Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/277

 *diendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius, who died in the year 43 B. C.

No matter whether in soft Attic wool, Or in rough goats'-hair you be clothed.

We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnæ, one of the Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipe.

In the adjoining country of Megaris was a temple of great antiquity in honor of [Greek: Dêmêtêr Malophoros]. It was said, that Ceres was worshipped under that title, , by those who first kept sheep in the country. Theognis (v. 55.) mentions, that the people of Megaris used before his time to wear goat-skins, which shows the late introduction of the growth and manufacture of wool. Here, as in Attica, it was usual to protect the sheep with skins; and, as the boys were sometimes seen naked after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the cynic, said in reference to these practices, he would rather be the ram of a Megarensian than his son.

In the Peloponnesus, Arcadia was always remarkable for the attention paid to sheep.

Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern times. Here the lively genius and imaginative disposition common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contemplation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of mountain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character, highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, generally favorable to the development of the domestic and social virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to show in what degree the want of higher attainments ''in religious knowledge and moral cultivation'' was supplied by the peculiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward