so large, numerous, and handsome in proportion to the extent of their country, and have lived even in that degree of elegance and luxury, to which they attained, _unless they had been able to dispose of the chief produce of their soil in a profitable manner_? It is probable therefore, that the representation of Mercury or of his emblems in conjunction with the figure of the sheep on the coins of Corinth and Patræ may be regarded as an intimation, that the Arcadians disposed of their wool in those cities for exportation to foreign countries. [303] Buonaroti (Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni Antichi, p. 41.) has exhibited brass coins, in one of which Mercury is riding on a sheep; in a second the sheep is seen with Mercury’s bag of money on its back; and in a third the caduceus is over the sheep, and two spikes of corn, emblems of agricultural prosperity, spring out of the ground before it. Among the gems of the Baron de Stosch, now belonging to the Royal Cabinet at Berlin, No. 381. Class II. represents Mercury sitting upon a rock with a dog by his side: Winckelmann observes, that “the dog is the symbol of Mercury as the protector of shepherds.” Nos. 392, 393, 396-402, in the same collection, represent him with sheep, and one of them (399.) exhibits him standing erect in a chariot drawn by four rams, and holding the bag or purse in his right hand and the caduceus in his left. Some of the coins of Sicily appear to refer in like manner to the character of Mercury as the promoter of the trade in wool. The Honorable Keppel Craven (Excursions in the Abruzzi, London, 1838, vol. i. ch. 4. p. 109.) mentions a temple at Arpinum, a city of Latium, which was dedicated, as appears from an inscription found on its site, to MERCURIUS LANARIUS. This title evidently represented Mercury as presiding over the growth of wool and the trade in it. Perhaps the very ancient idea of Mercury making the fleece of Phryxus golden by his touch may have originated in the same view. See Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, l. 11. 1144, and Scholion ad locum. [304] Il. xiv. 490. See also Hom. Hymn to Mercury, 569. Hesiod, Theog. 444. [305] Paus. l. v. 27. 5. and l. viii. 14. 7. But, notwithstanding the important share, which Mercury had in the religious sentiments and observances of the Arcadians, the proper god of the shepherds of Arcadia was Pan, and we have already had abundant evidence to suggest the conviction, that their songs and dances were performed principally in honor of him, and were supposed to be taught, guided, and animated by him.