of peace the farm produced almost all that its owner needed. "My farm," says Dicæopolis,
Never used to cry. "Come buy my charcoal,"
Nor "Buy my oil," nor "Buy my anything,"
But gave me what I wanted, freely and fairly,
Clear of all cost, with never a word of buying.[1]
This ideal independence of the individual farmer had no doubt been realized to a considerable extent before the Peloponnesian war in the case of larger estates; in this connection it is interesting because it sheds light on the conception of commerce as the opportunity of the wealthy to obtain foreign goods, and not as a normal fact in a country's internal life. War had disturbed this normal condition. When successful agriculture became impossible, Athens became dependent on her neighbors for the ordinary supplies of life; the luxuries of Bœotia were often shut out of her market, and at times the import of dried fish and grain was threatened.[2] Commerce was a source of wealth primarily in that successful exports and imports brought in large returns, if they met with no disaster.[3] Retail trade was not recognized as a legitimate source of income, and the references to it explain the reason for this view, viz., success in trade was thought to be due to the trader's success in cheating. The tricks by which the bird seller makes his birds look fat and attractive are described;[4] by cornering the market in the pots used to carry home small fish, Agoracritus proposes to keep the price of fish down,[5] and a little later he is represented as controlling the market in the herbs used as relish with fish;[6] the boldness of the common people in days of political suspicions is also part of the stock in trade of the petty dealer.[7] Such being the conception of retail trade by both seller and buyer, it is not surprising that special police, agoranomoi, were appointed to look after the market-place, and that the state expected a good income from the market tax.[8]
- ↑ Achar., 34 f.; Frere's translation.
- ↑ Pax, 551, 999 f.; Eq. 805 f.; and the market scenes in the Acharnians.
- ↑ Av. 594 f.
- ↑ Ibid., 1079 f.
- ↑ Eq., 649.
- ↑ Ibid., 676.
- ↑ Vesp., 493, and the choice of a "sausage seller" in the Knights to outwit Cleon at his own game.
- ↑ Cf. the market scenes in the Achar.
