ment,* probably corresponding with this, which they wore occasionally over their common dress. It seems to have trailed on the ground. This was kept together by a girdle.+ The men also wore girdles, both with the tunic and the upper coat or cloak.‡

The only covering for the head, usually worn by the men, was the pileus, a cap of leather, to keep the head and ears warm or dry. It was also worn under the helmet, as a soft and warm lining.§ They protected their hands with gloves, and their legs with gaiters or leggings, when exposed to injury from thorns.

We cannot part with Alcinous without some notice of his splendid palace, which will naturally introduce an account of the houses of those days. As, however, the mansion of Alcinous is indebted for its magnificence to the imagination of the poet, I shall take the plan of their dwellings, in part, from humbler models..

Houses of the better kind had a court in front within a wall. In this wall there was a gate; and at the gate, benches of stone. In the court was a portico, under which they often slept; and under the portico, the entrance, or vestibule, which opened by folding doors into the inhabited part of the house. The roofs were flat, and surrounded with

* ПIεπλos. † Od. v.. 231. Od. xiv. 72. § Od. xxiv. 230. || Od. xxiv. 227. ¶ Od. xvii. 268. * Il. ix. 469.—Od. xiv. 5.

a parapet or cornice.* The door posts were connected by a lintel above;† the door had a handle for shutting it. From the vestibule a door opened into the saloon, which was set round with seats, fixed to the wall,§ and dressed with coverlets, wrought by the women. The walls were ornamented with works in brass and gold, amber, silver and ivory, and with their implements of war. In these apartments, entertainments were given to the men.¶ It does not appear, that the women partook of them, though they were often present.* The banqueting room, in the palace of Alcinous, was lighted by figures of young men standing on pedestals holding lights,+ as with us. But some deny, that lamps were in use, or that oil was applied to this purpose. In one case, the contents of the lamp or brazier are said to have been thrown on the ground to kindle a fire. This agrees better with torches, which may have been fixed in stands. This apartment was flagged, and surrounded with pillars, supporting the upper story, called the egg,§ and laid out for the women's apartments. Hence, it has been thought, arose the story of Helen's being produced by an egg. They were floored with oak well polished.|| From the accident

*

Ogryzos.-Od. vii. 88. + Υπερθυριον. + Κορωνη.

§ Od. vii. 96. || Od. iv. 73. ¶ Od. vii. 98.

* Od. iv. 215,

&c. † Od. vii. 100. Od. xviii. 306, and xix. 63. § Yegwov. -Od. xxii. 428. || Od. xxi. 43.

that happened to Elpenor, we may suppose, that the stair was without the house. Being full of wine, he retired to sleep on the roof, for the benefit of the cool air; when, being suddenly awakened by a noise below, he forgot to turn his face to the stairs, fell down, and broke his neck. This was in the house of Circe; and we may conclude from it, that the stairs were no better than a ladder.*

Beside the apartments, which have been mentioned, there were chambers for sleeping, and for storerooms. In these also they kept their arms. I do not find any mention of kitchens, nor of servants' apartments, except a cupboard, pantry, or safe, a small apartment with a pointed roof, without the house. In the cottages of Laertes and Eumæus there is nothing remarkable; except that the former was surrounded with a shed, instead of a portico, in which the servants ate and slept.§

It is difficult to understand the form and operation of their locks and keys. They had straps and bolts, keys and handles to their doors; but they depended upon knots for the security of their trunks.|| Penelope mounted a stair or ladder, ¶ took a brass key, much bent, in her hands, for their keys were much larger than ours; the handle was of ivory. She then loosened the strap of the ring or handle of the door;

* Od. x. 552 : xi. 62. + Θαλαμοι. † Θολος.-Od. xxii. 442. § Od. xiv. 5. || Od. viii. 443. ¶ Od. xxi. 6, and 45.

put in the key, and drove back the bars, drawing or stretching it in the opposite direction. The door roared, like a bull feeding in a meadow, when struck with the key, and flew open; and she stepped on the loft, where her chests lay. This noise might lead us to suppose, that the Athenian custom of having their doors to open outward existed at that early period; opening with a noise to warn the passengers. Penelope seems to have first taken off a strap, that covered or confined the handle of the door, and perhaps the keyhole also; but how this added to the security of the lock does not appear. She then inserted a key, like a hook or pick-lock, fitted, no doubt, to the keyhole, which was horizontal, and then turned it so as to catch the bolt on the inside, which she drew back as far as the length of the keyhole, or the hook of the key would allow. The security, such as it was, depended, I presume, as ours, on the adaptation of the size and form of the key, to the size and shape of the keyhole; but there were no wards in key or lock.

Having exhibited Telemachus and Nausicaa as samples of youth, we proceed to persons of maturer years. Of these, the most valuable classes were the soothsayer and the physician, the mechanic and the bard.* These were always acceptable guests; and the physician and the mechanic appear to have been

* Od. xvii. 383.

the most useful. The skill of their mechanics will appear under the next head. The art of healing may be dispatched in a few words. It appears to have been confined to surgery. Machaon and Podalirius were not called to cure or stop the plague, but only to heal wounds. This was an art of the utmost importance in those warlike times; and accordingly Homer pronounced the professor of it to be of equal value with many men of a different class.*

From the same circumstance we might expect to find, that they had considerable knowledge of external anatomy, which was the only part of the art, with which the most enlightened of the ancients were acquainted. Accordingly, Homer has been always celebrated for the variety of wounds, and the scientific skill, with which he dispatches his combatants.

Their process was to bathe the wound in warm water, suck out the blood, and apply a dressing of bitter herbs. They, probably, used the verdigris of their brazen or bronze weapons as a styptic; which supposition will account for the story of Achilles curing Telephus with the rust of his lance; which I believe is efficacious in cleansing wounds, and consuming proud flesh, and still holds a place in the Materia Medica. Incantations and charms were thought to have great power, even in healing wounds. As to diet, Machaon when wounded

* Il. xi. 514. † Od. xix. 457.

c 1