraft.  He may make grievous errors.  He may be misled by
+mob prejudice or mob enthusiasm; but he is not likely to persist
+in a policy of crass blundering very long.  King Demos may indeed
+rule a fallible human monarchy, but it is thanks to him, and to
+his high court held at the Pnyx, that Athens owes at least half of
+that sharpness of wit and intelligence which is her boast.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.  The Afternoon at the Gymnasia.
+
+
+
+
+137.  The Gymnasia.  Places of General Resort.--The market is thinning
+after a busy day; the swarms of farmer-hucksters with their weary
+asses are trudging homeward; the schoolrooms are emptying; the
+dicasteries or the Ecclesia, as the case may be, have adjourned.
+Even the slave artisans in the factories are allowed to slacken
+work.  The sun, a ball of glowing fire, is slowly sinking to westward
+over the slopes of Ægaleos; the rock of the Acropolis is glowing
+as if in flame; intense purple tints are creeping over all the
+landscape.  The day is waning, and all Athenians who can possibly
+find leisure are heading towards the suburbs for a walk, a talk,
+and refreshment of soul and body at the several Gymnasia.
+
+Besides various establishments and small "wrestling schools" for
+the boys, there are three great public Gymnasia at Athens,--the
+Lyceum to the east of the town; the Cynosarges[*] to the southward;
+and last, but at all least, the Academy.  This is the handsomest,
+the most famous, the most characteristic.  We shall do well to
+visit it.
+
+[*]The Cynosarges was the only one of these freely opened to such
+Athenians as had non-Athenian mothers.  The other two were reserved
+for the strictly "full citizens."
+
+
+138.  The Road to the Academy.--We go out toward the northwest of
+the city, plunging soon into a labyrinth of garden walls, fragrant
+with the fruit and blossoms within, wander amid dark olive groves
+where the solemn leaves of the sacred trees are talking sweetly;
+and presently mount a knoll by some suburban farm buildings, then
+look back to find that slight as is the elevation, here is a view
+of marvelous beauty across the city, the Acropolis, and the guardian
+mountains.  From the rustling ivy coverts come the melodious notes
+of birds.  We are glad to learn that this is the suburb of Colonus,
+the home of Sophocles the tragedian, and here is the very spot made
+famous in the renowned chorus of his "Œdipous at Colonus."  It is
+too early, of course, to enjoy the nightingale which the poet asserts
+sings often amid the branches, but the scene is one of marvelous
+charm.  We are not come, however, to admire Colonus.  The numerous
+strollers indicate our direction.  Turning a little to the south, we
+see, embowered amid the olive groves which line the unseen stream
+of the Cephissos, a wall, and once beyond it find ourselves in
+a kind of spacious park combined with an athletic establishment.
+This is the Academy,--founded by Hipparchus, son of Peisistratus
+the tyrant, but given its real embellishments and beauty by Cimon,
+the son of Militiades the victor of Marathon.
+
+
+139.  The Academy.--The Academy is worthy of the visit.  The park
+itself is covered with olive trees and more graceful plane trees.
+The grass beneath us is soft and delightful to the bare foot (and
+nearly everybody, we observe, has taken off his sandals).  There
+are marble and bronze statues skillfully distributed amid the
+shrubbery--shy nymphs, peeping fauns, bold satyrs.  Yonder is a
+spouting fountain surmounted by a noble Poseidon with his trident;
+above the next fountain rides the ocean car of Amphitrite.  Presently
+we come to a series of low buildings.  Entering, we find them laid
+out in a quadrangle with porticoes on every side, somewhat like the
+promenades around the Agora.  Inside the promenades open a series
+of ample rooms for the use of professional athletes during stormy
+weather, and for the inevitable bathing and anointing with oil
+which will follow all exercise.  This great square court formed by
+the "gymnasium" proper is swarming with interesting humanity, but
+we pass it hastily in order to depart by an exit on the inner side
+and discover a second more conventionally laid out park.  Here to
+right and to left are short stretches of soft sand divided into
+convenient sections for wrestling, for quoit hurling, for javelin
+casting, and for jumping; but a loud shout and cheering soon draw
+us onward.  At the end of this park we find the stadium; a great
+oval track, 600 feet (a "stadium") for the half circuit, with benches
+and all the paraphernalia for a foot race.  The first contest have
+just ended.  The races are standing, panting after their exertions,
+but their friends are talking vehemently.  Out in the sand, near
+the statue of Hermes (the patron god of gymnasia) is a dignified
+and self-conscious looking man in a purple edged chiton--the
+gymnasiarch, the official manager of the Academy.  While he waits
+to organize a second race we can study the visitors and habitués
+of the gymnasium.
+
+
+140.  The Social Atmosphere and Human Types at the Academy.--What
+the Pnyx is to the political life of Athens, this the Academy and
+the other great gymnasia are to its social and intellectual as
+well as its physical life.  Here in daily intercourse, whether in
+friendly contest of speed or brawn, or in the more valuable contest
+of wits, the youth of Athens complete their education after escaping
+from the rod of the schoolmaster.  Here they have daily lessons
+on the mottoes, which (did such a thing exist) should be blazoned
+on the coat of arms of Greece, as the summing up of all Hellenic
+wisdom:--
+
+
+"Know thyself,"
+
+
+and again:--
+
+
+"Be moderate."
+
+
+Precept, example, and experience teach these truths at the gymnasia
+of Athens.  Indeed, on days when the Ecclesia is not in session,
+when no war is raging, and they are not busy with a lawsuit, many
+Athenians will spend almost the whole day at the Academy.  For
+whatever are your interests, here you are likely to find something
+to engross you.
+
+It must be confessed that not everybody at the Academy comes here
+for physical or mental improvement.  We see a little group squatting
+and gesticulating earnestly under an old olive tree--they are
+obviously busy, not with philosophic theory, but with dice.  Again,
+two young men pass us presenting a curious spectacle.  They are
+handsomely dressed and over handsomely scented, but each carries
+carefully under each arm a small cock; and from time to time they
+are halted by fiends who admire the birds.  Clearly these worthies'
+main interests are in cockfighting; and they are giving their
+favorites "air and exercise" before the deadly battle, on which
+there is much betting, a the supper party that night.  Also the
+shouting and rumbling from a distance tells of the chariot course,
+where the sons of the more wealthy or pretentious families are
+lessening their patrimonies by training a "two" or a "four" to
+contend at the Isthmian games or at Olympia.
+
+
+141.  Philosophers and Cultivated Men at the Gymnasia.--All these
+things are true, and Athens makes full display here of the usual
+crop of knaves or fools.  Nevertheless this element is in the
+minority.  Here a little earlier or a little later than our visit
+(for just now he is in Sicily) one could see Plato himself--walking
+under the shade trees and expounding to a little trailing host
+of eager-eyed disciples the fundamental theories of his ideal
+Commonwealth.  Here are scores of serious bearded faces, and heads
+sprinkled with gray, moving to and fro in small groups, discussing
+in melodious Attic the philosophy, the poetry, the oration, which
+has been partly considered in the Agora this morning, and which
+will be further discussed at the symposium to-night.  Everything
+is entirely informal.  Even white-haired gentlemen do not hesitate
+to cast off chiton and himation and spring around nimbly upon the
+sands, to "try their distance" with the quoits, or show the young
+men that they have not forgotten accuracy with the javelin, or
+even, against men of their own age, to test their sinews in a mild
+wrestling bout.  It is undignified for an old man to attempt feats
+beyond his advanced years.  No one expects any great proficiency
+from most of those present.  It is enough to attempt gracefully,
+and to laugh merrily if you do not succeed.  Everywhere there is
+the greatest good nature, and even frolicking, but very little of
+the really boisterous.
+
+
+142.  The Beautiful Youths at the Academy.--Yet the majority of
+the visitors to the Academy have an interest that is not entirely
+summed up in proper athletics, or in the baser sports, or in
+philosophy.  Every now and then a little whisper runs among the
+groups of strollers or athlete  "There he goes!--a new one!  How
+beautiful!"--and there is a general turning of heads.
+
+A youth goes by, his body quite stripped, and delicately bronzed by
+constant exposure to the sun.  His limbs are graceful, but vigorous
+and straight, his chest is magnificently curved.  He lifts his head
+modestly, yet with a proud and easy carriage.  His hair is dark
+blonde; his profile very "Greek"--nose and forehead joining in
+unbroken straight line.  A little crowd is following him; a more
+favored comrade, a stalwart, bearded man, walks at his side.  No
+need of questioning now whence the sculptors of Athens get their
+inspiration.  This happy youth, just out of the schoolroom, and
+now to be enrolled as an armed ephebus, will be the model soon for
+some immortal bronze or marble.  Fortunate is he, if his humility
+is not ruined by all the admiration and flattery; if he can remember
+the injunctions touching "modesty," which master and father have
+repeated so long; if he can remember the precept that true beauty
+of body can go only with true beauty of soul.  Now at least is his
+day of hidden or conscious pride.  All Athens is commending him.
+He is the reigning toast, like the "belle" of a later age.  Not the
+groundlings only, but the poets, rhetoricians, philosophers, will
+gaze after him, seek an introduction, compliment him delicately,
+give themselves the pleasure of making him blush deliciously,
+and go back to their august problems unconsciously stimulated and
+refreshed by this vision of "the godlike."[*]
+
+[*]For pertinent commentary on the effect of meeting a beautiful
+youth upon very grave men, see, e.g., Plato's "Charmides" (esp.
+158 a) and "Lysis" (esp. 206 d).  Or better still in Xenophon's
+"Symposium" (I.9), where we hear of the beautiful youth Autolycus,
+"even as a bright light at night draws every eye, so by HIS beauty
+drew on him the gaze of all the company [at the banquet].  Not a
+man was present who did not feel his emotions stirred by the sight
+of him."
+
+
+143.  The Greek Worship of Manly Beauty.--The Greek worship of the
+beautiful masculine form is something which the later world will
+never understand.  In this worship there is too often a coarseness,
+a sensual dross, over which a veil is wisely cast.  but the great
+fact of this worship remains:  to the vast majority of Greeks
+"beauty" does not imply a delicate maid clad in snowy drapery; it
+implies a perfectly shaped, bronzed, and developed youth, standing
+forth in his undraped manhood for some hard athletic battle.  The
+ideal possess the national life, and effects the entire Greek
+civilization.  Not beauty in innocent weakness, but beauty in
+resourceful strength--before this beauty men bow down.[*]
+
+[*]Plato ("Republic," p. 402) gives the view of enlightened Greek
+opinion when he states "There can be no fairer spectacle than that
+of a man who combines the possession of MORAL beauty in his soul,
+with OUTWARD beauty of body, corresponding and harmonizing with
+the former, because the same great pattern enters into both."
+
+It is this masculine type of beauty, whether summed up in a physical
+form or translated by imagery into the realm of the spirit, that
+Isocrates (a very good mouthpieces for average enlightened opinion)
+praises in language which strains even his facile rhetoric.  "[Beauty]
+is the first of all things in majesty, honor, and divineness.  Nothing
+devoid of beauty is prized; the admiration of virtue itself comes
+to this, that of all manifestations of life, virtue is the most
+beautiful.  The supremacy of beauty over all things can be seen in
+our own disposition toward it, and toward them.  Other things we
+merely seek to attain as we need them, but beautiful things inspire us
+with love, LOVE which is as much stronger than WISH as its object
+is better.  To the beautiful alone, as to the gods, we are never
+tired of doing homage; delighting to be their slaves rather than
+to be the rulers of others."
+
+Could we put to all the heterogeneous crowd in the wide gymnasium
+the question, "What things do you desire most?" the answer "To
+be physically beautiful" (not "handsome" merely, but "beautiful")
+would come among the first wishes.  There is a little song, very
+popular and very Greek.  It tells most of the story.
+
+
+The best of gifts to mortal man is health;
+   The next the bloom of beauty's matchless flower;
+The third is blameless and unfraudful wealth;
+   The fourth with friends to spend youths' joyous hour.[*]
+
+[*]Translation by Milman.  The exact date of this Greek poem is
+uncertain, but its spirit is entirely true to that of Athens in
+the time of this sketch.
+
+
+Health and physical beauty thus go before wealth and the passions
+of friendship,--a true Greek estimate!
+
+
+144.  The Detestation of Old Age.--Again, we are quick to learn
+that this "beauty" is the beauty of youth.  It is useless to talk
+to an Athenian of a "beautiful old age."  Old age is an evil to
+be borne with dignity, with resignation if needs be, to be fought
+against by every kind of bodily exercise; but to take satisfaction
+in it?--impossible.  It means a diminishing of those keen powers
+of physical and intellectual enjoyment which are so much to every
+normal Athenian.  It means becoming feeble, and worse than feeble,
+ridiculous.  The physician's art has not advanced so far as to
+prevent the frequent loss of sight and hearing in even moderate age.
+No hope of a future renewal of noble youth in a happier world gilds
+the just man's sunset.  Old age must, like the untimely passing
+of loved ones, be endured in becoming silence, as one of the fixed
+inevitables; but it is gloomy work to pretend to find it cheerful.
+Only the young can find life truly happy.  Euripides in "The Mad
+Heracles" speaks for all his race:--
+
+
+Tell me not of the Asian tyrant,
+  Or of palaces plenished with gold;
+For such bliss I am not an aspirant,
+  If YOUTH I might only behold:--
+Youth that maketh prosperity higher,
+And ever adversity lighter.[*]
+
+[*]Mahaffy, translator.  Another very characteristic lament for
+the passing of youth is left us by the early elegiac poet Mimnermus.
+
+
+145.  The Greeks unite Moral and Physical Beauty.--But here at the
+Academy, this spirit of beautiful youth, and the "joy of life,"
+is everywhere dominant.  All around us are the beautiful bodies
+of young men engaged in every kind of graceful exercise.  When
+we question, we are told that current belief is that in a great
+majority of instances there is a development and a symmetry of
+mind corresponding to the glory of the body.  It is contrary to all
+the prevalent notions of the reign of "divine harmony" to have it
+otherwise.  The gods abhor all gross contradictions!  Even now men
+will argue over a strange breach of this rule;--why did heaven
+suffer Socrates to have so beautiful a soul set in so ugly a
+body?--Inscrutable are the ways of Zeus!
+
+However, we have generalized and wandered enough.  The Academy is
+a place of superabounding activities.  Let us try to comprehend
+some of them.
+
+
+146.  The Usual Gymnastic Sports and their Objects.--Despite all
+the training in polite conversation which young men are supposed
+to receive at the gymnasium, the object of the latter is after all
+to form places of athletic exercise.  The Athenians are without
+most of these elaborate field games such as later ages will call
+"baseball" and "football"; although, once learned, they could
+surely excel in these prodigiously.  They have a simple "catch"
+with balls, but it hardly rises above the level of a children's
+pastime.  The reasons for these omissions are probably, first,
+because so much time is devoted to the "palæstra" exercises;
+secondly, because military training eats up about all the time not
+needed for pure gymnastics.
+
+The "palæstra" exercises, taught first at the boys' training
+establishments and later continued at the great gymnasia, are nearly
+all of the nature of latter-day "field sports."  They do not depend
+on the costly apparatus of the twentieth century athletic halls;
+and they accomplish their ends with extremely simple means.  The
+aim of the instructor is really twofold--to give his pupils a body
+fit and apt for war (and we have seen that to be a citizen usually
+implies being a hoplite), and to develop a body beautiful to the
+eye and efficient for civil life.  The naturally beautiful youth
+can be made more beautiful; the naturally homely youth can be made
+at least passable under the care of a skilful gymnastic teacher.
+
+
+147.  Professional Athletes:  the Pancration.--Athletics, then, are
+a means to an end and should not be tainted with professionalism.
+True, as we wander about the Academy we see heavy and over brawny
+individuals whose "beauty" consists in flattened noses, mutilated
+ears, and mouths lacking many teeth, and who are taking their way
+to the remote quarter where boxing is permitted.  Here they will
+wind hard bull's hide thongs around their hands and wrists, and
+pummel one another brutally, often indeed (if in a set contest)
+to the very risk of life.  These men are obviously professional
+athletes who, after appearing with some success at the "Nemea," are
+in training for the impending "Pythia" at Delphi.  A large crowd
+of youths of the less select kind follows and cheers them; but
+the better public opinion frowns on them.  They are denounced by
+the philosophers.  Their lives no less than their bodies "are not
+beautiful"--i.e. they offend against the spirit of harmony inherent
+in every Greek.  Still less are they in genteel favor when, the
+preliminary boxing round being finished, they put off their boxing
+thongs and join in the fierce "Pancration," a not unskillful
+combination of boxing with wrestling, in which it is not suffered
+to strike with the knotted fist, but in which, nevertheless,
+a terrible blow can be given with the bent fingers.  Kicking,
+hitting, catching, tripping, they strive together mid the "Euge!
+Euge!--Bravo! Bravo!" of their admirers until one is beaten down
+hopelessly upon the sand, and the contest ends without harm.  Had
+it been a real Pancration, however, it would have been desperate
+business, for it is quite permissible to twist an opponent's wrist,
+and even to break his fingers, to make him give up the contest.
+Therefore it is not surprising that the Pancration, even more than
+boxing, is usually reserved for professional athletes.
+
+
+148.  Leaping Contests.--But near at hand is a more pleasing
+contest.  Youths of the ephebus age are practicing leaping.  They
+have no springboard, no leaping pole, but only a pair of curved
+metal dumb-bells to aid them.  One after another their lithe brown
+bodies, shining with the fresh olive oil, come forward on a lightning
+run up the little mound of earth, then fly gracefully out across
+the soft sands.  There is much shouting and good-natured rivalry.
+As each lad leaps, an eager attendant marks his distance with a
+line drawn by the pickaxe.  The lines gradually extend ever farther
+from the mound.  The rivalry is keen.  Finally, there is one leap
+that far exceeds the rest.[*]  A merry crowd swarms around the
+blushing victor.  A grave middle-aged man takes the ivy crown from
+his head, and puts it upon the happy youth.  "Your father will take
+joy in you," he says as the knot breaks up.
+
+[*]If the data of the ancients are to be believed, the Greeks achieved
+records in leaping far beyond those of any modern athletes, but it
+is impossible to rely on data of this kind.
+
+
+149.  Quoit Hurling.--Close by the leapers is another stretch of
+yellow sand reserved for the quoit throwers.  The contestants here
+are slightly older,--stalwart young men who seem, as they fling the
+heavy bronze discus, to be reaching out eagerly into the fullness
+of life and fortune before them.  Very graceful are the attitudes.
+Here it was the sculptor Miron saw his "Discobolus" which he
+immortalized and gave to all the later world; "stooping down to
+take aim, his body turned in the direction of the hand which holds
+the quoit, one knee slightly bent as though he meant to vary the
+posture and to rise with the throw."[*]  The caster, however, does
+not make his attempt standing.  He takes a short run, and then the
+whole of his splendid body seems to spring together with the cast.
+
+[*]The quotation is from Lucian (Roman Imperial period).
+
+
+150.  Casting the javelin.--The range of the quoit hurlers in turn
+seems very great, but we cannot delay to await the issue.  Still
+elsewhere in the Academy they are hurling the javelin.  Here is a
+real martial exercise, and patriotism as well as natural athletic
+spirit urges young men to excel.  the long light lances are being
+whirled at a distant target with remarkable accuracy; and well they
+may, for every contestant has the vision of some hour when he may
+stand on the poop of a trireme and hear the dread call, "All hands
+repel boarders," or need all his darts to break up the rush of a
+pursuing band of hoplites.
+
+
+151.  Wrestling.--The real crowds, however, are around the wrestlers
+and the racers.  Wrestling in its less brutal form is in great
+favor.  It brings into play all the muscles of a man; it tests
+his resources both of mind and body finely.  It is excellent for
+a youth and it fights away old age.  The Greek language is full of
+words and allusions taken from the wrestler's art.  The palæstras
+for the boys are called "the wrestling school" par excellence.
+It is no wonder that now the ring on the sands is a dense one and
+constantly growing.  Two skilful amateurs will wrestle.  One--a
+speedy rumor tells us--is, earlier and later in the day, a rising
+comic poet; the other is not infrequently heard on the Bema.  Just
+at present, however, they have forgotten anapests and oratory.  A
+crowd of cheering, jesting friends thrusts them on.  Forth they
+stand, two handsome, powerful men, well oiled for suppleness, but
+also sprinkled with fine sand to make it possible to get a fair
+grip in the contest.
+
+For a moment they wag their sharp black beards at each other
+defiantly, and poise and edge around.  Then the poet, more daring,
+rushes in, and instantly the two have grappled--each clutching the
+other's left wrist in his right hand.  The struggle that follows
+is hot and even, until a lucky thrust from the orator's foot lands
+the poet in a sprawling heap; whence he rises with a ferocious grin
+and renews the contest.  The second time they both fall together.
+"A tie!" calls the long-gowned friend who acts as umpire, with an
+officious flourish of his cane.
+
+The third time the poet catches the orator trickily under the thigh,
+and fairly tears him to the ground; but at the fourth meeting the
+orator slips his arm in decisive grip about his opponent's wrist
+and with a might wrench upsets him.
+
+"Two casts out of three, and victory!"
+
+Everybody laughs good-naturedly.  The poet and the orator go away
+arm in arm to the bathing house, there to have another good oiling
+and rubbing down by their slaves, after removing the heavily caked
+sand from their skin with the stirgils.  Of course, had it been a
+real contest in the "greater games," the outcome might have been
+more serious for the rules allow one to twist a wrist, to thrust an
+arm or foot into the foeman's belly, or (when things are desperate)
+to dash your forehead--bull fashion--against your opponent's brow,
+in the hope that his skull will prove weaker than yours.
+
+
+152.  Foot Races.--The continued noise from the stadium indicates
+that the races are still running; and we find time to go thither.
+The simple running match, a straight-away dash of 600 feet, seems
+to have been the original contest at the Olympic games ere these
+were developed into a famous and complicated festival; and the
+runner still is counted among the favorites of Greek athletics.
+As we sit upon the convenient benches around the academy stadium
+we see at once that the track is far from being a hard, well-rolled
+"cinder path"; on the contrary, it is of soft sand into which the
+naked foot sinks if planted too firmly, and upon it the most adept
+"hard-track" runner would at first pant and flounder helplessly.
+The Greeks have several kinds of foot races, but none that are very
+short.  The shortest is the simple "stadium" (600 feet), a straight
+hard dash down one side of the long oval; then there is the "double
+course" ("diaulos") down one side and back; the "horse race"--twice
+clear around (2400 feet); and lastly the hard-testing "long course"
+("dolichos") which may very in length according to arrangement,--seven,
+twelve, twenty, or even twenty-four stadia, we are told; and it
+is the last (about three miles) that is one of the most difficult
+contests at Olympia.
+
+At this moment a part of four hale and hearty men still in the
+young prime are about to compete in the "double race."  They come
+forward all rubbed with the glistening oil, and crouch at the
+starting point behind the red cord held by two attendants.  The
+gymnasiarch stands watchfully by, swinging his cane to smite painfully
+whoever, in over eagerness, breaks away before the signal.  All
+is ready; at his nod the rope falls.  The four fly away together,
+pressing their elbows close to their sides, and going over the soft
+sands with long rhythmic leaps, rather than with the usual rapid
+running motion.  A fierce race it is, amid much exhortation from
+friends and shouting.  At length, as so often--when speeding back
+towards the stretched cord,--the rearmost runner suddenly gathers
+amazing speed, and, flying with prodigious leaps ahead of his
+rivals, is easily the victor.  His friends are at once about him,
+and we hear the busy tongues advising, "You must surely race at
+the Pythia; the Olympia; etc."
+
+This simple race over, a second quickly follows:  five heavy, powerful
+men this time, but they are to run in full hoplite's armor--the
+ponderous shield, helmet, cuirass, and greaves.  This is the exacting
+"Armor Race" ("Hoplitodromos"), and safe only for experienced
+soldiers or professional athletes.[*]  Indeed, the Greeks take all
+their foot races seriously, and there are plenty of instances when
+the victor has sped up to the goal, and then dropped dead before
+the applauding stadium.  There are no stop watches in the Academy;
+we do not know the records of the present or of more famous runners;
+yet one may be certain that the "time" made, considering the very
+soft sand, has been exceedingly fast.
+
+[*]It was training in races like these which enabled the Athenians at
+Marathon to "charge the Persians on the run" (Miltiades' orders),
+all armored though they were, and so get quickly through the terrible
+zone of the Persian arrow fire.
+
+
+153.  The Pentathlon:  the Honors paid to Great Athletes.--We have
+now seen average specimens of all the usual athletic sports of the
+Greeks.  Any good authority will tell us, however, that a truly
+capable athlete will not try to specialize so much in any one kind
+of contest that he cannot do justice to the others.  As an all
+around well-trained man he will try to excel in the "Pentathlon,"
+the "five contests."  Herein he will successfully join in running,
+javelin casting, quoit throwing, leaping, and wrestling.[*]  As
+the contest proceeds the weaker athletes will be eliminated; only
+the two fittest will be left for the final trial of strength and
+skill.  Fortunate indeed is "he who overcometh" in the Pentathlon.
+It is the crown of athletic victories, involving, as it does, no
+scanty prowess both of body and mind.  The victor in the Pentathlon
+at one of the great Pan-Hellenic games (Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian,
+or Nemean) or even in the local Attic contest at the Panathenæa is
+a marked man around Athens or any other Greek city.  Poets celebrate
+him; youths dog his heels and try to imitate him; his kinsfolk take
+on airs; very likely he is rewarded as a public benefactor by the
+government.  But there is abundant honor for one who has triumphed
+in ANY of the great contests; and even as we go out we see people
+pointing to a bent old man and saying, "Yes; he won the quoit
+hurling at the Nema when Ithycles was archon."[+]
+
+[*]The exact order of these contests, and the rules of elimination
+as the games proceeded, are uncertain--perhaps they varied with
+time and place.
+
+[+]This would make it 398 B.C.  The Athenians dated their years by
+the name of their "first Archon" ("Archon eponymos").
+
+...The Academy is already thinning.  The beautiful youths and their
+admiring "lovers" have gone homeward.  The last race has been run.
+We must hasten if we would not be late to some select symposium.
+The birds are more melodious than ever around Colonus; the red and
+golden glow upon the Acropolis is beginning to fade; the night is
+sowing the stars; and through the light air of a glorious evening
+we speed back to the city.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII.  Athenian Cookery and the Symposium.
+
+
+
+
+154.  Greek Meal Times.--The streets are becoming empty.  The
+Agora has been deserted for hours.  As the warm balmy night closes
+over the city the house doors are shut fast, to open only for the
+returning master or his guests, bidden to dinner.  Soon the ways
+will be almost silent, to be disturbed, after a proper interval, by
+the dinner guests returning homeward.  Save for these, the streets
+will seem those of a city of the dead:  patrolled at rare intervals
+by the Scythian archers, and also ranged now and then by cutpurses
+watching for an unwary stroller, or miscreant roisterers trolling
+lewd songs, and pounding on honest men's doors as they wander from
+tavern to tavern in search of the lowest possible pleasures.
+
+We have said very little of eating or drinking during our visit in
+Athens, for, truth to tell, the citizens try to get through the day
+with about as little interruption for food and drink as possible.
+But now, when warehouse and gymnasium alike are left to darkness,
+all Athens will break its day of comparative fasting.
+
+Roughly speaking, the Greeks anticipate the latter-day "Continental"
+habits in their meal hours.  The custom of Germans and of many
+Americans in having the heartiest meal at noonday would never appeal
+to them.  The hearty meal is at night, and no one dreams of doing
+any serious work after it.  When it is finished, there may be
+pleasant discourse or varied amusements, but never real business;
+and even if there are guests, the average dinner party breaks up
+early.  Early to bed and early to rise, would be a maxim indorsed
+by the Athenians.
+
+Promptly upon rising, our good citizen has devoured a few morsels
+of bread sopped in undiluted wine; that has been to him what "coffee
+and rolls" will be to the Frenchmen,--enough to carry him through
+the morning business, until near to noon he will demand something
+more satisfying.  He then visits home long enough to partake of a
+substantial déjeuner ("ariston," first breakfast = "akratisma").
+He has one or two hot dishes--one may suspect usually warmed over
+from last night's dinner--and partakes of some more wine.  This
+"ariston" will be about all he will require until the chief meal of
+the day--the regular dinner ("deïpnon") which would follow sunset.
+
+
+155.  Society desired at Meals.--The Athenians are a gregarious
+sociable folk.  Often enough the citizen must dine alone at home
+with "only" his wife and children for company, but if possible he
+will invite friends (or get himself invited out).  Any sort of an
+occasion is enough to excuse a dinner-party,--a birthday of some
+friend, some kind of family happiness, a victory in the games, the
+return from, or the departure upon, a journey:--all these will answer;
+or indeed a mere love of good fellowship.  There are innumerable
+little eating clubs; the members go by rotation to their respective
+houses.  Each member contributes either some money or has his slave
+bring a hamper of provisions.  In the find weather picnic parties
+down upon the shore are common.[*]  "Anything to bring friends
+together"--in the morning the Agora, in the afternoon the gymnasium,
+in the evening they symposium--that seems to be the rule of Athenian
+life.
+
+[*]Such excursions were so usual that the literal expression "Let
+us banquet at the shore" ([Note from Brett:  The Greek letters
+are written out here as there is no way to portray them properly]
+sigma eta mu epsilon rho omicron nu [next word] alpha kappa tau
+alpha sigma omega mu epsilon nu [here is a rough transliteration
+into English letters "sêmeron aktasômen"]) came often to mean simply
+"Let us have a good time."
+
+However, the Athenians seldom gather to eat for the mere sake
+of animal gorging.  They have progressed since the Greeks of the
+Homeric Age.  Odysseus[*] is made to say to Alcinoüs that there is
+nothing more delightful than sitting at a table covered with bread,
+meat, and wine, and listening to a bard's song; and both Homeric
+poems show plenty of gross devouring and guzzling.  There is not
+much of this in Athens, although Bœotians are still reproached with
+being voracious, swinish "flesh eaters," and the Greeks of South
+Italy and Sicily are considered as devoted to their fare, though
+of more refined table habits.  Athenians of the better class pride
+themselves on their light diet and moderation of appetite, and
+their neighbors make considerable fun of them for their failure to
+serve satisfying meals.  Certain it is that the typical Athenian
+would regard a twentieth century "table d'hôte" course dinner as
+heavy and unrefined, if ever it dragged its slow length before him.
+
+[*]"Odyssey," IX. 5-10.
+
+
+156.  The Staple Articles of Food.--However, the Athenians have
+honest appetites, and due means of silencing them.  The diet of a
+poor man is indeed simple in the extreme.  According to Aristophanes
+his meal consists of a cake, bristling with bran for the sake
+of economy, along with an onion and a dish of sow thistles, or of
+mushrooms, or some other such wretched vegetables; and probably, in
+fact, that is about all three fourths of the population of Attica
+will get on ordinary working days, always with the addition of a
+certain indispensable supply of oil and wine.
+
+Bread, oil, and wine, in short, are the three fundamentals of Greek
+diet.  With them alone man can live very healthfully and happily;
+without them elaborate vegetable and meat dishes are poor
+substitutes.  Like latter-day Frenchmen or Italians with their huge
+loaves or macaroni, BREAD in one form or another is literally the
+stuff of life to the Greek.  He makes it of wheat, barley, rye,
+millet, or spelt, but preferably of the two named first.  The barley
+meal is kneaded (not baked) and eaten raw or half raw as a sort of
+porridge.  Of wheat loaves there are innumerable shapes on sale in
+the Agora,--slender rolls, convenient loaves, and also huge loaves
+needing two or three bushels of flour, exceeding even those made
+in a later day in Normandy.  At every meal the amount of bread or
+porridge consumed is enormous; there is really little else at all
+substantial.  Persian visitors to the Greeks complain that they
+are in danger of rising from the table hungry.
+
+But along with the inevitable bread goes the inevitable OLIVE OIL.
+No latter-day article will exactly correspond to it.  First of all
+it takes the place of butter as the proper condiment to prevent
+the bread from being tasteless.[*]  It enters into every dish.
+The most versatile cook will be lost without it.  Again, at the
+gymnasium we have seen its great importance to the athletes and
+bathers.  It is therefore the Hellenic substitute for soap.  Lastly,
+it fills the lamps which swing over very dining board.  It takes
+the place of electricity, gas, or petroleum.  No wonder Athens
+is proud of her olive trees.  If she has to import her grain, she
+has a surplus for export of one of the three great essentials of
+Grecian life.
+
+[*]There was extremely little cow's butter in Greece.  Herodotus (iv.
+2) found it necessary to explain the process of "cow-cheese-making"
+among the Scythians.
+
+The third inevitable article of diet is WINE.  No one has dreamed
+of questioning its vast desirability under almost all circumstances.
+Even drunkenness is not always improper.  It may be highly fitting,
+as putting one in a "divine frenzy," partaking of the nature of
+the gods.  Musæus the semi-mythical poet is made out to teach that
+the reward of virtue will be something like perpetual intoxication
+in the next world.  Æschines the orator will, ere long, taunt his
+opponent Demosthenes in public with being a "water drinker"; and
+Socrates on many occasions has given proof that he possessed a
+very hard head.  Yet naturally the Athenian has too acute a sense
+of things fit and dignified, too noble a perception of the natural
+harmony, to commend drunkenness on any but rare occasions.  Wine
+is rather valued as imparting a happy moderate glow, making the
+thoughts come faster, and the tongue more witty.  Wine raises the
+spirits of youth, and makes old age forget its gray hairs.  It
+chases away thoughts of the dread hereafter, when one will lose
+consciousness of the beautiful sun, and perhaps wander a "strengthless
+shade" through the dreary underworld.
+
+There is a song attributed to Anacreon, and nearly everybody in
+Athens approves the sentiment:--
+
+
+Thirsty earth drinks up the rain,
+Trees from earth drink that again;
+Ocean drinks the air, the sun
+Drinks the sea, and him, the moon.
+Any reason, canst thou think,
+I should thirst, while all these drink?[*]
+
+[*]Translation from Von Falke's "Greece and Rome."
+
+
+157.  Greek Vintages.--All Greeks, however, drink their wine so
+diluted with water that it takes a decided quantity to produce a
+"reaction."  The average drinker takes three parts water to two of
+wine.  If he is a little reckless the ratio is four of water to
+three of wine; equal parts "make men mad" as the poet says, and are
+probably reserved for very wild dinner parties.  As for drinking
+pure wine no one dreams of the thing--it is a practice fit for
+Barbarians.  There is good reason, however, for this plentiful
+use of water.  In the original state Greek wines were very strong,
+perhaps almost as alcoholic as whisky, and the Athenians have no
+Scotch climate to excuse the use of such stimulants.[*]
+
+[*]There was a wide difference of opinion as to the proper amount
+of dilution.  Odysseus ("Odyssey," IX. 209) mixed his fabulously
+strong wine from Maron in Thrace with twenty times its bulk of
+water.  Hesiod abstemiously commended three parts of water to one
+of wine.  Zaleucus, the lawgiver of Italian Locri, established the
+death penalty for drinking unmixed wine save by physicians' orders
+("Athenæus," X. 33).
+
+No wine served in Athens, however, will appeal to a later-day
+connoisseur.  It is all mixed with resin, which perhaps makes it
+more wholesome, but to enjoy it then becomes an acquired taste.
+There are any number of choice vintages, and you will be told that
+the local Attic wine is not very desirable, although of course it
+is the cheapest.  Black wine is the strongest and sweetest; white
+wine is the weakest; rich golden is the driest and most wholesome.
+The rocky isles and headlands of the Ægean seem to produce the
+best vintage--Thasos, Cos, Lesbos, Rhodes, all boast their grapes;
+but the best wine beyond a doubt is from Chios.[*]  It will fetch
+a mina ($18 [1914 or $310.14 2000]) the "metreta," i.e. nearly 50
+cents [1914 or $8.62 2000] per quart.  At the same time you can
+buy a "metreta" of common Attic wine for four drachmae (72 cents
+[1914 or $12.41 2000]), or say two cents [1914 or 34 cents 2000]
+per quart.  The latter--when one considers the dilution--is surely
+cheap enough for the most humble.
+
+[*]Naturally certain foreign vintages had a demand, just because
+they were foreign.  Wine was imported from Egypt and from various
+parts of Italy.  It was sometimes mixed with sea water for export,
+or was made aromatic with various herbs and berries.  It was
+ordinarily preserved in great earthen jars sealed with pitch.
+
+
+158.  Vegetable Dishes.--Provided with bread, oil, and wine, no
+Athenian will long go hungry; but naturally these are not a whole
+feast.  As season and purse may afford they will be supplanted by
+such vegetables as beans (a staple article), peas, garlic, onions,
+radishes, turnips, and asparagus; also with an abundance of
+fruits,--besides figs (almost a fourth indispensable at most meals),
+apples, quinces, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, blackberries,
+the various familiar nuts, and of course a plenty of grapes and
+olives.  The range of selection is in fact decidedly wide:  only
+the twentieth century visitor will miss the potato, the lemon, and
+the orange; and when he pries into the mysteries of the kitchen a
+great fact at once stares him in the face.  The Greek must dress
+his dishes without the aid of sugar.  As a substitute there is an
+abundant use of the delicious Hymettus honey,--"fragrant with the
+bees,"--but it is by no means so full of possibilities as the white
+powder of later days.  Also the Greek cook is usually without fresh
+cow's milk, and most goat's milk probably takes its way to cheese.
+No morning milk carts rattle over the stones of Athens.
+
+
+159.  Meat and Fish Dishes.--Turning to the meat dishes, we at once
+learn that while there is a fair amount of farm poultry, geese,
+hares, doves, partridges, etc., on sale in the market, there is
+extremely little fresh beef or even mutton, pork, and goat's flesh.
+It is quite expensive, and counted too hearty for refined diners.
+The average poor man in fact hardly tastes flesh except after one
+of the great public festivals; then after the sacrifice of the
+"hecatomb" of oxen, there will probably be a distribution of roast
+meat to all the worshipers, and the honest citizen will take home
+to his wife an uncommon luxury--a piece of roast beef.  But the
+place of beef and pork is largely usurped by most excellent fish.
+The waters of the Ægean abound with fish.  The import of salt fish
+(for the use of the poor) from the Propontis and Euxine is a great
+part of Attic commerce.  A large part of the business at the Agora
+centers around the fresh fish stalls, and we have seen how extortionate
+and insolent were the fishmongers.  Sole, tunny, mackerel, young
+shark, mullet, turbot, carp, halibut, are to be had, but the choicest
+regular delicacies are the great Copaic eels from Bœotia; these,
+"roasted on the coals and wrapped in beet leaves," are a dish
+fit for the Great King.  Lucky is the host who has them for his
+dinner party.  Oysters and mussels too are in demand, and there is
+a considerable sale of snails, "the poor man's salad," even as in
+present-day France.
+
+Clearly, then, if one is not captious or gluttonous, there should
+be no lack of good eating in Athens, despite the reputation of the
+city for abstemiousness.  Let us pry therefore into the symposium
+of some good citizen who is dispensing hospitality to-night.
+
+
+160.  Inviting Guests to a Dinner Party.--
+
+
+Who loves thee, him summon to they board;
+Far off be he who hates.
+
+
+This familiar sentiment of Hesiod, one Prodicus, a well-to-do
+gentleman, had in mind when he went to the Agora this morning to
+arrange for a dinner party in honor of his friend Hermogenes, who
+was just departing on a diplomatic mission to the satrap of Mysia.
+While walking along the Painted Porch and the other colonnades he
+had no difficulty in seeing most of the group he intended to invite,
+and if they did not turn to greet him, he would halt them by sending
+his slave boy to run and twitch at their mantles, after which the
+invitation was given verbally.  Prodicus, however, deliberately
+makes arrangements for one or two more than those he has bidden.
+It will be entirely proper for his guests to bring friends of their
+own if they wish; and very likely some intimate whom he has been
+unable to find will invite himself without any bidding.
+
+At the Agora Prodicus has had much to do.  His house is a fairly
+large and well-furnished one, his slaves numerous and handy, but he
+has not the cook or the equipment for a really elaborate symposium.
+At a certain quarter on the great square he finds a contractor
+who will supply all the extra appointments for a handsome dinner
+party--tables, extra lamps, etc.  Then he puts his slave boy to
+bawling out:
+
+
+"Who wants an engagement to cook a dinner?"
+
+
+This promptly brings forward a sleek, well-dressed fellow whose
+dialect declares that he is from Sicily, and who asserts he is an
+expert professional cook.  Prodicus engages him and has a conference
+with him on the profound question of "whether the tunnies or the
+mullets are better to-day, or will there be fresh eels?"  This
+point and similar minor matters settled, Prodicus makes liberal
+purchases at the fish and vegetable stalls, and his slaves bear
+his trophies homeward.
+
+
+161.  Preparing for the Dinner.  The Sicilian Cook.--All that
+afternoon the home of Prodicus is in an uproar.  The score of
+slaves show a frantic energy.  The aula is cleaned and scrubbed:
+the serving girls are busy handing festoons of leaves and weaving
+chaplets.  The master's wife--who does not dream of actually sharing
+in the banquet--is nevertheless as active and helpful as possible;
+but especially she is busy trying to keep the peace between the old
+house servants and the imported cook.  This Sicilian is a notable
+character.  To him cookery is not a handicraft:  it is the triumph,
+the quintessence of all science and philosophy.  He talks a strange
+professional jargon, and asserts that he is himself learned in
+astronomy--for that teaches the best seasons, e.g. for mackerel and
+haddock; in geometry,--that he might know how a boiler or gridiron
+should be set to the best advantage; in medicine, that he might
+prepare the most wholesome dishes.  In any case he is a perfect
+tyrant around the kitchen, grumbling about the utensils, cuffing
+the spit-boy, and ever bidding him bring more charcoal for the fire
+and to blow the bellows faster.[*]
+
+[*]The Greeks seem to have cooked over a rather simple open fireplace
+with a wood or charcoal fire.  They had an array of cooking utensils,
+however, according to all our evidence, elaborate enough to gladden
+a very exacting modern CHEF.
+
+By the time evening is at hand Prodicus and his house are in
+perfect readiness.  The bustle is ended; and the master stands by
+the entrance way, clad in his best and with a fresh myrtle wreath,
+ready to greet his guests.  No ladies will be among these.  Had
+there been any women invited to the banquet, they would surely
+be creatures of no very honest sort; and hardly fit, under any
+circumstances, to darken the door of a respectable citizen.  The
+mistress and her maids are "behind the scenes."  There may be a woman
+among the hired entertainers provided, but for a refined Athenian
+lady to appear at an ordinary symposium is almost unthinkable.[*]
+
+[*]In marriage parties and other strictly family affairs women were
+allowed to take part; and we have an amusing fragment of Menander
+as to how, on such rare occasions, they monopolized the conversation.
+
+
+162.  The Coming of the Guests.--As each guest comes, he is seen
+to be elegantly dressed, and to wear now, if at no other time, a
+handsome pair of sandals.[*]  He has also taken pains to bathe and
+to perfume himself.  As soon as each person arrives his sandals
+are removed in the vestibule by the slaves and his feet are bathed.
+No guest comes alone, however: every one has his own body servant
+with him, who will look after his footgear and himation during
+the dinner, and give a certain help with the serving.  The house
+therefore becomes full of people, and will be the scene of remarkable
+animation during the next few hours.
+
+[*]Socrates, by way of exception to his custom, put on some fine
+sandals when he was invited to a banquet.
+
+Prodicus is not disappointed in expecting some extra visitors.  His
+guest of honor, Hermogenes, has brought along two, whom the host
+greets with the polite lie:  "Just in time for dinner.  Put off
+your other business.  I was looking for you in the Agora and could
+not find you."[*]  Also there thrusts in a half genteel, half
+rascally fellow, one Palladas, who spends all his evenings at
+dinner parties, being willing to be the common butt and jest of the
+company (having indeed something of the ability of a comic actor
+about him) in return for a share of the good things on the table.
+These "Parasites" are regular characters in Athens, and no symposium
+is really complete without them, although often their fooleries
+cease to be amusing.[+]
+
+[*]It is with such a white fib that the host Agathon salutes
+Aristodemus, Socrates's companion in Plato's "Symposium."
+
+[+]Of these "Parasites" or "Flies" (as owing to their migratory
+habits they were sometimes called), countless stories were told,
+whereof the following is a sample:  there was once a law in Athens
+that not over thirty guests were to be admitted to a marriage feast,
+and an officer was obliged to count all the guests and exclude the
+superfluous.  A "fly" thrust in on one occasion, and the officer
+said:  "Friend, you must retire.  I find one more here than the
+law allows."  "Dear fellow," quoth the "fly," "you are utterly
+mistaken, as you will find, if you kindly count again--only BEGINNING
+WITH ME."
+
+
+163.  The Dinner Proper.--The Greeks have not anticipated the Romans
+in their custom of making the standard dinner party nine persons on
+three couches,--three guests on each.  Prodicus has about a dozen
+guests, two on a couch.  They "lie down" more or less side by side
+upon the cushioned divans, with their right arms resting on brightly
+striped pillows and the left arms free for eating.  The slaves bring
+basis of water to wash their hands, and then beside each couch is
+set a small table, already garnished with the first course, and
+after the casting of a few bits of food upon the family hearth
+fire,--the conventional "sacrifice" to the house gods,--the dinner
+begins.
+
+Despite the elaborate preparations of the Sicilian cook, Prodicus
+offers his guests only two courses.  The first consists of the
+substantial dishes--the fish, the vegetables, the meat (if there is
+any).  Soups are not unknown, and had they been served might have
+been eaten with spoons; but Athens like all the world is innocent
+of forks, and fingers take their place.  Each guest has a large
+piece of soft bread on which he wipes his fingers from time to time
+and presently casts it upon the floor.[*]  When this first course
+is finished, the tables are all taken out to be reset, water is
+again poured over the hands of the guests, and garlands of flowers
+are passed.  The use of garlands is universal, and among the
+guests, old white headed and bearded Sosthenes will find nothing
+more undignified in putting himself beneath a huge wreath of lilies
+than an elderly gentleman of a later day will find in donning
+the "conventional" dress suit.  The conversation,--which was
+very scattering at first,--becomes more animated.  A little wine
+is now passed about.  Then back come the tables with the second
+course--fruits, and various sweetmeats and confectionary with
+honey as the staple flavoring.  Before this disappears a goblet of
+unmixed wine is passed about, and everybody takes a sip:  "To the
+Good Genius," they say as the cup goes round.
+
+[*]Napkins were not used in Greece before Roman days.
+
+
+164.  Beginning the Symposium.--Prodicus at length gives a nod to
+the chief of his corps of servers.
+
+"Bring in the wine!" he orders.  The slaves promptly whisk out the
+tables and replace them with others still smaller, on which they
+set all kinds of gracefully shaped beakers and drinking bowls.  More
+wreaths are distributed, also little bottles of delicate ointment.
+While the guests are praising Prodicus's nard, the servants have
+brought in three huge "mixing bowls" ("craters") for the wines
+which are to furnish the main potation.
+
+So far we have witnessed not a symposium, but merely a dinner; and
+many a proper party has broken up when the last of the dessert has
+disappeared; but, after all, the drinking bout is the real crown
+of the feast.  It is not so much the wine as the things that go
+with the wine that are so delightful.  As to what these desirable
+condiments are, opinions differ.  Plato (who is by no means too
+much of a philosopher to be a real man of the world) says in his
+"Protagoras" that mere conversation is "the" thing at a symposium.
+"When the company are real gentlemen and men of education, you
+will see no flute girls nor dancing girls nor harp girls; they will
+have no nonsense or games, but will be content with one another's
+conversation."[*]  But this ideal, though commended, is not always
+followed in decidedly intellectual circles.  Zenophon[+] shows us
+a select party wherein Socrates participated, in which the host
+has been fain to hire in a professional Syracusian entertainer with
+two assistants, a boy and a girl, who bring their performance to a
+climax by a very suggestive dumb-show play of the story of Bacchus
+and Ariadne.  Prodicus's friends, being solid, somewhat pragmatic
+men--neither young sports nor philosophers--steer a middle course.
+There is a flute girl present, because to have a good symposium
+without some music is almost unimaginable; but she is discreetly
+kept in the background.
+
+[*]Plato again says ("Politicus," 277 b), "To intelligent persons,
+a living being is more truly delineated by language and discourse
+than by any painting or work of art."
+
+[+]In his "Symposium"--which is far less perfect as literature than
+Plato's, but probably corresponds more to the average instance.
+
+
+165.  The Symposiarch and his Duties.--"Let's cast for our Symposiarch!"
+is Prodicus's next order, and each guest in turn rattles the dice
+box.  Tyche (Lady Fortune) gives the presidency of the feast to
+Eunapius, a bright-eyed, middle-aged man with a keen sense of humor,
+but a correct sense of good breeding.  He assumes command of the
+symposium; takes the ordering of the servants out of Prodicus's
+hands, and orders the wine to be mixed in the craters with proper
+dilution.  He then rises and pours out a libation from each bowl
+"to the Olympian Gods," "to the Heroes," and "to Zeus the Saviour,"
+and casts a little incense upon the altar.  The guests all sing a
+"Pæan," not a warrior's charging song this time, but a short hymn
+in praise of the Wine-God, some lilting catch like Alcæus's
+
+
+In mighty flagons hither bring
+  The deep red blood of many a vine,
+That we may largely quaff and sing
+  The praises of the God of wine.
+
+
+166.  Conversation at the Symposium.--After this the symposium will
+proceed according to certain general rules which it is Eunaius's
+duty to enforce; but in the main a "program" is something to be
+avoided.  Everybody must feel himself acting spontaneously and freely.
+He must try to take his part in the conversation and neither speak
+too seldom nor too little.  It is not "good form" for two guests
+to converse privately among themselves, nor for anybody to dwell
+on unpleasant or controversial topics.  Aristophanes has laid down
+after his way the proper kind of things to talk about.[*]  "[Such
+as]'how Ephudion fought a fine pancratium with Ascondas though old
+and gray headed, but showing great form and muscle.'  This is the
+talk usual among refined people [or again] 'some manly act of your
+youth; for example, how you chased a boar or a hare, or won a torch
+race by some bold device.'  [Then when fairly settled at the feast]
+straighten your knees and throw yourself in a graceful and easy
+manner upon the couch.  Then make some observations upon the beauty
+of the appointments, look up at the ceiling and praise the tapestry
+of the room."
+
+[*] "Wasps," 1174-1564.
+
+As the wine goes around, tongues loosen more and more.  Everybody
+gesticulates in delightful southern gestures, but does not lose
+his inherent courtesy.  The anecdotes told are often very egoistic.
+The first personal pronoun is used extremely often, and "I" becomes
+the hero of a great many exploits.  The Athenian, in short, is an
+adept at praising himself with affected modesty, and his companions
+listen good-humoredly, and retaliate by praising themselves.
+
+
+167.  Games and Entertainments.--By the time the craters are one
+third emptied the general conversation is beginning to be broken
+up.  It is time for various standard diversions.  Eunapius therefore
+begins by enjoining on each guest in turn to sing a verse in which
+a certain letter must not appear, and in event of failure to pay
+some ludicrous forfeit.  Thus the bald man is ordered to begin to
+comb his hair; the lame man (halt since the Mantinea campaign), to
+stand up and dance to the flute player, etc.  There are all kinds of
+guessing of riddles--often very ingenious as become the possessors
+of "Attic salt."  Another diversion is to compare every guest
+present to some mythical monster, a process which infallibly ends
+by getting the "Parasite" likened to Cerberus, the Hydra, or some
+such dragon, amid the laughter of all the rest.  At some point in the
+amusement the company is sure to get to singing songs:--"Scolia"--drinking
+songs indeed, but often of a serious moral or poetic character,
+whereof the oft-quoted song in praise of Harmodius and Aristogeiton
+the tyrant-slayers is a good example.[*]  No "gentleman" will profess
+to be a public singer, but to have a deep, well-trained voice, and
+to be able to take one's part in the symposium choruses is highly
+desirable, and some of the singing at Proicus's banquet is worth
+hearing.
+
+[*]Given in "Readings in Ancient History," Vol. I, p. 117, and in
+many other volumes.
+
+Before the evening is over various games will be ordered in, especially
+the "cottabus," which is in great vogue.  On the top of a high
+stand, something like a candelabrum, is balanced rather delicately
+a little saucer of brass.  The players stand at a considerable
+distance with cups of wine.  The game is to toss a small quantity
+of wine into the balanced saucer so smartly as to make the brass
+give out a clear ringing sound, and to tilt upon its side.[+]  Much
+shouting, merriment, and a little wagering ensues.  While most of
+the company prefer the cottabus, two, who profess to be experts, call
+for a gaming board and soon are deep in the "game of towns"--very
+like to latter-day "checkers," played with a board divided into
+numerous squares.  Each contestant has thirty colored stones, and
+the effort is to surround your opponent's stones and capture them.
+Some of the company, however, regard this as too profound, and
+after trying their skill at the cottabus betake themselves to the
+never failing chances of dice.  Yet these games are never suffered
+(in refined dinner parties) to banish the conversation.  That
+after all is the center, although it is not good form to talk over
+learnedly of statecraft, military tactics, or philosophy.  If such
+are discussed, it must be with playful abandon, and a disclaimer of
+being serious; and even very grave and gray men remember Anacreon's
+preference for the praise of "the glorious gifts of the Muses and
+of Aphrodite" rather than solid discussions of "conquest and war."
+
+[+]This was the simplest form of the COTTABUS game; there were
+numerous elaborations, but our accounts of them are by no means
+clear.
+
+
+168.  Going Home from the Feast:  Midnight Revellers.--At length the
+oil lamps have begun to burn dim.  The tired slaves are yawning.
+Their masters, despite Prodicus's intentions of having a very
+proper symposium, have all drunk enough to get unstable and silly.
+Eunapius gives the signal.  All rise, and join in the final libation
+to Hermes.  "Shoes and himation, boy," each says to his slave, and
+with thanks to their host they all fare homeward.
+
+Such will be the ending to an extremely decorous feast.  With gay
+young bloods present, however, it might have degenerated into an
+orgy; the flute girl (or several of them) would have contributed
+over much to the "freedom"; and when the last deep crater had been
+emptied, the whole company would have rushed madly into the street,
+and gone whirling away through the darkness,--harps and flutes
+sounding, boisterous songs pealing, red torches tossing.  Revellers
+in this mood would be ready for anything.  Perhaps they would end in
+some low tavern at the Peiræus to sleep off their liquor; perhaps
+their leader would find some other Symposium in progress, and after
+loud knockings, force his way into the house, even as did the mad
+Alcibiades, who (once more to recall Plato) thrust his way into
+Agathon's feast, staggering, leaning on a flute girl, and shouting,
+"Where's Agathon!"  Such an inroad would be of course the signal
+for more and ever more hard drinking.  The wild invaders might make
+themselves completely at home, and dictate all the proceedings:
+the end would be even as at Agathon's banquet, where everybody but
+Socrates became completely drunken, and lay prone on the couches or
+the floor.  One hopes that the honest Prodicus has no such climax
+to his symposium.
+
+...At length the streets grow quiet.  Citizens sober or drunken
+are now asleep:  only the vigilant Scythian archers patrol the ways
+till the cocks proclaim the first gray of dawn.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX.  Country Life Around Athens
+
+
+
+
+169.  Importance of his Farm to an Athenian.--We have followed the
+doings of a typical Athenian during his ordinary activities around
+the city, but for the average gentleman an excursion outside the
+town is indispensable at least every two or three days, and perhaps
+every day.  He must visit his farm; for his wealth and income are
+probably tied up there, rather than in any unaristocratic commercial
+and manufacturing enterprises.  Homer's "royal" heroes are not
+ashamed to be skilful at following the plow[*]:  and no Athenian
+feels that he is contaminating himself by "trade" when he supervises
+the breeding of sheep or the raising of onions.  We will therefore
+follow in the tracks of certain well-to-do citizens, when we turn
+toward the Itonian gate sometime during the morning, while the
+Agora is still in a busy hum, even if thus we are curtailing our
+hypothetical visits to the Peiræus or to the bankers.
+
+[*]See Odysseus's boasts, "Odyssey," XVIII. 360 et passim.  The
+gentility of farming is emphasized by a hundred precepts from
+Hesiod.
+
+
+170.  The Country by the Ilissus:  the Greeks and Natural Beauty.--Our
+companions are on horseback (a token of tolerable wealth in Athens),
+but the beasts amble along not too rapidly for nimble grooms to
+run behind, each ready to aid his respective master.  Once outside
+the gate the regular road swings down to the south towards Phalerum;
+we, however, are in no great haste and desire to see as much as
+possible.  The farms we are seeking lie well north of the city, but
+we can make a delightful circuit by skirting the city walls with
+the eastern shadow of the Acropolis behind us, and going at first
+northeast, along the groves and leafy avenues which line the thin
+stream of the Ilissus,[*] the second "river" of Athens.
+
+[*]The Ilissus, unlike its sturdier rival, the Cephisus, ran dry
+during the summer heats; but there was enough water along its bed
+to create a dense vegetation.
+
+Before us through the trees came tantalizing glimpses of the open
+country running away towards shaggy gray Hymettus.  Left to itself
+the land would be mostly arid and seared brown by the summer sun;
+but everywhere the friendly work of man is visible.  One can count
+the little green oblong patches, stretching even up the mountain
+side, marked with gleaming white farm buildings or sometimes with
+little temples and chapels sacred to the rural gods.  Once or
+twice also we notice a plot of land which seems one tangled waste
+of trees and shrubbery.  This is a sacred "temenos," an inviolate
+grove, set apart to some god; and within the fences of the compound
+no mortal dare set foot under pain of direful sacrilege and pollution.
+
+Following a kind of bridle path, however, we are soon amid the
+groves of olive and other trees, while the horses plod their slow
+way beside the brook.  Not a few citizens going or coming from
+Athens meet us, for this is really one of the parks and breathing
+spaces of the closely built city.  The Athenians and Greeks in
+general live in a land of such natural beauty that they take this
+loveliness as a matter of course.  Very seldom do their poets
+indulge in deliberate descriptions of "beautiful landscapes"; but
+none the less the fair things of nature have penetrated deeply
+into their souls.  The constant allusions in Homer and the other
+masters of song to the great storm waves, the deep shades of the
+forest, the crystal books, the pleasant rest for wanderers under
+the shade trees, the plains bright with spring flowers, the ivy
+twining above a grave, the lamenting nightingale, the chirping
+cicada, tell their own story; men seldom describe at length what
+is become warp and woof of their inmost lives.  The mere fact that
+the Greeks dwell CONSTANTLY in such a beautiful land, and have
+learned to love it so intensely, makes frequent and set descriptions
+thereto seem trivial.
+
+
+171.  Plato's Description of the Walk by the Ilissus.--Nevertheless
+occasionally this inborn love of the glorious outer world must find
+its expression, and it is of these very groves along he Ilissus
+that we have one of the few "nature pieces" in Athenian literature.
+As the plodding steeds take their way let us recall our Plato--his
+"Phœdrus," written probably not many years before this our visit.
+
+Socrates is walking with Phædrus outside the walls, and urges the
+latter:  "Let us go to the Ilissus and sit down in some quiet spot."
+"I am fortunate," answers Phædrus, "in  not having my sandals on,
+and, as you never have any, we may go along the brook and cool
+our feet.  This is the easiest way, and at midday is anything but
+unpleasant."  He adds that they will go on to the tallest plane
+tree in the distance, "where are shade and gentle breezes, and
+grass whereon we may either sit or lie....  The little stream is
+delightfully clear and bright.  I can fancy there might well be
+maidens playing near [according to the local myth of Boreas's rape
+of Orithyia]."  And so at last they come to the place, when Socrates
+says:  "Yes indeed, a fair and shady resting place it is, full of
+summer sounds and scents.  There is the lofty and spreading plane
+tree, and the agnus castus, high and clustering in the fullest
+blossom and the greatest fragrance, and the stream which flows
+beneath the plane tree is deliciously cool to the feet.  Judging
+by the ornaments and images [set] about, this must be a spot sacred
+to Achelous and the Nymphs; moreover there is a sweet breeze and
+the grasshoppers are chirruping; and the greatest charm of all is
+the grass like a pillow, gently sloping to the head."[*]
+
+[*]Jewett, translator; slightly altered.
+
+
+172.  The Athenian Love of Country Life.--So the two friends had
+sat them down to delve in delightful profundities; but following
+the bridle path, the little brook and its groves end for us all too
+soon.  We are in the open country around Athens, and the fierce
+rays of Helios beat strongly on our heads.  We are outside the city,
+but by no means far from human life.  Farm succeeds farm, for the
+land around Athens has a goodly population to maintain, and there
+is a round price for vegetables in the Agora.  Truth to tell, the
+average Athenian, though he pretends to love the market, the Pnyx,
+the Dicasteries, and the Gymnasia, has a shrewd hankering for the
+soil, and does not care to spend more time in Athens then necessary.
+Aristophanes is full of the contrasts between "country life" and
+"city life" and almost always with the advantage given the former.
+Says his Strepsiades (in "The Clouds"), "A country life for me--dirty,
+untrimmed, lolling around at ease, and just abounding in bees and
+sheep and oil cake."  His Diceæpolis ("Acharnians") voices clearly
+the independence of the farmer:  "How I long for peace.[*]  I'm
+disgusted with the city; and yearn for my own farm which never
+bawled out [as in the markets] 'buy my coals' or 'buy my vinegar'
+or 'oil,' or KNEW the word 'buy,' but just of itself produced
+everything."  And his Trygæus (in "The Peace") states the case
+better yet:  "Ah! how eager I am to get back into the fields, and
+break up my little farm with the mattock again...[for I remember]
+what kind of a life we had there; and those cakes of dried fruits,
+and the figs, and the myrtles, and the sweet new wine, and the
+violet bed next to the well, and the olives we so long for!"
+
+[*]I.e. the end of the Peloponnesian War, which compelled the
+farming population to remove inside the walls.
+
+There is another reason why the Athenians rejoice in the country.
+The dusty streets are at best a poor playground for the children,
+the inner court of the house is only a respectable prison for the
+wife.  In the country the lads can enjoy themselves; the wife and
+the daughters can roam about freely with delightful absence of
+convention.  There will be no happier day in the year than when
+the master says, "Let us set out for the farm."
+
+
+173.  Some Features of the Attic Country.--Postponing our examination
+of Athenian farmsteads and farming methods until we reach some
+friendly estate, various things strike us as we go along the road.
+One is the skilful system of irrigation,--the numerous watercourses
+drawn especially from the Cephisus, whereby the agriculturists make
+use of every possible scrap of moisture for the fields, groves, and
+vineyards.  Another is the occasional olive tree we see standing,
+gnarled and venerable, but carefully fenced about; or even
+(not infrequently) we see fences only with but a dead and utterly
+worthless stump within.  Do not speak lightly of these "stumps,"
+however.  They are none the less "moriai"--sacred olive trees of
+Athena, and carefully tended by public wardens.[*]  Contractors
+are allowed to take the fruit of the olive trees under carefully
+regulated conditions; but no one is allowed to remove the stumps,
+much less hew down a living tree.  An offender is tried for
+"impiety" before the high court of the Areopagus, and his fate is
+pretty surely death, for the country people, at least, regard their
+sacred trees with a fanatical devotion which it would take long to
+explain to a stranger.
+
+
+[*]Athenians loved to dwell on the "divine gift" of the olive.
+Thus Euripides sang ("Troades," 799):--
+
+In Salamis, filled with the foaming
+     Of billows and murmur of bees,
+Old Telamon stayed from his roaming
+     Long ago, on a throne of the seas,
+Looking out on the hills olive laden,
+     Enchanted, where first from the earth
+The gray-gleaming fruit of the Maiden
+     Athena had birth.
+
+          --Murray, translator.
+
+The hero Telamon was reputed an uncle of Achilles and one of the
+early kings of Salami.
+
+
+Also upon the way one is pretty sure to meet a wandering beggar--a
+shrewd-eyed, bewhiskered fellow.  He carries, not a barrel organ
+and monkey, but a blinking tame crow perched on his shoulder, and
+at every farmstead he halts to whine his nasal ditty and ask his
+dole.
+
+
+Good people, a handful of barley bestow
+On the child of Apollo, the sleek sable crow;
+Or a trifle of whet, O kind friends, give;--
+Or a wee loaf of bread that the crow may live.
+
+
+It is counted good luck by the housewife to have a chance to feed
+a "holy crow," and the owner's pickings are goodly.  By the time
+we have left the beggar behind us we are at the farm whither our
+excursion has been tending.
+
+
+174.  An Attic Farmstead.--We are to inspect the landed estate of
+Hybrias, the son of Xanthippus.  It lies north of Athens on the
+slopes of Anchesmus, one of the lesser hills which roll away toward
+the marble-crowned summits of Pentelicus.  Part of the farm lands
+lie on the level ground watered by the irrigation ditches; part
+upon the hillsides, and here the slopes have been terraced in a
+most skilful fashion in order to make the most of every possible
+inch of ground, and also to prevent any of the precious soil from
+being washed down by the torrents of February and March.  The owner
+is a wealthy man, and has an extensive establishment; the farm
+buildings--once whitewashed, but now for the most part somewhat
+dirty--wander away over a large area.  There are wide courts, deep
+in manure, surrounded by barns; there are sties, haymows, carefully
+closed granaries, an olive press, a grain mill, all kinds of stables
+and folds, likewise a huge irregularly shaped house wherein are
+lodged the numerous slaves and the hired help.  The general design
+of this house is the same as of a city house--the rooms opening
+upon an inner court, but naturally its dimensions are ampler, with
+the ampler land space.
+
+Just now the courtyard is a noisy and animated sight.  The master
+has this moment ridden in, upon one of his periodic visits from
+Athens; the farm overseer has run out to meet him and report, and
+half a dozen long, lean hunting dogs--Darter, Roarer, Tracker,
+Active, and more[*]--are dancing and yelping, in the hope that
+their owner will order a hare hunt.  The overseer is pouring forth
+his usual burden of woe about the inefficient help and the lack of
+rain, and Hybrias is complaining of the small spring crop--"Zeus
+send us something better this summer!"  While these worthies are
+adjusting their troubles we may look around the farm.
+
+[*]For an exhaustive list of names for Greek dogs, see Xenophon's
+curious "Essay on Hunting," ch. VII, § 5.
+
+
+175.  Plowing, Reaping, and Threshing.--Thrice a year the Athenian
+farmer plows, unless he wisely determines to let his field lie
+fallow for the nonce; and the summer plowing on hybrias's estate is
+now in progress.  Up and down a wide field the ox team is going.[*]
+The plow is an extremely primitive affair--mainly of wood, although
+over the sharpened point which forms the plowshare a plate of iron
+has been fitted.  Such a plow requires very skilful handling to
+cut a good furrow, and the driver of the team has no sinecure.
+
+[*]Mules were sometimes used for drawing the plow, but horses, it
+would seem, never.
+
+In a field near by, the hinds are reaping a crop of wheat which
+was late in ripening.[*]  The workers are bending with semicircular
+sickles over their hot task; yet they form a merry, noisy crowd,
+full of homely "harvest songs," nominally in honor of Demeter,
+the Earth Mother, but ranging upon every conceivable rustic topic.
+Some laborers are cutting the grain, others, walking behind, are
+binding into sheaves and piling into clumsy ox wains.  Here and
+there a sheaf is standing, and we are told that this is left "for
+luck," as an offering to the rural Field Spirit; for your farm
+hand is full of superstitions.  Also amid the workers a youth is
+passing with a goodly jar of cheap wine, to which the harvesters
+make free to run from time to time for refreshment.
+
+Close by the field is the threshing floor.  More laborers--not a few
+bustling country lasses among them--are spreading out the sheaves
+with wooden forks, a little at a time, in thin layers over this
+circular space, which is paved with little cobblestones.  More oxen
+and a patient mule are being driven over it--around and around--until
+every kernel is trodden out by their hoofs.  Later will come the
+tossing and the winnowing; and, when the grain has been thoroughly
+cleaned, it will be stored in great earthen jars for the purpose
+of sale or against the winter.
+
+
+176.  Grinding at the Mill.--Nearer the farmhouses there rises a
+dull grinding noise.  It is the mill preparing the flour for the
+daily baking, for seldom--at least in the country--will a Greek
+grind flour long in advance of the time of use.  There the round
+upper millstone is being revolved upon an iron pivot against its
+lower mate and turned by a long wooden handle.  Two nearly naked
+slave boys are turning this wearily--far pleasanter they consider
+the work of the harvesters, and very likely this task is set them
+as a punishment.  As the mill revolves a slave girl pours the grain
+into a hole in the center of the upper millstone.  As the hot, slow
+work goes on, the two toilers chant together a snatch from an old
+mill song, and we catch the monotonous strain:--
+
+
+Grind, mill, grind,
+For Pittacus did grind--
+Who was king over great Mytilene.
+
+
+It will be a long time before there is enough flour for the day.
+The slaves can at least rejoice that they live on a large farm.
+If Hybrias owned a smaller estate, they would probably be pounding
+up the grain with mortar and pestle--more weary yet.
+
+
+177.  The Olive Orchards.--We, at least, can leave them to their
+work, and escape to the shade of the orchards and the vineyards.
+Like every Athenian farmer, Hybrias has an olive orchard.  The
+olives are sturdy trees.  They will grow in any tolerable soil and
+thrive upon the mountain slopes up to as far as 1800 feet above
+sea level.  They are not large trees, and their trunks are often
+grotesquely gnarled, but there is always a certain fascination
+about the wonderful shimmer of their leaves, which flash from gray
+to silver-white in a sunny wind.  Hybrias has wisely planted his
+olives at wide intervals, and in the space between the ground has
+been plowed up for grain.  Olives need little care.  Their harvest
+comes late in the autumn, after all the other crops are out of the
+way.  They are among the most profitable products of the farm, and
+the owner will not mind the poor wheat harvest "if only the olives
+do well."[*]
+
+[*]The great drawback to olive culture was the great length of time
+required to mature the trees--sixteen years.  The destruction of
+the trees, e.g. in war by a ravaging invader, was an infinitely
+greater calamity than the burning of the standing grain or even
+of the farmhouses.  Probably it was the ruin of their olive trees
+which the Athenians mourned most during the ravaging of Attica in
+the Peloponnesian War.
+
+
+178.  The Vineyards.--The fig orchard forms another great part
+of the farm, but more interesting to strangers are the vineyards.
+Some of the grapes are growing over pointed stakes set all along
+the upland terraces; a portion of the vineyards, however, is on
+level ground.  Here a most picturesque method has been used for
+training the vines.  Tall and graceful trees have been set out--elm,
+maple, oak, poplar.  The lower limbs of the trees have been cut
+away and up their trunks and around their upper branches now swing
+the vines in magnificent festoons.  The growing vines have sprung
+from tree to tree.  The warm breeze has set the rich clusters--already
+turning purple or golden--swaying above our heads.  The air is
+filled with brightness, greenery, and fragrance.  The effect of
+this "vineyard grove" is magical.
+
+
+179.  Cattle, Sheep, and Goats.--There is also room in the orchards
+for apples, pears, and quinces, but there is nothing distinctive
+about their culture.  If we are interested in cattle, however, we
+can spend a long time at the barns, or be guided out to the upland
+pasture where Hybrias's flocks and herds are grazing.  Horses are
+a luxury.  They are almost never used in farm work, and for riding
+and cavalry service it is best to import a good courser from
+Thessaly; no attempt, therefore, is made to breed them here.  But
+despite the small demand for beef and butter a good many cattle are
+raised; for oxen are needed for the plowing and carting, oxhides
+have a steady sale, and there is a regular call for beehives for
+the hecatombs at the great public sacrifices.  Sheep are in greater
+acceptance.  Their wool is of large importance to a land which knows
+comparatively little of cotton.  They can live on scanty pasturage
+where an ox would starve.  Still more in favor are goats  Their
+coarse hair has a thousand uses.  Their flesh and cheese are among
+the most staple articles in the Agora.  Sure-footed and adventurous,
+they scale the side of the most unpromising crags in search of
+herbage and can sometimes be seen perching, almost like birds, in
+what seem utterly inaccessible eyries.  Thanks to them the barren
+highlands of Attica are turned to good account,--and between goat
+raising and bee culture an income can sometimes be extracted from
+the very summits of the mountains.  As for the numerous swine, it
+is enough to say that they range under Hybrias's oak forest and
+fatten on acorns, although their swineherd, wrapped in a filthy
+sheepskin, is a far more loutish and ignoble fellow than the "divine
+Eumæus" glorified in the "Odyssey."
+
+
+180.  The Gardens and the Shrine.--Did we wish to linger, we could
+be shown the barnyard with its noisy retinue of hens, pheasants,
+guinea fowl, and pigeons; and we would be asked to admire the geese,
+cooped up and being gorged for fattening, or the stately peacocks
+preening their splendors.  We would also hear sage disquisitions from
+the "oldest inhabitants" on the merits of fertilizers, especially
+on the uses of mixing seaweed with manure, also we would be told of
+the almost equally important process of burying a toad in a sealed
+jar in the midst of a field to save the corn from the crows and
+the field mice.  Hybrias laughs at such superstitions--"but what
+can you say to the rustics?"  Hybrias himself will display with
+more refined pride the gardens used by his wife and children when
+they come out from Athens,--a fountain feeding a delightful rivulet;
+myrtles, roses, and pomegranate trees shedding their perfumes, which
+are mingled with the odors from the beds of hyacinths, violets,
+and asphodel.  In the center of the gardens rises a chaste little
+shrine with a marble image and an altar, always covered with flowers
+or fruit by the mistress and her women.  "To Artemis," reads the
+inscription, and one is sure that the virgin goddess takes more
+pleasure in this fragrant temple than in many loftier fanes.[*]
+
+[*]For the description of a very beautiful and elaborate country
+estate, with a temple thereon to Artemis, see Xenophon's "Anabasis,"
+bk. V. 3.
+
+We are glad to add here our wreaths ere turning away from this
+wholesome, verdant country seat, and again taking our road to
+Athens.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX.  The Temples and Gods of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+181.  Certain Factors in Athenian Religion.--We have seen the
+Athenians in their business and in their pleasure, at their courts,
+their assemblies, their military musters, and on their peaceful farms;
+yet one great side of Athenian life has been almost ignored--the
+religious side.  A "Day in Athens" spent without taking account of
+the gods of the city and their temples would be a day spent with
+almost half-closed eyes.[*]
+
+[*]No attempt is made in this discussion to enumerate the various
+gods and demigods of the conventional mythology, their regular
+attributes, etc.  It is assumed the average history or manual of
+mythology gives sufficient information.
+
+It is far easier to learn how the Athenians arrange their houses
+than how the average man among them adjusts his attitude toward
+the gods.  While any searching examination of the fundamentals of
+Greek cultus and religion is here impossible, two or three facts
+must, nevertheless, be kept in mind, if we are to understand even
+the OUTWARD side of this Greek religion which is everywhere in
+evidence about us.
+
+First of all we observe that the Greek religion is a religion of
+purely natural growth.  No prophet has initiated it, or claimed
+a new revelation to supplement the older views.  It has come from
+primitive times without a visible break even down to the Athens of
+Plato.  This explains at once why so many time-honored stories of
+the Olympic deities are very gross, and why the gods seem to give
+countenance to moral views which the best public opinion has long
+since called scandalous and criminal.  The religion of Athens, in
+other words, may justly claim to be judged by its best, not by its
+worst; by the morality of Socrates, not of Homer.
+
+Secondly, this religion is not a church, nor a belief, but is part
+of the government.  Every Athenian is born into accepting the fact
+that Athena Polias is the divine warder of the city, as much as
+he is born into accepting the fact that it is his duty to obey the
+strategi in battle.  To repudiate the gods of Athens, e.g. in favor
+of those of Egypt, is as much iniquity as to join forces against
+the Athenians if they are at war with Egypt;--the thing is sheer
+treason, and almost unthinkable.  For countless generations the
+Athenians have worshipped the "Ancestral Gods."  They are proud of
+them, familiar with them; the gods have participated in all the
+prosperity of the city.  Athena is as much a part of Attica as
+gray Hymettus or white-crowned Pentelicus; and the very fact that
+comedians, like Aristophanes, make good-natured fun of the divinities
+indicates that "they are members of the family."
+
+Thirdly, notice that this religion is one mainly of outward reverence
+and ceremony.  There is no "Athenian church"; nobody has drawn up
+an "Attic creed"--"I believe in Athena, the City Warder, and in
+Demeter, the Earth Mother, and in Zeus, the King of Heaven, etc."
+Give outward reverence, participate in the great public sacrifices,
+be careful in all the minutiæ of private worship, refrain from
+obvious blasphemies--you are then a sufficiently pious man.  What
+you BELIEVE is of very little consequence.  Even if you privately
+believe there are no gods at all, it harms no one, provided your
+outward conduct is pious and moral.
+
+
+182.  What constitutes "Piety" in Athens.--Of course there have
+been some famous prosecutions for "impiety."  Socrates was the
+most conspicuous victim; but Socrates was a notable worshipper of
+the gods, and certainly all the charges of his being an "atheist"
+broke down.  What he was actually attacked with was "corrupting
+the youth of Athens," i.e. giving the young men such warped ideas
+of their private and public duties that they ceased to be moral
+and useful citizens.  But even Socrates was convicted only with
+difficulty[*]; a generation has passed since his death.  Were he
+on trial at present, a majority of the jury would probably be with
+him.
+
+[*]It might be added that if Socrates had adopted a really worldly
+wise line of defense, he would probably have been acquitted, or
+subjected merely to a mild pecuniary penalty.
+
+The religion of Athens is something very elastic, and really every
+man makes his own creed for himself, or--for paganism is almost
+never dogmatic--accepts the outward cultus with everybody else, and
+speculates at his leisure on the nature of the deity.  The great
+bulk of the uneducated are naturally content to accept the old
+stories and superstitions with unthinking credulity.  It is enough
+to know that one must pray to Zeus for rain, and to Hermes for luck
+in a slippery business bargain.  There are a few philosophers who,
+along with perfectly correct outward observance, teach privately
+that the old Olympian system is a snare and folly.  They pass
+around the daring word which Xenophanes uttered as early as the
+sixth century B.C.:--
+
+
+One God there is, greatest of gods and mortals,
+Not like to man is he in mind or in body.
+All of him sees, all of him thinks, and all of him harkens.
+
+
+This, of course, is obvious pantheism, but it is easy to cover up
+all kinds of pale monotheism or pantheism under vague reference to
+the omnipotence of "Zeus."
+
+
+183.  The Average Athenian's Idea of the Gods.--The average
+intelligent citizen probably has views midway between the stupid
+rabble and the daring philosophers.  To him the gods of Greece
+stand out in full divinity, honored and worshipped because they
+are protectors of the good, avengers of the evil, and guardians
+of the moral law.  They punish crime and reward virtue, though the
+punishment may tarry long.  They demand a pure heart and a holy
+mind of all that approach them, and woe to him who wantonly defies
+their eternal laws.  This is the morality taught by the master
+tragedians, Æschylus and Sophocles, and accepted by the best public
+opinion at Athens; for the insidious doubts cast by Euripides upon
+the reality of any divine scheme of governance have never struck
+home.  The scandalous stories about the domestic broils on Olympus,
+in which Homer indulges, only awaken good-natured banter.  It is
+no longer proper--as in Homeric days--to pride oneself on one's
+cleverness in perjury and common falsehood.  Athenians do not
+have twentieth century notions about the wickedness of lying, but
+certain it is the gods do not approve thereof.  In short, most of
+the better class of Athenians are genuinely "religious"; nevertheless
+they have too many things in this human world to interest them to
+spend overmuch time in adjusting their personal concepts of the
+deity to any system of theology.
+
+
+184.  Most Greeks without belief in Immortality.--Yet one thing we
+must add.  This Greek religious morality is built up without any
+clear belief in a future life.  Never has the average Hellene been
+able to form a satisfactory conception of the soul's existence,
+save dwelling within a mortal body and under the glorious light of
+belovèd Helios.  To Homer the after life in Hades was merely the
+perpetuation of the shadows of departed humanity, "strengthless
+shades" who live on the gloomy plains of asphodel, feeding upon
+dear memories, and incapable of keen emotions or any real mental or
+physical progress or action.  Only a few great sinners like Tantalus,
+doomed to eternal torture, or favored being like Menelaus, predestined
+to the "Blessed Isles," are ordained to any real immortality.  As
+the centuries advanced, and the possibilities of this terrestrial
+world grew ever keener, the hope of any future state became ever
+more vague.  The fear of a gloomy shadow life in Hades for the
+most part disappeared, but that was only to confirm the belief that
+death ends all things.
+
+
+Where'er his course man tends,
+Inevitable death impends,
+And for the worst and for the best,
+Is strewn the same dark couch of rest.[*]
+
+[*]Milman, Translator.
+
+
+So run the lines of a poet whose name is forgotten, but who spoke
+well the thought of his countrymen.
+
+True there has been a contradiction of this gloomy theory.  The
+"Orphic Mysteries," those secret religious rites which have gained
+such a hold in many parts of Greece, including Athens, probably
+hold out an earnest promise to the "initiates" of a blessed state
+for them hereafter.  The doctrine of a real elysium for the good and
+a realm of torment for the evil has been expounded by many sages.
+Pindar, the great bard of Thebes, has set forth the doctrine in a
+glowing ode.[*]  Socrates, if we may trust the report Plato gives
+of him, has spent his last hours ere drinking the hemlock, in adducing
+cogent, philosophic reasons for the immortality of the soul.  All
+this is true,--and it is also true that these ideas have made no
+impression upon the general Greek consciousness.  They are accepted
+half-heartedly by a relatively few exceptional thinkers.  Men
+go through life and face death with no real expectation of future
+reward or punishment, or of reunion with the dear departed.  If
+the gods are angry, you escape them at the grave; if the gods are
+friendly, all they can give is wealth, health, honor, a hale old
+age, and prosperity for your children.  The instant after death the
+righteous man and the robber are equal.  This fundamental deduction
+from the Greek religion must usually, therefore, be made--it is a
+religion for THIS WORLD ONLY.  Let us see what are its usual outward
+operations.
+
+[*]Quoted in "Readings in Ancient History," vol. I, pp. 261-262,
+and in many works in Greek literature.
+
+
+185.  The Multitude of Images of the Gods.--Gods are everywhere in
+Athens.  You cannot take the briefest walk without being reminded
+that the world is full of deities.  There is a "Herm"[*] by the main
+door of every house, as well as a row of them across the Agora.  At
+many of the street crossings there are little shrines to Hecate;
+or statues of Apollo Agyieus, the street guardian; or else a bay
+tree stands there, a graceful reminder of this same god, to which
+it is sacred.  In every house there is the small alter whereon
+garlands and fruit offerings are daily laid to Zeus Herkeios, and
+another altar to Hestia.  On one or both of these altars a little
+food and a little wine are cast at every meal.  All public meetings
+or court sessions open with sacrifice; in short, to attempt any
+semi-important public or private act without inviting the friendly
+attention of the deity is unthinkable.  To a well-bred Athenian
+this is second instinct; he considers it as inevitable as the common
+courtesies of speech among gentlemen.  Plato sums up the current
+opinion well, "All men who have any decency, in the attempting of
+matters great or small, always invoke divine aid."[+]
+
+[*]A stone post about shoulder high, surmounted by a bearded head.
+Contrary to modern impression, the average Greek did not conceive
+of Hermes as a beautiful youth.  He was a grave, bearded man.  The
+youthful aspect came through the manipulation of the Hermes myths
+by the master sculptors--e.g. Praxiteles.
+
+[+]Timæus, p. 27 c.
+
+
+186.  Greek Superstition.--In many cases, naturally, piety runs
+off into crass superstition.  The gods, everybody knows, frequently
+make known future events by various signs.  He who can understand
+these signs will be able to adjust his life accordingly and
+enjoy great prosperity.  Most educated men take a sensible view
+of "omens," and do not let them influence their conduct absurdly.
+Some, however, act otherwise.  There is, for instance, Laches,
+one of the greatest at Prodicus's feast.  He lives in a realm of
+mingled hopes and fears, although he is wealthy and well-educated.[*]
+He is all the time worried about dreams, and paying out money
+to the sharp and wily "seer" (who counts him his best client) for
+"interpretations."  If a weasel crosses his path he will not walk
+onward until somebody else has gone before him, or until he has
+thrown three stones across the road.  He is all the time worrying
+about the significance of sudden noises, meteors, thunder; especially
+he is disturbed when he sees birds flying in groups or towards
+unlucky quarters of the heavens.[+]  Laches, however, is not merely
+religious--although he is always asking "which god shall I invoke
+now?" or "what are the omens for the success of this enterprise?"
+His own associates mock him as being superstitious, and say they
+never trouble themselves about omens save in real emergencies.
+Still it is "bad luck" for any of them to stumble over a threshold,
+to meet a hare suddenly, or especially to find a snake (the companion
+of the dead) hidden in the house.
+
+[*]See Theophratus's character, "The Superstitious Man."
+
+[+]The birds of clearest omen were the great birds of prey--hawks,
+"Apollo's swift messengers," and eagles, "the birds of Zeus."  It
+was a good omen if the birds flew from left to right, a bad omen
+if in the reverse direction.
+
+
+187.  Consulting Omens.--Laches's friends, however, all regularly
+consult the omens when they have any important enterprise on hand--a
+voyage, a large business venture, a marriage treaty, etc.  There
+are several ways, not expensive; the interpreters are not priests,
+only low-born fellows as a rule, whose fees are trifling.  You
+can find out about the future by casting meal upon the altar fire
+and noticing how it is burned, by watching how chickens pick up
+consecrated grain,[*] by observing how the sacrificial smoke curls
+upward, etc.  The best way, however, is to examine the entrails
+of the victim after a sacrifice.  Here everything depends on the
+shape, size, etc., of the various organs, especially of the liver,
+bladder, spleen, and lungs, and really expert judgment by an experienced
+and high-priced seer is desirable.  The man who is assured by a
+reliable seer, "the livers are large and in fine color," will go
+on his trading voyage with a confident heart.
+
+[*]A very convenient way,--for it was a good sign if the chickens
+ate eagerly and one could always get a fair omen by keeping the
+fowls hungry a few hours ere "putting the question"!
+
+
+188.  The Great Oracles.--Assuredly there is a better way still to
+read the future; at least so Greeks of earlier ages have believed.
+Go to one of the great oracles, whereof that of Apollo at Delphi
+is the supreme, but not the unique, example.  Ask your question
+in set form from the attendant priests, not failing to offer an
+elaborate sacrifice and to bestow all the "gifts" (golden tripods,
+mixing bowls, shields, etc.) your means will allow.  Then (at
+Delphi) wait silent and awe-stricken while the lady Pythia, habited
+as a young girl, takes her seat on a tripod over a deep cleft in
+the rock, whence issues an intoxicating vapor.  She inhales the gas,
+sways to and fro in an ecstasy, and now, duly "inspired," answers
+in a somewhat wild manner the queries which the priest will put in
+behalf of the supplicants.  Her incoherent words are very hard to
+understand, but the priest duly "interprets" them, i.e. gives them
+to the suppliant in the form of hexameter verses.  Sometimes the
+meaning of these verses is perfectly clear.  Very often they are
+truly "Delphic," with a most dubious meaning--as in that oft-quoted
+instance, when the Pythia told Crœsus if he went to war with Cyrus,
+"he would destroy a mighty monarchy," and lo, he destroyed his own!
+
+Besides Delphi, there are numerous lesser oracles, each with its
+distinctive method of "revelation."  But there is none, at least of
+consequence, within Attica, while a journey to Delphi is a serious
+and highly expensive undertaking.  And as a matter of fact Delphi
+has partially lost credit in Athens.  In the great Persian War
+Delphi unpatriotically "medized"--gave oracles friendly to Xerxes
+and utterly discouraging to the patriot cause.  Then after this
+conviction of false prophesy, the oracle fell, for most of the
+time, into the hands of Sparta, and was obviously very willing
+to "reveal" things only in the Lacedæmonian interest.  Hellenes
+generally and the Spartans in particular have still much esteem for
+the utterances of the Pythia, but Athenians are not now very partial
+to her.  Soon will come the seizure of Delphi by the Phœnicians
+and the still further discrediting of this once great oracle.
+
+
+189.  Greek Sacrifices.--The two chief elements of Greek worship,
+however, are not consideration of the future, but sacrificial and
+prayer.  Sacrifices in their simple form, as we have seen, take
+place continually, before every routine act.  They become more formal
+when the proposed action is really important, or when the suppliant
+wishes to give thanks for some boon, or, at rarer intervals, to
+desire purification from some offense.  There is no need of a priest
+for the simpler sacrifices.  The father of the family can pour
+out the libation, can burn the food upon the altar, can utter the
+prayer for all his house; but in the greater sacrifices a priest
+is desirable, not as a sacred intermediary betwixt god and man,
+but as an expert to advise the worshipper what are the competent
+rites, and to keep him from ignorantly angering heaven by unhappy
+words and actions.[*]
+
+[*]There were almost no hereditary priesthoods in Attica (outside
+the Emolpidæ connected with the mystical cult of Eleusis).  Almost
+anybody of good character could qualify as a priest with due
+training, and there was little of the sacrosanct about the usual
+priestly office.
+
+Let us witness a sacrifice of this more formal kind, and while doing
+so we can tread upon the spot we have seemed in a manner to shun
+during our wanderings through Athens, the famous and holy Acropolis.
+
+
+190.  The Route to the Acropolis.--Phormion, son of Cresphontes, has
+been to Arcadia, and won the pentathlon in some athletic contests
+held at Mantinea.  Although not equal to a triumph in the "four
+great Panhellenic contests," it was a most notable victory.  Before
+setting out he vowed a sheep to Athena the Virgin if he conquered.
+The goddess was kind, and Phormion is very grateful.  While the
+multitudes are streaming out to the Gymnasia, the young athlete,
+brawny and handsome, surrounded by an admiring coterie of friends
+and kinsmen, sets out for the Acropolis.
+
+Phormion's home is in the "Ceramicus," the so-called "potters'
+quarter."  His walk takes him a little to the west of the Agora,
+and close to the elegant temple of Hephæstos,[*] but past this and
+many other fanes he hastens.  It was not the fire god which gave
+him fair glory at Mantinea.  He goes onward until he is forced to
+make a detour to the left, at the craggy, rough hill of Areopagus
+which rises before him.  Here, if time did not press, he might have
+tarried to pay respectful reverence before a deep fissure cleft
+in the side of the rock.  In front of this fissure stands a little
+altar.  All Phormion's company look away as they pass the spot,
+and they mutter together "Be propitious, O Eumenides!" (literally,
+Well-minded Ones).  For like true Greeks they delight to call foul
+things with fair and propitious names; and that awful fissure and
+altar are sacred to the Erinyes (Furies), the horrible maidens, the
+trackers of guilt, the avengers of murder; and above their cave,
+on these rude rocks, sits the august court of the Aeropagus when
+it meets as a "tribunal of blood" to try cases of homicide.
+
+[*]This temple, now called the "Theseum," is the only well preserved
+ancient temple in modern Athens.
+
+Phormion's party quicken their steps and quit this spot of ill
+omen.  Then their sight is gladdened.  The whole glorious Acropolis
+stands out before them.
+
+
+191.  The Acropolis of Athens.--Almost every Greek city has its own
+formidable citadel, its own "acropolis,"--for "citadel" is really
+all this word conveys.  Corinth boasts of its "Acro-Corinthus,"
+Thebes of its "Cadmeia,"--but THE Acropolis is in Athens.  The later
+world will care little for any other, and the later world will be
+right.  The Athenian stronghold has long ceased to be a fortress,
+though still it rises steep and strong.  It is now one vast temple
+compound, covered with magnificent buildings.  Whether considered
+as merely a natural rock commanding a marvelous view, or as a
+consecrated museum of sculpture and architecture, it deserves its
+immortality.  We raise our eyes to THE ROCK as we approach it.
+
+The Acropolis dominates the plain of Athens.  All the city seems
+to adjust itself to the base of its holy citadel.  It lifts itself
+as tawny limestone rock rising about 190 feet above the adjacent
+level of the town.[*]  In form it is an irregular oval with its
+axis west and east.  It is about 950 feet long and 450 feet at its
+greatest breadth.  On every side but the west the precipice falls
+away sheer and defiant, rendering a feeble garrison able to battle
+with myriads.[+]  To the westward, however, the gradual slope makes
+a natural pathway always possible, and human art has long since
+shaped this with convenient steps.  Nestling in against the precipice
+are various sanctuaries and caves; e.g. on the northwestern side,
+high up on the slope beneath the precipice, open the uncanny grottoes
+of Apollo and of Pan.  On the southern side, close under the very
+shadow of the citadel, is the temple of Asclepius, and, more to
+the southeast, the great open theater of Dionysus has been scooped
+out of the rock, a place fit to contain an audience of some 15,000.[&]
+
+[*]It is nearly 510 feet above the level of the sea.
+
+[+]Recall the defense which the Acropolis was able to make against
+Xerxes's horde, when the garrison was small and probably ill
+organized, and had only a wooden barricade to eke out the natural
+defenses.
+
+[&]The stone seats of this theater do not seem to have been built
+till about 340 B.C.  Up to that time the surface of the ground
+sloping back to the Acropolis seems simply to have been smoothed
+off, and probably covered with temporary wooden seats on the days
+of the great dramatic festivals.
+
+So much for the bare "bones" of the Acropolis; but now under the
+dazzling sunshine how it glitters with indescribable splendor!
+Before us as we ascend a whole succession of buildings seem lifting
+themselves, not singly, not in hopeless confusion, but grouped
+admirably together by a kind of wizardry, so that the harmony is
+perfect,--each visible, brilliant column and pinnacle, not merely
+flashing its own beauty, but suggesting another greater beauty just
+behind.
+
+
+192.  The Use of Color upon Athenian Architecture and Sculptures.--While
+we look upward at this group of temples and their wealth of
+sculptures, let us state now something we have noticed during all
+our walks around Athens, but have hitherto left without comment.
+Every temple and statue in Athens is not left in its bare white
+marble, as later ages will conceive is demanded by "Greek Architecture"
+and statuary, but is decked in brilliant color--"painted," if you
+will use an almost unfriendly word.  The columns and gables and
+ceilings of the buildings are all painted.  Blue, red, green, and
+gold blaze on all the members and ornaments.  The backgrounds of
+the pediments, metopes, and frieze are tinted some uniform color
+on which the sculptured figures in relief stand out clearly.  The
+figures themselves are tinted or painted, at least on the hair,
+lips, and eyes.  Flesh-colored warriors are fighting upon a bright
+red background.  The armor and horse trappings on the sculptures
+are in actual bronze.  The result is an effect indescribably vivid.
+Blues and reds predominate:  the flush of light and color from the
+still more brilliant heavens above adds to the effect.  Shall we
+call it garish?  We have learned to know the taste of Athenians
+too well to doubt their judgment in matters of pure beauty.  And
+they are right.  UNDER AN ATHENIAN SKY temples and statues demand
+a wealth of color which in a somber clime would seem intolerable.
+The brilliant lines of the Acropolis buildings are the just answer
+of the Athenian to the brilliancy of Helios.
+
+
+193.  The Chief Buildings on the Acropolis.--And now to ascend the
+Acropolis.  We leave the discussion of the details of the temples
+and the sculpture to the architects and archæologists.  The whole
+plateau of the Rock is covered with religious buildings, altars,
+and statues.  We pass through the Propylæa, the worthy rival of
+the Parthenon behind, a magnificent portal, with six splendid Doric
+columns facing us; and as we go through them, to right and to left
+open out equally magnificent columned porticoes.[*]  As we emerge
+from the Propylæa the whole vision of the sacred plateau bursts
+upon us simultaneously.  We can notice only the most important of
+the buildings.  At the southwestern point of the Acropolis on the
+angle of rock which juts out beyond the Propylæa is the graceful
+little temple of the "Wingless Victory," built in the Ionic style.
+The view commanded by its bastion will become famous throughout the
+world.  Behind this, nearer the southern side, stands the less
+important temple of Artemis Braurönia.  Nearer the center and directly
+before the entrance rises a colossal brazen statue--"monstrous,"
+many might call its twenty-six feet of height, save that a master
+among masters has cast the spell of his genius over it.  This is
+the famous Athena Promachos,[+] wrought by Phidias out of the spoils
+of Marathon.  The warrior goddess stands in full armor and rests
+upon her mighty lance.  The gilded lance tip gleams so dazzlingly
+we may well believe the tale that sailors use it for a first landmark
+as they sail up the coast from Cape Sunium.
+
+[*]That to the north was the larger and contained a kind of picture
+gallery.
+
+[+]Athena Foremost in Battle.
+
+Looking again upon the complex of buildings we single out another
+on the northern side:  an irregularly shaped temple, or rather
+several temples joined together, the Erechtheum, wherein is the
+sanctuary of Athena Polias (the revered "City Warden"), the ancient
+wooden statue, grotesque, beloved, most sacred of all the holy
+images in Athens.  And here on the southern side of this building
+is the famous Caryatid porch; the "Porch of the Maidens," which
+will be admired as long as Athens has a name.  But our eyes refuse
+to linger long on any of these things.  Behind the statue of the
+Promachos, a little to the southern side of the plateau, stands
+the Parthenon--the queen jewel upon the crown of Athens.
+
+
+194.  The Parthenon.--Let others analyze its sculptures and explain
+the technical reasons why Ictinus and Callicrates, the architects,
+and Phidias, the sculptor, created here the supreme masterpiece
+for the artistic world.  We can state only the superficialities.
+It is a noble building by mere size; 228 feet measure its side,
+101 feet its front.  Forty-six majestic Doric columns surround it;
+they average thirty-four feet in height, and six feet three inches
+at the base.  All these facts, however, do not give the soul of
+the Parthenon.  Walk around it slowly, tenderly, lovingly.  Study
+the elaborate stories told by the pediments,--on the east front
+the birth of Athena, on the west the strife of Athena and Poseidon
+for the possession of Athens.  Trace down the innumerable lesser
+sculptures on the "metopes" under the cornice,--showing the battles
+of the Giants, Centaurs, Amazons, and of the Greeks before Troy;
+finally follow around, on the whole inner circuit of the body of
+the temple, the frieze,[*] showing in bas-relief the Panathenaic
+procession, with the beauty, nobility, and youth of Athens marching
+in glad festival; comprehend that these sculptures will never be
+surpassed in the twenty-four succeeding centuries; that here are
+supreme examples for the artists of all time,--and THEN, in the
+face of this final creation, we can realize that the Parthenon will
+justify its claim to immortality.
+
+[*]This, of course, is on the outside wall of the "cells," but
+inside the surrounding colonnade.
+
+One thing more.  There are hardly any straight lines in the Parthenon.
+To the eye, the members and the steps of the substructure may seem
+perfectly level; but the measuring rod betrays marvelously subtle
+curves.  As nature abhors right angles in her creations of beauty,
+so have these Greeks.  Rigidity, unnaturalness, have been banished.
+The Parthenon stands, not merely embellished with inimitable
+sculptures, but perfectly adjusted to the natural world surrounding.[*]
+
+[*]It was an inability to discover and execute these concealed
+curves which give certain of the modern imitations of the Parthenon
+their unpleasant impressions of harness and rigidity.
+
+We have seen only the exterior of the Parthenon.  We must wait now
+ere visiting the interior, for Phormion is beginning his sacrifice.
+
+
+195.  A Sacrifice on the Acropolis.--Across the sacred plateau
+advances the little party.  As it goes under the Propylæa a couple
+of idle temple watchers[*] give its members a friendly nod.  The
+Acropolis rock itself seems deserted, save for a few worshippers
+and a party of admiring Achæan visitors who are being shown the
+glories of the Parthenon.[+]  There seems to be a perfect labyrinth
+of statues of gods, heroes, and departed worthies, and almost as
+many altars, great and small, placed in every direction.  Phormion
+leads his friends onward till they come near to the wide stone
+platform somewhat in the rear of the Parthenon.  Here is the "great
+altar" of Athena, whereon the "hecatombs" will be sacrificed, even
+a hundred oxen or more,[&] at some of the major public festivals;
+and close beside it stands also a small and simple altar sacred
+to Athena Parthenos, Athena the Virgin.  Suitable attendants have
+been in readiness since dawn waiting for worshippers.  One of
+Phormion's party leads behind him a bleating white lamb "without
+blemish."[$]  It is a short matter now to bring the firewood and
+the other necessaries.  The sacrifice takes place without delay.
+
+[*]The most important function of these watchers seems to have been
+to prevent dogs from entering the Acropolis.  Probably they were
+inefficient old men favored with sinecure offices.
+
+[+]The Acropolis seems to have become a great "show place" for
+visitors to Athens soon after the completion of the famous temples.
+
+[&]We know by an inscription of 169 oxen being needed for a single
+Athenian festival.
+
+[$]This was a very proper creature to sacrifice to a great Olympian
+deity like Athena.  Goats were not suitable for her, although desirable
+for most of the other gods.  It was unlawful to sacrifice swine to
+Aphrodite.  When propitiating the gods of the underworld,--Hades,
+Persephone, etc.,--a BLACK victim was in order.  Poor people could
+sacrifice doves, cocks, and other birds.
+
+First a busy "temple sweeper" goes over the ground around the altar
+with a broom; then the regular priest, a dignified gray-headed man
+with a long ungirt purple chiton, and a heavy olive garland, comes
+forward bearing a basin of holy water.  This basin is duly passed
+to the whole company as it stands in a ring, and each in turn dips
+his hand and sprinkles his face and clothes with the lustral water.
+Meantime the attendant has placed another wreath around the head
+of the lamb.  The priest raises his hand.
+
+"Let there be silence," he commands (lest any unlucky word be
+spoken); and in a stillness broken only by the auspicious twittering
+of the sparrows amid the Parthenon gables, he takes barley corns
+from a basket, an sprinkles them on the altar and over the lamb.
+With his sacred knife he cuts a lock of hair from the victims head
+and casts it on the fire.  Promptly now the helper comes forward
+to complete the sacrifice.  Phormion and his friends are a little
+anxious.  Will the lamb take fright, hang back, and have to be
+dragged to its unwilling death?  The clever attendant has cared
+for that.  A sweet truss of dried clover is lying just under the
+altar.  The lamb starts forward, bleating joyously.  As it bows its
+head[*] as if consenting to its fate the priest stabs it dexterously
+in the neck with his keen blade.  The helper claps a bowl under
+the neck to catch the spurting blood.  A flute player in readiness,
+but hitherto silent, suddenly strikes up a keen blast to drown the
+dying moans of the animal.  Hardly has the lamb ceased to struggle
+before the priest and the helper have begun to cut it up then and
+there.  Certain bits of the fat and small pieces from each limb
+are laid upon the altar, and promptly consumed.  These are the
+goddess's peculiar portion, and the credulous at least believe
+that she, though unseen, is present to eat thereof; certainly the
+sniff of the burning meat is grateful to her divine nostrils.  The
+priest and the helpers are busy taking off the hide and securing
+the best joint--these are their "fees" for professional services.
+All the rest will be duly gathered up by Phormion's body servant
+and borne home,--for Phormion will give a fine feast on "sacred
+mutton" that night.[+]
+
+[*]If a larger animal--an ox--failed to bow its head auspiciously,
+the omen could be rectified by suddenly splashing a little water
+in the ears.
+
+[+]As already suggested (section 159) a sacrifice (public, or, if
+on a large scale, private) was about the only occasion on which
+Athenians tasted beef, pork, or mutton.
+
+Meantime, while the goddess's portion burns, Phormion approaches
+the altar, bearing a shallow cup of unmixed wine, and flings it
+upon the flame.
+
+"Be propitious, O Lady," he cries, "and receive this my drink
+offering."[*]
+
+[*]The original intention of this libation at the sacrifice was very
+clearly to provide the gods with wine to "wash down" their meat.
+
+The sacrifice is now completed.  The priest assures Phormion that
+the entrails of the victim foretokened every possible favor in
+future athletic contests--and this, and his insinuating smile, win
+him a silver drachma to supplement his share of the lamb.  Phormion
+readjusts the chaplet upon his own head, and turns towards the
+Parthenon.  After the sacrifice will come the prayer.
+
+
+196.  The Interior of the Parthenon and the Great Image of Athena.--The
+whole Acropolis is the home of Athena.  The other gods harbored
+thereon are only her inferior guests.  Upon the Acropolis the dread
+goddess displays her many aspects.  In the Erechtheum we worship
+her as Athena Polias, the ancient guardian of the hearths and homes
+of the city.  In the giant Promachus, we see her the leader in
+war,--the awful queen who went with her fosterlings to the deadly
+grappling at Marathon and at Salamis; in the little temple of
+"Wingless Victory"[*] we see her as Athena the Victorious, triumphant
+over Barbarian and Hellenic foe; but in the Parthenon we adore in
+her purest conception--the virgin queen, now chaste and clam, her
+battles over, the pure, high incarnations of all "the beautiful and
+the good" that may possess spirit and mind,--the sovran intellect,
+in short, purged of all carnal, earthy passion.  It is meet that
+such a goddess should inhabit such a dwelling as the Parthenon.[+]
+
+[*]The term "Wingless Victory" (Nikë Apteros) has reference to a
+special type and aspect of Athena, not to the goddess Nikë (Victory)
+pure and simple.
+
+[+]There was still another aspect in which Athena was worshipped on
+the Acropolis.  She had a sacred place ("temenos"), though without
+a temple, sacred to her as Athena Erganë--Athena Protectress of
+the Arts.
+
+Phormion passes under the eastern porch, and does not forget
+(despite the purification before the sacrifice) to dip the whisk
+broom, lying by the door, in the brazen laver of holy water and
+again to sprinkle himself.  He passes out of the dazzling sunlight
+into a chamber that seems at first to be lost in a vast, impenetrable
+gloom.  He pauses and gazes upward; above him, as little by little
+his eyes get their adjustment, a faint pearly light seems streaming
+downward.  It is coming through the translucent marble slabs of the
+roof of the great temple.[*]  Then out of the gloom gleam shapes,
+objects,--a face.  He catches the glitter of great jewels and of
+massy gold, as parts of the rich garments and armor of some vast
+image.  He distinguishes at length a statue,--the form of a woman,
+nearly forty feet in height.  Her left wrist rests upon a mighty
+shield; her right hand holds a winged "Victory," itself of nigh human
+size.  Upon her breast is the awful ægis, the especial breastplate
+of the high gods.  Around the foot of her shield coils a serpent.
+Upon her head is a might helmet.  And all the time that these things
+are becoming manifest, evermore clearly one beholds the majestic
+face,--sweetness without weakness, intellectuality without coldness,
+strength mingled justly with compassion.  This is the Athena
+Parthenos, the handiwork of Phidias.[+]
+
+[*]This seems to be the most reasonable way to assume that the
+"cella" of the Parthenon was lighted, in view of the danger, in case
+of open skylights, of damage to the holy image by wind and rain.
+
+[+]Of this statue no doubt there could be said what Dion Chrysostomos
+said of the equally famous "Zeus" erected by Phidias at Olympia.
+"The man most depressed with woes, forgot his ills whilst gazing
+on this statue, so much light and beauty had Phidias infused within
+it."  Besides the descriptions in the ancient writers we get a
+clear idea of the general type of the Athena Parthenos from recently
+discovered statuettes, especially the "Varvakeion" model (401/2
+inches high).  This last is cold and lifeless as a work of art, but
+fairly accurate as to details.  [Note from Brett:  In 2001, this
+remains the best statue ever found representing Athena Parthenos
+and a detailed analysis of the effect of the original statue on the
+populous can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/CC96/lapatin.htm.
+The statuette itself is currently in the Athens Museum.]
+
+We will not heap up description.  What boots it to tell that the
+arms and vesture of this "chryselephantine" statue are of pure
+gold; that the flesh portions are of gleaming ivory; that Phidias
+has wrought the whole so nobly together that this material, too
+sumptuous for common artists, becomes under his assembling the
+perfect substance for the manifestation of deity?
+
+...Awestruck by the vision, though often he has seen it, Phormion
+stands long in reverent silence.  Then at length, casting a pinch
+of incense upon the brazier, constantly smoking before the statue,
+he utters his simple prayer.
+
+
+197.  Greek Prayers.--Greek prayers are usually very pragmatic.
+"Who," asks Cicero, who can speak for both Greeks and Romans in
+this particular, "ever thanked the gods that he was a good man?  Men
+are thankful for riches, honor, safety....  We beg of the sovran
+God [only] what makes us safe, sound, rich and prosperous."[*]
+Phormion is simply a very average, healthy, handsome young Athenian.
+While he prays he stretches his hands on high, as is fitting to a
+deity of Olympus.[+]  His petition runs much as follows:--
+
+
+"Athena, Queen of the Ægis, by whatever name thou lovest best,[&]
+give ear.
+
+"Inasmuch as thou dids't heed my vow, and grant me fair glory at
+Mantinea, bear witness I have been not ungrateful.  I have offered
+to thee a white sheep, spotless and undefiled.  And now I have it
+in my mind to attempt the pentathlon at the next Isthmia at Corinth.
+Grant me victory even in that; and not one sheep but five, all as
+good as this to-day, shall smoke upon thine altar.  Grant also unto
+me, my kinsmen and all my friends, health, riches and fair renown."
+
+[*]Cicero, "De Nat. Deor," ii. 36.
+
+[+]In praying to a deity of the lower world the hands would be held
+down.  A Greek almost NEVER knelt, even in prayer.  He would have
+counted it degrading.
+
+[&]This formula would be put in, lest some favorite epithet of the
+divinity be omitted.
+
+A pagan prayer surely; and there is a still more pagan epilogue.
+Phormion has an enemy, who is not forgotten.
+
+"And oh! gracious, sovran Athena, blast my enemy Xenon, who strove
+to trip me foully in the foot race.  May his wife be childless or
+bear him only monsters; may his whole house perish; may all his
+wealth take flight; may his friends forsake him; may war soon cut
+him off, or may he die amid impoverished, dishonored old age.  If
+this my sacrifice has found favor in thy sight, may all these evils
+come upon him unceasingly.  And so will I adore the and sacrifice
+unto thee all my life."[*]
+
+[*]Often a curse would become a real substitute for a prayer; e.g.
+at Athens, against a rascally and traitorous general, a solemn
+public curse would be pronounced at evening by all the priests and
+priestesses of the city, each shaking in the air a red cloth in
+token of the bloody death to which the offender was devoted.
+
+The curse then is a most proper part of a Greek prayer!  Phormion
+is not conscious of blasphemy.  He merely follows invariable custom.
+
+It is useless to expect "Christian sentiments" in the fourth century
+B.C., yet perhaps an age should be judged not by its average, but
+by its best.  Athenians can utter nobler prayers than those of
+the type of Phormion.  Xenophon makes his model young householder
+Ishomenus pray nobly "that I may enjoy health and strength of body,
+the respect of my fellow citizens, honorable safety in times of
+war, and wealth honestly increased."[*]
+
+[*]Xenophon, "The Economist," xi, p. 8.
+
+There is a simple little prayer also which seems to be a favorite
+with the farmers.  Its honest directness carries its own message.
+
+"Rain, rain, dear Zeus, upon the fields of the Athenians and the
+plains."[*]
+
+[*]It was quoted later to us by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who
+adds, "In truth, we ought not to pray at all, or we ought to pray
+in this simple and noble fashion."
+
+Higher still ascends the prayer of Socrates, when he begs for
+"the good" merely, leaving it to the wise gods to determine what
+"the good" for him may be; and in one prayer, which Plato puts in
+Socrates's mouth, almost all the best of Greek ideals and morality
+seems uttered.  It is spoken not on the Acropolis, but beside the
+Ilissus at the close of the delightful walk and chat related in
+the "Phœdrus."
+
+"Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me
+the beauty of the inward soul, and may the outward and the inward
+man be joined in perfect harmony.  May I reckon the wise to be
+wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as none but the
+temperate can carry.  Anything more?--That prayer, I think, is
+enough for me."
+
+Phormion and his party are descending to the city to spend the
+evening in honest mirth and feasting, but we are fain to linger,
+watching the slow course of the shadows as they stretch across the
+Attic hills.  Sea, sky, plain, mountains, and city are all before
+us, but we will not spend words upon them now.  Only for the
+buildings, wrought by Pericles and his might peers, we will speak
+out our admiration.  We will gladly confirm the words Plutarch
+shall some day say of them, "Unimpaired by time, their appearance
+retains the fragrance of freshness, as though they had been inspired
+by an eternally blooming life and a never aging soul."[*]
+
+[*]Plutarch wrote this probably after 100 A.D., when the Parthenon
+had stood for about five and half centuries.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI.  The Great Festivals of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+198.  The Frequent Festivals at Athens.--Surely our "Day in Athens"
+has been spent from morn till night several times over, so much
+there is to see and tell.  Yet he would be remiss who left the city
+of Athena before witnessing at least several of the great public
+festivals which are the city's noble pride.  There are a prodigious
+number of religions festivals in Athens.[*]  They take the place
+of the later "Christian Sabbath" and probably create a somewhat
+equal number of rest days during the year, although at more irregular
+intervals.  They are far from being "Scotch Sundays,"[+] however.
+On them the semi-riotous "joy of life" which is part of the Greek
+nature finds its fullest, ofttimes its wildest, expression.  They
+are days of merriment, athletic sports, great civic spectacles,
+chorals, public dances.[&]  To complete our picture of Athens we
+must tarry for a swift cursory glance upon at least three of these
+fête days of the city of Pericles, Sophocles, and Phidias.
+
+[*]In Gulick ("Life of the Ancient Greeks," pp. 304-310) there is
+a valuable list of Attic festivals.  The Athenians had over thirty
+important religious festivals, several of them, e.g., the Thesmorphoria
+(celebrated by the women in honor of Demeter), extending over a
+number of days.
+
+[+][NOTE from Brett:  A "Scotch Sunday" refers to the practice of
+the Sabbath day in Scotland.  During the Sabbath day (at the time
+of the author of this work) in Scotland no activity goes on except
+for Church.  There is no travel, no telecommunication, no cooking,
+not allowed to read the newspaper, etc.  A "Scotch Sunday" therefore,
+represents a day of religious austerity.]
+
+[&]It is needless to point out that to the Greeks, as to many other
+ancient peoples,--for example, the Hebrews,--DANCING often had a
+religious significance and might be a regular part of the worship
+of the gods.
+
+
+199.  The Eleusinia.--Our first festival is the Eleusinia, the
+festival of the Eleusinian mysteries.  It is September, the "19th
+of Boëdromiön," the Athenians will say.  Four days have been spent
+by the "initiates" and the "candidates" in symbolic sacrifices
+and purifications.[*]  On one of these days the arch priest, the
+"Hierophant," has preached a manner of sermon at the Painted Porch
+in the Agora setting forth the awfulness and spiritual efficacy
+of these Mysteries, sacred to Demeter the Earth Mother, to her
+daughter Persephone, and also to the young Iacchus, one of the many
+incarnations of Dionysus, and who is always associated at Elusis
+with the divine "Mother and Daughter."  The great cry has gone
+forth to the Initiates--"To the Sea, ye Mystæ!" and the whole vast
+multitude has gone down to bathe in the purifying brine.
+
+[*]Not all Athenians were among the "initiated," but it does not
+seem to have been hard to be admitted to the oaths and examination
+which gave one participation in the mysteries.  About all a candidate
+had to prove was blameless character.  Women could be initiated as
+well as men.
+
+Now on this fifth day comes the sacred procession from Athens across
+the mountain pass to Eleusis.  The participates, by thousands, of
+both sexes and of all ages, are drawn up in the Agora ere starting.
+The Hierophant, the "Torchbearer," the "Sacred Herald," and the other
+priests wear long flowing raiment and high mitres like Orientals.
+They also, as well as the company, wear myrtle and ivy chaplets and
+bear ears of corn and reapers' sickles.  The holy image of Iacchus
+is borne in a car, the high priests marching beside it; and forth
+with pealing shout and chant they go,--down the Ceramicus, through
+the Dipylon gate, and over the hill to Eleusis, twelve miles away.
+
+
+200.  The Holy Procession to Eleusis.--Very sacred is the procession,
+but not silent and reverential.  It is an hour when the untamed
+animal spirits of the Greeks, who after all are a young race and
+who are gripped fast by natural instinct, seem uncurbed.  Loud
+rings the "orgiastic" cry, "Iacchë! Iacchë! evoë!"
+
+There are wild shouts, dances, jests, songs,[*] postures.  As the
+marchers pass the several sanctuaries along the road there are halts
+for symbolic sacrifices.  So the multitude slowly mounts the long
+heights of Mount Ægaleos, until--close to the temple of Aphrodite
+near the summit of the pass--the view opens of the broad blue bay
+of Eleusis, shut in by the isle of Salamis, while to the northward
+are seen the green Thrasian plain, with the white houses of Eleusis
+town[+] near the center, and the long line of outer hills stretching
+away to Megara and Bœotia.
+
+[*]We do not possess the official chant of the Mystæ used on their
+march to Eleusia.  Very possibly it was of a swift riotous nature
+like the Bacchinals' song in Euripides "Bacchinals" (well translated
+by Way or by Murray).
+
+[+]This was about the only considerable town in Attica outside of
+Athens.
+
+The evening shadows are falling, while the peaceful army sweeps
+over the mountain wall and into Eleusis.  Every marcher produces
+a torch, and bears it blazing aloft as he nears his destination.
+Seen in the dark from Eleusis, the long procession of innumerable
+torches must convey an effect most magical.
+
+
+201.  The Mysteries of Eleusis.--What follows at Eleusis?  The
+"mysteries" are "mysteries" still; we cannot claim initiation and
+reveal them.  There seem to be manifold sacrifices of a symbolic
+significance, the tasting of sacred "portions" of food and drink--a
+dim foreshadowing of the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist;
+especially in the great hall of the Temple of the Mystæ in Eleusis
+there take place a manner of symbolic spectacles, dramas perhaps
+one may call them, revealing the origins of Iacchus, the mystical
+union of Persephone and Zeus, and the final joy of Demeter.
+
+This certainly we can say of these ceremonies.  They seem to have
+afforded to spiritually minded men a sense of remission of personal
+sin which the regular religion could never give; they seem also
+to have conveyed a fair hope of immortality, such as most Greeks
+doubted.  Sophocles tells thus the story:  "Thrice blessed are they
+who behold these mystical rites, ere passing to Hades' realm.  They
+alone have life there.  For the rest all things below are evil."[*]
+And in face of imminent death, perhaps in hours of shipwreck, men
+are wont to ask one another, "Have you been initiated at Eleusis?"
+
+[*]Sophocles, "Frag." 719.
+
+
+202.  The Greater Dionysia and the Drama.--Again we are in Athens
+in the springtime:  "The eleventh of Elapheboliön" [March].  It is
+the third day of the Greater Dionysia.  The city has been in high
+festival; all the booths in the Agora hum with redoubled life;
+strangers have flocked in from outlying pars of Hellas to trade,
+admire, and recreate; under pretext of honoring the wine god,
+inordinate quantities of wine are drunk with less than the prudent
+mixture of water.  There is boisterous frolicking, singing, and
+jesting everywhere.  It is early blossom time.  All whom you meet
+wear huge flower crowns, and pelt you with the fragrant petals of
+spring.[*]
+
+[*]Pindar ("Frag." 75) says thus of the joy and beauty of this fête:
+"[Lo!] this festival is due when the chamber of the red-robed Hours
+is opened and odorous plants wake to the fragrant spring.  then
+we scatter on undying earth the violet, like lovely tresses, and
+twine roses in our hair; then sound the voice of song, the flute
+keeps time, and dancing choirs resound the praise of Semele."
+
+So for two days the city has made merry, and now on the third,
+very early, "to the theater" is the word on every lip.  Magistrates
+in their purple robes of office, ambassadors from foreign states,
+the priests and religious dignitaries, are all going to the front
+seats of honor.  Ladies of gentle family, carefully veiled but eager
+and fluttering, are going with their maids, if the productions of
+the day are to be tragedies not comedies.[*]  All the citizens are
+going, rich and poor, for here again we meet "Athenian democracy";
+and the judgment and interest of the tatter-clad fishermen seeking
+the general "two-obol" seats may be almost as correct and keen as
+that of the lordly Alcmænoid in his gala himation.
+
+[*]It seems probable (on our uncertain information) that Athenian
+ladies attended the moral and proper tragedies.  It was impossible
+for them to attend the often very coarse comedies.  Possibly at
+the tragedies they sat in a special and decently secluded part of
+the theater.
+
+
+203.  The Theater of Dionysus.--Early dawn it is when the crowds
+pour through the barriers around the Theater of Dionysus upon the
+southern slope of the Acropolis.  They sit (full 15,000 or more)
+wedged close together upon rough wooden benches set upon the hill
+slopes.[*]  At the foot of their wide semicircle is a circular
+space of ground, beaten hard, and ringed by a low stone barrier.
+It is some ninety feet in diameter.  This is the "orchestra," the
+"dancing place," wherein the chorus may disport itself and execute
+its elaborate figures.  Behind the orchestra stretches a kind
+of tent or booth, the "skenë."  Within this the actors may retire
+to change their costumes, and the side nearest to the audience is
+provided with a very simple scene,--some kind of elementary scenery
+panted to represent the front of a temple or palace, or the rocks,
+or the open country.  This is nearly the entire setting.[+]  If
+there are any slight changes of this screen, they must be made in
+the sight of the entire audience.  The Athenian theater has the blue
+dome of heaven above it, the red Acropolis rock behind it.  Beyond
+the "skenë" one can look far away to the country and the hills.
+The keen Attic imagination will take the place of the thousand
+arts of the later stage-setter.  Sophocles and his rivals, even as
+Shakespeare in Elizabeth's England, can sound the very depths and
+scale the loftiest heights of human passion, with only a simulacrum
+of the scenery, properties, and mechanical artifices which will
+trick out a very mean twentieth century theater.
+
+[*]These benches (before the stone theater was built in 340 B.C.)
+may be imagined as set up much like the "bleachers" at a modern
+baseball park.  We know that ancient audiences wedged in very close.
+
+[+]I think it is fairly certain that the classical Attic theater
+was without any stage, and that the actors appeared on the same
+level as the chorus.  As to the extreme simplicity of all the
+scenery and properties there is not the least doubt.
+
+
+204.  The production of a Play.--The crowds are hushed and expectant.
+The herald, ere the play begins, proclaims the award of a golden
+crown to some civic benefactor:  a moment of ineffable joy to the
+recipient; for when is a true Greek happier than when held up for
+public glorification?  Then comes the summons to the first competing
+poet.
+
+"Lead on your chorus."[*]  The intellectual feast of the Dionysia
+has begun.
+
+[*]In the fourth century B.C. when the creation of original tragedies
+was in decline, a considerable part of the dionysia productions
+seem to have been devoted to the works of the earlier masters,
+Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
+
+To analyze the Attic drama is the task of the philosopher and the
+literary expert.  We observe only the superficialities.  There are
+never more than THREE speaking actors before the audience at once.
+They wear huge masques, shaped to fit their parts.  The wide
+mouthpieces make the trained elocution carry to the most remote
+parts of the theater.  The actors wear long trailing robes and are
+mounted on high shoes to give them sufficient stature before the
+distant audience.  When a new part is needed in the play, an actor
+retires to the booth, and soon comes forth with a changed masque
+and costume--an entirely new character.  In such a costume and
+masque, play of feature and easy gesture is impossible; but the
+actors carry themselves with a stately dignity and recite their often
+ponderous lines with a grace which redeems them from all bombast.
+An essential part of the play is the chorus; indeed the chorus
+was once the main feature of the drama, the actors insignificant
+innovations.  With fifteen members for the tragedy, twenty-four for
+the comedy,[*] old men of Thebes, Trojan dames, Athenian charcoal
+burners, as the case may demand--they sympathize with the hard-pressed
+hero, sing lusty choral odes, and occupy the time with song and
+dance while the actors are changing costume.
+
+[*]In the "Middle" and "Later" comedy, so called, the chorus entirely
+disappears.  The actors do everything.
+
+The audience follows all the philosophic reasoning of the tragedies,
+the often subtle wit of the comedies, with that same shrewd alertness
+displayed at the jury courts of the Pnyx.  "Authis! Authis!"
+(again! again!) is the frequent shout, if approving.  Date stones
+and pebbles as well as hootings are the reward of silly lines or bad
+acting.  At noon there is an interlude to snatch a hasty luncheon
+(perhaps without leaving one's seat).  Only when the evening
+shadows are falling does the chorus of the last play approach the
+altar in the center of the orchestra for the final sacrifice.  A
+whole round of tragedies have been given.[*]  The five public judges
+announce their decision:  an ivy wreath to the victorious poet; to
+his "choregus" (the rich man who has provided his chorus and who
+shares his glory) the right to set up a monumnet in honor of the
+victory.  Home goes the multitude,--to quarrel over the result,
+to praise or blame the acting, to analyze the remarkable acuteness
+the poet's handling of religious, ethical, or social questions.
+
+[*]Comedies, although given at this Dionysia, were more especially
+favored at the Lenæa, an earlier winter festival.
+
+The theater, like the dicasteries and the Pnyx, is one of the great
+public schools of Athens.
+
+
+205.  The Great Panathenaic Procession.--Then for the last time
+let us visit Athens, at the fête which in its major form comes only
+once in four years.  It is the 28th of Metageitniön (August), and
+the eighth day of the Greater Panathenæa, the most notable of all
+Athenian festivals.  By it is celebrated the union of all Attica
+by Theseus, as one happy united country under the benign sway of
+might Athena,--an ever fortunate union, which saved the land from
+the sorrowful feuds of hostile hamlets such as have plagued so many
+Hellenic countries.  On the earlier days of the feast there have
+been musical contests and gymnastic games much after the manner of
+the Olympic games, although the contestants have been drawn from
+Attica only.  There has been a public recital of Homer.  Before a
+great audience probably at the Pnyx or the Theater a rhapsodist of
+noble presence--clad in purple and with a golden crown--has made
+the Trojan War live again, as with his well-trained voice he held
+the multitude spellbound by the music of the stately hexameters.
+
+Now we are at the eighth day.  All Athens will march in its glory
+to the Acropolis, to bear to the shrine of Athena the sacred
+"peplos"--a robe specially woven by the noble women of Athens to
+adorn the image of the guardian goddess.[*]  The houses have opened;
+the wives, maids, and mothers of gentle family have come forth to
+march in the procession, all elegantly wreathed and clad in their
+best, bearing the sacred vessels and other proper offerings.  The
+daughter of the "metics," the resident foreigners, go as attendants
+of honor with them.  The young men and the old, the priests, the
+civil magistrates, the generals, all have their places.  Proudest
+of all are the wealthy and high-born youths of the cavalry, who
+now dash to and fro in their clattering pride.  The procession is
+formed in the outer Ceramicus.  Amid cheers, chants, chorals, and
+incense smoke it sweeps through the Agora, and slowly mounts the
+Acropolis.  Center of all the marchers is the glittering peplos,
+raised like a sail upon a wheeled barge of state--"the ship
+of Athena."  Upon the Acropolis, while the old peplos is piously
+withdrawn from the image and the new one substituted, there is a
+prodigious sacrifice.  A might flame roars heavenward from the "great
+altar"; while enough bullocks[+] and kine[&] have been slaughtered
+to enable every citizen--however poor--to bear away a goodly mess
+of roasted meat that night.
+
+[*]Not that this robe was for the revered ancient and wooden image
+of Athena Polias, not for the far less venerable statue of Athena
+Parthenos.
+
+[+][NOTE from Brett:  A bullock is a young, possibly castrated,
+bull.]
+
+[&][NOTE from Brett:  kine is the archaic plural form of "cow."]
+
+
+206.  The View from the Temple of Wingless Victory.--We will not
+wait for the feasting but rather will take our way to the Temple
+of Wingless Victory, looking forth to the west of the Acropolis
+Rock.  So many things we see which we would fain print on the memory.
+Behind us we have just left the glittering Parthenon, and the less
+august but hardly less beautiful Erechtheum, with its "Porch of
+the Maidens."  To our right is the wide expanse of the roofs of the
+city and beyond the dark olive groves of Colonus, and the slopes
+of Ægaleos.  In the near foreground, are the red crags of Areopagus
+and the gray hill of the Pnyx.  But the eye will wander farther.
+It is led away across the plainland to the bay of Phaleron, the
+castellated hill of Munychia, the thin stretch of blue water and
+the brown island seen across it--Salamis and its strait of the
+victory.  Across the sparkling vista of the sea rise the headlands
+of Ægina and of lesser isles; farther yet rise the lordly peaks of
+Argolis.  Or we can look to the southward.  Our gaze rounds down the
+mountainous Attic coast full thirty miles to where Sunium thrusts
+out its haughty cape into the Ægean and points the way across the
+island-studded sea.
+
+Evening is creeping on.  Behind us sounds the great pæan, the
+solemn chant to Athena, bestower of good to men.  As the sun goes
+down over the distant Argolic hills his rays spread a clear pathway
+of gold across the waters.  Islands, seas, mountains far and near,
+are touched now with shifting hues,--saffron, violet, and rose,--beryl,
+topaz, sapphire, amethyst.  There will never be another landscape
+like unto this in all the world.  Gladly we sum up our thoughts
+in the cry of a son of Athens, Aristophanes, master of song, who
+loved her with that love which the land of Athena can ever inspire
+in all its children, whether its own by adoption or by birth:--
+
+"OH, THOU, OUR ATHENS!  VIOLET-CROWNED, BRILLIANT, MOST ENVIABLE
+OF CITIES!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of A Day in Old Athens
+
+
+***
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Day In Old Athens
+by William Stearns Davis
+
+******This file should be named 4716-8.txt or 4716-8.zip******
+
+Typed by William Fishburne  (william.fishburne@verizon.net) proofed by Kestrell (aeryadne@theworld.com)
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