INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY

OF COMMERCE.

CHAPTER XI.-GREECE.

GREECE presents in its history many contrasts to the other commercial states of antiquity, owing chiefly to its physical conditions. We have seen wealth flow along many converging routes into Babylon and Alexandria, raising those cities to a height of prosperity beyond the reach of rivalry. Geographical position favoured them as commercial centres of exchange. Greece proper, in ancient times, occupied about the same area as the modern kingdom. Washed on three sides by the Mediterranean, and its coast deeply indented, every part of the country is within easy reach of the sea, and, though united to the mainland, its character is insular. Off the western coast there is a range of large islands, stretching from Corcyra (Corfu) to Cythera (Cerigo), and on the east lie the Cyclades. The diversity of feature and produce which marked this classic soil was reflected in the Greek character and institutions. We possess no authentic record of the founding of Greece. In its natural characteristics it was eminently original-a land to which the world is indebted for new thoughts, for departure from Oriental monotony. Just as passive repose was the ruling principle in Egypt, so restless energy distinguished Greece. It was composed of a number of states, differing in dialect, laws, and industry; but all inspired with the love of freedom and enterprise. Such a people, thus situated, became of necessity colonisers and merchants. No single city of Greece ever contained in itself the wealth or Carthage or Tyre; but the Republic of Athens in its best days attained a prosperity never reached even by Babylon.

There are many allusions to the early intimate relations between the Greeks and Phoenicians; and monuments have been found in Athens itself, with Phoenician inscriptions, commemorating sojourners from Tyre, Sidon, and Citium, one of which may be seen in the British Museum. Phoenicians opened the Greek mines, and worked them. They supplied the Greeks with tin, which came into extensive use; from the Greeks they obtained polished iron, unwrought iron being procured from Carthage. The Greeks, however, soon assumed the control of their own commerce, shook off their dependence on the Phœnicians, and became their keenest rivals.

Corinth, Elis, Argos, Messenia, and Attica were the leading commercial states, from which colonists spread over the neighbouring archipelago, and multiplied the marts of trade. Colonisation was a distinctive feature of Greek enterprise and policy. Eolian, Doric, and Ionian settlements were founded in Asia Minor, where numerous towns arose, of which Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Phocea especially, disputed with the Phoenicians the profit of the eastern and western traffic. The famous royal caravan track between Sardis and Susa competed with the maritime route for the treasures of Persia, and all the above cities shared in the proceeds. "Smyrna was the lovely crown of Ionia, the ornament of Asia; and Ephesus was celebrated for its riches and splendour. Miletus was scarcely second to Tyre in luxury and wealth. From it colonists went forth who settled round the Euxine, opening up the traffic of another Mediterranean, and who founded the first Greek station in Egypt. Naucratis on the Nile was established by Milesian traders; Cyrene, in Africa, was likewise founded by the Greeks. Marseilles was a settlement of the Phoceans, the inhabitants still fancifully designating themselves by the ancient name. Tarentum, Sybaris, and Croton were the principal towns that sprang up in Magna Grecia; Syracuse and Agrigentum the chief in Sicily.

Patriotism caused the Greeks to extend to their colonies the name of the mother country, and to call the colonists by the common appellation of Hellenes.

The Greeks, like sea-rovers generally, were first induced to build ships for the sake of plunder, rather than of commerce. Thucydides graphically pictures the inhabitants of the shores or the isles as people who, once having risked the journey across from one coast to another, grew thievish, and wandering abroad in quest of booty, would fall upon any straggling town, rifle it of everything worth carrying off, and regard the act as 1rious. Bred a race of hardy sailors, and afterwards better l in colonisation and peaceful commerce, there arose, from the nobility, a wealthy class, holding property,

not in lands but in portable goods. They congregated in cities, instituted governments for the protection of life and wealth, and continued trading and accumulating riches. When the necessaries of life had been supplied, a taste for comfort and luxury soon arose. Architecture and sculpture, pottery, and work in the precious metals, attained a perfection since emulated in vain. They devoted themselves also to study and contemplation; and Greek philosophers have ever since influenced human thought.

Athens and Corinth were the chief seats of commerce in Greece proper. Athens possessed three harbours, of which the Piræus was the most important. A wall, sixty feet high, and wide enough for two chariots to run abreast, encircled the port, which was also united to the city by another double wall, five miles long.

Attica did not yield more than half the grain consumed by the Athenians, and corn was, consequently, the most important commodity imported. It came from Egypt, Palestine, and Sicily; but the great granary of Greece was then, as it is now for Europe, the Crimea and the Ukraine. Thrace and Macedonia sent timber; from Africa came ivory and gold; from Egypt, linen and paper; while the universal custom of selling into bondage the prisoners taken in war provided endless consignments of black and white slaves from the outlying parts of Europe and Africa. A trade in furs was carried on with the Scythians north of the Sea of Azov; and from the same people, probably, were procured gold, horses, and skins.

Athens monopolised Greek commerce for more than 150 years. The chief export trade consisted of wine, oil, figs, wax, and honey, the finest in the world from Mount Hymettus; and representatives from every mart then known were to be found in the warehouses of the Piræus. The entire freedom of trade permitted by the Athenians attracted to their harbour all the choicest productions of the known world, from the snow-clad regions of the north, to the glowing sands of the south. In return, the exquisite creations of Athenian looms, forges, and chisels went forth to ennoble and refine the manners of mankind. The Athenians lavished their magnificence chiefly on temples and public buildings. Their dwellings were comparatively small and unornamented. The interiors, however, were sumptuously furnished and decorated. Babylonian tapestries, Thracian pictures and chairs, Carthaginian pillows, Corinthian cushions, and specimens of Athenian art, enriched the apartments. The baths were constructed of marble from Mount Hymettus; and the dressing-rooms displayed costly fabrics and perfumed requisites for the toilet. A levy was laid upon nature for every delicacy of food and wines, with which to spread the table. Chaste jewellery, of the rarest value, adorned the ladies. The affluence of the state was only subdued in its display by that artistic or poetic perception of harmony which the Greeks evinced from their infancy. As many as 10,000 houses and 100,000 citizens, with four times that number of slaves, were enumerated when Athens was in its pride.

The city of Corinth had the reputation of being the most luxurious in Greece. Its name has come down to us as indicative of profusion. Its position on the isthmus, uniting the peninsula now called the Morea to the mainland, gave it two harbours, and thus enabled it to command the sea, both towards Italy and Asia Minor. Corinth did not attain its eminence so soon as Athens, but kept it longer. It was a powerful city, as remarkable for its manufactures as its trade, being especially celebrated for metal-work and porcelain. The order of architecture named from the city shows that Corinthian art had reached great perfection. The Romans described the place as containing more statues than any city they had ever taken; and there is a story that during the conflagration which followed its capture, streams of silver and other metals became commingled in the streets to such an extent as to originate a new commercial product, afterwards called Corinthian metal (brass).

Byzantium, the modern Constantinople, was so matchlessly situated that from the day of its colonisation it has never ceased to be an emporium of trade, notwithstanding its many vicissitudes. Salt fish, honey, wax, grain, fat cattle, and slaves, reached it from the Euxine settlements; and it sent, in return, its own produce of oil and wine. Byzantium was important as the terminus of the grand caravan system, to the chief line of which, between Sardis and Susa, we have already adverted. This traffic placed Byzantium in communication with the Ganges and China, and filled its bazaars with Indian wares and silk fabrics, as well as with pearls and gems, spices and balsams, ivory and gold, and goods of cotton and linen. The commodities sent in exchange consisted of red coral and amber, dredged from the Mediterranean coasts, glass and metal work, and numberless industrial products valued in the East. The island of Crete, for a considerable period, possessed an extensive commerce, and is reported to have contained a hundred cities; but it declined, and fell into decay. The common proverb declared that the "Cretans were always liars," a character inconsistent with sound commercial success.

The island of Rhodes was more celebrated. Its climate was very fine, and its soil produced excellent wines. A statue of Apollo, called the Colossus of Rhodes, is said to have bestridden the mouth of the harbour. Its outstretched hand bore a beacon light, to guide vessels at night. There were 320 tons of brass used in its construction, which took twelve years to complete; it stood 70 cubits or 105 feet high. The Colossus was shattered by an earthquake, B.c. 224, after standing fifty-six years. Fragments of it remained where it fell for nearly a thousand years, when they were removed, on 900 camels, by a Jew, who bought them of one of the generals of Caliph Othman. Rhodes rose from its ruins, and, till the Romans destroyed its freedom, continued to be the chief carrier of the Levant. Miletus, queen of Asiatic Greece, standing near the mouth of the river Meander, boasted of eighty colonies. Its mariners, in order to extend its commerce, ventured beyond the Pillars of Hercules; but its chief settlements were in the Black Sea. It possessed immense flocks, and was noted for its woolien fabrics. It was the emporium for Lydia and Phrygia, and from it the products of these districts were distributed abroad. The city, after offering a vain resistance, was left in ruins by Alexander the Great.

Colonists from Corinth founded Syracuse, which eventually became the capital of Sicily. It was one of the most famous Greek colonies, and its wealth and grandeur were based, as in the parent state, upon commerce. When most prosperous it had a circuit of twenty-two miles, and the splendour of its edifices, built of stone quarried in the neighbourhood, was not surpassed even by that of Carthage. The Athenians and Carthaginians in turn besieged the city, but each met with a disastrous repulse. Syracuse is celebrated as having been the abode of Archimedes, who for more than two years, by his mechanical devices, aided his fellow-citizens in withstanding the Romans. After its capture by Marcellus, in 212 в.с., Syracuse became the chief town of the Roman province of Sicily.

We are now in a position to consider the benefits which were conferred on the world at large by the commerce and refinements of the Greeks. In this investigation our interest centres in Athens. Spartan pride and roughness must be passed by. The contempt for industry, and the want of sound economy, exhibited in the arbitrary laws of Lycurgus might make a state feared, but could not make it truly great or lasting.

Baron Liebig says:-" The source of wealth, trade, and power of the Grecian states, when the latter were in their prime, was a highly-developed and widely-spread industry. Corinth produced what would correspond to Birmingham and Sheffield wares; Athens was the centre of the manufactures which we now find divided between Leeds, Staffordshire, and London, such as woollen cloths, dyes, pottery, gold and silver utensils, and ships. The citizens were manufacturers on the largest scale-shipowners and merchants, who had their offices and factories along

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relationship that existed between the productive and intellectual classes. But Greece was a slave state, and in slavery lay the ban which contracted its civilisation within fixed limits that could not be extended."

We owe to Greece the invention of coinage. Iron tokens, to which an artificial value was affixed, were used in Sparta; brass coins were used in other states. Athens from the first issued gold and silver coins, the standard of value being so carefully maintained that they passed current without question in every state.

Licences to follow certain trades originated in Athens, and laws were made to discourage usury. Debtors were severely dealt with. Deliberate fraud was punished with death, and bankrupts were sold and kept in bondage, till they had saved enough to redeem themselves. Plato was in danger of being thus enslaved for debt, but his friends ransomed him. A public register of debts was kept. We must not forget, however, that our own laws not long ago punished forgery and even more venial crimes with death, and caused debtors to be imprisoned for life, without giving them the chance of labouring for their redemption. To Corinth we owe the appointment of consuls at mercantile ports. The consuls were merchants who knew the manners and customs of the people with whom their countrymen had commercial dealings, and who could be relied on to arbitrate justly when disputes or misunderstandings arose.

Alexander the Great combined with his love of conquest a desire to make Greek trade universal. He planned the conquest of the East and Carthage, of Italy and Western Europe, a group of states of which his native land would be the centre, and Babylon the great Asiatic emporium. His career, though cut short at an early age, nevertheless contributed partially to bring about this result; inasmuch as the Greek garrisons settling in the places where they were stationed, the language of Greece became widely diffused, and a strong desire arose for commercial intercourse, While their principles retained their pristine vigour, the Athenians and the states they represented remained invincible.

(2.) It will be noted, that wherever the perfect participle of the main verb (as gelebt above) is joined with the participle of the auxiliary, the latter is written worten, not geworden, whereby

an offensive repetition (of the syllable gr) is avoided. Sometimes

worren is altogether omitted in the past tenses.

(3.) The German, by confining werten with the past participle

only in the direction of their knowledge. Democratic institutions frequently brought them into personal intercourse. In fact, the thirty-eight chapters of 'Problems' appear to be no other than a series of questions from tradesmen, artists, musicians, architects, and engineers, which Aristotle endeavoured to solve, as far as his knowledge enabled him to do. Until the time of Pericles, no other country of the ancient world united the necessary conditions for the rise of science as they were found in Greece, owing to its social state and to the intimate

The form of expression in English, it will be observed, is the

same for both ideas: "he is feared."

(4.) The Germans, however, employ the passive form far less frequently than the Eng'ish. They prefer other methods; thus, man fagt, one says, i.e., it is said; ter Schlüssel hat sich gefunden, the key has been found.

§85.-PARADIGM OF A PASSIVE VERB.
Gelobt werden, to be praised.

IND. Pres. Ich werde gelebt, du wirst gelobt, er wird gelobt; wir we den gelobt, ihr werdet gelebt, sie werden gelobt. - Imp. Ich wurde gelobt, du wurdest gelobt, er wurde gelobt; wir wurden gelobt, ihr wurdet gelobt, sie wurden gelebt.-Perf. Ich bin gelobt worden, du bist gelobt worden, er ist gelobt worren; wir sind gelobt worden, thr seid gelobt worden, sie sind gelobt worden. Plup. Ich war gelobt worden, bu warst gelobt worden, er war gelobt worden; wir waren gelobt worden, ihr waret gelobt worden, fie waren gelobt worden.- First Fut. Ich werde gelobt werden, du wirst gelobt wer den, er wird gelobt werden; wir werden gelobt werden, ihr werdet gelobt werden, sie werden gelobt werden. - Second Fut. Ich werde gelobt worden sein, du wirst gelobt worren sein, er wird gelobt worden sein; wir werden gelobt worden sein, ihr werdet gelobt worden sein, sie werden gelobt worden sein.

SUB. Pres. Ich werde gelobt, du werdest gelobt, er werte gelobt; wir werden gelobt, ihr werdet gelobt, sie werden gelobt. -Imp. Ich würde ge lobt, du würdest gelobt, er würre gelobt; wir würden gelobt, ihr würdet gelobt, sie würden gelobt.-Perf. Ich sei gelobt worden, du seiest gelobt wor den, er sei gelobt worden; wir seien gelobt worden, ihr seiet gelobt worden, fie seien gelobt worten.-Plup. Ich wäre gelobt worden, du wärest gelobt worden, er wäre gelobt worden; wir wären gelobt worden, ihr wäret gelobt worden, sie wären gelobt worden. - First Fut. Ich werde gelobt werden, du werdest gelobt werden, er werde gelobt werden; wir werden gelobt wer den, ihr werdet gelobt werden, sie werden gelobt werten.-Second Fut. Ich werde gelobt worden sein, du werdest gelobt worden sein, er werde gelobt worden sein; wir werden gelobt worden sein, ihr werdet gelobt worden sein, sie werden gelobt worden sein.

COND. First Fut. Ich würde gelobt werden, du würdest gelobt werden, er würde gelobt werden; wir würden celobt werden, ihr würdet gelobt wer den, sie würden gelobt werden.-Second Fut. Ich würde gelobt worden sein, du würrest gelobt worden sein, er wurve gelobt worden sein; wir wur den gelobt worden sein, ihr wurvet gelobt worden sein, sie wurden gelobt worden sein.

IMP. Pres. Werde (du) gelobt, werde er gelobt; werden wir gelobt, werdet (ihr) gelobt, werden sie gelobt.

INF. Pres. Gelobt werten, to be praised.-Perf. Gelobt worden sein, to have been praised.-Fut. Werden gelobt werten, to be about to be praised.

PART. Perf. Gelobt, praised.

§86.-REFLECTIVE VERBS.

(1.) A verb is said to be reflective when it represents the subject as acting upon itself. We have several such in English; he deports himself well; he bethought himself; they betook themselves to the woods; where the subject and the object, in each case, being identical, the verb is made reflective. It is manifest that any active transitive verb may thus become a reflective verb.

(2.) Strictly speaking, however, those only are accounted reflectives that cannot otherwise be used. The number of these, in German, is much larger than in English. Some of them require the reciprocal pronoun to be in the dative, but most of them govern the accusative; thus (with the dative), ich bitte mir nicht ein, I do not imagine; (with the accusative), ich schäme mich, I am ashamed. Further examples are the following:

Sich vornehmen, to propose to one's self.

Sich vorstellen, to represent to one's self. [one's self.

WITH THE ACCUSATIVE.

Sich anschiden, to prepare. Sich außern, to intimate.

Sich bedanken, to thank.

Sich bedenken, to pause, to think. Sich begeben, to repair to, to happen.

Sich behelsen, to put up with, to make do.

Sich freuen, to rejoice.

Sich widersprechen, to contradict Sich widersehen, to resist.

(3.) Since the action of these verbs is confined to the agent, they are rightly regarded as intransitives; for the verb and the pronoun under its government are to be taken together as a single expression for intransitive action; thus, ich freue mich, I rejoice myself, that is, I rejoice, or delight in.

(4.) In like manner, reflectives often become the equivalents of passives; as, der Schlüssel hat sich gefunden, the key has found itself, that is, the key is found, or has been found, etc.

(5.) In some instances a verb is found to have, both in the simple and in the reflective form, the same signification; as, irren and sich irren, to err; to be mistaken.

(6.) It is worthy of remark, also, that some transitives, upon passing into the reflective form, undergo some change of signification; thus, from berufen, to call, comes sich berufen, to appeal to. It is generally easy, however, in these cases, to account for such changes. The following are additional examples :

Berenken, to think upon; Bescheiden, to assign;

Sinden, to find;

Fürchten, to fear; Hüten, to guard; Machen, to make;

Stellen, to place;

Verantworten, to answer for;

Vergehen, to pass away; Verlassen, to leave;

sich stellen, to feign, pretend.

sich verantworten, to defend one's self.

sich vergehen, to commit a fault.
sich verlassen, to rely upon.

§ 87.-PARADIGM OF A REFLECTIVE VERB.
Sich freuen, to rejoice.

IND. Pres. Ich freue mich, du freust dich, er freut sich; wir freuen uns, ihr freut euch, sie freuen sich - Imp. Ich freute mich, du freutest rich, er freute sich; wir freuten uns, ihr freutet euch, sie freuten sich.-Perf. Ich habe mich gefreut, du hast dich gefreut, er hat sich gefreut; wir haben uns gefreut, ihr habt euch gefreut, sie haben sich gefreut.-Plup. Ich hatte mich gefreut, du hattest dich gefreut, er hatte sich gefreut; wir hatten uns gefreut. ihr hattet euch gefreut, sie hatten sich gefreut.-First Fut. Ich werde mich freuen, du wirst dich freuen, er wird sich freuen; wir werden uns freuen, ihr werdet euch freuen, sie werden sich freuen.-Second Fut. Ich werde mich gefreut haben, du wirst dich gefreut haben, er wird sich gefreut haben; wir werden uns gefreut haben, ihr werdet euch gefreut haben, sie werden sich ge freut haben.

SUB. Pres. Ich freue mich, du freuest dich, er freue sich; wir freuen uns, ihr freuet euch, sie freuen sich. -Imp. Ich freute mich, du freutest bich, er freute sich; wir freuten uns, ihr freutet euch, sie freuten sich.-Perf. I4 habe mich gefreut, du habest dich gefreut, er habe sich gefreut; wir haben uns gefreut, ihr habet euch gefreut, sie haben sich gefreut. Plup. Ich hätte mich gefreut, du hättest dich gefreut, er hätte sich gefreut; wir hätten uns gefreut, ihr hättet euch gefreut, sie hätten sich gefreut.-First Fut. I6 werde mich freuen, du werdest dich freuen, er werde sich freuen; wir werden uns freuen, ihr werdet euch freuen, sie werden sich freuen.-Second Fut. Ich werde mich gefreut haben, du werdest dich gefreut haben, er werde sich gefreut haben; wir werden uns gefreut haben, ihr werdet euch gefreut haben, sie werden sich gefreut haben.

COND. First Fut. Ich würde mich freuen, du würdest dich freuen, et wurde sich freuen; wir würren uns freuen, ihr würdet euch freuen, sie wur den sich freuen.-Second Fut. Ich wurde mich gefreut haben, du würtest dich gefreut haben, er würde sich gefreut haben; wir würden uns gefreut haben, ihr wurdet euch gefreut haben, sie würden sich gefreut haben.

IMP. Pres. Freue (du) rich, freue (er) sich; freuen wir uns, freuer (ihr) euch, freuen sie sich.

INF. Pres. Sich freuen, to rejoice.-Perf. Sich gefreut haben, to have rejoiced. PART. Pres. Sich freuend, rejoicing.