The stock of a respectable wine-merchant must have been peculiarly rich and varied,[[495]] consisting of the Anthosmias, a wine of delicious fragrance; the Lesbian,[[496]] a favourite wine of Alcibiades;[[497]] the Pramnian,[[498]] a strong rough wine, celebrated by Homer;[[499]] the Lemnian, quaffed by the heroes before Troy;[[500]] the Chian, light and delicate;[[501]] the Kapnian, from Beneventum in Italy,[[502]] a sharp red wine which made the eyes water like smoke;[[503]] the Mesogeites, from Mount Tmolos,[[504]] which, however delicious might be its taste, gave those who drank it the head-ache; the Phygelites, from Ephesos, equal to that of Lesbos; those of Cos and Clazomenè, pleasant when new, but which would not keep because mixed with sea-water; the Cydonian;[[505]] the Maronæan,[[506]] of great strength; the Mendæan;[[507]] the Mareotic;[[508]] the Port; and the Thasian, which may be regarded as the flower of the whole for excellence and celebrity.[[509]]
There were several wines among the ancients which acquired peculiar qualities and flavour from the way in which they were made or preserved. Thus, in Galatia,[[510]] where, as the grapes ripened but imperfectly, the wine had a tendency to grow sour, a hemicotyla of resin was poured into the metretes of wine, which gave it at first a harsh taste, though in time it acquired a better flavour. In this process the resin was pounded in a mortar, with a quantity of the pine-bark. Some persons allowed it to remain in the vessel, while others strained it off immediately after fermentation. The wine which was preserved by an infusion of pitch,[[511]] was manufactured in the following manner: the pitch was washed with brine and sea-water[[512]] until it whitened, then cleansed perfectly with fresh-water, after which an ounce or two was mingled with eight choes of wine. The saline wines were made[[513]] either by dipping the bunches as gathered into sea-water, or sprinkling them therewith, or pouring it along with them into the press after they had been dried in the sun. But in whatever manner prepared, wines of this description were regarded with an evil eye by physicians.
Among the other riches of an Hellenic cellar were mead or metheglin,[[514]] and hydromel[[515]] and omphacomel,[[516]] with perry and cider,[[517]] and palm-wine[[518]] and fig-wine[[519]] and quince-wine[[520]] and lotos[[521]] and pomegranate-wine.[[522]]
Numerous odoriferous plants were likewise employed in communicating a variety of flavours and fragrance to wine, as the rose,[[523]] thyme,[[524]] germander,[[525]] anis,[[526]] œnanthe,[[527]] wormwood,[[528]] betony,[[529]] southern-wood,[[530]] squills,[[531]] myrtle,[[532]] mastic,[[533]] terebinth,[[534]] sycamore,[[535]] fir-cones,[[536]] cedar-cones,[[537]] cypress-cones,[[538]] juniper-berries,[[539]] pitch, and larchtree-cones.[[540]] Almost every other aromatic plant, shrub, and tree, was in like manner, employed to communicate a flavour, or an odour, to wine, chiefly, however, for medicinal purposes; and among these was the hyssop, whose leaves were used in the following manner: a pound of them, having been well bruised, were tied up in a sort of gauze, and by the weight of a few intermingled pebbles sunk to the bottom of the amphora. Here they were permitted to remain forty days, after which the wine was racked.[[541]] Of these wines that which was tinctured with rose-leaves was commonly drunk after dinner to promote digestion.[[542]] That which, about the Propontis and Thrace, was flavoured with wormwood, people destined for their summer drink, considering it favourable to health.[[543]]
The greatest enemies of the vintners[[544]] were the physicians who, by dwelling on the pernicious qualities of wine, deterred the reasonable part of the world from a too frequent use of it. Old wine, they maintained, shatters the nerves and produces headache; new wine is the parent of horrible dreams. That which is middling, however, for example, about seven years old, is liable to fewer objections, and may upon the whole be drunk with some degree of safety. White wine, too, according to their opinion, is better than red, since it corroborates the stomach, and is, probably, that kind which, when of a proper age, produces pleasant dreams.[[545]] Pure wine, in general, moreover, was admitted to improve the health and beautify the complexion; and Pindar, whom most persons will allow to have been a good judge, though he could not, like Anacreon, dispose of a cask at a sitting,[[546]] declares in favour of old wine and new songs.
Of beer, though, as we have elsewhere remarked, it was familiarly known to the Egyptians,[[547]] as well as to the inhabitants of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, who manufactured it from barley and service-berries, as the people of Dantzic now do from the hips of the wild roses,[[548]] we need say nothing, as the Greeks were so ignorant of its nature, that when the Ten Thousand met with a quantity in Armenia they diluted it with water as they were accustomed to do their wine, that is to say, entirely spoiled it.[[549]] The establishments of these vintners were almost of necessity most frequent in the neighbourhood of the agora,[[550]] where the rustics from the country congregated in crowds on market-days; where were held also, on many occasions, the public assemblies; and where newsmongers and loungers of every description most generally passed their leisure hours.
Making due allowance for difference of dimensions, and their greater or less magnificence, the same description will apply to the agoræ of all Grecian cities. But, as we are best acquainted with the features of that of Athens, if we can succeed in delineating a tolerably correct picture of it, some idea may, therefrom, be easily formed of all the others. We must imagine, therefore, a large circular open space,[[551]] about the centre of the city, surrounded on all sides by ranges of shops, temples, porticoes, and other public buildings.[[552]] It was traversed in various directions by avenues of plane-trees, planted shortly after the Persian war, which in summer constituted so many shady walks. About the middle stood the altars of Pity and the Twelve Gods, in a circle,[[553]] and near them were the statues of Harmodios and Aristogeiton,[[554]] the tyrannicides, whose memory was cherished by the republic with the most religious veneration. By far the greater part of the space, however, was covered by rows of sheds, booths, and tents, furnished with seats[[555]] (the construction of which formed a separate branch of industry),[[556]] where every article of use or luxury known to the ancient world was exhibited with the utmost attention to display. Here were the embroidered veils, and shawls, and mantles, and sandals, of the mercer’s quarter;[[557]] there the chains of gold, the armlets, the anklets, the jewelled circlets for the head, the golden grasshoppers, the seals, the rings, the agraffes, the brooches, the cameos, and every description of engraved gems which constituted the attractions of the jewellers’ quarter. Here were waggons piled with jars, and skins filled with wine; there huge pyramids of apples and pears, and quinces and pomegranates, and dates and plums, and cherries and mulberries, black and white, and grape-clusters of every hue, and oranges and citrons, and rich purple figs, and melons and water-melons.[[558]]
Touching upon these booths were the stalls of the green-grocers, of Eucharides[[559]] for example, where every vegetable produced in the kitchen-garden and the fields met the eye in profusion; among which were truffles of all kinds,[[560]] with the roots of the caraway[[561]] and jagged lettuce, which were eaten like those of the Egyptian bean[[562]] and the papyrus,[[563]] radishes,[[564]] long and round, bunches of turnips,[[565]] asparagus, broccoli,[[566]] heads of garlic, and summer savory, for the poor, all kinds of beans and pease, the vervain[[567]] for purification and amulets, wild myrtle sprigs instead of asparagus,[[568]] shoots of the black briony,[[569]] chokeweed to be boiled with vegetables for rendering them tender, tufts of the wild fig-tree, which performed the same service for beef,[[570]] goats-beard, clematis for seasoning,[[571]] with bunches of elm-leaves commonly used as a vegetable.[[572]] Next to these, were, perhaps, the stands of the flower-sellers,[[573]] where garlands of the richest colours and fragrance were ready wreathed for the brow,[[574]] some produced by careful culture in gardens, and others gathered where they grew wild by the women, who in time of peace spread themselves in troops over the whole country for this purpose.[[575]] In one corner were droves of horses, asses, and mules,[[576]] ready to have their teeth inspected by the buyers,[[577]] or groups of youthful slaves from all quarters of the world. In another, near a lofty poplar,[[578]] stood the auction-mart where goods of every description,[[579]] including even libraries,[[580]] were knocked down by the hammer. Close at hand, perhaps, stood the tempting booths of the chapmen who purveyed for the kitchen of the Athenians with hams, and sausages, and black-puddings,[[581]] and pickles, and cheese, and preserved fruits, and spices, from the farthest east. Here were the sellers[[582]] of salt-meat and fish from the Black Sea,[[583]] there the toy-shops and upholsterers, while ever and anon the crowds that thronged the passages were compelled to make way for a string of asses[[584]] laden with vegetables or wood from Parnes or Cithæron, with the ends sticking out on both sides and threatening the eyes of the buyers. Sometimes a porter,[[585]] with a wooden knot on his shoulders, bore along, like Protagoras, a load of faggots, the size of which astonished the beholders. At times, near the corner of the street leading from the Eleusinian Gate, you saw a half-starved Megarean[[586]] sneaking through the crowd and bringing along with him sucking pigs, and leverets, and cucumbers, and salt-fish, and garlic,[[587]] which if observed by the agoranomoi were, during wartime, seized as contraband. On the other hand the broad-faced jolly Bœotian[[588]] came smirking and grinning, like a Neapolitan, with mule-loads of wild marjoram, pennyroyal, eaten by sheep, mats, lampwicks, fowls,[[589]] ducks, locusts, jackdaws, francolins,[[590]] coots, divers, geese, hares, foxes, moles, hedgehogs, cats, pyctides, otters, and eels, from Lake Copaïs. Here in rows stood, black as chimney-sweeps, the charcoal-sellers from Acharnæ, with their mallequins and rush-baskets full piled before them.[[591]] Yonder were the cornchandlers,[[592]] surrounded by piles of sacks, measuring their grain, while a horde of ragged spermologoi[[593]] hovered round to collect what fell. Close at hand stood the flour-merchants, each beside his huge covered wooden trough,[[594]] from which he measured forth flour or barley-meal to the buyers. Beyond these were the stalls of the fishmongers,[[595]] the flambeau-sellers[[596]] and the shining jars of the oil-merchants, piled in heaps to the roof of the booths. In other rows were the shops of the potters,[[597]] where every variety of jugs, vases, and tureens, was exhibited with vessels of glass, and bronze, and ivory. Here and there, threading their way through the multitude, you beheld the pedlar[[598]] with his pack of small-wares, the hawker crying his fish or fruit,[[599]] or vegetables, or sausages, or wild-fowl, laid out on a board on his head; the female bread-seller, with a variety of delicate loaves and cakes piled up before her on a tray; the pastry-girl with sweetmeats; the flower-girl with nosegays of fresh violets from the meadows of Colonos and the banks of the Eridanos and Cephissos. Sheltered from the warm rays of the sun, beneath some magnificent marble colonnade, or the portico of some temple or chapel, sat whole bevies of female flute-players, citharists, or dancing-girls,[[600]] calling forth, from time to time, whilst waiting to be hired for a party, bursts of music from their instruments, or humming a war-song, or a Palladian hymn, or a merry scholion, the favourite ditties of the Athenian people. Near these, as being folks of the same kidney, the jugglers, cooks, and parasites,[[601]] took up their position; the former two ready to be hired for the day by the giver of some magnificent entertainment, the latter that they might discover in what direction they were to ply their craft and ferret out a dinner scotfree. Near the Eurysaceum in this neighbourhood stood that eminence called the Hill of the Agora,[[602]] or Misthios, because servants, in lack of a master, collected there to be hired, as they still do at fairs in most parts of England. Somewhere close at hand were the shops of those brokers who let out pots and pans, and lamps and plate, and the more delicate kind of crockery, to such persons as were too economical to keep such articles of their own.[[603]] In the midst of this profusion of wares might be seen, at all hours of the day, crowds of well-dressed persons[[604]] sauntering to and fro, chatting with each other, cheapening the goods of the shopkeepers, or laughing and jesting with the flower-girls or fluteplayers. At other times individuals, by no means deserving the name of loiterers, came thither, either to post up a bill[[605]] of some article which they had found, or in quest of some information respecting one they had lost, either from such bills or from the public criers who were there accustomed to make proclamation of treasure trove, or to cry that such or such an article of property had strayed from its lawful owner. Occasionally also people made known by criers what goods they had for sale.[[606]] The young men of rank, when fatigued by these promenades, used to retire into a perfumer’s or barber’s or armourer’s or bridle-maker’s shop,[[607]] overlooking the bustling scene, where they discussed nonsense or politics, according to their humour. Hither, too, the philosophers came with a view to inspire patriotic and manly sentiments into the minds of these future rulers of the democracy; so that at one period you might have beheld Socrates and Alcibiades and Critias, and Chæriphon and Crito, with Charmides and the divine Plato, engaged in those animated dialogues, the echo of which still rings sweetly in the ears of posterity. In some shops opposite these, as if with a view to rival or eclipse them, or round one of the umbrellas,[[608]] beneath which, on an elevated platform, the perfumers dispensed their wares in the agora, stood a group of sophists with their followers, such as Hippias of Elis, Prodicos of Cos, or the Agrigentine Polos, or Gorgias of Leontium, habited in purple robes, embroidered vests, flowered sandals, and with glittering crowns of gold upon their heads. Even their florid discourses, however, would fail to command the attention of their auditors when the youth of equestrian rank,[[609]] mounted on their chargers and drawn up in military array, swept round the outer circle of the agora, paying devout homage to each divinity whose fane they passed. Here also in a future age might be seen, strutting to and fro, the orator Æschines with his arms akimbo and a fashionable little hat[[610]] stuck knowingly on one side of his head, railing at Demosthenes, and pleading the cause of Philip. And here, too, the night after the fall of Elatea, a very different scene was witnessed when the citizens from every side of the Cecropian rock rushed tumultuously hither in the wildest alarm, and either not reflecting on what they did, or through ill-judged haste, set fire to the sheds and booths in order that they might find a clear space to deliberate on the public safety.
As there was a certain class of gods who presided over the market-place, so likewise were there particular laws enacted to regulate its transactions, with magistrates especially appointed to carry those laws into execution. These servants of the commonwealth, five in the city and five in the Peiræeus, were denominated Agoranomoi, and paraded all day to and fro, armed with whips of many thongs,[[611]] amid the crowds of buyers and sellers, both to preserve tranquillity in the market, and prevent or punish those petty acts of fraud and injustice to which persons who subsist by humble traffic are too often in all countries addicted. Thus we find that, not the vintners only, but even the cornchandlers kept small measures;[[612]] though, as there was a public meter appointed by the state, it could only be when purchasers neglected to employ him, that they lay open to this sort of imposition. Chapmen detected in cheating, or otherwise behaving with impropriety, were scourged by the Agoranomoi on the spot; and it is to be presumed, that, as often as necessary, these officers were attended by a detachment of that powerful and vigilant Scythian police, at one period a thousand strong, which Athens constantly maintained, and which formerly pitched its tents in the agora.[[613]] Another duty of the Agoranomoi[[614]] was to collect the tolls paid by Bœotians, Æginetæ, or Megareans, upon whatever articles they brought to the Athenian market. It should here be observed, however, that neither corn nor bread was in later times, at least, placed under the inspection of these magistrates, since there were others called Sitophylaces,[[615]] whose business it was to see that the public were not defrauded in such articles. The number of these officers, at first three, was afterwards increased to fifteen, of which ten presided over the city corn-market, and five over that of the harbour, where a portico was built by Pericles[[616]] for the special use of the cornchandlers and flour-merchants.
On the prices of articles,[[617]] our information is extremely incomplete: it is said, however, that an ox in Solon’s time, was sold for five drachmas,[[618]] a sheep for one; while about the same period, the former animal sold at Rome for a hundred oboloi, and the latter for ten. In the later, and what are called the more flourishing, ages of the commonwealth, a sheep, according to its age, size, and breed, fetched from ten to twenty drachmas, an ox from fifty to a hundred. The price of a fine saddle-horse, in the age of Pericles, was twelve minæ, or about fifty pounds sterling,[[619]] but a common animal for draught might be obtained for three minæ. The price of thirteen talents paid by Alexander for Bucephalos was a mere arbitrary piece of extravagance. A yoke of mules sold from five to eight minas; asses sometimes for thirty drachmas;[[620]] a sucking-pig for three drachmas;[[621]] a dove or a crow fetched three oboloi; a jackdaw or a partridge one obolos, though the philosopher Aristippos chose to give fifty drachmas for a single bird of this kind; seven chaffinches for an obolos. A chœnix of olives cost two chalci, and a cotyla of the best Attic honey five drachmas.