In the superior trades and manufactures there was among several cities an emulation, the result of which was to produce constant improvement. Athens, for example, which excelled in pottery, had rivals in Aulis, Rhodes, Megara, Corinth, Cnidos, and several other cities; Sicily and Bœotia were famous for their chariots; Argos for the manufacture of arms; Thessaly for its easy chairs; Chios and Miletos for their beds; Etruria for its gold-plate and works in bronze.[420] ----- Footnote 420: Athen. i. 49, seq. ----- It is to be regretted that into the practice of the several trades and useful arts we can see but a very little way. In order, however, to render our idea of Hellenic civilisation as complete as possible, I shall here bring together as many particulars as I have been able to discover on this subject, commencing with those trades which were of primary necessity.[421] Of these, that of the miller may doubtless be regarded as of the first importance. In very early ages men understood not the art of reducing corn into meal; but either roasted the unripe ears upon the fire, or parched the separated grains in small fryingpans.[422] In process of time, however, the pestle and mortar were invented, by means of which,[423] though at a great expense of labour, flour of the finest possible quality could be obtained. To these succeeded the handmill, an invention of very remote ages,[424] which, notwithstanding, continued in use down to the days of Cicero. This machine, both in Greece and Italy, was at first commonly worked by women,[425] more especially by female slaves. But afterward the rudest and worst conducted of the male domestics were condemned to this severe toil, which at length grew to be regarded in the light of a punishment,[426] as working at the treadmill with us. Among the wealthy, each master of a family possessed his own mill; but as civilisation advanced, the grinding of corn constituted a separate occupation, and the trade of the miller was established. Public mills[427] were common at Athens in the time of Socrates, and it does not appear to have been unusual for strong and sturdy men of free condition to labour for hire in these establishments. ----- Footnote 421: Cf. Plat. De Rep. t. vi. p. 79. The president Goguet commiserates the ancients on their extreme ignorance of the useful arts. Orig. des Lois, t. v. p. 174. Footnote 422: Goguet, Orig. des Lois, i. 208, seq. 221. iii. 380. Beckman, History of Inventions, i. 227, seq. Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 580. Equit. 803. Footnote 423: Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 924. Footnote 424: