Plut. Arat. § 25. Footnote 1052: Beckmann, History of Inventions, ii. 170, sqq. ----- The trade of the cooper[1053] was in less general request than in modern times; his principal employment being the making of tubs, with flour and water-casks; their wine having been chiefly preserved in jars.[1054] Latterly, however, small kegs got into use, as well probably as larger casks even for wine. Pump-makers, together with the pump itself,[1055] came in late, and of fire-engines they possessed barely the first rudiments.[1056] ----- Footnote 1053: Sch. Aristoph. Pac. 1168. Footnote 1054: Id. 1055. 789. Footnote 1055: Cf. Dutens, Orig. des Découv. p. 258. Aristoph. Pac. 17, seq. Eq. 432, cum Schol. Footnote 1056: Beckmann, iv. 75, seq. ----- In speaking elsewhere of the household furniture of the Greeks we necessarily anticipated much of what was to be said respecting cabinet-makers and upholsterers. Some few particulars, however, omitted in that place, shall be here introduced. With respect to the price of furniture at Athens,[1057] it seems much better to be silent than by a few imperfect conjectures to confine the mind of the reader. We know absolutely nothing of the matter. ----- Footnote 1057: Cf. Bœckh, Pub. Econ. of Athens. i. 1441, whose laborious researches on this subject lead to no result. ----- Among the Egyptians, the roots of the Persea,[1058] a beautiful fruit-tree, said to have been poisonous in Persia,[1059] furnished the materials not only of statues but of bedsteads and tables, which were of a rich dark colour and received a fine polish.[1060] There was likewise, in Syria, a species of wood the blackness of which was interveined with ruddy streaks, so that it looked like variegated ebony. From this were manufactured bedsteads, chairs, and other expensive articles of furniture.[1061] The maple-tree grows both on plains and mountains. In the latter situation its wood is of a pleasant reddish colour, finely veined and solid,[1062] on which account it was much used in superior cabinet-work. The zygian maple, in general beautifully clouded, was so hard, that it required to be steeped in water before it could be wrought.[1063] Of all woods the ancients considered that of the cypress[1064] the most durable, and it is related in confirmation of this opinion, that the doors of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos, which were made of it, had already lasted four centuries in the time of Theophrastus.[1065] It took the finest polish, and was therefore employed in costly cabinet-work. The wood of the tree called thuia (a species perhaps of wild cypress), abounding in Cyrenè, and the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon,[1066] was thought to be incorruptible; and from its roots, which were beautifully clouded, the most delicate articles of furniture were manufactured. Next to these the wood of the mulberry-tree was preferred, which exhibited a dusky grain like that of the