Cistern Pole.

57

Chap. 8.]

told, were so much Struck with admiration of his conduct, that they or-dered ten «««, [one hundred and sixty dollars] to be paid him out of thepublic treasury.

The conduct of Cleanthes explains the secret of the great celebrity ofmany ancient philosophers, and shows the only means by which eminencein any department of human knowledge can be acquired : viz. by industryand perseverance. Besides his poverty, which of itself was sufficient toparalyze the efforts of most men, he was so singularly dull in apprehen-sion, that his fellow disciples used to call him the ass; but resolution andapplication raised him above them all, made him a complete master ofthe stoic philosophy, and qualified him as successor of the illustrious Zeno.Democritus beautifully expressed the same Sentiment, by representingTruth as hid in the bottom of a well; to intimate the difficulty with whichshe is found.

Analogous to the conduct of Cleanthes , was that of Plautus , the poet ,who being reduced from competence to the meanest poverty, hired him-self to a baker as a common laborer, and while employed in grindingcorn, exercised his mind in study. The same may be remarked of Ascle-piades and Menedemus , two Grecian philosophers, who were both sopoor, that at one period, they hired themselves as brioklayer’s laborers,and were employed in carrying mortar to the tops of buildings. Ascle-piades, was notashamed to be seen thus engaged, but his companion “hidhimself if he saw any one passing by.” Athenmus, says they were atone time summoned, like Cleanthes , before the Areopagites , to accountfor their manner of living—when they requested a miller to be sent for,who testified that “ they came every night to his mill, where they laboredand gained two drachm<®.”

No. 8, in the last engraving, represents a modern Greek female drawingwater. It is from a sketch of Capo D’Istrias’ house. See the WestminsterReview for September, 1838.

CISTERN POLE.

This simple implement, may be thought too in-significant to deserve a particular notice, but as itis extensively used in our rain-water cisterns, andis no modern device, we are unwilling to pass it.It was known to the Romans. Pliny expresslymentions it, when speaking of various modes ofwatering gardens. He says water is drawn froma well or tank, “ by plain poles, hooks and buckets,”B. xix, 4 ; and that it was a domestic implement inold times as at present, in raising water fromcisterns, is proved by the discovery of some ofthe hooks at Pompeii . Lard. Arts, &c. i, 205.Having mentioned the rain water cisterns of theRomans, it may be observed, that they were ascommon in Pompeii as they are in this city, everyhouse having been furnished with one.

As Pliny ’s account of these cisterns may beuseful to some mechanics, especially masons, weshall make no apology for inserting it. “ Thewalls were lined with strong cement, formed offive parts of sharp sand, and two of quicklimemixed with flints; the bottom being paved with8

No. 10. Cistern Pole.