Frequently, also, it appears to have been employed like plaster of Paris in the casting of statues, as was that composed of powdered marble, in repairing such as by accident had been broken. An example of this was observed in the cheek of a sphynx dug up in the island of Capri.[[1010]] Instead of water, however, a tough glue, composed of the hides and horns of bulls, was employed in mixing it.[[1011]]
In the roofing of houses pantiles were commonly made use of;[[1012]] instead of which, as they were fragile and easily broken by hailstones, tiles of Pentelic marble, invented by Byzes of Naxos,[[1013]] were often substituted in the case of temples, as that for example of Zeus at Olympia. It is mentioned incidentally by Dioscorides, that physicians used to reduce acacia-wood to powder by burning it in the tile-kilns.[[1014]]
Respecting the business of house-painters our information is exceedingly scanty; we may infer, however, that they excelled in the imitation of woods and marbles, since they were employed in imitating on the polished surface of one stone the veins and colours characteristic of another.[[1015]] Some persons covered the walls of their apartments with historical subjects,[[1016]] or landscapes, or the figures of animals in fresco.[[1017]] In later ages ceilings were painted, or inlaid with coloured stones,[[1018]] or abaculi, so as to imitate the feathers and hues of a peacock’s tail.[[1019]]
Timber for house-building,[[1020]] the choice of which was regulated by law,[[1021]] abounded in most parts of Greece, though the best and straightest was obtained from Macedonia and Arcadia,[[1022]] particularly from a hollow valley near a place called Cranè, never visited by the sun, and fenced round by rocks on all sides from the winds.[[1023]] Very particular rules were laid down respecting the time and manner of felling trees;[[1024]] first, wood cut in spring was most easily barked; second, if this operation was neglected it bred worms, which furrowed its whole surface like written characters; third, such as was cut when the moon was below the horizon was thought harder and less liable to decay.[[1025]] It may here, perhaps, be worth observing, that stones and other substances were often found grown into the trunks of wild olive-trees. This was particularly the case with that which grew in the market-place of Megara. The oracle had foretold, that when this tree should be cut down the city would be sacked and destroyed, which was brought to pass by Demetrius. On this occasion the tree being felled and sawed into planks, greaves and other articles of Athenian workmanship were found in the heart of it.[[1026]] Fragments of the timber remained in the time of Theophrastus.
In cutting hard wood carpenters made use of a blunt axe,[[1027]] which thus became sharper, while soft wood produced the contrary effect.[[1028]] It was customary before timber was committed to the saw to soak it for some time in water;[[1029]] and it is said to have been rendered incombustible by a solution of alum and certain kinds of vinegar.[[1030]] The tools of the Greek carpenter as near as possible resembled our own; they had the saws small and great, the plane, the axe, the chisel, the square, the gimlet, the augur,[[1031]] the compass,[[1032]] and, in short, whatever else could be useful in their trade. Among the paintings of Herculaneum[[1033]] we find the representation of a carpenter’s workshop, where two winged genii are busily employed with the mallet and the saw. In making lines, &c., they used the ruddle now employed.[[1034]]
Among the kinds of timber in most general use was the silver fir, thought to be extremely durable, in illustration of which Theophrastus relates the following circumstance: it happened at Pheneos, in Arcadia,[[1035]] that, owing to the obstruction of the torrent-beds, the plain was converted into a lake. To traverse this they constructed bridges of fir, and when the flood rose still higher, bridge upon bridge was erected in succession. Afterwards when the waters had worked themselves a passage and ebbed off, the whole of the wood of these bridges was found in the completest preservation.[[1036]] The other kinds of timber were the elm, used for doors, hinges, and weasel traps;[[1037]] the cypress,[[1038]] cedar, and juniper for wainscoting, beams, and paneled ceilings; the Arcadian, and the Idæan yew,[[1039]] which latter was sometimes fraudulently substituted for cedar; the Eubœan walnut, and the beech, which, not being subject to the rot, were resorted to for piles and substructions.[[1040]] The former of these trees, which grew to an extraordinary size, was likewise applied to the roofing of houses, chiefly because, by a loud crackling noise, it gave notice when it was about to break, and thus afforded the inmates leisure to effect their escape. This happened at the public baths of Antandros, where the company foreseeing from this warning sound the catastrophe that was approaching, rushed forth into the streets, and thus avoided being overwhelmed beneath the ruins.[[1041]]
The box, the ilex, and the lotos, they employed for door-pivots, which were seasoned by being immersed in cow-dung.[[1042]]
Cart and wheel wrights,[[1043]] necessarily pretty numerous, made use in their trade of the following kinds of wood,—the scarlet oak,[[1044]] in countries not abounding with ilex, as Laconia and Elis, for carts, ploughs, and other rustic implements; the oxya, the fir, and the elm, for chariot-bodies;[[1045]] the ilex, the box, the ash, and the mast-bearing beech, for axletrees. The wood of all glutinous trees is naturally flexible, but more especially that of the mulberry and the wild fig, for which reason these, together with the platane, and the poplar, were used for making the bended rims of chariot-seats, and the circles of wheels.[[1046]] For spokes, the wood of the cornel tree was preferred, and that of the box, the yew, the maple, and the carpinus—hedge-beech, or hornbeam—for the yokes of oxen. In old times the bodies of carts were often formed of basket-work. It may be remarked by the way, that the Greeks understood the use of the drag-wheel.[[1047]]
It has long been made a question among the learned[[1048]] whether the ancients were or were not acquainted with the saddle, properly so called. It may now be determined in the affirmative, since, besides the several testimonies of classical writers, which are much too clear to be set aside, we find in several Herculanean pictures exact representations of saddles, both on horses and asses, with girths and cruppers exactly as in modern times.[[1049]] It is evident, too, that they are constructed upon wooden frames, to which Herodotus may possibly allude where he speaks of saddles made of tanned human skins.[[1050]] Packsaddles for sumpter-asses are of constant occurrence in history; and that they were tolerably thick may be inferred from the fact, that numbers of daggers were concealed in them by Aratos in his attempt upon Argos.[[1051]] I shall here mention, also, by the way, and without entering into any discussion, that horses and asses were occasionally shod by the ancients,[[1052]] though the practice was doubtless not universal.
The trade of the cooper[[1053]] was in less general request than in modern times; his principal employment being the making of tubs, with flour and water-casks; their wine having been chiefly preserved in jars.[[1054]] Latterly, however, small kegs got into use, as well probably as larger casks even for wine. Pump-makers, together with the pump itself,[[1055]] came in late, and of fire-engines they possessed barely the first rudiments.[[1056]]