Before Chrift 524. 57 



but as an independent ally. Herodotus, whofe teflimony, in all mat- 

 ters wherein only Greeks are concerned, outweighs an hundred of fuch 

 authors as Caftor Rhodius, fays exprefsly, [L. iii, c. 39] that, to the befl 

 of his knowlege, Polycrates was the firft of the Greeks, after Minos, 

 who conceived the defign of eftablifhing a naval force, fufficiently re- 

 fpedable to command the fea, by which the ^gaean fea mufl. undoubted- 

 ly be underflood *: and the fovereignty mufl as certainly be reftrided 

 to a fuperiority over the other Grecian ftates ; for he could never pre- 

 tend to come in competition with the Phoenicians, who, though de- 

 preffed by their fubjecftion to the Perfian empire, pofTeffed more com- 

 merce and fliipping than all the Greeks taken together. 



The Samians were famous for their manufadlures of gold and filver 

 ware f , and fine earthen-ware, which, like the china or porcelain of 

 modern times, was in high requeft for the fervice of the table many 

 ages after this time at Rome %. A particular earth of Samos, fuppofed 

 to pofTefs fome medicinal virtues, was alfo exported. [Plin. L. xxxv, 

 cc. 12, 16.] Thefe, with their corn and fruit, which were abundant, 

 formed the cargoes, which the Samian merchants exported as far as 

 Egypt, and, at lead once, even as far as Tarteffus. (See above, p. 34.) 

 With refped; to the progrefs of the mechanic arts in this ifland, it will 

 fcarcely appear credible, that the engineers of Samos were capable of 

 perforating a high mountain with a tunnel of eight feet in height, and 

 as much in breadth, and of the length of feven furlongs, containing an 

 aquedud, which fupphed the town with excellent water. They alfo 

 conftruded a mole of great height, which ran out a quarter of a mile 

 in the fea, to proted their harbour |{. In fuch works the Samian ar tills, 

 whom I fhall have further occafion to mention, excelled all the refl: of 

 the Greeks. [Herod. L. iii, c. 60.] 



The people of Chios had fome trade and Shipping ; and it was the 

 apprehenfion of fufFering by the too near neighbourhood of rival trad- 

 ers, which made them rejed the propofal of the Phoca;ans, when they 

 abandoned their own city, for the purchafe of fome fmall iflands be- 

 longing to them. The art of inlaying iron was invented by Glaucu an 

 artifl; of this ifland. 



The natives of yEgina had been a commercial people fome cen- 

 turies ago, as has been already obfervcd ; and they lUll retained 

 that charader. According to Caftor they became fovereigns of the fea 



* If the tellimony of Herodotus needs to be J Pliny [i. xxxv, c 12] afcribcs to Euchir 



fuppoited againft Caftor, Thucydldes and Strabo and Eugrammu?, two Samian artills, the honour 



may be adduced. of introducing in Etruria the manufacture of the 



f Theodorus, a Samian goldfmlth, was fo fam- beautiful earthen-ware, for which that ccuntry was 



ous, that a golden goblet, made by him, was fo famous. 



reckoned one of the moll pretious articles in the || The remains of thofe wonders of antient art 



palace of the kings of Perfia. {^Chares, ap, Athcn. are ftiU vifible, and agree with the defcription of 



eum, L- xii.] them by Herodotus. 



Vol. I. H 



