8. Of the domestic economy of Lacedæmon we have little knowledge; although Aristotle, or rather Theophrastus (who is now known to be the author of the first book of the Economics), gives it a separate place in treating of this subject. Every master of a family, if he received his share of the produce of the soil, laid by a portion sufficient for the year’s consumption, and sold the rest in the market of Sparta:(962) the exchange being probably effected by barter, and not by the intervention of money.(963) It should be observed, that the system of keeping the fruits in store had something peculiar,(964) and the regularity was celebrated, by which every thing could be easily found and made use of.(965) We are also informed that the Spartans had granaries (ταμιεῖα) upon their estates, which, according to ancient custom, they kept under a seal; it was however permitted to any poor person, who for example had remained too long in the chase, to open the granary, take out what he wanted, and then put his own seal, his iron ring, upon the door.(966) 9. In the market of Sparta, money was employed more often as a medium of comparison than of exchange; small coins were chiefly used, and no value was attributed to the possession of large quantities.(967) This usage Lycurgus had established, by permitting only the use of iron coin, which had been made useless for common purposes, by cooling in vinegar, or by some other process.(968) In early times iron spits or bars had been really used as money,(969) which after the time of Phidon the Argive were replaced by coined metal. The chief coin was called from its shape, and perhaps also from its size, πέλανορ, _the cake used in sacrifices_; its value was equal to four chalcûs, that is, to a half obolus, or the twelfth of a drachma(970) (manifestly of the Æginetan standard, as the Spartan coinage must necessarily have been adapted to this measure), and weighed an Æginetan mina.(971) Now as a mina of silver contained 1200 half oboli, the price of silver must have been to that of iron as 1200 to one; an excessive cheapness of the latter metal, which can only be explained by the large quantity of iron found in Laconia, and the high price of silver in early times. Ten Æginetan minas of money were, according to this calculation, equal in weight to 1200 minas, and it is easy to see that it would have required large carriages for transport, and an extensive space when kept in store.(972)