CHAPTER I.

SHEEP’S WOOL.

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

The Shepherd Boy--Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia--Mesopotamia and Syria--In Idumæa and Northern Arabia--In Palestine and Egypt--In Ethiopia and Libya--In Caucasus and Coraxi--The Coraxi identified with the modern Caratshai--In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c.--In Caria and Ionia--Milesian wool--Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly, Eubœa, and Bœotia--In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris--In Arcadia--Worship of Pan--Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds--Introduction of his worship into Attica--Extension of the worship of Pan--His dances with the nymphs--Pan not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus--The philosophical explanation of Pan rejected--Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians--Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians--Worship of Mercury in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade--Present state of Arcadia--Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus--Shepherds’ dogs--Annual migration of Albanian shepherds.

THE SHEPHERD BOY.

The rain was pattering o’er the low thatch’d shed That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy, Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw, In vacant happiness. A tatter’d sack Cover’d his sturdy loins, while his rude legs Were deck’d with uncouth patches of all hues, Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin Peep’d forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory For painter’s eye; and his quaint draperies Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene, Where arching groves, and flower-embroider’d banks, Verdant with thymy grass, tempted the sheep To scramble up their height, while he, reclin’d Upon the pillowing moss, lay listlessly Through the long summer’s day. Not such as he, In plains of Thessaly, as poets feign, Went piping forth at the first gleam of morn, And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy, And innocence, and love. Let the true lay Speak thus of the poor hind:--His indolent gaze Reck’d not of natural beauties; his delights Were gross and sensual: not the glorious sun, Rising above his hills, and lighting up His woods and pastures with a joyous beam, To him was grandeur; not the reposing sound Of tinkling flocks cropping the tender shoots, To him was music; not the blossomy breeze That slumbers in the honey-dropping bean-flower, To him was fragrance: he went plodding on His long-accustomed path; and when his cares Of daily duties were o’erpass’d, he ate, And laugh’d, and slept, with a most drowsy mind. Dweller in cities, scorn’st thou the shepherd boy, Who never look’d within to find the eye For Nature’s glories? Know, his slumbering spirit Struggled to pierce the fogs and deepening mists Of rustic ignorance; but he was bound With a harsh galling chain, and so he went Grovelling along his dim instinctive way. Yet _thou_ hadst other hopes and other thoughts, But the world spoil’d thee: then the mutable clouds, And doming skies, and glory-shedding sun, And tranquil stars that hung above thy head Like angels gazing on thy crowded path, To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore That man may read in Nature’s book of truth. Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy: For his account and thine shall be made up, And evil cherish’d and occasion lost May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit May bud and bloom in a more sunny sphere.

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of sheep, no less than of the silk-worm, may be justly regarded as a subject of the deepest interest. For the management and use of these animals has, from the earliest dawn of human history, formed a striking feature in the condition of man. Of the materials employed by the ancients for making cloth, by far the most important was the wool of sheep. We are able to trace with great probability the process of sheep-breeding and of the use of wool for weaving. Among the bones of quadrupeds, found in ancient caves _throughout Europe_, we cannot find on consulting the works of Cuvier, Buckland, and De la Beche, that remains of sheep have ever been discovered. This fact affords some reason for presuming, that the sheep is not a native of Europe, but has been introduced there by man.

It appears to have been a general opinion among Zoologists, that the Argali, or _Ovis Ammon_ of Linnæus, which inhabits in vast numbers the elevated regions of Central Asia, is the primitive stock of the whole race of domesticated sheep. Agreeably to this supposition we find, that from the earliest times the inhabitants of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the North of Arabia, have been addicted to pastoral employments. The tribes of wandering shepherds, which frequent those countries, are descended from progenitors, who led the same life thousands of years ago, and whose manners and habits are preserved to the present day with scarcely the slightest change.

As might be expected, we have little precise information respecting the Scythians, who inhabited the elevated plains of inner Asia. Some of their hordes are distinguished by Herodotus, Strabo, and others, under the name of _Nomadic_ or _pastoral_ Scythians; and that this denomination was understood to imply, that they tended sheep as well as larger cattle may be inferred from what Herodotus says of their use of felt (See Appendix B.). Strabo, moreover, says of a particular tribe of the Massagetæ, that they had “few sheep,” which implies that the rest were rich in flocks; and of another tribe he says, “They do not till the ground, but derive their sustenance from sheep and fish, _after the manner of the Nomadic Scythians_[227].” But a much more distinct account of the manners of this people is given us by Justin, who says, that they were accustomed to wander through uncultivated solitudes, always employed in tending herds and flocks (_armenta et pecora_). He, however, adds, that they were strangers to the use of woollen garments, being clothed in skins and furs[228]. Hence it appears, that they were too rude and ignorant to have acquired the arts of _spinning_ and _weaving_.

[227] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 486. ed. Siebenkees.

[228] Justin, l. ii. cap. 2.

If we may trust to the authority of Strabo, the Medes did not tend sheep; for he says of them, “They eat the flesh of wild animals; they do not bring up tame cattle[229].” Nevertheless, their southern neighbors, the Persians, with whom they were united under one government, had sheep in abundance. These animals are strikingly represented in the bas-reliefs of Persepolis. In one of them, which represents a long procession sculptured on the wall of a splendid staircase, two rams, attended by keepers, are accompanied in the same train by horses, asses, camels, and oxen[230]. Herodotus, in his account of the manners and institutions of the Persians (L. i. cap. 133.), mentions all these animals together in the following passage: “Of all days they are accustomed to observe most that on which each individual was born. On this day they set before their guests a more abundant feast than on any other. The wealthy provide an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass, roasted whole in furnaces; and the poor provide the smaller cattle.” By “_the smaller cattle_,” this author always means sheep and goats.

[229] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 567.

[230] See Ancient Universal History, vol. vi. plates 6. 8.

The superior excellence of the rich plains of Mesopotamia for the pasture of sheep as well as oxen, is attested by Dionysius Periegetes[231], and his account illustrates in an interesting manner the history of Jacob as contained in the book of Genesis, the rapid multiplication of the flocks and herds showing how well the soil and climate were adapted to this pursuit, and how well the business of tending them was there understood from the earliest times. Seldom do we find in any ancient author so beautiful a picture as is presented to us, when Jacob arrives at Padan-aram, and sees the flocks of sheep and goats assembling from the neighboring pastures in the evening to be watered at the well. Rachel appears conducting the flock of her father Laban, which she tended, and Jacob rolls from the mouth of the well the stone, which was placed to preserve the water cool and fresh, and assists his relative and future bride in watering her sheep. (Gen. xxix. 1-10.) Also on Jacob’s departure his remonstrance with Laban presents to us an animated representation of the duties and difficulties of the shepherd’s life; “These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it: of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.” (Gen. xxxi. 38-40.)

[231] Ὅσση δ’ Εὐφρήτου, &c. l. 992-996.

In English,

“As for the land, which lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris, called the land _Between the Rivers_, the herdsman would not contemn its pastures, nor he who tends flocks folded in the fields, and honors with his syrinx Pan who has horny hoofs.”

From Ezekiel we learn, that Damascus supplied the Tyrians with wool[232], and Jerome, who well knew the country, says in his comment on the passage, that this article was still produced there in his time (A. D. 378.)[233]. Aristotle, referring to the sheep of Syria, mentions a variety with tails, which were a cubit broad[234]; and Pliny in addition to this circumstance asserts generally the abundance of the Syrian wool[235]. Probably the part of Syria appropriated more especially to the breeding of sheep, was the eastern part, which bordered on Arabia, and was distinguished by the same natural features.

[232] “Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and _white_ wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: _bright_ iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in _precious clothes for chariots_. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in _lambs_, and _rams_, and _goats_: in these were they thy merchants. The merchants of Shebah and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, _in blue clothes_, and _broidered work_, and _in chests of rich apparel_, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.”--_Ezekiel_ xxvii. 18-24.

[233] “Et lana præcipua, quod usque hodie cernimus.”

[234] Hist. Animalium, l. viii. cap. 28.

[235] Plinii Hist. Nat. l. viii. c. 75. ed. Bipont. See Appendix A.

In no part of the ancient world does sheep-breeding appear to have been more cultivated than in that which we are now approaching. Here were the Moabites, among whom it was _a royal occupation_, and, as it appears, the chief source of the revenues of the sovereign: for it is said in 2 Kings iii. 4. “Mesha, king of Moab, was _a sheep-master_, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hundred thousand rams with the wool.” Here on occasion of a war, which the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, whose territory was to the east of Jordan, carried on against the Hagarites, they obtained as part of their booty 250,000 sheep. (I. Chron. v. 21.) Here was Idumæa, in a part of which Job is represented to have dwelt, being possessed of 7,000, and afterwards of 14,000 sheep (Job i. 3. xlii. 12.): and we have a beautiful allusion to the pastoral habits of the same country in the language of consolation employed by the prophet Micah (ii. 12.): “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bosrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” Here also were the Midianites, whose flocks were so vast, that the sheep taken from them by Moses after his victory amounted to 675,000. (Num. xxxi. 32.) Jethro, the priest of Midian, was himself the owner of a numerous flock, tended by his seven daughters, whom Moses assisted in watering them, when the neighboring shepherds rudely attempted to drive them from the well. He afterwards married one of them, and was employed by the father as his shepherd; and, having occasion according to the practice of the country to conduct the flock from the plains to pasture upon the mountains of Horeb, he was thence called to undertake his extraordinary mission for the deliverance of his nation. (Exod. ii. 15-iii. 1.)

The Arabs appear from the earliest times to the present day to have bestowed no less attention upon sheep than upon horses. Isaiah also records the excellence of the sheep of Arabia in the following terms addressed by the Almighty to his people (Ch. lx. 7.): “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” The habits of the Nebatæi, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus Siculus: “They live in the open air, and call a land their country, which is destitute of habitations, and has neither rivers nor copious fountains, such as could satisfy an army of invaders. _Their law forbids them on pain of death either to sow corn, to plant fruit-trees, to use wine, or to build houses._ They submit to this law, because they think, that those who enjoy such conveniences may for the sake of them be readily compelled by the powerful to do what they command. Some of them rear camels, and others sheep, which they pasture in the wilderness[236].”

[236] Diod. Sic. l. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph.

Strabo (l. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking apparently of another division of the Nebatæi, says they have large oxen, camels, and white sheep.

Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety of sheep among the Arabs, the tail of which grew to so great a size as to require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which was dragged after the wearer[237].

[237] The passages of ancient authors relating to this variety, with various confirmations from modern travellers, are quoted with his usual accuracy by Bochart, Hieroz. l. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-497. Ed. Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692.

We have no reason to believe, that the Phœnicians employed themselves in the breeding and pasture of sheep. The narrow strip of territory, which they occupied at the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean Sea, was in general too densely peopled to be adapted for this purpose. Their activity, intelligence, and enterprize were directed into other channels, and they supplied themselves from foreign countries with wool for their celebrated manufactures.

On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate neighbors of the Phœnicians, were altogether an agricultural and pastoral people. The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, presents to us beautiful images of the kind of life, which still continues with little variation among the Bedouins, or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not only was David _a shepherd boy_; but, when he had ascended the throne, he had numerous herds and flocks superintended by distinct officers. “And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David’s.” (I. Chron. xxvii. 29-31.) The reader cannot fail to call to mind David’s frequent allusions in the Psalms to those employments, which were no less familiar to his own mind than to the rest of his countrymen, and which supplied to them the most touching comparisons for the expression of their deepest religious convictions. The passage “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod (or _crook_) and thy staff, they comfort me” (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, 4.). “He shall feed (_i. e._ _tend_) his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Is. xl. ii.). “The pastures are _clothed_ with flocks,” an expression denoting the vast multitudes of sheep, which overspread the mountains and plains (Ps. lxv. 13.). “Be thou diligent,” says Solomon, “to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field; and thou shalt have goat’s milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens” (Prov. xxvii. 23. 26, 27.). We would particularly refer the reader to the thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet, reprimanding the rulers of Israel under the character of shepherds, makes some allusion to every circumstance connected with the care of sheep and goats. Language very similar is employed by our Saviour in John x. where he speaks of himself as “_the good shepherd_.” The whole system and history of the sacrifices both before and after the giving of the Mosaic law, might be produced to prove the pastoral habits of this people from the earliest times. The districts of Bashan and Carmel, seem to have attained the highest reputation in respect to the breeding of sheep. Bashan, which lay to the east of the Jordan in the country adjoining that of the Hagarites and Moabites, already mentioned, and Carmel, the mountainous range near the Dead Sea in the south of Judea. In the latter district Nabal kept his flocks, and as he is said to have been “very great,” and we are at the same time informed that “he had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats” (I. Sam. xxv. 2.), these numbers afford us a precise idea of the wealth of a considerable proprietor in this respect. That the “rams of the breed of Bashan,” were particularly celebrated, we learn from Deut. xxxii. 14; and Ezekiel mentions with distinction (ch. xxxix. 18.) a sacrifice “of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.”

It is impossible to conceive a more striking difference in manners and institutions, than that which must have presented itself to the traveller in very ancient times, when on crossing the Isthmus of Suez he passed from the deserts of Arabia and Idumæa to the richly cultivated and populous plains of Egypt. According to the statement already quoted from an ancient historian the wandering tribes of Nabaioth were forbidden by a positive law to till the ground or to construct settled habitations, and they lived on the produce of their flocks, which they continually led from place to place in pursuit of pasture adapted to the season of the year. The Egyptians, on the contrary, appear to have been originally under a prohibition of exactly the opposite kind, since they cultivated the ground with care, excelled most other nations in all the arts of life, and produced the most splendid proofs of their architectural skill, but were not allowed to keep flocks of sheep and goats. That this was the case at the time, when Jacob took his family to sojourn in Egypt, is evident from their application to Pharaoh on arriving in the land of Goshen, which was on the eastern border of Egypt adjoining Palestine and Arabia, to be permitted to remain there on the ground, that from their youth they had been accustomed to tend flocks, whereas “every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians[238].”

[238] Gen. xlvi. 28.--xlvii. 6. Compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 7. 5.

It appears that the Nabatæan law was far more effectual towards the attainment of its object than the Egyptian. For, whereas the pastoral tribes of Arabia have retained their independence and their national peculiarities even to the present day; the Egyptians, on the other hand, became a prey to foreign invasion, and among other changes in their customs we have to notice the introduction of the management of sheep. Even as early as the time of Moses the practice had commenced; for in the account of the effects of the murrain in Exodus ix. 3, we find mention of sheep, and indeed it is remarkable, that the domestic animals there enumerated, viz. horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep, are exactly the same, which, as we have before shown, were bred by the ancient Persians[239]. Later historians afford distinct testimony to the same fact. Thus Diodorus Siculus says, that “upon the subsidence of the waters after the inundation of the Nile the flocks were admitted to pasture, and the produce of the soil was so abundant, that the sheep were not only shorn _twice_, but also brought forth young _twice_ in the year.” Herodotus also plainly supposes, that sheep and goats were bred in Egypt, when he contrasts the inhabitants of the Theban Nome, who worshipped Ammon, with the inhabitants of the Mendesian Nome, who worshipped Mendes. The former, he says, “all abstain from sheep, and sacrifice goats;” the latter “abstain from goats, which they hold in veneration, and sacrifice sheep.” He, however, mentions that the Thebans slew a ram once a year on occasion of a particular ceremony, which he describes (ii. 42. 46.). The testimony of Strabo and Plutarch, though differing in some particulars from that of Herodotus, is to the same general effect. Aristotle (_l. c._) mentions, that the sheep of Egypt were larger than those of Greece.

[239] It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated _sheep_ in Ex. ix. 3. included goats.

But, although these passages show, that sheep were bred in Egypt, we think it evident that their number was very limited. Egyptian wool cannot have been of the least importance as an article of commerce. What was produced must also have been consumed in the country. For, although the chief material for the clothing of the Egyptians was linen, and they were forbidden to be buried in woollen or to use it in the temples, yet Herodotus (ii. 81.) states, that on ordinary occasions they wore a garment of white wool over their linen shirt. They also used wool for embroidering. According to Pliny[240] the Egyptian wool was coarse and of a short staple. Tertullian records a saying of the Egyptians, that Mercury invented the spinning of wool in their country[241].

[240] Hist. Nat. l. viii. 73. See Appendix A.

[241] De Pallio, c. 3.

Strabo in an instructive manner contrasts the Ethiopians with the Egyptians. Having observed, that the boundary between the two nations was the smaller cataract above Syene and Elephantine, he says, that the Ethiopians led for the most part a pastoral life without resources, both on account of their intemperate climate and the poverty of their soil, and also because they were remote from the civilized world; whereas the Egyptians had always lived in a refined manner and under a regular government, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating philosophy, agriculture, and the arts[242]. Thus do we find the nomad life recurring immediately to the south of Egypt. Strabo further states, that the Ethiopian sheep were small, and instead of being woolly were hairy like goats, on which account the people wore skins instead of woollen cloth[243]. That these sheep were held in some estimation by the Egyptians is, however, manifest from the fact, that in the splendid procession exhibited at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there were 130 sheep from Ethiopia, 300 from Arabia, and 20 from Eubœa[244]. Also, that the pastoral habits of the Ethiopians were known to the Romans may be inferred from the allusion, which Virgil makes to them in his Tenth Eclogue (l. 64-68.):

No toils of ours can change the cruel god, Though we should flee him through each new abode; Whether we drink, where chilling Hebrus flows, And winter reigns amid Sithonian snows; Or, where the elms beneath hot Cancer bend, Our Ethiopian sheep we fainting tend.

[242] Strabo, l. xvii. c. 1. § 3. p. 476, 477. ed. Siebenkees.

[243] Cap. 2. § 1. 3. p. 621. 626. Strabo’s account is illustrated and confirmed by the traveller, Dr. Shaw, who describes a variety of sheep in the interior of Africa with “fleeces as coarse and hairy as those of the goat.”--Travels in Barbary, part iii. chap. 2. § 1.

[244] Callixenus Rhodius, apud Athenæum, l. v. p. 201. ed. Casaub.

We find, that the people of Libya had attained to some distinction in the management of flocks. What Diodorus says of the Egyptian sheep is asserted by Aristotle of those of Libya, viz. that they produced young _twice_ in the year[245]. That sheep-breeding had extended hither in very early times appears from a passage in the Odyssey, which, however, in consequence of the remoteness of the situation and the imperfect knowledge of geography in the time of the writer, is mixed with fable, inasmuch as it represents, that the ewes brought forth not only twice, but even _three_ times in the year, and that the lambs were immediately provided with horns[246].

That happy clime! where each revolving year The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear, And two fair crescents of translucent horn The brows of all their young increase adorn; The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest, On the fat flock and rural dainties feast; Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail, But every season fills the foaming pail.

_Pope’s Translation._

[245] Aristot. Problem. cap. x. sec. 46.

[246] Odyss. iv. 85-89.

Pindar (_Pyth_. ix. 11.) distinguishes Libya by the epithet πολύμηλος, “abounding in flocks.” To the same district of Africa, Virgil alludes in the following passage of the Georgics, which is surpassed by few as a happy example of the art of the poet in describing the various modes of pastoral life.

Why should I sing of Libya’s artless swains; Her scatter’d cottages and trackless plains? By day, by night, without a destined home, For many a month their flocks all lonely roam; So vast th’ unbounded solitude appears, While, with his flock, his all the shepherd bears, His arms, his household god, his homely shed, His Cretan darts, and dogs of Sparta bred.

_Georg._ iii. 339-345.--_Warton’s Translation._

It is to be observed, that, although the Libyan shepherd according to Virgil’s description led a migratory life, conducting his sheep from place to place in search of pasture, yet the scale, upon which he carried on his operations, was widely different from that which has always characterized the nomadic tribes of Asia. The poet represents the Libyan shepherd as a solitary wanderer, bearing with him all his arms and implements, just as a Roman soldier (l. 346.) carried his military accoutrements. On the other hand, as we have seen, the Syrian or Arabian shepherd goes in a kind of state, with camels and horses to carry his wife and children, his tents, and the rest of his equipage; and he is followed by thousands, instead of hundreds or perhaps scores, of sheep and goats.

Let us now pursue the progress of this employment in another direction, viz. towards the north-west, and across the Euxine Sea and the straits connected with it into Europe.

Near the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea we meet with a very remarkable instance of the attention paid to the produce and manufacture of wool in a tribe called _the Coraxi_. Strabo alludes to the value of their fleeces in a passage which we shall produce in speaking of the wool of Spain, to which it more directly refers. At present we shall only consider the following evidence preserved by Joannes Tzetzes.

Τὸ παλαιὸν περὶ στρωμνὰς ἦν τῇ Μιλητῷ φήμη· Ἔρια τὰ Μιλησία καλλίστα γὰρ τῶν πάντων, Κᾂν ὦσι τῶν Κοραξικῶν φέροντα δευτερεῖα[247].

[247] Jo. Tzetzes, Chiliad. x. 348-350, in Lectii Corp. Poetarum Græcorum.

“Anciently Miletus was famed for carpets: for of all fleeces the Milesian were the most beautiful, although the Coraxic bore the second prize.”

Περὶ τῶν Μιλησιῶν ἔφαν πολλοὶ ἐρίων· Περὶ ἐρίων Κοράξων ἐν πρωτῷ δὲ Ἰαμβῷ Ἱππῶναξ οὗτως εἴρηκε, μέτρῳ χωλῶν Ἰάμβων, Κωραξικὸν μὲν ἠμφιεσμένη λῶπος.[248]

“Of the Milesian fleeces many have spoken: and to the Coraxic Hipponax has alluded in his Choliambic measure, where he mentions ‘a woman enveloped in a Coraxic shawl.’”

[248] Ib. 378-381.

Hipponax, who is here cited by Tzetzes, was a satirical poet of Ephesus, and flourished about 540 B. C. In confirmation of his testimony it may be proved, that his countrymen and contemporaries had constant intercourse with a port in the vicinity of the Coraxi. We learn from Pliny (l. vi. cap. 5.)[249], that the Coraxi were situated near Dioscurias, which, though deserted in his time, had been formerly so illustrious that 300 nations, _speaking different languages_, resorted to it. As we learn from other authorities, Dioscurias _was a colony of Miletus and one of its chief settlements_. Miletus also in the time of Hipponax had risen to the summit of its prosperity, and was the greatest commercial city in the world next to Tyre and Carthage[250]. Its chief trade was towards the north and as far as the extremity of the Euxine Sea. Among the numerous Asiatic tribes, which were accustomed to bring their productions to Dioscurias and exchange them for Grecian merchandise, the Coraxi were, as we may conclude from the evidence now produced, a nation of superior enterprize and intelligence, who sent to the shores of the Ægean in the vessels of Miletus their fine wool, as well as the _carpets_ and _shawls_, which they made from it.

[249] See Appendix A.

[250] Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographie, 6. 3. p. 253, &c.

If we had no more exact information than that which has been already cited, we might infer, that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, a mountainous region admirably adapted to the breeding of sheep. The Circassians of the present day have numerous herds of cattle and vast flocks of sheep and goats. Their vallies are distinguished by beauty and fertility. A late traveller says, that from whatever country you enter Circassia, “_you are at once agreeably impressed with the decided improvement in the appearance of the population, the agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and herds_[251].” With respect to Dioscurias, we are informed, that “the memory of its ancient name is still preserved in the present appellation of Iskouriah[252].” Sir John Chardin, who visited it and calls it Isgaour, commends its safety in summer as a road for ships, but says that it is a complete desert, where he could obtain no provisions, the traders who anchor there being obliged to construct temporary huts and booths of the boughs of trees for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of the natives of Mingrelia and Caucasus[253].

[251] Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. ii. p. 355. Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says, (p. 582.), that the wealth of the Circassians consists principally in their sheep, from whose wool the women make coarse cloth and felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the mountains, but feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains.

[252] Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 110. See also Major Rennell’s Map of Western Asia.

[253] Chardin’s Travels, vol i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation. London, 1686.

But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight into their distinctive characters as a nation.

At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan, consisting of rather more than 250 families, which appears to retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the Caratshai[254]. From him we learn the following particulars respecting their appearance, manners, and employments. They are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus, and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of the Steppe. _They are well formed, and have fine features, which are set off by large black eyes and a white skin._ Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They live in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are _strictly_ and _well_ educated; and in general it may be said of them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus, surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They are very _industrious_, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields abundance of grass for pasture. The country around them is covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are much prized, and martins. _Their dress is chiefly made of woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the produce of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole of Caucasus. They sell their cloth_, called by them _Shal_[255], their _felt_ for _carpeting_, and their furs, partly to the Nogay-Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of metal, and partly _at Souchom-Kalé, a Turkish fort on the Black Sea_, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They receive here in return goods of _cotton_ and _silk_, tobacco and tobacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While the men are employed out of doors, the women stay at home, make gold and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and brothers.

[254] Reise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The author thus spells the name in German characters, _Ckaratschai_. Father Lamberti, a missionary from the Society of the Propaganda at Naples, who remained twenty years in that part of Asia in the seventeenth century, calls them “_i Caraccioli_,” in which name we observe the addition of an Italian termination. See his Relatione della Colchide, hoggi delta Mengrelia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196.

[255] The origin of the English _shawl_.

Such is the account given by a recent and most competent witness of the actual condition of this interesting nation, who, though now perhaps reduced in number, occupy probably after the lapse of 2500 years their original seat at the distance of from forty to eighty miles to the north-east of the same coast, to which they have always resorted for commercial purposes[256].

[256] Souchom-Kalé is only twelve miles from _Iscuria_, a single promontory intervening between the bay and river of the former harbor and those of the latter. See Spencer’s Travels, vol. i. p. 295-297, and his Map at p. 209.

We cannot survey the now deserted Iscuria without observing, what a mournful contrast the Euxine presents under the sway of both Russia and Turkey to the useful energy, which more than 2000 years ago promoted life and the arts of life, and brought into close and peaceful contact the most refined and the most uncultivated nations, under the direction of the Ionians of Miletus. The beauty, the bravery, the activity, and the independence of a highland clan still represent the skill and enterprize of the ancient Coraxi; but the commerce, which rewarded their industry, and extended their reputation through the civilized world, has sunk into insignificance.

Besides the above notices of the Coraxi in Strabo and Tzetzes we find little said concerning the breeding of sheep in this part of Asia. Aristotle, however, mentions the sheep of “Pontus near Scythia,” and says that they were without horns[257]. The Melanchlæni also, who are mentioned by Herodotus in his account of the Scythian tribes, and who lived to the north of the Coraxi, were so called, because they wore black palls.

[257] Hist. Anim. viii. 28.

There can be no doubt, that the use and management of sheep were known from the earliest times throughout nearly the whole of Asia Minor, and that some nations in this region had attained to a superiority in the art before the settlement in it of the Grecian colonists.

The imagery of the Homeric poems (supposed to be written about 900 B. C.) affords abundant evidence of these facts. They continually mention shepherds, who had the care of sheep, as well as goat-herds, who managed goats. They speak of the folds, in which the flocks were secured at night to preserve them from the attacks of wild beasts. The dangers to which the flocks were exposed from both wolves and lions, are in accordance with similar expressions and incidents in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, arising from the existence of the same ravenous and destructive quadrupeds in Palestine. Also, the language both of the Scriptures and of the Homeric poems _is precisely the same_, in which the king, ruling his people is compared to the shepherd tending his flock, or to the strong and large ram, which leads the sheep[258]. It is to be observed, that the geographical knowledge expressed in the Homeric poems extended as far as the promontory of Carambis on the south coast of the Euxine Sea, and included all Phrygia, Ionia, and the western half of Asia Minor.

[258] See Bochart’s Hierozoïcon, l. ii. cap. 44. De Gregum Pastoribus.

The Greek mythology affords similar evidence. The well-known story of Paris, adjudging the golden apple, is founded on the pastoral scenes of Ida. Marsyas also was a shepherd on mount Ida[259]: the river Marsyas, famed for his contest with Apollo, was among the Phrygian mountains[260].

[259] Hyginus, Fab. 165.

[260] It appears not impossible, that, when Theocritus in Idyll. iii. 46, represents Adonis as “tending flocks upon the mountains,” he may have referred to the mountains of Phrygia or of Ionia. For in another Idyll. (i. 105-110,) he seems to connect the love of Venus for Adonis with her love for Anchises, as if the scene of both were in the same region. Among the various accounts of Adonis, one makes him the offspring of Smyrna; and Cinyras, _the father of Adonis, is said to have founded the city of Smyrna in Ionia, calling it by that name after his daughter_. (Hyginus, Fab. 58 and 275.) This supposition accounts most satisfactorily for the production of the beautiful elegy on the death of Adonis by Bion, who was a native of Smyrna.

The historical evidence to which we now proceed, though referring to times much posterior to the mythological, is more exact as well as more entitled to absolute credit.

According to Strabo the branches of Mount Taurus in _Pisidia_ were rich in pastures “for all kinds of cattle[261].” The chief town of this region was _Selge_, a very flourishing city, and hence Tertullian, in a passage, mentions “oves Selgicæ,” Selgic sheep, among those of the greatest celebrity. The superior whiteness of the fleeces of _Pamphylia_ is mentioned by Philostratus.

[261] Lib. xii. c. 7, § 3.

We have reason to believe, that the _Lydians_ and _Carians_ bestowed the greatest attention on sheep-breeding and on the woollen manufacture before the arrival of the Greek colonists among them. The new settlers adopted the employments of the ancient inhabitants, and made those employments subservient to a very extensive and lucrative trade. Pliny (viii. 73. ed. Bip.) mentions the wool of Laodicea (See Appendix A.) in Caria; and Strabo (xii. c. 7. p. 578. Casaub.) observes, that the country about this city and Colossæ, which was not far from it, produced sheep highly valued on account of the fineness and the color of their fleeces.

Aristophanes mentions a _pall_, made of “Phrygian fleeces[262]:” and Varro asserts, that in his time there were many flocks of wild sheep in Phrygia[263].

[262] Aves, 492.

[263] De Re Rusticâ, ii. 1.

The passages above quoted from Strabo and Joannes Tzetzes allude to the very great celebrity of the wool of _Miletus_ and of the articles woven from it.

The passages, which will now be produced from both Greek and Latin authors of various ages, conspire to prove the distinguished excellence of the wool of Miletus, although in many of them the epithet _Milesian_ may be employed only in a proverbial acceptation to denote wool of the finest quality. The animals, which yielded this wool, must have been bred in the interior of Ionia not far from Miletus.

Ctesias describes the softness of camels’-hair by comparing it to Milesian fleeces[264]. A woman in Aristophanes (Lysist. 732.) says, she must go home to spread her Milesian fleeces on the couch, because the worms were gnawing them. In a fragment of a Greek comedy, called Procris, of a somewhat later age (ap. Athen. l. xii. p. 553), a favorite lap-dog is described, lying on Milesian fleeces:

Οὐκοῦν ὑποστορεῖτε μαλακῶς τῷ κυνί· Κάτω μὲν ὑποβαλεῖτε τῶν Μιλησίων Ἐρίων.

Therefore make a soft bed for the dog: throw down for him Milesian fleeces.

[264] Ctesiæ fragmenta, a Bähr, p. 224.

The Sybarites wore _shawls_ of Milesian wool[265]. Palæphatus explains the fable of the Hesperides by saying, that their father Hesperus was a Milesian, and that they had beautiful sheep, such as those which were still kept at Miletus[266]. Eustathius says, the “Milesian _carpets_[267]” had become proverbial. Virgil represents the nymphs of Cyrene spinning Milesian fleeces, dyed of a deep _sea-green_ color:

The nymphs, around her placed, their spindles ply, And draw Milesian wool, of glassy dye. _Georg._ iv. 334.

[265] Timæus apud Athenæum, xii. p. 519. B.

[266] De Incred. § 19.

[267] In Dionysium, v. 823.

He also alludes to the high price of Milesian fleeces in the following passage:

Let rich Miletus vaunt her fleecy pride, And weigh with gold her robes in purple dyed. _Georg._ iii. 306.--_Sotheby’s Translation._

The comment of Servius on the latter passage is as follows:

Milesian fleeces, most valuable wools; for Miletus is a city of Asia, where the best wools are dyed.

The ancient Greek version of Ezekiel (xxvii. 18.) enumerates Milesian fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importation.

Columella (vii. 2.) and Pliny (viii. 48.) assert the celebrity of the flocks of Miletus in former times, although in their time they were surpassed by the sheep of some other countries.

In soft Milesian wool as fine as possible.--Hippocrates, vol. i. p. 689. ed. _Fœsii_.

Ye are hairs of sheep, although Miletus may boast of you, and Italy be in high repute, and though the hairs be guarded under skins.--Clemens Alexandrinus, Pæd. ii. 30.

Lying on Milesian carpets.--Aristoph. Ranæ, l. 548.

Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of those, for which Tarentum and Bætica are famous, and which are colored by nature.--Tertullian de Pallio, 3.

If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied _in shearing sheep_, the Seres _in spinning the produce of trees_, the Tyrians _in dyeing_, the Phrygians _in embroidering_, and the Babylonians _in weaving_.--Tertullian de Habitu Muliebri.

We may now notice Samos, as being near the Ionic coast. Athenæus (xii. p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert that, when Polycrates was introducing into Samos the most excellent of the different breeds of animals, he chose the dogs of Laconia and Molossis, the goats of Scyros and Naxos, and the sheep of Miletus and Attica.

Respecting the breeding of sheep in _Samos_ it may be proper to quote the remark of Ælian (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the Samians gave some religious honor to this animal, because a consecrated utensil of gold, which had been stolen from one of their temples, was discovered by a sheep.

It appears probable, that the shepherd life was established in Thrace as early as in any part of Europe; for in the Homeric poems it is called “the mother of flocks” (Il. v. 222.). In a much later age the sheep of Thrace are mentioned by Nicander (Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn from Plato (De Legibus, l. vii. p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace the flocks were entrusted to the care of the women, who were there compelled like slaves to work out of doors.

Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that they brought forth young twice a year[268].

[268] Problem. cap. x. sec. 46.

A little further south we find sheep from the earliest times in Thessaly near the river Amphrysus. Here was Iton, which Homer also calls “the mother of flocks[269].” It was celebrated for a temple of Minerva, who was called from it _Itonis_, or _Itonia_[270], and whose worship was transferred from hence to Bœotia.

[269] Il. B. 696.

[270] Strabo, l. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed. Siebenkees. Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. i. 551; and Schol. ad locum. Alcæi Reliquiæ, a Maththiæ, No. 54.

That Eubœa was famous for sheep we know from the testimony of two different authors cited by Athenæus. That of Callixenus Rhodius has been already produced; and that of Hermippus occurs in his metrical enumeration of the most excellent and characteristic productions of different countries[271].

[271] Athen. Deip. l. i. p. 27. D.

Bœotia appears from very early times to have been rich in flocks. The tragic history of Œdipus supposes, that his father Laius, the king of Thebes, had flocks on Mount Cithæron. According to Sophocles (Œd. Tyr. 1026-1140.) Œdipus was delivered to one of the royal shepherds to be there exposed, and this shepherd through pity committed him to another, and thus saved his life[272]. Seneca in his free version of Sophocles (Œd. Act. iv. v. 815-850.) has added a circumstance, as it appears, from the practice established in other cases. He says, that the shepherd of Laius, whom he calls _Phorbas_, had many others under him. But, although it may be doubted whether the flocks of Laius were so numerous as to require a head shepherd placed over many others, we learn that his possessions of this description excited contest and warfare among his descendants. Their countryman, Hesiod, represents them fighting at the gates of Thebes “for the flocks of Œdipus” (Op. et Dies, 163.), an expression, which must at least be understood to imply, that sheep constituted a principal part of the king’s wealth.

[272] This transaction is represented in Plate VIII. Fig. 5.

Among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum we have an interesting inscription relating to a contract made between the city of Orchomenos in Bœotia and Eubulus of Elatea in Phocis, _according to which Eubulus was to have for four years the right of pasturage for 4 cows, 200 mares, 20 sheep, and 1000 goats_. In the opinion of Professors Böckh[273] and Ottfried Müller[274] this inscription may be referred to the time of the Peloponnesian war. The supposed effect of the waters of the Melas and Cephisos on the fleeces of sheep is a testimony of a much later date, but proves that sheep, both black and white, were bred in that country[275]. Varro (De Re Rust. ii. 2.) mentions the practice of covering sheep with skins in order to improve and preserve their fleeces. The Attic sheep, thus clothed with skins, are mentioned by Demosthenes under the name of “soft sheep[276].” The hilly part of Attica was of course particularly adapted for sheep as well as goats; and accordingly a letter of Alciphron (iii. 41.) describes flocks of them at Decelia near Mount Parnes about fifteen miles to the north of Athens. The fame of the Attic wool is also alluded to by Plutarch (De audiendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius, who died in the year 43 B. C.

No matter whether in soft Attic wool, Or in rough goats’-hair you be clothed[277].

[273] Corpus Inscrip. Græcar., vol. i. p. 740.

[274] Orchomenos, p. 471.

[275] Vitruvius, viii. 3. p. 218. ed. Schneider. See also Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 242. It was imagined that the water of the Melas rendered the wool black, and that of the Cephisos white.

Dr. Sibthorp, in crossing the plain of Bœotia near Platæa in November A. D. 1794, says, “Flocks of sheep, whose fleeces were of remarkable blackness, were feeding in the plain; the breed was considerably superior in beauty and size to that of Attica.”--Walpole’s Memoirs on Eur. and As. Turkey, p. 65.

[276] Contra Everg. et Mnesid. p. 1155. ed. Reiske.

[277] Apud Non. Marcellum.

We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnæ, one of the Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipe[278].

[278] Idyll. vii. 71.

In the adjoining country of _Megaris_ was a temple of great antiquity in honor of Δήμητηρ Μαλοφόρος. It was said, that Ceres was worshipped under that title, THE BRINGER OF FLOCKS, by those who first kept sheep in the country[279]. Theognis (v. 55.) mentions, that the people of Megaris used before his time to wear goat-skins, which shows the late introduction of the growth and manufacture of wool. Here, as in Attica, it was usual to protect the sheep with _skins_; and, as the _boys_ were sometimes seen _naked_ after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the cynic, said in reference to these practices, _he would rather be the ram of a Megarensian than his son_[280].

[279] Paus. i. 44. 4.

[280] Diog. Laert. vi. 41. Æliani Var. Hist. xii. 56.

In the Peloponnesus, _Arcadia_ was always remarkable for the attention paid to sheep.

Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern times. Here the lively genius and imaginative disposition common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contemplation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of mountain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character, highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, generally favorable to the development of the domestic and social virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to show in what degree the want of higher attainments _in religious knowledge_ and _moral cultivation_ was supplied by the peculiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint account of the genuine Arcadian system of religion and manners without attempting to refute at length the opposite views, which have been adopted by ancient and modern writers.

The peculiar Divinity of Arcadia, whose worship had a constant and manifest reference to the principal employments of the inhabitants, was _Pan_. Hence he is called by Virgil and Propertius “the God of Arcadia[281].” According to Herodotus (ii. 145.), Pan, the son of Mercury (who was born at Cyllene in Arcadia, where Mercury was previously worshipped,) first saw the light after the Trojan war, and about 800 years before his own time. Thus we are able to refer the supposed birth of Pan, and consequently the commencement of his worship to about the year 1260 B. C.[282].

[281] Virg. Buc. x. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17.

[282] Hist. d’Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359, 582.

The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his habits and employments, are described as follows in the most ancient document which we have relating to him, viz. Homer’s Hymn to Pan. Mercury tended rough flocks at Cyllene in the service of a mortal man, being enamored of a beautiful nymph. In the course of time she bore him a son, _having the feet of a goat, two horns upon his forehead, a long shaggy beard, and a bewitching smile_. This was Pan, who became the god of the shepherds, and the companion of the mountain nymphs, penetrating through the densest thickets, and inhabiting the most wild, rough, and lofty summits of the sylvan Arcadia. There it is his business to destroy the wild beasts; _and when, having returned from hunting, he drives his sheep into a cave, he plays upon his reeds a tune sweet as the song of any bird in spring_. The nymphs, delighting in melody, listen to him when they go to the dark fountain, and the god sometimes appears among them, wearing on his back the hide of a _lynx_, which he has lately killed, and he joins with them in the choral song and dance upon a meadow variegated with the _crocus_ and the _hyacinth_. He is beloved by Bacchus, and is the delight of his father Mercury, and he celebrates their worship beyond that of all the other gods.

Callimachus (Hymn. in Dianam, 88.) represents Pan at his fold in Arcadia, feeding his dogs with the flesh of a lynx, which he has caught on Mænalus. It is to be observed, that the care of dogs to guard the flock was an indispensable part of the pastoral office. Philostratus, in his Second Book of Pictures[283], supposes the nymphs to have been reproving Pan for his want of grace in dancing, _telling him that he leapt too high and like a goat_, and offering to teach him a more gentle method. He pays no attention to them, but tries to catch hold of them. Upon this they surprise him sleeping at noon after the toils of the chase; and he is represented in the picture with his arms tied behind him, and enraged and struggling against them, while they are cutting off his beard and trying to transform his legs and to humanize him.

[283] Philostrati Senioris Imag. l. ii. c. 11.

In the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil we find frequent invocations to Pan as the god of shepherds, the guardian of flocks, and the inventor of the syrinx, or Pandean pipes.

Ipse, nemus linquens patrium, saltusque Lycæi, Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Mænala curæ, Adsis, O Tegeæe, favens. _Georg._ i. 16-18.

God of the fleece, whom grateful shepherds love, Oh, leave Lycæus and thy father’s grove; And if thy Mænalus yet claim thy care, Hear, Tegeæan Pan, th’ invoking prayer. _Georg._ i. 16-18.

Delightful Mænalus, ‘mid echoing groves, And vocal pines, still hears the shepherds’ loves; The rural warblings hear of skilful Pan, Who first to tune neglected reeds began. _Bucol._ viii. 22-24.--_Warton’s Translation._

O that you lov’d the fields and shady grots, To dwell with me in bowers and lowly cots, To drive the kids to fold, the stags to pierce; Then shouldst thou emulate Pan’s skilful verse, Warbling with me in woods: ’twas mighty Pan To join with wax the various reeds began. Pan, the great god of all our subject plains, Protects and loves the cattle and the swains: Nor thou disdain thy tender rosy lip Deep to indent with such a master’s pipe. _Bucol._ ii. 28-34.--_Warton’s Translation._

Besides the four places in Arcadia, which are referred to in the above-cited passages of Virgil, Pausanias informs us of several others, in which he saw temples and altars erected to Pan. He says[284], that Mount Mænalus was especially sacred to this deity, _so that those who dwelt in its vicinity asserted, that they sometimes heard him playing on the syrinx_. A continual fire burnt there near his temple.

[284] L. viii. c. 36. 5. and c. 37. 8.

Herodotus gives a very curious account of the introduction of the worship of Pan into Attica[285]. He says, that before the battle of Marathon the Athenian generals sent Philippides as a herald to Sparta. “On his return Philippides asserted, that Pan had appeared to him near Mount Parthenius above Tegea, had addressed him by name and with a loud voice, and commanded him to ask the Athenians why they did not pay any regard to him, a god, who was kind to them, who had been often useful to them and would be so in future. The Athenians, believing the statement of Philippides, when they found themselves prosperous, erected a temple to Pan below the Acropolis, and continued to propitiate him by annual sacrifices and by carrying the torch.” From various authorities we know, that this temple was in the cave on the northern side of the Acropolis below the Propylæa[286].

[285] Lib. vi. c. 105.

[286] Eurip. Jon. 492-504. 937. Paus. i. 28. 4. Stuart’s Ant. of Athens. Hobhouse’s Travels, p. 336. Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 304.

In Sir R. Worsley’s collection of Antiques at Appledurcombe in the Isle of Wight is a bas-relief, in which Pan is reclining as if after the chase near the mouth of this cave. He holds the syrinx in the left hand, a drinking-horn in the right. A train of worshippers are conducting a ram to the altar within the cave. See Museum Worsleianum, Lon. 1794. plate 9. In the vestibule of the University Library at Cambridge is a mutilated statue of Pan clothed in a goat-skin and holding the syrinx in his left hand. This statue was discovered near the same cave, and from its style, (the Æginetic,) may be supposed to have been carved soon after the battle of Marathon. See Dr. E. D. Clarke s Greek Marbles, p. 9. No. xi. Wilkins’s Magna Græcia, p. 71, and Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 304.

In later times a cave near Marathon was dedicated to Pan, the stalactitio incrustations within it being compared to goats, and to their stalls and drinking-troughs[287].

[287] Paus. l. i. 32. 6. Dodwell’s Tour, vol. ii. p. 162. Mapat, p. 330 of Mem. on Eur. and As. Turkey, edited by Walpole.

Chandler and Dodwell in their Travels describe another cave larger than that at Marathon and containing more varied stalagmitic concretions. It is near the summit of Mount Rapsāna between Athens and Sunium. ΠΑΝΟϹ is inscribed on the rock near the entrance, proving that it was considered sacred to Pan. It is no doubt the Panīon mentioned by Strabo[288].

[288] L. ix. cap. 1. § 21. It was consecrated to the Nymphs as well as to Pan, this association of the Nymphs with that deity being universally practised. Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 550-555. “The countryman and shepherd, as well as the sportsman, has often repaired, it is likely, to this cave, to render the deities propitious by sacrificing a she-goat or lamb, by gifts of cakes or fruit, and by libations of milk, oil, and honey; simply believing, that this attention was pleasing to them, _that they were present though unseen_, and partook without diminishing the offering; their appetites as well as passions, caprices, and employments resembling the human. At noon-day the pipe was silent on the mountains, _lest it might happen to awake Pan, then reposing after the exercise of hunting, tired and peevish_.” Chandler’s Travels in Greece, c. 32. p. 155.

The Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus was dedicated by the surrounding inhabitants to Pan and to the Nymphs[289]. Theocritus also (Idyll. viii. v. 103.) speaks of Homole, a mountainous tract in the south of Thessaly, as belonging to Pan. Altars were dedicated to Pan on the race-course at Olympia in Elis[290], as we may presume, out of respect to the Arcadians, who resorted to the Olympic games. Pindar states[291], that he had near his door a statue of Pan. Here, as his able commentators Heyne and Böckh observe, his daughters with other Theban virgins sung hymns in honor of the god.

Time has spared the traces of hymns performed on such occasions, of which the following Scholion is the most entire specimen.

Ὦ Πάν, Ἀρκαδίας μέδων κλεεννᾶς, ὀρχηστὰ βρομίαις ὀπαδὲ νύμφαις, γελάσειας, ὦ Πὰν, ἐπ’ ἐμαῖς εὐφροσύναις, ἀοιδαῖς κεχαρημένος[292].

O Pan, Arcadia’s sovereign lord, Dancing and singing with the nymphs; Smile, Pan, responsive to my joys, O shout, delighted with my songs.

[289] Paus. l. x. 32. 5. Strabo, l. ix. cap. 3. § 1. p. 488. ed. Siebenkees Raikes’s Journal in Memoirs edited by Walpole, p. 311-315.

[290] Paus. l. v. c. 15. § 4.

[291] Pyth. iii. 137-139.

[292] Athenæus, l. xv. 50. 1547. ed. Dindorf. Pindari Op. a Böckh. ii. 2. p. 592. Brunck, Analecta, vol. i. p. 156; and vol. iii. Lect. et Emend. p. 27.

On a vase of Greek marble in the Royal Museum at Naples (This vase was first described in [Italian 275] Bayardi, Catalogo degli antichi monumenti dissottarretti da Ercolano. Napoli, 1754, p. 290. No. 914.), we see Pan dancing with the nymphs exactly as he is represented in the preceding song. The sculpture is in that very ancient style, which is called _Etruscan_. Pan is here exhibited with goats’ feet and horns (Hom. Hymn. in Pana, 1. 2.). He wears the skin of an animal, and employs his right hand in drawing it up towards his left shoulder. In his left hand he holds the crook or pastoral staff, which is one of his usual emblems. Pan and the three females, with whom he is dancing, form a distinct group by themselves. They are moving round a large stone, and the artist probably imagined them to be moving first in one direction, and then in the opposite, as if performing the Strophe and Antistrophe around an altar. We learn from Mr. Dodwell, that the modern Greeks in their circular dances hold each other with a handkerchief, and not by the hand[293].

[293] Dodwell’s Tour, vol. ii. p. 21, 22.

That the Romans considered Pān and Faun to be the same, using the two names indiscriminately, the one as the Greek, the other as the Latin form, is evident from such passages as the following:

Pan from Arcadia’s hills descends To visit oft my Sabine seat, And here my tender goats defends From rainy winds and summer’s heat.

For when the vales, wide-spreading round, The sloping hills, and polish’d rocks, With his harmonious pipe resound, In fearless safety graze my flocks.

Hor. Od. l. i. c. 17. v. 1-12.

The names Pan and Faun, scarcely differ except in this, that the one begins with P, the _lenis_, and the other with F, which is its _aspirate_: in the second place, both were conceived to have not only the same form and appearance, but the same habits, dispositions, and employments: thirdly, the goat was sacrificed to Pan in Greece[294] and to Faunus in Italy[295], because the Arcadian and Roman deity was conceived to be the guardian of goats as well as sheep, but this animal was not sacrificed to the Egyptian Mendes, because

In safety through the woody brake The latent shrubs and thyme explore, Nor longer dread the speckled snake, And tremble at the wolf no more. _Francis’s Translation, abridged._

in Egypt the goat itself was supposed to be Mendes, an incarnation of the god; and lastly, it is recorded as an historical fact, that the worship of Faunus was brought to Rome from Arcadia, whereas the supposition of the introduction of the same worship into Arcadia from Egypt, though found in the pages of an historian, is not given by him as a matter of history, but only as a matter of opinion. The account of the origin of the worship of Faunus at Rome, is as follows: _Evander, the Arcadian, introduced a colony of his countrymen into Italy, and established there the rights of Mercury and of the Lycean Pan on the hill, which was afterwards called the Palatine Mount and became part of the city of Rome_. A cave at the base of the hill was dedicated to Pan, as we have seen was the case some centuries afterwards at Athens[296].

[294] Longi Pastor. l. ii. c. 17. In an epigram by Leonidas of Tarentum (No. xxx. Brunckii Analecta, tom. i. p. 228.) Bito, an aged Arcadian, dedicates offerings to Pan, to Bacchus, and to the Nymphs. To Pan he devotes a kid.

[295] Ovid. Fasti, ii. See also Hor. Od. l. i. 4. v. ii.

[296] Dionys. Halicarn. Hist. Rom. l. i. p. 20, 21, ed. R. Steph. Paris 1546. Strabon l. v. cap. iii. § 3. Aur. Victor, Origo Gentis Romanæ. Livii l. i. c. 5. Pausanias, viii. 43. 2. Virg. Æn. viii. 51-54. 342-344. Heyne’s Excursus ad loc. Ovidii Fasti, ii. 268-452. v. 88, &c.

In the preceding observations we have endeavored to give a correct representation of the real sentiments and practices of the Arcadians in regard to the proper divinity of their country; and from this account we are naturally led to inquire what influence this peculiar belief and worship had upon their manners and their social life. Whilst the elegant simplicity and innocence of the Arcadian shepherds, their graceful chorusses, their dance and song, their love for their fleecy charge, which they delighted and soothed with the melody of the pipe, have been the theme and ornament of poetry and romance from the earliest times, the question is highly important and interesting, whether these ideal visions are realised by historical testimony? whether the shepherds of the ancient Arcadia were so entirely and so favorably distinguished from men of the same class and employment in almost all other times and countries? One modern writer denies this fact. He says, “The refined and almost spiritualized state of innocence, which we call the pastoral life of Arcadia, was entirely unknown to the ancients:” and he quotes in support of this assertion several expressions, used by Philostratus and other writers, and denoting contempt for the Arcadians as a rude, ignorant, stupid race of people[297]. Polybius, who was an Arcadian, confidently asserts, that they had throughout Greece a high and honorable reputation, not only on account of their hospitality to strangers and their benevolence towards all men, but especially on account of their _piety towards the divine being_! It is true they make no figure in Grecian history, because they were too wise to take part in the irrational contests, which continually embroiled the surrounding states. Their division into small independent communities, each presenting a purely _democratic_ constitution, _rendered it impossible for them to acquire celebrity in legislation_; and yet we are informed of some of the citizens of Arcadia, who were reputed excellent lawgivers for the sphere in which they acted[298]. It appears to be no inconsiderable evidence of their progress in the art of government upon republican principles, _that in the choice of magistrates at Mantinea they proceeded upon the plan of a double election_[299]. We have the most decisive proofs of their public spirit in the splendid cities, which they erected, and which were adorned with theatres, temples, and numerous other edifices. We are informed by Pausanias[300], that of all the temples in Peloponnesus the most beautiful and admirable were those of Minerva at Tegea and of Apollo at Phigalia; and these were both cities of Arcadia. Now it should be observed, that the taste and splendor of their public edifices are the more decisive proofs of their national enthusiasm, when it is considered, _that among them property was exceedingly subdivided; that they had no overpowering aristocracy_, no princes or great landed gentry, who might seek for renown or court popularity by bestowing their wealth upon public institutions; but that the noble temples, the sculptures, and other works of art, which ornamented their cities and were subservient to purposes of common interest, could have been produced only by the united deliberations and contributions of the mass of the inhabitants. They seem therefore to _prove_ the _universal_ prevalence both of a liberal patriotic feeling, and of a cultivated taste for the beautiful and the sublime.

[297] J. H. Voss, Virgil’s Ländliche Gedichte, tom. ii. p. 353.

[298] Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumskunde, i. 1. p. 180; i. 2. p. 305.

[299] Aristot. Polit. l. vi. 2. 2.

[300] L. viii. c. 41. 5. p. 429, ed. Siebel.

Virgil bears his testimony to their superior skill in vocal and instrumental music.

Arcadian swains, Ye best artificers of soothing strains. _Bucol._ x. 32.--_Warton’s Translation._

This must of course be understood as referring only to music and poetry of the pastoral kind. To the composition of the higher species of poetry, by which the Greeks of other countries laid a foundation for the instruction and delight of all succeeding ages, the Arcadians never aspired. At the same time there can be no doubt that they bestowed great care upon the exhibition of dramatic compositions, though they did not attempt to write them: of this fact we have sufficient proof in the remains of the theatres found upon the sites of their principal cities, and especially of the theatre of Megalopolis, which was the greatest in all Greece[301].

[301] Pausanias, l. viii. 32. 1. Leake’s Travels in the Morea, vol. ii. p. 32. 39, 40.

But with respect to their cultivation of music and its influence on their national character, we have upon record the full and explicit testimony of one of their most distinguished citizens, the historian Polybius, whose remarks will appear especially deserving of the reader’s attention, when it is considered, that he must himself have gone through the whole course of discipline and instruction which he describes. Having had occasion to mention the turbulent character as well as the cruel and perfidious conduct of the Cynætheans, who occupied a city and district in the north of Arcadia, he proposes to inquire why it was that, although they were indeed Arcadians, they had acted in a manner so entirely at variance with the usual habits and manners of the Greeks, and he then proceeds with earnestness and solemnity to explain upon the following principles the cause of this extraordinary contrast. It was, as he states, that the Cynætheans were the only inhabitants of Arcadia who had neglected to exercise themselves in music; and he then gives the following account of the established practice of the rest of the Arcadians in devoting themselves to the study of _real_ music, by which he means the united arts of music, poetry, and dancing, of all those elegant and graceful performances, over which the Muses were supposed to preside. He informs us that the Arcadians, whose general habits were very severe, were required by law to go on improving themselves in music, so understood, until their thirtieth year. “In childhood,” says he, “they are taught to sing in tune hymns and pæans in honor of the domestic heroes and divinities. They afterwards learn the music of Philoxenus and Timotheus. They dance to the pipe in the theatres at the annual festival of Bacchus; and they do this with great emulation, the boys performing mock-fights adapted to their age, and the young men the so-called manly fights. In like manner throughout the whole of life their pleasure at feasts and entertainments consists, not in listening to singers hired for the purpose, but in singing themselves in their turns when called upon. For, although a man may decline any other performance on the ground of inability and may thereby bring no imputation on himself, no one can refuse to sing, because all have been obliged to learn it, and to refuse to take a part, when able, is deemed disgraceful. The young men also unite together to perform in order all the military steps and motions to the sound of the pipe, and at the public expense they exhibit them every year before their fellow-citizens. Besides these ballets, marches, and mock-fights, the men and women unite in great public assemblies and in numerous sacrifices, to which are to be added the circular or choral dances by the boys and virgins.” Polybius adds, that these musical exercises had been ordained as the means of communicating softness and refinement to the otherwise rough and laborious life of the Arcadians, and he warns them by the example of the half-savages of Cynæthæ never to abandon such wholesome institutions[302]. With how great benefit to our own social character might we adopt this counsel! How greatly might we contribute both to the innocent enjoyment and to the more improved and elevated tastes of our rustics and artisans, if well-regulated plans were devised, by which graceful recreations, providing at the same time exercise for the body, amusement for the imagination, and employment for the finer and more amiable feelings, were made to relieve the degrading and benumbing monotony of their protracted labors, whether in the factory or in the field!

[302] Polyb. l. iv. c. 20, 21.

It will be readily perceived, that the education here described, and the tastes and habits which it produced, were immediately associated with the popular religion, and especially with the notions and rites entertained towards the peculiar god of the shepherds. Other deities indeed, such as Apollo, Diana, and Minerva, who were also worshipped in Arcadia, may have contributed to the same effect; and especially this may have been the case with Mercury, perhaps the only one of the higher Greek divinities, who was conceived to have a benevolent character, who was the father of Pan, and was himself reported to have been born in a cave of the same mountain in Arcadia, on which he was worshipped. He was a lover of instrumental music, having invented the lyre, and he was frequently represented on coins and gems, riding upon a ram, or with his emblems so connected with the figures of sheep, and more rarely of goats and of dogs, as to prove that in his character as the god of gain the shepherds looked up to him together with his offspring to bless the flocks and to increase their produce[303]. Hence Homer, in order to convey the idea that Phorbas was remarkably successful in the breeding of sheep, says that he was beloved by Mercury above all the other Trojans[304]. The inhabitants of one territory even in Arcadia, viz. the city of Phineos, honored Mercury more than all the other gods, and expressed this sentiment by procuring a statue of him made by a celebrated sculptor in Ægina, in which he was represented carrying a ram under his arm, and which they placed in the great temple of Jupiter at Olympia[305]. At Corinth there was a brazen statue of Mercury in a sitting posture with a ram standing beside him. According to Pausanias (ii. 3, 4.) the reason of this representation was, that of all the gods Mercury was thought most to take care of flocks and to promote their increase. But, as the Corinthians had little or nothing to do with the tending of sheep and were devoted to commerce, we may ask what interest had they in this attribute of Mercury? It is very evident that it could only be an interest arising from the part which Corinth took in the wool-trade. That the Arcadians did not themselves consume their wool is manifest. How could they have built cities, which were so large, numerous, and handsome in proportion to the extent of their country, and have lived even in that degree of elegance and luxury, to which they attained, _unless they had been able to dispose of the chief produce of their soil in a profitable manner_? It is probable therefore, that the representation of Mercury or of his emblems in conjunction with the figure of the sheep on the coins of Corinth and Patræ may be regarded as an intimation, that the Arcadians disposed of their wool in those cities for exportation to foreign countries.

[303] Buonaroti (Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni Antichi, p. 41.) has exhibited brass coins, in one of which Mercury is riding on a sheep; in a second the sheep is seen with Mercury’s bag of money on its back; and in a third the caduceus is over the sheep, and two spikes of corn, emblems of agricultural prosperity, spring out of the ground before it. Among the gems of the Baron de Stosch, now belonging to the Royal Cabinet at Berlin, No. 381. Class II. represents Mercury sitting upon a rock with a dog by his side: Winckelmann observes, that “the dog is the symbol of Mercury as the protector of shepherds.” Nos. 392, 393, 396-402, in the same collection, represent him with sheep, and one of them (399.) exhibits him standing erect in a chariot drawn by four rams, and holding the bag or purse in his right hand and the caduceus in his left.

Some of the coins of Sicily appear to refer in like manner to the character of Mercury as the promoter of the trade in wool.

The Honorable Keppel Craven (Excursions in the Abruzzi, London, 1838, vol. i. ch. 4. p. 109.) mentions a temple at Arpinum, a city of Latium, which was dedicated, as appears from an inscription found on its site, to MERCURIUS LANARIUS. This title evidently represented Mercury as presiding over the growth of wool and the trade in it.

Perhaps the very ancient idea of Mercury making the fleece of Phryxus golden by his touch may have originated in the same view. See Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, l. 11. 1144, and Scholion ad locum.

[304] Il. xiv. 490. See also Hom. Hymn to Mercury, 569. Hesiod, Theog. 444.

[305] Paus. l. v. 27. 5. and l. viii. 14. 7.

But, notwithstanding the important share, which Mercury had in the religious sentiments and observances of the Arcadians, the proper god of the shepherds of Arcadia was Pan, and we have already had abundant evidence to suggest the conviction, that their songs and dances were performed principally in honor of him, and were supposed to be taught, guided, and animated by him.

Arcadia has for many centuries exhibited a most melancholy contrast to that condition of hardy and yet peaceful independence, of rustic simplicity united with tasteful elegance, of social kindness and domestic enjoyment undisturbed by the projects of ambition, which has supplied many of the most beautiful pictures to the writers of poetry and romance. The great natural features of the country are unalterable. The pine-forests of Lycæus, its deep glens continually refreshed with sparkling streams and cataracts, its savage precipices where scarce even a goat can climb, remain in their original beauty and grandeur. This region also affords pasture to flocks of sheep more numerous than those which feed in any other part of Greece[306]. But whatever depends on the moral nature of man is changed. The valleys, once richly cultivated and tenanted by an overflowing population, are scarcely kept in tillage. The noble cities are traced only by their scattered ruins. The few descendants of the ancient Arcades have crouched beneath a degrading tyranny. The thick forests and awful caverns but a few years ago served to shelter fierce banditti; and the traveller startled at the sound of their fire-arms instead of being charmed with the sweet melody of the syrinx[307]. But a new dynasty has been established under the sanction of the most powerful and enlightened nations of Europe. It remains to be seen whether this or any other part of Greece will again become wise, virtuous, and renowned. The philanthropist, who amidst the gloom and desolation of the moral world depends with confidence upon an all-wise and all-disposing Providence, may console himself with the hope, that that great Being who bestowed such inestimable blessings upon Arcadian shepherds in their ignorance, will not abandon those of their descendants, who with superior means of knowledge, aim at corresponding attainments in the excellencies of political, social, and private life.

[306] [German 283] Bartholdy, Bruchstücke zur Kenntniss des heut. Griechenlands, p. 238.

[307] Dodwell’s Tour, vol. ii. p. 388-393. Leake’s Travels in the Morea, vol. i. p. 486-490. The latter author gives the following account of a visit which he paid to the family of a shepherd, consisting of twelve or fifteen individuals, who lived together in a tent on Mount Lycæus:--“Milk and misithra (a preparation made by boiling milk and whey together) is their usual food. ‘We have milk in plenty,’ they tell me, ‘but no bread.’ Such is the life of a modern Arcadian shepherd, who has almost reverted to the balanephagous state of his primitive ancestors (Orac. Pyth. ap. Pausan. Arcad. c. 42.). The children, however, all look healthy and are handsome, having large black eyes and regular features with very dark complexion.”

According to the representation in the Odyssey (xiv. 100.) Ulysses had twelve flocks of sheep, and as many of goats on the continent opposite to Ithaca. At a much later period Neoptolemus, a king of Molossis, in possession of flocks and herds, which were superintended by a distinct officer appointed for the purpose[308]. In Macedonia also the king, though living in a state of so little refinement that his queen _baked the bread for the whole household_, was possessed at an early period of flocks of sheep and goats together with horses and herds of oxen, which were entrusted to the care of separate officers. We are informed that three Argive brothers, having taken refuge in the upper part of Macedonia bordering upon Illyria, became hired servants to the king, one of them having the custody of the horses, another of the oxen, and a third of the sheep and goats[309]. Here then we find in Europe a state of society _analogous to that which_, as we have seen, _existed in Palestine under David_. Indeed we may observe, that all the countries bordering on Macedonia were contrasted with Attica and Arcadia in this respect, that, while the Athenians and Arcadians were in general small landed proprietors, each shepherd tending his flock upon his own ground, Phrygia[310], Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, and even Bœotia belonged probably to an aristocracy, the richest and most powerful individuals of which became shepherd kings, their landed possessions giving them a superiority over the rest of their countrymen, and leading to the employment of numerous persons as their servants engaged in tending their cattle and in other rural occupations.

[308] Plutarchi Pyrrhus, p. 705. ed. Steph.

[309] Herod. viii. 137.

[310] Theopompus, as quoted by Servius on Virgil, Buc. vi. 13, makes mention of the shepherds, who kept the flocks of Midas, king of Phrygia.

Respecting the attention paid to sheep-breeding in Epirus we have the testimony of Varro in his treatise De Re Rustica. He informs us (ii. 2.) that it was usual there to have one man to take care of 100 coarse-wooled sheep (_oves hirtæ_), and two men for the same number of “_oves pellitæ_,” or sheep which wore skins. The attention bestowed upon dogs is an indirect evidence of the care which was devoted to flocks. It is worthy of remark, that the dogs used to guard the flocks in the modern Albania, appear to be the genuine descendants of the ancient “canes Molossici,” being distinguished by their size as well as by their strength and ferocity[311]. Further notices respecting them may be found in Virgil’s Georgics, l. iii. 404-413, and in the Notes of his editors and translators, Heyne, Martyn, and J. H. Voss. See also Ælian de Nat. An. iii. 2. and Plautus, Capt. l. i. 18.

[311] Holland’s Travels, p. 443. Hughes’s Travels, vol. i. p. 483, 484, 496.

There is another important circumstance, in which probably the habits of the modern shepherds of Albania are similar to those of the ancient occupants of the same region, viz. the annual practice of resorting to the high grounds in summer and returning to the plains in winter, which prevails both here and in most mountainous countries devoted to sheep-breeding. The following extract from Dr. Holland’s Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, &c. (_p._ 91-93.), gives a lively representation of this proceeding:

“When advanced eight or nine miles on our journey (from Cinque Pozzi to Joannina; October 31st, 1813,) and crossing another ridge of high and broken land, we were highly interested in a spectacle, which by a fortunate incident occurred to our notice. We met on the road a community of migrating shepherds, a wandering people of the mountains of Albania, who in the summer feed their flocks in these hilly regions, and in the winter spread them over the plains in the vicinity of the Gulph of Arta and along other parts of the coast. The many large flocks of sheep we had met the day before belonged to these people, and were preceding them to the plains. The cavalcade we now passed through was nearly two miles in length with few interruptions. The number of horses with the emigrants might exceed a thousand; they were chiefly employed in carrying the moveable habitations and the various goods of the community, which were packed with remarkable neatness and uniformity[312]. The infants and smaller children were variously attached to the luggage, while the men, women, and elder children travelled for the most part on foot; a healthy and masculine race of people, but strongly marked by the wild and uncouth exterior connected with their manner of life. The greater part of the men were clad in coarse white woollen garments; the females in the same material, but more curiously colored, and generally with some ornamented lacing about the breast.” He then adds, “These migratory tribes of shepherds generally come down from the mountains about the latter end of October, and return thither from the plains in April, after disposing of a certain proportion of their sheep and horses. In travelling, they pass the night on the plains or open lands. Arrived at the place of their destination, they construct their little huts or tents of the materials they carry with them, assisted by the stones, straw, or earth, which they find on the spot.”

[312] No one has described this pastoral migration more minutely or more beautifully, than Mr. Charles Fellows, in his _Discoveries in Lycia_.

According to Dr. Sibthorp (_in Walpole’s Memoirs_, _p._ 141.), “a wandering tribe of Nomads” on the other side of Greece drive their flocks from the mountains of Thessaly into the plains of Attica and Bœotia to pass the winter. “They give some pecuniary consideration to the Pasha of Negropont and Vaivode of Athens. These people are much famed for their woollen manufactures, particularly the coats or cloaks worn by the Greek sailors.”