With the Arcadians alone, however, could inland trade be carried on upon a large scale; among every other Hellenic people possessing sea-coasts and harbours, it degenerated into mere peddling. Hence, the Æginetans obtained the character, once possessed in this country by the Scotch, of being a nation of pedlars—sometimes travelling from village to village, with their packs; at other times settling, like the Maltese of the present day, in towns on the coast of Greece, they became corn-chandlers, vintners, toymen, or victuallers, in established shops or stalls in the agora. Hence, all kinds of humble wares, or pedlary, obtained the appellation of Æginetan wares. Like the Jews, too, both they and the Cretans (noted liars, as St. Paul[1507] assures us) were regarded as skin-flints, and, in many cases, betook themselves to the practice of usury.[1508] ----- Footnote 1507: Epist. to Titus, i. 12, where he cites the testimony of Euripides, though without naming him. Footnote 1508: Eustath. ad Il. β. p. 604. Hesych. v. Ἀιγιναῖα. Cf. Interp. i. 137. Schol. Pind. Ol. viii. 26. Erasm. Adag. 71, 72. ----- Frequently, however, they soared above these petty arts, and became merchants on a large scale, trading with distant lands and acquiring very great wealth. The entire island, in Strabo’s time, was regarded as an emporium; and, even so far back as the age of Aristotle, their whole marine was employed in commerce. In some cities, he says, nearly all the shipping is engaged in one kind of service; those of Byzantium and Tarentum in the fisheries; those of Athens in war; those of Chios and Ægina as merchantmen; and those of Tenedos as transports.[1509] It has been conjectured, not without reason, that Sostratos, the son of Leodamos, celebrated by Herodotus for his riches, was a merchant. “The Samians,” says this historian, “induced by divine command to undertake the voyage of Tartessos, brought home with them greater wealth (sixty talents) than any other Greeks ever gained by trade, if we except Sostratos, with whom no one can contend in opulence.[1510]” ----- Footnote 1509: Polit. iv. 4. 1. Footnote 1510: Herod. iv. 152. Cf. Bœckh, Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 9. -----