the act of drawing was the next obvious stage in the progress of improvement, and this also we see exhibited in another of the sculptures on this grotto, where the same rude implement as before is represented, dragged along however by two oxen, whilst a man follows, whose business is to force down the point of the instrument into the soil. The use of oxen would call for another modification in the form of the machine, for it now became necessary to direct it, as well as to keep it steadily fixed in the soil; and for this purpose the handle was first furnished with a ring, but was afterwards made double; by which latter contrivance the husbandman was enabled to act upon the plough with both his hands, and thus not only to force it more deeply into the soil, but also to direct it in a straight course. We have thus come to a plough not very different from what is now used in the East, and indeed in some parts of Europe at the present day, consisting of a share, a team, and two horns or handles, crooked at the back, and united solidly together at the further extremity, so as to form one body with the point or beak. The kind of plough in use among the early Greeks, so far as we can collect from the description given by Hesiod, and from certain drawings which have come down to us, was not materially different from that of the ancient Egyptians. H It appears to have consisted of three parts-the ploughshare, vua of Hesiod; the draught-pole to which the horses were attached, the ioтoßoevs of the same author; and the ploughtail which the ploughman holds in his hand, the exérλa. Hesiod also distinguishes by a separate name the lower part of the plough, calling it by the name of γύη. It may be interesting perhaps to a classical audience to refer to the lines in which allusion is made to these parts of the plough, translating them consistently with that view of their meaning which I have adopted, which moreover will identify the kind of plough alluded to by Hesiod with that employed in Magna Græcia and in Sicily. Ημος δὴ λήγει μένος ὀξέος ἠελίοιο Καύματος ἰδαλίμου, μετοπωρινὸν ὀμβρήσαντος "When the force of the burning sun remits his oppressive heats, all-powerful Jove pouring down his autumnal rains"-"then" (after enumerating other labours fitted for the season he proceeds) "is the time φέρειν δὲ γύην, ὅτ ̓ ἂν εὕρης Εἰς οἶκον, κατ ̓ ὄρος διζήμενος, ἢ κατ ̓ ἄρουραν Πρίννιον· ὃς γὰρ βουσὶν ἀροῦν ὀχυρώτατός ἐστιν. (Ibid. 427.) Then is the time to carry home the material for the hinder part of your ploughshare, the yun, whenever you may find one fitted for the purpose, whether amongst the mountains or in the field, formed of the ilex, for this is the strongest wood for oxen to plough with Εἶτ ̓ ἂν 'Αθηναίης δμῶος ἐν ἐλύματι πήξας, (Ibid. 430.) provided only that the ingenious artificer shall have fixed it skilfully to the ploughshare (ἐλύματι), and have nailed it firmly to the draughtpole (ίστοβοηϊ). Δάφνης δ ̓ ἢ πτελέης ἀκιώτατοι ἱστοβοήες, Δρυὸς ἔλυμα, πρίνου γύην— (Ibid. 435.) But the strongest draught-poles are of laurelwood or of elm, the ploughshare of oak, the hinder part of the ploughshare of ilex. Again ̓Αρχόμενος τὰ πρῶτ ̓ ἀρότου, ὅταν ἄκρον ἐχέτλης (Ibid. 467.) When you begin to till the ground, taking in your hand the extremity of the plough-tail (éxéτλης), you shall thrust the goad into the backs of the oxen, the thongs drawing along the plough; whilst the young slave who follows, holding the spade or harrow, shall baffle the birds, by concealing from them the seed scattered over the ground." Let us now consider how far this view of the kind of plough described by Hesiod corresponds |