IlS TRADERS AND CRAFTSMEN V
but lent money to the emforoi. It is not accidental that the
comic poets do not distinguish the naukleros from the emporos^
and indeed scarcely mention him T
The idea of sea-trade was even more familiar to the average
man than that of agricultural life Nautical metaphors and
similes abound in comedy as well as, for instance, in Euripides.2
The huge beetle in the Peace could be compared to the men
coiling ropes into ships 3 There was a saying which meant that
nothing can be done beyond a man's power. 'Let not the cargo
be larger than the ship '4 Of a man unable to stand an ordeal,
it is said that he 'cannot keep his head above the bilge-water',
and a clever man could be called one 'who has sailed over the
seas', who knows 'how to shift to the comfortable side of
the boat' 5 Or if one wished to indicate the moment when the
greatest effort was wanted, one could say 'into the harbour'.6
Sea-trade, supported by the political power of Athens, and
reaching 'from the Black Sea to Sardinia', was the cause of
special pride,7 Athenian ships and tmfona were found as far
as Cana in the East and Carthage in the West.8 These geo-
graphical claims were hardly exaggerated, and the pride based
upon them implied that the profession of the emporos enjoyed
general and high esteem. The freedom of the sea and of inter-
national trade seemed entirely indispensable for peace and
prosperity That is why the consequences of the Meganan
Decree were so disastrous to everyone concerned 9 That too
is the reason for such internal measures in Athens as the
practice of hearing the lawsuits of the emporoi in winter, when
sea-traffic was almost impossible 10 It is also from such pre-
suppositions, that we are to understand the fantastic announce-
ment of Prometheus, the deserter from Olympus, that Zeus is
1 Perhaps it is a further proof of the vagueness of the word naukleros that it
could also be used to Indicate the owners of lodging-houses (Sannynon 6, cf
Isaios VI, 19) Boisacq, Dtct etymol 658 apparently supposes that both meanings
derive from naukraros.
2 Examples from Euripides* Hipp I22if, Hek io8if, Androm 554^ 854^
Herakleid 427^", Her 631, 1094, 1424, Tro 538^ 688flF,/^ T 1133$ Or
7o6f, 727*; KykL 505,//g-. 306, 417, 793
3?36f 4adesp. 512
5 Pi7 — F 533fT» cf also999ff, xazof, E 1091, 1105*?
6frg8$ 7W.7oo 8Ki69ff
• A 532fF, P 6o8ff. Cf below, ch XII, pp 328ff
10 E 1027, PI 904, frg 904; cf Andok I, 137, Lysias XVII, 5