ry, that on all occafions where he could have placed lamps, he only fpeaks of burning torches. Alfo the fcholiasts believe, that the word which Homer has ufed to defign the vase carried by Minerva, fhould be understood of a sheath of gold into which they had put a torch. I fhould rather think that they meant a fort of chafing-difh into which they put pieces of wood to make the fire lively and clear. The Turks use even at this day to give them light, machines very like them... But be it as it would, we may be affured that there is no mention made in Homer of oil, of wax, or of tallow to give light. The Greeks in the heroic times never ufed tallow, or, to fpeak more properly, greafe, but to rub and soften things which time had hardened. With refpect to wax, although they knew it, they employed it for quite another ufe than to burn *. As to oil, they incontestably never used it but to anoint and rub themfelves.. I confefs, that lamps being fo ancient in Afia and in Egypt as we have feen, it is very aftonishing that the knowledge of them had not as yet got into Greece at the time of the war of Troy, but their ignorance in this refpect is not lefs certain. ARTICLE IV. Of the culture of fruit-trees. IT Tis certain that the Greeks did not apply very early to the culture of fruit-trees. Figs and pears appear to 2 Ad Odyf. 1. 19. v. 34. a Trey. Mars. 1721. p. 373. Homer only defigns what Minerva took to light Ulyffes with, by the word λúxvov. It is certain, that, in the ages pofterior to Homer, they conftantly understood by xxvos, a lamp; but I do not think, that, in Homer, that word ought to have the fame fignification; for he never speaks of oil for giving light. I should think then that xxvos, in this paffage, means a fort of chafing-dish, where they put little pieces of lighted wood. Moreover, this is the only time that the term λύχνος is found in Homer. See Odyff. 1. 21. v. 178. &c. * They covered with wax, fhips, tablets of wood to write on, &c. The only time it is mentioned in Homer, is on account of Ulyffes, who, the poet fays, ufed wax to ftop the ears of his companions, to hinder them from hearing the voice of the Syrens. Ody. 1. 12. v. 173, Part. 1. b. 2. chap. 1. art. 4. be add be the first fort of fruits which they knew we may to these apples. We indeed fee fig-trees, pear-trees, and apple-trees in the defcription, which Homer gives of the orchard of Laertes, father of Ulyffes. Figs particularly were regarded as the firft aliment of agreeable taste which the Greeks used. The different traditions which these people have propagated about the epoch in which they had known this fruit, prove, as I have already faid, that the first principles of agriculture were very anciently known in Greece; that this art had fuffered interruptions. Some in reality carry back the knowledge of the fig tree to Bacchus ɛ, and place that event under Pandion I. », who reigned at Athens 1463 years before Chrift. Others give this honour to Ceres, whofe arrival in Greece they fix in the reign of Erechtheus, 1426 years before the Chriftian era. But, following another tradition, the Greeks had known the fig tree long before thefe épochs. This tradition imported, that Syceus, one of the Titans, fon of the earth, being pursued by Jupiter, the tender mother had made the fig-tree come out of her bofom to ferve for an afylum and the nourishment at the fame time of this well-beloved fon .. All these variations make us fee that the Greeks had received fome knowledge of agriculture under the dominion of the Titans. The troubles which arofe upon the death of these princes, made them neglect the culture of the earth, which the new colonies that came out of Egypt and Phoenicia reftored again to honour in Greece, about the commencement of the ages we are now running over. We cannot enter into any detail of the manner in which the Greeks cultivated fruit-trees in the heroic times. There is nothing can inftruct us in it: I think they were at that time very ignorant in this part of agriculture. They have not thought fit to reduce it into precepts. I fancy I havé e d Alian. var. hift. 1. 3. c. 39.; Ody 1. 24. v. 337. &c. Athen. c. 5. p. 78. i Pauf. 1. 1. c. 37. p. 89. Athen. 1. 3. c. 5.p. 78. Plut. t. 2. p. 323. A. f Athen. 1. 3. c. 2. p. 74. k Marm. Oxon. ep. 12. Bb 2 fufficiently fufficiently proved elsewhere, that the art of grafting was then abfolutely unknown m. To the proofs which I have given, we may add the reflection which Hefiod made with refpect to olive-trees. This author, according to Pliny", faid that no man had ever feen the fruit of the olive-tree which he had planted; a fign that in his time the Greeks yet understood very little of the culture of fruit-trees. I fhall obferve further on the subject of fig-trees, that the tree to which they gave that name in Greece, was not of the fame fpecies with that which grows in our climates. That fort of fig-tree is much more fertile than ours, but its fruits cannot come to maturity before they have been pricked by infects, which ingender in the fruit a certain fort of wild fig, called by the ancients Caprificus. Thes' fley took great care to plant on the fides of their domeftic figtrees. This cuftom is continued even at this time in the illes of the Archipelago . We must obferve further, that thefe fort of figs are far from being comparable to ours, for goodnefs and delicacy . I think I can add to this article fome other practices which have a great relation to agriculture, taken from the general idea of the productions and labours of the country. The most common and the most ordinary arts are not certainly the least useful. Strabo, fpeaking of the ancient inhabitants of Great Britain, obferves that these people who had many herds, did not know the art of curdling the milk, and making it into cheese. He gives, with great reafon, this fact as a mark of the groffhefs and ignorance of that nations, The Greeks, in the ages we are at present speaking of, were not fo deftitute of knowledge. They were instructed in the art of making cheeses. Homer fpeaks often of them. The Greeks pretend to have been indebted for m See fupra, chap. 1. p. 86. & 87. L. 15. fe&t. 2. p. 732. Tournefort, voyage du Levant, t. 1. p. 340. P Arift. hift. animal. 1. 5. c. 32. p. 857.; Theophraft. de cauf. plant. 1. 2. c. 12. p. 246.; Plin. 1. 15. fect. 21. p. 747-; Athen. 1. 3. c. 4. p. 76. 77. Tournefort, loco cit. p. 338. &c. Ibid. p. 340. SL. 4. P. 305. Iliad. 1.1. v. 638.; Odyf. 1. 7. v. 225 that that knowledge to Arifteus King of Arcadia". He had, fay they, moreover taught them the art of raifing bees, and making use of their honey. I fhould doubt much of this laft fact. It appears that in the heroic times they did. not know in Greece the use of hives. We may conjecture this from a paffage in which Homer compares the army of the Greeks to a fwarm of bees. He does not make them come out of a hive, but out of the cliffs of a rock v. which THE et be seen may get CHA P. II. Of Cloathing. HE manner in which the firft inhabitants of Greece were clothed, anfwered to the groffness of their manners. The fkins of beafts which they killed in the chafe ferved them for covering; but not knowing the art of preparing these fkins, they wore them quite rough, and with the hair on. The only ornament which they could imagine, was to wear the fur without. The finews of animals ferved them for thread. Thorns without doubt held. the place of needles and bodkins. There remain yet in the writings of Hefiod traces of thefe ancient cuftoms. We are ignorant in what time the Greeks learned the art of giving to fkins convenient preparations, as to tan them, to curry them, &c. Pliny makes one Tychius, a native of Boeotia, author of this invention, without marking in what Juftin. 1. 13. c. 7. Arifteus had married Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus. Hefiod. Theog. v. 977. ; Diod. 1. 4. p. 324, * Diod. Jultin. locis cit. y Iliad. 1. 2. v. 87. &c. We find indeed in Hefiod, Theog. v. 594. & 598. thefe words σμήνος and σίμβλος, ufed afterwards to mean the hives where the bees make their honey. But independently of these two words not being found in Homer, and that we have many reasons to think Hefiod pofterior to this poet, I would not even conclude from the words of Hefiod, that the Greeks knew in his time the art of gathering the bees into hives. If this practice had been known in the ages in which Hefiod wrote, he would probably have given fome precepts, as Virgil has done in his Georgics., Diod. 1. 2. p. 151.; Pauf. 1.8. c. 1. p. 599.. a Pauf. 1. 1o. c. 38. p. 895. C L.. 7. fect. 57. p. 414. age age this artist lived. Homer fpeaks of a workman of this name greatly celebrated, in the heroic times, for his skill in preparing and dreffing fkins. Among other works he had, fays he, made the fhield of Ajax. Yet there is no appearance that this should be the fame perfon to whom Pliny has attributed the invention of currying fkins. This art must have been known in Greece long before the war of Troy; but it is not poffible to determine precifely the epoch. It is not the fame with refpect to weaving. I think we may very well refer this establishment in Greece to the time of Cecrops. This prince came from Egypt, where the art of fpinning wool, and the art of making ftuffs, was known very anciently. He made known this invention to the inhabitants of Attica. The few memoirs which now remain to us of the origin of weaving in Greece, agree very well with this conjecture. The Athenians were looked upon in antiquity as the first who had known the art of making ftuffs of wool and flax. They are faid even to have communicated thefe dif coveries to all Greece ". We likewife know that Athens in all times has been renowned for the fkill of its inhabitants in weaving. The quality of the foil of Attica contributed much to the rapid progress which this art made among these people. The wool of that country was reckoned, in the judgment of the ancients, the best that was known. It is very important for the quality of the wool to keep the sheep in very great neatness. We could not carry our attention farther, in this refpect, than certain people of Greece carried it. To procure the finest and beft-condi tioned wool, their precaution went fo far as to cover the fkins of their sheep, left the injuries of the air should alter the fleece, and left they fhould contract any dirt. We fee by the manner in which the Greeks anciently ftript their sheep of their wool, how imperfect the mechanic arts were among thofe people in the early times. There is a certain time of the year when the wool of the sheep c Iliad. 1. 7. v. 220. &c. d Justin. 1. 2. c. 6. See Voffius de idol. 1. 3. c. 70. f Eljan, var. hift. 1. 12. c. 56.; Diog. Laert. 1. 6. fegm. 41. p. 335. comes |