Gold armour for brazen, a hundred-ox value for nine.
An ancient scholiast on the passage understands by βοῦς a piece of money, stamped on one side with the figure of an ox, and on the other with that of a king.[[1480]] But one of the scholia published by Villoison, observes on the word ἑκατόμβοια[ἑκατόμβοια], “worth a hundred oxen, for they did not as yet make use of money.” Another scholion,[[1481]] however, remarks, οἱ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐν τοῖς ἐαυτῶν νομίσμασι βοῦν ἐνετύπουν. Pollux[[1482]] relates the same fact, observing that, in remote antiquity, the Athenians made use of a piece of money called βοῦς, because it had impressed upon it the figure of an ox, and that, by many, Homer was supposed to have alluded to this Attic coin in the verse above cited, “indocte,” however, as Heyne[[1483]] observes. Mention of a fine called δεκάβοιον occurred, according to Pollux, in the laws of Dracon; and in the procession (θεωρία) to Delos, the herald used to proclaim when a certain prize was given, that so many oxen were bestowed on such a one. The value of the coin was two didrachmæ, so that the Bous was simply a didrachma.[[1484]] The ox was stamped by the Athenians on their coins as the symbol of peace and abundance.[[1485]]
Plutarch[[1486]] assigns, by conjecture, two reasons; first, that Theseus, whom he regards as its inventor, may have meant by the figure of the ox to recall the memory of Minos’s general Tauros; or, second, because he wished to turn the mind of the citizens to agriculture.
The talent of gold is mentioned more than once by Homer;[[1487]] but we are not to imagine with Feith[[1488]] that there was a piece of money so called, though in the case of Homer he supposes it to signify a certain weight of gold, and not a coin. Modern critics get over all difficulties in the usual way by pronouncing the passage spurious.[[1489]] No doubt the people of those early times did not greatly abound in wealth, which, arising from the assiduous cultivation of the useful arts, could not be plentiful where these arts were scarcely at all known. Even tyrants, who always contrive to obtain their share of whatever riches exist in their country, were long after the Homeric age possessed of but little wealth, any more than their people.[[1490]] Money, however, does not constitute opulence. There was a rude plenty of all the necessaries of life, and as the secret representative of wealth had not been invented, men sought to possess the realities,—herds of oxen, flocks of sheep, lands, houses, and splendid apparel. Fine studs of horses, also, were naturally desired, being at once useful in war, and showy in peace.[[1491]]
We observe in these ages, however, as well as in all others, that men no sooner enjoyed the necessaries than they desired the luxuries and ornaments of life. In several countries bordering upon the Mediterranean, there was already great magnificence displayed. The kings of Midian, for example, wore purple garments, golden earrings, and jewelled collars; their camels, moreover, were covered with costly trimmings and ornaments of gold.[[1492]]
Of the internal commerce of Greece, in the earlier ages, little, comparatively, is known. Goguet[[1493]] appears to suppose, that hardly any traffic can be carried on without the aid of sumpter animals, such as camels, mules, or asses. But the natives of Canara[[1494]] drive a pretty thriving trade, though nearly every article of merchandise is transported on men’s heads. In Greece, however, the use of vehicles was very ancient, its origin being lost in fable.[[1495]] Boats, canoes, &c., came early into vogue also; and yet Thucydides relates, that the intercourse of the rural tribes of the Hellenes was for many ages so slight as scarcely to merit attention. Bad roads, the absence of inns, the want of a police, the great number of robbers, were great obstacles; but the very existence of robbers attests the fact, that attempts were constantly made to extend inland commerce, though it may have been long before it was established on a solid basis.
Descending towards the historical periods we find the Æginetans first distinguishing themselves as a commercial people. Their history, as far as ancient fragments supply it, has been composed by a modern scholar[[1496]] of eminence, whose researches must prove of the utmost utility to all succeeding inquirers. This people, living on a small and nearly barren island, early directed their attention to the arts, to the various processes of industry, and to commerce, the only employment suited to the nature of their soil. Too much stress has, perhaps, been laid on the situation of Ægina, which will not at all explain the commercial turn of its inhabitants, since Crete, with more abundant means, and possibly a better situation, was never very remarkable as a trading country. However, poverty and a good position combined with the genius of the people to render them commercial. They enjoyed still fewer advantages in the matter of soil even than Attica; their lands were of little value; they could neither become hunters nor shepherds; nor could even the most slender population subsist on the produce of the mines. Fishing they, probably, tried at the outset, as well as piracy, but, finding that neither led to opulence, they adopted the mercantile life; for which reason they have, with much ingenuity, been termed the Phœnicians of Greece,[[1497]] though no colonies from Phœnicia ever settled in their island. The Æginetæ were already famous, however, from remote antiquity, as mariners, and, in the course of time, converted their whole island into an emporium.[[1498]]
On the antiquity of the Æginetan trade a very curious passage occurs in Pausanias. This writer relates, that, in the time of Pompos, king of Arcadia, who flourished during the second century before the first Olympiad, Æginetan ships landed at Cyllenè, the great harbour of Elis, whence they transported their merchandise, on strings of sumpter animals, to Arcadia. The king was so much pleased with them on this account, that he named his son Æginetes, in remembrance of their traffic.[[1499]] It was about this period that the Greeks first began to trade in their own bottoms, and to possess merchandise of their own. It has been observed, that in Homer the word ἔμπορος never signifies merchant, and that where mention of real merchants occurs they are always barbarians, or semi-barbarians,[[1500]] Phœnicians, Cretans, Tyrsenians, Lemnians, Taphians, or Phæacians.[[1501]] No Achaian or Argive is found who derived his subsistence from commerce, though there seem to be passages from which the contrary may be inferred. But in Hesiod, who lived later, and describes more homely scenes and manners, we find commerce already spoken of as a profitable employment.[[1502]]
Originally, the Æginetans were led by their piratical propensities to apply themselves to maritime affairs; finding, no doubt, that robbery was an easier and more agreeable profession than any modification of industry, particularly as in those tolerant ages there was no disgrace, but the contrary, attached to it, when exercised against men of a different class. These worthy islanders, however, were impartial in their rapine. For, no sooner had they thrown off the yoke of the Epidaurians, than they made incursions[[1503]] into their mother country, which they soon extended to the coasts of Attica; and they were, probably, the buccaneers against whom the tyrant Hippias fitted out a fleet.[[1504]] Afterwards, forming an alliance with the Thebans, they plundered and devastated all the maritime towns of Attica, and even lay in ambush to intercept the sacred galley on its way to Delos.
Having been restored to their country, after the Peloponnesian war, they resumed their plundering habits, and obtained from the Spartan Ephori permission to infest the Attic coasts, which they frequently did in times of profound peace. Their taste for piracy was lasting. In the age of Demosthenes their island was a nest of pirates, and a fair for the sale of their plunder, which it continued for many centuries after.[[1505]]