note 17: Constantin. de Administrando Imperio, l. ii. c. 50, 51,
52.]

[Footnote 18: The rock of Leucate was the southern promontory of his
island and diocese. Had he been the exclusive guardian of the Lover's
Leap so well known to the readers of Ovid (Epist. Sappho) and the
Spectator, he might have been the richest prelate of the Greek church.]

[Footnote 19: Leucatensis mihi juravit episcopus, quotannis ecclesiam
suam debere Nicephoro aureos centum persolvere, similiter et ceteras
plus minusve secundum vires suos, (Liutprand in Legat. p. 489.)]

But the wealth of the province, and the trust of the revenue, were
founded on the fair and plentiful produce of trade and manufacturers;
and some symptoms of liberal policy may be traced in a law which exempts
from all personal taxes the mariners of Peloponnesus, and the workmen
in parchment and purple. This denomination may be fairly applied or
extended to the manufacturers of linen, woollen, and more especially of
silk: the two former of which had flourished in Greece since the days
of Homer; and the last was introduced perhaps as early as the reign
of Justinian. These arts, which were exercised at Corinth, Thebes,
and Argos, afforded food and occupation to a numerous people: the
men, women, and children were distributed according to their age and
strength; and, if many of these were domestic slaves, their masters, who
directed the work and enjoyed the profit, were of a free and honorable
condition. The gifts which a rich and generous matron of Peloponnesus
presented to the emperor Basil, her adopted son, were doubtless
fabricated in the Grecian looms. Danielis bestowed a carpet of fine
wool, of a pattern which imitated the spots of a peacock's tail, of a
magnitude to overspread the floor of a new church, erected in the triple
name of Christ, of Michael the archangel, and of the prophet Elijah.
She gave six hundred pieces of silk and linen, of various use and
denomination: the silk was painted with the Tyrian dye, and adorned by
the labors of the needle; and the linen was so exquisitely fine, that
an entire piece might be rolled in the hollow of a cane. [20] In
his description of the Greek manufactures, an historian of Sicily
discriminates their price, according to the weight and quality of the
silk, the closeness of the texture, the beauty of the colors, and the
taste and materials of the embroidery. A single, or even a double or
treble thread was thought sufficient for o