Of gloves[1323] the Greeks made little use, though they must have observed very early, that they were worn by the Persians, and probably by other nations of Asia.[1324] Nay even among their own rustics they would appear to have been in fashion as far back as the heroic ages.[1325] The principal customers, therefore, of the Hellenic glovers were the hedgers and ditchers, woodmen, and actors; for on the stage it was frequently necessary to appear in gloves,[1326] either in order to disguise the colour or augment the size of the hands, or, as in the case of the Furies, to give them the appearance of being furnished with talons like those of the hippogriff.[1327] ----- Footnote 1323: Cf. Poll. ii. 152. Footnote 1324: Xenoph. Cyrop. viii. 8. Footnote 1325: Odyss. ω. 229. Paccichelli, de Chirothecis, in p. 238. Footnote 1326: Luc. Jup. Tragœd. § 41. Footnote 1327: See an example, Mus. Chiaramont, tav. 16. Museo Real Borbonico, tav. 32. 50. ----- Stockings properly so called, were perhaps little known to the Greeks, though we find mention made of certain socks woven from the cotonaceous filaments of a species of river truffle,[1328] which must have resembled them very closely both in form and texture. Besides, we see in works of art representations of this kind of sock reaching nearly to the knees, and somewhat loose, which may probably therefore have been woven. But the common sock, like the hat, was of felt,[1329] and usually white,[1330] fitting close to the foot and leg, and chiefly worn by women, with shoes or sandals,[1331] and sometimes in lieu of them,[1332] though in some cases it occupied the same place in the costume of the Greeks as it does in modern times. ----- Footnote 1328: Theoph. Hist. Plant. viii. 13. 8. Footnote 1329: Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 13. Athen. ii. 67. Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 10. Poll. i. 148. ii. 196. Some persons wore in winter a lambskin covering for the legs and feet. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 720. Footnote 1330: Lucian. Rhet. Præcept. § 15. Footnote 1331: Schol. Aristoph. Lysist. 417. Acharn. 299. Footnote 1332: Constant, v. πῖλοι. Antich. di Ercol. t. ii. p. 185. ----- The Hellenic cordwainers[1333] appear in every age to have carried on a thriving trade, since all the world, with the exception of a few philosophers, went well shod. Their workshops seem to have been neatly furnished. The shoes already made, whether plain or gilded,[1334] used to be ranged on shelves fixed up against the wall with fanciful brackets, while their lasts, pastepots, pincers, awls,[1335] and other implements, were kept in armories, sometimes furnished with double folding-doors, four or five deep shelves, and extremely elegant in form. Their cutting-boards[1336] were made from the wood of the wild pear-tree which being of a close hard grain kept their knives constantly in edge. Among the Israelites we find mention made of shoes of badger-skins.[1337] ----- Footnote 1333: