So flew’d, so sanded; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-kneed and dew-lap’d like Thessalian bulls,
Slow in pursuit, but match’d in mouths like bell
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never hollow’d to, nor cheer’d with horn
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly.
In addition to the above, Sparta exported cothons,[[1854]] a species of fictile cups of a dusky brown, and so small as to have been conveniently carried in the long-necked wicker baskets which served the soldiers of Greece in lieu of a knapsack. It had one handle, and the rim projecting inwards, kept back the grosser particles of mud contained in the water, or rather, perhaps, deceived the eye by its hue. It was, moreover, the common drinking vessel of sailors on board ship.[[1855]] The manufacture of these cups formed a distinct branch of business, the individuals engaged in which were called cothon-makers,[[1856]] to distinguish them from ordinary potters.
In their festivals and marriage entertainments, as well as in war which they regarded much in the same light, the Spartans indulged in the luxury of fictile vessels, but at their common tables they drank out of wooden bowls,[[1857]] for the production of which, as well as of smaller goblets, Laconia was famous. It likewise, in later times at least, manufactured for exportation massive gold plate curiously chased, which, under the Macedonian kings, found its way to Egypt.[[1858]] Indeed these military utilitarians appear to have excelled in the making of all articles of ordinary convenience, as couches, easy-chairs, and tables, which accordingly were much sought after.[[1859]] Doors have likewise been enumerated among Laconian exports,[[1860]] but with little probability, especially when we recollect the directions given by the Spartan legislator for the construction of this part of domestic defence;[[1861]] nor is it a jot more likely that the carts and waggons which the Lacedæmonians constructed of smilax ever found their way beyond the borders of Laconia, unless employed in carrying provisions for its own armies.[[1862]]
The steel and iron, however, of the Lacedæmonian forges were, as elsewhere stated, in great request for the making of carpenters’ and stonecutters’ tools, augers, files, chisels,[[1863]] &c.; as were likewise the Laconian locks and keys, which were divided into three wards, and far more intricate than those in common use.[[1864]] The manufactures which flourished in the city of Sparta itself, and were chiefly, perhaps, designed to supply the home-market were those of iron rings, daggers,[[1865]] short scimitars, swords, spits, axes, hatchets, and scythes, together with felt,[[1866]] walking-sticks,[[1867]] lute and bow-strings, which, as well as several of the above, we know to have been exported.[[1868]]