Except for the bread women and the flower girls, hardly one female
is to be found among the sellers. Among the purchasers there is
not a single reputable lady. No Athenian gentlewoman dreams of
frequenting the Agora. Even a poor man's wife prefers to let her
spouse do the family marketing. As for the "men folk," the average
gentleman will go daily indeed to the Agora, but if he is really
pretentious, it will be merely to gossip and to meet his friends;
a trusted servant will attend to the regular purchasing. Only when
an important dinner party is on hand will the master take pains to
order for himself. If he does purchase in person, he will never
CARRY anything himself. The slaves can attend to that; and only
the slaveless (the poorest of all) must take away their modest
rations of boiled lentils, peas, beans, onions, and garlic, usually
in baskets, though yonder now is a soldier who is bearing off a
measure of boiled peas inside his helmet.

Another thing is striking. The average poor Athenian seems to
have no purse. Or rather he uses the purse provided by nature. At
every booth one can see unkempt buyers solemnly taking their small
change from their mouths.[*] Happy the people that has not learned
the twentieth century wisdom concerning microbes! For most Athenians
seem marvelously healthy.

[*]A wealthier purchaser would, of course, have his own pouch, or
more probably one carried for him by a slave.

Still one other fact is brought home constantly. "Fixed prices"
are absolutely unknown. The slightest transaction involves a war of
bargaining. Wits are matched against wits, and only after a vast
deal of wind do buyer and seller reach a fair compromise. All