'?

THE

PUBLIC ECONOMY
OF

ATHENS.
 THE

PUBLIC ECONOMY
OF

ATHENS,

IN FOUR BOOKS;

To which is added,

A DISSERTATION
ON THE

SILVER-MINES OF L^URION.

TRANSLATED FROM THE

GERMAN OF AUGUSTUS BOECKH.

VOL. I.

-DEPARTMENTAL LIBhhKY,

LONDON,
JOHN MURRAY.
1828.
BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.
 THE

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

THE Staatshaushaltung der Athener, of which a

translation is now offered to the public, was pub-
lished at Berlin in the year 1817. It is preceded
by a dedication to Niebuhr, the author of the
Roman History, and a short preface, in which
Mr. Boeckh, after stating that the knowledge of

the ancient history of Greece is still in its infancy,

and lamenting that it has so often fallen into the

hands of mere compilers or verbal grammarians,
considers that it is impossible to gain a complete
knowledge of the whole subject before some sub-
ordinate departments have been fully investigated.

The following work he intends to be a contribution

of this nature upon a subject of ancient history

understood.
" he continues, "
little If," it should

appear to many that the length of this work is

incommensurate with the importance of its object,

 VI

the author is comforted by the consciousness of

having aimed at brevity as much as clearness of

style would permit, and he is afraid of having erred

rather on the side of conciseness, thus
frequently
creating harsh and abrupt transitions, than on that
of prolixity." After a few other remarks he pro-
ceeds to speak of some inscriptions, on which it is

necessary for the translator to say a few words.

The latter half of the second volume of the

original edition of his book is

occupied by an Ap-
pendix, which contains twenty-nine Greek inscrip-
tions, illustrating the subjects treated of in the

body of the work. They are accompanied by a

most ample commentary and some of them were,
;

upon the appearance of the original work (in 1817),

published for the first time. In this translation

these are omitted, and for the following reasons.

In the first place, the author has now undertaken

to publish a complete collection of ancient Greek

inscriptions, in which edition those which he had

formerly published will all be necessarily included.

Whatever therefore was most important in his

former explanations he has repeated, with such

 Vll

improvements or additions as the subsequent en-

quiries of himself or others may have suggested.

Secondly, at the time when this work was pub-

lished, the author was compelled to have recourse
to incorrect transcripts made by Fourmont and
others, of inscriptions which are now preserved in
the British Museum, and have lately been copied
with greater accuracy. These reasons have induced
the translator to avoid increasing the bulk of this

work with dissertations on subjects which, even

by the professed classical reader, are frequently

thought of secondary importance.

It now becomes necessary to say something of

the translator's share in the labour. The style of
a translation necessarily depends in a great degree

both on the similarity or dissimilarity in the idioms

of the two languages, and on the style of the

original work. Now it is a singular, but an un-

questionable fact, that the idioms of the German

and English languages are altogether different, and
seldom admit of literal rendering from one to the
1
other ;
a difficulty which in the present instance

1
Madamede Stael (Allemagne torn. I. p. 194.) indeed
" Les
says, langues Teutoniques se traduisent facilernententre
 Vlll

has been much aggravated by the many peculiari-

ties in the author's style, little suited to the taste of

English readers. To this if we add, the frequent

want of proper terms in English for peculiar insti-
tutions and usages among the Greeks'; an obstacle

which the author could easily overcome in his own

language by coining compound words, faciliore ad
duplicanda verba Germane sermone ; and also the

clles ; en est de roeme des langues Latinos ;" but no one

il

who ever attempted to render German into English can doubt

of the truth of what is asserted in the text. The structure of
the sentences and collocation of the words are entirely dif-
ferent. The idiom of French is much nearer that of English,
whatever may be said of the Latin and Teutonic lan-

guages.
8
The original word has frequently been retained for the
sake of avoiding ambiguity or periphrasis. Thus Atimia, Di-
casts, Hoplitce, Cleruchice, <fec. It is true of most terms such as

these just mentioned, what has been justly observed of words

"
signifying public offices, that although the relation denoted
by them be the same
in one or several important particulars,

yet it
scarcely ever holds throughout; and the most false
notions are in consequence entertained by people of the nature
of these corresponding offices in every country but their own."
The term Liturgy has been used in a sense wholly different

from its received acceptation; but the original word is the

same as AMwi^y/*, which originally signified a service for the

;

public (as jgtfvgy/* in Herod.

V
83. a sacred service), after-

wards came to mean a service in a church.

 IX

unconnected appearance of a narrative compiled of

various facts, and from various authorities ; these

grounds may perhaps justify the translator's hopes

that some of those imperfections of style may be
overlooked, which it was so difficult for him to
avoid.

In the third book 3 the author, in speaking of the

tenure of land in Attica, has occasion to quote a

proposal or advertisement of a lease, from the ori-

ginal document engraved on stone and still extant.

The inscription is given in the Appendix from a

very incorrect transcript made by Chandler, several

of whose errors are there rectified. It has since

been published in a more correct form by our

author in his collection of inscriptions ; but as the

copy which he has used is in many parts very

defective, there still remained some difficulties which

he could not overcome. As the inscription is pre-
served in the British Museum, the translator has

made a more accurate copy of it, and taken the

liberty of arranging the version in the text partly

according to the latest improvements of the author

'
Vol. II. p. 15. see p. 223.
himself, partly according to what appeared on the

inspection of the stone to admit of no doubt.

In one or two instances the author has, in his

later work, seen reason for modifying his first

opinions . these corrections have been inserted in

the notes at their proper places.

The author however had not (as far as the trans-

lator is aware) been called upon to retract or defend

his opinions upon any point of importance, before
the publication of his work on inscriptions. The
first number of this collectionwas reviewed by Pro-
fessor Hermann, in a manner which called forth a

reply from Professor Boeckh. This reply was an-

swered by Mr. Hermann ; which answer was in
its turn examined (together with the original re-

view) by Mr. Meier, one of the authors of the

Attische Process. All these several documents were

republished by Mr. Hermann in one volume 4 with

,

a preface and notes and two appendixes ;

of which

the second on the subject of the Logistse and

is

Euthuni, the nature of whose offices is one of the

*
Ueber Herrn Professor Bdcklis Behandlung der Griech-
isclien Inschriften von Gottfried Hermann. Leipsig 1826.
 XI

points in contest between these two professors. This

last Essay contains a criticism upon our author's
discussion of the subject in the present work and ;

as it arrives at conclusions diametrically opposed to

the account there given, the translator thought that

the importance of these officers in the Athenian

government might excite the curiosity of some

English readers, and had actually prepared a trans-
lation of Mr. Hermann's treatise. But as the au-

thor has since replied at great length in a literary

3
journal and appears to have successfully defended
,

his former positions 6 it has been thought preferable

,

to abstain altogether from the controversy. The

translator has entered at all into this explanation,

only lest he should be thought to have neglected

a subject so much connected with the present
work.

The Dissertation upon the Silver-Mines of Lau-

rion, of which a translation is given in the second
volume, was published separately by Mr. Boeckh
in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy. It is fre-

quently referred to in the notes to his chief work ;

5
The Rheinisches Museum, vol. I. p. 39 107.
6
See however book II. note 179.
 Xll

and, notwithstanding the abridgment given in the

third book 7 may be considered as an
, interesting,
if not necessary, addition to this work. He appears
to have satisfactorily established his main point,
that the mines were public property, and that the
8
tenure upon which they were held was a perpetual
lease under certain conditions (including the pay-
ment of a rent of a twenty-fourth part of the

gross produce), which was originally obtained by

purchase. The price therefore of the shares or

pits, which varied according to the state of the

market, made up for the apparently small rent

which was subsequently paid. By the oversight

of this circumstance Mr. Mitford is led to accuse

the Athenian State of neglect in the administration

9
of its finances . Of all charges, perhaps, the govern-

7
Vol. II. p. 18.
8
may be a convenient place for mentioning that the
This
term Fee-farm (Erbpacht), which occurs frequently in the

present translation, is used only to mean a lease in perpetuity

held upon certain conditions; without any farther notion or
limitations which may be annexed to it in the language of
modern lawyers.
9
History of Greece, vol. V. p. 15. The account given
in Walpole's Memoirs relating to European Turkey p. 444.
is however quite correct.
 Mil

ment of Athens is least open to that of a want of

diligence in exacting the utmost amount of revenue
which its legitimate resources could be made to

afford.

It is often the unpleasant duty of a translator to

give currency to some opinions in which he does

not concur, or which he may more strongly disap-

prove ;
for it can rarely happen, however great may
be our admiration of any work, that we can assent

to all the doctrines which it contains. Unhappily

the present book furnishes a forcible example of

this mixture of objectionable with useful matter.

It is much to be lamented that the author of this

work, a man profoundly skilled in Grecian antiqui-

ties, and possessing very considerable powers of

reasoning and discrimination, should not have added

to these rich endowments a more ample portion of
modern science : and that in his remarks and dis-

cussions he should exhibit few traces of those

improvements in political philosophy which later

ages have produced. With the exception indeed
of some unimportant observations on a fanciful
theory of Rousseau, and a few remarks suggested
by striking peculiarities in the ancient institutions,
 XIV

there is
scarcely any thing which a well-educated Gre-
cian of the time of Aristotle might not have written 10 ;

if we exclude those singular doctrines for the disse-

mination of which the world has since been chiefly

indebted to the mercantile system of commerce.
From the title of our author's work, it would be
natural to infer that he was well versed in that

science of which his subject forms a subordinate

department. A very few pages are however suffi-

cient to convince the reader that such is not the

case. Thus, almost at the very outset of his work,

we find him employing as convertible terms, wealth,
11
money, and the precious metals , having previously

10
Otfried Miiller (Orchomenos und die Minyer p. 13.) in a
review of the modern works on Grecian history gives the
following character of the book. " Was eine Atthis
present
seyn wiirde, nach Art der alten Atthidenschriftsteller, die das
Bedeutendste von dem, was wir politische und heilige Anti-
quitaten nennen, als wesentlichen Theil der Geschichte behan-
delten, und mit neuerweiterter Ansicht und Gelehrsamkeitsfiille
ausgefiihrt, muss auch blbden Augen, an der Staatsbconomie
Athens, neuerlich zum erstenmal klar geworden seyn." Con-
cerning the newly extended views to be found in Mr. Boeckh's
work, the English reader will form his own opinion : but as
to the profusion of learning displayed in it, it is
satisfactory
tohave the testimony of one of the most learned writers in
(what is unquestionably) the most learned country of Europe.
11
It is perhaps to the author's opinion that these three terms
 XV

mistaken the efficacy of money for that of which it

is the medium. Occasionally also he appears to be

led to false conclusions by using the words profit
12
and interest as synonymous and in one place;

there is a serious argument to prove that the rent

13
of land is regulated by the rate of interest . The

are synonymous that we are indebted for his laborious enume-

ration of all the places of Greece inwhich the precious metals
were found, and perhaps for his excellent Dissertation on the
Attic Silver-mines, inthe beginning of which he appears to
attribute to them an importance and an influence on the pros-
perity of Attica, which they did not in fact possess. See
also vol. I. p. 17. and vol. II. p. 192.
12
See vol. I. p. 65, 82, 147, 154. See also his bitter

invective against the Athenian bankers and money lenders,

whom he calls " the most infamous of human beings" (p.
171) ; though in the preceding page he highly praises their

honesty. He
retails, withalso
seeming approbation, the
vulgar declamation of Lysias against the corn dealers (p. 112).
See also vol. I. p. 139. and, above all, his remarks on the
enlightened proposal of Xenophon for a more liberal conduct
towards the aliens of Attica, vol. II. p. 398, 399.
13
Vol. I.
p. 168. Sometimes the inconclusiveness of his

reasoning depends upon an ambiguity of terms which disap-

pears in translating. Thus a German word for rent of land is
Landzins, literally land-interest ; hence an incitement to a con-
fusion of things really distinct in their nature. This word
Zins is used in German to signify, interest, profit, rent of land,
rent of houses, and tribute. The analogy between the interest
 XVI

translator has thought it his duty to state thus

plainlywhat must of necessity detract in some mea-

sure from the value of the present work it should :

however, in justice to its author, be observed, that

such imperfections may more easily be overlooked
in a person who has made another branch of learn-

ing his peculiar study. And, while we see the appli-

cation of the true principles of political economy to

things under our own eyes and in our own country

so frequently controverted, how much more difficult

is it when we have to deal with ages long past, and

facts either doubtful or incompletely known !

Unfortunately however the author's imperfect

acquaintance with the general science of these

matters has not only diminished the value of some

of hrs arguments, but has also had a marked effect

upon the distribution of his materials. This is more

particularly seen in the parts where he had not, as

in treating of the officers concerned in the manage-
ment of the revenue, or the several items of the

public income and expenditure, an obvious course of

reasoning to follow. Accordingly in his discussions

of money and revenue in general is a copious source of

fallacy to our author.

 XV11

on prices, rates of profits, interest, &c.,

his diligence

has scarcely compensated for the want of theoretical

knowledge ;
and the value of his first book, either

considered by itself, or as a groundwork for his sub-

sequent enquiries, has thus been much diminished.

A large part of the first book is dedicated to

an enumeration of the various prices of commo-

14
dities by comparing which with the
in Attica ,

actual prices of the same commodities, the au-

thor hopes to ascertain the relative wealth of

Attica and modern nations. Now although this
collection is most interesting and valuable, it is

evident that he has much overrated its

utility,

and has committed a great though natural error

in supposing that any inference can be drawn

from the similarity or dissimilarity of ancient and
modern prices. The ratio between the value of any
one commodity, and of gold or silver, may be a safe
criterion in the same place, and for short periods of

time ; but for distant ages and countries this com-

parison affords absolutely no information. For a

comparison with prices in other countries at the

14
Vol. I. p. 83147.
VOL. i. b
 XV111

same time, and for such a purpose as that to which

the author has well applied it, in examining the
authority of Polybius' statement with respect to the
valuation of Attica, his list of prices may he used
with advantage and security. But whether the
precious metals, or lahour, or any other standard, be
adopted as a medium of comparison between the

prices of commodities in ancient Greece, and in

modern Europe, the result must be equally fallacious

and nugatory. For these reasons the translator has

omitted to insert, as the author had done, the cor-

responding value of silver estimated in modern coin

15
after each statement of price .

In the same book the author has likewise devoted

16
a separate chapter to the consideration of the vatm-

xos TOXOS or interest of money lent on bottomry : and

on account of the large portion of Athenian capital
which was thus employed in foreign commerce, this

question is of considerable importance. From the

instances cited by him, it appears that a very high

premium was not unfrequently obtained upon capital

15
See also vol. I. p. 383. and p. 337.
'
16
Vol. I. p. 176.
 XIX

thus invested. But it is evident that no general

conclusion with regard to the rate of interest can be

drawn from these facts (vol. I.

p. 81.) ;
for this was
doubtless a most hazardous investment for money,

on account of the imperfect knowledge which the

ancients possessed of astronomy, from their igno-

rance of the compass, and the dangerous navigation

of the narrow and stormy seas of Greece, as well as

from the insecurity of laws and judicatures, demon-

stratedby the very institutions themselves which
were meant as correctives of that evil 17 .

It has been already mentioned that the author

frequently draws unwarrantable conclusions from

the rate of interest. may however be fairly
It

if the
" rate of interest is that
doubted, whether,
sum which the lender receives and the borrower

pays for the use of a certain amount of monied

capital, without any consideration for trouble in the
collection of the income, or for risk as to the

punctual repayment of the interest or principal at

18
the stipulated periods ," there was any thing which

17
See what the author himself says, vol. I. p. 179.
18
Tooke's Considerations on the Currency p. 11,
 XX

we could justly consider as a general or established

rate of interest at Athens. There were no public
securities nor means of investing money guaranteed
by the national credit and the insecurity of pro-
;

perty, both from fear of revolution and foreign

attack, must always have been so great, that it is

difficult to think of any method of lending money

in which there must not have been as to the

punctual repayment of the interest or principal at

the stipulated periods very great, but very vari-

able, risks. With respect to money lent upon

mortgage, which with us approaches next in safety
to the public securities, the land in Attica was held
upon so frail a tenure, on account of the li
ability to
loss from invasion, that in this case again, a large

yet uncertain indemnification for risk must have

been requisite. In illustration of this it
may be
mentioned, that in a lease of some lands situated
within a few miles of Athens, made 345 B. C.,
there is an express stipulation inserted with regard
to the payment of the rent in case of injury from
,19
1
enemies

19
Boeckh. Corp. Inscript. No. 93.
 XXI

Since Mr. Boeckh's work has appeared the Popula-

examined by Mr. Fynes Clin-
tion of Attica has been

ton in the Appendix to his Fasti Hellenici 20 by Mr. ;

Letronne in the Memoires de 1' Academic des Belles

Lettres 21 ;
and in part by a writer in the Museum
22
Criticum . The first of these writers coincides very

nearly with Mr. Boeckh, although he does not

appear to have been acquainted with his disserta-
tion ;
on the two last as their results are somewhat
different, the translator thinks it right to offer a few
remarks.

Mr. Letronne estimates the population of Attica,

between 430 and 340 B. C. as follows:

Athenians of all ages and both sexes . .

70,000
Resident aliens of all ages and both sexes .
40,000
Slaves of all ages and both sexes . . .
110,000

By comparing this table with the results of Mr.

Boeckh (vol. I. p. 52.), it will be seen that, al-

though Mr. Letronne has made the number of the

P. 387 sq. ed. 2.

Tom. VI.
I. p. 215.
 XX11

Athenians and resident aliens lower, the chief differ-

ence is in the slaves, whose number is taken by Mr.

Boeckh at 365,000. The manner in which he arrives

at this conclusion is somewhat singular. In the

first place he assumes that the number of the slaves

ascertainedby the census of Demetrius, which has

been preserved by Athenaeus, must be exaggerated.
He then turns for some more authentic account to
the Athenian writers : and he conceives that the
true number may be discovered from a proposal of
" that
Xenophon, in his Essay on the Revenues,
the State should purchase slaves, until there were

three to each Athenian (i. e. 60,000) ;" the meaning

of which is (he states) that the number to be

bought, together with' the slaves already in the

country, would make up the ratio of three to one,

" la
quantite a acheter, jointe a celle qui existait

dans le pays, doit cornpleter le rapport de trois a

un dont il parle" (p. 195). This he collects from an

expression which "Xenophon afterwards uses, "that

when the number of the slaves should have been

raised to 10,000, the annual revenue obtained by

letting them would be 100 talents." Hence he
supposes that the utmost number intended by Xe-
nophon was 10,000; and that the other 50,000
 XX111

23
are male slaves in the vigour of body . This
number he doubles for the old-men, women, and
children ; and he therefore fixes the total aggregate

of slaves at 110,000 or 120,000.

The meaning of this passage, which Mr. Letronne

seems to have misunderstood, is explained in the

present work; but it may be convenient to point
out the error in his argument at once. Xenophon
proposed to the State of Athens to purchase public
24
slaves ,
until about 60,000 were procured ;
and
that they should be let at a certain rate to private

mine-proprietors, for the sake of producing a reve-

nue to the community ;
that 1200 should be first ob-

tained, and by applying the profit derived from these

23
These 60,000 able-bodied male' slaves he disposes of in

the following manner (p. 209)

Slaves in the mines 12,000

in the city and its outskirts . . . 36,000
in the country 12,000

In the fragment of Hyperides quoted by Mr. Clinton (p.

391.) from Suidas in v. aTre^Ji^Wro, it is stated that the number

of slaves in the mines and in the country was 150,000.
84
Xenoph. de Vectig. 4. 17. ovra x.xi
 XXIV

to the purchase of fresh slaves, the number might in

five or six years be raised to 6000, who would yield

an income of 60 talents a year, to be employed

partly in the same manner and when there were

;

as many as 10,000, the annual receipts would be

100 talents " but that the mines would
; afford em-

ployment for many times this number, is evident from

the large sums produced by the duty on slaves

before the occupation of Decelea ;" and he adds

other reasons to shew that the mines could not
be overstocked with labourers. As the argument,

founded on the misapprehension here exposed, is

made by Mr. Letronne the basis of his calculation,

it would be unnecessary to add another word.

The object of the writer in the Museum Criticum

is to ascertain the number of persons dwelling in

the city of Athens alone ; and he arrives at a result

very different from that obtained by Mr. Boeckh,

who, by estimating eighteen persons to a house,
reckons that the city of Athens with the harbours
25
contained 180,000 persons . He argues as fol-

lows.

" Vol. I. p. 56.

 XXV

It is known from Demosthenes that half the

annual importation of corn into Attica amounted

to 400,000 medimni, and from Aristotle that two-
thirds of all imported corn (i. e. in this case

533,333^ medimni) were by law to be carried into

the city. Then taking the consumption of a man
at a chcenix a day, and that of women, children,
26
and slaves at two-thirds of a chcenix , we have
91,428 for the inhabitants of -Athens. This, he

observes, is a very rough calculation, but he thinks

that it is likely to come within 10,000 of the real

number.

Now it is manifest that this calculation proceeds

upon two assumptions :

first, that all the foreign

*6
Mr. Clinton (Fast. Hell. p. 393. ed. 2.) has however
shewn that two-thirds istoo small a portion, and that twelve-
thirteenths is more correct. He also observes that " the
author (in the Museum Criticum) has assumed that the inha-
bitantsof Athens were exclusively subsisted upon foreign

corn;" and shews upon another consideration that the country

probably furnished 980,000 medimni to the town. This argu-
ment is liable to the additional objection that it
supposes the
inhabitants of the country to be at the same time importers
and exporters of corn. Mr. Bockh conceives, apparently with
good reason, that slaves severally consumed a larger quan-
tity of bread than freemen, see vol. I. p. 37.
 XXVI

corn carried into the city was consumed there ;

and, secondly, that none but foreign corn was con-

sumed in the city. These propositions cannot ap-

parently be true, unless we suppose that Attica pro-

duced a quantity of corn exactly sufficient, with the

addition of a third part of the importation, for the

consumption of the dwellers in the country : for it

cannot be thought that the inhabitants of the country

would send corn to the capital (nearly a seaport town),
while they were themselves subsisting on foreign

corn. Now it appears that it was not an un-

common practice to send barley at least into Athens
27
from the country ,
a fact which
seems utterly
inconsistent with the above-mentioned regulation,

which we have on the unquestionable authority of

Aristotle. Then again it is impossible to suppose
that the seasons were so regular in Attica (to say

nothing of invasion) that the amount of corn re-

quired in the country was invariably a third part of
the total importation. The difficulty seems how-
ever to admit of explanation.

27
See vol. II. p. 38. notes 87 and 88. The article chosen
by the honey-smuggler for the purpose of concealment is

barley.
 XXVII

The meaning of the regulation with regard to the

28
two-thirds appears to be, as our author has ex-,
plained it, that the harbour-masters (l7r<ftex>]Tai TOW

S/Asrogfou) were to compel all merchants touching at

the Piraeeus with corn on board to sell two-thirds of

their cargo in Attica, not in Athens as opposed to the

country. Now Demosthenes only states the amount

actually imported, which therefore is independant

of the third of the cargo of such merchants as

wished not to sell the whole ;

that remaining
part being carried away to other countries. It is

therefore unnecessary to attribute this absurd regu-

lation to the Athenians ; which, if its nature had

been as assumed by the writer in the Museum

is

Criticum, could never have been put in practice; and

even if it admitted of i?o satisfactory explanation,

28
It is given by Harpocration apparently in the words of
Aristotle: 'ETTg^eXtj-ris tfuro^lov. 'Ag<(rTOT8Afl5' 'Eftiroyov S' i

$t -ran Tt fftTrogi'av tT
3lx.et
xtogovo-ii, revrotf 7r^oirrirecx.rxi

TOO rirov -rev xarctTrhiovTOf tif TO 'ATTHCOV tftTrogiov rei

'

ijATroeovs tivctyx-ei^uv
tit TO eirrv MpiQui. Also Suidas :

l%ttPOT6Vovrro ray ftogav a$

KTcex.rit TCVJ %og6vra$ Iv ret', Qi
fi.v

Se Xeyoti(ry OT< IptTroyov agfcWTig t'uri

K^^uiol sxei/rrev trovs

01$ 7rgoT6T*To iTrtfiihttrd&i

TOV KxrccTrfaovrog CTITOV sit TO T
Sftirogiov

'ATT;X xaet revs tfuro^ovf avecyxciifyiY its TO a<rrv icoftjfytv. Hence

both in the method of their nomination, and the duration of
their office, these were strictly democratical magistrates.
 XXVIII

ought not to be made the condition of a problem

which requires it not merely to have been a form
of words, but a law constantly enforced and acted
29
upon .

In making the foregoing observations, the trans-

lator is aware that he may be accused of outstepping
his legitimate province, and of passing judgment

upon opinions which he should only have been the

instrument of conveying. On the whole work, it

might perhaps be ascribed to the supposed partiality

of a translator, if he were to express as favourable

an opinion as he really entertains. He cannot

however avoid remarking, that the author has
collected and arranged an immense mass of in-

formation on a most interesting subject ; that he

has spared neither time nor research ; and that

29
There isalso another reason against supposing that the

regulation with regard to the two-thirds had the meaning

given to it by the writer in the Museum Criticum, viz. that

all thecorn imported into the Piraeeus must, before it went
into the country, have passed through the city. Now there
was no inlet by which much corn passed into Attica, except

Oropus and the Piraeeus. The former was chiefly, if not ex-

clusively, used for the Eubcean

corn and we know from
;

Demosthenes, that at least half of the quantity imported

must have been unshipped in the Piraeeus.
 XXIX

whatever reason the reader may sometimes see to

question his opinions on these very doubtful and

disputable subjects, his accuracy in citation and the

good faith of his statements are implicitly to be

relied upon. In gratitude then for so great toil and

learning, the reader must overlook his occasional

and forgive the omissions and defects in the

errors,

remembrance of what has been well and laboriously

done TOJJ ju,gv 7ragAsAs|U,jU,svo<5 c-uyyvaipjv To7j 8? veirgotyfAevot$

For himself the translator asks no other praise

than that of a sincere and earnest desire for the

promotion and diffusion of knowledge on these in-

30
teresting subjects .

30
The translator has not attempted to follow any uniform
system of orthography for Greek names ; it seems indeed that
the forms Solon and Plato, Samos and Crasus, are as much
established by custom in our language, as those of any words
not in constant use.
 THE

PUBLIC ECONOMY
OF

ATHENS.
 CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

Of prices, wages, and interest of money in Attica.

1. Introduction.
2. Contents of this Book. Gold and silver the standard of

prices.
3. Gradual increase of the precious metals.
4. Of silver money, and of the silver talent in particular.
5. Of gold coins, and the gold talent.
6. The price of gold and other metals in comparison with
silver.

7. Population of Attica.
8. Agriculture and native products.
9. Commerce.
10. Cheapness in ancient times.
11. Lands. Mines.
12. Houses.
13. Slaves.
14. Cattle.
15. Corn and Bread.
16. Wine, oil, salt, wood.
17. Meals obsonium meat,
; :
birds, fish, vegetables, honey,
&c.
18. Clothes, shoes, ointment.
19. Implements and furniture of various kinds, arms, ships.
20. What sum was necessary for the maintenance of life, and

proportion of the same to the national wealth.

21. Wages of labour.
22. Interest of money ; money-changers ;
mortgage of land.
23. Bottomry.
24. Rent of houses, land, &c.
VOL. I. B
 BOOK II.

On the administration
offinance, and the public expenditure.

1. Whether the system of finance in the ancient states had

the same importance as in modern times.
2.
Objects of my enquiries.
3.
Supreme authorities for the financial legislation and ad-
ministration. People and Senate. Preparatory offices
of finance.
4. Apodectae.
6. Treasurers of the Goddess and of the other Gods.
6. Manager of the public revenue, or treasurer of the admin-
istration. Subordinate offices for the administration.
7. Hellenotamiae, funds for war, funds for the Theorica.
8. Clerks, checking-clerks. System of examining the ac-
counts.
9. Whether a regular estimate and comparison of the
Revenue and Expenditure existed. On the different
branches of Expenditure.
10. Building.
11. Police Scythians.
:

12. Celebration of festivals and sacrifices.

13. Donations to the people.
14. Pay of the public assembly and of the senate.
15. Pay of the courts of justice.
16. On some other persons receiving salaries from the public.
17. Maintenance for the poor.
18. Public rewards.
19. Arms, ships, cavalry.
20. Approximate estimate of the regular Expenditure. Of the
extraordinary expences in general.
21. Military force of the Athenians.
22. Pay and provision.
23. Equipment of the fleet, and artillery. Sieges.
24. Calculation of the war-expenditure, with examples.
 BOOK III.

On the regular revenues of the Athenian state.

\. Different kinds of public revenues in the Grecian re-

publics.
2. Duties arising from lands, houses, and similar property of
the state, of companies, and temples.
3. Of mines.
4. Of custom-duties ;
the fiftieth.

5. Conjectures upon harbour-duties and the hundredths.

Market tolls.

6. Twentieths. Tithes : Different sorts of the latter.

7. Poll-taxes, and taxes upon industry :
Protection-money,
Tax upon slaves, Tax upon prostitutes, &c.
8. General remarks upon these taxes, particularly upon the
method of levying and paying them.
9. Fees in the courts of justice, and fines. Prytaneia, Pa-
rastasis.
10. Appeal-money; Paracatabole ;
Epobelia.
11. Of the fines (-rift^ccra,) in general.

12. Examples of the different fines.

13. Of the public debtors.
14. Of the confiscation of property.
15. Tributes of the allies. Origin of the same, and of the
relation which the alliesbore to Athens. Amount of
the tributes before the Anarchy.
16. General survey of the allies with reference to the tribute
before the Anarchy.
17. Of the tributes and the allies after the Anarchy.
18. Of the Cleruchiae.
19. Total amount of the annual Revenue.
20. History of the public Treasure.
21. Of the Liturgies in general, and of the regular ones in par-
ticular.
22. Choregia.
23. Gymnasiarchy. Feasting of the Tribes or Hestiasis,
 BOOK IV.

Of the extraordinary revenues of the Athenian state, and tlie

peculiar financial measures of the Greeks.

1. Contents of this Book. Of the property taxes in ge-

neral.
2. Of the sources of prosperity in Attica, and of the public
care for the same.
3. Individual instances of the property of Athenian citizens,
and of the division of the national wealth among the
different classes.
4. Nearer determination of the national wealth of Attica.
5. Of the Valuation. Ancient constitution with reference to
the finances. Valuation of Solon, and the changes in

before the Archonship of Nausinicus.

it

6. Register. Register of lands; General register of pro-

perty.
7. Valuation in the Archonship of Nausinicus.
8. What part of the valuation and of the property was
raised as an extraordinary tax, with reference to the pro-

perty tax in the year of Nausiuicus.

9. Symmoriae of the property taxes after the year of Nausi-
nicus. Of the advance of taxes, and of other things
relating to the payment of taxes.
10. Of the taxes and Liturgies of the Resident Aliens.
11. Of the
Trierarchy in general.
12. First form of the Trierarchy, or the Trierarchy of Indi-
viduals. Second form of the Trierarchy, or the Trie-
rarchy in part of Individuals and in part of two Syn-
trierarchs, from Olymp. 92. 1. until Olymp. 105.3.
13. Third form of the Trierarchy. Synteliae and Symmoriae
from Olymp. 105. 4. until the end of the 109th Olym-
piad.
14. Fourth form. Trierarchy according to the valuation by
the law of Demosthenes after Olymp. 110. ^.
J5. General observations upon the expences of the Trie-
rarchy.
16. Of the Exchange.
17. Pecuniary difficulties, Subsidies, Plunder, Captures,
forced and voluntary Contributions.
18. Loans.
19. Alterations in the currency.
20. Various other measures.
21. Xenophon's proposals for the advancement of the pros-
perity of Athens.
22. Conclusion.
A Dissertation on the Silver-mines of Laurion.
Index.
 THE

PUBLIC ECONOMY
OF

ATHENS.

BOOK I.

(1.) IF the character and importance of a nation were to be

estimated only by the extent of its territory and population,
the Athenian state would rank far below the hordes of
the Huns and Mongols. But mere space and numbers are
of without the presence of that spirit, by which
little avail,

alone the great body of a people can be animated and com-

bined. To the operation of this cause must the superiority
of the Athenians be ascribed ; by this power their scanty
bands overthrew the countless hosts of the Barbarians at
Marathon, at Salamis, and at Plata?*: and hundreds of'

subject states submitted to the dominion of one small city,

as large armies obey the commands of one general. Not
that Athens, while thus signalizing herself in the field, was
regardless of the more beneficial pursuits of peace : and
having conceived and executed all that was most beautiful
in art and profound in philosophy, she became the in-
structress of all liberal sciences and arts ; the teacher alike
of her own times and
of posterity. The intellectual fa-
culties however are not of themselves sufficient to pro- :

duce external action they require the aid of physical

force, the direction and combination of which are wholly
at the disposal of money ; that mighty spring by which
 8
*

the whole machinery of human energies is set in mo-

tion. For a state, and for a family, a regular and settled
economy are alike necessary; and as the relations be-
tween the state and its members have in great measure a
mutual dependence upon the regulations of the public eco-
nomy, so it becomes impossible to obtain a correct insight
into the private life of the ancients, without a
knowledge
of their finances;nor of their financial system, without a
minute enquiry into the internal organization of both their
public and private economy. For these reasons I have
undertaken to explain, as fully as my abilities and extent
of knowledge will permit, the Public
Economy of Athens,
the greatest and most noble among the Grecian states, hi
the prosecution of these enquiries, truth has been
my only
aim ; nor shall I regret, if it be made apparent from my
labours, that the ancients as well as the moderns were not
free from stain in their pecuniary dealings. Or are the
histories of past ages to be written merely for the inspira-
tion ofyouth ; and shall the historian of antiquity conceal,
that in those as well as the present days, nothing
among
men was perfect ? Let us confess rather, that of the most
excellent men of antiquity, many laboured under the fail-
ings common to the human race that in their less polished
;

nature these vices broke out so much the more powerfully,

as their hearts were less awakened to piety
by the mildness
and humility of a more benevolent religion that, lastly, ;

these faults (so long encouraged and cherished) under-

mined and overthrew the lordly edifice of antiquity itself.
Of the vast range of topics which here come under con-
sideration, few have hitherto been subjected to a compre-
hensive and accurate scrutiny. General views and ingenious

speculations do not supply the place of sound investigation ;

and the more scanty are our sources of information, the
 9

more urgent becomes the obligation to use the materials

faithfully, and from them to deduce general conclusions

equally removed from flippant and vague superficiality

on the one hand, and the affectation of learning on the
other, which adorns itself with the specious tinsel of critical
and grammatical display. Every other method either
leaves the reader (as is the custom with most writers on
ancient history) to wander among innumerable and almost
isolated particulars, in appearance only connected together;
or leads him into errors, which captivate and bias the
judgment by their apparent beauty. Thus, for example,
it has been attempted to account for the indifference of
the ancients to productive labour and their inattention to
matters of finance, by the dominion of religion over their
minds ; but (not to mention that piety accords better with
a well than an ill
regulated economy) the supposition itself
is false; for neither do we find that the ancient states
attached less importance to the public income and expen-
diture, than is attributed to them at the present day ; nor
that individuals had a greater disregard for worldly pos-
sessions. If the system of finance in the Grecian states
was ill regulated, the defect must be assigned to other
causes, which are to be sought for in their civil in-
stitutions. With regard to the science of Political Eco-
nomy, it was, I admit, uncultivated among the ancients :

itsrelations were too simple to be made

the subjects
of a scientific analysis ; for the ancients until the time
of Aristotle (and he also in some degree), treated the
sciences under very general heads, without allotting a par-
ticular science to each separate department of practical life.
For this reason, Aristotle in his Politics speaks both of
Education and Finance, but only as incidental and subordi-
nate topics: in the (Economics falsely attributed to this
 10

philosopher, Political Economy is treated of scientifically,

and in the manner of Aristotle, but briefly and imperfectly.
Plato's work upon the Republic contains indeed nothing
of a system of finance ; for in such ideal states as that of
Plato, a well regulated Economy was no more requisite
than an explicit Code of Laws. The ancients moreover
laid down
the limits more strictly between those things
which are capable of scientific investigation, and such
as do not admit of it : but the art of finance, whilst it

rests only on uncertain conditions, teaching us how to

provide for perpetually varying wants from a perpetually
varying revenue, and how to assign to both their due
limits and proportions, in conformity with the powers and
circumstances of the state, seemed to the ancients as not

admitting of a scientific examination. Rules for practice

were not by any means wanting, although they varied
according to time and place, and were brought to unequal
degrees of perfection. Sparta, with her simple form of
government, was unfitted for the adoption of a regular
system of finance; while in Athens the expenditure and
revenue were so considerable, that attention to matters of
finance soon became imperatively necessary. But it was
not until the Persian war, that all the ramifications of her
financial institutionswere finally developed ; and after the
time of Alexander, they necessarily lost their peculiar cha-
racter with the loss of national independence. To the in-
terval between these two epochs my enquiries will therefore
be confined subjects both of earlier and later date, as well as
:

the constitutions of other Grecian states, I only touch upon

incidentally. In Athens however, and within the period

just mentioned, the Public Economy of Greece is seen upon
its largest^ scale ; and all the democratic states of the
Greeks had doubtless nearly similar institutions of finance,
 11

with such variations only as were necessarily induced by

the peculiar situation and circumstances of individual
countries. For these reasons therefore we must the more
" Constitution of
regret, that writings such as Aristotle's
Athens," and the work of Philochorus, from which de-
tailed explanations of such peculiarities might have been

looked for, have been for ever lost ; and that others, as, for

example, Xenophon's Essay upon the Sources of Revenue

("Trsgl TTo'gwv),
have yielded an amount of information so
lamentably deficient.
(2.) The amount of money required for the public

Service, and how far the Income received was capable of

providing for it, together with the amount of the Revenue,

and the proportion which it bore to the means of the
People, cannot be ascertained without knowing the Prices
of commodities, the customary Wages of labour, and the

ordinary Profit and Interest of stock. Upon the last of

these subjects it is unnecessary to say much after the
labours of Salmasius at the same time every indulgence
:

should be shewn to any one who attempts to give an ac-

count of the prices of commodities: for their necessary

mutability, and the uncertainty of the few sources from

which information can be derived, impede the investiga-
tion at every step;the chief authorities on this subject

being either the incidental statements of Comic poets, or

the assertions of orators, who mould every fact to suit
their particular purpose. Nor have my enquiries been as-
sisted by the labours of any previous writer 1 , as Barthe-

1
Meursius De Fort. Alt. cap. IV. or Gillies' Observations upon
the History, Manners, and Character of the Greeks from the
conclusion of the Peloponnesian war until the battle of Chae-
ronea, in the Introduction, and single scattered notices cannot be
considered as forming any exception.
 12
2
lemy has allowed himself to be deterred by the apparent

difficulty of the task ; although not the Roman only, but

even the Hebrew antiquity, has been subjected to such
3
investigations . It will be the object therefore of the

first book to ascertain the rates of prices, wages, and

interest.

The precious metals, silver and gold, are the standard of

prices ; although it is obvious that silver or gold may be
said with the same propriety, to be dearer or cheaper in
comparison with other commodities, as other commodities
to be cheaper or dearer in comparison with the precious

metals. And in fact, when we hear in ancient times of a

smaller quantity of the precious metals being given in ex-

change for other commodities, it did not arise from the

value of those commodities being less than at present, but
from the value of the metals being greater. For the ag-
gregate stock of all commodities requisite for the purposes
of life, exclusive of gold and silver, doubtless upon an
average maintained the same proportion to the demand as
in modern times, with the exception only of particular

articles, the use of which is not indispensably necessary for

human existence while the quantity of the precious metals
:

has in the course of centuries been augmented by the con-

tinued working of mines, at the same time that their dura-

a 286. 4ieme ed.

See Anacharsis, torn. VII. p.
3
Hamberger de pretiis rerum apud veteres Romanes dis-
putatio, Getting. 1754. 4to. Kessenbrink iiber das Verhaltniss
des Werths des Geldes zu den Lebensmitteln seit Constantin dem
Grossen bis zur Theilung des Reichs unter Theodosius dem
Grossen, und iiber desselben Einfluss. Berlin. 1777, 8vo. Both
these writings received the prize. Michaelis de pretiis rerum

apud Hebraeos ante exilium Babylonicum. Comm. Soc. Reg.

Scient. Getting, torn. III. (1753.) p. 145.
 13

bility and value have on most occasions preserved them

from destruction.
(3.) The
quantity of the precious metals in Greece, more
particularly that portion of them which was in circulation
as coin, although at first it increased but slowly, afterwards

experienced a more rapid augmentation, when the invasion

of Xerxes had opened the treasures of the East; and prices
rose in the same proportion; so that in the time of Demos-
thenes the value of money appears to have been five times
less than in the age of Solon. Both in Rome and in
Greece at an early period, the quantity of metals, and

particularly of gold, was very inconsiderable in the time :

of Croesus, according to Theopompus, it was not to be

procured in Greece. The Lacedemonians, wishing to ob-

tain some gold for a sacred offering, purchased it of

Croesus, manifestly because they could not procure it

nearer home 4 . Alcmaeon the Athenian laid the foundation

of the wealth of his family, when Croesus permitted him to

take as much gold out of his treasury as he could carry at
once 5 . Even in the seventieth Olympiad gold was still a

rarity. Hiero of
Syracuse, wishing to send a statue
of Victory and a tripod of pure gold to the Delphian

Apollo, was unable to procure the requisite quantity of that

metal, until his agents came to Architeles the Corinthian,
who had long bought up and collected gold in small portions,
as the same Theopompus and Phanias of Eresos relate 6 In .

Greece proper there were not many mines of the precious

4
Concerning Rome, see Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 5 sqq.
16 sqq. 47 sqq. On the other points, see Theopomp. ap. Athen.
VI. p. 231 sq. cf. p. 230. B. Herod. I. 69.
s Herod. VI. 125.
6
Athen. VI. ubi sup.
 14

metals. The most remarkable among these were the Athe-

nian silver mines of Laurion, wjiich at first were very pro-

ductive. Thessaly contained mines of gold, Siphnos both of

silver and gold, and Epirus, which bordered upon Greece,

possessed silver mines ; the same metal was also found

7.
in Cyprus But the mountains of Pangsea upon the con-
fines of Thrace and Macedonia contained immense riches ;

from them flows the Hebrus, celebrated for its golden

sands 8 And in addition to the gold and silver mines which
.

were upon the mountains themselves, the precious metals

were found on both sides of them, to the west as far as the

Strymon and Paeonia, and to the east as far as Scapte

9
Hyle . Even in Pseonia, it was said that the husbandman
10
turned up particles of gold in ploughing On the eastern .

side were the important gold mines of Scapte Hyle, and the

precious metals extended across the sea as far as Thasos,

where very considerable and productive workings had been
set on foot by the Phoenicians, who had also first esta-
blished mining in that region upon the main-land, which
was afterwards taken up' by the Thasians, until the Athe-
nians obtained possession of these mines 11 Upon the .

western side in Macedonia the mines were so productive,

that Alexander the First, the son of Amyntas, in the time
of the Persian war, received from them a talent of silver

7 For more on this subject, see Reitemeier ilber den Bergbau

der Alten, p. sqq. 64
Concerning Laurion, see book III. 3.
8
Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 21. and others.
s
p. 228. (ed. 1587.) and else-
Herod. VII. 112. Strab. VII.
where. Xenoph. Hellen. V. 2. 12. Plin. Hist. Nat. VII. 57.
Athen. II. p. 42. B. Lucian. Icaromenip. 18. and the scholiast.
Clemens Alexand. &c.
10
Strab. ut sup.
11
See book III. 3.
 15

12
daily but the chief places were Daton and Crenides,
;

afterwards Philippi, which in the first year of the 105th

Olympiad was taken possession of by the Thasians sub- ;

sequently however Philip of Macedon is said to have

worked the mines with so much success, that they yielded
1000 talents a year, although previously they had not been
very productive ; and it was in this spot that, according to

the common belief, the gold grew again 13

. When there-
fore ancient historians affirm M
that Philip had a golden

chalice, which he guarded with such anxiety, that he laid

it under his pillow when he went to sleep and again, that ;

before the time of Philip a silver vessel was a rarity ; it

does not by any means follow that the quantity of precious
metal extracted from the earth was inconsiderable, for
extensive mines had long been worked both in Greece and
the neighbouring regions, and much gold and silver had
been brought over from the east ; we can only infer from
these statements, that little gold had been wrought for

private use, and that luxury had not yet attained its

greatest height.
Asia and Africa furnished by far the larger proportion
of the precious metals ; some also was supplied from places
which remained for a time in the possession of the Greeks ;

thus, for instance, there were gold mines at Astyra, near

Abydos, which were still worked in the time of Xeno-
15
phon but subsequently were abandoned 16 Not to dwell
,
.

upon Egypt and the rest of Africa, or many single spots

Herod. V. 17.
s Strab. ut sup. Diod. XVI. 3, 8. Appian. Bell. Civ. IV. 106.
Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXVII. 15. Pseud-Arist. Mirab. Aus.
cap. 42.
Ap. Athen. VI. ut sup.
'*

*
Xenoph. Hellen. IV. 8. 37.
16
Strab. XIII. p. 407.
 16

where the precious metals occurred, I shall only not ice-

some prominent points Colchis, Lydia, and Phrygia,
:

were celebrated as countries rich in gold from the :

gold washings at Colchis arose the fable of the

golden fleece 17 ; and who has not heard of Midas and

Gyge*, and the riches of Crresus; the gold mines of
Tmolus and Sipylus, and the golden sands of the Pac-
tolus? Pythes, or Pythius, the Lydian, the prince of
Celaena? near the sources of the Maeander, the richest and
most unfortunate man
of his time, possessed, according to

report, from his mines and gold washings,

2000 talents of
silver, and 3,993,000 golden darics, which Xerxes in-
18
creased to 4,000,000 If we only take the third part of
.

this amount as the true sum, what enormous riches are

these for a petty prince. Upon the whole there were
immense sums of money accumulated in Persia, which
prove the abundance of the precious metals, although not
19
in circulation.Cyrus, according to the account of Pliny ,
acquired 34,0001bs. of gold by the conquest of Asia,
besides wrought gold and other vessels; and of silver,
which is difficult to believe, 500,000 talents, i. e.
probably
Egyptian talents of eighty Roman pounds. Deducting-
whatever sums might be levied by the Satraps, or consumed
in the provinces for the uses of the government, in the
time of Darius the son of Hystaspes, there flowed yearly
into the royal treasury 7600 Babylonian talents of silver 20,
21
each of which, according to Herodotus , is
equal to 70

17
Strab. I. p. 31. XI. p. 343. and the commentators. Plin.
Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 15.
18
Herod. VII. 28. and the commentators.
>9 XXXIII. 15.
*
Herod. III. 95.
" Herod. III. 89.
 17

Euboic rainas, altogether 8866| Euboic talents. In the text

of Herodotus, however, the whole amount is reckoned at
9540, and only one MS. gives 8800, an error which
it is now
impossible to rectify. Besides this, the Indians

paid an annual tribute of 360 Euboic talents of fine gold,

which, reckoning the ratio of gold to silver as 13 to 1,
amounts to 4680 talents of silver; so that, according to
the text of the historian, the revenue of the king of Persia
amounted to 14,560, or (if we only reckon what is stated
in Herodotus according to the present reading), to 13,546
Euboic talents. From the productive mines of India, and
from its rivers, of which the sand contained particles of

gold (among which in particular the Ganges may be men-

22
tioned), arose the fable of the ants which dug up gold .
From these annual receipts the treasure of the king was
accumulated, and an immense mass of the precious metals
was thus kept out of circulation: it was obviously their
so much gold and silver as was
principle to coin only just
23
necessary for commerce and the expences of the state .
Even in Greece large sums remained out of circulation,
accumulated in the treasuries. 9700 talents of coined
silver were kept in the Acropolis of Athens, besides the gold

and silver vessels. The Delphian Apollo had an immense

collection of the most precious treasures. Gyges sent many
gold and silver offerings to
Delphi ;
among these were six
golden goblets, 30 talents in weight, which were deposited
there in the Corinthian treasury 24 Passing over the.

numberless gifts of others, I shall only make mention of

M Herod. III. 102 sqq. Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 21. and
Strabo in the 15th book in several places.
Strab. XV. p. 505.
a
Herod. I. 14.

VOL. i. c
 18

the pious munificence of Croesus 85 ; in addition to the

presents which he made to other temples, he offered up a

large quantity of silver at Delphi, a bowl of this metal
containing 6000 amphora;, four silver casks, a gold and a
silver cauldron, round silver paterae, a golden statue, three

cubits high, 117 hah ingots of gold, weighing altogether,

according to Herodotus, 232| talents, of which, 4 talents
were of pure gold, and the rest alloyed (Diodorus reckons

inaccurately 120, each at two talents) a golden lion, ;

weighing ten talents, from which, at the burning of the

temple during the reign of Pisistratus, 3| talents of

pure gold were melted away ; a golden bowl, 8 talents and

42 minas in weight and also, according to Diodorus, 360
;

golden cups, each of two minas; besides many other

valuable gifts. The cups, the lion, and the female statue,
three ells in height, Diodorus reckons at 30 talents, so that

eight talents remain for the weight of the latter. If the

several items are added together, the sacred offerings of
Croesus, without counting many other precious ornaments,
amounted in gold alone to more than 271 talents, exclusive
of the gifts of which the weight is not mentioned. If we
add the rest of the gold, the account of Diodorus, that
subsequently gold coins were struck from it equal in value
to 4000
talents of silver, does not appear exaggerated.

These accumulated masses of the precious metals were

however gradually dispersed, and chiefly by the effects of
war. When the king of Persia took with him into the field
sufficient to load 1200 camels 26 , the
money and valuables
misfortunes of his army enriched the Greeks in a correspond-

* Herod. I. 50 sqq. Diod. XVI. 56. To examine what Wes-

seling says upon the latter passage would lead me too far.
96
Demosth. de Symmor. p. 185.
 19

ing proportion ; and history has recorded many instances

of persons who in this manner laid the foundation of their

prosperity. The King and his Satraps were soon

great
compelled to pay large sums of gold to the Grecian merce-

naries, and to deal out presents and bribes. Sparta alone

received more than 5000 talents from the Persians, for the
purposes of war 27 . All the treasures that Athens had
collected were dispersed into many hands by the numerous

buildings undertaken by Pericles, together with the ex-

pences of which he was author, for works of statuary,
for theatrical spectacles, and military expeditions. The
sacrilegious Phocians coined 10,000 talents in gold and
silver from the treasures of Delphi, which were all dissi-
28
pated by the war ; and, lastly, Philip of Macedon carried
on his campaigns as much by the power of gold as of
arms. Thus an immense
quantity of gold came into cir-
culation between the time of the Persian war and the age
of Demosthenes ; and the precious metals must necessarily
have fallen in they did subsequently, when
value, as

Constantine the Great caused money to be coined from

the treasures of the Heathen temples
29
How great how-.

ever must have been the mass of the precious metals which
was carried into the West by Alexander's conquest of
Asia admitting that the accounts of his historians are
!

exaggerated, the chief point still remains unquestionable.

Besides what was found in the camp and in Babylon, the
treasures of Susa and Persis are reckoned at forty, or, ac-

a? Isocr. rvpftetfa 32.

a8
Diod. ut sup. Athen. VI. p. 231. D.
39 Monitio ad Theodos. Aug. de inhibenda largitate Thes.
Ant. Rom. vol. XI. p. 14, 15. according to Taylor's explanation
ad Marm. Sandwic. p. 38.
 20
30
cording to others, at fifty thousand talents The treasure .

of Pasargadse is stated at 6000, of Persepolis at 120,000

talents and upon the whole, according to the account
;

preserved in Strabo, 180,000 talents are said to have been

31
collected from all 8000, which Darius
parts to Ecbatana ;

had with him, were taken by his murderers. The generosity

and profusion of Alexander are in accordance with such
enormous sums. The daily meals of this sovereign cost 100
minas he gave great rewards to his soldiers, and paid their
;

debts amounting to 9870 talents; he offered 100 talents

to Phocion, and presented 2000 to the Thessalians; the
funeral of Hephsestion is said to have cost 12,000 talents,
and Aristotle's researches into natural history 800 32 He .

levied in Asia an annual revenue of 30,000 talents, and

33
only left behind him a treasure of 50,000 . The riches

of his Satraps were also excessive ; Harpalus is said to

have amassed 50,000 although at Athens he only

talents,

owned to the possession of 950 34 Alexander's successors

.

not only accumulated enormous sums, but by means of

their wars set them again in circulation. The plates of
at Ecbatana were mostly
gold and silver in the palace
taken away in the time of Alexander: Antigonus and
Seleucus Nicator completed the robbery ; notwithstanding
which, Antiochus the Great was able to coin nearly 4000

*> Strab. XV. p. 502. Arrian. III. 3. Justin. XI. 14. Curt.
V. 2. Plutarch. Alex. 36.
Strab. ut sup. and others.
34
Concerning the debts of the soldiers and of Phocion, see
Plut. Alex. 70. Phoc. 18. the other statements are well known
from Rambach on Potter, vol. III. p. 186, 187.
Justin. XIII. 1. and the commentators.
M Diod. XVII. 108. Lives of the Ten Orators, p. 264. in the

Tubingen Plutarch.
 21

talents from the few ingots of gold which remained, those

of silver being more numerous, together with the gold
obtained from the chasing of the columns of a temple 35 .

The immense taxes which were raised in the kingdom of

Macedonia, and the unbounded extravagance and libe-

rality of the kings, are a proof that there must have

been an immense mass of money in circulation. The
presents made by the kings of this time to the Rho-
dians, when about the 140th Olympiad their town and
island were laid waste by an earthquake, are almost with-
out example 36 One festival of the Ptolemies did not cost
.

37
less than 2239 talents, 50 minas The expence which
.

they incurred for their naval force and other public objects
38
was extraordinary. states upon the authority of
Appian
officialdocuments, that the treasure of Ptolemy Phila-

delphus, the second king after Alexander, amounted to

740,000 talents, either Egyptian talents of 80 Roman
39
pounds, or the small Ptolemaic . If we take the former,
which were about equal to the Attic, it gives, in the money
of the present day, the enormous sum of ^l 78,868,333 ;
if they were the small talents, it amounts at least to a fourth

part of this number. An account of this kind appears fabu-

lous ; but I venture not to call its credibility into question.
Let it be remembered, that a great part of this treasure
was wrought silver and gold 40 that the revenues of the
;

Ptolemies were excessive, as the countries where their domi-

nion extended were completely drained ; the taxes and tri-

Polyb. X. 27.
35

* Polyb. V. 88, 89.

Athen. V. p. 203. B.
38
Hist. Rom. prooem. 10.
39 this point see the commentators of Pollux, IX. 86.
Upon
* Cf. e. g. Callixen. ap. Athen. V. p. 196203.
 22

butes were collected by the farmers of the revenue, with the

assistance of an armed force, consisting not of regular sol-
diers, but of organized bands of robbers. The revenues of
Coelesyria, Phoenicia, and Judaea together with Samaria,
were alonelet by Ptolemy Euergetes for 8000 talents and ;

if Jew purchased them, he had to pay a double amount,

a
and moreover to furnish into the royal treasury 41 the money
required for the redemption of the confiscated goods of
such persons as had not paid their taxes. In short, the

precious metals in the times of the Macedonian Empire

were spread in great abundance over the eastern shore of
the Mediterranean; and if there had not been so much
that was either wrought, or hoarded up in treasuries, their

value must have fallen far lower in comparison with other

commodities, than was actually the case.
The universal dominion of the Romans afterwards trans-

ported some part of the riches of the East to Italy, by whicli

Greece was impoverished: thither also flowed the silver

and the gold of western Europe. The golden stream-works

and gold mines of Italy were neglected in comparison with
those of France and Spain. The Po, and all the Alpine
torrents, carried down gold : there were extensive gold
mines in the territory of the Salassi, an Alpine nation. Not
farfrom Aquileia, gold, nearly in a state of purity, was
found depth of two feet, of the size of a bean or a
at the

lupine, of which only the eighth part went to dross, toge-

ther with other impurer metal, which was however pro-
vided in plenty by only digging to the depth of fifteen feet,
as Strabo and Polybius relate. The neighbouring coun-
tries were also possessed of gold-washings. In the reign
of Nero, SOlbs. of gold were for a considerable period

Joseph. Antiq. Jud. XII. 4.

*l
 23

extracted daily from the mines of Dalmatia. France

abounded in gold mines, of which some produced only a
thirtieth part of silver : it had also silver mines. The
mountains and rivers of Spain, as for example the Tajo,
contained much precious metal, and had been worked by
the Carthaginians before they fell into the hands of the
Romans. Private individuals gained in plentiful times an
Euboic talent of silver within three days and the silver ;

furnaces of New Carthage, which together with the mines

kept 40,000 men in employment, produced to the Roman
people 25,000 denarii per diem, or, as Polybius expresses

himself, 25,000 drachmas. Galloecia, Lusitania, and espe-

cially Asturia,produced for many years 20,0001bs. of

42
gold . The value of the precious metals did not however
fall proportion to their increase, as large quantities,
in

wrought for works of art, were taken out of circulation.

Coined metal, or money, is, as well as uncoined
(4.)

metal, a commodity and it is obvious that in the ancient

;

days of Greece, as well as in modern times, it would be an

If we exclude
object of trade with the money-changers.
the arbitrary value which individual states are able to give
to a particular kind of coin for the use of their own
citizens, the current value of money is determined by the
fineness of the standard : and upon this point, in reference

*
Every thing that is here said may be found in Strabo, in the
third, fourth, and fifth books, in Pliny in the thirteenth, and in
Diodorus in the fifth, particularly in chap. 27, and 36. Who-
ever wishes to obtain more precise information with regard to the
situations of the mines in ancient times, will find a satisfactory
account in Reitemeier's Treatise iiber den Bergbau der Alten.

I have only here incidentally mentioned the subject. Concerning

the Spanish mines, Bethe, de Hispaniae antiquae re metallica, ad
locum Strabonis lib. III. is worth referring to.
 24

to the Greeks, and to Athens in particular, I will only say

so much as appears necessary to make what follows intel-

ligible to the reader. In Attica, and in almost all the

Grecian states, and even out of Greece, the talent con-
tained 60 minas, the mina 100 drachmas, the drachma 6
oboli. At Athens the obolus was divided into 8 chalcus, and
the chalcus into 7 lepta. As far as the half obolus down-
wards, the Athenian money was generally coined in silver :

the dichalcon, or % obolus, either in silver or copper ; the

chalcus, and the smaller coins, only in copper. Upon a
single occasion, in the early times of the Republic, copper
was coined instead of silver, probably oboli, but they did
not long remain in circulation 43 . When in later writers, in
Lucian 44 for instance, we read of copper oboli, they should
not on any account be considered as ancient Athenian

money. Among the larger silver coins, the tetradrachms

are the most common, called also staters 45 . The value of
the Attic silver talent has been differently determined by
different writers, as they set out upon the weight and fine-

ness of different tetradrachms ; for all agree that the

early
coins are better than the more recent. According to the
46
enquiries of Barthelemy , which seem preferable to those
of Eckhel 47 , the ancient tetradrachms, coined in the flou-

rishing times of Athens, weigh 328 Paris grains (nearly

43 See chap. 6. near the end.

** Vol. I. p. 504. ed. Reiz.

According to Heron of Alexandria, who has been already

45

quoted by others. The same is evident from Hesych. in v.

yXav|, cf. in V. yAw? Axvgtanxett. Phot, in v. rritTtig, and Lex.
Seg. p. 253. in v. t*tTirett{, comp. Harpocrat. in the same word,
and lastly Lex. Seg. p. 307. in v.
46 Anachars. torn. VII. table XIV.

47 D. N. vol. I. p. xlv sqq.

 25

269 Troy about 67^ to a drachma), if we

grains, i. e.

reckon in four grains, which they might have lost by wear

in the course of so many centuries. The silver is nearly

pure, for Athens did not, like other states, alloy it with
lead or copper, on which account this money was particu-
48
larly valued, and every where exchanged with profit .

It appears however probable, that the average was not so

high as represented by Barthelemy, even without allowing
four grains for wear ; and that it is safer to take the Attic
drachma at65 Troy grains; which, as the shilling con-
tains about 80f grains of pure silver, is nearly equal
to 9|rf. of English coinage whence the mina amounts to
;

4 Oa. 6|d. and the talent to M1 13*. M a

It may
be moreover observed, that as the Romans reckoned in
sesterces, so the Greeks generally reckoned in drachmas ;

Xenoph. cle Vectig. 3. cf. Aristoph. Ran. 730736. Polyb.

XXII. 15, 26.
a
The translator has taken the liberty of deviating from the
author in adapting this calculation to English money, and has

preferred the data furnished by Mr. Knight in his Prolegomena

to Homer (. 56.) to the estimate of Barthelemy, which is fol-
lowed in the original. The statement referred to is this:
" Drachmae
jEgineticae, quas vidi conservatissimas, turn ipsius
^Eginae turn Thebarum, Tanagrae, Elidis, et Phocidis, granorum
xcv. plus minusve erant singulse; et didrachmae cxc.
quum
drachmae Athenarum et Alexandri Magnilxv.; didrachmae, quae
rarissimae, cxxx. sint." The ^Eginetan drachma contained ten,
the Attic six, oboli ; therefore their values are to one another in
a ratio of 20 to 12; the ratio of their weights (as stated by
Mr. Knight) is 19 to 13. This therefore is an additional reason
for not taking the average Attic drachma at more than 65 grains.
The author at first makes an allowance for seignorage, but after-
wards properly remarks, that we have no reason for supposing
that the Athenians imposed any.
 26'

and where a sum is mentioned in the Attic writers, with-

out any specification of the unit, drachmas are always
meant 49 .

Before the time of Solon, the weight of the Attic money

was greater than in the standard that was afterwards used.
The weights commonly employed in trade were also in
later times heavier than those
by which the money was
measured. Comparing these facts together, it may be
assumed with the greatest probability, that Solon intended
100 drachmas to be coined out of 75, but that the new
money proved much debased, so that
in fact rather too

100 new drachmas were only equal to 72l of the old

coinage the old weights being however retained for
;
every
50
thing except money In comparison with the heavy
.

drachma of JEgina (8gXM ^X*'*)* the Attic is called the

light drachma ($g*XfJ<y AETJTIJ); the former was equal to ten
Attic oboli ; so that the ^Eginetan talent
weighed rather
more than 10,000 Attic drachmas 51 . The Corinthian
52
talent was equal to the latter in value ; the Corinthians
however had staters or decalitras of ten JEginetan oboli in
53
weight 300 of which were consequently equal to the
,

Corinthian talent. The computation by litras was trans-

mitted from Corinth to Syracuse; therefore the Sicilian
litra, which was struck in silver, was equal to an .ZEginetan

49 Thus "SutMo-utt, %l*.nti, ^Kr^i^ntif &c. in the orators and else-

where. See Taylor ad Marm. Sandwic. p. 29, 30.
s See note (A) at the end of the book.
51
Pollux IX. 76, 86. and the commentators. Hesych. in
V. XewT5 and 7ra,%ucc $g%[ty.
54 Gell. Noct. Att. whether the words
I. 8. Ij rec*.ecirot are genuine
or interpolated: in the latter case they are a learned interpre-
tation.

Pollux IV. 175. IX. 81.

 27
54
obolus, according to the statement of Aristotle . Pro-

bably the Sicilian nummus was the same as the litra. The
accounts of Aristotle 55 , who only estimates the nummus
at 1 Attic oboli, and of Festus, who, according to the
same proportion, reckons twelve nummi to three denarii
(whereas the litra was equal to 1| Attic oboli), are perhaps
inaccurate, although they may come near the real value
of the coin, if, as is probable, the Syracusan nummi or

litras, of the same weight as the ./Eginetan oboli, were

struck from less fine silver than the Attic drachmas.

24 nummi of this kind composed, according to Aristotle,
the old, 12 the new Syracusan or Sicilian talent, which
last Festus makes equal to three denarii 56
According to .

our supposition therefore, the former was equal to four,

and the latter to two ^ginetan drachmas, both doubtless,
like the decalitron, being coined in silver. Why so small
a sum was called a talent, I shall not attempt to decide ;

remarking only, that by a similar idiom small golden

drachmas were called talents 57 .

The ancient writers frequently reckon in Euboic talents,/

which appear to have come into use in the Italian colonies
of Magna Graecia, chiefly on account of the spreading of

*4 Pollux IV. 174, 175. IX. 80, 81. cf. Salmas. de Modo
Usur. VI. p. 242.

Ap. Polluc. IX. 87.

55

s6 Pollux IX. 87. Suidas in v. rA*yT, where,

according to
the correct observation of Scaliger, iwppui should be read instead
of ftrav, as well as in the intricate passage of the Scholiast to

Gregor. Naz. which Jungermann quotes at the place in Pollux.

A small talent of this kind, probably only of 12 nummi, is that
which occurs in the account of the Gymnasia of the Tauromenitani
in d'Orville's Siculis, and in Castello the Prince of Torremuzza.
57 See chap. 5.
the Chalcideans, and which for that reason frequently occur
of the Romans with other nations, as well as
in the treaties

in Herodotus, who evidently composed or altered many

parts of his History after his migration to Thurii.
In addition to these values, it would be desirable, for
the sake of many statements of which we must avail our-

selves, to ascertain the amount of the Egyptian and Alex-

andrian talents ; but we here meet with obscure and con-
tradictory statements. The chief difficulty would be re-
moved were the difference between the Egyptian and Alex-
58
andrian talents ascertained. According to Varro , the
Egyptian talent was equal to 80 Roman pounds, and
therefore must have been absolutely or nearly identical
with the Attic, as the Attic mina was to the Roman pound
59
nearly as four to three . This must have been totally dif-

Ap. Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXIII. 15.

58

ss The Roman senate reckoned the Attic talent, or 60 minas,

as equal to 80 Roman pounds. Liv. XXXVIII. 38. Polyb. XXII.
26. According to the testimonies of the ancients in Eckhel,
D. N. vol. V. part II. p. 6. there were 84 denarii in the Roman
pound, and not the time of Nero, 96. (see Eisenschmid de
till

Pond, et Mens. p. 33.) but the old denarius of Augustus was to

the Attic drachma as 8 to 9; consequently 74|, or, in round
numbers, 75 drachmas, were equal to a Roman pound. We
sometimes read in ancient writers, that a Roman pound was
equal in weight to 84 drachmas, which is sufficiently accounted
for by the inexactitude of almost all ancient authors, who used

drachmas and denarii, on account of their small difference

(9 and 8) as convertible terms. According to Rome de 1'Isle's
accurate researches, founded upon the weighing of golden de-
narii, the Roman pound weighed 6048 Paris grains : hence the
Attic mina must have weighed 8064, whereas, if the tetradrachm
is taken at 328 Paris grains, the mina contained 8200. It must
however be remembered, that it was assumed that the tetra-
 29
60
ferent from the talent mentioned by Pollux which was
,

equal to 1500 Attic drachmas, but otherwise, like all

talents, was divided similarly to the Attic. This is cor-
roborated by the statement of Hiero, who only assigns a
fourth part of the value of the Attic talent to the Pto-

lemaic, which appears to have been the same as the

small Egyptian talent the very same authority, however,
:

reckons the Ptolemaic mina as the fifth part of the Mgi-

netan, which again does not agree ; not to mention, that,
in the confusion of language which prevailed at Alexan-
dria in later times, the name of drachma was given to coins
of the value of an Athenian obolus. But, according to
Festus 61 , whose text is so corrupt that no reliance can be
placed upon his authority, the Alexandrian talent was

equal to 12,000 denarii. The safest way, in my opinion,

drachm had lost four grains by time, which Rome de 1'Isle, in

computing the weight of the denarius, probably did not take into
account; and then it will be found, that the difference nearly
vanishes, and Rome de 1'Isle's enquiries concerning the Roman
pound agree tolerably well with the proportion of the latter to the
Attic mina as three to four. It is besides worthy of remark, that
Ideler's accurate determination of the Roman foot tallies remark-

,
ably with Rome de 1'Isle's determination of the pound. See
Memoirs of the Berlin Academy of Sciences for 1812 and 1813.
Thus perhaps the supposition that the tetradrachms had lost four
grains of their weight might be modified (see note a, p. 25.),
and on the other hand, some grains might be added to the
Roman pound over 6048. The supposition of some writers, that
the Romans had two different pounds, is entirely unfounded, at
least as far as money is concerned.
60
IX. 86. where the commentators should be consulted upon
what immediately follows.
61
In v. talentum, which passage however appears very uncer-
tain.
 30

is to consider the Alexandrian talent as something less

than the Attic, although there were at Alexandria many

other talents of less amount, which were used at certain
times and for certain purposes. For, according to the
assertion of
Appian, the Euboic talent was equal to 7000
Alexandrian drachmas 62 ; but the Euboic talent, as far as
I am
able to discover, was only somewhat greater than the
Attic ; consequently the Alexandrian talent appears to
have been to the Attic, nearly as six to seven. As to the
Euboic talent, Herodotus 63 , if the present reading is cor-
rect, reckons that the Babylonian talent contained 70 Eu-
64
boic minas, Pollux 7000 Attic drachmas Here then
.

the Attic and Euboic talents considered as equal.

are
65
According to ^lian on the contrary, the Babylonian
talent contained 72 Attic minas, a statement which is

evidently of more weight than the uncertain account of

Pollux ; and it thence follows, that the Euboic talent was
somewhat greater than the Attic. At the same time this

statement may not be mathematically accurate for ; ac-

cording to it the Attic talent is to the Euboic as 72H to

75 (70 to 72), agreeably to Herodotus' computation of the
Babylonian talent in Euboic minas. It is probable how-
ever, that Solon, when he wished so to change the Attic
money, 100
thatdrachmas should be coined from the same

quantity of silver as had formerly been made into 75, in-

tended to make the Attic silver talent
equal to the Eu-
boic,which had been for a long time in general circulation.
According to this supposition, the Euboic talent would,

61
Appian. Hist. Sicil. II. 2.
6a
III. 89.
* Pollux IX. 86.
* Hist. Var. I. 22.
 31

before the time of Solon, have been to the Attic talent in

the ratio of 75 to 100. Since however the money of Solon
proved actually to be to the ancient Attic money in the
ratio of 72H to 100, strictly speaking, the new Attic silver

talent must have been to the Euboic as 7211 to 75, that is,

as as, upon an average, the new Attic

70 to 72$r: but
was to the old Attic talent as 73 to 100 66 , in the same
manner might be assumed, that the proportion of the
it

new Attic Euboic was, in round numbers, as 73 to

to the

75, which nearly coincides with the ratio obtained from

Herodotus and .Elian, of 72M to 75, or 70 to 72. This
method of viewing the subject agrees so well in all its par-
ticulars, that it relieves me from the trouble of entering
into a more minute investigation of the confused and cor-

rupt passage of Festus upon the Euboic talent

67 On the .

other hand, the similarity of the Attic and Euboic talents

66
See note (A) at the end of the book.
Euboicum talentum nummo Graco septem millium et quin-
67

gentorum cistophororum est, nostro quattuor millia denariorum.

Both statements are false. As to the cistophori, they weigh on
an average 240 Paris grains, consequently they were less than
the ^Eginetan double-drachmas, and greater than the Corinthian
stater. Nevertheless it seems to me probable, that the cistophori
were regulated according to one of these two coins, a point which
cannot however be explicitly investigated in this place. The
weight of the cistophori stated above is not then perhaps suffici-
ently accurate. I
may remark here incidentally, that the ac-
count of the Etymologist in v. EvjSwxon vipta-pa,, which states it to
have been named from a place in Argos, where Pheidon first

coined gold, is fabulous, for the Euboic standard was too widely

spread to have derived its name from thence ; and if Pheidon

had been the author of it, the ./Eginetan standard could not have
been different from it. That Pheidon coined gold at all is also

unquestionably a fable.
 32

seems to be additionally confirmed by the circumstance,

that, in the negociations between the Romans and Anti-

ochus, the calculations were at first made in Euboic, and

afterwards in Attic talents of 80 Roman pounds 68 : for it

is probable, that nearly the same standard of money was

retained, as the whole amount might have been diminished,
and was in fact diminished, by demanding a less number of
talents than before.

The value of gold is more variable than that of

(5.)

silver,which therefore may be considered as a standard of

69
price for gold as well as for other commodities In Eu- .

ropean Greece there were many gold coins in circulation,

and more especially belonging to foreign states, of which I
will now
only mention the most important. Gold, and
was 70
probably silver, first coined in Lydia , in which
country Croesus caused the stater called by his name to
be coined, at a time when Greece was extremely poor in

gold. If Polycrates of Samos really deceived the Spartans

with false gold coins about the 60th Olympiad, which He-
rodotus 71 indeed considered an idle tale, the Greeks at
that time could have seen but
coined gold ; for little

even the Lacedaemonians would not have been deceived

by so clumsy a fraud. Soon after that period, Darius

the son of Hystaspes coined darics of the finest gold 72,
which passed over into the circulation of Greece. Their

68
Compare Polyb. XXI. 14. Liv. XXXVII. 45. with Polyb.
XXII. 26. Liv. XXXVIII. 38.
69 It is upon this notion that Xenophon's encomium upon
silver (de Vectig. 4.) is evidently founded.
'
Herod. I. 94.
* Herod. III. 56.
?a
Herod. IV. 166. It may be also observed, that there were
silver darics. Plutarch. Cim. 10.
 33

weight, which Philip of Macedon, Alexander, and Lysi-

machus retained, was equal to two Attic drachmas, both
according to the testimonies of writers who make them the
same as the Attic golden stater, and the ascertained weight
of coins now extant 73
; whence their value is fixed by the
grammarians at twenty silver drachmas, and five are rec-
koned to a mina, and 300 to a talent 74 according to the ,

ratio of gold to silver as 10 to I.- That the Athenian

golden stater also weighed two drachmas, and was esti-

mated at twenty silver drachmas, is

proved by good au-
thorities 75 according : 5000 staters are in
to this value,

the calculation of Conon's property in Lysias computed at

about 100,000 drachmas 76 But as no undoubted Attic
.

stater has been preserved to our days Eckhel has ques- ^

tioned the fact of it's ever having been coined 78 ; not only
however does Pollux 79 enumerate the golden stater among

Harpocr. in v. Aage^oj, and thence Suidas, Schol. Aristoph.

73

Ecclesiaz. 598. Lex. Seg. p. 237. Comp. Barthelemy Mem. de

1' Academic des Inscript. vol. XLVII. p. 201, 202. Eckhel. D. N.
vol. I.
p. XLI.
Harpocr. Schol. Aristoph. and Lex. Seg. ut sup. Xenoph.
74

Anab. I. 8. 14. Harpocration also states in this passage, that

the Attic Chrysus was equal to 20 drachmas.
Polemarch. ap. Hesych. Poll. IV. 173.
76
Lysias pro Aristoph. bonis p. 639. ed. Reiske. The pro-
perty of Conon amounted, according to this passage, to about 40
talents ; and it consisted of 5000 staters, and three other sums
of 10,000 drachmas, 3 talents, and 17 talents. If the 5000
staters are reckoned at 100,000 drachmas, the sum is equal to
384j talents, which agrees perfectly with the expression, " about
40 talents."
77 See Barthelemy ut sup. p. 206.
78 D. N. vol. I. p. XLI sqq. vol. II. p. 206, 207.
79
Poll. IX. 58. [The following passage of Aristophanes ap-
VOL. I. D
 34

coins upon the authority of Eupolis, but we know with cer-

tainty that gold coins were issued at Athens, and more espe-
cially in the Archonship of Antigenes, one year before the
Frogs of Aristophanes (Olymp. 93. 2.) that money was
coined from the golden statues of Victory, which Aristopha-
nes, as they were much debased with copper, calls wretched
80
pieces of copper . The most common golden staters, be-
sides those of Croesus, Attica, and Persia, were the Pho-
caic and Cyzicenic, which have likewise been falsely taken
for imaginary coins by writers on ancient money. The
probable reason why none are extant, is, that the Mace-
donian kings supplanted all the gold coins of the cities by

melting them down, in order that, with the exception of

the darics, there should be no gold coin which did not
bear their image. The Phocaic stater occurs, both in
81
inscriptions and in writers, as coined
money ; nor can it

pears decisive. It is from the Plutus (v. 816.) where Carion is

describing the sudden increase of wealth caused by the arrival of

the god of riches : fretrti^a-i 5* tl 6ij>ct7roiTig dgrteifyfiti xgvruf.]
80
Aristoph. Ran. 731. and the scholiast upon the authority of
Philochorus, and Suidas in v. ^aXic/or. Suidas in v. yXti| 'tirrtneu,

and Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1091. state, that the Attic gold coins
had the device of the owl. This may be very true; but the
passages can prove nothing, as in the same writer, as well as in
Hesychius in v. Aavptet, the mines of Laurion are taken for gold
mines, and consequently the owls of Laurion for gold coins,
whereas they are silver coins. See my Essay upon the Silver
Mines of Laurion, in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for

1815.
81
2TTg Quiutiis Demosth. in Boeot. de dote, p. 1019. 15.

*>TIS Thucyd. IV. 52. Two Phocaic staters as a sacred

offering in Inscript. 150. (t. I. p. 231. ed. Boeckh.) placed toge-
ther with other Phocaic coins, can no more be unstamped or
imaginary coins, than the ./Eginetan stater in the same Inscrip-
 35

be supposed, that silver pieces are meant, as the idea of a

gold coin is
inseparably associated with the name of Pho-
caic stater. Its weight is unknown ; it
passed however as
82
the least valuable gold coin .
Also, that the Cyzicenic
staters were coined money, is proved from many passages
of ancient writers. In the oration of Demosthenes against
Lacritus, a hundred Cyzicenic staters are expressly men-
83
tioned as coinedmoney . The same orator says of Mei-
dias, that he had stolen more than five talents in Cyzicenic
staters from the funds of the Paralos 84 , where impos- it is

sible thathe can mean an imaginary coin. Lysias reckons

among his ready money 400 Cyzicenic staters, with 100

darics and three talents of silver ; and, according to another

passage in the same orator, 30 Cyzicenic staters were actu-

85
ally paid down The troops in the Pontus, according to
.

the account given in the Anabasis of Xenophon, were

sometimes paid in Cyzicenic staters, and at other times in

tion, the false staters in Inscript. 151. (ibid.), and the tetra-
drachm in Inscript. 139.
82
Hesych. in v. Quxiu'f, calls this TO Kttxi<rrv #gtr/x, whether
staters or parts of staters (perhaps W 4>Aix?2$, as in Inscript.
150. (ut sup.) are meant. Concerning the Phocaic stater as a
coin, see also Pollux IX. 93.
81 P. 935. 13. ar< iiMBToy OTTges KI>MJV^ TngtytwuTo, xeti rovro
TO JB{*W*f Stdaiwxas tin, &c. Xgumv and gyvg/oi in the ancient
writers always mean small, that is, coined or wrought, gold and
silver.
84 In Mid. 570. 15. on
p. TV? ftlv U&^ciXov recftnva-etf K.vfyxwav
q7rei<n Trtelu % ir'mt TAT#. [The author corrects himself in the

Addenda, and mentions that the meaning of this passage is not

" that Meidias stole more than five talents in Cyzicenics, but
that he stole more than five talents from the Cyzicenians, as is

properly remarked by Ulpian."]

85 In
Eratosth. p. 391. in Diogit. p. 894 sqq. cf. p. 903.
 36

darics ; these staters are also mentioned as coins in several

inscriptions. Hesychius, Suidas, and Photius, also describe

the impression of the Cyzicenic stater, which upon one side
was a female figure of the mother of the gods, who was
worshipped at Sipylus, and upon the reverse, the forepart
of a lion ; and can it be supposed, that by this any other

Cyzicenic stater than the common gold one is meant ?

86
Lastly, Demosthenes remarks, that 120 Cyzicenic staters

passed in the Bosporus for 3360 Attic drachmas, one

for twenty-eight probably not because their weight was
;

greater than two drachmas, but because the value of gold

was then higher in that country, being to silver in the
ratio of 14 to 1. Each gold
probably weighed about
stater

two drachmas. Lysimachus and others, however, coined

double and quadruple staters 87 ; and there were also half
88 89
pieces of the same coin (ijjw-JXgyo'ix) Scaliger considers
.

the Damaretion to have been a half stater, which Damarete,

the wife of Gelon and the daughter of Theron, according
to Diodorus, caused to be coined about the 75th Olym-

piad from the crown of a hundred talents, that the Car-

thaginians presented to her at the conclusion of peace, or,
according to Pollux, from the ornaments of the women,
which they had surrendered to defray the expences of the
war with the Carthaginians 90 Other learned writers have
.

expressed their astonishment at this supposition ; but Sca-

liger's remark
is perfectly accurate; for the Damaretion

86
In Phorm. p. 914. 11. a 2$ Kvxi]$ I3JT Ixei t7x.ocrt xctt CKTU
and 1 3. T t& y Ixecraf xsti

i Eckhel D. N. vol. I. p. L.
88
Poll. VI. 161. IX. 59.
89 De re numm. p. 13, 17.
*> Diod. XI. 26. Poll. IX. 85. Schol. Find. Olymp. II. 29.
 37

was equal in value to ten Attic drachmas, and was thus

only half the common stater. The Sicilians called this
91
gold coin Pentecontalitron, from its weight , as Diodorus
asserts.Since however 50 Sicilian litras were equal to 13
drachmas 5^ oboli of the Attic standard, it is evident that
the weight in gold of the Damaretion cannot be meant

(which could only be a drachma), but the weight of silver

which in Sicily was equal in value to the Damaretion.
The Damaretion being equal to 10 Attic drachmas ac-
cording to the decuple proportion of gold to silver, the

Sicilians, among whom gold was probably higher, made it

equal to 50 silver litras, at the ratio of 131 to 1. Golden
92
^Eginetan staters likewise occur , but nothing is known of
their weight.
The meaning of the terms and mina, when applied
talent

to gold, has been frequently a subject of enquiry. Ac-

93
cording to Pollux , the gold stater was equal in value to a
a mina; a statement which seems wholly inexplicable, unless,
with Rambach 94 , we understand gold coins of eight or ten
drachmas in weight, which would certainly agree with the

value of a silver mina. But Pollux is speaking with parti-

cular reference to the common gold stater of two drachmas
in weight ; unless then he confuses the entire question, ac-

cording to some method or other of computing, a weight of

two drachmas of gold must have been called a mina. That
however, in speaking of gold, an entirely different language
must haveexisted, is probable from the circumstance that
95
the same grammarian in two other places calls three

Am rov
See Inscript. 150. . 43. torn. I. p. 231. ed. Boeckh.
IX. 57.'
On Potter vol. III. p. 169.
IV. 173. IX. 53, 54.
 38

Attic gold staters, or a chrysus, a talent of gold. The

reason which prevents me from the emendation
receiving
96
proposed by Salmasius is, that Pollux repeats the same

statement twice. I am therefore inclined to follow the

opinion of J. F. Gronov ^
that a weight of six drachmas
of gold was called a talent, according to an idiom customary

upon certain occasions, perhaps, as it has been conjectured,

because this was the value of a talent of copper, the ratio
of gold to copper being as 1000 to 1. This small gold
talent could only have contained three minus, each two
drachmas in weight. This supposition is completely esta-
blished by the fact of the talent of Thyateira being equal to
three gold staters 98 ; and Eustathius even calls two chrysus,
and Hero of Alexandria one chrysus, a talent. Probably
the goldsmiths reckoned by these small talents ; and when
we read of golden crowns of many talents in weight, this
smaller kind is doubtless intended. Who can believe that
the Carthaginians presented to Damarete a crown of a
hundred talents of gold", if a talent of gold were the
usual weight of the silver talent, or even only a portion of

gold equal in weight to the value of a silver talent? Are

we to suppose, that the inhabitants of the Chersonese
would have given a crown of 60 talents to the senate and

9* Instead of Tgtfj #gv (I") he writes i{ittxoriws or T', as 300

chrysus, according to the decuple proportion of gold to silver,
are equal to a talent of silver. If the text is to be altered,

r^a-^tevs might be written for ryus, from which the compendium

of the former word is not very different ;
3000 gold staters are

equal in weight to a talent.

* De Pec. Vet. III. 7.
* Lex. Seg. p. 306.
Diod. XI. 26.
 39
100
if the silver and gold talents
people of the Athenians ,

were of the same weight ? and how vast must the size of
such crowns have been ? And even if we suppose that 100
talents of gold were equal to 600 gold drachmas, and 60
talents of gold to 360 drachmas, these crowns still remain

of considerable weight. Excepting the crown of Jupiter

at Tarracona, 151bs. in weight, and that which the Car-
thaginians sent to the Capitoline Jupiter in the year of the
(1875 Attic drachmas), and the
city 412, of 251bs. of gold
immense one in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, of
10,000 gold staters (which, at a festival in the time of that
king, was laid upon the throne of Ptolemy Soter), together
with another, 80 cubits in length, of gold and precious

stones, I find no example of such large crowns as those

two were, even if they only weighed 600 and 360 drachmas.

In the Acropolis of Athens there were golden crowns of 17^,

18|, of 20, and 25 drachmas or rather more ; also another

of 26^ ; four of which the joint weight was 135^ drachmas ;
one of 29, others of 33, 59, and 85 drachmas. crown, A
which the celebrated Lysander sent as a sacred offering to
the Parthenon of Athens, weighed 66 drachmas 5 oboli.
Two crowns, honorary gifts to Minerva of the Acropolis,
weighed, the one 245 drachmas 1 oboli, the other 272
drachmas 3| oboli. Another for the same goddess weighed
232 drachmas 5 oboli. A crown, dedicated to the Delphian
Apollo at the great festival which was celebrated every
fourth year, cost only 1500 drachmas of silver; and con-

sequently, if the workmanship is estimated at the lowest

100
Demosth. de Corona p. 256. 25. Concerning the crown
at Tarracona, see Suetonius in the Life of Galba cap. 12. the
gift of the Carthaginians to the Capitoline Jupiter Liv. VII. 38.
Concerning the crown of Ptolemy see Athen. V. p. 202. B. D.
 40

possible rate, can hardly have weighed a hundred drachmas

of gold m .
According to these facts then, the talents in
which the weight of the Carthaginian and Chersonetan
crowns is stated, must have been small talents of six

drachmas of gold. Yet there can be no question but that

as much gold as was equal to the value of a silver talent, is
often called a talent of gold; as also that a quantity of

gold weighing 6000 drachmas was known by the same

name; which therefore in this case is manifestly inde-
102
pendent of any relation to the value of silver .

(6.) The usual price of gold can be as well determined

from the data already cited, as from other authorities.
The most frequent proportion in ancient times appears to
have been that of ten to one, as follows from what has been
said concerning the stater which weighed two drachmas ;

and although the lowness of this ratio does at first sight

appear surprising, when we consider the scarcity of gold
in early times, it must be remembered that the
quantity
103
of silver in circulation was very inconsiderable . The
101
Inscript. 150. . 13. 141. . 11. and 139. 1. 20. 141. .
15,
20. 150. . 16. 141. . 10. 139. 1. 21, 22. 150. .
14, 15, 12.
also 150. .
40, 10. 151. 1. 28, 29. and 145. ed. Boeckh.
109
Herod. III. 95. Menand. ap. Poll. VI. 76. Polyb. XXII.
15. the latter concerning the mina. The confused passage of
Suidas in v. eA5, and of Photius, quoted there by Kiister,
cannot be taken into consideration in reference to the value of
the gold talent.
103
Compare on the subject of this proportion, J. F.
also-,

Gronov. de Pec. Vet. II. 8. the same proportion is given by

Hesychius in v. Jga^pi ^vnov, according to the correct emenda-

tion proposed in the notes, and Suidas in v. fyetxftn. In some

regions of the East, gold was certainly cheaper : thus Strabo, in

the 16th book, speaks of a country near the Sabaei, where gold had

only twice the value of silver, and three times the value of brass.
 41

price of gold however gradually rose, partly on account of

the proportionally greater increase of silver, until it arrived
at ratios similar to those of modern Europe (from 13^ to 1
to 15 to 1), although these experienced occasional variations.
When we find so late as in Menander I0 * a
talent of gold
reckoned only equal to ten talents of silver, the price of

gold at Athens must either have been depressed at that

time by Alexander's campaigns in Asia, which opened
the treasures of Persia to the Greeks, or Menander follows
the original proportion, which remained in his memory
after it had ceased to be actually in force, as it afforded

a particularly easy calculation. In the Dialogue upon

the desire of gain 105 , which formerly, under the name
of Hipparchus, passed for the production of Plato, and
which certainly belongs to the age of Socrates and Plato,
the value of gold is stated at twelve times that of sil-

ver; Herodotus however reckons the proportion as thir-

teen to one 106 ; according to the former the chrysus was

equal to 24, according to the latter to 26, drachmas of

silver. To conclude from the value of the Damaretion,
the proportion of gold to silver in Sicily had risen to 13|,

although Diodorus, following the ancient custom, esti-

mates the silver value of the Damaretion at the ratio of

ten to one. There cannot therefore be much risk of error

in assuming that the Cyzicenic stater only weighed two

drachmas of gold, but that at a certain period during the
life of Demosthenes, it passed in the Bosporus for 28

drachmas of silver, the value of gold in comparison with

silver having risen to 14. The price of gold at Rome

'<* Poll. VI. 76.

Ap.
"* P. 40 of my edition.
'
III. 95.
 42

was still more variable. At the payment of the

in the year of the city 564, when they were allowed, if

they wished it, to pay a third part in gold, the proportion

between the two metals was prescribed to them (mani-
107 .
festly to their great disadvantage) at ten to one In
the year of Rome
547, the ratio of gold to silver was as
I?T to 1, afterwards as 13* to 1. In the time of Caesar,
on account of the great influx of gold out of Gaul, it fell
as low as 8ri; as at a former period, according to the account
of Polybius, its
price had fallen for a time in Italy a third

part, in consequence of the rapid increase in the quantity

of gold from the mines of Aquileia 108 . We
also find the

ratio of lire to 1 ; and in the 422d year of the Christian

109
era, the ratio of gold to silver had risen to 18 .

The the price of gold in Greece may have been

rise in

owing to other causes than the increase in the quantity of

silver in circulation The increasing consumption of gold for
.

ornaments, utensils, and works of art, especially for sacred

offerings, would also have contributed to produce that
effect. The greater activity of commerce must also have
forced up the price of gold ; for, from the want of bills of

exchange, much ready money was necessarily carried from

one place to another, for which purpose gold was the most
convenient. The pay of the troops was given out in gold.
The military chests therefore required a considerable store,
and the demand for gold must have been very considerable
during the continual wars. Probably much coined gold
passed out of circulation by being accumulated in public

w Polyb. XXII. 15. Liv. XXXVIII. 11.

108
Sueton. Caes. 54. Polyb. XXXIV. 10.
109
Upon the price of gold at Rome, see Hamberger de pretiis
rerum p.
7 sqq.
 43

and private treasuries. Sparta, during a period of several

generations, swallowed up large quantities of the precious
metals, as in M sop's fable the footsteps of the animals
which went in were to be seen, but never of those which
came out no . The principal cause of this stagnation pro-
bably was, that the State kept the gold and silver in store,

and only reissued them for war and foreign enterprizes 111 ;
although there were instances of private individuals, who
amassed treasure contrary to the law. Lysander sent
home a thousand, or, according to Diodorus, 1500 talents,
112
470 at one time . Must we
not then suppose that the

Spartans stored up large quantities of gold, especially as

it was generally used for the payment of the soldiers 113 ?
Besides the pure silver and gold, many Grecian States
had a coinage, which in other countries was either wholly
or nearly devoid of value, and was only destined for the

110
Plat. Alcib. 2. p. 122. ad fin.
111
See book IV. 19.
112
Plutarch, in Nic. 28. Lysand. 1618. Diod, XIII. 106.
who however probably exaggerates, if we are to suppose that this
whole sum was sent at once to Sparta after the conquest of
Sestos. For the latter fact of the 470 talents, see Xenoph.
Hellen. III. 2. 6.
113
According to Plutarch, most of what Lysander sent was
stamped with the device of an owl ; he then adds as a conjec-
tural reason, that most money had the Attic device. On the
other hand, Corsini Fast. Att. vol. II. p. 235. may be consulted :

only Plutarch's words are not to be altered, but his state-

ment is either false, or the money which Lysander brought
home had not been raised from Athens, but from other States,
where Athenian coins were in circulation. Upon the whole,
most of the silver which was in circulation had been probably
issued from the Athenian mint; and this perhaps is what Plu-
tarch means to say.
 44

internal circulation (vo/xo-ju,a Of this description

kir^w^ov).
were all
copper and iron coins, the current value of which
was raised by public ordinance far above its proper amount.
In Athens, with the exception of the smallest coins, no

money of this description was ever used, excepting that in

the Archonship of Callias (Olymp. 93. 3.) a copper coinage

was issued, which was afterwards recalled 114 , and some
other instances occurred in the times of the Roman em-
perors. Concerning the prices of copper, tin, and iron in
Greece, I have been unable to find any definite statement.
With regard to lead, the author of the second book of the
(Economics ascribed to Aristotle, relates that it was gene-
rally sold for two drachmas, but that Pythocles counselled
the State to obtain the monopoly of this native product of
the mines of Laurion, and to sell it for six drachmas.
The weight is not mentioned, but the commercial talent

(TAVTOV lj,7rogixov)
is doubtless intended. If we assume
that the commercial talent is the talent that was in use
before the time of Solon, it is
equal in weight to 8280
drachmas of the silver standard, about 931bs. troy ; which
therefore commonly sold for nearly Is. Qd. and after the
proposal of Pythocles for about 4>s. 5d. In Rome a hun-
dred Ibs. of common lead, which were only equal to 7500
115
drachmas, sold for seven denarii ; consequently the price
was higher than the rate demanded by the Athenian State.
(7.) Next to the quantity of
money in circulation, prices
depend upon demand
the in comparison with the supply ;

and as the demand is determined by the number of the

114
See book IV. 19.
115
Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXIV. 48. I have said, that the lead
of Attica came from the mines of Laurion;
the proof of this
assertion given in my Essay upon these mines, in the Trans-
is

actions of the Berl. Acad. of Sciences.

 45

of the population.
people, it will be necessary to treat
The area of Attica is not easily determined, for only the
coasts have been laid down, and not even these with per-
fect accuracy. According to the map of Barbie du Bocage,
116
which is attached to the Travels of Anacharsis ,
Attica
contains 36U, Salamis 1H 5 Helena & German geographical
square miles, i. e.
respectively 579, 21, and 5, together
nearly 606, English geographical square miles. According
to the map since published by the same person in 1811 117 ,
which is hitherto the most accurate, Attica contains 39rs,
Salamis II, and Helena &, square miles, or in English miles,
625, 26, and 5, amounting altogether to 656. If then we
take the English geographical mile to the statute mile as
4 to 3, the area of Attica and the two islands would upon
this computation be about 874 square miles.
To ascertain how this small space was peopled, has en-
gaged the attention of many writers. The early scholars
not only assert in general terms that Attica was the most
118
, but
populous of all the Grecian States they also have
given definite accounts which establish the same result. The
credibility of these statements
has been indeed called into

question by Montesquieu
119
,
Hume 12
, and other English

and French writers, but has been not unsuccessfully de-

116
L'Attique, la Megaride, et partie de 1'Isle d'Eubee, 1785.
117 Carte generate de la Grece et d'une grande partie de ses
colonies tant en Europe qu'en Asie, pour le voyage du jeune

Anacharse, par J. D. Barbie du Bocage commencee en 1798.

terminee en 1809. Paris 1811. The calculation of the area
, after this map has been made for me with great accuracy by
Mr. Kloeden, who is well known as skilled in this point.
118
Meursius de F. A. IV. p. 24.
"9 des Lois XXXIII. 7.
Esprit
120
Essay upon the Populousness of Ancient Nations p. 237 sqq.
 46

fended by others. Of the latter I will mention only

Ste. Croix ; who with the assistance of his predecessors

has treated last and the most at large of this important

121
subject , and has also taken into consideration the cir-
cumstances which at certain produced an in-
periods
crease or diminution in the population; to these how-
ever in the following enquiry I shall pay no attention,

partly on account of the want of adequate authorities,

partly because the object of this work does not admit of
my enquiries going so far into details ; nor will I animad-
vert upon the unimportant errors of this learned writer,
which have no influence upon the main point. I pass over
all
attempts to determine the population of Athens from
its military force, since the data, which in this case it
would be necessary to consider, are in a great measure too

general, without any exact distinction between the classes

of the citizens, slaves, and resident aliens, and also because
in every State the persons incapable of
bearing arms form
a considerable number ; on which account the native mili-

tary force can only prove that a nation had not fewer
inhabitants than this or that definite number, but not

accurately how great the whole amount was.

The whole population of Attica would be known, if we
could separately ascertain the number of the Citizens,
Resident Aliens, and Slaves, together with their wives and
children. The largest part of the accounts extant are of
the number of the citizens ; but they differ widely accord-
ing to the difference of the periods, and the greater or less
accuracy of the statements; but that their number was
122
considerable, may be collected from Xenophon , who states

121
Memoires de 1'Academie des Inscriptions torn. XLVIII.
122
Mem. Socrat. III. 5. 2.
 47

that the Athenians were equal in number to all the Boeo-

tians ; is, the citizens of the one country to the citizens
that
of the other. All particular statements, with the excep-
tion of one only, which belongs to the most ancient times,
vary between twenty and thirty thousand. Philochorus
m
indeed related, that even in the reign of Cecrops 20,000
men had been enumerated, by which the writer probably
meant citizens ; but this however is
manifestly a fabulous
tradition, which probably belongs to a later census of the
citizens. The following account of Pollux is more worthy m
of attention. He states that each of the 360 old families,
which were included before the time of Cleisthenes in the

four ancient tribes, contained 30 persons, whence the fami-

lies were called
rgjaxa&e? ; from which it results that the
number of citizens was 10,800. If to this it is
objected
that a determinate number a case impossible, it
is in such

may be fairly answered, that at some one period, when

the constitution of the tribes was regulated, this number
was taken as an average, although it did not remain so.
In the same manner that the Romans called the captain a
centurion, even if he commanded 60 men, a family might
have been called a rgiaxaj, although it contained 50 or
more persons. That the number of the citizens amounted
to 30,000, was a customary assumption from the time of
the Persian to the end of the Peloponnesian war. Hero-
dotus supposes Aristagoras of Miletus to speak of 30,000
Athenians who had the right of voting .
Aristophanes
m

123
Ap. Schol. Find. Olymp. IX. 68. where the words rot rat
'A6ny<xi'u 3tjfA6v KXI TO Trades are
not opposed to one another, but
0{ (whole number of the people) is a more accurate expression.
124
VIII. 111.
125
V. 97.
 48

in the Ecclesiazusae 1M , which was written after the Anar-

chy, speaks even of more than 30,000 ; and the author of
the Axiochus m
states that the assembly in which the gene-

ralswere condemned after the victory of Arginusse, was

attended by a greater number than that just mentioned :

these accounts however are manifestly over-rated. Arista-

goras, to express himself with effect, would not fail to select

the highest number ; nor need the words of a comic poet be

taken so exactly ; and the author of the Axiochus probably
had seen no accurate returns of the population, which, after
the great defeats in Sicily, and a war carried on so long
with alternate success, would doubtless have shewn a very
different number. Even if we were to assume that in the

above enumerations of citizens who voted in the assembly,

many were comprised who had not properly any right of

voting, but who assumed that privilege unlawfully, still

we should never arrive at so high a number as 30,000,

especially since all the citizens, even on the

most important
affairs,never attended the assembly. The accounts which
are founded upon real enumerations are of a very different
character. On an occasion of a distribution of corn,
all other distributions, was made
which, like according to
the registers of the lexiarchs among the adult citizens of
18 years of age and upwards, a scrutiny was instituted
in the Archonship of Lysimachides (Olymp. 83. 4.) into
the genuineness of their birth (yvijtnoTi)?). There were
then found, according to Philochorus, only 14,240 genuine
Athenians ; and 4760, who had assumed the rights of citi-

zenship unjustly, were in consequence sold as slaves. Pre-

viously therefore there were 19,000 persons who passed for
citizens. The amount is
perhaps stated in too round a

126 127
Vs. 1124. Cap. 12.
 49

number to be considered as completely exact. Plutarch,

who probably only follows Philochorus, gives 14,040 as
genuine, assuming that 5000 were rejected
128 At the .

breaking out of the Peloponnesian war, besides 13,000

Hoplitae appointed for service in the field, there were also
16,000 others in Athens, who consisted of the oldest and
youngest and a certain number of resident
citizens
"

number of citizens must therefore at that

aliens 1 29 ; the

time have been higher. Whatever vacancies were caused

by war and not replaced by a fresh growth, were filled

up by the occasional creation of new citizens, as was

the case for example during the "Archonship of Euclid

(Olymp. 94. 2.). Thus in the first speech of Demo-

sthenes against Aristogeiton
13
,
we find the number of
citizens reckoned as nearly 20,000. Plato, in the Critias,
assumes the same amount for the most ancient times of

118 Schol.
Philochorus ap. Aristoph. Vesp. 716. Plutarch.
Pericl. 37. [The word in Plutarch is tirti6v<r<ti, for which Mr.
Clinton (F. H.
52, 390.) reads vm**6i(ra ; and in addition
p.
to the authorities which he quotes, see Photius in v. tQtnf, Bekk.

Anecd. p. 201. 17. and p. 439. 32. It appears that each borough
enquired into the genuineness of its own members ; and that those
who were rejected by the votes of the burghers (<iiro'fyiiQi<r6wTtf)

lost the rights of citizenship. they then appealed to the de-

It*

cision of a court of justice, and were a second time rejected, their

persons were sold, and their property confiscated.]

l
*Thucyd. II. 13.
130 P. 785. 24. The spuriousness of the second speech is ac-

knowledged by both ancients and moderns. Dionysius doubts

whether the first was the production of Demosthenes and in ;

Harpocration (in v.
fc*gi$) quoted with a suspicion of its
it is

authenticity. I leave this point undecided, but it certainly

belongs to that period. For the usage of oftv in the passage

referred to, see Hesych. Suid. Harpocr. and Phot, in v. pov.
VOL. ;r. E
 50

Athens, in which he has doubtless transferred the number

that was commonly computed in his own time to the
earliest periods of the State; and the modern Grecian
writers, as Libanius for instance, follow the same state-
ment 131 . An occurrence of the same period exactly coin-
cides with the statement in the speech of Demosthenes.
When Lycurgus divided the property of Diphilus amount-
ing to 160 talents, each citizen received 50 drachmas,
which gives 19,200 for their whole number. The assertion
that in the reign of Antipater (Olymp. 114. 2.) Athens
contained 21,000 citizens 133 , is inadmissible, as being taken
from a later enumeration ; and Diodorus 134 even goes so
far as suppose that there were 31,000, reckoning
to

83,000, instead of 12,000 as in Plutarch, who were de-

prived of the rights of citizenship, and he assumes 9000
as the surplus, agreeing in the latter point with Plutarch.
These 12,000 rejected citizens, some of whom had left the
135
country, were restored to their rights in Olymp. 115. 3.
Soon after this an enumeration of the people occurs, which
is the
very one to which the number mentioned in Plutarch
of the citizens who remained and were disfranchised in

w See Meursius de F. A. IV. According to the

interpreta-
tion of the Scholiast, the same number of citizens may be in-
ferred from Aristoph. Vesp. 707. it is not however distinctly

expressed in the words of Aristophanes.

119 Lives of the Ten Orators near the end of the Life
of Ly-

curgus. The addition, as TJ

(Mi, does not deserve any atten-
tion.

Plutarch. Phoc. 28.

'* XVIII. 18. It appears to me that the passage ought by

no means to be altered, as Diodorus so frequently exaggerates

numbers.
'
Diod. XVIII. 66.
 Si

the reign of Antipater, was adapted. It was carried on

by Demetrius Phalereus when Archon in Olymp. 117.
4. 136 and 137
yielded, according to Ctesicles , 21,000 citizens,

10,000 resident aliens, and 400,000 slaves. From this

very important statement the whole number of the popula-

tion of Attica has been variously determined. According
to the usual rule of Statistics, the adults have been
generally taken as a fourth part of the population. This
gave for the citizens 84,000, and for the aliens 40,000. But
when they came to the slaves, these calculators fell into an
embarrassment ; for, according to the same or a somewhat
lower proportion, their number came out far above what
could be deemed probable. Hume, wishing to shew
that the population of ancient times has been greatly over-

rated, contends with many reasons against this number

of slaves, and ends by substituting 40,000 in the place of
400,000, whom he considers as the adults, to which it
would be then necessary to add the women and children.
But his arguments are partly inconclusive, and partly
founded upon false suppositions. Thus all that he says
concerning the national wealth of Attica, that it was
only
equal to 6000 talents, is completely false ; and, in the next
place, slaves were not computed by adults or fathers of fa-
milies, which is a, term wholly inapplicable to slaves ; but
they were counted, like sheep or cattle, by the head, and
were regarded in the same light with property, as Gillies 138

156 This is the right date which Ste. Croix has given, p. 64.

Ap. Athen. VI. p. 272. B.

'

Essays on the History, Customs, and Character of the

138

Greeks, p. 15. of the German translation of Macher. This

translation exceeds its original, which is really difficult, in mean-
ness and vulgarity.
 88

has already observed, for they were in the strictest sense a

personal possession. 400,000 is therefore the sum total of

the slaves ; and the population of Attica would amount,
on this supposition, to 524,000 souls. Wallace's com-
putation is
higher, for he makes the whole population
amount to more than 580,000, and Sainte Croix goes as far
as 639,500. The latter writer erroneously adds 100,000
children to the number of slaves, and likewise 4 and not 4
for every male adult or father of a family, so that the free
as well as the slave population is made more numerous. As
however appears to be more correct for
this proportion

southern countries, the citizens with their families may be

fairly taken at 94,500, and the resident aliens at 45,000.

In order however not to proceed solely upon the period of
Demetrius, but upon the mean average of 20,000 citizens,
I reckon only 90,000 free inhabitants, and 45,000 resident
aliens. With regard to the total amount of slaves, it is

stated too much in round numbers for perfect accuracy ; the

historian doubtless added whatever was wanting to com-
plete the last hundred thousand, although the correct
number might not have been so great by several thousands.

It will be reckon 365,000 slaves together with

sufficient to

women and children, which latter however were propor-

Adding to these 135,000 free inhabitants, we
tionally few.

may mean average of the population 500,000

take as a
in round numbers of whom the larger proportion were
;

men. since fewer female than male slaves were kept, and
not many slaves were married.
The proportion of the free inhabitants to the slaves can
be consequently taken as 27 to 100, or nearly as one to
four. In the American sugar plantations it was as much
as one to six. This number of slaves cannot appear too
large, if the political circumstances of Attica are taken
 53

into consideration. Even the poorer citizens used to have

a slave 139 for the care of their household affairs. In every
moderate establishment many were employed for all pos-
sible occupations, such as grinders, bakers, cooks, tailors,

errand-boys, or to accompany the master and mistress,

who seldom went out without an attendant. Any one
who was expensive and wished to attract attention, took

perhaps three attendants with him

14 . We even hear of
philosophers who kept ten slaves 141 . Slaves were also let
out as hired servants ; they performed all the labour con-
nected with the care of cattle, and agriculture ; they were

employed in the working of the mines and furnaces ; all

manual labour and the lower branches of trade were
in a great measure carried on by them ; large gangs
laboured in the numerous workshops, for which Athens
was celebrated ; and a considerable number were em-
ployed in the merchant vessels and the
fleet. Not to
enumerate many instances of persons who had a smaller
number of slaves, Timarchus kept in his
workshop eleven
or twelve 142 ; Demosthenes' father 52 or 53, besides the
female slaves in his house 143 ; Lysias and Polemarchus
120 144
Plato expressly remarks that the free inhabit-
*.

ants had frequently 50 slaves, and the rich even more 14 5;

Philemonides had 300, Hipponicus 600, Nicias 1000 slaves

139
See for example the beginning of the Plutus of Aristo-
phanes.
l
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 958. 14.
'' Ste.
Croix, p. 172.
'* jEschin. in Timarch. p. 1 ] 8.

Demosth. Aphob. A. 816. 828.

'
in p. cf. p. 1.

144
Lysias in Eratosth. p. 396.
'
De Republ. IX. p. 578. D. E.
 54

mines alone 146 These

in the . factsprove the existence of
an immense number of slaves. But Hume raises an objec-
tion out of 147
Xenophon. Xenophon proposed to the State
to buy and particularly men-
public slaves for the mines,
tions how large revenue the State would receive from them,
a
if it had 10,000 to begin with, remarking at the same time,
" that the mines are able to receive times this num- many
ber, every body will allow, who remembers how much the
slave-duty produced before the occurrences at Deeelea.""
From this statement Hume infers that the number cannot
have been so excessive, for that the diminution by the war
of Decelea only amounted to 20,000 148 and the increase ,

of 10,000 does not stand in any considerable proportion to

so large a number as 400,000. It must however be con-

sidered that after the war of Decelea the Athenians pro-

bably ceased to keep many slaves on account of the
facility
of escape, and that a number than ran away,
still greater
may have been dismissed.
Xenophon himself says that
the number had been very great formerly, and he means
that their numbers before the war of Decelea prove that
the mines, of which alone he is
speaking, could afford
employment to many times 10,000. At the same time I
will not deny that the passage has a very strange appear-
ance, and is obscured by manifold difficulties ; but this is
the very reason why we should avoid founding any argu-
b
ment upon it . There are two other statements, equally

146
Xenoph. de Vectig. 4.
117 Ut sup.
'*
Thucyd. VII. 27.
b
An
important statement contained in a fragment of Hy-
perides with regard to the slave-population, which has been
overlooked by the author, is quoted by Mr. Clinton from Suidas
in v. ttirvfaqiwr* (F. H. p. 391.); where it is mentioned that the
called into question by Hume, which are far more in-

comprehensible, viz. of Timaeus, that Corinth once had

possessed 460,000, and of Aristotle, that jEgina had

contained 470,000 slaves 149 . Nevertheless the numbers
do not appear to be corrupt. That the Corinthians kept
a very large number of proved by the expression
slaves is

Choenix-measurers (^ovxoju.eTg<) by which they were dis-

tinguished, nor is it possible that 2Egina before and during

the Persian war up to the time of its decline could have

been a great commercial town, and have had an extensive

naval force, without a large population, and above all

many slaves. Its naval dominion, powerful resist- and its

ance against Athens are incompatible with a small popula-

tion. Why then may we not suppose that 470,000 slaves

slaves employed in the silver mines and in country labour were

more than 150,000.
'
Athen. VI. p.272. B. D. Schol. Find. Olymp. VIII. 30.
c
The size of vEgina which is supposed in the text, was
estimated according to the deceitful representation which is given
of it in the common maps of Greece. In the mean time a
learned pupil of the author, who is at present occupied about
a history of that island, has more accurately determined the
area from Cell's map of Argolis at nearly two square miles

(forty-two square miles English), whence the possibility of a

large population is increased, and the number of slaves is less

striking; especially if we assume,

probable, that jEgina
as is

had possessions in early times

upon the coast of Argolis.
The person alluded to in this note, which is given from the
Addenda, is the celebrated C. O. Miillef, who published his
^Eginetica in 1817, from which work the following words are
extracted (p. 5. note). " Sed
major fides deberi videtur de-
scriptioni Gellii Angli Argol. Ib. 28. ubi ambitus #g/5 rov xarec-
xekTrtirctt et decem stadiorum est, spatium vero, quod
ducentorum
complectitur, exacte computatum, stadiorum quadratorum 3164."
See also pp. 128, 129.
 56

lived upon this small district, being only a German square

mile ; there still remained sufficient space, as slaves never

occupied much room. ^Egina received supplies from the

countriesupon the Black Sea, as well as the Peloponnese 150 ,
and particularly from Corinth. In the mean time it is

hardly necessary to remark that this large population of

Corinth and Mgma. must only be understood of the early
times, before Athens had obtained possession of the com-
merce of Greece and the sovereignty of the sea.
In what mariner this population of 500,000 souls in
Attica was distributed, cannot be accurately determined.
Athens itself contained above 10,000 houses. In general
only one family lived in a house, and fourteen free in-
habitants were at that time a large number for one house

or for one family ^l. Lodging houses (<ruvojx/aj) were how-

ever inhabited by several families, and manufactories con-
tained many hundreds of slaves. The district of the
mines must also have been very thickly peopled. The
circumference of the city together with the sea-ports was

equal to 200 stadii. The mines were in a space 60 stadii

in width the other dimension is not known.
: If 180,000

persons are reckoned for the city and harbours, and

20,000 for the mines, and the space for both taken at
32 square miles English, the number assumed would
not be too high. There then remain 300,000 souls for the
other 608 square miles, which gives something less than

493^ to a square mile, which with the number of small

towns or market-places, villages, and farms that were in
Attica, is not to be wondered at. Now this population

necessarily required a large supply of provisions. It should

'5 Herod. VII. 147. and thence Polyaenus in the Strategics.

''
Xenoph. Soc. Mem. II. 7. 2.
 57

however be borne in mind, that slaves were badly fed,

and above all, that corn alone was requisite for their
sustenance. How
large a quantity of corn was required,
and how the necessary supplies could be procured, I shall
endeavour to determine presently.
All commodities which are necessary for the pur-
(8.)

poses of life, are procured either by the domestic produc-

tion and manufacture of the raw material, or by foreign

commerce. Attica was not so unsuited for agriculture as

is often supposed. The soil was indeed stony and uneven
in many places ; a great part was bare rock, where nothing
could be sown ; the less fertile soil however produced bar-
152 and wheat, the indeed with greater difficulty ;
latter
ley
and the mildness of the climate allowed all the more valuable
products of the earth to ripen the earliest, and to go out of
season the latest 153 .
Every of plant and animal sort

thrived in spite of the poverty of the soil 154 . Art also

undoubtedly performed its share ; for the ancients in all
concerns of common life were possessed of sound principles
founded oh experience ; and at so early a period as the time

of Socrates, writings were extant upon agriculture 155 .

Agriculture was in as gfeat estimation

among the Athe-
nians as with the Romans, we may judge from the
if

high encomiums of Xenophon and Aristotle 15 6. The latter

159
Thucyd. I. 2. where the commentators quote other passages
upon the sterility of the soil. See more particularly the Intro-
duction to Xenophon's Treatise on the Revenues.
153 ibid.
Xenoph.
** Plat. Grit. 110. E.
p.
155 See my Preface to the Dialogues of Simon the Socratic

Philosopher, p. XIX.
Xenoph. (Econ. 4 sqq. Aristot. Polit. VI. 4. and the first
158

book of the (Economics attributed to Aristotle, which at least

contains the principles of that philosopher.
 58

callsan agricultural people the most just; agriculture is

represented as that species of industry, which is most just

and conformable to nature ; the most just because it does
not gain from men, either according to their wills, as in

paid labour and commerce, or against their wills, as in

war; the most agreeable to nature, because every thing
receives nourishment from its mother, and the earth is the
mother of men. The ancients also esteemed agriculture,
because it made their bodies and minds strong and active,
and trained them for service in the field, whereas most
kinds of manufactures and commerce weakened and ener-
vated both. The opulent, however, only occupied themselves
with the superintendence ; and most of the manual labour
fell
upon the slaves, who were servants, and frequently also
stewards, and who unquestionably lessened the expences of
cultivation, whatever the moderns may advance against the

cheapness of slave labour. Thus the cultivator derived

sufficient support from his own farm, and in dear times the

agriculturists even grew unduly rich

]
57. The most con-
siderable produce was of wine, olives, figs, and honey;
wine was probably better in other places but the oil and
;

158
honey were particularly excellent , the latter especially
in the district of the mines 159 , and upon mount Hymettus.
The figs likewise were very much esteemed. Even now
the keeping of the bees is carried on to a considerable ex-
tent in Attica. The olive-trees make regular woods, and
the wine is considered wholesome 160 . For the protection of
this branch of industry, laws were enacted that these pro-

's' 1045. 12.

Orat. in Phsenipp. p.
ls8 Pseud- jEschin. Epist. 5.
1
9 Strab. IX. p. 275.
160
See Wheler, Chandler, and other travellers. Concerning
oil
comp. Meursius Fort. Att. chap. X.
 59

ducts should not be diminished, and that one person should

not be injured by another in raising them ; hence the ordi-
nances of Solon with regard to the keeping of bees 161 ;
hence no olive-tree could be rooted up, excepting that each

proprietor was allowed to destroy two in each year for pub-

lic festivals, or for his own use in the case of a death l62 .

Many of these products of the soil were exported, although,

163 Solon
according to Plutarch , prohibited all export of pro-
visions, as might be seen from the first Table of the Laws
of Solon ; but fortunately this writer afterwards contradicts
himself, when in another place he mentions the famous
prohibition to export figs as no more than probable 164 . The
exportation of oil said to have been permitted by
alone is

Solon, as Plutarch also remarks, and in this point his

testimony is confirmed by examples 165 As to the pro-
.

hibition of the export of figs, I am entirely convinced that

it did not exist in the times of which we have
any certain
knowledge. All that occurs in ancient writers this
upon
subject, only serves to explain the meaning of the term
sycophant. Plutarch himself ventures to adopt it at the
most for the very early times. If however the ancients
had possessed any account of such a law, that could be at
all
depended upon, they would not speak in so vague and

indefinite a manner concerning the origin of this appella-

161
Petit Leg. Att. V. 1.6.
J6a
Demosth. in Macart. p. 1074.
'* Solon. 24.
l6 *
De Curiositate, ad fin.

lfcs
Plutarch Solon. 2. where Plato is said to carry on a trade in
oil ; and although it refers to later times, the law of Solon may
still have been in force in reference to such cases. Petit Leg.
Att. V. 5. 1. absurdly limits the permission to export oil to the
cruise filled with oil given to the victors in the Panathenaic games.
 60

tion. If a prohibition ever did exist, it

certainly was not
caused by the reason which is jocularly mentioned by
Hume 166 that the Athenians thought their figs too ex-
,

167
pensive" for foreign palates, although Athenaeus nearly
uses the same expression ; but the object of the measure
must have been to increase the quantity of figs in the
country, while they were as yet very scarce in the most
ancient times. This view of the case may be formed from
the scholiast upon Plato 168 , who dates the origin of the
name of- sycophant at a period when this fruit was first
discovered in Attica, and did not grow in any other country.
But the account is far more probable which states that

the sacred fig-trees were robbed of their fruit during a

famine, and that the wrath of the gods being felt in con-
sequence of this sacrilege, accusations were brought against
the suspected 169 In the same manner persons who in-
.

jured the sacred olive-trees might be subjected to heavy

penalties, of which Lysias in his defence concerning the
sacred olive-trees affords a remarkable instance. Here
then it would be impossible to understand a prohibition
of exportation, which can only exist with regard to articles

necessary for the consumption of the community, such for

example as corn. The keeping of cattle unquestionably
existed to a considerable extent :
sheep and goats were the
most numerous. From the latter animal one of the four

166
Ut sup. p. 81.
167 III. p. 74. E. where see Casaubon. The same writer treats
of the Sycophants ad Theophrast. Char. 23. cf. Ast ad Plat, de

Repub. p. 361. ed. 2. Petit Leg. Alt. V. 5. 2. does not give any
clear account of this point. To the passages quoted by earlier
writers Lex. Seg. p. 304. may also be added.
168
P. 147. Ruhnk. cf. Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 874.
16
Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 31.
 61

ancient tribes, JSgicoreis, took its name ; which from the

time of Cleisthenes remained only a borough ; of the former
there were many different breeds, and particularly of the
finest kinds 17In order to encourage the keeping of sheep,
.

it was forbidden in a law of extreme antiquity, to kill them

before they had lambed or been shorn 171 but this and :

similar regulations had been long abolished in the time of

Solon. Pigs were also kept, and of larger cattle, asses

and mules in tolerable quantities. Horses and horned

cattlewere evidently scarce in early times. Philochorus 172
mentions a very ancient law which prohibited the killing
of horned cattle; and the scarcity of horses is manifest
from the early insignificance of the Athenian cavalry, which,
after the establishment of the Naucrarias, only amounted
to 96 or 100 men, and was not even in existence at the

time of the battle of Marathon. Subsequently horses

and oxen were kept in sufficient quantities, for which
the pastures of Euboea afforded great facilities. The
woodlands for the most part only supplied firewood ;

the ship-building was carried on with imported timber.

The fisheries were productive; the mines, in addition
to silver, yielded lead, metallic colours, coloured earths,

perhaps also copper; and the products of the Athe-

nian foundaries were particularly esteemed. The quarries
of Pentelus and Hymettus furnished the most beautiful

'7 Demosth. in Euerg. et Mhesib. p. 1155. 3. or whoever is

the author of this speech, "which is called in question by the

ancients (see Harpocrat. in v. jrnjftenjn), Athen. XII. p. 540. D.

ap. Athen. IX. p. 375. C. Philochorus ibid.

171 Androt. I.

p. 9. C. Other ancient laws to the same effect have been col-

lected by Petit V. 3.
w Ap. Athen. IX. p. 375. C.
 kinds of marble, which were much exported to foreign
1? 3. Commercial occupations were never in
parts great
esteem among the ancient Greeks.
person of No
ancient

nobility ever condescended to them, although conversely a

manufacturer might raise himself to the head of public
such as Cleon, Hyperbolus, and others.
affairs, The
early statesmen however encouraged industry, especially
Solon, Themistocles, and Pericles, partly with the intention
of improving the condition of the lower classes, and partly
of increasing the population of the city; as well as of advanc-

ing the cause of commerce, and of manning the numerous

fleets, by which, after the time of Themistocles, the
Athenians held the mastery of the sea 174 And it was .

this circumstance that rendered the resident aliens indis-

pensable for Athens

176
,
who carried on manufactures and

17
Xenoph. de Vectig. 1.
Cf.
174
Proofs of this occur every where. Diodorus (XI. 43.) in
particular expresses himself very clearly with regard to Themis-
tocles.
175
Xenophon de Rep. Ath.
I. 12. The genuineness of this
Essay stands and falls with the other Treatise on the State of
the Lacedaemonians, which Demetrius the Magnesian (ap. Diog.
Laert. II. 57.) abjudged from Xenophon. But the Essay upon
the Revenues of Athens is so similar to those two in style, that
it must be included in their condemnation ; and it is cer-

tainly possible to raise doubts against the latter writing, which

however I consider as futile. The predilection for Sparta which
predominates in the two first writings, is very like Xenophon,
who even in his history is the constant eulogist of the Spartans,
and frequently allows his predilections to give a colour to real
facts. A certain irony in the tone, which occurs in the Pamphlet
upon the State of Athens, is not very much in Xenophon's
manner, but it might have been easily produced by particular
circumstances and by the nature of his subject. It should be ob-
 63

commerce to a great extent, and were bound to serve

in the fleet. It even appears that the useful arts were
176
encouraged by honorary rewards ; though even by
these means they could not gain in the public estimation.

There were prizes for the common people, for which the
higher ranks did not compete with them. At the same
time the respectable citizens, who had none of the high
aristocratical notions, like Pericles, Alcibiades, or Callias

the son of Hipponicus, whose pride yielded in nothing to

the haughtiness of the modern nobility, were not ashamed
of superintending extensive manufactories worked at their
own expence. The inferior citizens were as much reduced
to the necessity of manual labour as the poor aliens and
slaves. It was not until after the balance had been turned

served, that contradictions may be discovered between this writ-

ing and the other upon the Revenues; thus in Rep. Ath. 1.10.

the freedom of the aliens found fault with, whereas in the

is

Treatise on the Revenues (chap. 2.) he recommends favouring

them, and lightening their burdens, together with other dis-
crepancies of the same kind : but the difference of the times, ob-
jects, and circumstances must be taken into consideration, from
which these contradictions are easily accounted for, if Xenophon
wrote on the State of Athens during his exile, and on the Revenues
after his recal, a short time, as it is asserted, before his death took

place at Corinth. The arguments also learnedly brought forward

by Schneider concerning the date of his writing, which tend to
prove it not to be the production of Xenophon, are not entirely
tenable, as I have shewn in book III. 5. At the same time I
am willing to allow that the genuineness of this and other short
writings of Xenophon is not sufficiently established, and that the
Essay on the State of Athens may easily have been written by
another author. All I wish to assert is, that the arguments
which have as yet been brought against their authenticity, are
not sufficient, and that a farther investigation is necessary.
178 Schol.
Aristoph. Ran. 775.
 64

infavour of the aristocracy, that measures of severity were

brought forward ; as for example, Diophantus proposed

that all the manual labourers should be made public
slaves 177 . There was again another reason why no restriction
should have been imposed upon the freedom of
industry,
viz. the little
importance that was attached to it ; an alien
was allowed to carry on any trade, although he was pro-
hibited from holding any property in land ; with regard
indeed to the sale in the market, strangers were on a less

advantageous footing than natives, as they were obliged to

pay a duty for permission to expose their goods there.
The law of Solon that men should not deal in oint-
ments 178
was only founded on principles of education, in
order to withdraw men from womanish labours; subse-

quently however it became a dead letter, for ^Eschines the

philosopher had a manufactory of ointments. With this
entire freedom of industry, with the numbers of aliens and

slaves, and the an extensive market by means

possibility of
of foreign commerce, and with the magnitude of the internal
demand, which was increased by the resident foreigners,
allbranches of industry flourished, and Athens contained
a large number of manufactories, which employed a

corresponding quantity of labourers. Athenian arms and

other metallic fabrics, implements and materials for dress
and furniture, were in great request ; tanners, arm-smiths,

lamp-makers, cloth-weavers, even millers and bakers, who

understood their art well, lived in abundance 17 9. With

regard to the prices of commodities, it would be natural to

'" Petit V. 6. 1.

* Petit V. 6. 3.
179
Only to quote one passage, see Xenoph. Mem. Socr. II. 7.
3 6. With regard to the exportation of manufactured goods,
see Wolf ad Leptin. p. 252.
 65

suppose that they must have been proportionally low, as

all the labourers, and
part even of the overseers were
slaves ; as the rate of wages was moderate, and there existed
a complete freedom of industry ; but to counterbalance
these causes there was the extensive exportation, which

together with the high rate of interest, and the proportion-

ally high profits, that the manufacturers and merchants
took, operated to force up the prices of commodities. At
the same time many articles, such as bread and clothing,
were prepared in most families at home, and not purchased
from tradespeople.
(9.) The commodities which Attica did not produce
within her own were obtained by foreign com-
territory,
merce, and unless the importation was prevented by some
extraordinary obstacle, such for example as war, there could
be no danger of a scarcity, even in the case of a failure of

the crops, because it consumed the surplus produce of

other countries 18 .
Although not an island, yet it pos-
sessed all the advantages of insular position, that is, excel-
lent harbours conveniently situated, in which it received

supplies during all winds ; in addition to which it had suf-

ficient facilities for inland traffic : the intercourse with other

countries was promoted by the purity of the coin, as the

merchant, not being obliged to take a return freight, had

the option of carry ing out bullion, although Athens abounded
in commodities which would meet with a ready sale 181. For
prohibitions to export money were unknown in ancient
times, and are only compatible with the use of bills of ex-

change. If a stagnation in trade was not produced by war

or piracy, all the products of foreign countries came to

180
Cf. Xenoph. de Repub. Ath. 2. 6.
181
Xenoph. de V<>ctig. !. 7. 3, 2.

VOL. I. F
 66

Athens ; and articles which in other

places could hardly be
obtained singly, were collected together at the Piraeeus 182 .
Besides the corn, the costly wines, iron, brass, and other

objects of commerce which came from the regions of the

all

Mediterranean, they imported from the coasts of the Black

Sea, slaves, timber for ship building, salt-fish, honey, wax,
tar, wool, rigging, leather, goat-skins, &c. ; from Byzantium,

Thrace, and Macedonia, timber, slaves, and salt-fish ; also

slaves from Thessaly, whither they came from the interior ;
and carpets and fine wool from Phrygia and Miletus 183 .

" All the finest 11

184) " of
products, says Xenophon , Sicily,
of Italy, Cyprus, Lydia, the Pontus, and the Peloponnese,
Athens, by her empire of the sea, is able to collect into
one spot :"" to this far extended intercourse the same
author attributes the mixture of all dialects which pre-
vailed at Athens, and the admission of barbarous words
into the language of common life. On the other hand,
Athens conveyed to different regions the products of her
own soil and labour ; in addition to which the Athenian
merchants trafficked in commodities which they collected
in other countries. Thus they took up wine from the
islandsand shores of the Mgaean Sea, at Peparethos, Cos,
Thasos, Mende, Scione, and elsewhere, and transported it
to the Pontus 185 The trade in books appears alone to
.

have made but small advances in Greece, a branch of

industry which was more widely extended in the Roman
empire after the reign of Augustus. There was, it is true,

184
Thucyd. II. 38. Isocrat. Paneg. p. 34. ed. Hall.
Upon most of these points see Barthelemy Anachars.
183 torn.

IV. chap. 55. Wolf ad Leptin. p. 252.

>
De Rep. Ath. 2. 7.
185
Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 935. 6.
 67
a book market (T /3//3Aa) 18 6 at Athens, and books were
187
exported to the Pontus and to Thrace ; but there can
be no doubt that the books meapt were merely blank
volumes. The trade in manuscripts was in the time of
Plato so little common, that Hermodorus, who sold the
books of this writer in Sicily, gave occasion to a proverb,
" Hermodorus carries on trade with 188 :" at a
writings
subsequent period, while Zeno the Stoic was still a youth,
dealers in manuscripts are mentioned as having been at
Athens 189 . The merchant-vessels appear to have been
of considerable size; not to quote an extraordinary in-
stance, we find in Demosthenes 19 a vessel of this kind,
which besides the cargo, the slaves, and the shipVcrew,
carried 300 free inhabitants.
Athens had many regulations for the protection of trade,
and for the maintenance of the commercial police. Among
the officers belonging to this branch of the public service
we may mention the Overseers of the Harbour (l7nju,eA>jTai
TOU l|U,7ro/ou), ten men
annually appointed by lot
191
; the

Agoranomi, five in the city and as many in the Piraeeus 192

;

the Metronomi, who had the inspection of the measures,

ten in the city and five in the Piraeeus 193 ; and the Pro-

186
Poll. IX. 47. and the commentators.
Xenoph. Cyr. Exped. VII. 5. 14. and the commentators.
187

I88
Cicer. Epist. ad Attic. XIII. 21. Zenob. and Suid. in v.

189
Diog. Laert. in Vit. Zenonis.
9 In Phorm. p. 910. 12.
.' Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 941. 15. Orat. in Theocrin. p. 1324.
10. Dinarch. in Aristog. p. 81, 82. Lex. Seg. p. 255. and what
Sigonius IV. 3. has upon the Constitution of Athens.
yoeti>ofC6i, &c.
194 Aristot. ap. Harpocrat. in v.
193 The passage in Harpocration is as follows : ?a- 3e T

7rtvTtxuJ$tx.et, ttf pin ilv IIi<gtt? $SKX, Trim 5' $ ctyrv. I read
 68

metretae, probably subordinate to the latter officers, who

measured corn and other grain for hire 194 Upon the .

whole there was sufficient attention paid to weights and

measures; as may in part be seen from a valuable frag-

ment of a decree upon this subject,which has fortunately
come down to our days 195 . Credit was at a low ebb in

Greece, although we find that there were large firms in all

the different Grecian states, which were possessed of ex-
tensive credit, and were able to raise money on the single
name 196 .
Merchants belonging to par-
security of their
ticular cities, as the Phaselitans for example, were in bad

repute on account of their want of honesty. The absence

it the contrary way, s (tt* ran Ut^etlet TK*TI, Xm* 3' tis ourrv. The
same correction should be made in Suidas in v. ftit^iftot and in
Photius. For what Meursius and Kiister say upon the passage in
Suidas is highly absurd. There were therefore ten Sitophylaces
in the city and five in the Pirseeus see below chap. 15. Both
:

divisions must necessarily have been closely connected, and for

this reason the similarity of the number is also probable. In
addition to this, the merchants were obliged to bring two thirds of
the corn from the harbour into the city, which fact agrees com-

pletely with my emendation. The Lex. Seg.

p. 278. certainly
has in v.
fttr^eio^, $ixa TOugidpot, wv jrem plv r.ruv in ra
Tlsi^xttt,
-xwri y ! <TT, together with Photius in the first article. But
although it might appear more natural that their number should
agree with that of the Agoranomi, and seem singular that there
should have been ten in the city and five in the Pirseeus, this
very circumstance makes it more credible that my hypothesis is
true, and that the statement in the Lex. Seg. is the arbitrary
alteration of a grammarian according to what appeared to him
the most natural. A different account is given by Kiihn ad Poll.
IV. 167.
194
Harpocrat. in v. ?rg/irgT/, Lex. Seg. p. 290. &c.
'95
See Inscript. 123. torn. I. p. 164. ed. Boeckh.
196
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1324. 3.
 69

of credit was supplied by security or bail 197 which, ac- ;

to the laws of Athens, was in force for one year 198.

cording
The severity of the laws relating to debtors contributed
materially to the support of credit, for the Athenians knew
well how important these laws were to commerce and
19 9. " In the Athenian
industry laws," says Demosthenes,
" there are excellent protections for the creditor
many ;

for commerce proceeds not from the borrower but from

the lender without whose assistance no vessel, no
;

captain, no passenger can stir." Even a citizen, who in

the capacity of a merchant, withdrew from a creditor

a pledge for a sum vested in bottomry, could be punished
with loss of life 20 No less severe were the regulations
.

against false accusers of merchants and captains of

vessels 20 *.
Their disputes were heard before the com-
mercial court of the Nautodica?, where the Thesmothetag
introduced the causes 202 ; in law-suits between citizens of
different nations, by virtue of a particular agreement there
existed an appeal from one state to the other 203 As .

early as in the time of Lysias, the Nautodicas, having been

appointed to their office by lot, assembled in the month

197
Demosth. in Lacrit. init.
198
Demosth. in Apatur. p. 901. 7.
'
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 958.
300
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 922. Dilatory debtors were also
imprisonment, only however
liable to in commercial cases. See
Hudtwalker von den Didteten, p. 152 sq.
201
Orat. in Theocrin. p. 1324, 1325. cf. inf. III. 10.
904
For the sake of brevity I refer to Sigonius R. A. IV. 3.
Petit V. 5. 9. Matthia Misc. Philol. vol. I.
p. 247. The Lex.
Seg. also has an article upon this subject, as well as Photius
p. 212. It is worthy of remark that the fyriets could also
yg*<pi
be brought before this court.
303
These are the $/*< KTTO
 70
Gamelion, in order to sit
during the winter, when naviga-
tion ceased 204 , that the merchants and captains of vessels

might not be impeded in the pursuit of their business.

Advantageous as this regulation was, it did not obviate all

the inconveniences to which traders were liable ; for if the

cause was not decided in the course of the winter, either
the parties were obliged to prosecute it in summer to the

prejudice of their business, or the case stood over till the

following winter, and was heard before
other judges.
For this reason Xenophon proposed to establish a prize
for the officer of the harbour who should pronounce the
most rapid and just decisions of commercial causes 205 ;

and in fact soon afterwards in the time of Philip 206 this

evil was checked by the introduction of the monthly suits
(fjapjvoi S/jcj), to which all causes concerning trade, Eranus,
207 These were heard in
dowries, and mines belonged .

the six winter months, so that the merchants might quickly

obtain their rights and set sail 208 ; and a cause could not,
as some have supposed, be protracted through this whole
time, but it was necessary that it should be decided within
the term of a month 209
Lastly, the Greeks tolerated a
.

species of consul in the person of the Proxenus of each

state, who was considered as the representative of his

ao* &x. p. 593.

Lysias TFS^I foper.
a s
De Vectig. 3.
906
Vid. Orat. de Haloneso. p. 79. 18. sqq.
Poll. VIII. 63, 101. v. fat*Suidas in
lituti from Har-

pocr. in tliesame word, Lex. Seg. p. 237. That this is true of

causes relating to mines. I have shewn in my Essay upon the
silvermines of Laurion.
MS Demosth. in
Apatur. p. 900. 3. cf. p. 966. 17. Petit V. 5. 9.
909 Vid. Orat. de
Haloneso, Lex. Seg. and Petit, ut sup.
Salmas. de M. U. XVI. p. 691.
 71

country, and was bound to receive the citizens who traded

at the place. If for example an inhabitant of Heraclea
died at any place, the Proxenus of Heraclea was by virtue
of his office obliged to give information concerning the
210
property which he left behind him If an inhabitant
.

of Heraclea died at Argos, the Proxenus of Heraclea

received his property 211 .

Among the
many proposals for the advancement of
commerce which Xenophon makes in his Treatise upon the
Revenues, there is no where an exhortation to restore the
freedom of trade either this was not one of the points
:

which lay within the knowledge of antiquity ; or it must

have existed without any limit. The latter supposition is
212
nearly maintained by Heeren "they were ignorant,"
:

" of a balance of and thus all the violent

says he, trade,
measures that flow from it
naturally remained unknown.
They had custom-duties as well as ourselves; but their
only object was to increase the revenues of the state, and
not as with modern nations, by prohibiting this or that
article to give a particular direction to the course of

industry. You will find no prohibition to export raw

produce, no encouragement of manufactures at the cost of
the agricultural classes. In this sense then there was a

complete freedom of industry, of commerce, and of inter-

course. And this was not the result of accident, but was
founded upon principle. At the same time, where every
thing was determined according to circumstances, not
according to theory, persons may find individual excep-

tions, perhaps discover particular cases in which the

910
Demosth. in Callipp. p. 1237. 16.
911
Ibid. p. 1238. 27.
419
Ideen iiber die Politik, den Verkehr und den Handel der
Alien Welt, vol. III. p. 283.
 72
state may for a time have assumed to itself a monopoly.
But yet what a wide difference is there between this and
our mercantile and compulsory system." I am ready to
acknowledge that there is a great deal of truth in these
remarks; but the other side of the question must also be
considered. According to the principles of the ancients,
which were not merely scientific, but were recognised by
the whole of the people, and deeply rooted in the nature
of the state embraced and governed all
Greeks, the
dealings between man and man. Not in Crete and
Lacedaemon alone, two states completely closed up and
from their position unsusceptible of free trade, but gene-
rally throughout the whole of Greece, and even under the
free and republican government of Athens, the poorest as
well as the richest citizen was convinced that the state had
the right of claiming the whole property of every indi-
vidual any restriction in the transfer of this property,
:

regulated according to circumstances, was looked upon as

just; nor could it properly be considered an infringement
of justice, before the security of persons and property was
held to be the sole object of government ; a light under
which it never was viewed by any of the ancients. On
the contrary, all intercourse and commerce were considered

as being under the direction of the community, inasmuch

as they originally owed their existence to the establishment
of a regular political union and upon the same basis was
:

founded the right of the state to regulate trade, or even to

participate in the profits of it. Any person who dissented
from these principles was not a member of the state, and
would by the bare avowal be considered as detaching
himself from it. It was upon the same principle that the
national monopolies were founded, which do not appear to
have been unfrequent in Greece, although of short
 73
duration ; productiveness had been tried in the
their

cases of private individuals who had obtained them by

213 It can however be
engrossing particular articles .

safely asserted, that no republic ever demanded

of its
citizens that they should furnish commodities to the state in

specified quantities and at prices arbitrarily fixed at a low

rate, with a view to secure to itself a monopoly ; such a

demand could only have been enforced in countries under
the government of a tyrant. The monopoly of lead, which

Pythocles proposed to the Athenians, injured no proprietor

of mines, provided it was exported the producers were to :

receive the same price from the state, at which they had
214
before sold Equally innocent was the banking
it .

monopoly which the Byzantians in a pecuniary embarrass-

ment sold to a private individual 215 . The proceeding of
the Selymbriani in a similar difficulty less was probably
defensible, who seized the whole stock of corn at a fixed

price, with the exception of a quantity sufficient for the

yearly consumption of each individual, and then sold it at
a higher price with permission to export, which before had
not been granted 216 Yet after all how many kinds of
.

monopolies may there have been in Greece Probably it !

was then a principle in politics, that states should avail

themselves of these aids when under the pressure of
217 . In addition to this there are
pecuniary distresses
abundant proofs that the exportation and importation
were regulated according to the exigencies and interests of

213
Cf. Arist. Pol. I. 7.
214
See above, chap. 6.
215
See the second book of the (Economics attributed to Aris-

totle.
216
Ibid.
217
Cf. Arist. Pol. I. 11.
 74
the state ; which is
by no means consistent with perfect
freedom of trade. Aristotle 218 lays down five principles

of policy as the most important, viz. finance, peace and

war, the safeguard of the country, importation and export-
ation, and legislation ; mentioning at the same time that
" with
regard to importation and exportation, it is neces-
sary to know how large a supply of provisions the state
requires, and what proportion of them can be produced in
the country and what imported, and what imports and

exports are necessary for the state, in order that com-

mercial treaties and agreements, may be concluded with
1'
those of whom the state must make use for this purpose.
Trade was thus an object of national policy ; whence
various restrictions or preferences must necessarily have
arisen. Solon is related by Plutarch to have laid the

exportation of all products of the soil except oil, under a

malediction, which the Archon was obliged to pronounce
or to pay a fine of a hundred drachmas 219 although the
:

law was not in my opinion so general as here stated 22 , yet

the main fact is unquestionable; and, considering the
liberal disposition of Solon, is the more remarkable. The
221
export of corn was always prohibited in Attica Similar .

laws doubtless existed in other states, for example the

Selymbriani prohibited the exportation of corn, if not

222
always, at least in time of scarcity . There were also at
Athens many commodities of which the exportation was
prohibited (onroggyrct), such as timber, tar, wax, rigging,

218
Rhetor. I. 4.
219
Plutarch. Sol. 24.
220
See above, chap. 8.
121
Ulpian. ad Demosth. in Timocr. p. 822.
212
Pseud-Aristol. (Econ. II. 17.
and leathern which were particularly im-
bottles, articles
223
portant for the building and equipment of the fleet .

It may indeed be supposed that this prohibition only

existed against the Peloponnesians during the continuance
of war 224 ; but how often did Greece enjoy the blessings
of peace ? and even in the time of Theophrastus, the ex-
portation of timber, of timber for ship-building, was
i. e.

still
prohibited, being only allowed to particular individuals
free of duty 225 . It is obvious that war was necessarily

attended with certain restrictions and limitations ; for ex-

ample the manufactories of arms at Athens supplied the

consumption of many nations; it was natural therefore
that laws should be directed against those who provided
the enemy with arms thus Timarchus
; decreed, that who-
ever furnished Philip either with arms or tackle for ships
should be punished with death 226 But in addition to
.

these restrictions, even the importation of some commodities

was occasionally prohibited in time of war; as for example
of Boeotian lamp-wicks, of which the real reason is not,
as Casaubon concluded from the jokes of Aristophanes 227,
that the Athenians were afraid of these lamp-wicks causing
a conflagration, but that all commodities imported from

223
Upon this point see Aristoph. Ran. 365. 367. and the
Scholiast, Spanheim upon this passage, and Casaubon ad Theo-
phrast. Char. 23. Concerning the leathern bottles (ainuupotToi)
comp. besides the Scholiast of Aristophanes, the Etymologist,
Suidas, and Thomas Magister in v. 0iiA>t;.
224
Which one should also be led to suppose from Aristophanes
and his Scholiast ut sup. and from Aristoph. Eq. 278.
225
Theophrast. Char. 23.
226
Demosth. de fals. Leg. p.- 433. 4. See the note to Petit's
Leg. Att. p. 517. ed. Wessel.
227
Aristoph. Acharn. 916. and the Scholiast, Casaubon ut sup.
 76
Bceotia were excluded, for the purpose of harassing this

country by a stoppage of all intercourse, as indeed may be

seen from another passage in the play just alluded to 228 .

In like manner Pericles, according to the Acharnenses of

the same poet 229 , and the testimonies of many other
writers, had excluded the Megarians from all intercourse
with Attica, in order to oppress them. Upon the whole,
war was as much carried on by impeding commerce as by
force of arms, and by her dominion of the sea Athens ob-
tained the means of exercising a continual despotism over
trade. " No state," observes Xenophon, " can ever export

any thing, if it "is not submissive to the masters of the sea ;

upon them depends all the exportation of the surplus pro-

duce of other nations 23 ." laid an embargo upon
They all

vessels, seized, and detained or captured merchant-vessels,

even such as the State had no right to interfere with and ;

to recoverby a decree of the court of captures the goods

which had been unlawfully lost, was a matter of extreme

228
Acharn. 860 sqq.
229
See more particularly the argument to this Play, Thucyd.
I. 139. Plutarch. Pericl. 30. Diod. XII. 39 sqq.

Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. II. 3. 11, 12. The words *& 21

3

X ay< ewe tcto-wrtv , c/rmj <CI>T/TAO* iifttt t'i<ri, ov j

ry 0#ATTj, are extremely difficult to understand, and

certainly have not been understood by the commentators; but
do not The sense " The
yet they appear corrupt. is, States,
from which we receive imports, will not permit our adversaries
to export for their own use the materials necessary for ship build-
ing, or they will lose by that means the use of the sea." The
subject to \nva- and xfaorrctt
is bcuvot, which refers to the pre-

ceding -xctga plv TOV, vtug*

31 TOV. The words omvsj jttriirttkii
iifiit

t'la-it are to be taken instead of the accusative to * yw, just as if

it stood Trgaj
ol rtvroif txiivot ova idrova-tv a,X\cT iiyiiy rev; tijtiv
ctrri-

TJ
 77

difficulty. That these measures of the Athenians produced

the greatest hatred against them, cannot excite surprize.
Even the Spartans made a protest against the Megarian
decree ; its non-repeal was the immediate pretext of the

Peloponnesian war. These examples, although not ap-

plicable to a state of peace, prove at least, that the
Athenians did not avoid any restriction of commerce, so
long as it
appeared profitable to them ; and from this it
may be fairly concluded that at times when there was a
cessation from war, they provided for their real or supposed
interests by various regulations which were inconsistent
with freedom of trade. Their object was to frame

compulsory laws for the purpose of forcing the supply of

those commodities which were necessary for the consump-
tion of the country ; or which should be brought to the
market in the port of Athens, in order to be there sold,
that by these means Athens might become a general

emporium. Some of
these regulations are extraordinarily
severe. No inhabitant was allowed to carry corn any
where but to the harbour of Athens ; those who violated
this law were subject to a Phasis or an Eisangelia 231 . In the
same manner it was fixed what portion of the corn of each
cargo which had arrived in harbour, should be retained in
the city of Athens, as will be presently shewn. There was
also an exceedingly oppressive regulation, that no Athenian

or alien resident in Attica should lend money upon a vessel

which did not return to Athens with a cargo of corn or
other commodities 232 If indeed we listen to Salma-
.

51
See chap. 15.
*
432
Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 941. 9 20. from the Law,
t rat
av 61/T6I xv^isi ti<riv, tlf vetvv %Tts 0,1
p* jUgAAtj *|y orrov
 78
sius 233, this law refers only to the corn trade, and means
no more than that it was not permitted to lend money for
the puqwse of buying corn in other countries, except upon
the condition that the corn should be imported into
Athens : this supposition is however manifestly devoid of
foundation. The meaning of the law is, that money could
not be lent upon any ship which did not return to Athens
with corn ; but if these were all the provisions of the law,
no money could have been vested in bottomry at all, ex-

cept upon vessels employed in the corn trade. Since then

this supposition leads to an absurdity, it is manifest that
we do not possess the law in a complete state. And this
in fact is sufficiently pointed out in the speech of Demo-
sthenes against Lacritus; and corn, as being the most
important article, was only first and expressly named.
In several places it is distinctly stated, that it was not
lawful to lend money which was to be sent to any foreign
23
port, without corn being particularly specified *. In the

agreement of bottomry given in the speech of Demosthenes

against Lacritus (to which case the law exactly applies),
it is not fixed that either corn or any thing else should be

The last words sbew that many other specific provisions followed
which the Orator omits, and in these no doubt the other com-
modities were either individually or generally stated.
233
De M. U. V. p. 193 sqq.
034 In Lacrit. ut sup. xai SMC) ctvrS p.* 'imu irtgi TV ogvvg/ov, a
IxdS aXA TT) ij
'Adwa^t. Demosth. in Dionysodor. p. 1284. 15.
OT ewe.
3yf<Vc<f us t-rigov Ipiroyoi ovSlr uhh' it ttf 'ASiiecf. The
passage in the speech against Lacritus p. 941. 15. \ui 2i T<; 1*3$

xa. TXVT', tivat rr q>u.<rii xai T*)V

7Tyg(p>iv rov ecgyvy'ov
iirifithYtTccs, na,6* if
eg) T?$ naf ttctt rev r/rev ilynrtu, xetrec

proves nothing against my assertion for many reasons.

 79
taken as a return-cargo; and the debtor himself affirmed
that he had intended to return to Athens -with a cargo of
salt meat and Coan wine 235 ; nor in any similar document

is the species of the commodities ever fixed which are to

be taken as a return-cargo, but the only stipulations we
find are with regard to the security, and that the return-

cargo should be of equal value with the original freight.

Lastly, how could it have been possible to specify the
goods, which were to be taken up as a return-cargo, since
the merchant would necessarily be guided in his selection

by the state of the market, and no certain calculation

could be made beforehand ? We must therefore allow, that,
in general, money could not belent at Athens upon any

ship or upon its

cargo, except on the condition of its return-

ing to that city, in order that no Athenian property might

be employed to the profit of a foreign trading-town. This
is not inconsistent with the permission to lend money only
for the time requisite for the voyage to a particular place,
without including the return (IrggoVAoyj). If the master
of a vessel had borrowed money for the time of his voyage
from Athens to Rhodes, and instead of not paying the
money till he returned to Athens, if he was obliged to
repay it immediately upon his arrival at Rhodes, it does
not follow from this that he was not compelled to return ;

by law he was bound to do so, just as much as if the money

had been lent him until his return to Athens. The sole
difference that in the former case the creditor was
is, only
exposed to the risk of the passage outwards, in the latter

of the passage inwards as well 236 Money too could only

.

235
P. 933. 15.
236 To this view of the subject the passage in Demosth. in
Dionysod. p. 1284. 8 20. cannot be opposed, for if rightly
 80

be lent for the time of the passage outwards, upon the

condition of the vessel returning to Athens it was only :

absolutely prohibited, when the ship was not to return.

It should also be remembered, that heavy punishments were

laid upon the violation of this law. As to the laws re-
lating to money lent out on other kinds of security, no com-
plaint could be made. Those who failed to pay could be
237 ; and the
prosecuted by a Phasis borrower, if he did not
return, could be with loss of life 238 If the Athe-
punished .

nians imposed such restrictions upon trade, it may be con-

ceived how the laws of other states were constituted. In
JEgina and Argos Athenian manufactures appear to have
been in early times prohibited, although upon a pretended
religious motive, and on the immediate occasion for sacred
239 In the inland traffic too there was not by any
purposes .

means unrestricted freedom ; nor indeed could it exist under

the established principles of the ancients^among whom the

police mixed itself with every thing, although the mode

understood it completely agrees with it. Dionysodorus and Par-

meniscus wish to borrow money for the voyage from Athens to
Egypt, and from thence to Rhodes it is therefore a IrsgajrAaus
;

without any obligation to return, to which the lenders naturally

would not consent. Compare also upon the questions relating
book I. chap. 23. The space does not permit me
to this subject
to be more explicit upon this question, nor will persons ac-
quainted with such subjects desire more but to satisfy a certain
:

class of readers, who

expect every thing to be related ab ovo,
and to be supported with passages explained at full length, is no
easy matter, as we must not suppose that they have any previous
knowledge of the question.
237
Demosth. in Lacrit. ut sup.
238
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1295. 8 sqq. as the context
shews.
239
Herod. V. 88.
 81

of its interference differed from that which now prevails in

modern States.
Assize-regulations
O were not unknown. In
the time of Aristophanes the government of Athens on one
occasion reduced the price of salt to a fixed rate ; which
however was not long retained, probably because it caused
a deficiency in the supply of that article 240 In corn we .

certainly find a great freedom of prices. Yet the ruinous

operation of engrossing was restrained within certain limits.
Retail-dealing in the market was originally interdicted to
foreigners according to the rigour of the law ; instances
however occur of its being permitted upon the payment of
a duty, which is different from the protection-money of
the resident aliens 241 . What is here said must not
however be referred to the wholesale trade in the harbour;
this in a great measure owed its existence to foreigners,

who exposed samples of their goods at a particular place

calledDeigma 24 for the convenience of
2 . , the buyers who
came there from all regions to purchase commodities.
The prices of commodities could not however have been
much enhanced by these restrictions, especially as the
custom-duties were very moderate ; but they were raised

by the great profit which the merchants took. That the

rate of profits was high, is
sufficiently proved by the
high rate of interest on money lent upon bottomry (fenus

240
Aristoph. Eccl. 809. and the Scholiast.
241
Demosth. in Eubulid. p. 1308. 9. p. 1309. 5. where this
is called %i*mci rt^itv.
?42
Lysias Fragm. p. 31. Aristoph. Eq. 975. and Schol. De-
mosth. in Lacrit. p. 932. 20. in Polycl. p. 1214. 18. Harpoc. in
v. Jsiyfta, Poll. IX. 34. and there Jungermann. cf. Casaub. ad

Theoph. Char. 23. also Lex. Seg. p. 237. The Deigma at

Rhodes is mentioned by Polybius V. 69. The specimens them-
selves were also called Deigma, Plutarch. Demosth. 23.
VOL. I. G
 82

nauticurn), in which 30 per cent for one summer was not

unfrequently paid. Hume's remark 2 * 3 , that a high rate

of interest and profit is an infallible sign, that industry
and trade are still
infancy, applies with the
in their

greatest force to the ancient times of the Grecian nations,

and in some measure to that of Pericles, and the period
immediately succeeding. A
Samian ship, which, as Hero-
dotus 244 relates, had by accident made its way from

Egypt to Tarte&sus in Iberia, at a time when no Grecians,

not even the Phocaeans, traded there, gained upon one

cargo 60 talents; since the tithe to the goddess Juno

amounted to six talents probably it had received silver at
:

a low rate in exchange for the goods carried out 245 . Greek
merchants had never made a greater profit, with the
exception only of Sostratus of vEgina, with whom no one
could in this respect enter into comparison. With regard
however to the value of the cargo of the Samian ship, it is
clear that it cannot now be ascertained, as the quantity of

goods on board different vessels was very various ; we

find instances of cargoes which did not exceed two talents
in value but larger sums are met with, as for example, a
;

ship of Naucratis mentioned in Demosthenes was valued at

nine and a half talents 246 In the time of Lysias also, an
.

Athenian vessel is said to have paid so large an interest

upon a sum of two talents, that it doubled the principal 247.

It is of course evident that the retail-traders (xaTnjAoj)
obtained likewise a very large profit on the goods which

243
Essays, p. 222.
844
Herod. IV. 152.
245
Compare what Diodorus V. 35. says of the Phoenicians.
246
Demosth. in Timocr. 696. and passim.
p.
247
Lysias in Diogit. p. 908.
 83

they sold, if we take into consideration the high rate of

interest.

(10.) If allowance is made for accidental variation in

different places, it
may be stated that in the ancient world
the necessaries of life were upon the whole cheaper than at
the present time, but in individual cases examples enough
of the contrary occur. The chief reasons of the former
phenomenon are the smaller quantity of money in circula-
tion, the unusual fruitfulness of the southern regions in
which the Greeks either dwelt or traded regions, which
although now neglected, were at that period in a state of
the highest cultivation and the impossibility of export-
ation to distant lands, which had little or no intercourse
with the countries upon the Mediterranean. The latter is
in particular the cause of the great cheapness of wine.
The abundant quantity of this article which was produced
in almost all the southern regions, was not distributed
over so large a space of the earth as is the case at present.
It is to be observed however, that in considering the general

scale of prices in ancient States, the difference of time and

place must be well weighed.

In Rome and in Athens, at
the most flourishing periods of these States, commodities
were not so cheap as in upper Italy and Lusitania. In
248 the Sicilian
upper Italy, even in the time of Polybius ,

medimnus of wheat, which was the same as the Attic,

being somewhat less than 1^ English bushels, frequently
sold for only four oboli (eight asses), i. e. about sixpence,
the medimnus of barley for half this sum, the metretes of

* 18
I. 15.
Polyb. Polybius has changed the asses into oboli,
reckoning two asses to an obolus, and the denarius equal to the
drachma. He thus takes the Roman coins a small fraction too
high.
 84

wine, about ten wine-gallons, for the same price as the

barley Travellers used not, as in other places, to agree

!

with the innkeepers for the price of each article, but only

stipulated how much they should give in the gross for the
whole consumption of an individual, and the sum demanded
was generally a half as or quarter obolus, and seldom
exceeded this rate. In Lusitania, according to the same
historian 249 ,
the Sicilian medimnus of barley cost a

drachma, of wheat nine Alexandrian oboli, which appear

to have been something less than the Attic 250 ; the
metretes of wine the same as the barley ; a kid of mode-
rate size an obolus, a hare the same, a lamb three and four

oboli, a fat pig,weighing a hundred minas, five oboli, a

sheep two, a draught ox ten, a calf five drachmas, a talent
of figs, about 561bs, three oboli; game had hardly any
value, but was included gratis in other bargains. Such
low prices as these do not apply to Athens after the
Persian war. In the time of Solon, indeed, an ox cost only
fivedrachmas, a sheep one drachma, and a medimnus of
corn the same sum: but prices gradually rose to five
times, in things to as much as ten or twenty times,
many
their former amount, which after the examples of more
recent times does not seem surprising. The quantity of
money was not only increased, but through a rising
in use

population and an extended intercourse its circulation was

accelerated. Thus Athens, as early as in the age of So-
crates, was considered an expensive place of residence 251 .

Upon the whole, the cheapness of commodities in ancient

249
XXXIV. 8. 7. Concerning the reading see Sch weigh aeuser
in the Lexicon Polyb. p. 555.
250
See above, chap. 4.
251
Plutarch, de Anim. Tranquill. 10.
 85

times has been exaggerated by some writers, who thought

that the nearest approach would be made to the truth by

assuming that prices were on an average ten times lower

than in the eighteenth century 2 ^2 ; whereas the prices of
corn, by which many other prices are necessarily regulated,

prove the contrary. But that a more determinate judg-

ment may be passed upon this subject, I will explicitly
treat of each in their order of the prices of immoveables ;

of slaves, of cattle, corn, bread, wine, oil, and other

necessaries of life, and wood, clothing, and the
also of

different sorts of implements and furniture, as far as I have

been able to find information upon these points.
(11.) The value of the cultivated land in Attica was

naturally very different according to its situation and

goodness. The estates in the vicinity of the city bore a
much 253 the wooded
higher price than those at a distance ;

land (y>j inftfrfoftln}) must have been dearer than the bare
or unplanted land (yrj 4"A^) as it was called, the rich and

good than the poor soils. Among the many passages

upon the value of land one alone contains an approximate
statement of the area, and this without any particulars as
to situation and quality. Aristophanes, according to the
account of Lysias 254 , had bought a house for five minas
and 300 plethra of land, both together cost him more than
five talents. If we assume that it cost him five talents and
twenty minas, and subtract from this sum the value of the
house, there remain for the land 27,000 drachmas, which

252
Gillies ut sup. p. 19. Wolf makes the same supposition
with regard to a charitable institution of Trajan, p. 6.
253
Xenoph. de Vectig. 4.
254
Oral, pro Aristoph. bonis p. 633. and p. 642. where for
read with Markland t'wUt.
 86

gives 90 drachmas for one plethron. Now the plethron

was equal to 10,000 feet of Greek square measure, 9620

Rheinland, or 9900 English feet, according to Ideler's

researches. The English acre of 43,560 square feet would
thus have cost 396 drachmas; which does not by any
means agree with the exaggerated notion above alluded to,
that prices were ten times lower in ancient than in modern
times. It however by no means improbable that much
is

land bore a lower value but 50 drachmas may be fairly

;

assumed as the average price of the plethron, without

taking into consideration accidental circumstances by which
the value of the land might be lowered. It should also be

mentioned that in Attica the land was probably divided

1
into portions of no very great extent. Alcibiades paternal
inheritance did not amount to more than the estate pur-
chased by Aristophanes, although his was one of the most

distinguished families. It was not until the time of

Demosthenes that individuals purchased much landed

property. The most extensive possessions were those
which commonly went by the name of boundary-estates
(l<r^Tai), which were situated at a distance either upon
the seashore or at the foot of the mountains 255 . Thus
the boundary-estate of Timarchus in Sphettus is stated to
have been extensive, but it had run wild through his
neglect
256 . The estate belonging to Phaenippus in Cy-

246
Harpoc. in v. lo-%fwei. Schol. ad jEschin. in Timarch.
p. 736, 737. ed. Reisk. Lex. Seg. p. 256. and the Commentators

upon .ZEschines and Demosthenes in the passages to be quoted.

Herodotus also (VI. 127.) calls distant estates la-yyttietl. The
supposition that the estates on the boundaries of the boroughs
were so called is undoubtedly false, not to mention that many
boroughs were bounded by the sea and by mountains.
256
.Eschin. in Timarch. p. 117, 119.
 87
theron contained more than 40 stadii or 1440 plethra 257 .
Of other estates I have noted down the following prices.
An estate situated in Sphettus is mentioned in Lysias as

being worth five minas; another occurs in Isaeus worth

above ten minas, and in the former orator an estate in
Cicynna is estimated by the creditor at ten minas 258 . In
like manner in Terence 259 an estate is stated to be mort-
,

gaged for the latter sum. Timarchus sold an estate in Alo-

pecae, distant eleven or twelve stadii from the walls, under

its value for 20 minas 260
Again, an estate is mentioned in
.

261 and one

Prospalta, which was hardly worth 80 minas ,

in CEnoe for 50 minas 262 An estate of Ciron's was,

.

according to the expression of Isaeus, well worth a talent :

whence we may conclude that an estate no larger than this

was thought a considerable possession; an estate of the
same value occurs in Demosthenes, which appears to have
contained vineyards 263 . The following sums are still

more considerable, viz. 70 minas, and 75 minas for an

Athmonon, two
estate in talents for a property in Eleusis,
and two and half talents for the same in Thria 26 *. Con-
cerning other kinds of landed property I have been unable
to obtain any information, except that mine-shares were

" Orat. in
Phsenipp. p. 1040. 15.
258
Lysias TT^I dnjAotr. ctdnc. p. 594. cf. p. 593, 595. Isaeus de
Menecl. Hered. p. 221. ed. Orell.
259
Phorm. IV. 3. 56.
260
jEsch. in Timarch. p. 119.
261
Isaeus de Hagn. Hered. p. 298.
262
Is. ut sup. p. 294.
263
Is. de Ciron. Hered. p. 218. Demosth. in Onet. I.
p. 872.
ad fin. II. p. 876. 10. cf. I. p. 871. 22.
264
Isseus de Menecl. Hered. p. 220, 221. ed. Orell. de Phi-
loctem. Hered. p. 140. de Hagn. Hered. p. 292 sqq.
 88

sold for a talent and 90 minas, although their price was at

times enhanced by particular circumstances 265 .
(12.) With regard to houses, we know that Athens
contained above 10,000 266 ; which probably does not
include the public edifices and the buildings without the
walls ; the city and the harbour being nearly 200 stadii in

circumference, there were many places within so large an

area upon which no buildings were erected 267 The .

houses were for the most part small and mean in appear-
and narrow " a
ance, the streets crooked ; stranger,"" says
"
Dicaearchus, might doubt upon a sudden view whether
this were really the city of Athens ;"" the Piraeeus alone had
been laid out according to rule, in the time of Themistocles,

by the architect Hippodamus 268 . The upper stories often

projected over the streets; staircases, balustrades, and

doors opening outwards, obstructed and narrowed the

way. Themistocles and Aristides, with the entire co-

operation of the Areopagus, gained nothing more by their

endeavours than that a stop was put to any farther
narrowing of the streets by building, a measure which was
adhered to in later times 269 The plan of Hippias and
.

Iphicrates for breaking down every thing that projected

into the public streets 27 was not carried into execution,
because their object was not the embellishment of the city,
but to obtain money by fraudulent means. With the ex-

265
See my Essay upon the Silver-mines of Laurion.
266
Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. III. 6. 14. To this Xenoph. (Econ.
8. 22. is also referred ; but not with any certainty.
267
Xenoph. de Vectig. 2.
268
Dicaearchus p. 8. and Aristot. Polit. VI. 2. VII. 11. and the
Commentators.
269
Heraclid. Pont, and Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 3.
270
See Meursius F. A. p. 20.
 89

ception of the magnificent public edifices, they did not

begin to build good houses until the time of Demosthenes.
"Formerly," fays this orator 271, "no individual raised
himself above the multitude. ,If any one of us could now
see the houses of Themistocles, Aristides, Miltiades,
Cimon, or the famous men of those days, he would perceive
that they were not more magnificent than the houses of

ordinary persons ; while the buildings of the State are of

such number and magnitude that they cannot be sur-

passed :" and afterwards he complains that the statesmen

of his time constructed houses which exceeded the public

buildings in magnificence. Meidias built a house in Eleusis

272 The number of
larger thanany in that place .
greater
houses were however even at this time badly built, as
Photion's 273 , for example
and, like those of Pompeii and
;

Herculaneum, they occupied only a limited space, for

which reason their price could not have been high.
Labour was cheap, there was stone in plenty, and wood
could be easily brought to the place of building; and
another circumstance which diminished the price of houses
was, that they were for the most part either built with a
frame-work, or of unburnt bricks dried in the open air,
which latter mode of building, as being more durable than
with soft stones, was sometimes employed in splendid and
costly edifices 274 . An advantageous situation and the

271
Demosth. in Aristocrat, p. 689. 1124. Olynth. III. p. 35.

14 24. p. 36. 20. fiom both of which the passage in the Oration

Trip <ruT<*|e<5 p. 174-5. is composed.

For the whole speech has
been correctly abjudged from Demosthenes.
272
Demosth. in Mid. p. 565. 24.
273
Plut. Phoc. 18.
!i74
That the private buildings of the Athenians were con-
structed of bricks of unburnt clay is in part proved by Demo-
 90

customary high rate of house-rent, might however raise the

value of houses. It was also of course possible for large

sums of money to be expended by foolish and extravagant

275
speculations upon an useless house It should be ob-
.

served that the Attic language distinguishes between

dwelling-houses (olx/a), and lodging-houses (<ryvojx/ai) ;

accidentally indeed a dwelling-house might be let out for

lodgings, and a lodging-house have been inhabited by the
proprietor himself; which will explain how learned writers
could fall into the error of supposing that the latter word

(<nwx/a), frequently means a house in general without any

addition of the idea of letting ; whereas the derivation of
the word plainly shews that it expresses a dwelling to-

gether of several families, of whom either some or all are

lodgers.
Theprices of houses, which are mentioned in the ancient
writers, vary from three minas to 120, according to their
size, situation, and condition. The data are as follows;
a small house estimated by Isaeus at less than three minas,

though he probably depreciates its value; a house at

Eleusis worth five minas, mentioned by the same orator 276 ;
a very small house near the temple of Hermes Psithyristes
at Athens, sold for seven minas, according to another
orator 277 another house which was pledged for ten
;

minas, according to Demosthenes, a possession belonging

to poor people, as is evident from their inconsiderable

sthenes ap. Plutarch, in Vit. Demosth. 11. For the rest see
Hirt Baukunst der Alien p. 143.
275
Xenoph. (Econ. 3. 1.
276
Isaeus de Menecl. Hered. p. 221. ed. Orell. de Hagn. Hered.
p. 293.
Orat. in Neser. p. 1358. 69.
 91

dowry of 40 minas, and from other circumstances 2 78 ; to

these may be added a house noticed in Terence which is

mortgaged same sum, a poet who generally repre-

for the
sents the usages and customs of Athens 279 a dwelling- ;

house in the city, worth 20 minas, mentioned by Isaeus 280 ;

a lodging-house in the country mortgaged for sixteen
281 a house in the city that had
minas, in Demosthenes ;

been worth 20 minas, in Isaeus 282 , and several houses

let,

of the same value in Demosthenes and ^Eschines 283 , one

of them behind the Acropolis ; a house sold for thirty

minas, and another of the same value in Isasus and

Demosthenes 284 the former
,
in Melite; a lodging-house in

the Cerameicus, worth 40 minas, given as a dowry, in

Isaeus ; another in the city transferred for the sum of 44

minas, in the same orator 285 likewise one for 50 minas

;

in Isaeus and Lysias 286 a lodging-house belonging to the

;

rich merchant Pasion, valued at a hundred minas 287 ; and,

Plautus a house purchased for two talents, having
lastly, in
two wooden columns connected with it, valued, exclusively

278
Demosth. in Spud. p. 1029. 20. cf. p. 1032. 21. p. 1033.
26.
279
Phorm. IV. 3. 58.
280
De Ciron. Hered. p. 219.
281
InNicostrat. p. 1250. 18.
282
Ut sup.
283
Demosth. in Onetor. II. p. 876. 9. and passim. JEsch. in
Timarch. p 119.
284
Isaeus de Haga. Hered. p. 293. Demosth. in Aphob. I.

p. 816. 21.
285
De Dicseog. Hered. p. 104. de Philoctem. Hered. p. 140.
286
Is. de Dicaeog. Hered. p. 105. Lys. pro Aristoph. bonis

p. 633.
287
Demosth. in Stephan. 1.
p. 1110. 8.
 92

of the cost of the carriage, at three minas 288 To these .

may be added 30 minas, the value of a bathing house at

Serangium in the Piraeeus 289 ; and another of which the
value may be fairly estimated at 40 minas, as the person,
who was cast in a law-suit on the occasion, was compelled
to pay that sum for it 29 .

(13.) The market-price of slaves, exclusively of the

variations caused by the greater or less demand and
291 was V ery different
supply y according to their age,
health, strength, beauty, natural abilities, mechanical

ingenuity, and moral qualities. Some slaves, says Xe-

292 are well worth two minas, others hardly
nophon ,

mina
half a ; many sold for five or ten minas, and Nicias

the son of Niceratus is stated to have given no less

than a talent for an overseer in the mines. The slaves

employed in the mills and mines were undoubtedly the

lowest. Lucian, in the ludicrous valuation of the philoso-
293 estimates Socrates at two
phers , talents, a Peripatetic
at twenty, Chrysippus at twelve, a Pythagorean at ten,
and Dion of Syracuse at two minas, and, to omit the

value of Diogenes, reckons Philon the Sceptic at a mina,

remarking at the same time that he was destined for the

288
Mostell. III. 1. 113 sqq. I omit other
III. 2. 138.
passages
which do not refer to Athens, such as that in the spurious

Epistle of jEschines, 9.
289
Is. de Philoct. Sorte, p. 140. also Harpocration
Compare
in V. Sjjgayyw.
290
Isaeus de Dicaeog. Hered. p. 101.
291
Such for example, as those paid for the
Carthaginian sol-
diers, according to Liv. XXI. 41.
292
Mem. Socrat. II. 3. 2.
293 -
27.
 93

mill ; the latter therefore is evidently the price of a slave

"
employed in the mills. Assuming," observes Xenophon,
" that the Athenian State 294
purchases 1200 slaves, and
lets them out on hire into the mines for a daily payment
of one obolus a head, and that the whole revenue accruing
from this source is annually applied to the purchase of
fresh slaves, who should again be let out at a like profit,
which receipts should be applied as before, and so on
for ever, the State would by means of these successive
returns have 6000 slaves in five or six years." If, as I

believe, the original 1200 are comprehended in this number,

the price is here taken at from 125 to 150 drachmas ; if

they are not comprised in the estimate, -which appears to

me improbable, a slave in the mines would be only reckoned
at from 100 to 125 drachmas. According to the account
of Demosthenes 295, 105 minas were lent upon the security
of a mine, and 30 slaves employed in working it ; this was

arranged by a fictitious purchase made by two creditors,

one of whom, Nicobulus, gave 40 minas, the other, Euergus,
a talent ; the latter held the mine, the former the slaves as
a pledge, which they were to cede as soon as the contract
of purchase ceased to be in force 296 ; consequently each
slave was in this case estimated at 150 drachmas : nor could
a slave of this description in general have been worth
more, although the antagonists of Demosthenes' client main-
tain that the mines and slaves together were worth a much
larger sum 297 . The statement of Barthelemy 298 , who

294
De Vectig. 4. 23.
295
In Pantsenet. p. 967.
296
See p. 967. 18. and p. 972. 21.
297
For the sake of brevity I refer the reader to my Essay on
the Silver-mines of Laurion.
298
Anachars. torn. V. p. 35.
 94

supposes that the value of the mine-slaves varied from 300

to 600 drachmas, rests upon an erroneous assumption.

Ordinary house-slaves, both male and female, could not

have been worth much more than those just mentioned 2 ".
The valuation of two slaves, each at two and a half minas,
isconsidered in the works of Demosthenes 30 as high in ;

the same author we read of a slave who was sold for two
minas 301 . Demosthenes' father was possessed of workers
of iron or sword-cutlers, some of whom were worth five,
some six, and the lowest more than three minas, and
twenty chair-makers, together worth 40 minas. The
chair-makers with the 32 or 33 sword-makers, including a

capital of a talent,
are stated at four talents 50 minas 302 .

But when another place the same orator reckons 14

in

sword-cutlers (although they might have been of advanced

at only 70 minas 303 ,
age), together with 30 minas, and con-
sequently each at 71 drachmas,
he manifestly guilty of an
is

intentional falsehood. great an How

influence a knowledge

of any art had upon the value of the slave is shewn by this

299
this point compare the unsatisfactory statements in
Upon
Aristoph. Plut. 147. Isaeus de Ciron. Hered. p. 218 220.
300
In Nicost. p. 1246. 7. The author afterwards states in
the Addenda, that
" he had considered the estimate of two slaves
at 2^ minas as high, because from the words TO ftiyidas T? uiro-

yg<p>jjhe assumed a high valuation and that therefore the

;

words of the Orator must be interpreted as if each of the two

slaves was estimated sum but that since piydos might
at that ;

amount, and as the context, although

also be understood of a less

very obscure, seems to require this meaning, it might be pre-

ferable to suppose that the two slaves were together valued at

2^ minas."
301
In Spud. p. 1030. 8.
302
Demosth. Aphob. I. p. 816. 5.
in

Cf. Demosth. in Aphob. p. 815. p. 817. 23. and p. 821.

 95

example of the sword-cutlers; for the higher profit they

afforded the greater was their value. While a slave in the
mines only yielded a profit of
an obolus a day, a worker in

leather produced two, and the master of the workshop

three oboli 304 ; from whence it can be judged how large
may have been the profit which the manufacturers of fine

ornamental goods, such as head-nets (o-ax^u<pavT<) or of

stuffs of Amorgus and variegated clothes (7ro<xXT), yielded
to their possessors 305 . Five minas, which we found above
to have been given for slaves skilled in some art, appear
moreover not to have been at uncommon 306 as j s
all ?

shewn by an account in 307 The Roman sol-

Diogenes .

diers whom Hannibal had sold in Achaia, were ransomed

30i
jEschin. in Timarch. p. 118.
D5
Concerning the o-etx.%vq>u*Tw see Demosth. in Olympiod.
p. 1170. 27. Pollux X. 192. The interpretation given in Lex.
Seg. p. 302. is incorrect. For the other points cf. ,3sch. ut sup.
Concerning the wentfriK, afterwards called yr^vftei^eg (plumarius,
see Muratori Inscript. vol. II. p. DCCCCVI. 13. and again

p. DCCCCXXIV. 1 1. together with his Dissertation de Textrina

in the Ant. Ital.), Poll. VII. 34, 35. and the Commentators,
Schol. ./Esch. p. 730. ed. Reiske, and Lex. Seg. p. 295.
306
It might also be supposed that the price of five minas for

slaves at the oars (*?)

was mentioned in Andocides de suo
Reditu p. 81. if in that passage we write ?rem piat for Trim
?g#-
ft: for what Reiske (Ind. Andoc. Orat. Att. torn. VIII. p. 503.)
infersfrom this passage, Remigis erat ingens prefium quinque
drachmae, will not mislead any reader. JCwTevj however does not
mean a rower, but a piece of wood for an oar, as may be easily seen
by a comparison of the passages, where it was supposed to mean
a rower. Of these is the passage in Andocides, where the con-
text clearly shews, that pieces of wood for oars, and not slaves
for the oars, are intended and a piece of wood of this description
:

was probably well paid for at five drachmas.

307
Vol. II. in the Life of Aristippus.
 96

at a compensation of five minas each, the price having been

fixed by the Achaeans themselves, and the State paid it to
their .
308
These statements agree
respective possessors
for the most part with the prices which were paid for
some slaves sold to the Delphian Apollo, upon the condi-
tion that the individuals who thus became
sacred property
should in all other respects be free, and ever after be

exempt from serving any person as slaves. In instruments

of sale belonging to this kind of transfer we find four minas
309 ;
paid for a male, from three to five for a female yet in
a sale which took place at Amphissa to the temple of

Apollo not less than 1000 drachmas are given for a male
slave. Plautus appears, as is frequently the case with the
comic poets, to make a high estimate, when he values a
strong useful slave at twenty minas, and supposes a child
31
to be sold for six minas . The father of Theocrines was
condemned to pay to the State a fine of 500 drachmas for
having attempted to emancipate a female slave of Cephiso-
dorus. The sum
paid to the State for an offence of this
nature was, according to law, the half of the complete fine,

808
1200 cost the State a hundred talents according to Po-
lybius, Liv. XXXIV. 50. This was in Olymp. 146. 1. in the

year of the city 558.

309
Chandler Inscript. II. 154. cf. Muratori p. DXCIII. also
Chandler 150, 151, 152, 153, 155. and Chandler Marra.
II.

Oxon. II. XXIX. 2. The sacred slaves, g3ouA<, were of this

description, as e. g. the Venerii at Eryx
in Sicily, the female

servants of Venus at Corinth, the Hieroduli of Comana upon the

Pontus, which the priests could no more sell to another person,
than the Thessalian could sell their bondsmen the Penestae, or
the Spartans their Helots out of the country. Cf. Strab. XII.

p. 384.
310
Captiv. II. 2, 103. V. 2, 21. 4, 15.
 97
the other half went to the injured master ; and it is probable
that this was a simple compensation for the loss sustained,
so that the female slave appears to have been valued at
five minas 311
For women who prostituted their persons,
.

and female players on the cithara, 20 or 30 minas occur

as common prices 312 Neaera was sold for 30 minas 313
. .

A negro-woman and an old eunuch are sold in a play of

Terence for 20 minas 314 Even these prices were still .

farther enhanced by luxury ; and although at Athens an

excellent slave could be bought for ten minas, the price
at Rome in the time of Columella exceeded even this
amount 315 , in the same manner that the value of negro-slaves
has at the present day considerably increased as early as :

in the age of the first Ptolemies, an Alexandrian talent was

the price given for the males and females who attended at
316
court . The ransom-money only in for captives was
part regulated by the price of slaves. This may be seen
from the fact that the Chalcideans, who before the Persian
war remained prisoners in Athens, were ransomed at two

minas a head 317

; at which sum subsequently the indigent

311
Orat. in Theocrin. p. 1327. 1328. see book III. 12.
312
Terent. Adelph. II. 1. 37. 2. 15. IV. 7. 24. and elsewhere,
Plaut. Mostellar. in several places, Curcul. I. 1. 63. II. 3, 65.
and passim, Terent. Phorm III. 3. 24. Isocrat. $/ m5o?
p. 124. ed. Orell.
313
Orat. in Neser. p. 1354. 16.
314
Terent. Eunuch. I. 2. 89. In V. 5. 13. he inaccurately

says that the eunuch cost the same sum. The negress appears
to have been worth but little, cf. III. 2. 18.
315
Hamberger de pretiis rerum, p. 32. Cf. Jugler de Nundin.
Serv. 7. p. 85 sqq.
316
Joseph. Antiq. Jud. XII. 4.
317
Herod. V. 77.
VOL. I. H
 98

were valued, and paid taxes for it as for

citizens of Potidaea

property of the same amount. Again, Dionysius the elder,

after he had conquered the Rhegini, first compelled them

to make good the expences of the war, and then demanded

for each man a ransom of three minas, or, according to
Diodorus, one mina 318 ; Hannibal also agreed to ransom
the Roman prisoners at three minas a head; and finally, in
the time of Philip, when there were many Athenian
prisoners in Macedonia, the customary ransom varied from
three to five minas 319 But since it frequently happened
.

that not only the respectability and character of a man, but

also his wealth and importance, were taken into considera-

tion, a higher rate of ransom was in such cases arbitrarily

fixed. Nicostratus, as appears in a speech attributed to
Demosthenes 320 , was forced to ransom himself for 26
minas Plato was freed from captivity by Anniceris for 20
;

or 30 minas ; with which sum, the friends of the Philoso-

pher having raised the money for the ransom and given it

to Anniceris, the latter purchased him a garden adjoining

the Academy 321 .
Philip affirms in his Epistle to the
Athenians 322 that the Attic
general Diopeithes had refused
to ransom Amphilochus, a man of consideration, who was
employed upon embassies, for less than fifteen talents.

318
The former according to the second book of the (Economics
attributed to Aristotle, from which the account of Diodorus
XIV. 111. disagrees in several points. The date of this occur-
rence is Olymp. 98. 2.
319
Polyb. VI. 56. Demosth. de fals. Leg. p. 394. 13.
3 *>
In Nicostrat. p. 1248. 23.
321
Diog. Laert. III. 21. Plutarch, de Exilio 10. Seneca Epist.
74. Macrob. Sat. 1. 11. The account of Diodorus XV. 7. is, as
usual, confused.
312
Demosth. p. 159. 15.
 99

Hence order to prevent any arbitrary proceedings,

in

Demetrius Poliorcetes concluded an agreement with the

Rhodians that the free inhabitants should be ransomed for

ten and the slaves for five minas 323 . The rights of pos-
session with regard to slaves in no way differed from any
other property; they could be given or taken as pledges 324 .

They laboured either on their master's account or their

own, in consideration of a certain sum to be paid to the
master, or they were let out on hire either for the mines, or
1

any other kinds of labour, and even for other persons

325
workshops, or as hired servants for wages (onrcxpoga) a :

similar payment was also exacted by the masters from

their slaves serving in the fleet. The profits derived from
the slaves must necessarily have been very great ; for the

possessor must have replaced his outlay of capital and

ensured the usual high rate of interest, exactly in the
same manner as if it had been vested in cattle, since
the value of slaves was destroyed by age, and at their
death the money vested in them was lost. To this

must be added the great danger of their elopement, espe-

cially when there was war in the country, and they were
with the armies 326 ; it then became
necessary to pursue
them, and offer rewards publicly for their recapture (<rw-

323
Diod. XX. 84.
324
Demosth. in Pantaenet. p. 967. in Aphob. p. 821. 12.

p. 822. in Onetor. I.
p. 871. 11.
325
Demosth. in Nicostrat. p. 1253. 1, 11. in Aphob. I.
p. 819.
26. Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. in several places, particularly in
1.

chap. 1 1 which
.
passage (as corrected by Heindorf ) appears
chiefly to refer to the pay of the sailors; Theoph. Char. 22.
Andoc. de Myst. p. 19.
326
Thucyd. VII. 27. and VII. 13.
 100

<rTga)327. The idea of an institution for the insurance

of slaves occurred to a Macedonian grandee, Anti-
first

genes of Rhodes, who undertook for a yearly

contribu-

tion of eight drachmas for each slave that was in the

army, to make good his price, as estimated by the owner at

the time of elopement ; which he was easily able to do, by

compelling the governors either to return the slaves

who had
fled into their provinces, or to pay for them 328 . It cannot

however be determined with any accuracy how high was

the rate of profit which a slave returned. The thirty-two
or thirty-three iron-workers or sword-cutlers belonging to

Demosthenes, annually produced a net profit of 30, and

the twenty chair-makers of 12 minas; the value of the
former being 190, of the latter 40 minas 329, the latter

produced 30, the former only 15H per cent, a disparity

remarkable. It is however to be mentioned,
sufficiently
that the master furnished the raw materials for manufac-

turing, and perhaps we ought to consider what he gained

upon the raw materials as constituting a part of the whole
profit. The leather-workers of Timarchus produced to
their master two, the overseer three oboli a day, but

probably this return is not to be considered as arising only

from the capital vested in the slaves, as it must have also
included the profit which the master derived from the

supply of the raw materials.

Hence it may be concluded
that when mine-slaves let out to a tenant yielded to their
master a profit of an obolus a day, which, reckoning 350

working days and an average value of 140 drachmas,

Xenoph. Mem. Socr. II. 10. 2.

327
Plat. Protag. init.
3ZS
See Pseud-Arist. (Econ. II. 2. 34. Antigenes for Antimenes
is a correction of Niebuhr.
329
Demosth. in Aphob. I.
p.
816.
 101

gives 471f per cent, the rent thus paid

extended not only
to the slaves,but also to the mines let out with them ; an
inference which I have supported with other arguments
elsewhere 33 .

(14.) Among domestic animals, horses were in Attica

sold for comparatively high prices, not only on account of
their utility and the difficulty of keeping them, but from
the disposition of the Athenians to extravagance and dis-

play while the knights kept expensive horses for military

:

service and processions at the festivals, and while men

of ambition and high rank trained them for the games
and races, there arose, particularly among the young
men, an excessive passion for horses of which Aristophanes ;

gives an example in the Clouds, and which is recorded by

several ancient writers 331 ; so that many were impoverished
by keeping horses, although it is true that others were
enriched by the same means 332 . In early times also
technical principleshad been laid down concerning the
management of horses, and rules of this kind had been

published before the time of Xenophon by Simon a cele-

brated rider 333 . The price of a common horse, such as a
"
countryman used, was three minas. By keeping horses,"
the client of Isseus 33
"
says you have not squandered
*,

your property, for never were you in possession of a horse

which was worth more than three minas." But a good
saddle-horse, or a horse for running in chariot-races, ac-
i

330
Essay on the Mines of Laurion.
331
Cf. Xenoph. de re Equestri, I. 12. Terent. Andr. I. 1.

Bach ad Xenoph. (Econ. 2. 6. &c.

332
Xenoph. CEcon. 3. 8. Many ancient writers speak of

13
Xenoph. de re Equestri, and see Schneider's note.
334
De Dicaeog. Hered. p. 116.
 102

cording to Aristophanes, cost twelve minas ; and since

this sum is lent
upon a horse in pawn, it must have been
a common price 335 But fashion
. or fancy for horses
raised their price beyond all limits. Thus thirteen talents
were given for Bucephalus 336 A
yoke of mules, probably
.

two animals, and not particularly good ones, but only

destined for the ordinary purposes of country work, were
sold for five and a half and also for eight minas 337 . Asses
were probably much cheaper in proportion ; yet besides
the ludicrous story of Lucian S38 that the ass Lucius, when
no purchaser could be found for him, was at last disposed
of to an itinerary priest of the Syrian goddess for the sum
of 30 drachmas, I have been unable to meet with any thing

upon point in reference to Greece, and even this

this

passage proves nothing with respect to the usual price in

ancient times, and particularly in Attica. With regard to
the prices of cattle, I am at a loss to guess whence an

English writer could have derived the statement that an

ox in the time of Socrates cost eight shillings ; an assertion
which is contradicted by the concurrent testimony of all
writers who mention the subject. If indeed two drachmas
were paid for an ox at the Delian Theoria 33 9, I will

not deny that in the most ancient times this price may
have existed ; but of later times it is inconceivable, and
the most that can be allowed is, that in the distribution of
the prizes, which were merely a matter of honour, this

primitive standard may

have been retained. In Athens,

335
Aristoph. Nub. 20, 1226. Lysias xaruy. xaxeA. p. 306 sq.
336
Chares ap. Gell. Noct. Att. V. 2.
337
Isaeus de Philoct. Hered. p. 140.
338
Asin. 35.
339
Pollux IX. 61. where the Commentators question the fact.
 103

at the time of Solon, an ox, probably one selected as a

victim, was sold for five drachmas, five times as much as a

340
sheep ; in Lusitania, Polybius, for ten
according to
drachmas, and a sheep in like manner a fifth of this sum ;
in Rome the price of an ox was ten times that of a

sheep
341 If therefore in the flourishing times of Athens
.

a sheep, as will be presently shewn, cost from ten to twenty

drachmas, according to its age, breed, and the variation in
the market price, an ox may be reckoned at from 50 to 100
drachmas. In Olymp. 92. 5114 drachmas were paid for
3.

a hecatomb, and if we suppose that nearly 100 oxen were

purchased for it, the price of an ox amounted to about 51
drachmas. But in Olymp. 101. 3. a hecatomb of 109
oxen cost 8419 drachmas, that is 77 drachmas a head ; in
both cases oxen selected for victims are meant 342 Pro- .

bably also in other countries except Athens, prices were

not much lower at this period ; in Sicily, which abounded

with cattle, the time of Epicharmus the price was the

in

same as at Athens in the days of Solon. For a fine calf,

according to that comic poet, was sold for ten nummi
343
,

or two drachmas 4| oboli of Attic money 344i ; and since

it may be inferred from the analogy of the prices in
Lusitania, that the value of a full-grown ox was double,
it is
probable that at that time in Sicily, an ox of similar

340
Plutarch. Solon. 23. from Demetrius Phalereus.
341
Hamberger in the Treatise above quoted, Taylor ad Marm.
Sandw. p. 37.
342
See the second Prytaneia of the Choiseuil Inscription, and
Barthelemy in the Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions, vol. XLVIII.

p. 355. also Inscript. 158. torn. I. p. 252. ed. Boeckh. cf. Taylor,
ad Marm. Sandw. p. 36.
343
Ap. Poll. IX. 80.
344
According to the assumption in chap. 4.
 104

quality might have sold for twenty nummi, or five drach-

mas 3 oboli of Attic money. A
sucking pig was sold at
Athens in the Peloponnesian war for three drachmas 34 5.
A small sheep for a sacrifice, picked out for the use of the
346
temple, is estimated in Menander at ten drachmas In .

the time of Lysias the prices cannot have been at all lower,
otherwise the dishonest guardian mentioned in this orator
could not have set down sixteen drachmas for a lamb at
the Dionysia, whatever might have been his eagerness to
overrate the charges in his accounts 347 remarkable . A
but rather indeterminate statement is supplied by the
oration against Euergus and Mnesibulus. The person for
whom this speech was written had been robbed by Theo-
phemus of sheep together with the shepherd, and
fifty fine
also a slave with a valuable water-pitcher and some shep-
herd's implements 348 But the injured party was indebted
.

to Theophemus for a fine, which together with Epobelia

and Prytaneia amounted to 1313 drachmas and two
oboli s* 9
; and he maintains that the stolen sheep together

with the shepherd were worth more than the fine 35 If .

we reckon the shepherd at a very high rate, viz. at more

than three minas, it results that fifty sheep were worth
1000 drachmas ; according to this the price of a fine full-
grown sheep was twenty drachmas. Concerning
at the least

the value of goats, which were very plentiful in Attica, I

have been able to obtain no information, except that in

345
Aristoph. Pac. 373.
346
Ap. Athen. IV. p. 146. E. VIII. p. 364. D.
347
Lysias in Diogit. p. 906.
348
See p. 1 155.
These sheep are called 7rg/3T*
349
See p. 1 158. 24. p. 1 162. 20. p. 1 164. 10.
350
P. 1156. 15, 23. cf. p. 1164. 5.
 105

Isaeus 351 , a
hundred goats, together with sixty sheep, a
horse, and some implements, are valued at thirty minas.
As an example of luxury it
may be worth mentioning, that
Alcibiades gave seventy minas for a dog, which he shortly
afterwards deprived of its chief beauty 352 .

(15.) On the subject of corn it will be necessary to enter

into a more detailed examination. The consumption of Attica
" No
required a very considerable supply of corn. state,"
asserts Demosthenes, " consumes so large a quantity 353;"

The Athenian ambassadors in Livy 354 boast of having

supplied 100,000 measures, although their state was obliged
even to import corn for the use of the countrymen. But
the main points to which we must direct our attention are,
what quantity of corn did Attica require?
in the first place,

secondly, how much

of this was it able to produce at
home ? and, thirdly, what quantity was it compelled to
procure by importation ? To answer these questions, the
knowledge of which the Athenians considered necessary. in
a statesman 355 , is far more difficult for us moderns, and

yet indispensable for an accurate insight into the political

is

and statistical relations of Attica. I now undertake the

solution of these problems, without presuming to maintain
that I may not fall into error. According to the investiga-
tion in a former part of this book, Attica may be assumed
tohave contained a population of 135,000 free inhabitants
and 365,000 slaves. An adult slave received, according to

351
De Hagn. Hered. p. 293. The passage in the Speech de
Philoct. Hered. p. 140. is still more indefinite.
352
Plutarch. Ale. 9. Poll. V. 44.
353
Demosth. de Corona p. 254. 21. and in Leptin. nt inf.
354
XLIII. 6.
395
Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. III. 6. 13. cf. Aristot. Rhet. I. 4.
 10b*

accounts which can be fully depended upon, a chcenix or the

48th part of an Attic medimnus per diem, and consequently
consumed in a common year of 354 days 7f medimni. The
Roman soldiers, according to Polybius, received about the
same quantity, that is to say, at the most f of a medimnus
of wheat per month. If we assume that among the slaves
there were 25,000 children, the 340,000 adults would then
consume 2,507,500 medimni a year. And if four medimni
a year are reckoned for a slave child, the total slave popula-
tion would have consumed 2,607,500 medimni. Among
the free inhabitants one halfmust be reckoned as children;
but the adultsalso, as they were better fed than the slaves,

probably did not consume so much corn. It will be

enough to reckon two medimni for a child and four for an

adult, altogether 450,000 medimni for 135,000 souls. Ac-

cording to this the whole consumption of a common year

would amount medimni, or since an exact
to 3,012,500

calculation is impossible, in round numbers three millions,

exclusively of the seed corn, which is more difficult to

determine. If again it should be alleged that a larger

quantity than this must have been required for the supply
of the foreigners serving in the navy and the army, it
should be remembered that the absence of a large number of
soldiers and sailors from Athens would rather have had the

effectof lessening the consumption, as the army was mostly

supplied from abroad. On the other hand it can certainly

be conceded that the necessity of supplying their country
with imported provisions, increased the difficulty to the
Athenians of employing many mercenaries, who were also
to be provided with corn 356 Now that Attica did not
.

produce these three million medimni, we know for certain ;

356
Xenoph. Hellen. VI. 1. 4.
 107

and corn was brought from all quarters into the market of
the Piraeeus, from the Pontus, Thrace, Syria, Egypt, Libya,
and Sicily 357 It is well known that the imports of corn
.

from the Pontus were very considerable, which was the cause
that Byzantium was of so great importance to the Athe-

nians,and partly for that very reason Philip of Macedon

endeavoured to obtain possession of this town 358 In the .

time of Lysias private individuals imported corn from

the Thracian Chersonese, probably from the Athenian
Cleruchise 359 . Some corn was brought from other countries
by the Athenian merchants, and part was supplied by
Cyprus and Rhodes through the medium of a carrying
trade. From the former island there came to Athens in

the time of Andocides corn-vessels in considerable numbers;

of the latter, which was itself obliged to import corn, and

according to Polybius subsequently obtained it from Sicily,

we an account in Lycurgus 36
find In addition to this,
.

Eubcea, which was colonized with Cleruchi in the time of

Pericles and Alcibiades, supplied corn and other products,
which, before the occupation of Decelea by the Spartans,
were imported over Oropus, but it subsequently became
necessary to carry them in ships round Cape Sunium, which
was fortified on this account 361 A
very large quantity of
.

corn must consequently have been imported, although it was

not all for the internal consumption of the country, but some

357
Theophrast. de Plantis VIII. 4. see Anachars. torn. IV.
chap. 55. Wolf ad Lept. p. 253. Meursius F. A. chap. IV.
and many scattered passages in the Orators.
358
Demosth. de Corona ut sup.
359
Cf. Lys. in Diogit. p. 902.
360
Andocid. de suo reditu p. 85, 86. Lycurg. in Leocr. p. 149.
Polyb. XXVIII. 2.
361
Thucyd. VII. 28. cf. VIII. 4.
 108

to be sold in the Piraeeus to foreigners. This makes the

statement of Demosthenes appear the more unintelligible S62 ,
that the imports from the Pontus, which did not .amount
to more than 400,000 medimni, might be taken as nearly

equal to the' whole importation from other countries ; so

that the total of the imports would have been little more
than 800,000 medimni, exclusively of that which was never

unshipped, but was transferred in the port of the Piraseus

to other countries.Demosthenes appeals to the books of
the Sitophylaces but must we suppose that they agreed
;

exactly with his words ? All the Athenian orators, and

even the noblest among them, Demosthenes, distorted the
truth without the least hesitation, whenever it suited their
own purposes. The may be fairly
total of the imports

taken upon an average in round numbers at a million

medimni but in particularly bad years, when even the
:

fertile Boeotia (at least after two successive years of deficient

363 a much
harvests) required imported supplies , larger
quantity was doubtless necessary for the consumption of
Attica. If we compare this sum with the average number
before assumed, it follows that Attica must have produced
two million medimni, which in my opinion was not impos-
sible. The
country, true, it is is mountainous ; but the
height of the mountains is not so considerable as to have
made them necessarily barren ; the naked rock, which was
not indeed uncommon in Attica, composed but a small

362
In Lept. 466, 467. The words TC$S roiivi Hica-ir* rev I*, rut
(/.hhuv
IpiTregjav eiQtMOVfAtiov
o IK. rev Utvrov trtTOf tia-Kb'ta* Itrrtv, do not

signify an equality, but only an approximation in the quantity

of the corn from the Pontus to the supplies received from other

places, of which there is an evident proof in Herod. VIII. 44.

cf. 48.
M Xenoph. Hellen. V. 4. 54.
 109

portion of the area, and where stony bottom was

the
mixed with a little earth, barley could be cultivated and :

art performed its share. What portion of the area of

Attica (amounting to 64,000 stadii or 2,804,000 plethra)
was corn-land, it is impossible for me to ascertain but ;

that it was possible for as much land to be under the

plough as was sufficient to produce two million medimni,

cannot easily be denied. In the territory of the Leontini
in Sicily 3tJ
*, the Roman jugerum, about 2f plethra, was
sown with a medimnus of corn ; that is, about a bushel and
a half of seed was reckoned for an acre and a quarter, the

jugerum being equal to 28,800 Roman or 25,532 Rheinland,

i. e. 34,468 English, feet. The fertile land yielded in
good years eightfold, in the best tenfold. If we assume,
as may be fairly done, the same measure of seed-corn for

Attica, and the increase on account of the inferior pro-

ductiveness of the soil as only sixfold (and even at the

present day, when agriculture has undoubtedly fallen off,

the multiplication of grain in Attica, according to Hob-
house 365 , is five and six for one and never more than ten),
a plethron of land in Attica produced 2j medimni, and to

produce two million medimni 888,890 plethra of land were

requisite, and again for replacing the seed-corn 66,000
plethra besides. According to these suppositions the land
in cornmust have amounted to 955,500 plethra the rest ;

remained for fallow, plantations, vines (which were how-

ever frequently cultivated together with barley, the branches
of the vines being attached to the trees), leguminous plants,

gardens, pasture-grounds, bog, water, waste-land, roads,

364
Cic. Verr. 11. 3. 47.
365
A
Journey through Albania and other Provinces of Turkey
in Europe and Asia, to Constantinople, during the years 1809
and 1810. By J. C. Hobhouse, London, 1813. vol. I. p. 411.
 110

and dwellings. How little exaggerated this supposition is,

appears also to be proved from the fact, that the property
of Phsenippus containing 1440 plelhra of land, although it
was a boundary-estate with woods, produced yearly more
than 1000 medimni of corn, and more than 800 metretae of
wine 366 . To general principles of political arithmetic I
have intentionally paid no regard, because, when applied
to ancient times, they usually yield doubtful and uncertain

conclusions; and still less will I institute a comparison

with the produce of Lacedasmon, since the estimate which

has been attempted to be made from Plutarch 367 is
founded upon false assumptions.
With an importation equal to a third part of the con-
sumption, and in times of failure of the crops even this
being insufficient, a great scarcity must necessarily have
arisen 368 , if judicious arrangements had not been devised
in order to prevent the occurrence of such an event. The
arrangements for the supply of corn were therefore con-
ducted upon a large scale Sunium was fortified, as has
;

been remarked, in order to secure the sailing of the corn

vessels round the promontory, armed ships convoyed the
fleets laden with corn, as for example that from the
Pontus 369 ; when Pollis the Spartan remained near Ceos,
366
Orat. in Phsenipp. p. 1045. 5.
367
Lycurg. 8. There were
in Laconia altogether 39,000

estates, of which 9000 were Spartan: one of these estates

brought the proprietor a return of 82 medimni of barley, from
which the whole produce has been calculated. It was not how-
ever perceived that these 82 medimni were only the tribute or
rent of the Helots nor is it certain whether the passage is to be
;

understood of the Spartan estates alone, or of the Lacedaemonian

also.
368
Cf. e. g. Demosth. in Phorm. p. 918. 8. in Leptin. p. 467.
369
Demosth. de Corona p. 250, 251. in Polycl. p. 1211. 25.
 Ill

JEgina, and Andros with sixty ships, Chabrias offered him

battle, in order that the corn from Geraestus in Euboea
might reach the Pirseeus The exportation of all grain
37 .

was unconditionally prohibited of the corn which arrived :

from foreign parts in the harbour of Athens the law re-

quired that two-thirds should be brought into the city,

and compliance with this regulation was enforced by the
Overseers of the Harbour 371 that is to say, only one third ;

could be carried away to other countries from the port of

the Piraeeus. In order to prevent as much as possible the
accumulation and keeping back of corn 372 , engrossing was

very much restricted it was not permitted to buy at one

;

time more than fifty such loads as a man could carry

($og/xoi)
373 . The violation of this law was punished with
death. The corn-dealers or the engrossers of corn were

370
Xenoph. Hellen. V. 4. 61. Diod. XV. 34.
371 from Aristotle, and Lex.
in v. iirifi&YiTK fftTroyov,
Harpocr.
Seg. p.255. where 'A.TTIX.OV should be written instead of eevrmef,
and the rest of the article restored from Harpocration.
372
Of. Plutarch, de Curiosit. ad fin.
373
means a platted basket, in
4>ogf;, from <peg, generally
which corn was probably carried. Taylor upon Lysias compares
with it the cumeras or cumera of the Romans, of which there
were two kinds, a greater and a less the latter contained five ;

or six modii, i. e. about an Attic medimnus. See Acron ad Horat.

Serm. Probably at Athens the phormus was not very
I. 1. 53.
different from medimnus a medimnus of wheat weighed
the :

from about eighty to ninety pounds, and may therefore be fairly

taken for a man's load
thus the army of Lucullus, according to
:

Plutarch, was followed by 30,000 Galatae, who carried 30,000

medimni of corn. The explanations of the grammarians afford
no information as to the size, but the notion of Petit that <pogp?
is the same as x'<p>fl5 (A of the Attic medimnus) is absurd,
Vid. Les. Att. V. 5. 7.
 112

also compelled to sell the medimnus for only one obolus

more than the price they themselves had given. Notwith-

standing which regulations, these men, who were for the

most part aliens, raised the price of corn by competition in
bad times, and often sold it
upon the same day a drachma
374 .
higher Lysias cannot say enough of the villany of
these usurers, who were then j ust as much detested as they
are in modern times. They bought up corn under the

pretence of providing for the interest of the people, or of

having an order from the proper authorities ; but if a
war-tax was imposed, their momentary public spirit had
altogether vanished. The public loss was their gain ; and
so much did they rejoice at the occurrence of any national

calamity, that they never failed to have the first intelligence

of it ; or else they fabricated some disastrous news, such
as that the ships in thePontus had been taken or destroyed,
that the trading-places were closed up, or the treaties were
in danger of being broken off: even when external enemies
were at rest, they annoyed the citizens by buying up the

corn, and refusing to sell when it was most wanted, in

order that people might not contend with them about the

price, but be content to take it on their terms 375 . Nor did

even the merchants make any profit by it, a circumstance

upon which much stress is laid by the modern teachers

of political economy in favour of engrossing : on the con-
trary they suffered severe injury from the combinations
of the corn-dealers and their continual persecution 376 .

" If
they were not menaced with the punishment of death,"

374
See the Speech of Lysias against the Corndealers, more
particularly p. 715, 718, 720.
315
Ibid. pp. 720, 721 sqq.
37
Ibid. pp. 726, 727.
 113

377 "
says Lysias , they would be scarcely endurable." Whilst
therefore the sale of all other commodities was under the

inspection of the Agoranomi, the State, in order to control

the engrossing of corn, had set over this one branch of
trade the separate office of the Sitophylaces 378 , which

originally consisted of three persons, afterwards of ten in

the city and five in the Piraeeus, probably because their
duties had increased. These officers kept accounts of the
imported corn, and it was also a part of their duties to
inspect the meal and bread, and to take care that it was
sold at the legal weight and price 379 . But even the Sito-

phylaces could not at times control

the importunate

competition on the part of the engrossers, who were

377
P. 725.
378
Ibid. p. 722.
379
Lysias ut sup. p. 717. mentions three Sitophylaces. The
other statement rests upon the authority of Aristotle's State of
Athens ap. Harpocrat. in v. wtetyvhctKis, where Valesius correctly
reads ?sv*v 3e rov
eigi6ftov
yrwrtxaidixct' Jix plv lv ao-rei, &c. Si-

gonius R. A. IV. 3. silently follows the first account ; Petit V.

5. 7. perceived the truth, but his emendation is false with

regard to the position of the words, and ?sx is only to be re-

peated. Photius (in whose article for ti^a-rot read et,yri) has the
same error ; he moreover states that in later times there were
thirty (>!) in the city and five in the Piraeeus. All this is with-
out doubt to be attributed solely to confusion, errors of the
transcriber, and the false emendation of previously existing
mistakes. The original passage, from which the different ac-
counts were derived, was probably as follows yja-ecv $1 rav g<fy*o :

WA< fJ.lv Tli$, VO-Tl^OV 31 TFtVrtXCtldwet, 9e*<g ftl

IV UFTtt, TttVTS 31 \t

niicciii. Their duties seen from Demosth. in Lept. ubi

may be
sup. Harpocrat. and Lex. Seg. p. 300. The inspection of bread
and prepared corn, particularly of barley meal (ahQiret), occurs as
early as in the age of Pericles. See the ancient comic poet ap.
Plutarch. Praec. Polit. 15.
VOL. I. I
 114

punished with the greatest severity, and at times condemned

to death 38 ; where we are as much astonished at the ir-

regularity of the corn-police, as at the formidable adminis-

tration of justice. A still greater loss to the state was
caused by the speculations of the merchants, who, as

Xenophon remarks 381 , carried corn about to different parts,

and did not sell it at the first place they arrived at, but
where they had ascertained the price to be highest.
Andocides 382 gives an account of a plot for turning the
corn-fleet from Cyprus, which was bound for Athens, in
another direction but he compelled the contrivers to
;

No one with regard to corn did

relinquish their plans.
Athens and the other Grecian states so much injury as

Cleomenes of Alexandria, Alexander's Satrap in Egypt,

who accumulated large stores of corn, fixed the prices
arbitrarily, and on account of the number of servants whom
he had engaged in the corn-trade, was enabled every where
to ascertain the state of the market with accuracy. He

employed three descriptions of persons, some who de-

spatched the corn, the attendants of the latter, and others,
who received it and unshipped on the spot accordingly :

he did not allow his corn-vessels to touch at any com-

mercial town before his assistants in that place had given
information with regard to the state of the prices ; if they
were high, the corn was landed and sold, and if not, the
vessel proceeded to some other place. By these means

380
Lysias ut sup. pp. 718, 723, 725. extr.,726. init. Perhaps
Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 743. 4. also refers to this subject,

according to whom persons who acted fraudulently in dealings

relating to corn were sentenced to imprisonment.
381
(Econ. 20, 27.
382
De suo reditu pp. 85, 86. It is almost unnecessary to
mention that Andocides was a merchant.
 115

the corn at Athens rose considerably, until the importation

from Sicily produced a relief
383 Of the contrivances of
.

this obnoxious corn-dealer the author of the second book

of the (Economics attributed to Aristotle gives some other

examples. At a dear time when the medimnus sold for

ten drachmas, he convened the sellers for the purpose of

ascertaining from them at what price they would transfer

their corn to him upon their agreeing to sell it to him
:

cheaper than to the retail-dealers, he gave them the same

price, but afterwards fixed the medimnus at 32 drachmas !

Upon the occasion of a great scarcity in foreign countries,

and even in Egypt to a certain degree, he prohibited that
any corn should be exported upon the representation of
;

the Nomarchs, that the taxes could not be paid if the ex-

portation was not made free, he permitted it, but at so

high a duty, that the exports were very limited, which the
Nomarchs were deprived of their pretext for not paying
the taxes, and moreover a large sum was raised from the

export duty.
The Athenians endeavoured by various measures to
ensure or to increase the importation of corn. Of these
was the general law that no money should be lent upon
any vessel which did not bring to Athens a return-cargo
of goods, among which corn was expressly specified 384 ;

and also the more important law, which provided that no

person dwelling in Attica, should import corn to any other
place than into the port of Athens ; the transgressor was
subject to a Phasis, and also to an Eisangelia according to
Lycurgus, and consequently to the punishment of death 5.
38

383
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1285.
384
See above chap. 9.
XSA
Deraosth. in Phorm. p. 918. 5. in Lacrit. p. 941. 4. Lycurg.
 116
386 that the corn-dealers at Athens
Theophilus asserts,
had enjoyed a freedom from taxes which evidently cannot ;

be understood of the times of its independence, unless it

was a transitory indulgence, or to a very limited extent.
For the term Ateleia has several significations; it is either a

general immunity (otrsAeja cwravTwv), or a particular exemption

from the liturgies, or from certain custom-duties and other
taxes 387 For example, the Athenians gave the universal
.

exemption from taxes to the Byzantian and Thracian re-

fugees, who were resident at Athens in the time of Thrasy-

bulus 388 ; and to Leucon the ruler of the Bosporus,
who, together with his sons,had an exemption from
38
custom-duties, as is
particularly remarked 9. I n this

in Leocr. p. 156. and the speech against Theocrines. That the

Phasis might be instituted in such a case is certain from the last-
mentioned oration, from which (p. 1325. 28.) it is to be parti-
cularly remarked that the informer received half the forfeited
commodities. Concerning the Phasis against this offence see
also the Commentators of Pollux VIII. 47. and Lex. Seg. p. 313.
in v. Qxmir, where the words $ 'ipirttpv oih*et%oit l%yet<iptvti can
only be referred to this practice. Concerning the Eisangelia
against this offence see Matthia Miscell. Philog. torn. I. p. 231.
386
Theophil. I. 2. according to the emendation of Salmasius
de M. U. V. p. 195. upon the authority of MSS.
387
See Wolf ad Lept. p. LXXI sqq.
388
Demosth. in Lept. pp. 474, 475.
389
Demosth. in Lept. pp. 466 468. That he was free from
custom-duties evident from the comparison of the Ateleia given
is

to him and to his sons with that granted by him to all the

Athenians, p. 466. 29. This complete exemption appears to

have been once given to the Thebans and Olynthians (Harpocrat.
in v. unless it only means an exemption from pro-
'lerarsxis),

tection-money and liturgies, in case they should come as denizens

to Athens, in the same manner that the Byzantians, in addition
 117

general Ateleia was comprised the exemption from custom-

duties, and from the liturgies (with the exception of the

trierarchy, which was only disallowed under certain con-

ditions regulated by law), and for aliens from the protection-

money, and in particular cases from property-taxes ; per-

haps also the exemption from providing sacrifices (areAsja
d
Jgajv ), concerning which very little is known. That the
corn-merchants could not have enjoyed this universal im-

munity is alone evident from the fact of their not having

possessed several of the individual exemptions. For, to say
nothing of the general immunity, they must in the first

place havehad an exemption from the import-duties upon

corn; now in Athens, the corn-duty was let out in farm 390 ,
and it must therefore have entirely disappeared, if all
corn-merchants had been allowed by law to import corn
free of duty ; the assertion in question does not therefore

require any refutation. It is still less conceivable that

they should have had permission to import or export other

goods free of duty, although individuals were allowed this
privilege for all or certain articles
391 . Were they however

gave an exemption of liturgies to all

to the rights of citizenship,

Athenians going to Byzantium. See the decree ap. Demosth. de

Corona p. 256. and compare the decree of the Arcadians in
Crete in Chishull's Ant. Asiat. p. 119.
d " Mox vectigalia sacris faciundis a Plothensibus
pendenda
memorantur: a quibus ut immunitatem habeant, ex publico
solvuntur ea vectigalia. Hinc vides quae sit atriteiet , quam

memorat Demosth. adv. Lept.. 105. ed. F. A. Wolfii, in qua

.

jure hsesit editor Proleg. p. LXXI." Boeckh. ad Inscript. 82.

torn. I. p. 122.
390
See the Speech against Neaera, p. 1353. 23.
391
An
instance of free exportation, particularly of wood, which
is undoubtedly to be referred to Athens, is given by Theophrastus
Char. 23.
 118

exempted from the regular liturgies? Unquestionably not;

since, according to Demosthenes, so small a number either
of the citizens or resident aliens were exempted from
them 392 . Moreover this orator would not have omitted
to point out the prejudicial effects which the abolition of
the immunity of the corn-merchants would have had upon
the importation of corn, if any thing of the kind had
existed ; for in the speech against Leptines he searches for
every argument against this abolition, in and particularly
speaking of Leucon's Ateleia, he mentions the dangerous
effect which the abolition of this exemption might have

upon the free exportation from the Bosporus. Hence it

may be concluded either that the immunity of the corn-

merchants had no real existence, or that at any rate it
amounted to a very trifling exemption. At the most it
might be possible that the resident aliens who imported
corn, were exempted from certain degrading liturgies,
such as the Scaphephoria and the like, or from the pro-
393 Nor moreover is the least credit due
.
tection-money
to the absurd assertion of the scholiast to Aristophanes 394 ,
that in Athens, the merchants had an immunity from all

property-taxes. They were not even excepted from the

an exemption, which, it may be observed, would
liturgies,
have been extremely unfair ; Andocides, notwithstanding
that he was a merchant, performed liturgies, though he
was not appointed upon his own offer 395 . The statement
of the Scholiast is either an erroneous inference from the
words of the poet, or a misconception of the account of

3M See book III. 21.

393
Concerning the latter see book III. 7.
394
Plut. 905. cf. Eccles. 1019.
395
Andocid. de Myst. p. 65. cf. Inscript. ap. Chandler II. 6.

p. 48. Vit. X. Oral. p. 229.

 119

Euphronius, upon whose authority he relies. The truth

is, that those who traded by sea had an exemption from

serving in war, although this privilege
was probably cir-
cumscribed within narrow limits 396 Now since the.

397
exemption from military service is also called Ateleia ,

it seems to me most probable, that when Theophilus speaks

of the immunity of the corn-merchants, he means nothing

more than this exemption, which was granted alike to all
merchants. It may be also observed, that Athens had

public warehouses for corn in the Odeum, the Pompeum,

the long Porch, and at the naval storehouse near the sea,
where corn, bread, &c. were sold to the people 398 It is .

not however quite clear, whether this magazine was used

exclusively for corn which belonged to the State, or whether
grain was there measured out which was the property of
private merchants. There are some grounds for considering
the latter notion as the more probable 3 ". It is however

certain that considerable stores were brought to Athens at

the expence of the State, which must have been kept in

this warehouse. This corn was in part purchased with the

public money, and partly by voluntary contributions: a

396
This is stated by the Scholiast and Suidas in v.

397
Vid. Oral, in Neaer. ubi sup. Whether however the im-
munity from military service was comprised under the ctTiteict

ctirdvTui, may be fairly doubted, although military service was

included among the Aw; at least I do not venture to assume it

without express testimony to the point.

398
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 918. Concerning the public sale
of corn see also Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 103. concerning the Odeum
see Lex. Seg. p. 318. and upon the magazines of corn Poll. IX.
45. with the Commentators.
399
From Demosth. ut sup. p. 918. 2426.
 120

merchant named Chrysippus boasted of having given a

Demosthenes also presented an
talent for that purpose;

equal sum 400 Certain

.
persons named Sitonae were ap-
pointed to superintend the sale, whose office was not con-
sidered unimportant, as it implied the entire confidence of
the people ; there were also Apodectae, whose duty it was
to receive the corn and to measure it out. The former
situation was once filled by Demosthenes ; and it was
perhaps at that time that he gave the voluntary contribu-
tion already mentioned 401 . It was doubtless sold to the
low price, as otherwise these donations of
people at a very
money would have been unnecessary ; perhaps too the
corn brought to Athens was at times distributed gratis.
The want however of adequate information renders it
form any certain conclusion ; for even when
impossible to
the reader hopes that he has at length met with a
statement which may be depended upon, the ambiguity
of the expression and the difficulty of interpretation
oppose insuperable difficulties in his way. Thus De-
mosthenes, in the speech against Leptines, relates that
two years before, during a scarcity of corn, Leucon
had sent so large a quantity and at so cheap a rate, that
fifteen talents, of which Callisthenes had the management,

remained as an overplus. It may however be doubted

whether a clear surplus actually remained, in the sense in
which the commentators understand it, viz. that these
formed a portion of the money set apart for
fifteen talents

the purchase of corn, which had not been entirely con-

400
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 918. 27. Attic Decree at the end
of the Lives of the Ten Orators in Plutarch I.
Theophrast.
Char. 23. does not appear to refer to this point.
101
Poll. VIII. 114. Demosth. de Corona p. 310. 1.
sumed ; or whether we are not rather to understand that
as the corn had been bought up at so low a price, this

sum remained as a net surplus profit to the State, after

the corn had been sold to the people 4102 To this donation .

of corn an account of Strabo has been with much apparent

403 for the context shews that he
probability referred ;

must allude to some particular distribution of corn, inas-

much as he states expressly that Leucon had sent
2,100,000 medimni to the Athenians from Theudosia;
and it is possible that this took place within the space of

one year. For since Attica consumed 3,000,000 medimni,

of which in the regular course of things it was required to

produce 2,000,000, a failure of the crops might easily for

once have caused the produce of the country to fall off to
half the usual amount and while the other countries, which
;

also felt the effects of the general scarcity, were unable to

furnish any supplies, Leucon alone made up the deficiency.
On particular occasions free distributions of corn took
Athens such as were very frequent in
place at (<nTo&ocr/aj),

402
The passage is as follows (p. 467. 1417.): 'AAA $-
wrotittecs irctgM w<riv en&QUTrais yeno^tgyjjs ov ftttov vfttv ixccvov ffirov

AX rorovTor utrti irtoTUt.atffitiut

agyvglov ruhotiret, x
<*u, irt>o<rirt(>t'ytv to-Set i. Totrovrov should evi-
dently be written with Hier. Wolf, and compare the note of
F. A. Wolf ad Lept. pp. 257, 258. The date of the occurrence
is about Olymp. 105. 4. 'The chief ambiguity lies in the word

It might be said that if Demosthenes had

9rgo<r7reg<ys<rfas<. only
wished to signify the residue of the money appointed for purchas-
ing corn, he would have said 3g<ye!7-0i and that 7ro<r7rttysn<r6cti
;

shews that the excess was gained, viz. by the sale of corn to the
citizens; but I do not venture to found any arguments upon this
It must not on any account be
supposition. supposed that the
corn was sold abroad.
< 03
VII. p. 215.
 122

Rome the object of them being in both places to pacify

;

the people 404 . The presents in particular, which were at

times made to the people from foreign parts, were dis-
tributed gratis. Thus Demetrius Poliorcetes, in Olymp.
118. 2. promised to the Athenians 150,000 medimni of
corn as a present from his father. Thus Spartocus, the
son of Eumelus, king in the Bosporus, who reigned twenty

years from Olymp. 119. 1., sent 10,000 medimni to the

405 So again in Olymp. 83. 4. in the
people of Athens .

Archonship of Lysimachides, the Athenians during a

from an Egyptian of the name of
scarcity of corn received
Psammetichus, who was not known to them, 40,000 me-
dimni of wheat, which were distributed among the genuine
citizens 406 . With this distribution the Scholiast to Aris-
407 confounds another, in which each citizen
tophanes
404
Aristoph. Vesp. 714. The word a-n^osia. occurs in Pollux
VIII. 103. who observes from Andocides that checking-clerks

(wyg<pi7s) were employed for some purposes connected with it.

406
Plutarch. Demetr. 10. Diod. XX. 46. Attic Decree in
Chandler Inscript. II. 12. Concerning the time of Spartocus,
or, as Diodorus incorrectly calls him, Spartacus, see Diod. XX.
100. The same person occurs in two inscriptions found at Pha-
nagoria. Another more ancient Spartocus occurs in Diod. XII.
3J, 36. (where see the Commentators), also king of the Cim-
merian Bosporus, another in XIV. 93. and again another as
king in the Pontus in Diod. XVI. 52. who was succeeded by his
brother Pairisades. A Spartocus, father of Pairisades, perhaps
the same with the son of Eumelus, is mentioned in an inscription.
More however of these well known princes elsewhere. It may
be observed that by Bosporus and Pontus the same kingdom is

signified.
406
Philochorus ap. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 716. where V pv-

g*3? should be written from Plutarch. Pericl. 37. Concerning

the number of the citizens comp. above chap. 7.
407
Ubi sup.
 123

received five medimni of barley, although he himself

perceives that from 40,000 medimni 14,240 citizens could

not have each received five medimni. The donation of
which Aristophanes speaks, took place in Olymp. 89. 1.
one year before the Wasps of the same poet, when, in the
Archonship of Isarchus, an expedition was undertaken
against Euboea. At that time it was probably expected
that large supplies would be derived from this island, and
fifteen medimni of corn had therefore been promised to
each citizen, a new scrutiny being also instituted into the

genuineness of their births ; after all however they only

received five medimni 4 8 The division of the lands in
.

Eubcea, which Aristophanes expressly distinguishes from

this donation of corn, was perhaps promised at the same

time. The donation of corn made by Atticus to the

people, at the time of their severe distress, is also a well-

known circumstance 4 ".
Before I attempt to ascertain the prices of corn, some-

thing must be said upon the measures by which it was sold.

The Attic corn-medimnus (pstiipvos crmjgdf) contained, ac-
cording to the division commonly used in trade, six sextarii
(IxrsTf) or forty-eight choenices, or 192 cotylas (xoruAa*):
this last occurs both as dry and liquid measure 410 .

408
Aristophanes in the text, where the words faletf Qtvyar allude
to the examinations into the legal claims of the citizens, which
were made with great strictness upon these occasions. Con-
cerning the Archon, under whom the expedition was undertaken,
see Palmer Exercit. in Auct. Grsec. p. 738. Compare also the
Fragments of Philochorus in the edition of Lenz and Siebelis

pp. 51, 52.

409
Nepos Att. 2.
410
Pollux X. 113. IV. 168. VII. 195. cf. Athen. XI. p.
479. F.
 124

Pollux in the fourthbook reckons three cotylas instead of

four to a chcenix, which belongs to some other mode of

computing than that in use among the Athenians. A

choenix was the common daily allowance of food (rj|U.gg>j<ria
411 for slaves, from which circumstance
Tgo$>j) , particularly

the Corinthians, who had a great number of slaves, are

said to have been called choenix-measurers by the Pythian
priestess*
12 An athlete indeed was able, according to
.

Theophrastus, to consume two and half Attic chcenices a

day ; and if Aglais required for one meal twelve minus of
meat and a chus of wine, it is natural that she should eat
four choenices of maize-bread. This woman was a player
on the trumpet of great celebrity ; Herodorus of Megara,
also a famous trumpeter, consumed six choenices of maize-

bread each day, eight minas of meat, or according to

another authority twenty minas, and drank twice as much
as the former person 413 ; not to mention many other

gluttons, whose names may be found in Athenaeus. The

Spartans also, who lived upon food, appear to have
little

eaten much bread ; each person was therefore bound to

furnish monthly a medimnus of barley-meal
to the public

entertainment, together with a scanty portion of other provi-

sions. The Athenian prisoners in the quarries of Syracuse

only received half a choenix, i. e. two cotylas of barley and one

411
Cf. Herod. VII. 187. from which it might indeed be in-
ferred that a chrenix was but a small quantity; but it must be
remembered that he is speaking of soldiers, who would naturally
consume a large quantity, and that there were also many persons
of distinction. Suidas in v.
nu0yg TO,
c-tp/3oA ojx roitit, Athen.
III. p. 98. E.
412
Athen. VI. p. 272. B.
413
.Elian. Hist. Var. I. 26. Poll. IV. 89. Athen. X. p. 415. F.
in Athenaeus is the same as tv*.
cotyla of water, which allowance was continued for eight
months 414 That with this scanty food many of them
.

perished in the first sixty days from hunger and thirst is

not to be wondered at, particularly as barley contains but
little nourishment 415 . The size of these several measures
immediately follows from the determination of the me-
dimnus. Without paying any regard to the false state-
ments of Eisenschmid and Rome de Tlsle, or to the
ambiguous calculation of Rambach, I follow the account
given by Ideler, which can alone be depended upon. The
Athenian medimnus then, like the Sicilian, contained six
Roman modii 416 but the modius, according to a decree of
;

the people preserved in Festus, contained 16, the amphora

48 sextarii; consequently the Athenian medimnus con-
tained about two amphorae, which is also shewn by the
417
testimony of Rhemnius Fannius But the amphora .

or quadrantal was the Roman cubic foot, which as the

Roman foot of long measure is
nearly equal to 131 Paris

414
Concerning the Spartans see Plutarch. Lycurg. 12. Of
the prisoners in Syracuse, Thuc. VII. 87. Plutarch. Nic. 29.
cf. Eustath. ad II. %. p. 1282. 15. Diod. XIII. 33. asserts that

the proposal of Diocles was accepted, that the captive Athenians,

Sicilians, and Italians should work in prison, and receive two
chcenices a day (XIII. 19.); but although he here speaks of a
different period, viz. when they were brought out of the stone-

quarries,and separated from the other prisoners, Diodorus does

not deserve the least credit, and he has probably confounded two
cotylas with two choenices. It is unnecessary to adduce any

proof of the assertion that Diodorus

is a wretched historian.
415
Athen. III. p. 115.
416
Nepos Att. 2. Cic. Verr. Frument. 46, 49. Suidas in v.
in the same word.
F.I&IIAW, from which passage correct Zonaras
417
Hujus (amphorae) dimidium fert urna, ut et ipsa medimni
amphora, terque capit modium.
 12(3

lines, contained 1301 Paris cubic inches. The medinuuis

was therefore about equal to 2602 French or 3150.059
English cubic inches (for it can hardly be supposed that
the ratio of the modius to the medimnus was precisely as
6 to 1) ; and the English pint of dry measure containing
33.6 cubic inches, the medimnus of 3150 cubic inches is

equal to 93.75 pints, or 1 bushel 3 gallons 5.75 pints, i. e.

nearly a bushel and a half. Of other corn measures, con-
sistently with my plan, I shall only touch upon the artabe
and the Boeotian cophinus. The former was a Persian
measure, and contained, according to Herodotus 418 , an
Attic medimnus and three choenices. Others fix it at an

approximate valuation as equal to the Attic medimnus *!9.

It was also in use in Egypt, where there was besides a

smaller artabe, which only contained 3J Roman modii or

42
26f Athenian choenices . If the capacity of this measure
is doubled, it
gives 53^ Athenian choenices, which differs

so little from the value of the greater artabe in Herodotus

(51 choenices), that, as it appears, we may fairly assume
the smaller artabe to have been exactly half the greater, and
either that the statement of Herodotus is too low, or that
the valuation of the smaller artabe at 3g Roman modii is

somewhat too high, or, lastly, that the ratio of the Athenian
medimnus to the Roman modius has been estimated a
fraction too low. The Boeotian cophinus, which was used
both as a wet and dry measure, contained two 421 choeis,
i. a quarter metretes, or 36 cotylas, since the metretes
e.

contained 144 cotylas, which is equivalent to nine choenices,

or -nr medimnus of Athenian measure.

418
I. 192.
419
Suidas,Hesy chins, Polyaen. IV. 3.32. Epiphanius Ponder. 24.
420
Wesseling ad Diod. XX. 96.
4 *1
Poll. IV. 169. Hesych. in %$.
 isf
The prices of different kinds of corn were, as may be
supposed, very different. In Sicily and upper Italy the

price of barley was only half that of maize, in Athens

probably, as in Lusitania, it amounted to two thirds of the
422 but where the price of corn is men-
price of the latter ;

tioned, the particular description of grain is not always

specified. It may be seen from examples, that the prices
from the time of Solon to that of Demosthenes were con-
tinually rising ; yet again there frequently existed at the
same period a great fluctuation, according to the greater
or less productiveness of the years, the increase or diminu-
tion in the imports, the prejudicial effects of the engrossers
both in and out of Attica, or the imposition of high
custom-duties in foreign parts, or the accidental remittance
of them to the Athenians ; thus for example Leucon and
Pairisades, kings of the Bosporus, the former of whom
used to levy a duty of a thirtieth upon all exported corn,
granted to the Athenian people an exemption from this
tax 423 Prices at Athens were never again so low as in
.

the time of Solon, when the medimnus was sold for a

drachma 424 .
Barley-meal (aXpTa) was sold in the age of
Socrates at two drachmas the medimnus, and at an obolus
for four chcenices 425 ; by which however we are not to
understand meal prepared after the modern way. Diogenes
the Cynic reckons, that in his age the chrenix of barley-

422
Concerning Upper Italy and Lusitania see above chap. 10.
I will presently speak of Sicily and Athens.
423
in Lept. p. 467. in Phorm. p. 917. 25.
Demosth.
424
Plutarch. Solon. 23. Petit. Leg. Att. I. 1. 3. wishes to

read ten drachmas for one, which really almost borders on madness.
425
Plutarch, de Animi Tranquillitate 10. Stob. Serm. XCV.

p. 521. Comp. Barthel. in the Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions,

torn. XLVIII. p. 394. concerning the price of corn.
meal sold at two chalcus, and consequently the medimhus
at two drachmas 426 but this can only refer to the
:

cheapest years, for at a former period the common price

at Athens had been much higher. In a play of Aristo-
427 a man declares that he has lost a hecteus of
phanes
maize, by not having gone to the assembly, and conse-
quently not receiving his three oboli, whence it may be
concluded that about the 96th and 97th Olympiads, the
medimnus of maize sold for three drachmas, which agrees
very well with the price of barley just quoted. But in
the time of Demosthenes, and even after Alexander's ex-

pedition against Thebes, five drachmas were a moderate

price, at which during a scarcity some of the more liberal
corn-dealers sold their maize: thus Chrysippus sold 10,000
medimni at this price 428 According to the speech against
.

429 even barley must have been at

six drachmas
Phaenippus ,

for a long time, as eighteen drachmas are stated to be three

times the former price. The prices in other Grecian
States were not very different. In the second book of the
(Economics attributed to Aristotle, it is stated that the
price of barley-meal at Lampsacus was four drachmas, but
that the State once fixed it upon a particular occasion at
six drachmas, in order to obtain a profit of the difference.
When Sicily came under the Roman dominion, the latter

people fixed for supplies the Frumentum Decumanum

Alterum at three sesterces for each modius, the Imperatum
and ^Estimatum of maize at four and of barley at two

sesterces themodius; a price which must at that time

have been moderate, as the Romans would doubtless have

486
Diog. Laert. VI. in Vit. Diog.
427
Eccles. 543.
428
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 918.
*'>
P. 1048. 24.
 129

fixed a low rate, although according to the statement of

Cicero, was not insupportable to the cultivators. Con-

it

sequently the medimnus of the Decumanum Alterum cost

at that time four drachmas the medimnus, of the Impe-

ratum and ^Estimatum of barley four drachmas four

oboli, and of maize five drachmas two oboli of Attic
money. If the lowness of these prices should seem start-

ling, we must remember how dense was the population of

this country and how
large the exportation. In earlier
times however corn, as may be inferred from the price of
cattle 430 , must have been much cheaper in Sicily; and
subsequently, as for example in the time of Verres, prices

did not attain even this height, on account of the decreasing

population of the cities; the medimnus of maize was

commonly sold at that time for twelve sesterces, or two
drachmas four oboli, and never rose to more than fifteen

sesterces, or three drachmas four oboli 43 !. It is also to

be observed that in the prices of the supplies of Sicilian
corn, as theRomans had fixed them, the cost of transport
to each separate place of destination was likewise included.
Such prices as the following are extraordinary, viz. when
corn rose at Athens to sixteen and barley to eighteen drach-
mas; also at Rome in the year of the city 544, the Sicilian
medimnus of corn was sold, according to Polybius, at
fifteen drachmas, or rather denarii; and in Dollabella's

army, from which the supplies by way of Laodicea were

cut off, the medimnus of maize was sold for twelve
drachmas 432 . From a very corrupt passage of Strattis

430
See above chap. 14.
431
Cic. Verr. Frument. 74, 75, 81, 84.
432
|Deraosth. in Phorm. p. 918. Orat. in Phaenipp. p. 1045. 4.
Polyb. IX. 44. Cic. ad Fam. XII. 13.
VOL. I. K
 130
433 so much at least
preserved in Pollux , may be gathered,
that a slave, to the great astonishment of his master, pre-
tends to have bought a Boeotian cophinus of barley-meal
for about four drachmas, which gives for the medimnus
21 drachmas two oboli ; and it
may be inferred from the
same grammarian that another writer spoke of maize being
sold for 32 drachmas, without doubt referring to the
usurious practices of Cleomenes, which I have already
noticed434>
; not to mention that at Athens during the

siege of Sulla, the medimnus of maize rose to a thousand

drachmas, the inhabitants being reduced to feed even on

shoe? .and leathern bottles; and in like manner at Casili-

num, where the Prsenestini were besieged by Hannibal,

the same measure was sold for 200 drachmas 435 .

433
Pollux IV. 169. Petit ut sup. reckons from this passage
the medimnus at 128 drachmas.
434
Pollux IV. 165. where there stood formerly the word Ty-
an uncouth form, which Petitus alone re-
x.6iTct$i2K%[tt7rvg'y<n,

tained, and proposed to change to TgxvTs{J<Jg<*;e tto'?rt;gyo<.

(
The
reading of Voss's manuscript, TtouioiT<x,<ii2get%fcet irv^ol, is evidently
the right one, and consequently the price of maize is meant ;
manifestly that which was fixed by Cleomenes. The present
reading in the text, ?/2g#p>/, is entirely without foundation, as
well as Kiihn's conjecture, Tg**3e3g;tye< : Tntorrefix%ftoi,
the correction of Jungermann, has indeed some probability ;
however I consider the reading of Voss's manuscript to be correct
for this reason, that the use of the singular compound r^catetrec-
instead of 3vK<ttTgictxoi>Tetdg%ftei appears to be the very
^leSgttftftoi

reason why Pollux quotes the word.

435
See Plutarch. Sulla 13. and Strabo V. p. 164. where in
the account of Casilinum the medimnus
mentioned alone,
is

without the thing measured, which ought never to have appeared

surprising to so excellent a scholar as Casaubon, as it so frequently
occurs. Pliny, Frontinus, and Valerius Maximus substitute
indeed a mouse in the place of this measure, but Strabo had too
 131

The varieties of bread were extremely numerous in

Greece, and particularly at Athens, and the invention of
the Athenians was directed with great success to this
436 Athenaeus and Pollux
department of the culinary art .

will supply the amateur of the arts of cookery and baking

with sufficient materials for enquiries, which we neither

feel disposed nor entitled to enter upon. The most com-
mon distinction is between maize-bread (agro?) and barley-
bread (//.): cthQuTo. sometimes means barley-meal itself,
and sometimes a bread made of barley-meal, of a very fine
for cookery 437
quality, and adapted
T have not however
.

been able to meet with any clear statement in reference to

the price of bread, but it was probably high in proportion
to that of corn; for, if we may judge from the rate of

interest, a great profit must have been obtained upon the

capital employed in the preparation of bread. At Athens

four large and eight small loaves used to be baked out of a
choenix of corn; consequently one large or two small
loaves out of a cotyla 438 ; in dear times, when for
example
corn was at sixteen drachmas, a loaf of maize-bread of
this kind, probably a large one of a cotyla, might have
sold for an obolus: to which may be referred the fact,
that at the very same time maize-bread was sold in the

much judgment to say, as the Commentators impute to him,

that two hundred drachmas were given for a mouse, and that
the sellers died, but that the buyers saved their lives. We must
indeed, if this story be true, suppose that great events spring
from little causes.
436
Athen. III. p. 112. C. &c.
437
Omitting other passages, I only refer to Xenoph. (Econ.
8. 9. Plat. Rep. II. p. 372. B. Poll. VI. 78. Concerning the
,

word ft see below chap. 23.

438
Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 438. Lysistrat. 1208.
 132

Piraeeus in loaves of an obolus 439 . At Alexandria the

agroj o/3sXj or o/3fAVj? was sold for an obolus 440 , and

441 which how-
probably the same was the case at Athens ,

ever gives no information with regard to the price, as the

size is unknown ; and this Alexandrian bread was not of the

ordinary kind, but something more costly, which is opposed

to the common maize-bread 442 There were also loaves.

much 443 ;
of a larger size, for instance of three chrenices
and at the Dionysia they carried around in honour of the

divine inventor, loaves of from one to three medimni,

which were likewise called * 441
a^roi d/3eA/a .

(16.) The common measure for liquids was the metretes,

which contained twelve choeis or 144 cotylas, and to which
thecommon vessel (apQogeus, xatio$, xegaipiov) was adapted.
The Roman amphora, or the solid foot, was according to
439
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 918.
440
Concerning which bread and its price see Pollux I. 248.
and in other places, Athen. III. p. 111. B. who has been tran-
scribed by Eustath. ad II. N. p. 930. ad Odyss. A. p. 39. 38.
441
If the interpretation of /3A/s gTy$ in Aristophanes given
in Lex. Seg. p. 1 1 1 is correct.
.

Pherecrates ap. Athen. ubi sup. and Nicochares the comic

442

poet XIV. p. 645. C. It may be observed that the supposition,

ibid.

which is mentioned in Athenaeus, and thence in Eustathius, and

which occurred to Seber ad Poll. I. 248. that this bread received
its name from the price, is extremely improbable, although ejSt^ts
and o/SaXof are the same word, and originally meant a fork or

spit, and afterwards the coin so called. Cf. Plutarch. Lysand.

17. Poll. IX. 77. and the Commentators, Etymol. in iA<W,
also the Commentators upon Athenaeus ubi sup. and Taylor ad
Marm. Sandw. p. 49. It was no doubt so called from the forks
or long pieces of wood upon which it was baked in the ashes.
See Athen. III. ubi sup. and the Commentators, Photius p. 229.
443
Xenoph. Anab. VII. 3. 23.
444
Poll. VI. 75. cf. Eustath.
 133

the testimony of Rhemnius Fannius f of the Attic metretes:

but the Attic medimnus the doable of the amphora;
is

consequently the metretes was f of the Attic medimnus,

which is also evident from its being equal to 144 cotylas.
The contents of the medimnus were in a former place
ascertained to have been 2602 Paris inches, and therefore
the metretes is
equal to 2362.5 English cubic inches, or
81.818 pints, i. e. 10 gallons 1
pints of wine measure.
Who then is not astonished at the extraordinary cheapness
of wine in ancient times, upon reading of such prices, as
have been already quoted with regard to Lusitania, at
which more than ten gallons of unmixed wine sold for 3d. ?
And since the ancients allowed one part of wine to two of
water, without intending to dilute it much, ten gallons of
such liquor were sold for a penny. The common wine
must therefore have been looked upon as the cheapest of
all necessaries, the causes of which phenomenon have been
already stated. In Lusitania the metretes of wine appears
to have been equal in price to the medimnus >f barley, but
at Athens it seems to have been even cheaper than barley ;

for according to the speech against Pha?nippus, when

prices were three times higher than usual, barley was sold
at eighteen and the native Athenian wine at twelve drach-

mas 4 *5 Therefore, according to the usual price, the

.

metretes of wine was sold for four drachmas even this :

drachmas for a medimnus of

rate however, as well as six

barley, must have been considered dear there would be ;

no danger of exaggeration, if the half of this price were

assumed as an average for cheaper times. In an agreement
in Demosthenes 446 300 casks (xepafjuct) of Mendaean wine are

estimated at 600 drachmas, that is, the cask or the metretes

445
Orat. in Phsenipp. p. 1048. 24.
446
In Lacrit. p. 928. extr.
came to two drachmas, although Mendaean wine was used
even at the most sumptuous entertainments of the Macedo-
nians "7 . It is mentioned by Polybius 448
that the Rhodians

bought from the Sinopians, when the latter were invaded by

Mithridates in Olymp. 179. 4., for the sum of 140,000
drachmas 10,000 casks of wine, 300 talents of prepared
hair, a hundred talents of prepared strings, a thousand

complete suits of armour, four catapults with darts and

attendants, and 3000 gold coins. Whence it is easy to
perceive that this could only have been possible in case the
price of wine did not exceed that which has been above
mentioned. According to the grammarians a tricotylus of
wine, i. e. three cotylas, was sold at an obolus 449
; which
gives for the metretes eight drachmas. This therefore
was either of a superior sort, or it only appears dearer
because the retail-dealers (xa^njAoj) who sold it by the
obolus, added considerably to the price. On the other
hand there were also very costly wines ; for example the
Chian wine, &< early as in the time of Socrates, sold for a
mina the metretes 450 .
Oil, although it was produced in
large quantities in Attica, Asia Minor, and the islands,
appears to have maintained a higher price on account of
the great demand for it in ancient times, for the purposes

447
Athen. IV. p. 129. D. to omit other passages concerning
the goodness of this wine.
448
IV. 56.
449
Schol. Aristoph. Thesmoph. 750. and Hesych. in v. T$<-
jwTvX. J. Capellus de Mensur. II. 43. finds a still higher price
in Pollux IV. 169. according to which three choeis cost four
drachmas, and consequently the metretes sixteen drachmas ; but
his supposition rests upon an alteration in the text, which cannot
be assumed.
450
Plutarch, de Anim. Tranquil. 10.
 135

of light, for dressing meat, and for the gymnasia ; yet as

regards the Greeks I have only been able to find a single

statement of its price, and this is given in the second book
of the (Economics attributed to Aristotle 4 where it is
5i,

stated that the chus of oil was sold at Lampsacus for three

drachmas, and afterwards that a duty was laid upon it

equal to half its price, which raised it to four and half
drachmas consequently the metretes without the duty
;

was at 36 drachmas; which indeed as compared with

modern prices is a low rate.
Salt, which was measured

by phormi, or by medimni and chcenices 452 , was easily

imported into Athens on account of her dominion of the

sea ; and as long as Nisaea in Megaris was in the hands
of the Athenians, it was brought over from thence with
the greatest facility 453 . Besides this there were salt springs
in Attica itself, opposite Gephyra on the other side of the
454
Cephisus, and salt-works upon the seashore I have not ;

however found any thing with regard to the price of salt,

451
II. 2. 7. The duty was laid upon wine, corn, and other
commodities at half their price but in the part where the duty
;

upon oil should be stated there is an hiatus in the text. It is

evident that the chus of oil, after the addition of the duty, was
sold for 4^ drachmas but that the duty upon the chus was only
:

three oboli, as Camerarius gives it in his translation, is an

arbitrary assumption. The whole context confirms the supposi-

tion, that a duty equal to half the former price was also laid

upon oil. I therefore restore KCCI rov Ihatov, T %e avr<*

^S^et^ui
r^lati Transit Tsrr*'g
mti rpafiabov, and the price in the text
is
given according to this hypothesis.
452
Poll.X. 169. from the Demioprata, Aristoph. Acharn. 814.
(See also Aristot. H. A. VIII. 10. Eudem. Eth. VIII. 2.)
453
Aristoph. Acharn. 760. with the Scholiast and Commenta-
tors.
4M See the
Piraeean Inscription in Chandler II. 110.
 136

except that the Athenians once endeavoured to lower it

by a decree of the people
455 As to the supply of
.

wood, we may observe that the Athenians were forced

to import large quantities of timber, particularly for the
uses of shipbuilding, from distant countries, especially from
Macedonia 456 ; even palisades and props for the mines
were brought by sea 457 ; small wood for burning they had
in plenty, particularly beech-wood, from which charcoal was

made, a business in which the Acharnians were chiefly

458
engaged . Charcoal, firewood, and faggots were brought
into the city in baskets, carried either by men or on
asses 459 ; thus Phaenippus sent to Athens every day from
his boundary-estate in Cytheron six asses laden with wood,
which produced each day twelve drachmas*60 , whence an
ass's load may be estimated at two drachmas.

(17.) The meals of the Athenians, which were called

fuxgoTgoTre^oj, were for the most part scanty, and had little
that was agreeable 461 . But although the ordinary fare
was not very expensive, the great banquets with ointments,
female players upon the flute and cithara, Thasian wine,
eels, cheese, were by no means cheap ; " they
honey, See.

cost at least," says Menander,

" a small talent."" In the

Flatterers of Eupolis a repast of this kind is reckoned at

455
Aristoph. Eccles. 809. and Scholiast.
456
Thucyd. IV. 108. Xenoph. Hell. VI. 1. 4. Deraosth. in

Alexand. my ervviixuy p. 219. 4. cf. in Timoth. p. 1192. 1.

p. 1195. 1.
457
Demosth. in Mid. p. 568.
458
Aristoph. Acharn.
459
Poll. VI. 111. VII. 109.
460
Orat. in Phaenipp. p. 1041. 3.
461
See the comic poet Antiphanes ap. Athen. IV. p. 131. E.
Lynceus ibid. F. Alexis ibid. p. 137. D.
 137

a hundred drachmas, and the wine at the same sum 462 ;

an expence for Athens, though little in

sufficiently great

comparison with the extravagance and debauchery of the

Alexander's table for sixty or seventy persons cost
kings.
a hundred minas a day 463 Every thing eaten, with the
.

exception of what was prepared from corn, was originally

comprehended under the name of Opson (ovpov, o\|/o>vov) ;

Plato expressly comprises under it salt, olives, cheese,

464
onions, cabbage, figs, myrtle-berries, walnuts, and pulse ;

and it isevident that roots such as radishes, turnips, &c.

and all preparations of meat and fish, were also included ;
but by degrees the usage of this word was changed, so
that at length it
signified only fish, the favourite food of
the Athenian epicures 465 The. slave in Terence buys
.

cabbage and little fish for an old man's meal at an obelus 466 ,

but according to Theophrastus 467 a miser would have

been disgraced by allowing his wife only three chalcus for

opson three oboli appear to have been sufficient for a few

;

moderate persons to buy the opson uncooked 468 hence

;

469 thinks that a

Lysias guardian's charge of five oboli for
the opson of two boys and a little girl was excessive.
Three oboli were not sufficient to procure opson for so
47 and ten drachmas
expensive a person as Aristippus ,

462
Poll. IX. 59.
463
Athen. IV. p. 146. C.
464
Athen. VII. p. 277. A. Plat, de Rep. II.
p.
372. C. cf.

Xenoph. (Econ. 8. 9.
465
Athen. VII. p. 276. E.
466
And. II. 2. 32.
467
Char. 28.
468
Thugenides (not Thucydides) ap. Poll. VI. 88.
469
In Diogit. p. 905.
470
Diog. Laert. in Vit. Aristipp.
 138

47 l to be
appear to the slave in Terence very inadequate
for a marriage-feast. The following are particular state-
ments of prices, of which however some are inaccurate.
Four small pieces of dressed meat cost an obolus ac-
cording to Antiphanes; a piece of meat, as it was pre-
pared for eating, probably of a tolerable size, half an obolus
472 . In the Comic Poet Aris-
according to Aristophanes
473 a landlord
tophon appears to receive five chalcus for
some small livers and an intestine, probably a sausage ;
perhaps the same sum from several personswho dined
together. A partridge,
which any other person would
for
have given an obolus, Aristippus is said to have bought
for 50 drachmas 474 ; one extreme is as incredible as the

other. A dish of Boeotian fieldfares for a festival is sold

for a drachma in Aristophanes; seven maize-thiefs, birds
which in places where they are abundant are usually very
4? 5 and I
cheap, were not considered dear at an obolus ;

may also mention, that in the Athenian bird-market, a

476
jackdaw was sold for one obolus and a crow for three .

Of fish Athens had a superabundance, and the smaller

varieties, which are nearly worthless in all countries that

are copiously supplied with fish, bore, as may be sup-

posed, a very low price. A

species of small fish called
membrades may be bought for four chalcus, but not
eels or thunny-fish, says the comic poet Timocles 477 ;

of aphuas ($wa<), which, according to Lucian, were ex-

471
Andr. II. 6. 20.
472
Antiphanes ap. Athen. IV. p. 431. E. Aristoph. Ran. 562.
473
Pollux IV. 70.
474
Diog. Laert. ubi sup.
475
Aristoph. Acharn. 960. Av. 1079. with the Scholiast.
476
Aristoph. Av. 18.
477
Ap. Athen. VI. p. 241. A.
 139

ceedingly small and light, a large quantity could be bought

for an obolus ; their cheapness is particularly mentioned.
The sausage-seller in Aristophanes promises to offer up a
thousand goats to Artemis Agrotera (outbidding in jest
the offering of thanks for the battle of Marathon), when-
ever a hundred trichides, likewise a small kind of fish, are
sold for an obolus 478 , which was therefore an impossibility.
Larger and better fish bore a higher price, and the fish-

mongers were decried as a shameless and avaricious race ;

for a sea-polype they asked four oboli, for a cestra (pro-

bably a kind of pike) eight oboli, for two cestreis (mugiles)

ten oboli, for which eight were offered ; for a sea- wolf

(Aa/3ga) a fishmonger asked ten oboli, without fixing in

what currency but when it comes to paying, says Diphilus,
;

he had meant ^Eginetan oboli 479 A dish of echini cost.

when dressed eight oboli, according to the comic poet

48
Lynceus .
Eels, particularly those that came from the
lake Copais, were a favourite dish of the Athenians, and
as well as poultry and birds, were brought from Bceotia 481 .

A Copaic eel cost three drachmas in the time of Aris-

482
tophanes . Salted or pickled provisions (ragip^oj) par-

ticularly fish, were brought from the Pontus, Phrygia,

483
Egypt, Sardinia, and Cadiz , and were very abundant at

Athens, in different degrees of goodness the common sorts ;

were considered as inferior to meat, and were the food of

the lower classes and of the country people, according to

478
Lucian. Piscat. 48. Aristoph. Eq. 646, 660.
Athen. VI. p. 224. C. to p. 227. B.
480
Ap. Athen. IV. p. 132. B.
481
Aristoph. Pac. 1005. and the Scholiast; also Schol. Lysist-
703. Poll. VI. 63. Aristophanes in the Acharnenses.
482
Aristoph. Acharn. 961.
483
Poll. VI. 48.
 140

Demosthenes and Aristophanes as the proverb says, the

pickle often cost one obolus, but the sauce two

484
The .

485
comic poet Philippides reckons a dish of pickles for one

person at two or three oboli, and the capers for it in a

separate vessel at three chalcus. hardly worth men-

It is

tioning that vegetables, such as cabbages, &c. were sold at

a cheap rate of leguminous plants the same may be
;

concluded from an expression of Demosthenes 486 , who, in

order to point out the great increase of prices, says, " you
know that even vetches were dear." Beans, which were
eaten out of the shells as a remedy against drunkenness,
who perhaps
were, according to the statement of Timocles,
exaggerates in joke, so dear that eight
pods were sold for
an obolus, although they always used to be sold by the
chrenix 187 . A choenix of olives in the time of Socrates
sold for two chalcus, the cotyla of Attic, that is of the
488
best honey, cost five drachmas The warm beverage,
.

which the ancients drank instead of tea, cost a chalcus

489
according to Philemon .

484 Michael Apostol.

'Ofiohov 7<t%o{, 3v' efte^ar ru^rvfutrx,
XIV. 9.
485
Ap. Athen. VI. p. 230. A. At Rome in the time of Cato
the elder, a hundred denarii, as
Polybius usually says,
or,

drachmas, were given for a cask of pickles from the Pontus. See
Polyb. XXXI. 24.
486
In Androt. p. 598. 4.
487
Timocles ap. Athen. VI. p. 240. E. Concerning their use
see Alexis ap. Poll. VI. 45. and the Commentators; and for
their measure see Inscript. 123. torn. I. p. 164. ed. Boeckh.
488
Plutarch, de Animi Tranquil. 10. The expression of Aris-
tophanes (Pac. 253.) that the Attic honey was worth four oboli,
must be understood proverbially to mean something expensive
and costly. See Schol. and Suid. in v. T$aJ|8eAo
and TITT{*
/3A>. Kiister has misunderstood both passages.
from the
Ap. Poll. IX. 67. who (cap. 70.) correctly infers
489
 141

(18.) The clothing of the Athenians varied considerably

in materials, colour, and make, according to the time of
year as well as the age, family, rank, property, taste, and
object of the wearers ; and fashion, although not so all-
powerful as in modern days, had also its influence at that
time. Woollen garments were the most common ; although
linen ones were worn, especially by women, and were at a
low price, with the exception of the finest kinds 490 The .

Amorgian stuffs were an expensive material, which were

finerthan Byssus and Carpasus, almost transparent, and
sometimes dyed ; they are said to have derived their name
from the island Amorgus, where they were best manufac-
tured although others derive it from the dye or the plant
;

(aju,oyrj), from which latter word the island itself probably

491
received its name . Even woollen garments, if the
material and wearing were of superior quality, as the
Persian Caunace for example 492 were sold at a high price.
,

The prices which I have met with are as follows :

Socrates,
493
as stated by Plutarch , considers an Exomis (a dress
worn by the common people) to sold at be cheap when
Athens for ten drachmas. This was a garment with one
sleeve, the other arm being left bare. A Chlamys, the

lowness of the price that water for drinking and not for bathing
is meant. The words of Philemon are, dt^ov in the^Mw ,

reckoning of a guest with his landlord. The preceding words in

this corrupt passage, *< pahec refer to the
Tgjftw^!eA<7' J la-ri,

other articles furnished to the guest.

490
Vid. Pseudo-Plat. Epist. XIII. p. 363. A.
11

They were
called a^egy/Swe, a^egy/Jej, ^ravtt afio^yiw. See
concerning these Aristoph. Lysistrat. 150. and Schol. Lysistrat.
736. Schol. jEschin. p. 737. Reiske, Eustath. ad Dionys.
Perieg.
Poll. VII. 57. 74.
Harpocrat. Hesych. Suid. Etymol.
492
Aristoph. Vesp. 1132, 1140.
443
Ubi sup.
 142

usual dress of the knights and young men, of Macedonian

and Thessalian origin 491 , is called TgicrTa-nj^oj in Pollux <95 ,
by which doubtless the weight is not meant, but that its
value amounted to three silver staters, or twelve drachmas.
A the Eeclesiazusae of Aristophanes 496 , who
citizen in

appears without any upper garment, his wife having al-

ready gone with it to the assembly, declares, that since the
preservation of the State is to be the subject of debate,
he himself is in want of a preservation of four staters
(cr>Tr)gi'a TergaoTaT^oy) ; in this instance no one can doubt
with Pollux 497 whether the coin or the weight is meant, as it
isevident that sixteen drachmas, the price of the upper gar-
ment, are alluded to. When the young man in the Plutus
498

requires twenty drachmas from his aged mistress for an

upper garment, it is possible that he intended to make her
pay for an expensive one. Socrates mentions that purple
was sold for three minas, quoting it as an example of the
increased dearness of articles of luxury at Athens 4" it ;

may be doubted whether by this he means a garment or a

certain measure of dyed cloth ; in my opinion the former

isthe right supposition it is well known that the

:
gar-
ments made of the Byssus which grew in Achaia were
500
weighed against gold In the article of shoes great
.

luxury was displayed ; Laconian, which were the dress

494
Poll. VII. 46. X. 124. and the note of Hemsterhusius, also
X. 164. Ammonius in v. %>.tt[ivs and Strabo ubi sup. Dorvill. ad
Charit. p. 433. ed. Leips.
495 VI. 165.
496
Vs. 413.
497
IX. 58.
498
Vs. 883.
499 A p. Plutarch, ubi sup.
500
Plin. Hist. Nat. XIX. 4.
 143

shoes of men, Sicyonic, Persian, Tyrrhenian, Scythian,

Argive, Rhodian, Amyclaean, Thessalian, and Thracian
shoes, with several others, occur in the different provinces
of Greece ; and like our fashion of calling trifling things
after celebrated names 501 ,
so they had various kinds of shoes
named after distinguished persons, such as Alcibiadean,

Iphicratean, &c.
502
A pair
of Sicyonic woman's shoes cost
two drachmas according to Lucian 503 ; for a pair of man's
shoes the above-mentioned youth in the Plutus of Aristo-
504
phanes requires eight drachmas, which is
comparatively
high, and either too high a price is supposed to be given,
or it was for some very expensive and ornamented kind.
Ointment is
among the dearest articles of ancient times.
A cotyla of probably from the East, cost at
fine ointment,
505
Athens, according to Hipparchus and Menander , from

five to ten minas. The interlocutor in the comic poet

Antiphanes is not satisfied with moist ointment at two
minas the cotyla 506 . It is manifest that the Athenians,

although they were much addicted to the use of ointments,

and every thing contributing to the refined enjoyments of
life, could not have easily afforded to pay so high a price.

It is therefore probable that for the most part

they made
use of inferior sorts ; of such ointment perhaps as occurs

Aristophanes passim, and particularly Pollux VII. 85 89.

12

, Mvvdxta. See Pollux ubi sup. with his Com-

mentators, Athen. XII. p. 534. C. Schol. Lucian. Dial. Meretr.
The Iphicratean were not however a mere variety of fashion, but
an improved kind of shoes for the soldiers.
503
Dial. Meretr. 14.
504
Vs. 984.
505
Ap. Athen. XV. p. 691. C.
406
Ap. Athen. ibid.
 144

in Lucian, a small alabaster-box of which, brought from

507
Phoenicia, was sold for two drachmas .

(19-) A knowledge of the prices of different kinds

of furniture, implements, arms, and ships, would not be

unimportant for the determination of many questions.

The ancient writers however afford but few data, and of
those which we have some are too high, to be looked upon
as the customary prices, although it is probable that,

notwithstanding the low rate of wages and the existence

of slavery, the manufacturers on account of the high rate
of interest obtained a large profit, which raised the price
of certain commodities. Passing over the works of art,
the value of which was only determined by the taste of
the purchaser, I adduce the following examples. little A
cart for a chiWs plaything, cost an obolus according to

Aristophanes, and a small oil-flask (Xijxu^ov) the same sum,

an earthen cask three drachmas 508 ; a sideboard (lyyu^xij)
decorated with brazen figures of satyrs and heads of
oxen 509 , not particularly well executed, thirty drachmas ;
a small two-wheeled chariot for racing, probably with

many ornaments of ivory, brass, silver, &c. in the same

manner that the ancients used them upon beds and other
kinds of furniture 510 together with the wheels, cost two
,

minas 511 . The price of a scythe or sickle (SgeTravov) in

time of peace is
evidently exaggerated in joke by Aris-
512
tophanes ,
who supposes fifty drachmas to be given for

17
Ubi sup.
508
Aristoph. Nub. 861. Ran. 1267. Pac. 1201.
509
Lysias Fragm. p. 15.
510
Plutarch, de vitando aere alieno 2, 3.
511
Aristoph. Nub. 31.
'"'
Pac. 1200.
 145

it. A
private key together with the ring cost in the same
age three oboli, a magic ring a drachma
513 small . A
book for an agreement (yaj./x.a'nov), i. e. a small ordinary
wooden diptychon with two wax tablets, Demosthenes
values at two chalcus 514 . It is well known that the assize

price of a rope, even if a man used it for hanging himself,

was an obolus 515 .Arms and armour cannot have been
cheap ; in the time of war when the demand was con-
minas were, according to Aristophanes (who
siderable, ten

probably mentions the highest rate), the price of a coat

of mail of good workmanship and fastened with metal
chains (aXwo-^coroV) ; one mina, as it
appears, for a helmet ;

and sixty drachmas fora war-trumpet 516 For determining .

the expences of the marine it would be particularly de-

sirable to know the prices of articles employed in ship-

building, but very little definite information can be gathered

from the passages of ancient writers. A piece of wood
for making an oar (xowrewf) cost, according to Andocides 517 ,
five drachmas Lucian, who both from the lateness of the
;

period at which he lived and the bent of his writings

cannot be sufficient evidence, supposes the fraudulent god

Mercury in a reckoning with Charon to ask five drachmas

for an anchor for Charon's boat, which to the covetous
ferryman appears a large sum for the thong with which ;

the oar was fastened on (rgoTrcoT^), two oboli ; for a needle

513
Aristoph. Thesm. 432. Plut. 835.
514
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1283. 4. cf. Salmas. de M. U.X.
p. 403.
515
Lucian. Timon. 20.
516
Aristoph. Pac. 1223. and the Schol. 1250. and 1240.
417
De suo Reditu p. 81. Reiske (Ind. Andoc.) falsely under-
stood Kami* to mean a rower. The next passage is Lucian.
Dial. Mort. 4.
VOL. I. L
 146

tosew together the sail cloth, five oboJi for pitching-wax,

;

and cords for the sail-yard, altogether two drachmas.

nails,
The cost of a whole ship as compared with its size it is
not now possible to ascertain. In a bond of bottomry in
Demosthenes 518 , three thousand drachmas are lent upon a

merchant-vessel, by which however we are not justified in

assuming that the ship had not a greater value, as at

Athens a double pledge was not unfrequently given in

case of bottomry, and therefore its real value might have

been as much as a talent. Nor could the cost of a trireme
or thecommon ship of war, without its furniture, have
been much greater, as labour could be procured at a low
rate, and ships were easily built ; for which reason they
did not last long, but were frequently wrecked when out

at and were shattered to pieces in battle.

sea, cal- A
culation has been made from accounts of the expences of
the trierarchy, that it cost a talent to build the hull of a

trireme, but founded upon an erroneous supposition ;

it is

another means of determining the price might have been

derived from the account of Themistocles having built
100 or 200 triremes from the annual proceeds of the mines ;
but neither can the annual returns of the mines nor the
number of years be ascertained with certainty : the state-
ment of Polyasnus that a ship was built for every talent
which was allowed, is after all the most probable 519 but it ;

was perhaps only a contribution granted to the trierarchs,

who according to the most ancient form of the trierarchy
were obliged to supply all the furniture of the vessel, and

18
In Dionysod. p. 1283. 18.
M9 See
my Memoir upon the Mines of Laurion. According
to Diodorus (see below II. 20.) there were perhaps twenty tri-

remes built every year.

 147
were only indemnified for the building of the hull. Sub-

sequently however, on account of the general rise of prices,

a trireme may have stood a little higher: would that
instead of the fictitious sale of the triremes for fifty drach-

mas, at which the Corinthians once furnished some vessels

to the Athenians 520 , we had a statement of their real

value !

(20.) From the preceding particulars, it is possible

very nearly to determine the sum which was requisite for
the maintenance of a respectable person in the best times
of Athens. The most moderate person required every day
for opson one obolus, for a chrenix of corn, according- to
the price of barley in the age of Socrates, a quarter obolus,

making altogether in a year of 360 days, 75 drachmas;

and for clothes and shoes at least 15 drachmas ; a family
of four adults must therefore at the lowest have required
360 drachmas for the specified necessaries ; which sum
for the age of Demosthenes, when the price of corn was
five drachmas, must be increased by about 22^ drachmas
for each person, and for four persons by about 90: to
expence of house-room is to be added, which, if
this the

we reckon the value of a house at the lowest at three

minas, taking the ordinary rate of interest of twelve per
cent, gives an outlay of thirty-six drachmas ; so that the

poorest family of four free adults spent upon an average

from 390 to 400 drachmas a year, if they did not live upon
bread and water. Socrates had two wives, not indeed at
the same time, as has been fabulously reported, but one
after the other; the first was Myrto, whom he married

poor, and probably without a dowry ; the second Xan-

thippe; he had three children, of whom Lamprocles at

3X0
Herod. VI. 89.
 148

the death of his father had reached the age of manhood,

while Sophroniscus and Mencxenus were minors 521 ; for

himself, after having sacrificed his youth to unceasing

endeavours after knowledge, he followed no profession,
and his teaching did not produce any pecuniary return.
522 he lived
According to Xenophon , upon his own pro-
it had found a good
perty, which if purchaser (COVTJT^J),
would together with the house, have readily produced
five minas ; and he only required a small contribution
from his friends :whence it has heen inferred that prices
were most extraordinarily low at Athens. 'It is however
evident that Socrates and his family could not have lived

upon the proceeds of so small a property ; for, however

miserable his house may have been, it cannot be estimated
at less than three minas, so that even if the furniture is
not taken into consideration, the rest of his effects only
amounted to two minas, and the income from them ac-
cording to the ordinary rate of interest to only 24 drach-
mas, from which he could not have provided barley for
himself and his wife, not to mention the other necessaries
of life and the maintenance of his children. Shall we then
"
understand the expression purchaser (w'vyjT^)" of a lessee
of his property, and five minas as the annual rent ? This
way of avoiding the difficulty would be the easiest; but the
" to
ancients, as far as I am aware, only use the word buy
instead of
" to
(ojyeTa-flaj)" let," as applied to the public re-

venues, the letting of which was a real sale of the dues be-
longing to the State ; for a lease of the lands or the whole

521
Plat. Apol. 23. and there Fischer.
422
(Econ. 2. According to Meursius, who has been tran-
scribed by later writers, he lived upon it very respectably (per-
honeste) ! See Fort. Att. IV. p. 30.
 149

property (olxo?) of an individual to a tenant, the expression

po-flowv is used ; and, moreover, a lease of the whole property

never occurs, as far as I am aware, except in the case of the
estates of orphans. In addition to this, the fortune of Cri-
tobulus is valued at more than 500 minas, in the same sense
as that of Socrates is at five, with the remark that it came
to the same thing, as he supplied great sacrifices, enter-
tained guests, feasted and maintained many citizens, kept

horses, performed public liturgies, and subjected himself to

other expences besides the maintenance of his wife, things
which, with an income of 8^ talents, he would have been
undoubtedly able to afford, but not with only a property of
that amount. We must therefore believe that Xenophon
stated the whole property of Socrates at only five minas,
but we have equal right to reject as to receive this testi-

mony ; for the history of the ancient philosophers is so cor-

rupted and mixed with fables, and the circumstances of

their lives have been so differently represented even by con-

temporary writers, that one seldom treads upon firm ground.

Thus Apology of Plato, Socrates is represented as
in the

saying that he need not have given more than a mina of silver
for his release ; in which account Eubulides also agreed :

according to others he estimated the whole cause at 25

drachmas and in the Apology for Socrates attributed to
;

Xenophon, it is related that he had neither valued his law-

suit himself, nor would allow it to be valued by his friends 523 !

Thus the well-informed Demetrius of Phalerum maintained,

in opposition to Xenophon, that Socrates had, besides his

house, seventy minas lent out to Criton upon interest ;

and Libanius relates that he had lost eighty minas, which
were left him by his father, through a friend who had

Plat. Apol. 28. Diog. Laert. II. 41. Xenoph. Apol. 23.
 150

failed in his business, whom we can by no means suppose

with Schneider to have been the wealthy Crito 524 But .

assuming Xenophon's account to be entirely correct, it

must be thought that the mother of the young sons main-
tained herself and two children either by her labour or out
of her dowry, while Lamprocles supported himself, and
that the domestic economy for which Socrates was so

celebrated, consisted in keeping his family at work. He

may in that case, indeed, have lived upon his 24 drachmas,
together with some additional contributions from his
friends ; for his necessary expences were exceedingly small.
It is true that he is related to have often sacrificed at home
and upon the public altars 525 ,
but doubtless only baked
animals, according to the custom of the poor, together
with loaves of bread, which were mostly consumed with the
meat, and to which his family also contributed ; he lived in
the strictest sense upon bread and water, except when he
was entertained by his friends ; and therefore he may have
been much rejoiced, as he is said to have been, at barley being
sold at the low price of a quarter obolus the choenix 526 he :

wore no under-garment and his upper-garment was slight,

;

the same for summer and winter he generally went bare-

;

footed, and which he sometimes wore, pro-

his dress-shoes

bably lasted him his whole life. A

walk before his house
served him instead of opson for meals ; in short no slave
lived so poorly as he did 527 . His greatest expence was

524
Demetrius ap. Plutarch. Aristid. 1. where T <*/> should
resume its place in the text for Reiske's ^ olxtw ; Liban. Apol.
vol. III. p. 7. Schneider ad Xenoph. ubi sup.
525
Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. init.
526
See Plutarch and Stobaeus in the passages quoted in chap.
15.
527
Xenoph. ut sup. I. 5. 2. Plat. Conviv. p. 174. A. Athen.
 151

unquestionably the drachma which he gave to Prodicus ;

and without disparaging the greatness of his intellectual

powers, it may be boldly asserted, that as far as his

miserable condition and a certain resemblance to the habits
of the Cynic philosophers are concerned, the representa-
tion of Aristophanes is not only not exaggerated, but is

faithfully copied after the life.

If in the time of Socrates four persons could live

upon
440 drachmas, they must have passed a very wretched
existence, and to live respectably it was necessary even
then, and still more in the time of Demosthenes, to be pos-
sessed of a larger income. According to the speech against
Phaenippus, the plaintiff and his brother inherited from their

father 45 minas, upon which the orator says it was not

528 that is
easy to live , upon the interest, which according
to the common rate, amounts to 540 drachmas. Isa?us in

upon the estate of Hagnias 9 relates, that

his 52
speech
Stratocles and his brother had inherited an estate from
their father, which was indeed too inconsiderable to oblige
them to the performance of liturgies, but sufficient for
theirmaintenance now since the property of Stratocles
:

amounted at his death to five and a half talents, besides

IV. p. 157. E. Many persons used to go barefooted, even the

wealthy and distinguished Lycurgus (see Lives of the Ten
Orators).
528
P. 1045. 17.
P. 292. where read !* (tit <*##, >.urov^yiiv 31 p* *&*, as
529

Reiske proposed, with the addition however of another unhappy

conjecture. Ov% IKCHO, is manifestly corrupt, in the first
place
because ought to be pi, and not ov, and in the second, because
it

it would be absurd to remark, that his property was indeed not

sufficient to live upon, but too inconsiderable for the performance
of liturgies.
 152

his wife*s dowry of twenty minas, which cannot be reclamed

into his legacy, and since out of this sum he had acquired
eitherby subsequent inheritance or his own exertions the
sum of four talents 44 minas, his patrimony amounted to
46 minas, which according to the ordinary rate of interest
afforded an income of five minas 52 drachmas a year, and
at the rate of eighteen per cent at which he lent it out,
eight minas 28 drachmas, and with the interest of the
dowry reckoned at twelve per cent, ten minas 68 drachmas,

an income which was amply sufficient to maintain him.

Mantitheus, in a speech of Demosthenes 530 , asserts that
he had been supported and educated from the interest of
his mother's dowry, which amounted to a talent, conse-

quently according to the customary rate of interest, from

720 drachmas. The expences of Demosthenes himself
when a youth, of his young sister and of his mother,
amounted minas a year, exclusively of the cost of
to seven

house-rent, as they lived in their own house but the cost :

of Demosthenes' education was not paid out of this sum,

as it remained owing by the guardians After Lysias531 .

has finished speaking of the fraudulent account rendered

by the guardian of Diodotus' children (who for example

had charged more than a talent for clothes, shoes, and
hair-cutting within eight years, and more than 4000 drach-
mas for sacrifices and festivals, and at the termination of his
officewould only surrender three minas of silver and 30
532 he remarks 533 that " if he charges
Cyzicenic staters) , ,

more than any person in the city ever did, for two boys and

530
In Boeot. de Dote p. 1009. 28. p. 1023. 6.
531
Demosth. in Aphob. I. p. 824. 26 sqq. p. 825. 5.
632
In Diogit. p. 903. cf. p. 897. and p. 905.
533
Ibid. p.910.
 153

a girl, a nurse and female servant, he could not reckon more

than 1000 drachmas a year ;" which would give not much
less than three drachmas a day. This is equal to about
two and three pence in our money, a sum which
shillings

certainly must appear too large for three children and

two female slaves in the time of Lysias. In the age of
Solon an obolus must have gone very far, for that legislator

prohibited any woman from

carrying with her upon any
procession or journey more than would buy thus much of
food, together with a basket which was more than an
ell 534
and the Trcezenians appear to have made a
long :

liberal donation, when, according to Plutarch 535 they ,

decreed to allow two oboli to every one of the old-men,

women, and children, who had fled from Athens at the
time of the invasion of Xerxes. But in the flourishing

times of the State, one person could live but moderately

536
upon two or even three oboli a day ; upon the whole how-
ever the cheapness and facility of living were considerable.
From the piety of the Greeks towards the dead, the death
of a man, with his funeral and monument, often cost more
than many years of his life, forwe find that private in-
dividuals frequently spent for that purpose as much as
537
three, ten, fifteen, or even 120 minas .

534
Plutarch. Solon. 21.
535
Themistocl. 10.
836
Lucian (Epist. Saturn. 21.) says, that in order to satiate
one's self with maize or barley bread, together with a few cresses,
some thyme, or a few onions, four oboli were wanting; which is
the very sum that a miserly father gives to his son who has
reached his eighteenth year, for his daily sustenance, in another
place in the same author (Dial. Mort. 7.). This however cannot
be applied to Athens and to ancient times.
537
Lysias in Philon. p. 884. Pseudo-Plat. Epist. XIII. p. 361.
 154

The national wealth of the Athenians, exclusive of the

538 , I have estimated in a
public property and the mines
succeeding part of this work according to a probable
calculation, at from 30 to 40 thousand talents ; if of this

only 20,000 talents are reckoned as property paying

interest, each of the 20,000 citizens would have had the
interest of a talent, or according to the ordinary rate of

an annual income of 720 drachmas, if property

interest,
had been equally divided, which the ancient philosophers
and statesmen always considered as the greatest good
fortune of a State and with the addition, of the produce
;

of their labour, they might have been all able to live

comfortably. But a considerable number of the citizens

were poor; while others were possessed of great riches,

who from the lowness of prices and the high rate of
interest were able not only to live luxuriously, but at

the same time to accumulate additional wealth, as capital

increased with extreme rapidity. This inequality de-
stroyed the State and the morals of the inhabitants. The
most natural consequence of it was the of the
servility
poor towards the rich, although they thought that they
had the same pretensionsas their superiors in wealth ; and
the wealthy citizens practised the same canvassing for

popular favour, as was the custom at Rome, with different

degrees of utility, or rather of hurtfulness. A citizen

might perhaps adopt beneficial means for obtaining his

end, as Cimon for example, the first man of his age,

who, besides his great mental qualities, imitated Pisi-
stratus in leaving his lands and gardens without any

E. Demosth. in Boeot. de Dote p. 1023. 22. Lysias in Diogit.

p. 905. Demosth. in Stephan. I.
p. 1124. 15.
538
IV. 4.
 155

keepers, and thus the produce of his farms and his house
became almost the property of the public ; he used also to
provide cheap entertainments for the poor, to bury the
indigent, to distribute small pieces of money when he
went out, and to cause his attendants to change clothes
with decayed citizens 539 . Yet these were the very means
by which the sovereign citizens were reduced to a miserable
state of beggary and dependance. Even this however
might have been tolerable ; but as every statesman had not
the means of making such large outlays from his private

fortune, and liberality to the people being necessary to

purchase their favour, the distribution of money at the

festivals, the payment of the soldiers, the Ecclesiasts,
Dicasts, and senators, the costly sacrifices, and the Cleru-
chiae, were introduced by the demagogues: the allies were
compelled to try their causes at Athens, among other
reasons for producing more fees to the Dicasts, and em-
54 of every oppressive act
ployment for the other citizens
'
:

committed against the allies, public crimes were the con-

sequence, which the demagogues pretended that they were
driven to by the poverty of the people 541 And when the .

necessary consequence and punishment of their tyranny

arrived in the defection of the allies, the helpless condition
of the State had increased ; for the multitude had forgotten
their former activity, and been gradually accustomed to
ease and refinement ; no course therefore remained but to
Struggle to regain their former ascendancy. Add to this
the envy which the poor entertained against the rich, and

539
Theopomp. ap. Athen. XII. p. 5'33. A. Plutarch. Cimon.
10. partly from Aristotle, and Pericl. 9.
3
Xenoph. de Rep. Athen.
M1
Xenoph. de Vectig. init.
 156

the joy and readiness with which they divided their pos-
sessions, upon which, after bribery had been tried in vain,
the whole rage of the multitude vented itself. Xenophon,
in his treatise upon the Revenues, understood perfectly that

it was necessary to promote the welfare of individuals :

but, leaving out of the question the insufficiency of his

proposals, Athens, even if her power in foreign parts could

have been restored, was lost beyond all hope of recovery,
as the minds of her citizens could not be so easily recalled

to a state consistent with her desired prosperity.

(21.) From the extreme cheapness of the necessaries of

life,the wages of labour must have been at a low rate in

ancient times ; and the number of competitors in the
market for labour, among whom, besides the Thetes and the
resident aliens, a large portion of slaves should be reckoned,
must have contributed 542
to produce a farther diminution .

In addition to the of competition, the gangs of

effect

slaves maintained by the wealthy essentially injured the

profits of the poorer
classes of citizens. And it was
with justice that the Phocians, who are said to have

subsequently prohibited the keeping of slaves, upbraided

Mnason, who possessed more than a thousand, with keeping
an equal number of citizens out of employment 543 After .

the Peloponnesian war, even citizens who had been accus-

tomed to live in a better condition of life the struggle
which it
produced had been so great maintained them-
selves by working for daily wages at any manual labour,
as they had lost their foreign estates, rents had fallen as
well from the scarcity of money, as from the decrease of
the population, and loans were not to be procured 544 . I

M2 Cf.
Xenoph. de Vectig. 4.
843
A then. VI. p. 264. C. cf. p. 272. B.
544
Xenoph. Mera. Socrat. II. 7, 8.
 157

have been able to find but few exact statements of the

amount of wages of labour : Lucian states that in the age
of Timon (provided he does not refer to earlier what
really belongs to later times) four oboli were the daily
545 ;
wages for garden or field-labour upon a distant estate
this same sum occurs as a porter's wages in Aristophanes,

and of a common labourer who carried manure 546 . When

Ptolemy sent 100 masons and 350 labourers to the Ilho-

dians, in order to repair the damage caused by the earth-

quake, he gave them fourteen talents a year for opson,

that is, three oboli apiece 547 which, if they were slaves,
;

was the expence of their maintenance, if free labourers, only

a part of their wages, as a man required other things besides

opson. The philosophers Menedemus and Asclepiades
must have been powerful labourers in their youth, if they
earned two drachmas a night for grinding in a corn-mill 548 .

Particular services, which require a certain degree of com-

pliance on the part of the labourers, received a higher

in all other great cities. Bacchus,
recompense at Athens, as
in the Frogs of Aristophanes 549 , wishes to have his bundle
carried by a porter, who asks two drachmas for his
trouble ;but when the god offers the departed shade nine
oboli, he declares that " rather than do this he would re-
turn to life again." If this dialogue in the region of shades

isnot a scene of real life, it has no point a living porter

:

at Athens was perhaps equally exorbitant in his de-

mands, and if less was offered him, he might naturally

answer that he would sooner die than do it. The fare

545
Lucian. Tiinon. 6. 12.
640
Aristoph. ap. Poll. VII. 133. and Eccles. 310.
M7
Polyb. V. 88.
848
Phanodemus and Philochorus ap. Athen. IV. p. 168. A.
Ma Vs. 172
sqq.
 158

paid for passages by sea was extremely moderate, parti-

cularly for long voyages; two oboli to go from TEgina
it cost
to the Piraeeus ; is, more than twenty -one miles ;
that for
the fare from Egypt or the Pontus to the same port, more
than 600 miles, for a man with his family and baggage, was
at most two drachmas in the age of Plato ; a proof that
commerce was very profitable, so that it was not found
necessary to require much from passengers. In the time
of Lucian the fare from Athens to JEgina. was four
oboli 550 . The freight of timber appears to have been
more considerable mentioned by Demosthenes 551 ,
in a case

in which 1750 drachmas were paid for a cargo from

Macedonia to Athens: the immense corn vessel the Isis,

which, in the time of the emperors, brought so much corn

from Egypt to Italy, that it was asserted that one cargo
would be sufficient for a year's consumption of all Attica,
produced at the twelve talents of freightage per
least

annum 552 . The

fulling of an upper garment cost three
553
oboli Thirty drachmas were paid for engraving a decree
.

of moderate size, if we may judge from the fragment that

remains; 50 drachmas were assigned for engraving all the
decrees of Lycurgus in the Archonship of Anaxicrates
554 which can only be explained by sup-
(Olymp. 118. 2.) ,

posing that the writing was for the most part very small.

650 258.
Plat. Gorg. . 143. ed. Heindorf. Lucian. vol. III. p.
ed. Reiz.
551
In Timoth. p. 1192- That only one cargo is meant is

evident from the mention of only one captain, ibid. 1. 24.

552
Lucian. ut sup. p. 256.
553
Aristoph. Vesp. 1123. cf.
1122.
454
Marm. Oxon. XXIV. ed. Cbandl. and in some unpublished
inscriptions ; third decree at the end of the Lives of the Ten
Orators.
 159

The great inscription which was first published by Bar-

555 j s on
thelemy , ly 3' 8" 4'" Paris measure high, 6" 6'"
thick, the upper part, which contains an image in high
11", the lower part upon which the writing is
relief, is 1'

engraved, 2' 4" 6'" wide. The whole inscription consists

of only forty rows of letters, which are 3 lines high, with

spaces between the rows of two lines in height ; so that the

whole height of the inscription itself is 1' 6" 4'". In addi-
tion to this we may notice the payments at the baths,

which, according to Lucian, amounted to two oboli, although

556
they cannot be considered solely as the wages of labour .

For the labour of plucking out the hair with pitch, in order
to make the skin resemble that of a woman, a person is
represented in Philemon as paying four men six chalcus
557
apiece, as it appears from a passage in Pollux It may .

be also observed the rich had private, and the people of

Athens public baths 558 .

The pay of thewas different according to

soldiers

times and circumstances, and varied between two oboli,

and two drachmas, the latter including the provision-
money an Hoplites and his attendant ; the cavalry
for
received from two to four times, officers generally twice,
and generals only four times that amount the provision-:

money was usually equal to the pay. A soldier could

maintain himself sufficiently well for two or three oboli,

especially as in many places living was much cheaper than

at Athens ; out of his pay he was to provide clothes and
arms, after which a certain overplus remained, which, with

:f>
The Choiseul inscription.
556
Lexiphanes 2.
i7
IX. 66. and there Hemsterhuis.
558
Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 2. 10. see Barthel. Anach. torn. II.

chap. 20.
 160

the addition of plunder, might enable him to amass a decvnt

fortune. This explains the meaning of the comic poet

Theopompus
559
, who says, that with a pay of two oboli
a soldier could maintain a wife, and with four oboli his
fortune was complete ; where he<neans the pay alone with-
out the provision. The pay of the Dicasts and Ecclesiasts
amounted in its increased state to three oboli, and like the
Theorica, only served as a contribution to the support of
the citizens: the Heliast in the Wasps of Aristophanes 560

clearly shews the difficulty which there was in procuring

bread, opson, and wood for three persons out of this
allowance clothes and house-room he does not reckon, as
:

these he provided from his private property. The salaries

of the senators and ambassadors were more considerable ;
the liberal arts and sciences were the most abundantly

paid, although the rewards of those who administered to

unlawful pleasure were scarcely inferior. The ancient
states maintained physicians who were paid at the public-

cost 561 thus, for example, Hippocrates is said to have

;

been public physician at Athens these again had attend- :

ants, for the most part slaves, who exercised their calling
562 The celebrated phy-
among people of low condition .

sician Democedes of Croto received about the sixtieth

539
Ap. Poll. IX. 64. where read with Kiihn,
XMI-TOI Ttf ova a tiKog iv v^tifitu TSTga/3aA/,
ti vvv yi J/3oAe <psgy jg tgfyu yvvoiix.cc,

[Person Praef. Hec. p. 43. writes the last line, ti 2r y *,

^>eg< Tge<pe<v yvietliuc. The correct reading probably is, ti

560
Vesp. 299. cf. 699.
%1
Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. IV. 2. 5. Plat. Gorg. $. 23. Con-
cerning the pay see Strab. IV. p. 125. Diod. XII. 13.
562
Plat. Leg.
 161

Olympiad, notwithstanding- the small quantity of money

then in circulation, the large salary of thirty-six JEginetan
minas or of one Attic talent of silver being invited to :

Athens, he received a hundred minas, until Polycrates of

Samos gave him two talents 563 It cannot be doubted.

that many artists of a different description were paid in a

manner by the State, such as the head-architect at
similar
Rhodes and Cyzicus, and doubtless at every place of im-
portance. The pay of musicians and actors was very
considerable. Amcebeus, a singer in ancient Athens, re-
ceived an Attic talent for each time that he appeared 56 * ;
it is well known that the
flute-players were very highly
paid. In a Corcyraean inscription 565 of no great antiquity,
50 Corinthian or 83^ Attic minas, are fixed as the pay for
three auletae, three tragic, and three comic actors for a

festivity, besides the large expences of their maintenance.

Distinguished actor were not less highly paid, although

they made considerable gains by travelling from place to
566
place, when they were not employed at Athens ; thus, for

example, Polus or Aristodemus is said to have gained a

talent in two days, or even in one 567 In like manner .

common strolling players, jugglers, conjurors, fortune-

563
Herod. III. 131.
564
Aristeas ap. Athen. XV. p. 623. D.
565
Inscript. 150. torn. I. p. 231. ed. Boeckh.
566
Cf. Demosth. de fals. Leg. and the second argument to
this oration.
567
Vit. X. Orat. p. 268. ed. TUbing. Gell. XI. 9. 10. Con-
cerning the pay of the common actors at Rome, see Lipsius Exc.
N. ad Tacit. Annal. I. It is difficult to believe that Demo-

sthenes gave 10,000 drachmas to the actor Neoptolemus for

teaching him to speak with long breath, as is stated in the Lives

of the Ten Orators, p. 260.

VOL. I. M
 162

gained a competence by their callings, although

tellers, Sic.
the sum which one person paid was inconsiderable, for ex-
568
ample, a chalcus, an obolus, or sometimes a drachma ;

and arts, including

apprentices' fees for instruction in trades
even that of medicine, had been introduced in the time of
Socrates 569 The tribes at Athens were bound to provide
.

for a part of the instruction in music and gymnastic

exercises, and they had their own teachers, by whom the
youth of the whole tribe were instructed 570 ; J n the other
schools each person paid, but how much we are not in-
formed 571 an exception was made to this rule by some
:

enactments of Charondas, who is said to have appointed

salaries the grammarians, if the laws, from which

for

Diodorus 572 took his account, are not fabrications. The

teachers of philosophy and rhetoric, or the sophists, were
not paid by the State till later times ; at first however they
obtained large sums from their scholars, the worthy suc-
cessors of the mercenary lyric poets, whose inspiration was
573
frequently the result of gold .
Protagoras of Abdera is

568
Casaub. ad Theophrast. Char. 6. Lucian gives a good
deal of information with regard to the fortune-tellers : the most
remarkable instance of growing rich by this art occurs in Isocrat.
vEginet.
569
Plat. Menon. p. 90. B. sqq.
570 de Nora. p. 1001. 19.
Demosth. in Bceot.
571
Demosth. in Aphob. I. p. 828.
572
Diod. XII. Although their spuriousness has been
13.

proved, yet every thing that occurs in them cannot be rejected as

forged: the latter law however gives strong grounds for suspect-
that it is later than the Alexandrian age.
ing
Many persons have treated of the pay of learned men. The
673

most important particulars have been collected by Wolf(Fer-

mischte Schriftcn p. 42 sqq.) without any parade of quotations.
 163

said to have been the first who taught for money ; and he
received from his pupils a hundred minas for their com-
574 575
plete education Gorgias required the same sum,
:

notwithstanding which he only left at his death a thousand

577 who was other-
staters 576 together with Zeno of Elea
:
,

wise unlike the sophists. Instruction being obtained at so

high a price, it is natural that competition should have

arisen, and endeavours to agree for moderate terms; at which
we who carry on the same trade with books, as they with
their oral instruction, should be the last to be astonished.

Hippias, while still a young man, together with Protagoras,

earned in Sicily in a very short space of time a hundred and

fifty minas, of which more than twenty minas came from one
small town ; and not as appears by any long course of
it

education 578 .
By degrees however the number of teachers

brought about a reduction of the price : Euenus of Paros,

as early as in the time of Socrates, exposed himself to the
ridicule of the multitude by taking only ten minas 579 , for
which sum also Isocrates taught the whole art of rhetoric 580 ;

574
Quintil. Inst. Orat. III. 1. Cell. V. 10. Diog. IX. 52. and
there Menage.
575
Suidas, and Diod. XII. 53.
576
Isocral. de Antidosi p. 84. ed. Orell.
677
Plat. Alcib. A. The Scholiast of Aristophanes
I.
p. 119.

(Nub. that
873.) states the teachers would not have readily
taken less than a talent : if any reliance is to be placed on this
account, which is hardly necessary, it must be referred to the
time of Socrates alone.
578
Plat. Hipp. . 5. For farther information concerning Hip-
Vit. Soph. 1. 11.
pias, see Suidas, Philostr. I.
Apulej. Florid,
p. 346. ed. Elm.
579
Plat. Apol. Socrat. p. 20. B.
580
Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 938. 17. Plutarch, in Vit. Demosth.
and Vit. X. Orat. in Vit. Isocrat.
 16*4

and this in the time of Lycurgus was considered as the

common remuneration of a teacher of eloquence 581 At .

last even the followers of Socrates were content to teach

for money, Aristippus having, as it is said, been the first to
set the 582
It may be also mentioned, that
example .
they
used to receive money from each pupil for private lectures;
thus Prodicus, for example, received from one, two, and
four, to fifty drachmas 583
Antiphon was the first person
.

who wrote speeches for money, and he was paid highly for
them 584 I am almost ashamed to speak of the prices of
.

intercourse with persons of both sexes, which, according to

Suidas and Zonaras 585 , were fixed by law three chalcus, :

one and two oboli, a drachma 586 ; a stater with women of

587 but the
middling condition , price of a Lais was 10,000
drachmas for a night 588 Other prices may be seen in
.

589 and the author of the 5

Lysias , epistles of ^Eschines 90.

(22.) The rate of interest in Greece was expressed

either by the number of oboli or drachmas which were

5S1
Vit. Dec. Oral, in Vit. Lycurg.
582
Diog. II. 65. and there Menage, cf. 72, 74. He is said
to have taken from 1500 to 100 drachmas, although others refer
these accounts to Isocrates.
583
Plat. Cratyl. init. Aristot. Rhet. III. 14. Philost. ut sup.

12. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 360. Suidas in v. rigo3/*, Eudoc.

Ion. p. 365.
584
Van Spaan (Ruhnken) de Antiph. p. 809. torn. VII. of
Reiske's Orators.
885
In V. 3tKy^eCftfiet .

586 Athen. VI. 241. E. Aristoph.

Hesych. in v. Tg<To?rogn), p.
Thesm. 1207. The diobolares are we'll known.
Theopompus the Comic poet ap. Poll. IX. 59.
487

iss
Sotion ap. Cell. I. 8. 8.
w In Simon, pp. 147, 148.
490
Pseud-TEschin. Epist. 7.
 165

paid by the month for each mina that was borrowed, or by

the part of the principal that was paid as interest either

annually, or for the whole time of the loan. According to

the first method of speaking, interest of ten per cent per
annum, is called at five oboli (STT* wevrs o/3oXo7f), of twelve
per cent at a drachma (sir} of sixteen per cent at
Sga^ju,^),

eight oboli (en OXTW o/3oXo7j), of eighteen per cent at nine

oboli (sir
ewsot o/3oXo7f), and of 24 or 36 per cent at two or

three drachmas (ETT) 8u<7, TKT\ 8gapgptog) :

according to the
other method, the rates of the third, fifth, sixth, eighth,
and tenth parts of the principal, either annually or for any
specified term, are 33^, 20, iGf, 12|, and ten per cent
(TOXOJ eTT/TgjTOi, eTT/TTSju/roj, e<pex.TOt, eTro'ySooj, iTnSsxarot) 591.

Passages in the ancient writers leave no room for doubt

that the expressions above-cited have the sense assigned to
them ; and in the first method of expression, the specified
number of and drachmas, was the amount of interest
oboli
to be paid by the month, and in the other the portion of
the principal was interest to be paid either annually, or in
cases of bottomry for the time of the ship's passage spe-
cified in the agreement some earlier writers however,
:

whom Salmasius has already refuted with too great minute-

ness, have maintained the absurd notion, that the tenth,
eighth, sixth, fifth, and third parts of the loan were interest
to be paid monthly, or in agreements of bottomry even
daily; nor can we feel otherwise than astonished to find Bar-

591
The words tWr^Ta^, k^mrei^To?, &c. in the mathematical
and musical writings of the ancients, signify 1^, ]i, &c. as the
beginner may learn from my Memoir uber die Bildung der
Weltseele im Timdos des Platon, Studien 1817. part I.
p. 50. that
in the reckoning of interest they mean ^, &c. has been already
remarked by Salmasius de M. U. I. cf. Schneider ad Xenoph.
de Vectig. p. 183.
 59'2
in contradiction to Petit,
thelemy , considering sixteen per
cent as monthly interest. The main source of this error
lies in the
supposition, that all interest was paid by the
month, which without doubt was frequently the case 593 but :

not only is it impossible that in bonds of bottomry, the

interest could have been paid monthly, as the borrower
was neither able nor obliged to pay it until after his
return ; but even in debts of mortgage, the annual pay-
ment of interest was not uncommon 594 : nor if in ancient

Greece, at all times, and in all places, interest had been

paid by the month, would it follow from the names of the
and eighth parts, that
interest of the third, fifth, sixth,

those portions of the principal were paid monthly, any

more than at present, when it is paid quarterly or half
yearly, it follows from the expression that a sum of money
is lent at five per cent, that five per cent is to be paid every
quarter or half year. We
may also remark, omitting the
agreements of bottomry, which did not exactly run a year,
that the interest of the tenth part (TOXOJ eviUxuTot) is the
same as the interest of five oboli, of the eighth part (12

per cent) nearly the same as the interest of one drachma

(12 per cent), of the sixth part (16| per cent) nearly the
same as the rate at eight oboli (16 per cent), of the fifth part
(20 per cent) nearly the same as the rate at nine oboli

592
Anachars. torn. IV. p. 372.
693
Aristoph. Nub. init. and 751 sqq.
594
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1225. 15. Inscript. ap. Montfaucon
Diar. Ital. p. 412. Even when the rate of interest was fixed by
the month, it might be paid by the year, as is evident from the

above-quoted inscription. In the Orchomenian Inscription

(Rose p. 263.) the rate of interest is also fixed by the month, but
it did not necessarily follow that the money should therefore be

paid every month.

 167

(18 per cent), and of the third part (33^) as the rate of
three drachmas (36 per cent) but the examples which \\ill
:

be presently quoted prove that they are not therefore to

be taken as identical and each expression must be under-
;

stood precisely in its strict meaning as it stands, since the

lenders would never have made use of indefinite expres-
sions. It was not until the age of Justinian that the

Centesima, which is
exactly equal to the interest at
a

drachma, was identified with the interest of the eighth

part (TOKO; or 12^ per cent, as Salmasius correctly

e-7roy$o$)
remarks although
; he himself, in speaking of more ancient
times, does not always accurately distinguish between the
rates of interest which I have mentioned as only slightly

differing.
From the preceding investigation into the method of

expressing the rate of interest, it follows that in Greece

interest was not so low as in modern States, and at Rome
in the age of Cicero the lowest rate at Athens appears
:

to have been ten per cent, the highest thirty-six per cent ;
the latter is not exceeded by any examples of interest
received upon bottomry, although these were in fact higher
than they appear, since the time of a ship's voyage for which
the money was generally lent, was shorter than a year. I can
findno authority for the statement of Casaubon 595^ that
they sometimes obtained an interest of four drachmas a
month, although usurers took without reserve as much
as they could extort. Interest equal to half the principal

(jjjtuoAioj TOXOJ), first occurs a considerable time after the

Christian era in a case of a loan of products of the soil to
be repaid in kind 596 The cause of the high rate of
.

595
Ad Theophrast. Char. 6.
596
Salmas.de M. U. VIII.
 168

interest can only be that it was then more difficult than

now to procure a loan of money, or what is
equivalent,
that there was a greater demand for money to be borrowed,
and a smaller quantity to be lent. But that in general, this
circumstance was not owing to the insufficient quantity of

money in circulation,
appears to be evident from this, that
in the case of the metallic circulation being too contracted,
the demand for money would necessarily be diminished,
on account of the the prices of other commodities,
fall in

and also from the fact, that landed estates bore a rent
equal to eight per cent of their value, and even more
than twelve per cent for the lease of the whole property 597 ;
so that the rate of interest does not appear to depend upon
the quantity of money in circulation, but to have a com-
mon origin with rent. The chief reasons therefore why
money was not willingly lent out at a low interest, appear
to be, that any person who wished to carry on business
with it himself, might obtain a high profit by employing it
in commerce or manufactures 598 in the same way that any
,

one who managed his own property himself, on account of the

smaller expence of slave-labour, would necessarily have made
a greater net profit than at the present time under a different
combination of circumstances. Add to this that credit
was at a low ebb, which was occasioned by the want of
moral principles, and the imperfection of the civil con-
stitutions and jurisdiction of the different States, and
of obtaining restitution for
especially by the difficulty
injuries in a foreign country. Even the legislation of
Solon, by which the rights of individuals were more

accurately defined, struck at the root of the security of the

597
See below chap. 24.
)S
See above chap. 9.
 169

creditor, by taking away his right over the body of the

debtor; and it was shewn by the measure called the Seisach-

theia, how little respect the State had for the security of
property, whether by this ordinance merely the value of
the currency was depreciated, or the rate of interest also was

diminished, or whether, in certain cases at least, a complete

annihilation of all claims of debt was effected by it 5 " ;

nor was the severity of the laws upon debt sufficient to

produce any great security in the lending of

money, as
the administration of them was entrusted to ill-regulated
courts of justice, and the fraudulent debtor had at his
command every species of subterfuge and dishonest con-
trivance against the creditor. The business of the bank-
ers 600 might lastly have contributed to raise the rate of

interest, as these usurers took money at a moderate

premium from persons who would not occupy themselves

with the management of their own property 6o1 , in order
to lend it with profit to others, and thus to a certain de-
of a monopoly.
gree obtained possession Trading with
borrowed money composed the chief part of the business
of the bankers 602 , although they sometimes employed

capital of their own

in that manner; the exchange of

money an agio 603 was by no means their exclusive

at

employment. Although they were generally of a low

699
See Plut. Solon. 14.
600
Concerning which see particularly Salmasius de Fenore
Trapezitico and de Usuris, and the acute Heraldus, Animadv. in
Salmas. Obs. II. 24, 25.
601
Thus e. g. Demosthenes' father kept a part of his capital in
the hands of bankers, Dem. in Aphob. I. p. 816.
602
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 948. sup.
603
Demosth. de
Isocrat, Trapez. 21. fals. Leg. p. 376. 2. in
Polycl. p. 1216. 18. Poll. III. 84. VII. 170.
origin, freedmcn, aliens, or persons who had been admitted
as citizens, they aimed
connecting themselves with
less at

than 604 ; but

good families, at pecuniary gain they became.
possessed of great credit, which existed among the prin-
cipal houses through the whole of Greece, and were thus
605 ;
effectively supported in their business they even
maintained such a reputation, that not only were they
considered as secure merely by virtue of their calling, but
such confidence was placed in them, that business was
transacted with them without witnesses 606 , and as is now
done money and contracts of debt were
in courts of justice,

deposited with them, and agreements were concluded or

cancelled in their presence 607 . The importance of their
business shewn by the great wealth of Pasion, whose
is

bank annually produced a net profit of a hundred minas 608 ;

there are however instances of their failing and losing

609 It is scarcely necessary to shew that
every thing .

they took a high rate of interest ; their loans on the de-

posit of goods are without other testimony sufficient to prove

it 61 The Athenian bankers obtained thirty-six per cent,
.

a rate which hardly occurs among honest people, except

in the case of bottomry. The common usurers (roxoyAu<po,

foculliones, rj/xegoSavejoTai),
who made a profit of the neces-
of the poor or the extravagance of the young, de-
sities

manded, according to the faithful description of Theo-

601
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 953.
605
Cf. Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 958. sup. in Polycl. p. 1224. 3.
606
Isocrat. Trapezit. 2.
607
Demosth. in Callip. p. 1243. 8. in Dionysod. p. 1287. 20.
608
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 946. 25.
609
Dem. pro Phorm. p. 959. in Stephan. I.
p. 1120. 20 sqq.

Ulpian ad Demosth. in Timocrat.

r>1
Demosth. in Nicostrat. p. 1249. 10.
 171
611 as much as an obolus and a half a
phrastus , day for
each drachma ; and the practice which was prevalent in the
times of Plutarch, of immediately subtracting the interest
from the sum borrowed, and again lending it out upon
interest 612 , had probably arisen in the flourishing times

of Athens. On
account of this high rate of interest,
and the severity with which they enforced the payment of
it, frequently seizing the houses and property of their
debtors, and as lenity was foreign to their character or
indeed any other consideration but that of their own gain,
the bankers, and money-lenders, like the Jews in modern

times, drew upon themselves the merited hatred of all, as

being the most infamous of human beings

613 .

Money was lent without interest from motives of friend-

ship or kindness, even without a written bond and any

security or pledge, either with or without witnesses
614 sometimes with an acknow-
(^ejgo'Sorov, a<ryyyga4>oi/)

ledgment (;<go'yga<pov), which 'was usually written upon

papyrus; or with a formal and solemn instrument (o-yy-

y^af >j), which was written by a third person in a diptychon

of waxen tablets, signed by witnesses, and given in charge
to a banker 61 5. The security was either made over to the
creditor or not ; in the latter case it was security in a more

611
Char. 6. and there Casaubon; cf. Herald. Anim. in Salmas.
Obs. ad I. A. et R. 11.21.
612
Plutarch, de vitando aere alieno 4.
613
Demosth. Stephan. I. p. 1122. extr. and p. 1123. sup.
in

in Pantaen. pp. 981, 982. Antiphanes the Comic poet in the

M<5-e9rcvg6j ap. Athen. VI. p. 226. E. cf. Herald, ut sup. II. 24.
1,2.
61i
Demosth. in Timoth. p. 1185. 12. Salmas. de M. U. X.
p. 381.
615
Salmas. ibid.
 17-2

limited sense, in the former was the pledge (eve^ygov) 616 the
it :

security in the more confined signification was generally of

immoveable property, but sometimes of moveables, for in-
stance, slaves, and especially in cases of bottomry, the goods,
the ship, and the outstanding freightage-money; although
the pledges were generally of moveable property, we
sometimes find that immoveables, such as houses and lands,
were given in pledge, and indeed, on account of their safety,
1
were common for dowries and leases of
orphans property.
To lend upon a person's own body (8avg/e<v ITT crcw/x-aTj) was
617 in imita-
prohibited in Athens from the time of Solon ,

tion, as Diodorus supposes, of the Egyptian Jaw ; in other

States this cruel and barbarous custom remained in force,

although itwas not allowed to take even agricultural imple-

ments in 618 Arms could neither be taken or
pawn .
given in
pawn at Athens 619 . There were also public books of debts in
Greece, like the German registers of
mortgages ; but they
are not mentioned having existed at Athens. On the
as

contrary, mortgaged lands were distinguished by stone

tablets or pillars, upon which the debt and the creditor's
name were inscribed 62 : a custom of extreme
(oo<)

616
. Salmas. ut sup. XI.
617
Diog. Laert. and Plutarch in the Life of Solon, also the
latter in his Essay de vitando aere alieno 4.
618
Salmas. ut sup. XVII. p. 749.
619
Petit Leg. Att. VIII. 1. 6.
620
Demosthenes in many passages, which have been collected
by Reiske in the Index p. 544. Poll. III. 85. IX. 9. Etymol. and
Harpocrat. in vv. {TT<*T and cg?, Hesych. in vv. ogaj and u^nrp.***,
Lex. Seg. p. 285. Photius in tgos in several articles. Cf. Salmas.
ut sup. XV. They were or?***, stone tablets or pillars ;
the Ro-
mans (see Vales, upon Maussac's notes to Harpocration) likewise
used tabula of the same nature : at Athens however they appear
not to have been of wood, although the Etymologist and Lex.
 173

antiquity, which existed before the time of Solon, and of

proves that by his constitution the stones which had
itself

been before standing upon all estates were removed,

when he by some method or other released or relieved the
debtors.
If the principal together with the security was not
exposed to destruction, and the creditor according to his
contract liable to no loss, the interest at least was certain,
and was called land-interest or mortgage (TOXOI lyyuo* or
621 .
Neither the interest of money lent upon mort-
syy=<oj)

gage, of which I shall next speak, nor upon bottomry, were

fixed by law ; and even, if we suppose it to be true, as

was affirmed by Androtion, that Solon lowered the interest
ofall debts which existed before his time, yet he permitted

every person afterwards to lend his money at whatever

rate he could obtain 622 ; and only in the single instance of

a man's separating from his lawful wife, and not returning

her dowry, the rate of nine oboli (18 per cent) was fixed bv
law, probably because this was the ordinary rate at the

Seg. p. 192. 5. 285. 12. call them randtg according to a later

p.

custom, perhaps from a misapprehension of a passage in the first

speech against Aristogeiton p. 791. 11. It should be observed,

however, that it was by no means necessary to set up these stones,

see Herald. Anim. in Salmas. Obser. ad I. A. and R. IV. 3. 8.
(See a paper by the Author on this subject reprinted in the Mu-
seum Criticum, No. VIII. p. 622 sq.)
021
See Salmas. ut sup. III. The manuscripts sometimes give
the former word, which Salmasius declares to be the correct

form, and sometimes the latter : both appear to have been in use,
but where either is more correctly used, is not easy to determine.
622
To etgyvgiov vrciiripw tuctt ify' OTTOFM ait /3ayA)T< o
eiscvii'l^wn. Lex
ap. Lys. in Theomnest. p. 360. S?w*
then had the meaning of
Jetmreu, from the money being weighed when it was lent thence ;

also the word o/3Aas-T#Ti?. Orus ap. Etymol. in v. o/

 174
time when this regulation was made . Even in the age 623

of Lysias and Isaeus, this high interest was not usurious ;

the latter orator 624 relates it as an ordinary occurrence,
that a person had lent forty minas at nine oboli, and had
them a return of 720 drachmas a year; and
received from
Timarchus borrowed upon the very same terms 625 The .

interest of eight oboli (16 per cent) occurs in Demos-

6-6 drachma (12 per
thenes ; the interest of a cent), which
is atthe present day the common rate in the Levant, was

frequent in the age of Demosthenes, but it was, as appears

from the own words, considered low, although a
orator's

talent lent out at this rate would have produced an

annual return of 720 drachmas, upon which a small

family could The interest of five oboli, or

live 627 .

of the tenth part, was chiefly in use among friends 628 ,

and is opposed to the interest of the third part ; in a
story related in Aristotle's Rhetoric of Mcerocles, who
lived in the age of Demosthenes, it is considered as
moderate 629 . From 12 to 18 per cent, appear then to

623
Orat. in Neaer. p. 1362. 9. Demosth. in Aphob. I.
p. 818.
27. Cf. Salmas. de M. U. IV. p. 159.
624
De Hagn. Hered. p. 293.
625
JEsch. in Timarch. p. 127.
626
In Nicostrat. p. 1250. 18.
627
Demosth. in Aphob. I.
p. 816. 11. p. 820. 20. p. 824. 22.
II. p. 839. 24. .Eschin. in Ctesiph. p. 497. Comp. Niebuhr Hist.
Rom. vol. II. p. 436. In an inscription in Muratori vol. II.

p. DLXXVIII. 1. itcxTornuTos TOX.OS is mentioned, evidently trans-

lated from usurce centesirnas, and thus furnishes a means of de-
termining the age of the inscription.
628
Demosth. in Onetor. I.
p. 866. 9.
629
Rhet. III. 10. with the slight alteration of Salma-
Aristot.
sius de M. U. II. p. 41. also in the spurious (Economics of Ari-
stotle 2, 3. ed. Schneid. Irrdixaroi TO occur on the occasion of
 175

have been the commonest rates of interest at Athens ; the

only manner in which I can explain Salmasius fi30

why
considered the interest of the sixth part, or 16| per cent, as
the most usual at Athens, is, that he confuses this rate of
interest with others of similar amount. Several examples of

higher rates of interest occur. Demus, the son of the

celebrated Pyrilampes, who had been sent as ambassador
to Persia, offered to pawn a golden cup to Aristophanes
for sixteen minas, which he had received from the king of
and to redeem in a short time for twenty 631 .
Persia, it

^Eschines, the Socratic philosopher, wishing to set up a

manufactory of ointments, borrowed money of a banker at

three drachmas (36 per cent), whereby he lost, until he

procured the same sum from another person at nine

oboll 632 . The rate of interest in other Grecian States was
regulated in a similar manner. The Clazomenians
paid the
commanders of their
mercenary troops four talents a

year, as the interest of a debt of twenty talents at the

rate of the fifth part (TOKOS I7r/7reprroj) 63 3. The rate of
mortgage Bosporus was sometimes the sixth part
in the

(TOKOS e^sxrof), at which Phormion, as mentioned in Demos-

thenes 634 , pretended to have paid 560 drachmas for 120

a sequestration imposed by the Byzantines upon all vessels,

which however must be not considered as a common occurrence.
630
Ut sup. I. p. 10.
631
Lys. pro Aristoph. bonis p. 629 sqq.
632
Lys. Fragm. p. 4.
633
See the (Economics attributed to Aristotle.

Concerning the S<PIX.TO$ TO? comp.

634
In Phorm. p. 914. 10.
also Harpocration, Suidas, Photius, and Zonaras in v. 'iq>ix.?os
TOXOJ. The account given by Photius in v. i(puc.TWf rixovt, and by
Lex. Seg. p. 257. is entirely devoid of sense, and is founded upon
a false derivation, and a false accentuation, viz. I<
 176

Cyzicenic staters, eaeh reckoned at 28 Attic drachmas, at

16| per cent. In Orchomcnus in Boeotia, interest occurs
of several drachmas for a month and
a Corcyrsean
; in

decree it is ordered that certain monies shall not be lent

out either at a higher or lower rate than at two drachmas
a month (24 per cent) 635 , where bottomry cannot possibly
be meant. The Epobelia of Plato
Treatise upon in his

Laws 636
(according to which the taking of usury was to
have been entirely forbidden in the second ideal State) is
not a rate of interest, as some have supposed, but a fine,
such as the Athenian epobelia, to be fixed like interest by
the month ; that to sa}r , if a person neglected to pay the
is

wages of any servant for the space of a year, he was, as a

punishment for his dilatory conduct, to pay the epobelia,

or an obolus to every drachma, for each month of the time.

(23.) A still higher profit was obtained by capitalists,

allowance being made
for accidents, by
sea-security (TOXOJ
vavnxdf, exocnj)637 or bottomry, in which, according to the
Grecian custom, the ship, the cargo, or the money received
for passengers and freightage, were answerable for the
principal. The loan appears to have been most frequently
made upon the goods (em rots <po(yrioi$, eirl rol; ^gi^aacnv, ITT!
TJJ

eprogj'a), more rarely upon the vessel (STT) T>} viji, eir} TOJ TrAo/o;),

and the money received for passengers and for freight-

TO> vuAo>)638- j n a case mentioned by Demo-
age (eTri

635
See the inscriptions quoted in note 594.
636
XL p. 921.
C. cf. V. p. 742. C. Salmas. de M. U. I.
p. 12.
Schneider ad Xenoph. de Vectig. p. 182.
637
See Salmas. V. p. 19. Schneider ut sup. p. 181.
638
Concerning the expressions in use see Schneider ut sup.
p. 180. An instance of money being borrowed upon the freight-
age and the vessel occurs in Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 933. 22.
and upon the freightage, as it
appears, Diphilus in the passage
 177

sthenes 639 , in which a trierarch borrowed money upon a ship

that belonged to the State, and to the command of which he
expected a successor, probable that the only secu-
it is

rity given was the ship's furniture, which

was the private

property of the trierarch. This species of interest, which

was so odious at Rome, does not appear to have given
offence in Greece, and at Athens in particular as being a
commercial town ; it was however exposed to much risk,
as the loss of the security also brought with it the loss of
both principal and interest: agreements of bottomry, in
which the creditor did not undergo the risk, were pro-
hibited by the laws of Rhodes, that is, nobody could take
such high interest as was customary in bottomry, without

exposing himself to the danger of the loss but since by :

the Athenian law, every person could lake as high interest

as he could obtain, this restriction was not met with at
Athens ; and such contracts as the Rhodian law pro-
hibited, have no connexion with agreements of bottomry,
as there would in those cases be either no security on one
which was not at sea 640 Agreements of bottomry were
.

rendered binding by means of an instrument styled a

quoted below; and of money lent upon the vessel, Demosth. ibid,
and in Dionysod. p. 1283. 18. comp. the argument p. 1282. 4.
What proofs Hudtwalcker (von den Diateten p. 140.) can bring
in favour of his assertion, that at Athens, in cases of Fenus
nauticum, the ship was always pledged, I am unable to guess.
The contrary is indeed evident from the passages quoted by
Schneider and myself.
639
1212 sup.
In Polycl. p.
40
Concerning the meaning of the Rhodian law, which Sal-
masius had not perceived, see Hudtwalcker de Fenore Nautico
Romano p. 7.
VOL. I. N
 178
nautical contract 641 which was de-
(vu-nx>j o-uyy^af^) ,

posited in the hands of a banker

642 . A document of this

kind is preserved entire in the speech of Demosthenes

against the .Paragraphe of Lacritus, and part of another
in the speech against Dionysodorus. The money was
lent for a fixed time and for the voyage to a particular
place or country, and the debtor was bound to go to the

place pointed out in the agreement, subject to a heavy

punishment for the violation 643 If it was only lent for
.

the voyage outwards (eTegoTrXouj), the principal and interest

were to be paid at the place of destination, either
to the creditor himself if he went the voyage, or to some
other person commissioned to receive it; of this latter

description was the Cermacoluthus,

who was frequently
sent with the ship 644 ; if the contract was for the voyage
both inwards and outwards (aj.<poT5go7rAouj), the payment
was made In these agreements there
after the return.

was generally a double security, the debtor being bound

in goods to twice the amount of the loan, without being
64
able to raise other money upon them ^: and in agree-

ments for voyages both inwards and outwards, if the goods

given in security were sold, fresh commodities of equal
value were to be reladen 646 . The severity of the laws

against those who withdrew the security from a creditor,

has been already remarked ; but it was usual for a fine to

641
Demosth. in Lacrit. p. 932. 3. cf. Lex. Seg. p. 283. and
others.
642
Demosth. in Phorra. p. 908. 20.
643
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1286 sup.
644
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 909. 24. p. 914. 28.
64i
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 908 sqq. in Lacrit. pp. 925928.
646
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 909. 26.
 179

be also fixed in the agreements, if the debtor should not

surrender the whole security, or act otherwise contrary to
the conditions ; for example, of twice the amount of the

principal, or of 5000 drachmas in a loan of 2000 647 .

Until the time of repayment the creditor was bound to
leave the security untouched, if it was saved and some- :

times for greater security, even the whole property of the

debtor was made answerable by a particular stipulation 648 .
The money of orphans could not according to law be
vested in bottomry, although this regulation was often
violated 649 .
As the hazard varied materially according to
the length of the time, the distance of the voyage, the

danger to which the vessels was exposed from storms, rocks,

hostile fleets, pirates, or licensed privateers, it is less easy
to conceive that there should have been an usual rate of
interest in Greece for bottomry, than for the mortgage of
land and the assertion of Salmasius 65 that the rate of
; ,

interest of the fifth part (20 per cent) was the most com-
mon at Athens, is entirely devoid of foundation. The
interest upon money lent only for the voyage outwards,
must moreover have been less than that for the two voyages
inwards and outwards, particularly since passengers who

accompanied the master of a vessel, carrying at the same

time sums of money with them, would naturally be the
more ready to lend it to the captain, as they must have

647
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1294. 12. in Phorm. p. 915. 1.

p. 916. 27.
648
Deed in the Oration against Lacritus.
649
Lys. Fragm. p. 37. Also the case in Lys. in Diogit.
p. 908.
650
De M. U. I.
p. 10. V. p. 209. where his reference to

Xenophon proves nothing.

 180

still incurred nearly the same risk that arose from bottomry,
if they took it with them without interest. The 10 or 12 per
cent interest upon money lent in bottomry mentioned by Di-
651 must undoubtedly be understood only of the pas-
philus
sage outwards; as also the interest of the 8th part (12 per
652 which the trierarch
cent) in Demosthenes , Apollodorus

631
In the passage which Salmasius quotes p. 35.

tg SK -rt TY (tvct ytvovcvxt rxi

A#/3a>v TO, vctvXx Kxi rioiiit'

l^vyydvut.
654 in Polycl. p. 1211. extr.
Demosth. E<ff-yyA0evT
Bt;'m< . . .
avxyx-etfyvtrt tan
CVT i%xiti<r6xi , dxtito-eifttiof lyu
Ttxpot, XetWidvfAtv fttv
rev 'A*^At><rn'et/ irtvTiicxidixx ftvoif ITTI TOX.OV,

IvrXKOiriXf 31 dgxfrftxs vrxgei NixiiTTrov tov vxvxbq<>ov VXVTMOI v{>io'ft]y,

of trv%tv a* Iv 'ZvirrS, iTroydoov, text Trtf&j/us JLvxrHftoyct . . . ixthivrd

fioi XVTOV vecvrxs pue-6ao-u<r6eci

the old reading, except
. . . This is

that I have restored ftvs for ^^cn^ug from the manuscripts with
Salmasius de M. U. V. p. 219. and Reiske ; whether 'A^iSn^ov,
the reading of some manuscripts, and oxTetxao-t'etf, which is ap-

proved of by Salmasius, should also be replaced, I leave unde-

cided. 'AvA<y]v is put by Anacoluthon for anbofiwos, which is
seldom used with pit and 3i: an instance however occurs in
Herod. VI. 13. ojwmc ei/nec (tli iovo-ctv r|/i wX>. IK. ra 'lava*
i$ix.o*T6 fevf Aoyot/;, ctftsi
31 x.ec rt$> xtv tro rtyt then a^vtecTX ret

Pxrrtios if^fMtiat, V7rii>fix>.i<r6ai, tii rt tTris-rctfttnot . . , which is

pre-
cisely similar to the passage of Demosthenes; and as xm<pmTo
might have been omitted in the former, so might iivu*.opw in the
latter sentence. VI. 19. t%tr6v tirixowov j^^a-T^tev, -TO pi* If uvrevs

rovf 'Agy/t5 (pegav,

TV 31
Tfx^td^nv e%i<ri *i M<Ajj<r/ewj. Also VI.
25. ad fin. Similarly also in Herod. VIII. 69. Trgo? pn Evfttt'y

trty'iKs l6thox.eut.sitv, us ov iret^tovrtf avrov, Tort 3t etvTOf 7ragt<rx,tvoia-T

6t<rci<r6eti vetvftetj^oinetf, the transition from the indirect infinitive to

the indicative. There are also other difficulties in this
passage,
which Salmasius and Reiske have been quite unable to clear up.
The notes of the latter commentator arc .mere trifling, as he had
throughout no distinct notion of the Greek system of interest.
 181

lent to the ship-captain Nicippus, for the passage from Sestos

to Athens, but upon the condition that the trireme should
first
go to Hierum to convoy vessels laden with corn, and
that the principal and interest should be paid at Athens,

t, for which Hier. Wolf wishes to substitute the more

convenient expression of e?r/ T'X#, was thought too indefinite.
Salmasius corrects vyyvy, and Reiske lyytlov TOK.OV, or lyyutav
raxMt ; if however these words refer at all to the rate of interest,
one should rather expect some particular percentage than the
tX
generic term. Oj 'irv% at It "Ztis-rS cannot be referred to Htviiw,
the latter word being in the neuter gender, as in the parallel

passage of Xenophon quoted below, Demosth. in Aphob. I.

p. 816. 26. txvrixei ifidopwotTx pnxs, and elsewhere. But Salma-
sius'improbable conjectures, at, and are the less admissible,
because it cannot be supposed that there was some one rate of
interest in general use at Sestos, without any distinction of the
risk. Reiske, without the slightest authority, has placed the
words 3?tTv%tr at It "Zwru liroydoot after ITT/ rexot but the safest :

way is to suppose that IsrayJaa* means the interest of money lent

out in bottomry, as it is explained in Lex. Seg. p.252. referring
however falsely to a pledge of goods : for it
may be seen, by
comparing Harpocration in v. liroytitn, that the gloss refers to
this passage. My opinion is shortly this !?n roxet is added in :

order to remove any doubt that Chaeredemus did not lend the

money to Apollodorus, as being his friend and countryman, with-

out interest, but, as is stated, lirl roxot, for interest. The amount
of this it was not necessary to state, and it was perhaps omitted
as would not have been pleasant to Chaeredemus to have it
it

mentioned. The words t trv%u at It SJST can only be referred

to Nicippus by a very forced construction. Most probably they
belong to X#<g85fti> pit rov 'A.ta<phv<rri'ov ; for since it
might appear
strange that the Anaphlystian should be mentioned as being at
Sestos, it was natural to add that he had been there acci-
dentally.
 18-2

in case that the ship returned safely to port. The amount

of this interest of the eighth part, Harpocration correctly
estimates at three oboli to the tetradrachm. Higher interest
in loansupon bottomry frequently occurs ; Xenophon in his
Treatise upon the Revenues 653 proposes to erect public

buildings for the convenience of merchants, as a means

of procuring a profitable return to the citizens, and he

supposes that the necessary sum could be collected by

contributions of different magnitude, but that each sub-
scriber would obtain an equal return of three oboli daily :

he then proceeds to remark, that those who put in ten

minas, would receive nearly the interest of the fifth part,
the rate which was commonly given in bottomry (vaurjxov
<rjg8ov l7r/7rejw,7rTov),
and those who put in five minas, more
than the interest of the third part; that the greater

number, who subscribed a less sum, would obtain an

annual income of more than the capital which they con-
tributed, for example, for one mina nearly two. The in-
terest of the fifthand third parts are evidently here con-
sidered as common in cases of
the danger con-
bottomry ;

nected with this method of investing money, is alluded to

by Xenophon, when he states it as an advantage to be

from " the

expected his proposals, that profits would arise
in the State itself, which appears to be the most secure
and lasting source of revenue." It is also manifest that the
interest of the fifth part is here precisely 20 per cent,
and of the third part 33^ per cent, which latter Harpocra-

643
3. 7 14. The whole of this short sketch of Xenophon's,
and of the errors committed in the explanation of it, is illus-

trated in book IV. 21. here I

only remark, that Salmasius de
M. U. I. himself considers in p. 192. the false emendation pro-

posed in p.
25. as superfluous.
 183

tion 654 correctly fixes at eight oboli for the tetradrachm,

and that the former ought not to be confounded with the
interest of nine oboli, nor the latter with that at three

drachmas (18 and 36 per cent). For the year being

reckoned with Xenophon at 360 days, three oboli a day

give an annual income of 180 drachmas, which for ten

minas are 18, and for five minas 36 per cent the former :

the author calls nearly the interest of the fifth part, the
latter more than that of the third part. Other statements
of the rate of interest likewise occur in Demosthenes.
Phormion had lent twenty minas for a voyage inwards and
outwards to the Pontus, at an interest of six minas, that is
at 30 per cent 655 In the carelessly written instrument
.

in the speech against Lacritus, 3000 drachmas are lent

upon Mendaean wine, for a voyage from Athens to Mende

or Scione, and from thence to the Bosporus, the borrower

being at liberty, he prefers it, to sail on to the left along

if

the coast of the Black Sea as far as the Borysthenes, at the

rate of 225 for 1000 drachmas for the whole time of
absence. In this however it is
supposed that the bor-
rowers, Phaselitans by birth, are to commence their voyage
back from the Pontus before the early rising of Arcturus,
in the month Boedromion, about the twentieth of Sep-

tember, as the autumn (f^tM&ratyor) and with it the dangers

of navigation then commenced instead of the interest of
:

654
In e7r<T/T, referring to a passage in Isaeus against
v.

Calliphon, where without doubt the orator was speaking of an

agreement of bottomry. Proceeding upon the example given by

Harpocration of the method of reckoning, viz. oboli for the tetra-

drachm, the ignorant compiler of the Lexicon Seguer. p. 253.

confounds the interest of the third part with the rate of eight
oboli.
655
Demosth. in Phorm. p. 914. 6.
 184

22^ per cent, the higher rate of 30 per cent or 300 for
a thousand was howerer to be paid, if the voyage back
from the Pontus to Hicrum upon the mouth of the Bos-
porus should be undertaken, as it sometimes was, after the
656
rising of Arcturus Since the agreement extends to
.

different places, and liberty is allowed to the borrower to

sail into the Pontus or not as he prefers, there is at the
end a farther limitation added, in the event of the vessel not
running into the Pontus. For in that case, in order to
avoid the tempests of the dog-days, the vessel was to remain
in the Hellespont, at the end of July, ten days from the
early
rising of the dog-star (|TT xuv), with which the latter part
of the summer (oTrouga) begins,
for the purpose of
unlading
their cargo in a secure place, and then to return to Athens ;

where they have to pay the interest fixed in the preceding

" in the
year. The addition of the words preceding year"" is
superfluous, but correct
: the instrument was signed
early

659
See Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1212. 1424, The situation
of Hierum is in Bithynia, close to the Thracian Bosporus; see
r

Harpocration and Suidas in v. !<?>' leg, and passages referred to

by Wolf ad Leptin. p. 259.
It was an emporium, \vhere the
masters of vessels returning from the Pontus put in. The
observations of Petit upon this agreement are beneath all cri-

ticism. Salmasius de M. U. V. p. 209 sqq. explains it at full

length, but he has entirely lost sigbt of truth in the interpreta-

tion of the third clause, and by this means vitiates his whole
account. Heraldus Anim. in Salmas. Obs. ad I. A. et R. II.

20. takes up some of these errors, adding at the same time some
of bis own. The words \u.i $i fun uV/ScAw<, after which a comma
should be placed, cannot, as Salmasius imagines, be referred to
the passage out of the Hellespont into the ^Egaean sea, but only,
as is evident from the whole agreement, to the voyage into the
Pontus.
 185

in the year, at the time when navigation commenced ; now

the year ended and began about the middle of summer,

about the time of the summer solstice, and consequently the
In
early rising of the dog-star fell in the following year.
this last-mentioned stipulation, the lower rate of interest is

meant ; for the higher rate was only to be paid if the

return from the Pontus took place after the rising of Arc-

turus, and thus if the ship did not run into the Pontus,
it did not apply at all. On the. other hand a new risk

might in this case arise, which would not exist if the vessel
entered the Pontus ; the borrowers might return from the

Hellespont during the storms of the dog-days, which in

case of a voyage in the Pontus could not have taken place
on account of the greater distance ; it is therefore fixed,
that in the former case, the vessel should remain in the

Hellespont. With regard to the security of the place where

the goods were to be disembarked, it is stipulated that no

part of the cargo should be discharged at any port where

the Athenians had the right of reprisal (OTTOO v o-oAa* ^
flScny one should rather have expected this con-
'A0>)i>aoj):
dition to have been made with respect to places where this

right had been granted against Athenians (xar' 'A0>jva/a)v) :

for the creditors, of whom one is an Athenian, could not

be afraid of the Athenians ; neither could the borrowers,
have had any thing to appre-
since they traded at Athens,
hend from the Athenians. This difficulty however is easily
removed : for (not to mention that the trierarchs at this

precise period made

upon the property of persons
reprisals
whom the State had given them no authority to plunder,
and consequently, that both Athenian and Phaselitan
property might easily have been captured by them), it is

evident that the moment any property passed either from

or to any place, against which the Athenians had given
 186

permission to make reprisals, it became necessary to pro-

hibit by a clause in the
agreement, the unlading of the
goods at any such place, as Athenian property, and conse-
quently the security on which the money was lent, would
there be seized as an act of retaliation, by those whom
the Athenians had plundered. It is to be remarked
that these commercial agreements were in general made

only for the time of a from the spring, till

ship's voyage
late in the year, and sometimes for a still shorter time,
in the case of a
voyage which might be soon ended :

a term was commonly appointed for payment after the

return of the vessel, as for example, in the agreement
in the speech against Lacritus, the principal and in-

terest were to be paid within twenty days after the vessel

returned to Athens, with the exception of what might be

thrown overboard by the common consent of all in the
ship, or be taken away by the enemy. But the interest in
bottomry was often for a longer period. Thus, according
to the statement of Demosthenes, an individual borrowed
a sum of money in the month Metageitnion, in the middle
of summer, and was only bound to repay it in the same

year, that is before the beginning of the next summer

657 .

In this case a proportionally higher rate of interest

was doubtless given was higher on account of the
: as it

of the 658 In most cases however,

greater length voyage .

the creditor withdrew his capital in the winter for his

own use.

(24.) Upon the rate of interest the amount of rent and

leases, especially of houses and of other kinds of landed

property, and in short of every species of property, neces-

057
Demosth. in Dionysod. p. 1283. 19. p. 1284. 10.
*'*
Ibid. p. 1286. extr.
 187

sartfy depended. All the foreigners and resident aliens,

(the latter of whom were estimated with their families at

45,000 persons), together with a small proportion of slaves,
lived at Athens in hired lodgings. For it is evident that

foreigners were not entitled to the possession of houses :

ifthen they were at Athens for the sake of trade, or for the

purpose of conducting their law-suits, which often detained

them for a whole year 659 , they dwelled in hired lodgings,
excepting those individuals who were entertained as guests
by their friends. But the resident aliens lived almost with-
out exception in the city or in the sea-port towns, as they

composed the larger portion of the industrious classes ; that

they could not possess any houses is in part evident
from the statement of Xenophon 66 , and partly from the
fact that no resident alien could safely lend out money

upon houses or other landed property, a privilege which

was confined to the citizens 661 Since then the resident
.

alienhad not the right of possessing land, landed property

was not a valid security for him, as he could never come
into possession of it. Thus at Byzantium the resident
aliens could not obtain the landed estates which were

mortgaged to them, because they had not the right of

possessing landed property, until the State gave them

permission to hold their mortgaged lands, though not with-

out their consenting to make a considerable deduction from
the principal 662 The same practice prevailed in all Grecian
.

States ; if then a foreigner was created either a citizen or

Proxenus, the right of possessing landed property was

59
Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 1. cf. 3. init.
660
De Vectig. 2. 6.
661
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 946.
662
See Pseud-Aristot. CEcon. II. 2. 3.
 663 ; the Isoteles how-
expressly granted in the instrument
ever were entitled to the possession of houses, which we learn
from the fact that Lysias and Polemarchus had three
houses in Athens 664 ;with which their right of working
mines coincides. The letting of houses at Athens was
therefore an important branch of business; some built

lodging-houses (<ruvox/a), and speculators (vaoxAijgoi, oTafl-

/u,otJ;o<) rented
whole houses in order to let them again to
under-tenants 665 .
House-rent, like interest, was paid or
calculated by the month, and the payment was generally
claimed by means of a slave 666 . The assertion of the
667 that it was paid by Prytaneias, is in this
grammarians
general sense absurd, though if only understood of the
houses which belonged to the State, is unquestionably
correct. Xenophon remarks that house-building, if under-

taken prudently, was profitable, and might enrich the

668 ; but the amount of house-rent in
speculator proportion
to the cost of building and to the value of the house must
have been very different according to the situation, and

663
See the Arcadico-Cretan Decree in Chishull's Ant. Asiat.

p. 119. the Byzantine

Decree in Demosthenes de Corona, and
the examples there quoted by Taylor, and the Decree of the
Chaleians in Boaotia in Chandler's Marm. Oxon. II. XXIX. 1.

also another Byzantine Decree in Gruter p. CCCCXIX. 2. and

the Decree of the Thebans, Pococke p. 50. Rose p. 310.
664
Lys. in Eratosth. p. 395. Comp. also the passage in
Plato, although it is not quite decisive, de Rep. I.
p. 328. B.
665
Ammonius, Harpocration, Photius, and Hesychius in v.

vxAg$, together with the Commentators, also Ku'hn ad Poll.

I. 74.
606
Casaub. ad Theophrast. Char. 10.
067
Ammonius and Thomas M. in v.
668
(Econ. 3. 1.
 189

have varied with the increase or diminution in the popular

tion ; after the Anarchy, the disturbances which then took

place having much diminished the numbers of the people,

many houses produced no rent 669

only exact state- . The
ment which we possess on the subject of house-rent, occurs
in Isaeus 67 ; according to whom a house at Melite worth

thirty minas, and another at Eleusis worth five minas,

together produced three minas a year, that is 8* per cent ;

which is low as compared with the rate of interest, and per-
haps ought not to be taken as the general average, as
Salmasius supposed 671 The rent of land must be less
.

than the interest of the capital vested in it, if this were

lent out; it is also expressly remarked, that in the good

old times lands were let to the poor at a moderate rent 672 :

according to Isaeus 673 , an estate in Thria, worth 150

minas, was let for twelve minas, i. e. at only eight per cent.

Of the letting of slaves, especially together with the

mines, I have treated above ; the exact percentage cannot

however be determined ; for although in the speech of
Demosthenes 674 a
mine purchased for
against Pantaenetus ,

sixty minas with thirty slaves, reckoned at 105 minas, was

let for 105 drachmas a month, yet nothing can be con-

cluded from this fact, as the agreement of rent was only a

form, and in reality the tenant was the proprietor, and the
rent twelve per cent interest for money lent upon the mine
and slaves. The account that Phormion paid 160 minas

Xenoph. Mem. Socrat.

3
II. 7. 2.
670
DeHagn. Hered. p. 293.
671
DeM.U. XIX. p. 848.
672
Isocrat. Areopag. 12.
? 73 Ibid.
674
P. 967.
 190

a year for the rent of Pasion's banking-shop, besides the

tenant having to maintain two children of the proprietor's
who were behind, is most unintelligible 675 who, says
left ;

Apollodorus, would give so much for the wooden furniture,

the space, and the books ? Pasion himself only made a hun-
dred minas a year by his banking-shop. This assertion in-
deed occurs in the lease 676 , although this document is not

sufficiently authenticated : if the rent was so considerable,

we must suppose with Apollodorus, that Pasion at the same
time transferred to Phormion some money, which was vested
in the concern. Afterwards the banking-shop without the
money employed in it was let for a talent 677 , in which
case the tenant must have still obtained a high profit by

trading with borrowed money, which was lent to Pasion's

house on account of the credit which it possessed. A con-
siderable profit was obtained by the proprietor, if we may
credit Demosthenes, by the lease of the house (/x,/<r0axrjj

oTxoo), that of the whole property 678, which produced

is,

much more than twelve per cent, and by which families

worth two or three talents often doubled or trebled their
means. Thus for example, the property of Antidortis, which
had been one Theogenes, rose in six years from
let to

three and a half to six talents 679 In this manner the .

Archon Eponymus, in conjunction with the guardians,

was bound to let the property of orphans, or a Phasis

675
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 956. 6. p. 960. 10.
676
Demosth. in Steph. I. p. 1111. and concerning the suspi-
ciousness of the document p. 1110. 18.
677
Demosth. pro Phorm. p. 956. 10. p. 948. 15.
Concerning the meaning of the word clxos see Xenoph. (Ec.
678

I. 4. 5.
679
Demosth. in Aphob. I. 831. 26 sqq. p. 833. 22 sqq. in

i^ev3/ttgT. p. 862.
21
Aphob. .
could be instituted against him ; and for the sake of
to give a pledge
security, the tenant was obliged
680.

680
Lys. in Diogit. p. 906. extr. Isseus de Philoctem. Hered.
p. 141. Demosth. in Aphob. in the above-quoted passages, Har-
pocration in v. ctiroTipiiTet),
and his Commentators ; Hesychius in

v. uTrorifAvfietT*, Poll. VIII. 142. and 89. with the Commentators.

Cf. Herald. Animad. in Salmas. Obs. ad I. A. et R. III. 6.

5 sqq. Concerning the Phasis see Poll. VIII. 47. the Epitome
of Harpocration, Etymol. Phot. Suid. and Lex. Seg. pp. 313,
315.
 Note [A], pp. 26,31.

In the 50th and 66th notes to the first book, the Author

refers to his on an in the

Commentary inscription published
Appendix to the original edition, and since repeated in his
Collection of Inscriptions (1. p. 164.) where he has added
;

only a short abstract of his former explanation, and there-

fore it
appeared desirable to give in this place a translation
of the passage-referred to.
The following extract from the inscription is all that is
required.

T^nittomt n[ttt] OK.TU

tt\ecl [Ifciru po7T>j]v fS

[TO Zft

" In
this clause it is ordered that the commercial weight

should be greater than the common weight; and that the com-
mercial mina should in the first place be equal to one hundred
and thirty-eight drachmas TV e-n<pnjpgv, according to the
weights in the silver mint (gygMnrM>j Pollux VII. 103.
Harpocration, Suidas, and other grammarians), and secondly,
that it should contain twelve additional drachmas TOV <m<pv-

<pagav,
so that the whole would amount to one hundred and

fifty drachmas. Here we aie met with questions which do

VOL. i. o
 194

not admit of an easy solution. In the first place, what is

~Zn(pxin$ot>f 2Tip)<pog$ was a hero at Athens, and had a
'.

{, but the grammarians have not themselves any accurate

knowledge concerning him. See Harpocration, Photius, and
Suidas in STf<p>iip<>g9$, Lex. Seg. p. 301. Meurs. Lect. Att.
IV. 10. Compare Sturz Fragment. Hellan. p. 59. The i{f
was doubtless the same as the house which was called
2T<pjp<>'gtf (not STi<p*wjpg5), although the gloss of Hesy-
chius is rather obscure :
ET^W ^aggomr UK' t'Uov TOO? tuthov-

ftivov trn<petH)<poov. The contrary opinion of Meursius on this

point must be attributed to mere inadvertency. This ijgf

was mentioned by Antiphon against Nicocles quoted in Har-

5

pocration, Photius, and Suidas :

STS<pv))?><ig?' Am<p I r*
7Toj N<xw6Xe<*' ET8<p;)^o'gw figfev, a>f 'itiMt, iji Ir reel? AAftMf.
Now in the same speech the silver-mint was mentioned, ac-

cording to Harpocration :
'A^v^ttovut^ 'ATp T *$
Nix.s>c>,!ct, &c. Can it be doubted that in Antiphon, as well as
in the present inscription, Stephanephorus occurred in con-
nection with the silver-mint? I conjecture therefore that at
Athens the mint was combined with a chapel of this hero, as
inRome with the temple of Juno Moneta; that the standard
weights for coin were kept in this sanctuary, which belonged
to the chief mint, as atRome they were preserved in the
temple of Juno Moneta; and that from this circumstance the
drachmas of the weight used for silver were called drachmas
rev 2,Ti$etn)$i>v.

As however it is fixed that the commercial mina should

contain one hundred and thirty-eight drachmas rv ZTpe)<po'gt> ,
to which were to be farther added twelve drachmas of the
same weight, it is at once evident, from the adoption of so
irregular anumber as one hundred and thirty-eight, that this
could not have been a new or arbitrary arrangement, but that
it must have proceeded upon some ancient regulations with
regard to the common and the mint weights. Our object is
now to ascertain in what this dissimilarity consisted. It is
 195

well known that Solon wished to diminish the weight of the

coin ; his intention being to favour the debtors, by enabling
them to repay their debts in a debased currency. The mina,
as well before as after the time of Solon, manifestly contained
one hundred drachmas but one hundred drachmas, before
:

Solon interfered with the currency, were heavier than after.

Plutarch affirms that Solon increased the measures at the
same time that he diminished the weight of the coin : this

however is absurd ; for by this means the proprietors of mort-

gaged land would have received no possible benefit; they

would rather have experienced a loss, if they exchanged a
larger measure of products of the soil against a smaller weight
of coin; nor can Solon be well supposed to have had any
other motive than this in increasing the measures. If there
is
any meaning Plutarch's statement, he can only wish to
in

express a proportional increase in the weights, i. e. that while

the weight for money was reduced> the weights for commodities
remained the same. This view of the subject is peculiarly
fitted to explain the present inscription. The weight uni-

versally used in Athens before the time of Solon, as well

for silver as for other commodities, was such, that 138
of the new drachmas were equal to a mina. Solon al-

lowed this weight to remain for all uses of trade, but made
the coin so much lighter, that the mina of silver was to the

commercial mina as 100 to 138.

to perceive It is now easy
why recent writers, being deceived by this ratio, supposed
the weight to have been increased ; for after this change
the commercial mina weighed 138 drachmas, having before

only weighed 100 but it was only in comparison with

:
silver,
and not absolutely, that it had sustained an increase. Upon
this supposition the new silver mina of Solon was equal to

72H ancient drachmas ; for 100 138

: 72ff 100. It
: : : is

not however possible that Solon could have purposely intro-

duced such a proportion probably he had intended to dimi-
;

nish the weight of the coin by a fourth part, so that 75 old

 196

drachmas were to be coined into 100 new: the money how-

ever (for at that time coined
money was doubtless in nse)
proved in fact to be not sufficiently heavy; and it was
observed that 100 of the new drachmas were only equal to
72f of the old; or, what is the same 100 of the old to
thing,
138 of the new accordingly the ratio between the commercial
;

mina and the new silver mina was fixed at 138 to 100, not,
as it would have been according to the ratio originally in-

tended, at 133^ to 100.

Thus far every thing appears to be a mere assumption,
made for the purpose of explaining the mode of fixing the
commercial mina made use of in the present decree ; but the

following testimony gives it the authority of an historical

fact. Plutarch (Solon. 15.) informs us that Solon made the
mina of 100 drachmas, whereas it had previously contained
73, by which change the value of money was diminished;
ir.aroi y ZTroiyei ^(tffcp.ui TV* {Aia.*, Trgortgov ifidoftvxotrct xsti Tg<an>

ciiFotf, UFT' ui$/* f.dv 't<ro, $vra,[*,H 3' 6ATTO ccTrodi'dovTcav atpthiia-dett

(ill roils ixrtrmtcs fMydhoc, fti)<&*

31 /3A'srTe<r0< rovf x.oft^ou'itw$. It

may be at the same time remarked, that Plutarch here ex-

presses himself ambiguously. What relief could it have

been to debtors who owed several minus, that the division of
the mina was altered, and the drachma diminished, while the
mina itself remained the same? And again, can it be believed
that the mina contained 73 drachmas, a prime number, not
divisible without a remainder? Plutarch follows Androtion,
who had doubtless stated that a weight of silver, which before
Solon had only been equal to 73 drachmas, Solon had made
into a mina, or 100 drachmas. This statement so nearly

agrees with the view before taken, that the coincidence

cannot be the result of chance. Both statements differ only
by the fraction of a drachma ; the number obtained from the
decree is however doubtless the more correct, and the other
is only an approximation. The following circumstance should

also be observed. The Euboic talent was to the Attic talent

 197
of Solon as 7*2 to 70, which is the same as 75 to 72x1- If we
assume that this ratio not strictly accurate, but that the
is

correct one is 75 to 72ff, or, what is the same, 72-& to 70,

the ancient Attic talent, before the change of Solon, was to
the Euboic as 100 to 75, and Solon, in his diminution of the

weight for silver, intended to introduce the Euboic standard,

without however entirely accomplishing his object."
 THE

PUBLIC ECONOMY
OF

ATHENS.

BOOK II.

(1.) HAVING by the preceding enquiries cleared the way

for the pursuance of the main subject of this work, the
Public Economy of Athens, the first question which arrests
our attention is, whether in ancient times the operation of

the financial system was of the same general and pre-

dominant importance, and exercised that influence upon
the welfare and decline of nations, which it is found to
l
possess in modern days. first expressed his
Hegewisch
astonishment that in the states of antiquity, revolutions
had been so seldom caused by taxation and financial regu-
lations ; which have been the chief sources of disturbance
among modern nations. A later writer has accounted for
this difference by stating that in ancient times the civil
and judicial constitution was the principal cause of revolu-
tions, whereas in modern times these have resulted chiefly
from the system of finance 2 . It cannot indeed be denied

1
Historische Versuch iiber die Romischen Finanzen p. 44

sqq.
2
Wagemann de quibusdam causis, ex quibus turn in vete-
ribus turn in recentiorum civitatibus turbae ortae sunt, aut status
 200

that in the democracies of antiquity a revolution could not

well have arisen from a refusal to pay taxes ; and in the
States of Greece, at its most flourishing period, democracy
was the prevailing form of government. In this form of
polity, the imposers and payers of taxes are in fact the
same persons; whence then was there a possibility of
dissension between the two classes? Besides, in a demo-

cracy the people never apply the public money to objects

which are opposed either to their real or apparent in-
terests, which is not unlikely to happen under an aristo-
cratic or despoticform of government. If then discontent
was at
any time excited amongst particular individuals

by the financial measures of the State, the majority of

the citizens concurred in and supported them, they them-
selves having been the very persons with whom they ori-
ginated. That an insurrection should arise from this

cause was consequently as improbable as that popular

commotions should be caused at Athens by a summons
to war. The chief sources of disturbance must have
been created by encroachments upon the rights of the
citizens, especially with respect to their share in the

governing power; whereas in the monarchies of modern

times, the people being for the most part indifferent as to
who fills the office of king, only feel themselves oppressed

by those who obstruct them in the enjoyment of their

property, and diminish their means of subsistence by the
imposition of taxes and by other compulsory measures;
excepting that at particular periods, when the sense of the
nation has been more generally excited, the people have

reipublicse immutatus est, Heidelberg. 1810. 4to. [Aristotle

however (Pol. II. 4.) says distinctly, 3ox.it T< T yr^i r*s tva-tx;

tititt
ftjyrr Tiroe^Sxt xethas' TTI^I yig IOVTUI xoiiir&oti Qetrt T<*J <rrV?
 201

pressed for an ampler recognition of their rights. In those

ancient states which were not democracies, the govern-

ment, especially that of tyrants, was indeed generally

odious from the burthens with which it
oppressed the
but still more so on account of the loss of freedom.
people,
These two causes together produced numberless revolu-
tions. It should also be borne in mind, that in the re-

publican States, the attention paid to the public finances

was by no means so inconsiderable as some writers have
imagined wealth was not less an object of desire at that
:

than at the present time ; the exigencies of the State

were not fewer than in modern Europe, and least of all as
far as Athens concerned; although the objects to which
is

the expenditure was directed, and the means of extricating

the State from an unforeseen pressure, differed in many

points with the difference in the political circumstances,

from the corresponding practices in modern days. The
ancients, for reasons which we shall afterwards explain,
had no public system of finance; but the exi-
artificial

gencies of the State were not on that account less pressing

upon individuals. If at the present day any additional

taxes were required for the purpose of paying off the
national debt, the payers of taxes would not be called
upon at a period of urgent necessity and the sum, which
;

at the precise moment of need could only be raised in

full to the great inconvenience of the taxed, would with

moderate interest be paid off in a series of years. Whereas

according to the usual practice in ancient times, the ex-
pences of the commonwealth were immediately defrayed by
the payers of taxes, and a part of their capital was sacri-

ficed,which might have been turned with profit to fresh

production. So that the want of a public system of
finance was rather injurious than otherwise to the citizens
 202

of the ancient States, and the administration of finance

more oppressive. Nor can it be inferred that this branch
of the administration was held in low esteem, from the
circumstance that no Archon was placed at the head of it ;
for the influence of the Archons even in early times had
become very inconsiderable. But in every nation the
finances were in the hands of the sovereign power ; and at
Athens the legislation on financial matters belonged to the
people, the administration of them to the supreme council.
Then, as well as now, the administration of the finances was
considered one of the most important branches of public
affairs ; and the statesman, who like Aristides and Lycur-

gus, succeeded in placing them in a flourishing condition,

gained the goodwill of the people and the admiration of
posterity. Some statesmen days of Greece
in the ancient

even occupied themselves exclusively with this branch of

3
the administration ; and all the great demagogues endea-
voured to obtain over it either a direct or an indirect

influence, since the

management of the public money
afforded both the most effectual means of advancing them-
selves into favour with the people and of maintaining that
4
position. Thus Eubulus of Anaphlystus , who applied
himself in particular to financial affairs, obtained a lasting

popularity, although it was chiefly acquired by flattering

the avarice of an indolent people, through the distribution,
and lavish expenditure of the public money. In Athens,
the ministers of finance would have been held in as high
esteem as in modern States, if all measures of general

policy had not been deliberated on and decided by the

n
Aristot. Polit. 1. 7. (11.)
4
Plutarch. Preec. Reip. Ger. 15. Cf. jEschin. in Ctesiph.

p. 417.
 203

mass of the people; notwithstanding which the chief

manager of the public revenue was always looked up to as
one of the most important officers of State. In the pro-
management of the finances of
gress of time the faulty
Athens essentially contributed to the destruction
of the

State, more especially from the period when she was forced
to defend herself from foreign attack. If the powers of
the government are misdirected, the moral condition of
a State cannot alone preserve it. Immoderate exertions
and excesses equally render a State and an individual
incapable of performing their proper functions. Now
Athens overstrained both her mental and physical powers
(of which the power arising from wealth is not the least),
partly in great and noble exertions, partly in vain and
profligate waste ; after which she naturally fell into such a
state of weakness and inactivity, as to be unable to resist
the first violent pressure to which she might be exposed.
Can then be maintained, that financial regulations were
it

of less importance in ancient than in modern times, or that

they had less influence upon the public welfare ? Un-

questionably not; provided that the comparison is
correctly
instituted, kept in view which
and that the distinction is

is caused by the wide dissimilarity between the size of the

most remarkable and important States of antiquity, and

those of modern Europe.
J. J. Rousseau 5 maintains, that a government becomes
more dependent on its finance in proportion as the other

energies of the people decline, and that a State may be

considered as having arrived at the last stage of corruption,
when it has no other power than that which is derived

5
Discours sur 1'origine et les fondemens de 1'inegalite parmi
les hommes, p. 314. Geneva 1782, vol. I. of his works.
 204

from its wealth. In this manner, he thinks, all govern-

ments tend incessantly to decay, and consequently that no
State can endure, if revenues are not perpetually in-
its

creasing. Although these remarks may not be wholly

correct in the extended sense in which he applies them,

they are still

supported by a large majority of facts ; and
it is certain that as long as the early vigour of the human
mind is still unimpaired, the State is far less in need of
those artificial arrangements which are necessary for the

levying of money from the people. For as soon as the

pressure of any immediate and urgent necessity excites the
citizens, they spare no sacrifice nor exertion to satisfy the

exigency. This was the case with respect to Athens

before the administration of Pericles, and particularly
before the Peloponnesian war, at which time the change in
the Athenian character took place. Their oppression of
the allies and of the mercenaries connected with them,

taught the Athenians to place greater reliance upon the

assistance of foreigners, than upon their own exertions ;

the poison however operated slowly, because the feelings

of honour with which the overthrow of the barbarians and
the liberation of their common country had inspired them,
were not as yet obliterated ; while ambition still in some

degree supplied the place of purer motives, and the fear of

a momentary sacrifice was overcome by the hope of the
rich compensation which would probably follow in the
train of victory. however that after the age
It is certain

of Pericles, the administration of the finances became of

greater importance, and that the expences of the State

increased, as public principle declined : Athens however
by the augmentation of the tribute received from her
allies, as well as by the imposition of customs and other

duties, found the means of increasing her revenues. By

 205

these means she succeeded in maintaining herself, notwith-

standing her many reverses and defeats, until not only her
moral strength had almost expired, but her revenues also
had greatly diminished. Thus it was that she became
powerless and lost her independence. Rousseau infers

from the principles above laid down, that the first maxim
of financial administration is to restrain as much as possible
the tendency to expence, and to exert the utmost vigilance
in order to anticipate the appearance of any want. In

spite of every care, he thinks, the remedy will always be

too late for the disease, and the State will thus be left in a

suffering condition; that at the moment when one expence

isabout to be retrenched, another arises ; that additional
resources are themselves productive of new difficulties, the

people become oppressed, the government loses all its

strength, and, notwithstanding great expenditure, is

its

able to effect little. Rousseau of opinion that by these

is

principleswe may account for the almost miraculous

phenomenon of the ancient governments having been

enabled to effect more with their frugality than modern
States can perform with all their riches. I quote this

remark with a view to caution the reader against applying

it to Athens,where after the time of Pericles expence was
heaped upon expence, the administration of finance became
continually of more importance, and the difficulty continually
greater. It also throws a strong light upon the different

public salaries at Athens, although these resulted in part

from other circumstances, such as the poverty of the
citizens, and the pretensions which the State would not
consent to abandon, though unable to satisfy them from
its own resources. This increase in the expences of the
community far above the measure of its
strength, rendered
 206

an attention to the affairs of finance more necessary to the

Athenians than to any other Grecian State.
(2.) To obtain a knowledge of the financial system of
Athens in its whole extent, we must consider how it was
administered, what were the exigencies of the State, and
what revenues there were to meet them, and whether the
were in general sufficient, or whether at times they
latter

produced a surplus, and what extraordinary resources were

available on the appearance of difficulties. We here limit
ourselves to the economy of the State alone, excluding
subordinate companies and corporations; although, as
Athens was both a city and a State, many things must be
included in the public finances, which in larger nations
would only belong to corporate bodies ; and again, many
parts of the finances of subordinate communities were so
intimately connected with the State, that on that account
they ought not to be passed over. The expences of the
temples arid sacred corporations were partly defrayed from
revenues of their own, which were independent of the
State, and thus far they will not be treated of in this
book ; but in so far as the State advanced contributions, or
availed itself of the sacred revenues and treasures in pecu-
6
niary difficulties, upon the condition of restoring them ,
the finances of the State and of the sacred institutions
are linked together, and the latter therefore deserve at
least an occasional consideration.

The legislative authority in matters of finance as in

(3.)
allother things belonged to the People, as being supreme
ruler and sovereign (xo^<oj). All the regular expences and
revenues were determined by the laws which it enacted,

c
Cf. e. g. Thucyd. II. 13. VI. 8.
 20J
and every extraordinary measure received its authority by
a decree of the people. But the administration was en-
trusted to the Senate of 500, as the agents of the com-

munity, who were responsible to the people this council :

prepared questions in debate for the popular assembly, and

had the different branches of the public economy under
its superintendence. That the power of the senate with
reference to matters of finance was as extensive as here

represented, isevident from the folloM'ing examples. Ac-

cording to Xenophon's Treatise upon the Athenian Repub-
lic 7 ,
the Senate was occupied with providing money, with

receiving the tribute, and with the management of naval

affairs and of the temples. The letting of the duties was
under its superintendence. Those who had received sacred
or public monies from the State were bound to pay them
to the senate, or it enforced the payment of them accord-
8
ing to the laws relating to the farming of duties it had :

therefore the right of sending the farmers or their se-

curities to prison in case of
non-payment
9
The Apodectae .

delivered to this assembly an account of the monies re-

ceived and still remaining due in the presence of this
;

council the treasurers of the goddess transferred and ac-

cepted the treasures, and received the fines. The senate

arranged also the application of the public money even in
trifling matters, such for example as the salary of the poets :

the superintendence of the cavalry maintained by the

State, and the examination of the infirm (aSuvaroj) sup-
ported at the public cost, are particularly mentioned
among its duties: the public debts were also paid under

3. 2. Cf. Petit. Leg. Att. II. 1. 1.

Demosth. in Timoer, p. 730.

See the Oath in Petit III. 12. 2. cf. 10.
its direction 10 . From this enumeration we are justified in

inferring that all

questions of finance were confided to its
supreme direction. In early times it is possible that the

Areopagus, which was of so great importance before its

power was diminished by Ephialtes, also exercised some
authority in affairs of finance. For in the Persian war
this tribunal once directed that every person bearing arms

or serving in the fleet should receive eight drachmas from

the Areopagites 11 (although it has been said that the
Athenians had no public money at that time), whence it

might be concluded, that the authority of this supreme

of government extended to financial matters.
office

The boards and officers subordinate to the senate, by

whom the machinery of finance was worked, may be
classed under three heads : in the first place, those who
made the arrangements and preparations necessary for the
collection of the revenue, or collected it themselves; se-

condly, the treasurers of the offices into which the revenues

were paid, in which they were kept, and where they were
again disbursed ; and thirdly, those whose duty it was to
discharge the accounts. Concerning the first division it will
be unnecessary to say much, as in treating of the revenue
the method of its collection must be in part considered.
All regular duties were let to farmers (rs^wvai) ; for these

imposts therefore no particular places of payment were

necessary, except for receiving the money from the farmers;
an office was however probably required to arrange the

10
Inscript. 76. I. p. 116. ed. Boeckh. The senate also is

mentioned in connection with the sacred money in another in-

scription (n. 80. p. 119. ibid.), but in what particular relation is

not stated.
11
Plutarch. Themist. 10. from Aristotle.
 209

letting, or as the ancients term it the sale of the duties.

Now every thing that the State sold or let out to farm,
taxes, lands, mines, property (including the
confiscated

property of public debtors after the expiration of their

last term), the persons of resident aliens who had not paid

their protection-money, and foreigners who had been guilty

of illegally assuming the rights of citizenship or of the
offence of Apostasion ; all these duties were left to the care
of the ten Poletse, a board (<%%>?), to which each tribe
contributed one member ; and which met at a place called
12
Poleterion .
Among them was a Prytaneus, who presided;
for the sale of the duties, they were allowed the assistance
13
of the directors of the Theoricon ; but they managed

every thing in the name and under

the authority of the
senate alone, for which reason in the sale of the 50th and
of the tax upon prostitutes we read of the co-operation of
the Senate H The property of the temples was however
.

letby the directors of sacred possessions, as may be inferred

from the Sandwich inscription, in which the Amphictyons
of Delos render an account of the leases ; the property of
the tribes and boroughs was let by themselves through
their own agent or manager, to whom the payments were
also made 15 . Another class of the public revenues con-

12
Aristot. de Rep. Athen. ap. Harpocr. in v. JrwAflra/, Suidas
in vv. 7rAjT; and iru^Ttif, Phot, in v. w<yAjTrt/ (twice), Hesych.
and Lex. Seg. p. 291. Pollux VIII. 99. Harpocr. in v. ptroiKiov,
Demosth. in Aristogit. I. p. 787. Cf. Petit. II. 5. 2. The ex-
planation in Lex. Seg. p. 192. 21. is incorrect.
13
Poll. VIII. 99.
14
See Book III. 4. and 7.
15
See Inscript. 158. p. 252. n. 103. p. 144. n. 104. p. 142.
Boeckh. book III. 2. Demosth. in Eubulid. p. 1318. 18.
VOL. i. p
 210

sisted of the justice-fees and these were paid in

fines ;
by the
presidents of the court of justice which had decided the
cause, when the part that accrued to the State was trans-
ferred to the officers named Exactors (Trgaxrogsj), and the
portion which was allotted to any god was placed in the
hands of the treasurers of the proper temple ; who either
16
received themoney or annulled the verdict Certain fines .

were registered by the king-Archon 17 doubtless in his ,

capacity of head of the court of justice. When the pay-

ment had been made, the names were erased by the officers
whose duty it was to exact the money, for example the
18
Practores, together with the senate . The tributes of the
allies were probably paid without the immediate interference

of the Athenian State ; yet in this case also jt was some-

times necessary to appoint certain temporary authorities,
such as the officers who fixed the sum to be paid by the
19
subject State (wnyga^elj) , and others who collected the
tribute, if it had fallen into arrear (IxAoyeTj) ; the latter
however were chosen from among the rich, nor can their's
be considered as a permanent situation more than the
former, as they are only mentioned in a fragment of

16
Lysias viri rov a-r^ruorou p. 323, 324. Demosth. in
Macart. p. 1074 sqq. Andoc. de Myst. p. 36. TEschin. in Timarch.
p. 62, 63. Orat. in Theocrin. p. 1327. 29. p. 1336. 26. Demosth.
in Aristog. I. p. 778. 18. [The authors of the Attische Process
32. that " this last assertion must be limited tc the fines
p. observe,
summarily imposed by the magistrates (i;r/3Au') ; for that no
public officer had power either to mitigate or remit a penalty

decreed by a court of justice."]

17
Andoc. de Myst. p. 37.
18
Andoc. ut sup. p. 38.
19
See note 23.
 211
20
Antiphon concerning the tribute of the Samothracians
.

As the Spartans had their Harmosts, so had the Athenians

officersnamed Episcopi (STT/O-XOTTOI, <puAxef) as inspectors in
the tributary States ; Antiphon had mentioned them in his
21
oration concerning the tribute of the Lindians , but we
are not informed whether they were in any way concerned
with the collection of the tributes. Each tribe was bound
to take care that the regular public services (Aejrou^y/aj)
were correctly performed by the citizens which inspection :

therefore fell within the department of the head managers of

the tribes (iTr^Arjra* TU>V fuAcov), to whom this duty, as well as
that of administering the funds of the tribes, is attributed
22
by ancient . The superintendence and allotment
writers
of the trierarchy was divided between certain authorities,
who will be pointed out in a subsequent part of this work,
and the chief managers of the companies appointed for its
direction, who in ancient times were doubtless the Nau-
crari, and subsequently the managers of the Symmoriae
(l7rjju,eA>]Ta TUIV <j-vjt/,jw,oaJv). For the extraordinary property
tax (sJcr^oga), certain persons were nominated in order to
determine the amount of the contributions, who, as well as
the officers who fixed the rate of the tributes of the allies,
were called I7nyga<$e7j or 8<ayga$e7f, and were probably ten
in number ; these officers also prosecuted those who were in
23
arrear . Besides these authorities the directors of the

20
In Harpocr. and Suidas. Whether these are the same as
the IAoye<s appointed by lot like the Practores, who are men-
tioned in Lex. Seg. p. 190. 26. or different officers are meant, is
not certain :
probably the passage in this Lexicon refers to all

21
Cf. Schol. Arist. Av. 1023. Harpocr. in v. I
* See
Sigon. de Rep. Athen. IV. 2.
Harpocrat. in vv. ijr<yg<p<V, ^tai-y^aeftfut, Suidas in different
 212

Symmoriae, from the time that this establishment was

connected with the property taxes, must have had the
chief management of the distribution. Certain persons
24
were also employed as collectors Lastly, the Demarchs .

must have been highly serviceable in all affairs connected

with these taxes, as, before the institution of their office, were
the Naucrari, since they were able to afford the best inform-
ation concerning the property of the inhabitants 25 . We
are indeed told that the Demarchs collected public money
26
from the which can only mean that they enforced
citizens ,

the claims which a borough in its corporate capacity had

upon its members or upon a tenant renting some of its

property may however be safely allowed that they

: it

were employed for various debts and dues claimed by the

State 27 . The senate and the people on particular occa-
sions appointed certain persons for the collection of the

outstanding property-taxes, a duty for which Androtion

and nine others were once selected 28 In like manner the .

Syndics (cruv8jxo), who were introduced after the dominion

of the thirty tyrants, were authorities nominated for the
moment, being revenue law-officers of the State, who de-
29
cided upon confiscated property ; the o-yAAoyelj, who made

places, in vv. liriyqettyus, diccygcttpiis, ^tdy^cmp.*,, and

Etymol. in vv. fenyga^u; and i-xiyiuptwi. Lex. Seg. p.
254. Poll.
VIII. 103. Isocr. Trapez. 21. Cf. Sigon. R. A. IV. 3.
24
Suid. in v. UAyV. These are the officers which are alluded
to in Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1209. 9.
25
Cf. Poll. VIII. 108.
26
Demosth. in Eubul. ut sup. Concerning the Naucrari in
this point of view, see book III. 2.
47
An example, although not satisfactory, may be seen in In-
script. 80. 1. p. 119. ed. Boeckh.
28
Demosth. in Androt.
29
Sigon. R. A. IV. 4. Petit. III. 2. 31. where Wesseling
 213

a list of the property of the Oligarchs previously to its con-

fiscation 50 ; the IJijrjjTai, a revenue-board which was at times

suppressed, whose duty it was to ascertain who were indebted

to the public, particularly with regard to fraud and con-
cealment 31 The same name however was applied also to
.

persons who were entrusted by the State on certain occa-

32
sions with the discovery of other offences . These and the
Practores are reckoned by Pollux 33 among the inferior
officers (vTTYjgsTai) but it is more probable that this was an
;

officeof government, (g%^) which citizens of high rank

were not ashamed to accept.
(4.) All the revenues under the care of the preparatory

quotes from Valesius upon Harpocration, in v. crvvHwi, the de-

cisive passages of Lysias(pro Mantith. p. 574. $yp. J*. m
p. 597. in Poliuch. p. 613. pro Aristoph. bonis p. 635.). Photius
also has transcribed the article of Harpocration in v. o-vvdixoi.

Cf. Herald. Animadv. in Salmas. Observ. III. 10. 13.

30
Vid. ad Inscript. 157. p. 250.
31
Sigon. R. A. IV. 3. Hudtwalcker von den Diateten p. 58.
and also Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 696. 9. Lex. Seg. p. 261.
Both the latter passages are given by Sluiter Lect. Andocid.
p. 55. Cf. Phot, in v. At Pellene they were called
^TUTD'?.

fixa-r^ot ; the word occurred in Hyperides. See Harpocr.

ftenrrSi^f
Lex. Seg. p. 279. Suid. Phot, in vv. ^t<*<rr!}ges and ftcirrupf. Ac-
cording to the Lex. Seg. and Photius in the first article, it was
their duty to search for confiscated property, and
they were
therefore nearly allied to the o-vhhtyiis. I should observe that
Hudtwalcker (p. 32.) is in my opinion incorrect in only consider-
ing the Zetetae as an office of government (#) in the same
manner that this title conferred upon judges, heralds, and
is

clerks ;
but I must defer to another place the explanation of the
word etx,i, and
its opposite
wnnjgw/*, as employed in the political
language of Athens.
38
Andoc. de Myst. p. 7, 18, 20, 32.
33
VIII. 114, 115.
 214

officers were necessarily delivered up to others, who either

distributed them for the public service or kept them for

Aristotle 3 1 , in speaking of the officers of govern-

"

security.
ment, mentions those to whom the public revenues are paid,
as well as others who collect and distribute them to sepa-
rate branches of the administration : these are called, he

adds, Apodectae and Treasurers. At Athens there were ten

Apodectae, after the number of the tribes, who were chosen
by lot ; these were introduced by Cleisthenes in the place
of the ancient Colacrelae. They kept the lists of all
persons who were indebted to the State, received the
money which was paid in, made an entry of it, and marked
the outstanding sums, erased the names of the debtors
from the list in the senate-house in presence of the senate,
and returned this register into the archives; and lastly,
they together with the senate distributed the money that
had been paid in, that is to say, they assigned it to the

separate offices. Their duties were accurately described

by Aristotle in his Constitution of Athens. They also
had power to decide causes connected 'with the subjects
under their management K, a privilege which was allowed to
nearly all public officers at, Athens. As far as can be
ascertained from the accounts which are still extant, they
received in the presence of the senate all the monies which

belonged to the State ; but the revenues of the temples

34
Polit. VI. 8.
35
Pollux VIII. 97. Harpocr. in v. uiri&MTw from Aristotle
and Androtion, Suid. Etym. Hesych. Lex. Seg. p. 198. and
Zonaras in v. ajroSat-r**. I
may mention here, once for all, that
I shallnot always quote the latter grammarian, as for the most
he only copied other authorities. The Apodectse also occur in
Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 750. 24. as persons who were present
at the paying- in of money.
 215

and of the small corporations were independent of them :

nor had they any funds of their own, but only distributed
to the different offices the money that was paid in. If
their duties should appear confined, it will not seem sur-
prising that the receival of the tributes of the allies is
expressly ascribed to them by Pollux, notwithstanding the
Hellenotamias appear to have been appointed for that

purpose for although the latter, before the funds of

:

Delos were transferred to Athens and united with the

Athenian treasury, had the entire levy ing and management
of the tributes, it was possible for the tributes to have
been afterwards received by the Apodectae in the senate,
and have been then paid into the office of the Hellenotamiae
to defray the expences which were assigned to their funds.
After the abolition of the Hellenotamiae the Apodeeta1
were the onlyofficers who could have received the tributes.

The treasurers 36 of the tribes

and boroughs also received
and administered the money belonging to these corpora-
tions ; and in the same manner the revenues which periodi-

cally accrued to the sacred corporations, were paid to their

own treasurers independently of the Apodectae.

(5.) For every temple of any importance had a treasure

which was composed of offerings, and the surplus of the
amount of the sacred property, together with other receipts
which belonged to the particular deity ; and these treasures
were under the management of the treasurers of the sacred
monies (TJX/I ^wv Isgwv p^rj/xaTcuv)
37 .
The sacred treasure
of the greatest magnitude at Athens was that of Minerva

36
Concerning these officers see Chandler Inscript. II. 109.
where the radices of a borough, and another Inscription (p. 104.
n. 142. ed. Boeckh.) where the retpicts of a tribe occurs.
37
Aristot. Polit. VI. 8.
 216

upon the Acropolis; which (not to mention in this

to

place the public monies which were deposited there), besides

the large amount of sacred offerings and rents38 , many fines
without any deduction, and of others a percentage equal
to the tenth part were assigned, as well as the tithe of all

prizes taken in war, together with that of confiscated pro-

39
perty Many articles of great value were preserved in
.

the neighbouring temples, but the chief treasure was de-

40
posited in the Opisthodomus of the Parthenon , ever after
the building of that temple. These treasures of the
temple of Minerva were under the care of the treasurers
of Minerva or of the Goddess, who were also called trea-
surers of the sacred property of Minerva or of the Goddess

(ra.fi.icu Tjf
Qsuv or TWV rrjj 9eou, Tapu'aj TWV Isgobv ^grjjttaTcov T%

'A0rjva/af, reunion TWV Isgcav ^gij/xarcwv T% 0eov). The most

41
ancient mention of them, which is in Herodotus , refers to
the time of the battle of Salamis; in later times they

frequently occur as the treasurers of the monies and pro-

perty of Minerva exclusively, as well before the Anarchy
in inscriptions of about the 92d Olympiad 42 as subse-
,

quently to a law preserved in Demosthenes, which

it in

was doubtless passed in earlier times 43 ; in an inscription

of Olymp. 98. 4., and in a passage of JEschines referring to
44
Olymp. 104. 4. In like manner each temple had its
.

*'"'See book III. 12.

39
Whereas the other gods only received a fiftieth of certain
commodities. Concerning these tithes see book III. 6, 12, 14.
40
See book III. 20.
41
VIII. 51. retpi'tcs
rev gi5.
42
The superscription of the Choiseul
marble (n. 147.). Of the
same date are Inscript. 139 and 141. ed. Boeckh.
43 1075. 2.
Ap. Demosth. in Macart. p.
44 Timarch. 127.
Inscript. 151. and jEschin. in p.
 217
own treasurers, whowith the chief managers
together
(l7rrTaT) and sacrificers (JS^OTTOJOJ), administered the money
which belonged to it 45 But about the 90th Olympiad these
.

treasurers of the different temples, with the exception of the

treasurers of Minerva, were united into one board under the
name of the treasurers of the gods (ration TWV Oswv), the nomi-
nation of whom
took place upon the same principles as that
of the treasurers of Minerva, and they are said to have
also kept their treasures upon the Acropolis (Iv TTO'AFJ), and
even in the Opisthodomus 46 , so that from this time all the
sacred money was preserved in the Acropolis. Whenever
therefore after this period the treasurers of the sacred

money in the Acropolis are mentioned, as for example

in Andocides 47 ,
it cannot be determined without a farther

specification which of these two offices is meant. As

moreover according to their original institution, the
treasurers of the goddess and the treasurers of the gods
were entirely different authorities, so they afterwards
remained separate a fact which the mention in Demos-
:

thenes of the treasurers of the goddess as an independent

office, and their opposition to the treasurers of the gods,
48
distinctly prove However they once occur unequivo-
.

45
Inscript. 76. |. 7.
46
Inscript. 76. . 6.
47
De
Myst. p. 65. where the word vpvfteikkorro does not su;t
the office of treasurer, the candidates for which were not pro-

posed, but is inaccurately put in conjunction with it. So that

the passage must be understood as if it stood in this manner :

ttuv /tte A%7 Tetfttav.

48
In Timocrat. p. 743. 1. oi
retftixt, \($ u o
'OTftcrSo^cftef in-

irgirdn,
xeci el TUV TK 6tov, iteti ol -ruv aXAwn 6iu. The words of
the decree in Andoc. de Myst. p. 36. tovs iu.p.iu,$ T{ 9uv **< tut
hut are an inaccurate combination of two different offices.
 218
*9
Olymp. 95. f. in which
cally united as one office, viz. in
instance the treasurers of the goddess and of the other

gods (Tjtx./ TOOV

legcov %(n)[JitxTwv Trjf 'ASrjvaj
xa TCOV aXAcov

Qscov) were altogether only ten, instead of which the trea-

surers of Minerva alone were originally ten, and conse-

quently the treasurers of the other gods created after their

example were the same in number. In their collective
capacity they transferred the treasures of Minerva as well
as of other gods, for example, of Jupiter Polieus, and of
Diana of Brauron. This union was not however of long
duration ; there can be no doubt that about the 98th
Olympiad the treasurers of the goddess again existed
50
independently, and were ten in number At that time .

therefore the treasurers of the gods must have been again

separate from them.

Concerning the treasurers of the
goddess, Harpocration and Pollux furnish us with more
exact accounts derived from Aristotle 51 Of these officers .

then we learn that there were ten chosen by lot from

among the Pentacosiomedimni after this class was abo- ;

lished, a was probably established for

fixed valuation
them in some other manner 52 They received and trans-
.

ferred the treasures, monies, and valuables, particularly

the statue of Minerva, the statues of Victory, and
all the other decorations, presence of the se-
in the
53
nate ; like the Apodecta?, they received for the pur-

49
See Inscript. 150. eel. Boeckh.
50
As
proved by Inscript. 151. (Superscription), where the
is

vacant space requires this number of names.

51
Harpocr. in v. raptm, Photius, Suidas, Philemon Lex.
Technol. (edited by Burney),and Lex. Seg. p. 306. Poll. VIII. 97.
81
See book IV. 5.
53
Upon this subject compare Inscript. 76. .7. in reference to
the treasurers of the gods.
 219

pose of custody the fines which accrued to the goddess ;

and they had, proved from Demosthenes, the power

as is

of cancelling a judicial sentence relating to them. Under

their superintendence was placed all the precious furniture
of the temple of Minerva upon the Acropolis, including,
as we learn from the oration of Demosthenes against
Timocrates54 , the trophies of the State (TO. ugia-rita. Tys
TTO'ASWJ), Xerxes' silver-footed stool, the golden sabre of

Mardonius, and an immense collection of valuable articles

in the Parthenon and its interior cell, the catalogues of

which are still extant in several inscriptions. The office

was annual ; at the expiration of each year the predecessors

transferred to their successors all that had been originally

delivered to them, and whatever had accrued since their
instalment in the office ; the duties of the treasurers of the
other gods were similar, as their office was arranged on the

very same principles as the former. Now every thing that

has been hitherto mentioned as being under the care of
the two boards of treasurers was sacred property (sga).
But to whom belonged the superintendence of the money
preserved in the treasury upon the Acropolis, which was not
considered as sacred property (o<na ^g^ara)? According
55
to a very probable account given in Suidas , the public
monies were kept by treasurers chosen by lot, who had the
care of the statue of Minerva, alluding manifestly to the
treasurers of the goddess. For all money which was brought
into treasury by means of a decree of the people
the

(whither was transmitted by the Apodectae), was looked

it

upon as dedicated to Minerva 56 , although it could not have

54
P. 741. Cf. Sigon. R. A. IV. 3.
55
In v. ra.ft.toii in the first article.
56
According to Inscript. 76. . 2. iirueili
ry 'Adj<' ret

<*wiyT< e? Trohiv, a f
 220

been considered as her immediate property ; and it was

consequently placed under the care of the treasurers of the

goddess ; the latter repaid it upon the authority of a
decree of the people; thus, according to the Choiseul

inscription, considerable sums were paid by them to the

HelJenotamiae and others, partly out of the treasures of
Minerva Polias and of the goddess of Victory, and partly
from the public treasure. The treasurers of the goddess
were therefore not merely treasurers of a temple in the
more limited sense, but guardians also of the public trea-
sure, and in this respect their's was no unimportant office :

also are called treasurers 57 .

occasionally they (ra/x/a*)
Thus Androtion is called treasurer without any farther
addition 58 , although he could have held no other office
than that of treasurer of the goddess, for he had under his
care the golden crowns, sacred offerings and ornaments for

processions belonging to Minerva in particular, and other

things preserved in the temple of that goddess, which he
obtained permission from the people to recast and alter.
The idea that Androtion must have been elected by the
Cheirotonia of the people, as would be inferred from the
account of Petit 59 ,
is only founded upon a mistake of

Ulpian, which ought not to mislead any reader. It is

scarcely necessary to remark, that the treasurers were bound

to leave the money unemployed, and that it was a dishonest
it out for their own a fraud which,
gain if they lent profit ;

according to Ulpian upon the oration against Timocrates,

60
was once actually committed .

57
Cf. Harpocr. Suid. &c.
58
Demosth. in Androt. p. 615. 17.
69
Leg. Alt. III. 2. 33.
60
From this Demosthenes ?rtg< n-*{<*;rgicr/3Hj p. 435. 8. must
probably be explained.
 221

(6.) Wholly different from these offices was the Trea-

surer or Manager of the Public Revenue (raft/as or ITTI-

ju.sA>jT^ TTJJ X.OWYIS Trgocro'Sou), the most important of all offices

of finance, which was filled not by lot but by the Cheiro-
tonia of the people. Aristides held this situation, to which
he was elected by Cheirotonia 61 ; Lysias is expressly called
in the decree, by which honours were conferred upon him
62
after his death , treasurer of the public revenue (raja/af
1% xo<v% and immediately afterwards it is ob-
TTgocroSou),
served that he was chosen by the people. Also in the
Lives of the Ten Orators 63f a law is mentioned, in which
this treasurer is said to have been elected by Cheirotonia
for the charge of the public money (6 xetgOTOvyQsi; ITT} ra
and the remark made by Ulpian that
8>jpj'<ria xgyj{j,a.Toi) ;

it was
necessary that the treasurer should be elected
by Cheirotonia, is only true of this officer. This office
moreover was not annual, like those of the treasurers
upon the Acropolis, but was held for four years, that
is to say, for a Penteteris expressly related of Ly-
: it is

curgus, that he filled that office for three Penteterids 64 ;

and Diodorus says, that he administered the public

revenues for twelve years 65 In early times, the same
.

individual could be re-elected more than once, as the ex-

ample of Aristides proves; but after the first Penteteris

of Lycurgus, the jealousy of the citizens was sufficiently

61
Plutarch. Aristid. 4. where he is called

62
Decree III. at the end of the Lives of the Ten Orators.
63
In Lycurg. Petit (ut sup.) confuses this whole subject most
ignorantly. He does not deserve refutation.
64
Lives of the Ten Orators (from the third Decree), and
thence Photius.
65
Diod. XVI. 88. &u?e. S'TD TJ ws-olievs ins
 222

strong to procure the enactment of a law, by which all

persons were from that time prohibited from holding this
situation for more than five years (ju,>j
TrXs/w TTEVTE ITWV Sisirew

TOV xstgoTOvyQevrot kin TO. Sijju.o(na

p^ju-ara) : on which ac-
count Lycurgus in the two following periods transacted the
business under fictitious names 66 The mention of five .

years might lead one to suppose that the office was held
for that time ; but the expression must be considered as

inexact, and the word used in the law was doubtless Pen-
teterisand not five years ; a Penteteris according to the
ancient usage was never more than four years, although
the idiom subsequently changed, as may be seen from the
67 .
language of some later writers Many of the periods

employed were undoubtedly of four

in matters of finance

years, particularly the assessment of the tributes, which is

distinctly stated to have taken place every Penteteris

(every four years) : thence arose the duration of the office

in question. There wei*e. also other offices at Athens which

were held for four years, being regulated by the great
Panathenaea; but none, as far as I am aware, for five
years. The periodical beginning of the office of treasurer
I have ascertained with probability elsewhere 68 ; it fell in
the year of the great Panathensea, in the third year of each

Olympiad, about the commencement of winter.

However considerable the situation of chief manager of
the public revenue may have been, his power in administer-

66
Vit. Dec. Orat. p. 251. vol. VI. of the Tubingen Plutarch.
67
Arrian. Epict. III. 25. Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. XII. 8. call
a period of four years rtr^etiTiec. Concerning the question whether
in the treasurership of Lycurgus the periods were of four or five

years, see also book III. 19.

68
Ad Inscript. VIII. . 2.
 223

ing the finances was by no means unlimited, but like every

other officer he was subject to the restraint of legal checks
and of the of the people ; nor was this office by any
will

means the exclusive source from which all financial measures

proceeded ; for every person who had the right of speaking
in the assembly and the senate, every orator and dema-
69
gogue, was at liberty to originate any measure and per- ;

haps there existed in early times separate officers, whose

duty it was to procure the necessary revenues, and to
attend solely to that point. The author of the Rhetorical
Lexicon 7 declares, that the duties of the Poristae (irognrToi})
were of this nature, and Antiphon 7X
classes them with the
Poletae and the Practores. upon the whole extremely
It is

difficult to define the extent of the duties and authority of

the manager of the public revenue. He was not like the
Apodectae, an officer who only received money without
having any funds, nor like the treasurers upon the Acro-
polis, was he merely a guardian of monies, which in the

regular order of things were never paid out. The example

69
I remark incidentally that Gillies (Observations upon the
History, Customs, and Character of the Greeks, p. 136, of the
German translation) supposes that the demagogues, Eucrates
the wool-merchant, Lysicles the sheep-dealer, Hyperbolus the

lamp-maker, and Cleon the leather-seller, were treasurers, which

appears to be a false inference from Aristoph. Eq. 101 sqq.
since whatever power they possessed, even where it extended to
financial matters, was entirely derived from their character as

demagogues.
Lex. Seg. p. 294. 19. ng(rr/' v^ia-ieti nV< #'' T<S 'A0)j-
-
vj)5 <, tjTig Kogovs IQiTit' UTTO TovTov yct tuti
irg6wyotv6r,g-eii.
71
ng/ rov x,oWTov p. 791. extr. Demosthenes (Philip. I.

p. 49. 17.) joins ray ^uptd-rat vapiau KI K^uria.}, but he uses the
word in such a manner that it cannot be assumed that it was a
public office in his time.
 224

of Lycurgus proves, that all the money which was received

and disbursed passed through his hands ; consequently he
was the general receiver and superintendant of the offices
of payment, or general paymaster, who received all the

money paid in by the Apodectae and appointed for fresh

payments, and supplied the separate offices with the re-

quisite sums
with the exception of the property taxes,
;

which were doubtless paid directly into the war office, as

war supplies. The tributes originally formed an exception,
since theyremained under the management of the Helleno-
tamiae as long as they were independant of the finances
of Athens, a separation which was perhaps retained
until the abolition of the Hellenotamiae. This officer de-
frayed all expences that were necessary for the adminis-
tration (8o/xj<r) ; to which all the regular expences in
time of peace belonged. In the first place, the duties

(reA)}) were assigned to this department, together with

certain other contributions 72 . The keeping and the

management of these monies also unquestionably devolved

upon this officer. As the payment of the judges' salaries
evidently belongs to the administration, the justice-fees,
although there existed a particular office for them, must
likewise have been uncler his management ; neither can
there be any doubt that he exercised a general super-
intendence over the collection of all the revenues ; for it
could only have been by virtue of this authority that

Lycurgus was able to prevent the farmer of the duties

from 73
requiring protection-money of Xenocrates , and
that Aristides was enabled to point out the frauds and
embezzlements of the public money 74 ; and hence it can

72
Demosth. in Tiinocr. p. 731. 4.
73
Vit. Dec. Orat. in Lycurg.
74
Plutarch. Aristid. ut sup.
 2:25

be explained how Lycurgus was able to increase every

branch of the revenue, to purchase many valuable orna-
ments for the public use, and to lay by a surplus sufficient
for the construction of great buildings and fleets 75 In .

short, the manager of the public revenue had alone of all

the public officers, the whole superintendence of the revenue
and expenditure, and was therefore in a situation to give
the surest
judgment as to the possibility of increasing the
former and of diminishing the latter, and to propose bene-
ficial measures to the senate and to the people ; he was
under other circumstances what the minister of finance or
the chancellor of the exchequer is in modern States.
Valesius 76
is
probably correct in referring to this treasurer

the passage in Aristophanes, in which it is said that the

treasurer had the seal of the people ; although it is

possible that it might have been entrusted to the treasurers

upon the Acropolis, for the purpose of sealing the room in
which the treasure was kept 77 .

The manager of the public revenue, being an officer who

disbursed money, bore the name of treasurer of the ad-
ministration (rajouaf T% 8jo)t^<rea>j, or 6 STT r>jf 8tt3<x^<rsa>j),
which latter office is identical with the first. ^Eschines 78

says, that Aphobetus, who was appointed for the adminis-

tration (ETTJ TY<V xojvrjv <o/>]<rv), also managed the public
revenues justly and honourably (xaAcoj xai

75
Lives of the Ten Orators, and the third Decree preserved
there.
76
Ad Harpocrat. in v. atfrodixTat. The passage of Aristophanes
is Eq. 943. where the Scholiast incorrectly interprets it as if it
was only the administration of the Prytaneia.
77
See Inscript. 76. |. 6.
78
ITegi 7rast7riy/2. p.
315.
VOL. I. Q.
 226

TrgotroSwv l7ri|u,sAT]0V) :
Lycurgus, when he filled the
situation of manager of the revenue, also superintended
the administration (jo/xrj<nj), as we learn from the authors
of the Lives of the Ten Orators and of the Epistles of De-
mosthenes 79 , and is
distinctly proved by the fact that he
annually paid out and accounted for the whole revenue.
Pollux 80 also sufficiently proves the identity of these two
offices, when he calls the person at the head of the ad-

ministration (6 |TT TTJJ 8<o<x>jo-a;j), an officer for the revenue

and expenditure (OT* TWV wgoa-tovTcov
xa UVO.\I<TKO^SVCOV)^ elected,
not chosen by lot. In this capacity he must have issued
all payments for
police, building, provision of ornaments
used in processions, public sacrifices, and the celebration of
festivals, the latter belonging to the sacred administration
81
(Isga. tiurltufngty ,
in opposition to the civil (6<r'a). Thus
Lycurgus, by virtue of superintended the
this office,

building of the docks, of the gymnasia, pala?stras, the-

atres, arsenal, Sec. and the supply of articles for sacred
82
uses , as well as of the money required for the provision
of ships, arms, and artillery, which was appointed to be
made in times of peace, a duty also performed by Lycurgus;
together with all salaries payable in time of peace, and the
other expences of the domestic administration. Particular
funds were also created for single parts of the administra-
tion, which the treasurer of the public revenue superin-
tended. The Theoricon and the war office were however

wholly independent of his authority, and into one of these

79
Epist. III.
80
VIII. 113.
81
Xenoph. Hellen. VI. 1, 2. Cf. Demosth. in Timocrat.

p. 730.
24. p. 731. 1.
82
Lives of the Ten Orators.
two funds he paid all the surplus money which he received,
as will be presently shewn, after which he ceased to have any
farther charge of it ; for a considerable time indeed a great
care of the
part of the administration itself was under the
treasurers of the Theoricon, several offices having been
consolidated in them. Two it
might
statements, by which
seem that the manager of the public revenue was also

treasurer of the Theoricon, admit of a satisfactory expla-

nation. Lycurgus obtained the condemnation of Diphilus,
who had committed some offence connected with the mines
which this person held in lease from the State, and dis-

tributed the confiscated property among the people, after

83
the manner of the Theorica . This case however mani-
festly proves nothing, as it was an extraordinary measure,
and not in the course of business. " When
regular
Demades had under him the revenues of the State," says
84 " the Athenians
Plutarch , being eager to dispatch some
vessels to the assistance of those who had revolted from

Alexander, called upon him to supply them with money :

from which project he succeeded in dissuading the people

'
by answering them, Money you certainly are provided
to

with, for I have so arranged it that each citizen should

receive half a mina at the Choeis, but if you prefer applying
it to this purpose, make what use you please of your own

property." From the writer's expression it

might at first

sight be thought that Demades was manager of the public

revenue but as Demades appears solely in the capacity of
:

a director of the Theorica, who at the festivals and games

83
Lives of the Ten Orators.
84
Prgec. Reip. Ger. 25. rt ?<*

*ts. The date of the event is Olymp. 112. 2. Cf. ad In-

script. VIII.
 228

distributed money among the citizens and as Plutarch's ;

words that " he had the revenues of the State under him"
do not necessarily refer to a treasurer of the administration,
we should not, in opinion, be justified in assuming that
my
he filled the latter office, to which so thoughtless and

extravagant a man must appear but ill adapted. For a

manager of theTheorica he was much better fitted; since the
more and immoral a person in that situation was,
careless

the more could be expected from his administration of the

office. Demades had contrived that the coffers of the
Theorica should be well filled ; in time of war however
these funds were always claimed by the well-disposed for

military preparations ; and the contest which was carried

on at Athens, as to whether the money of the Theorica

was or was not to be applied to the uses of war, has

become notorious. If this latter fact is taken in connexion
with the above narration, it .will evidently appear that

Demades had not the entire administration of the public

revenue, but only of the money of the Theorica.

For the superintendence of works of architecture, such
as the building of walls, streets, docks, and ships, and for
the provision of the sacrifices, particular authorities were

appointed (TSJ^OTTOJOJ, O&JTTOJO), ETrj^eArjTat TWV vswgiwv, rgir;-

goTrojoj, legonoioi
xctr' Iviaurov and ITTJJU^VJOJ &c.), some of whom
remained in office for a whole year, others acted only as
85
commissioners for a shorter period . All these officers

had their respective paymasters dependent upon the several

treasurers of the administration. It is proved by inscrip-
86
tions that
money was paid into the hands of the managers
of the sacrifices as well as to the Athlotheta?; and although

5
/Esch. in Ctesiph. p. 425.
86
See Inscript. 144 and 147.
 229

it
appears that money was sometimes paid into their hands
by the treasurers of the goddess, these payments must be
considered only as contributions, since according to the

regular course their money ought to have been derived

from the funds of the administration 87 . The treasurer of
the ship-builders (TJU-/J TU>V Tgjgo7roja;v) is particularly
88
mentioned , as well as the treasurers of the builders
of the
walls (Tju,/a< TWV TS^OTTOJWV), and it is expressly stated that
the latter received their money from the funds of the
89
administration ; Demosthenes mentions among other
duties of the administration the payment for the wages of
the dicasts, of the assembly, of the senate, and of the
90
cavalry for these particular payments separate boards
:

must necessarily have been appointed under the treasurer

of the administration yet we find that in the Pelopon-
;

nesian war, the Hellenotamiae disbursed money out of the

treasury for the cavalry
91
. The Thesmothetse
paid the
92
wages of the assembly out of the monies of the adminis-
tration, and they probably had also their own paymasters
for that purpose. Lastly, since the sacred triremes received
pay even in time of peace (the Paralos for certain, and
probably the Salaminia and the Ammonis), it is natural to
suppose that their treasurers were in a great measure
under the superintendence of the treasurer of the ad-
ministration. The treasurer of the Paralos was an officer of

87
Because they were for the g<* $</*u<r<?, Demosth. in Timo-
crat. p. p. 731. 1.
730. 24.
88
Demosth. in Androt. p. 598.
w See JSsch.
I* TK 3(onct<rtas . in
Ctesiph. p. 425. p. 426.
p. 415. p. 422.
90
In Timocrat. p. 731. 15. and 21, 22.
11
See the Choiseul Inscription (n. 147.)
94
See book H. 14.
 230

distinction,and he was appointed by Cheirotonia, as much

money passed through his hands in addition to that which
was paid for the uses of the vessel the others were elected in :

the same manner 93 these treasurers of the sacred triremes

:

(respecting whom
Harpocration and Pollux and other
grammarians have derived their knowledge from Aristotle)
94
supplied the expences of the trierarch . Smaller pay-
ments of a domestic nature were probably made at once

by the treasurer of the administration, without the ap-

pointment of a particular board. Thus the charge for

95
engraving the decrees was assigned to him . This duty

93
Demosth. in Mid. p. 570. 3, 13, 15. and more particularly
1. 24. and Ulpian's note.
94
This is the way in which Pollux (VIII. 116.) should be
understood, Tft/t txoihov* raits tout itgatis Tg<'geo-< teirovgyovrrets,
ctAAp; 21 The State was properly the trierarch of
Tinoi%tv<;.
the sacred triremes; but it was necessary that they should have
trierarchs who represented the State. The reading of Junger-
mann's manuscript, for <il, is
probably correct. Harpocration,
and from him Suidas, say, t'to-i $'t -rmj XMI rvv r^t^ar vttftteu, at o

ctvrof <pthi<ro<pof <p)o-<, viz. Aristotle, a passage which refers to the

sacred triremes alone, as is proved by Phutius in v. rctftsctt. iltri 2i

xeti AA< Tttfilat cig%ovTt{ %ttOTcniTOi iirt Tatf

g<*s
xcci $i>(AO<ricc{
Tgjg{,
a
[tiv \TC\ TW TroegeeAev,
o cit liri rev
"Aptftuvof. Aqftoiricti
is here put in

opposition to those furnished at the expence of the trierarchs.

The following observation from the Maricas of Eupolis appears
to refer to treasurers of all the trierarchs, and will be considered

in a subsequent part of this work, although a definitive decision

is not possible, as is remarked in book IV. 1 1 The treasurer of the .

Ammonis is mentioned by both Suidas and Photius in v. recft/ut.

The State moreover paid the money directly into the hands of
the trierarchs, as is shewn elsewhere.
95
As for instance in the Decree in Diog. Laert. VII. in the
Life of Zeno, the date of which is unknown, but it is later than
 231

on one occasion fell

upon the treasurer of the people
(raja/ac TOU S^jw-ov), by which the same office is meant, and it
is
particularly directed that the payments should be made
out of the money which was set apart for the expences of
the decrees (T eg TO. vf/jj^/tr/xaTa avaAjtrxojasva TOJ 8ijju,;).
This belongs to Olymp. 125. 2. 96 In two other decrees .

there occurs a remarkable variation. In the one, which is

of later date than Olymp. 119. 1. it is ordered that the cost
of engraving should be defrayed by the treasurers of the
97
administration (oi ITTJ TJJ Sjojjcqtrsi) ;
in the other, which is of
the age of Demosthenes, it is assigned to the treasurers
without any further specification 98 The latter .

the 130th Olympiad, where he is distinctly called <5 iirl rs

>G
See the third Decree after the Lives of the Ten Orators.
97
Decret. ap. Chandl. Inscript. II. 12. ad fin. Me^io-ai, the

expression here used, refers to the single numbers of the different

items of the expenditure, as in the Decree in Diog. Laert. and the
Decree of the Tyrian merchant at Delos, in Spon. Misc. Erud.
Antiq. X. 70. p. 344. also in the Salaminian Decree published
by A. E. Kbhler Db'rpt. Beitr. 1814. first halt' p. 62. where there
is the following sentence 21 rov retpietn <I><AaxAv
: Ix.
ptgi'trctt Tlfignttsct
rav e/j ret,
\jcotra.~\ -^n^ifftocra, ra 3ftu.
cetei).t<rx.6[tii/av Similarly in
several unpublished Inscriptions. [Induxit me olim (CEc. Civ.
II. 6.) decretum pro Lycurgo scriptum (Vit. Dec. Orat. Deer.
III.), ut in Salaminio Titulo vocem scares, delendam putarem ;
nam ibi in fine habetur : I*. iuv e/j rot, fyvfyitrp.ct.it*, Kvcchi<rx.6p,tMv T

dtjpiu. Sed nisi huic quoque formulae eandem, quam prioribus,

sententiam tribuere malis, potius illud decretum corrigendum est,
et scribendum ex rat ti? r *<*T<* ^^la-fAetree,.']
98
for Straton, king of Sidon, in the Marm. Oxon.
Decree
XXIV. Chandl. line 16.
ed. I omit the Decree which Chishull

has given from Ainsworth in Ant. Asiat. p. 164. because the

treasurer of the city is inserted in it by conjecture.
are doubtless the same as those who in the first decree are
called ol ITT) T>? 8jo*x^<rsi ;
for it is manifest that these were
the only treasurers who could have paid the money but :

it is remarkable that several treasurers of the administration

are here mentioned, as nothing is stated in any other place

of there having been more than one. In both cases it is
possible that their office was only temporary from the :

nature of the proceedings we should a priori expect that

frequent alterations would take place in the administration

of finance, and both before and after these decrees we find

only one treasurer of the administration mentioned.

The statement made above upon the authority of
Pollux", that a separate office was created for paying the
wages of the Dicasts, which was dependent upon the
treasurers of the administration, will be more clearly illus-
trated by the consideration of the Colacretae, respecting
whom all that occurs in the ancient writers has been col-
100
lected by Ruhnken , without any light having been
thrown upon the nature of their problematical office.
The singular name by which they are designated, is of
itself sufficient to prove that they had their origin in very

remote times they were called jccoAaxgsraj from collecting

;

certain parts of the victims (properly xcoAaygsrai) 101 } an

expression which shews that they must have been the

superintendents of the provisions at certain public feasts ;
and this supposition agrees with the well-established facts,

99
VIII. 113. where o iiri T? 3*uVi5 is mentioned in connec-
tion with the pay of the dicasts.
100
Ad Tim. Plat. Lex. p. 171.
101
As Tinueus (p. 171.) and Photius write according to the
derivation. Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 693. and thence Suidas
in his second article.
 233

that they also took charge of the gifts, which the kings in
the most ancient times, and afterwards the Archons and

Prytanes in their capacity of judges, received for the ad-

ministration of justice, and that they had the management
of every thing connected with financial matters, such at
least as at that time could have been in existence. It is

possible that the Pyrander who is said by the ancients to

have been treasurer at so remote a period as that of the
Eleusinian war, was only a Colacretes of the king ; and as
we find in use at Cyzicus a verb which was derived from
the office of Colacretae, it is evident that they came with
the ancient colony of Neleus to Miletus, and from thence
to Cyzicus, like the Diana of Munychia, and the names of
the four ancient Athenian tribes. Solon left the Colacretae
untouched, acting on a policy which he appears to have
followed in numerous instances; Cleisthenes, always fond of

innovation, established the Apodectse in their stead 102 ; the

Colacretas were now no longer receivers of the taxes, but
became a subordinate department: to whom however could
they be subordinate ? According to the great Etymologist,
they were treasurers of the money and managers of the trier-
archy. This could only have been the case before the time
of Cleisthenes, when indeed they might have had all the

liturgies of the citizens under their superintendence, in-

cluding the provision of the triremes ; as to the later period

in which we have more accurate information respecting the

trierarchy, this assertion is absurd, nor does there any where

occur the slightest confirmation of it ; neither could they
after the time of Cleisthenes have been treasurers upon
the Acropolis and guardians of the sacred money, although

102
Androtion ap. Harpocrat. in v. *7r<3iKTeti.
 234

Pollux 103 confounds them with the treasurers of the

Goddess. All that we know that they paid
for certain is,

the wages of the Dicasts 104 , a fact which appears as well

from passages in the grammarians, as from the testimony
of the poet Aristophanes 105 These stipends they probably
.

distributed in person, as subordinate officers to the treasurer

of the administration. Aristophanes the grammarian ex-
pressly asserts, as well as Hesychius, that they had nothing
to attend to except the payment of the Dicasts 106 , a

testimony which of all others is deserving of the

greatest
credit. According to the statement of the gramma-
who has been quoted
rian of the library of St. Germain,

by Ruhnken and published by Bekker 107

they had ,

authority over the fines of justice ; but

in the courts
this is evidently a mistake, the reason of which however

is that the
Prytaneia and the other justice-fees, which the
grammarian might call fines, were set apart for paying the
Dicasts, and consequently either directly or indirectly
were delivered over to the Colacretae. The Scholiast to
108
Aristophanes again enumerates the provision of the
public entertainments in the Prytaneum as one of their
duties, a circumstance of so little importance that Aris-

103
VIII. 97.
104
Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 693. and 723. Av. 1540. Photius
and Timaeus Lex. Seg. p. 275. Hesychius and Suidas in
ut sup.
v. x**xg8T<*<, the second article of the latter grammarian being

taken from the Scholiast of Aristophanes.

105
In the passages just quoted.
106
Aristoph. Grammat. ap. Schol. Aristoph. Av. 1540. He-
sych. ut sup.
107
Lex. Seg. p. 190. 15.
108
Av. 1540.
 235

tophanes the grammarian probably did not think proper

to mention it and indeed we are compelled to suppose
:

that they performed this or some analogous duty ; for as

their office originated before the time of Cleisthenes, and
the wages of the Dicasts were first introduced by Pericles,

they must between these two periods have performed

some duty ; and this was doubtless the management of
the entertainments in the Prytaneum, a relic of their
more ancient office. The single fact that the justice-
fees were called Prytaneia proves that they were once
paid to the Prytanes, as judges in the Prytaneum ;
which money may have been allotted to defraying the
expences of their meals (what relation the Prytanes bore
to the Archons with regard to the judicial authority,
the latter being also judges, is foreign to the present

question) and when the payment of the Dicasts was after-

:

wards introduced, it seemed for this reason the obvious

and natural course to assign to them this latter duty.
Thus we find a perfect agreement between two duties
which at first sight appeared of a very different nature ;

and it cannot well be doubted that they continued from this

time forth to perform both together. We must now sub-

join what is adduced by the Scholiast to the Birds of

Aristophanes, in order to confute the assertion of Aristo-

phanes the grammarian, which I have implicitly followed
in the above discussion. Androtion the antiquary had
written, that according to some law the Colacretae were
bound to furnish the Pythian Theori with money for their

voyage and other expences out of the NawxArjgjxa from this ;

circumstance the Colacretae have been considered the same

with the treasurers of Minerva, and the grammarians have
derived their statement from this authority that the funds
 236

for the festivals or for the l09 were under their regu-
gods
lations. We shall in vain attempt to discover what the
vauxArj^jxa were : it is clear to me that the monies of the
Naucrarias (properly vauxgxa according to the ancient
form) are meant ; but it also appears to me probable that
Androtion, who as well as Philochorus had in some things
an extensive, in others an imperfect, knowledge of the
earliest times of the Athenian State, spoke of the regula-
tions anterior to Cleisthenes in the passage in which he
quoted this law. In this manner Aristophanes the gram-
marian and Androtion can be easily reconciled and we ;

must not consider that the Colacretae continued to be

treasurers of the sacred monies after the time of Cleisthenes,
which besides would not accord with other ascertained
facts.

(7.) A
separate office existed during a long period for
the management of the tributes, the Hellenotamiae or trea-
surers of the Greeks *v to these the administration of the
monies at Delos, or the 110 when in
'EAArjvoTajoua, belonged ,

consequence of the treachery of Pausanias after the battle

of Plataese (Olymp. 75. 2.) Athens had obtained the com-
mand, and every financial office was under the direction
of Aristides. This situation was at first exclusively held
by Athenians : the duty attached to it was to receive the

tributes, and to deposit them in the Delian treasury in the

temple of Apollo, where the meetings of the allies were

109
Ap. Schol. Aristoph. Av. 1540. Vesp. 623. Timseus, Lex.
Seg. and Photius.
110
Xenoph. de Vectig. 5. 5. unless the right reading is'
 237
held m. There can be no doubt that they continued to be
the guardians of these monies 112 ; their office was retained
when the funds were removed to Athens under the pretence
of greater security a proceeding which Aristides declared
:

to be unjust, though expedient : but the whole injustice of

originated with the lavish expenditure on the part of
it first

Pericles 113 After the Anarchy however no more traces of

.

the Hellenotamiae occur; under the new administration they

were not reestablished, the ascendancy of Athens and the
tributary condition of the allies having ceased and although :

Athens was again enabled to exact tributes from the de-

pendent States, this office was never again created for the
114 From this reason the
management of them .
grammarians
know scarcely any thing of these treasurers ; Harpocration
says, upon the authority of Aristotle, that they were an office
at Athens which had the management of money the Etymo- ;

logist affirms that they were theguardians of the common mo-

nies of Greece: Suidas 115 furnishes nothing that is not known
from other sources Pollux 116 asserts that
:
they collected the

111
Thucyd. I. 96. Nepos Aristid. 3. Plutarch. Aristid. 24.
Andocid. de Pace p. 107. which oration was called in question
the ancients, but is evidently the production of Andocides.
by
Antiphon also (de csede Herod, p. 739.) mentions the office,
without our deriving any information from him.
112
Schol. Thucyd. I. 96.
113 ut sup.
Plutarch. Aristid. 25. Pericl. 12. Nepos Diod.
XII. 38.
114
The Hellenotamias, who according to the Lives of the Ten
Orators (in the Life of Lycurgus)
was banished in the Demo-
cracy after the thirty tyrants, had previously held this office.
115
Vol. I. p. 715.
f
116
VIII. 14. Zonaras in EAX*!oTp/c<, where
v. it should be
written AXa, hardly deserves to be mentioned.
 238

tributes, and had under their superintendence the constitu-

tions of the tributary islandswhereas the latter duty rather
;

belonged to the Episcopi, and the former was wholly un-

necessary, as the tributaries themselves paid in the money
117 which
during the spring at the time of the Dionysia ,

were celebrated annually in the city ; particular persons

for collecting them (IxAoyeTj)were appointed only upon
extraordinary occasions, who were different from the
Hellenotamiae ; Hesychius is most correct in calling them
the treasurers of the tribute accruing to the Athenians 1I8 .

But the best information concerning them is afforded by

some inscriptions of a date anterior to the Archonship of
Euclid. The form of their nomination is unknown ; it

seems however to be probable that they were chosen

by lot, like the treasurers of the gods, out of the

119
Pentacosiomedimni. says that they were
Barthelemy
ten in number, one out of each tribe not only have I
:

been unable to find any confirmation of this assertion, but

I am able distinctly to refute it. In the Choiseul inscrip-
tion (Olymp. 92. 3.) eleven Hellenotamise are men-
tioned ; Callimachus of Hagnus, Phrasitelides of Icaria,
Pericles of Cholargus, Dionysius of Cydathenaeum, Thrason
of Butade, Proxenus of Aphidna, Spudias of Phlya?,
Ansetius of Sphettus, Phalanthus of Alopecae, Eupolis of

Aphidna, and Callias of Euonymia, of whom Pericles and

117
Aristoph. Acharn. 504. and the Scholiast; ibid. 643. The
date of the Acharnenses is Olymp. 88. 3. That the great
Dionysia took place annually has been shewn by Corsini and
others against the unimportant testimony of Scholiasts.
18
O< rev xofufyftwov Qogov Tret^ci. 'AQwctiot; Tctfti'sti. An incorrect
article in Lex. Seg. p. 188. (Sue., ovlp.) I entirely pass over.
119
Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions vol. XLVIII. p. 341.
 239

Anaetius were of the same tribe Acamantis, and the two

Aphidnaeans of the tribe Leontis and still more, Pericles

;

and Anaetius were both Hellenotamias in the same, viz.

the sixth Prytanea, and both the Aphidnaeans in like
manner in the seventh. From this we are compelled to
suppose either that no regard was paid to the tribes
(which was not by any means necessary, as the office
originally had no concern with the home administration),
or that several were chosen out of each tribe. The former
supposition appears to me the most probable, and I con-
ceive that their number was only ten, and that they did
not enter into their the beginning of the year, but
office at

after the Panathenaea and the first Prytanea: if this

hypothesis is adopted, two of the persons who are men-

tioned, Callimachus and Phrasytelides, may be deducted
from the eleven, and we have only nine in the inscription,
who were colleagues in this office, the name of the tenth
not having come down to us. Their duties are still more
difficult to determine than their number. When the funds

were at Delos, they must have acted at the same time both
as Apodectae and treasurers afterwards the Apodectce
:

appear to have received the tributes, and the Hellenotamiae

to have been merely the managers of the fund thus col-
lected 12 when the tributes were commuted for a custom-
:

duty, the Hellenotamiae naturally remained as treasurers

for these payments. The payments for certain selected

purposes were assigned to their office; in the first place

that for which the tributes were originally designed,

namely, the expences of wars in the common cause and

solemnities of alliance ; but the Athenians afterwards
considered the money as their own property, and used it

120
Compare chap. 4.
for buildings and works of art, festivals, distributions, and
Thoorica 121 the overplus was without doubt laid by
:

among the public treasure in the Acropolis, which was

chiefly formed from the tributes

but as soon as the money
:

had been sent to Athens, or even before it was actually

dispatched and only its place of destination had been fixed,
it was no longer under the superintendence of these officers,
but of the treasurers of the Goddess upon the Acropolis.
We see that money in their hands was assigned about
the 90th Olympiad to the redemption of the public debts 122 ;
the only example which we meet with of their having paid
the money out of their own fund. On the other hand in
Olymp. 92. 3. money was appointed to be paid to them
from the public treasure for the provision of the cavalry,
for Diobelia, and war expences 123 at this period the :

cavalry appears to have been paid in time of peace by

the Hellenotamias and not by the treasurer of the ad-
ministration : for the treasurer of war and the managers
of the Theoricon were not introduced until after the aboli-
tion of the Hellenotamiae, who used to make all payments
of this description. There is nothing in the fact of money
being furnished to them from the public treasure, which
ought to surprise us: for if their own funds were ex-
hausted, the treasure would naturally be compelled to
furnish whatever was sufficient to enable them to pay that
which belonged to their department. In the same manner
gold was lent to them out of the treasury to be paid to the
Athlothetse; but evidently from the sacred money 124 .

Hence the payments which they had to make must have

121
Plutarch. Aristid. 24. Pericl. 12.
122
Inscript. 76. . 3.
123
Inscript. 147.
124
Inscript. 144. 3d Prytau. 1st. item.
 241

been considerable, and their duties cannot have been un-

important. In order to execute these with the greater

facility they divided them among one another 125 ; and to

assist them they had as many as three superior Archons
as assessors 12G It must not with Barthelemy be thought
.

singular that we only know of these officers from inscrip-

tions, since of the Hellenotamiae themselves we have such
imperfect accounts.
As after the Archonship of Euclid no mention of Helle-
notamiae occurs, so before that time we hear of no treasurers
of war or managers of the Theorica ; the former having per-
formed all the duties which subsequently belonged to the
latter : and we are thence justified in assuming, that by the
changes in the constitution made in the year of Euclid two
new offices, the treasurer of war, and the manager of the

Theorica, were instituted. The name of treasurer of war

(Vajcuaf (rrga-ncwnxwv) is only once made use of, and this in
reference to one Callias, who by the author of the
is stated
Lives of the Ten Orators 127 to have held that office in the

Archonship of Chaerondas (Olymp. 110. 3.) probably it ;

was only filled in time of war, and discontinued when there

was no armed force in motion. The funds for meeting the

expences of war were, with the exception of certain tributes,

derived from two sources; which however were both of a
28
very uncertain nature. According to ancient laws ]
the

125
As
proved by Inscript. 147.
is
126
Inscript. 147. 6th Prytan. Inscript. 144. 3d Prytan. first
item, and 8th Prytan. 4th item.
127
In the Life of Lycurgus, according to the correction of
Salmasius : for he is generally called KA'?. KAAAIOY and
KAAAIOT onlyby a line.
differ
128
Orat. in Neaer. p. 1346, 1347. Liban. Argum. Olynth. I.

cf. Demosth. Olynth. I. p. 14. 19. and Olynth. III. (e. g.

VOL. I. K
surplus money of the administration was to be applied in
times of war to the use of the army (TO. wegiovrot ^^/xara TJ?

8oixijo-a> slvon
(rrgoiTiooTMot) : but the people had the madness
to require that the surplus should always be used for the dis-
tribution of the Theorica; and the demagogue Eubuluseven
succeeded in passing a law, that if any person again proposed
that the Theorica should be applied to the uses of war he
should suffer death. This law, which crippled the martial
power of the Athenians, was frequently attacked by the well
disposed Demosthenes complained that the Athenians
:

though possessing large funds for war, squandered them

away upon festivals Apollodorus was condemned to a fine
:

of fifteen talents, for having proposed in Olymp. 106. 4. that

the surplus money should be used for war, though for the
time he attained his object 129 and although even Eubulus
:

in later times proposed that the Theorica should be applied

to the purposes of war 13 and although according to

;

Philochorus , the public money was at the instigation

131 all

of Demosthenes in Olymp. 110. 2. applied to the military

service, it was frequently in the power of treacherous or
inconsiderable demagogues to deduct very large sums from
the war funds by proposing a donation of money to the
people : of which unworthy conduct Demades furnished a
most striking instance. Besides this the extraordinary pro-

perty-tax (e'ur<poci) was

132
set apart for theexpences of war ;

p. 31.) Harpocr. in v. Siapx*, and thence Suidas and the Ety-

mologist. Cf. Ruhnk. Hist. Crit. Orat. p. 146. VIII. of Reiske's
Orators.
129
Orat. in Nejer. p. 1346. 19. The date is evident from
book IV. 13.
130
Demosth. weg/ 7rg*5rge<r/3. p.
434. 24.
131
Fragment, p. 76.
131
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1209. and passim.
 243

but being a tax which was unwillingly paid, the coffers

this

were generally empty. Many higher as well as subordinate

offices were requisite for the custody and disbursement of
the war-funds. All those who bore the name of generals
(as we know for certain to have been the case in the time
of Demosthenes, and probably in earlier times also) were
not in fact commanders of all the troops, but only generals
of the infantry and cavalry of each separate army (aTga-njyoj
6 STTJ TU>V OTrAcov or ovXiTcov,' and o !TT TCOV
i7T7rla;v)
: of these one
in his capacity of general of the administration (crrgaTrjyoj
6 ITTI i% performed part of the judicial labours,
SIOJX^CTSWC)

together with other services: the duty of giving out the pay
of the troops also devolved upon him 133 for which he must
,

have had a treasurer of his own.

Among his proposals for
the equipment of the troops, Demosthenes 134 particularly
recommends that treasurers and public slaves (^jftoVioi)
should be appointed for the custody of the war-funds, in
order that the strictest watch should be kept over their
administration, and that these, and not the generals, should
give an account of the manner in which the money had
been employed. Many of the treasurers of the generals,
who are mentioned in different writers, appear however to
have been merely private paymasters, without being in the
service of the State ; thus for example Philocrates was the
treasurer of Ergocles, and Antimachus of Timotheus, who
managed every thing for this general, and also kept a

133
Decret. ap. Demosth. de Corona, p. 265. 11.
1?4
Orat. de Cherson. p. 101. 14. From this the whole pas-
sage in the fourth Philippic is borrowed (p. 137.), the spurious-
ness of which oration was perceived by Valckenaer, in his notes
to his speech de Philipp. Maced. p. 251. and by Wolf Proleg.
ad Lept. p. LX.
 244
135 In the same manner the
secretary for himself . trie-

rarchs had treasurers 13C .

By means of the Theoricon (TO Qeuogmov, T Qswgtxoi, or

Qstogixa. ^^ju-ara), the most pernicious institution
of the age
of Pericles, there arose in a petty republic a lavish ness of

expence, which was not proportionally Jess than that of

the most luxurious courts, and which swallowed up vast
sums at the very moment
that the military operations were

failing from want of the proper supplies. Under the term

Theorica are comprised the monies which were distributed
among the people, for the celebration of festivals and
games
137
, either to indemnify them for the entrance-money

to the theatre, or to enable them to feast more plentifully :

with sacrifices 138

they were also in part expended upon ,

which a public entertainment was always combined. From

the nature and character of this expence it may be expected
that the surplus money of the administration was set apart
for it ; in the early times however this was frequently

r35
Lysias in Philocr. p. 829. Deraosth. in Timoth. p. 1186.
17. p. 1187. 10.
136
Eupolis ap. Harpocrat.
in v. rctploti. Comp. book IV. 11.
Whether Antiphanes, the treasurer of the ship's captain Philip

(Demosth. in Timoth. p. 1188. 20. p. 1189. 2.), was of this de-

scription, or whether Philip was only a private individual, I
leave undecided. By the treasurer who gave the crown to the
trierarchthat^was the first in getting his ship ready equipped
(Demosth. de Trierarch. Corona p. 1228. 5.), we must probably
understand neither the treasurer of the trierarch, nor the trea-
surer of the trireme-builders, but the pay-master of war, to whom
this duty is the most suitable.
137
Poll. VIII. 113. Harpocr. Suid. Hesych. Etym. Ammo-
H1US.
1M
Demosth. de Corona p. 226. 22. See below chap. 13.
 245

applied to replenishing or increasing the public treasure ;

whereas in later periods not only was no addition made to
the treasure, but the war-funds did not even receive the sur-

plus monies. The managers of the Theoricon are not called

treasurers, although they evidently had the charge of a fund ;

they belonged to the number of officers of govern men t^and
were among the principal authorities elected by Cheiro-
tonia 139 it appears that their appointment took place about
:

the time of the great Dionysia in the city 140 Their number .

is no where mentioned ; but there were most

probably ten,
one from each tribe ; for in an office of such importance as
this it cannotbe well supposed that any other method of
election was adopted. Their appellation is variable (%q
ITTJ TOO
flswgjxw,
6 ITTJ TO!
QewgtKuo cay, ol ITTJ TO Qscagwov

v;jix.vo<,
6 ITTJ TWV Qscugixuiv Teray|tx,vof, ITTJ TOW

xaTaorafleV, QscogMY) g%^, ^X MV TUIV 0eo>gxav) 141 . To the

original department of manager of the Theoricon was

annexed at the time when Eubulus of Anaphlystus filled
this situation, and had obtained the public confidence
in a high degree, many of the other branches of the
administration, particularly the control of the public
revenues, the office of Apodectae, the building of docks,
of the arsenal, the construction of roads, (the latter per-

haps in some degree because they were connected with the

passage of processions), and nearly all the other duties of
the administration, as JEschines informs us 142 : in his

capacity of manager of the Theoricon, Demosthenes was

139
/Eschin. in Ctesiph. p. 416, 418.
140
Petit Leg. Att. III. 2. 35.
141
jEsch. ut sup. Dcmostb. de Corona p. 264. 10. p. 243. 27,

p. 266. 22. Lex. Seg. p. 264. Suidas and the Etymologist.

142
yEschin. ut sup. p. 417 sqq.
 246

also inspector of the building of the walls (TE^OTTCHOJ) 143 ;

and from the same cause Eubulus appears to have super-

intended the ship-building 144. The extent of their power
in such corrupt times cannot
appear in the least surprising.
The Theoricon promoted the private interest of the citizens;
and therefore the assembly passed a decree by which they
conferred extensive influence on any person who had either
the will or the ability to fill the purses of individuals at
the expence of the public. The Athenian people resembled
a tyrant, and the funds of the Theoricon were analogous
to his private purse ; if a tyrant desired to have for the

gratification of hisown pleasures a private purse which

should never be empty, he would take care to invest the

managers of it with great power, and would leave to the

branches of the administration only just so much of the

public revenue as should not interfere with proper the

supply of the privy purse. This contrivance of the

Ochlocracy was abolished between Olymp.' 110. 2. and
112. 3. by a decree proposed by Hegemon 14 5. At what
time the managers of the Theoricon were the assessors of
the Poleta?, is not mentioned ; but it is not necessary to

suppose that they only performed this duty in the time of

their extended authority. For since the surplus money of

143
JEschin. ibid. p. 419, 425. Demosth. de Corona p. 243,
266.
144
Dinarch. in Demosth. p. 66.
145
Petit Leg. Att. III. 2. 36. In Olymp. 110. 3. Demo-
sthenes was both inspector of the building of the walls, and

manager of the Theorica, but only accidentally at the same time,

as 1 have already remarked, without the two offices being at that
period necessarily united.
 247
the administration was in time of peace always set apart
for the Theoricon, and to the administration, duties and

taxes raised in Athens were regularly assigned, while

confiscated property might appear to belong more pe-
culiarly to the Theoricon, it is possible that this regula-
tion was made when the office of manager of the Theorica
was originally instituted.

(8.) From
the multiplicity of these offices it is evident
that the quantity of writing to be performed must have
been considerable ; the disbursements arid receipts were to
be entered, and particularly the respective purposes to
which the monies were assigned ; these together with the
acknowledgments of payment, were to be noted' down;
and finally, the accounts were to be passed. All these
duties came within the department of the secretary or
clerk (ygju-ju,aTeyj). Thus the treasurers of the sacred

monies, and the Amphictyons of Delos had their secre-

!*6 and in like manner there were subordinate or
tary ,

private secretaries, as has been already remarked of Anti-

machus the paymaster of Timotheus. Citizens who were
nominated to situations of this kind were commonly persons
of small fortunes. Public slaves (&jjw,o<na)however, who
had been educated at the cost of the State, were also

employed, and were sometimes appointed for keeping ac-

counts, of the generals for instance, and the paymasters in
times of war 14)7
,
some as checking-clerks (avnyga$s7f, Con-
trarotulatores), as forexample the clerks who checked the
accounts of the treasurers of the sacred monies, and of the
war-taxes, although Demosthenes thinks that each con-

110
luscript. 139, 141, 150, 158.
147
Demos th. de Chersou. p. 101. 14. and ihence Philipp. IV.

p. 137. Ulpian ad Demosth. Olynth.

II.
 248

tributor ought to perform for himself the office of a

comptroller
148 . A clerk in the employ of the State was
never a slave and although the clerk Nicomachus is called
;

a public slave (8Tjju.o'<no$), this instance does

14r9
by Lysias
not apply, for he was only an underclerk, and not one of
the principal clerks or secretaries; and the orator gives
him that name reference only to his father; for he
in

himself had been entered in the register of the Phratores,

and consequently was a citizen. But the chief reason why
the Athenians preferred the public slaves for comptrolling
the accounts, was that they could be put to the torture,
and torture was considered as the surest means of elicit-
I 50 Freemen could not be tortured upon
ing the truth .

the rack, nor yet resident aliens or foreigners, as Gillies

asserts; for it was prohibited by the decree of Scaman-
drius that any citizen should be put to the torture
151
for the purpose of examination ; and what Lysias
says of Theodotus a youth of Plataeae, that he might

148
Demosth. in 615. 12 sqq. Lex. Seg. p. 197.
Androt. p.
149
In Nicom. p. 842. 836, 837. cf. p.
150
Demosth. in Aphob. fyvlop. p. 846. 7. p. 848. 8. p. 856.
20. That more weight was given to the assertions of slaves

upon the rack than to the sworn testimony of free-men, is also

shewn by Hudtwalcker von den Didteten p. 51.
Andocid. de Myst. p. 22. The torture of the concubine of
151

Antiphou (x*Ty. <pctp. p. 615.), provided that she was a free

woman, which is not certain, must be considered as a punish-
ment, and not as a means of examination. Against the asser-
tion made in the text, that freemen in Attica could not be put
to the torture, may be adduced a passage in Antiphon (de Herod,
caede, p. 729.), in which it is stated that a freeman was tortured
at Mytilene: but whether a Mytilensean or a foreigner, whether

according to the Lesbian or Athenian law, caiinot be decided.

 249

have been put to the torture 152 must be rather con- ,

sidered as an exception, as the Platseans were citizens.

Besides these subordinate checking-clerks, there were
others of a superior class, who were in part confounded
with the secretaries or clerks. It is difficult to obtain a
clear knowledge of these officers at Athens ; in the mean
time thus far is certain that there were three public clerks,
as we learn from Suidas 153 . Pollux l54
gives a more
exact account ; one was chosen by lot by the senate in

every Prytanea, for the purpose of keeping the writings

and decrees, and is the officer who prefixed his name to the
decrees according to the form which was in use before the

Archonship of Euclid of this secretary Aristotle had

:

155 treated at
to the
according Harpocration length :

second was elected by the senate by Cheirotonia for the

laws ; a third, elected by the people, was the public reader
in the senate and the Assembly. The first in an inscription
of the time of the Emperors is called the clerk according to
the Prytanea (ygaju-ju-aTeuf KO.TO. Trgorave/av) 156, where it is
not so easy to perceive why he should be enumerated among

152
Apol. in Simon, p. 153. What Reiske says upon this
passage does not remove the difficulty.
' 3
31 ror
Suidas, xAijgwToi (yg^ft^tflmis) VICTIM u^SfAov TgV yg<pms
10, 3ifAoiriac. ovdttlf 31 r<retv
xvgtoi AA
rev ygcttyuv xett eeieeyvateet.

The first word, *XgTo<, is false in this general sense.

4
VIII. 98. ygfltftfiarnvj, o nxroi TrgvTctyttxv xhitguiiif 1171:0 T$ fiovhtie

iirt T [T] ygjtt^fl6Tf <pt>AosTTe<y

xxi ict ^^iTfJtoe.ra, xcti egj ITTI rovg

vofiovi
VTTO TK fiovtiit %U(>oTovovf<,tvos. o 31 VTTQ vov jiifiov etigiStis

yM.ftpX7tv<; ujmtytwmt T 3vpta xat vy fiovhyj. A y^ctppitTivg -rtf

/3wXs occurs in Demosth. pro Corona p. 238. 14. and TOV

in the third decree in the Lives of the Ten Orators.
154
In V.
y^etflftelTtS.
136
Chandl. Iiiscript. II. 55. 2.
 250

the ^Esitae, as one should rather have expected that lie 1

would only have had the privilege of being fed in the

Prytaneum a fresh one was ap-
for a single Prytanea;

pointed in every Prytanea, and the name of the clerk of

the Prytanea was added to the decrees before the
first

Archonship of Euclid, and was frequently made use of to

designate the year 157. Harpocration states that it was the
duty of this officer to check the public accounts 158 ; but he
doubtless confounds them with the checking-clerks. The
second appears to be the clerk of the senators (yu{ji[Aa.Tsvg
rwv 159 of whom I have
occurring in inscriptions
/SouXeuToJv) ,

nothing more to say than that he is never mentioned

among the vEsitae, but always among the Prytanes. Lastly,
the third clerk is called the clerk of the State (y^a/xju-arsuc

7% TroAecof) or of the senate and the people (TTJJ /3ouA>jj xa

16 and
TOO &ij/x,oy) ,
is placed in inscriptions among the

157
Vid. ad Inscript. 147. et 76.
158
Kctt TI* osAAas Treitrat
aiTiy^dQirui tceti
w#g*<*9jTflM ry /3ovAj.
The confusion with the checking-clerk is evident from the words
of Pollux VIII. 98. where it is said of him, tuCt itat myg<*'ipsTo

7rteeuca6*fe,i<>s ly /30vAj. This had been remarked by Valesius in

his notes to Harpocration, against whom Kiihn's objections (ad
Poll. VIII. 98.) prove nothing.
139
Chandl. II. 55. 1, 2, 3, 4. Spon Travels vol. III. in the
inscription belonging to the second vol. p. 116 sqq. That he
may not be considered the same as the clerk according to the
Prytaneia, the distinction between them in Chandl. II. 55. 2.
should be observed. There are likewise many other similar in-

scriptions, in which these clerks of the senators and the others

occur.
160
Thucyd. VII. 10. and the inscriptions just quoted. Be-
sides Valesius, authorities have been collected upon this subject

by Meursius Lect. Att. VI. 25. Petit III. 2. 28. Barthelemy

 251

^Esitae. These officers had an under-clerk

and a considerable number of such persons were used even

in the ancient days of Athens, some of whom were em-

ployed in the higher, and some in the inferior and sub-

ordinate offices the checking-clerks were however dif-
161
;

ferent from these superior secretaries or clerks, as we have

already seen in the case of the inferior. A checking-clerk

of the senate (avnyga^sv? r^g /3ouX%) is quoted by Harpo-
cration out of Aristotle's state of Athens 162 , and a checking-
clerk without any farther specification frequently occurs
in ancient inscriptions, and always among the ./Esitse.
163 he was in ancient times elected and
According to Pollux
afterwards chosen by lot : the checking-clerk of the senate
is also mentioned by Suidas
164 as well as
, by the Scholiast
to Aristophanes 165 , who however confounds him with the

Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions, vol. XLVIII. p. 345. The

occurs in the inscriptions already quoted; in that
ii7rygitf4#Tei>s

published by Spon the editor incorrectly reads ITPOrPAMMA-

TETZ.
161
Antiph.de Choreut. p. 792. Demosth. pro Corona, p. 314. 7.
vTroy^ctppctTivui x.ai viwevtuv TO?J ag^S/oj;, Lysias in Nicom. p. 864.
ter.
162
Harpocrat. in v. Tyg<pev' xct6i<rTccf&tvo$ fan rat
\ii-ren rival, rn irofot ffltpaiTcc,
uni VTyg*'<p<r0 Tavrtf.
u rf *T'A^oT/#ve$ (a passage which is not to the point, as it
relates to subordinate checking-clerks), K.XI AIO-%M,S It ta xenoi, KTJ-

avrtygetfyiis,
o
ft.lv r?$ 3toix.v<7ias , a$ tp-/i<rt

a? 'Agt/rroTthi)$ e 'Atwttt'ar n-oXiitia,. The

whole passage is^also in
Suidas.
163
VIII. 98. Cf. Lex. Seg. p. 190. 26.
IC>
In v. y^ctfAftttnvf, where see Kuster's note. Compare also
Lex. Seg. p. 185. 16.
16 '
Eq. 1253. The following is the whole of this corrupt

passage : ivi & Sn'^ou (o y^ttfCftetitVf) VTroy^&tptvt iAeyira. a 3 rev

 252

clerk. According to Pollux his duty was to sit in the

senate and exercise a general control ; a statement which

may perhaps be true, but that the duty which Harpocra-

tion attributes to the checking-clerk, of comptrolling the

receipts of the revenues, refers to this office, is evident,

the taxes having been paid in presence of the senate.
166 alludes to this
Lastly it is manifest that ^Eschines
officer, when he remarks that the State had a checking-
clerk elected by Cheirotonia, who kept an account of the
revenues for the people in each Prytanea, until this situa-
tion was united with the office of the Thcoricon, and con-

sequently the duties of the Apodectae, and the checking of

the accounts, were injudiciously placed in the same hands.
Besides this checking-clerk for monies received, there was
also a checking-clerk of the highest authority for disburse-

ments, viz. the treasurer of the administration, who was

called the checking-clerk of the administration (avnygap sv$

7% Swxjjo-ecof) 167 . It is probable that all clerks and

checking-clerks (and certainly the latter) were prohibited
from holding the same office twice 168 , i. e. not for two

The latter words, which are entirely devoid of mean-

ing, Kiihn (ad Poll. VIII. 98.) endeavours to correct ; but his
correction does not make any better sense. The v?ryg<<pivj may
be the vvo^ctftftmTtvs of the inscriptions. Petit also (ut sup.)
remarks the confusion between the clerk and checking-clerk in
this passage.
166
In Ctesiph. p. 417. Cf. Ulpian. ad Demosth. in Androt.
ut sup.
167
Philochorus ap. Harpocrat. ut sup. and thence Suidas and
Pollux VIII. 98, 99. according to the correct emendation of
Valesius upon Harpocration.
168
This is evidently the meaning of the law in Lysias c.
 253

successive years, andit was necessary that a new person

should be appointed after the interval of a year.

The public accounts being in this manner kept by the
clerks, and comptrolled by the checking-clerks, it was ren-
dered possible to make the scrutiny which was regularly en-
tered into at the expiration of every office. It is the essence
of a democracy that every public officer should be responsible.

Among the distinguishing marks of a Democratic authority,

responsibility is one of the most prominent ; while in the

Aristocratical and Oligarchical States of antiquity, such as
Sparta and Crete, the highest offices in which the Aristo-

cracy and Oligarchy really existed, were subject to no

responsibility. Hence the obligation of rendering accounts
for official conduct prevailed to so great an extent at
Athens no person who had had any share
: in the govern-
ment or administration was exempted from it ; the Senate
of 500, even the Areopagus, at least after the loss of their

great power, were bound to render an account even the :

priests and priestesses were obliged to produce accounts

for the gifts (ys'ga) ; so also whole families, such as the

Eumolpidse and Ceryces, and even the trierarchs, although

the latter furnished every thing at their own expence ; no

person who had not rendered his account, could go abroad,

consecrate his property to a god, or even dedicate a sacred

offering ; no one could make a or be adopted from

will,
one family into another ; in short, the legislature had

mortgaged the whole property of the individual until he

had passed his 169. In the same manner no
scrutiny

Nicom. p. 864. extr. vTroygetftfumvo-ect ovx e|g<m J/s rcr uvtli -nj

*ZX$ r V wry, although the expression is somewhat singular ; but

from the context it appears to me that this is the only way in
which it cau be understood.
169
JEschin. in Ctesiph. p. 405 sqq.
 254

honorary gift or reward (such for example as a crown)

could be awarded to a person who had not passed his

scrutiny 170. The Dicasts alone were free from this

obligation 171. Now those authorities whose business
it was to pass and
examine the accounts of public
officers were according to Aristotle l72 called in the Greek
States, in some places eu0yvo, in others Aoyjorai, sjjeraaraj,

or That the Logista? of the Athenians were

<ruv>jyogoi.

employed matters of calculation is proved by their

in

name ; the Euthuni were in intimate connexion with them :

the difference between their duties was not however, as is

supposed by some, that the Logistae had authority in those

cases onlywhich concerned the administration of public
money, while the Euthuni acted in all other cases ; but all

questions belonged indiscriminately to either authority.

In the examinations of persons who either had or had not
the management of money, the Logistag, after the account
had been rendered before them and the secretary (pro-
bably of the senate and the people), brought the cause into
court, where they gave out by means of the Herald that

they were ready to hear any accusation 173. The intimate

connexion between the two offices is strikingly proved by
the decree in Andocides, in which mention is made of those
whose accounts were found unsatisfactory in the Logisteria
by the Euthuni or the assessors, and affording ground for
1? 4 used in speaking of
an indictment :
lastly eufluva is often

170
JEsch. and Demosth. pro Corona.
171
Arist. Vesp. 585. See Hudtwalcker von den Diateten p. 32.
172
Polit. in the last chapter of the 6th book.
173
/Eschin. in Ctesiph. p. 403 sqq. Demosth. pro Corona,
p. 266. 9.
174
De Myst. p. 37. wruv iviviui rms /'
xetrtyvaa-ptveti It reif

(see Lysias in Polystr. p. 672.) viro T tvtvmt ii vr

 255

the Logistae and Aoyitrjuoj in speaking of the Euthuni ; and

the Etymologist says l75 that in his time those were called
the name of Euthuni.
Logista? who formerly had borne
The distinction between them had been explained by
Aristotle in the Constitution of Athens 176 but the gram- ;

marians do not give any precise information upon this

to 177 there were ten
point. According Harpocration ,

Logista?, to whom every person gave account an of

his proceedings within thirty days after the expiration of
his office ; and the same number of Euthuni, whose duties
were precisely the same. All authorities agree in stating
that both the Log-ista? and Euthuni were ten in number 178 .

ui. The last words appear to be an interpretation

which has crept into the text : but I do not venture to strike
them out, as assessors of the Euthyni were elected.
175
In v. iviviot, from whom Photius and Zonaras took ;
in the

latter of which grammarians read U^dtui Ntftar ^SsxaYa.

176
Ap. Harpocrat.
177
In v. AoyrT*< and tv$vw, and thence Suidas and Photius in
v. Aey;-T< and tvivvei, also Lex. Seg. p. 245, 276. The person
is called tvdvw; and tv6v*K, in the plural tvivitt and tvOwect, the

proceeding is(see the law in Demosth. c. Timocrat.

ii tv6vct

717. 19. where however it is falsely accented tvdvix), in the

p.
plural uivieu ; likewise tvSvm, which the grammarians quote as
the common form, but which is
perhaps of later origin. [Doc-
tissimo Boeckhio Staatshaush. d. Athener I. p. 205. lufova

antiquior forma esse videtur, tvdwq contra recentior. Sed ana-

logic dialecti Atticae magis consentanenm
est tvdiwi. Nullum
enim, quod sciam, apud Atticos vocabulum in wet, invenitur. De
eiftviet
non Attico vid. Phryn. p. 23. Lob. et Ruhnk. ad Tim.
p. 26. Contra xogwy, etlf^vtn, rctpvm, etc. Quamobrem apud
Atticos forma 't tvffvteu ubique anteponenda est formae et! tvSvixi.

Gottling ad Aristot. Polit. p. 359.]

178
Etymol. in v. ivlvw, Photius, and Pollux VIII. 45. From
 256

Pollux gives us an important addition, viz. " that the

senate chose the Logista? by lot, in order to attend," as he
"
expresses himself, upon the officers of the administration,"
that is, to watch over their conduct;
" but the Euthuni
were chosen in addition, like the assessors of the nine Ar-
chons 179 .
ri
What constituted the difference of their duties

Pollux VIII. 99. Petit III. 2. 6. concludes that there were two
other Logistae : but this passage refers, as has been already
observed, to the two checking-clerks.
179
Pollux VIII. 99, 100. where he says, o< 31 ivivw, Wfg /'

7n*g{2g* -roTf im* et%ov(rt, Trgoo-ecigovvTcti. Comp. upon this point

Petit tit
sup. [The Author has since referred the first part of this

passage from Pollux to the uwygcttptif or checking-clerks, and

adopted the statement of the grammarians (Lex. Seg. p. 276. 17.
Etyrn. Mag. p. 569. 31.) that the Logistae were appointed by
lot, Rheinisches Museum p. 82. It is however singular that the

author, as well as his antagonist, should have missed one of the

most explicit passages on the subject, viz. in a grammarian pub-
lished by Mr. Dobree at the end of Photius p. 672.
xett
8-ii>ijygo<' Ag<0TTeAjj Iv rn Aiwxiav TroXirttef OUTU ).t<ytt'

31 xi & vi roc i 3'ix.x, ifd^ elf 3<#Ay/oTfl Trcttrzt ctl

x.t TMg yey6)ftsff dotirelycts' ttetl AAe<

a '/Tm $ el ru? tvivvxf 3<3a'T5

(a-t)yS a ') orvreeteucgivovert roiiroif. tteii

TOVTOI$ TT^UTOV, tir

TO ^IKXCTTK^IOV tvx
<xg/rem; iQiirrcti tig t'tf tcect <p'.

This passage seems to shew that the Logistae were not chosen by
lot (/gat/yT<, not xXflgt5T<), and it is also a strong negative

proof of the identity of the Logistae and Euthuni. The 0-vniy0go<

are mentioned in another grammarian quoted by the author in
note 186. cviiyo(Hti g^oxT64 j<rr K^r^uroi, c< T<V Asy/rra/V /3))^v

jrgf r<5 tviwecs ra g|T -nvse

g^'. Here however it is stated
that the <mnjyago< were chosen by lot ; perhaps in the former

passage we should read xhitgovvnti for au^vireu. These <ruj'yogoi

therefore seem to have been quite distinct from the public advo-
cates (although the contrary appears also to be maintained by

Schomann, as quoted in the Attische Process p. 102., de Comitiis

 257
can even in general be arrived at only by conjecture. The
Logistae were the chief persons, and to them the accounts
were delivered, into the correctness of which they ex-
amined; they also, as the calculators of the State, super-
intended the payment of the public debts 18 But while .

the accounts were being examined (Aoyjtr^oj or Aoyo?)> or

even afterwards, if an accuser came forward (who was
however obliged to appear within a certain time 181 i. e. ,

within days after the expiration of the office),

thirty
questions were put and answers required concerning the
correctness of the statements (soflyva), a point which it
would be difficult and tedious to explain: now it is for this,
that the Euthuni appear tohave been appointed as assistants
to the Logistae, as may be inferred from their name. The
Euthuni or might decide that the account
their assessors
was unsatisfactory, that money had been embezzled, bribes
received, &c. when such was the case, the affair was brought
before a court of justice, in the same manner as when a

public accuser came forward

182 The proceedings which .

p. 108. a book which I am unable to refer to) ; they were pro-

bably the same as the wagsSgo* mentioned by Andocides and
others. The public advocates are stated by Photius (in v.
have been nominated by election (#gTv/fls). In the
cwjjyogs*) to

passage also from the Politics quoted in note 172. Aristotle men-
tions Xay*8-T/, fviwot, and ewijyogw as synonymous terms.]
180
Inscript. 76. . 4. Ao'yas and
is the account, the
Aoyr|ito
svQimi or defence of the account was commonly connected with
it, as e. g. in Inscript. 76. 8. ./Eschin. in CtesSph. p. 397,
.

403. &c.
181
Pollux VIII. 45.
182
In the Archonship of Alexias in Olymp. 93. 4. by the
decree of Patrocleides, the public debtors were remitted their
debts up to the end of the preceding year (Olymp. 93. 3. in the
VOL. I. s
 258

belonged to this stage (which are even here called

Archonship of Callias), and those who had been condemned to

Atiiuia for non-payment were restored to their civil rights. By
this law, pardon was at the same time extended to those onn
tviviett rms iiri xctTtyvatrp'-yxi \i retf
Ayi8-T>)g/<$
inro rS tvivivv i> rav

iretgtSgew, tj p-faa tiwypitett tig TO ^Htccrr^tev

yyx.tyeii rmj lift
irt^i
-rat tv6v-

iui, with the addition of the date /$ rei ttvrlr TWTM goiw. For the
explanation of this passage I subjoin the following remarks. It

was not only the public debts and Atimia that were remitted, to
which the debtors had become subject by a punishment which
had been previously adjudged, but it was also enacted that the
actions against public officers which were at that time instituted
on account of incorrect accounts, should be disannulled, i. e. that
the causes which had not been yet decided, but were still de-

pending, should be quashed. These however were of two kinds.

In the first place the Euthuni or their assessors in the examina-
tion of the accounts had decided that certain public officers were
guilty, and had determined to institute proceedings against them

(ivOvmi TUywvigJW), although by these means, as

x.ct'TiyvuiriiAia.i
vi TOIS

a court of justice could alone pass sentence, no punishment had as

yet been assigned; or an accuser had brought forward complaints
with regard to the accounts of the public servants, who were

undergoing the scrutiny, but the accusations were still in the

hands of the presidents of the courts of justice and not yet
brought before the court itself (ygas^eJ *rtg/ T tvdwai pi?r umyjugy<
t'ts TO
iautrrfyitv) both kinds of cases were to be put an end to.
:

Among the first class of cases those also were included which
had not yet been brought before the court of justice, which as
being self-evident are therefore not mentioned ; but the former
class particularly noticed, because the accused who were
is

comprised in it previously laboured under the prejudice of an

office, to be more injured than the others.
and appeared It may

be also asked why those persons are not mentioned whose causes

subsequent upon the decision of the Euthuni had been brought

before the court previously to the end of the preceding year, but
had not been decided. No cases however of this kind could have
 259
l g3 were instituted by the chief authority, the
su0yy) ,

Logistae; who conducted the actions, and composed

the tribunal which gave judgment in the case 184 In .

bringing on the action it is possible that the Euthuni

again assisted the chief authority and perhaps too, :

as Pollux asserts, they enforced the payment of em-

bezzled monies and fines, instead of the Practores. Pho-
tius 185 alone states that each Euthunus had two asses-

sors, but he is
supported by the words of Andocides.

Lastly, the public advocates (cryv^yogo) afforded assistance

to the Logistae !86. Any person who neglected to render
his account could be prosecuted by a particular action

(S/xj ao 187

existed, because when the cause had been once brought before the
court the decision immediately ensued, without the defendant

being able to delay it by objections or cross suits.

183
Pollux ut sup.
184
^sch. in Clesiph. p. 395 sqq. and 408. Suidas in v.
Lex. Rhet. (Seg. p. 245. also Lex. Seg. p. 310. 6.) Etym.
ivtvii,

and Phot, in the passages quoted by Ruhnken ad Tim. p. 126.

See Petit ut sup.
g# W T<{. l| iKXtrrv? 31 $v>w$ tvec xhygovrt, rovry 21
185
Evdvvof
$vo 7TUi$6vs i in which passage the tvQviu are falsely represented
as chosen by lot, which is only true of the Logistse. Hesychius
in v. tv6vias only speaks incidentally of the assessors of the Archons,
the word tvivms occurring in a passage of Aristotle concerning
the latter officers: no one should therefore be led into error by
this article.
186
Lex. Seg. p. 301.
187
Suidas, Hesychius, Etymol. in v. *y/ IMII, Poll. VIII. 54.
To approve the accounts is called rots iviiivxs Imff^xmo-icti. De-
mosth. pro Corona p. 310. 21. 'ETrtffiftettvto-dau means to approve,

(cf. ^Esch. 7T6g; irct<t7rirp. p. 230. Harpocrat. in v. |jr<-

i, and thence Suidas and Zonaras p. 848. cf. p. 830. and
 260

From what has been said it is evident that there was no

want at Athens of well-conceived and strict regulations ;

but what isthe use of provident measures, where the

spirit of the administration is bad ? Men have at all times

been unjust and covetous and unprincipled, and above all
the Greeks distinguished themselves for the uncontrolled

gratification of their own desires, and contempt for

their
the happiness of others. If any competent judge of moral
actions will contemplate their character without prejudice,
and unbiassed by their high intellectual endowments, he
will find that their private life was unsocial, and devoid of
virtue that their public conduct was guided by the lowest
;

passions and preferences; and, what was the worst of all, that
there existed a hardness and cruelty in the popular mind,
and a want of moral principle to a far greater degree than

in the Christian world. The display of noble actions, it is

true, has ceased, and will never re-appear with the same bril-

liancy ; but the principles of the majority of mankind have

been elevated, even if we allow that some distinguished indi-
viduals in ancient times were as pure as the most exalted
characters of modern days ; and in this general elevation
consists the progress of mankind. When we consider then
the principles of the Greeks, which are sufficiently seen
from their historians and philosophers, it cannot be a

matter of surprise that fraud was used by public officers at

the editor's note) because that which is signed and sealed is

approved of by him to whom the decision belongs however : it

may be possible that after the accounts had been found to be

correct by the proper authorities, the testimony of their correct-
ness was added in writing and confirmed by a seal, so that
tTrimfMiitTOeu T tvivixf may signify the approval of them which
was vouched by being sealed in this manner.
 261

Athens matter as the regulation of the days: in

in so great a
the early times of the Republic Aristides accused his con-

temporary Themistocles of this deceit it was even the com-

;

mon opinion that there existed a certain prescriptive right

to the commission of this fraud, and a person who had scru-

ples on the subject was censured for his too great strictness 188 .

Every where we meet with instances of robberies and

embezzlement of money by public officers ; even the sacred
property was not secure from sacrilegious hands. The
Romans had at least a period in which fidelity and honesty
were practised and esteemed but among the Greeks these
:

qualities will be sought for in vain. All officers of finance

were bound by a solemn oath to administer without
" but if in
peculation the money entrusted to their care;
189 " the State entrusted
Greece," says the faithful Polybius ,

to one a and if it had ten

any only talent, checking-clerks,
and as many seals and twice as many witnesses, it could
not ensure his honesty." The officers of finance were
therefore not unfrequently condemned to death or to
loss of property and imprisonment ; sometimes indeed
unjustly, when money hadaccidentally been lost
190
; but
the Logistae allowed themselves to be disgracefully bribed
191
in order to enable the offender to evade the legal .
penalty
Even the great Pericles does not appear to have been free
from the charge of peculation, if at least the story is true
which represents Alcibiades to have said, on hearing
that Pericles was occupied in preparing his accounts for
the people, that he would be better occupied in endeavouring
188
Plutarch. Aristicl. 4.
189
VI. 56.
190
Comp. e. g. Demosth. in Timoth. p. 1187, 1197. in
Timocrat. p. 742 sqq.
191
/Eschin. in Timarch. p. 126..
 262
to render none at all 192 . The comic poets, who under-
mined the fame of every distinguished person, have also
brought against him charges which are doubtless exag-
gerated ; for example Aristophanes in the comedy of
the Clouds misunderstands and ridicules an item in the
account of Pericles which he had rendered in his capacity
of general, although in this instance he was free from all
blame. The truth is that he had charged ten talents,
without specifying the particular object to which they had
been applied ; but the charge was allowed by the people,
it was well known that
as they had been used for purposes
of bribery, and that the names of those who had received
them could not be mentioned without offending Pleistonax
the king of Sparta, and the Harmost Cleandrides !93.

There is however a very general tradition that Pericles

was in great difficulties with his accounts. Before the

breaking out of the Peloponnesian war, Phidias the sculptor

was subjected, by means as, it appears, of a conspiracy,
to an examination respecting some gold which he was
accused of having embezzled 194 ; on that occasion Pericles
extricated himself and Phidias from the difficulty. But
other attacks were made upon him for the purposes of
annoyance ; and at last when the Athenians were dissatisfied

191
Plutarch. Alcib. 7. Diod. XII. 38.
193
Aristoph. Nub. 858. and the Scholiast, and thence Suidas
in v. 3ea, "E<poi, its 3iov, its 5e, Lex. Seg. p. 234. The
Scholiast of Aristophanes says twenty, Suidas in one place fifteen,
in another 1 have followed the statement of Plutarch
fifty talents :

(Pericl. 22, 23.) which has greater probability.

194
Plutarch. Pericl. 31. This cause instituted against Pericles
isalluded to by Plato Gorg. p. 516. A. where see Heindorf: the
Scholiast of Aristophanes and Suidas confuse this with other
things.
 263

with his lavish expenditure 195 , they required an account

of his financial administration. The importance of this
transaction is evident from the proceedings which were

proposed for it : the account was to have been referred to

the Prytanes; and according to the decree of Dracontides,
the judges were to vote from the altar upon the Acropolis,
which was the most solemn method of deciding. This last
ceremony was dispensed with by the interference of Hagnon,
and it was directed that five hundred judges should sit in
this case, in which it was uncertain whether
judgment upon
there had been peculation or some other offence 196. In
order to put an end to this contest, in which he was in

danger of falling a sacrifice both to party rage and indi-

vidual perfidy, Pericles is said to have engaged his country
in a war 197 ; a severe accusation, which however will be in
some degree diminished, if it is considered that several
causes contributed, and that this selfish motive might only
have added strength to other inducements. I am the less
inclined wholly to acquit Pericles of this charge, because

Aspasia is also said to have contributed to the undertaking

of the Samian war.
In order that the accounts rendered by persons who had
filled public offices should have the greatest possible pub-

and that it should be in the power of every one to

licity,

bring forward accusations, these accounts were, like the

195
Plutarch. Pericl. 14.
196
Plutarch, ibid. 32.
197
Plut. ibid. 31, 32. Diod. XII. 38 sqq. Aristoph. Pac. 604 sqq.
and Schol. Concerning the difficulties in arranging the date see
Dodwell Annal. Thucyd. in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian
war, and Heyne (Antiquarische Aufsatze I. p. 188 sq.) who
has well examined the question. Concerning the Samian war see
Plutarch. Pericl. 25.
 264

decrees, engraved on stone and exposed in public. Thus

Lycurgus set up the account for his administration before
the wrestling-school which he had built a short time pre-
19R ; a
viously fragment of a similar account of the treasurer
of the administration and manager of the public revenue,
and probably of this very one made by Lycurgus, has been
preserved to our days*. In like manner the treasurers of
the goddess and of the other gods were obliged to have an
account of what they had received, disbursed, and de-
livered to their successors, engraved upon stone and set up
in the Acropolis 199 Chandler has published three in-
:

scriptions of this kind, and saw still more in the Par-

thenon 200 , and some have been brought to England by

198
Life of Lycurgus at the end, in tbe Lives of the Tea
Orators.
See Boeckh. Corp. Insc. I.
p. 250. No. 157.
199
Inscript. 76. |. 7, 8.
100
Chandl. Syllab. p. 17. of his Inscript. Antiq. besides those
which I have published. The inedited inscriptions occur in Lord
Elgin's collection, as stated by Visconti in his Memoire. No. 36.
upon two sides of a stone, upon one side of which there are forty,
on the other more than fifty lines, of the writing before Euclid.
The authorities are the treasurers of sacred money (retftlett TV
iiu* %z*fi*Tvi), the articles enumerated partly weighed, partly

unweighed (<rrefy*o). The first line contains the words i* IL*-

6i)mta*is H&oiQfaeuot : which is to be explained from what is said in

the text. No. 37. also a fragment, written in the ancient manner,

upon both sides of the stone, each of which contains more than
forty lines. The
side begins with ttoftefeu re Aoyw, the other
first

with H H H H A A.
This inscription is evidently allied to Nos.
109 and 141 ed. Boeckh. No. 38. another fragment of the same
description in the ancient manner of writing, written in the same
way. No. 46* a fragment of the same kind as the two inscrip-
tions just mentioned, but very imperfect : there are forty-five
 265

Lord Elgin. Several documents of this description, some

money-accounts, some lists of treasures belonging to tem-

ples, delivered over to other treasurers, which
were ac-

curately weighed, have come down to our days; among

which may be mentioned the remarkable account given
by the Amphictyons of Delos, of their revenues, ex-
pences, and outstanding debts. Lastly, we know that
the Poletae also fixed up lists of confiscated property

(&jju,jo7rgaTa), (whether before or after the sale is uncertain),

upon tablets of stone, some in the Acropolis, some at

Eleusis 201 , and doubtless also in other places; and pro-

bably a fragment of an inscription now extant was a part

of a document of this nature b Monuments of this kind
.

are necessarily destroyed by length of time; but it is

much to be lamented that we should not be possessed of

those which had been collected by Greek antiquarians.
The Attic Epigrams of Philochorus were probably only

poetical inscriptions ; but the traveller Polemon, who from

his fondness for inscriptionshad acquired the surname of
Stelocopas (o-njAoxoVaf), wrote four books on the sacred
202 as well as
offerings upon the Acropolis , copiously upon
other inscriptions, and collected decrees 203 engraved upon

lines remaining. No. 50 a later inscription which contains a

catalogue of treasures belonging to a temple, of large size.
Concerning these inscriptions see also the Earl of Elgin's Pur-
suits in Greece, p. 17, 18.
201
Casaub. ad Athen. XI. p. 476. E. Hemsterh. ad Poll. X.
96.
b
Boeckh. Corp. Inscript. I. p. 286. No. 161.
202
Athen. VI. 234. D. and Casaubon's note.
203
An example occurs in Athen. VI. p. 234. E. From him
also the inscription in the Anaceum (p. 235. B.) is no doubt
taken.
 266

stone, particularly at Athens ; a collection of decrees, most

of them doubtless taken from inscriptions, was given to
the world by Craterus 204 Another collection of the
.

registers of the Demioprata was likewise extant, and is

205 and
frequently quoted by Pollux in the tenth book ,

once by Athenaeus ; from this source the former writer

drew his information respecting the confiscated property of
Alcibiades 206 ; and in this collection of the Demioprata
there were also accounts of the treasurers of the Acropolis

concerning the cession of the sacred treasures, probably

from the work of Polemon ; among others one which by
chance has come down to our time and is now in England
207 .

Probably the list of the sacred offerings upon the Acropolis

208 was set
quoted by Pollux , up during the Archonship
204
Plutarch. Cim. 13. From some such collection the decrees
which occur in the Lives of the Ten Orators are borrowed.
205
Vid. ad Inscript. 161.
206
Pollux X. 36.
207
Vid. ad Inscript. XIII. 1. 38.
208
'Ayg<pij TUI \i
'AxgeiroA drctdnpciTur , X. 26. The quota-
tions that are made from this catalogue occur in two inscriptions
stillextant, vid. ad Inscript. XII. 25. There is no mention
.

of any Archon Alcibiades. Pollux probably confounded the first

treasurer of the goddess or of the gods, whose name stood at the
head of the inscription, with the Archon. If Alcibiades had not
been a treasurer upon the Acropolis, how could it have come to

pass that he, as Plutarch relates in the life of Alcibiades, had in

his house many gold and silver ornaments for processions be-
longing to the State, which he used as his own property ? If he
held the office of treasurer upon the Acropolis he would have had
the means of doing this. The account given by Andocides (in
Alcib. p. 126, 127.) is different from this story of Plutarch taken
from Phaeax, where he speaks of ornaments for processions,
which Alcibiades had borrowed from the Architheori of Athens
for the sake of his triumphal festival. This has been also
 267
of Alcibiades, that is, a memorial of the treasurers' ac-
counts, of whom he was the first, borrowed from these
Demioprata.
(9.) But however essential the settlement of accounts

may be to a regular administration of finance, it is not of

itself sufficient. The first requisite is a correct estimate of
the revenue and expenditure, in order that the former

may be sufficient to meet the latter. It can hardly be

said that this was regularly performed in any Grecian
State ; same time they must have been able from
at the

experience and a comparison of the public accounts to form

a tolerable judgment as to the amount of the regular
income and expenditure, and how far the former was or
was not sufficient, and the latter necessary or superfluous.
Aristotle 209 " Whoever wishes to deliberate
says , .
upon
matters of finance must be acquainted with the revenues of
the State, what and how great they are ; in order that if

any branch of them is deficient, it may be added, and if too

small, it may be increased. He should also know all the
expences of the State, in order that if any one is super-
fluous, it may be retrenched, and if too large, be curtailed.
For wealth is augmented not only by increasing revenue,
but by diminishing expenditure and these things a
: man
cannot learn from his own individual experience ; but it is

also necessary in order to deliberate upon subjects of this

nature that he should have the habit of inquiring into the
discoveries Here- the questions are clearly
of others."
laid down which aminister at the head of the public
revenue should undertake to consider ; it may however be

observed by Ruhnken Hist. Grit. Orat. p. 138. vol. VIII. of

Reiske's Orators.
*
Rhet. I. 4. cf. Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. III. 6. 46.
 268

fairly questioned whether the Athenians always went

correctly to work in the difficult application of these
simple principles. The necessity, and afterwards the
habits or convenience of the people, introduced cer-
tainexpences; the time soon came when the revenues
were not sufficient to defray them, and then the former
were to be diminished or the latter increased ; of these
it must be
alternatives supposed that they generally took
the latter, and this without previously making any correct
estimate. This was the case to a greater degree in their
extraordinary expences, and after the public treasure had
been exhausted, all the great enterprizes were checked by
a want of supplies. With regard to the Athenian Revenue
we have its amount at different periods of the republic ;

but of that of the Expenditure we know but little, except

that it varied very much at different times. I shall treat

of the latter first ; but as

a subject connected with
it is

of ancient it will for that reason be

many parts history,

impossible for me to give so complete and satisfactory an

account of it as of the revenue, and I must be content
with touching upon the chief points. The regular ex-
penditure may be arranged under the following heads:
expences of buildings, police, celebration of festivals,
donations to the people, pay for certain public services in
time of peace,, maintenance of the poor, public rewards,
and the providing of arms, ships, and cavalry in time of
peace. Extraordinary expences were occasioned by war,
of which I will speak at the end of this book.

(10.) The public buildings, the magnificence and splen-

did execution of which still excite astonishment even in
were constructed at so great an expence, that
their ruins,

they could not have been attempted without the treasure

derived from the tributes: their maintenance alone re-
 269

quired a considerable standing expence. I will

only
mention the building of the Piraeeus by Themistocles, the
fortification of
it
together with the other harbours, the
market-place of the Hippodamus, the theatre and the
many temples and sacred edifices, in the Piraeeus: the

docks, in which the ships lay as it were under cover, cost

1000 talents, and after having been
destroyed in the
Anarchy by the contractors for three talents, were again
restored and finally completed by Lycurgus 210 . A splen-
did edifice in the Piraeeus was the Arsenal built by Philon
and destroyed by Sulla (<rxguo0^x>], oTrAoS^x*]) 2 !'. The forti-
fications of Athens were enormous besides the Acropolis,
;

the city and the Piraeeus with Munychia were respectively

fortified the two latter embraced a circumference of eight
:

English miles, with walls sixty Grecian feet high, which

Pericles wished to make as much as double this height ;
and at the same time
wide that two carriages could
so

easily pass one another upon them ; they were built of

square stones without cement, joined together with iron

cramps ; the city and the harbour were also connected by
the long walls, the longer of which was equal to
forty
stadia (five English miles), the shorter to thirty-five ; built

upon marshy ground raised with stones. And these im-

mense works were restored after their destruction in the
time of the thirty tyrants : for which purpose the Athe-
nians were, it is by a donation of money from
true, assisted
Persia 212 . To these were added in time of war, ramparts
of earth, trenches and parapets for the
strengthening of
the works together with the fortification of smaller
:
places

810
Isocrat. Areopag. 27. Meurs. Fort. Att. VII.
411
Meurs. ibid.
Sls
Xenoph. Hellen. IV. 8. 12.
 270
in Attica. Thus Eleusis was fortified as being an ancient,
and formerly an independent city; also Anaphlystus, as
we learn from Xenophon 213 and Scylax so again Sunium ;

was fortified in the Peloponnesian war 214 , as well as

Thoricus 215 and CEnoe a stronghold upon the Boeotian
frontier 216 ; together with the secure defences of Phyle
217
;

lastlyAphidna and Rhamnus, which in the time of Philip,

together with Phyle, Sunium, and Eleusis, were used as
places of refuge
218 But how great was the number of
.

splendid buildings which the city and its environs con-

tained ; if we consider the spaces used for the assembly, the
courts of justice, and markets, the highly ornamented

porticos, the Pompeum, Prytaneum, Tholus, Senate-house,

and other buildings for the public offices ; the innumerable

temples, the Theatre, the Odeum, wrestling-schools, Gym-

nasia, Stadia, Hippodromes, aqueducts, fountains, baths,
219 . And
together with the buildings belonging to them, &c.
again howgreatmust have been the expence of the works upon
the Acropolis. The entrance alone, the Propylaea, which
occupied five years in its construction, cost 2012 talents 220 .

Here too the numerous temples, the Temple of Victory, the

Erectheum, with the Temple of Minerva Polias and the
Pandrosium, and the splendid Parthenon, all these were

813
De Vectig. 4. 44. Scylax mentions four fortresses, Eleusis,
Anaphlystus, Sunium, and Rhamnus.
114
Thucyd. VIII. 4.
215
Xenoph. Hell. I. 2. 1. Cf. de Vectig. ut sup.
216
Thucyd. II. 18.
Xenoph. Hell. II. 4. 2. Diod. XIV. 32. Nep. Thrasyb.
217 2.
218
Demosth. de Coron. p. 238.
219
Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 2. 10.
220
Heliodorus ap. Harpocrat. and Suidas in v. TrgoTrvA***, cf.

Phot, where read /?<' from the Dresden manuscript.

adorned with the most costly statues and works of art, and
enriched with gold and silver vessels. And besides these
great works, how many were the perpetual small expences,
of which we have scarcely any notion, that occurred in an
ancient State: for example, the building of altars, which
were always erected for certain festivals 221 . Here we may
also mention the construction of roads, not only as regards

the paving of streets in Athens, but the formation of the

roads to the harbours, of the sacred road to Eleusis and

perhaps to Delphi as far as the boundary, since it is

first opened the road to this
asserted that the Athenians
Romans and Carthaginians expended
place. I grant that the
more money upon the construction of roads than the
Greeks; but roads were formed which were much travelled

over, and intended in particular for sacred processions;

these were not merely constructed with an uneven pave-

ment, but were made firm and smooth with small stones
taken out of the quarries 222 For the superintendence of
.

all these labours there were some regular officers, and some

only appointed for certain periods. Over the docks and the
ships that lay in them, the inspectors of the docks (eTt^Kvfrcti
TOOV were 223 for the of the
vecogiwv) placed ; repairs

121
Plutarch, in vit. Demosth. 27.
222 is what breaks off in the
as well as larvim
S*wg hewing
of stone, and sometimes even signifies mortar. From this is
derived <ncvur>i o2s, of which kind there was one at Cyrene for

processions (Pindar Pyth.

V. 90 sqq.), consequently it is not a
road, but made in the same manner as ours, only with
paved
great care. S*wgT fos is however interpreted by A<0<rrgTs,

and therefore it seems to me probable that this word does not

always mean a paved road, but one formed with stones.
223
Sigon. R. A. IV. 3. where he also speaks of the builders
of the walls.
 272
walls certairfcommissioners (Ter^oTroioj) were named, the most
distinguished amongst all the directors of the public works
(l7rrraTa) TOOV 224 like the builders of
STJ/XOO-KOV ggycov) ? who,

the Triremes, were elected one from each tribe 225 . Over
other buildings a manager of public works had the
superintendence : it was in this- capacity that Pericles,
and subsequently Lycurgus, undertook so many works of
architecture 226In the building of the temple of Minerva
.

Polias, we likewise find directors (gTrjcrraTai), who had

a clerk 227 , and probably every temple always had directors
of this kind, who together with the priests and sacrificers
22
(Jsgo7Too) composed a college or board ^. Similar autho-
were appointed for the care of the roads and of the
rities

supply of water (6o7rooi, iTrjcrTarat rcov wSaTcov) 9. The Asty-

22

nomi composed the street police, five in the city and as many
in the Pirseeus other duties they had to attend to
:
among
the cleansing of the streets, and had on that account the
23
superintendence of the scavengers (xon-goAoyo*) All .

224
2Esch. in Ctesiph. p. 400. Poll. VIII. 114. falsely includes
them among the vT^ETat*, as well as the sacrificers (gaww/) and
Boonae.
225
^Eschin. ut sup. p. 422, 425.
936
Plutarch Pericl. (cf. Diod. XII. 39.) and the Life of Ly-
curgus in the Lives of the Ten Orators.
227
Chandler Inscript. II. 1.
228
At least so the passage in Inscript. 76. . 7. may be in-

terpreted.
229
Sigon. ut sup. p. 176. vol. I. of his works. Petit. Leg. Att.
V. 1, 3. Concerning the edtirowt see more particularly ^ischin. in
and the comic poet 15.
Ctesiph. p. 419. ap. Plutarch. Praec. Polit.
The xjnye^vAoxes mentioned by Sigonius probably were not
public officers (see the note of the editor upon the passage

quoted).
230
Aristot. ap. Harpocrat. in v. #rrv*oftoi.
 273
works of building undertaken by the Public were by
the proper authorities let to Contractors (lfyoAa/3o), as
was the case at Rome ; this is particularly mentioned
of the repairs of the Temples and public Buildings 231 ,

and an enquiry was made from time to time, probably

at the change of office, how far the building had pro-
ceeded, and what was still remaining to be done. An
inscription in which the unfinished parts of the building
of the temple of Minerva Polias in the Archonship of
Diocles (Olymp. 92. 4.) are recited, has been preserved
to our days 232 .

The amount of money expended upon works of build-

ing was necessarily quite undefined, aud must obviously

have depended upon the quantity of disposable revenue
and the necessity of the projected work. Demosthenes
received nearly ten talents for the repairs of the walls 233 ;
but it is uncertain whether, as he was appointed only
for the tribe Pandionis, he received all the money, or
whether it was divided between him and his nine col-

leagues, which last supposition is rendered more probable

from the circumstance of several Treasurers being men-
tioned that the expences of building were defrayed by
:

the State and not by the Tribes, as might appear from

another passage of ^Eschines, is sufficiently manifest from
the fact that the money was furnished by the Administration.
Probably the commissioner of each tribe had a particular
part of the walls to repair, and Demosthenes received the
sum just mentioned for the expence of his share being
; this

insufficient, he added, according to the testimony of a con-

's 1
Petit. Leg. Att. I. 2, 7.
232
Chandler as above. Edited more correctly by Wilkins.
V3 jEsch. in
Ctesiph. p. 415. cf. p. 425.

VOL. I. T
 274

temporary decree, and of another which was made sub-

sequently, three talents of his own money, in addition to
which he caused two trenches to be drawn round the
Piraeeus at his own expence 234 .
Conon, the son of
Timotheus, was obliged to repair a part of the walls at a

cost of ten general the surplus of the re-

talents. In
venue only was applied to building, unless necessity com-
pelled the infraction of this rule thus in an ancient
:

decree it is ordered that whatever should remain over and

above the money assigned for the payment of the public
debts should be applied to the repairs of the Docks
and Walls 235 . In the time of Pericles this overplus
was extraordinarily great on account of the large sums
produced by the tributes, and out of this fund the
public treasure was formed thus he was able, as Plu-
;

tarch 236 says, to build temples which cost even 1000

talents, and in fact he used 3700 talents out of the

treasury for works of Architecture and for the Poti-

da?an War 237 , besides what he may have added from
the current revenue. Before his time, not only Pisistratus
but Themistocles and Cimon had spent much money in
building; after these Conon deserves to be mentioned, as
the restorer of the walls, and Lycurgus, who completed the

234
Decret. ap. Demosth. cle Cor. p. 266. and decrees in the
Lives of theTen Orators. In .ZEsch. in Ctesiph. p. 405. only a
hundred minas are mentioned, but evidently from a confusion
with the sum which he contributed as manager of the Theorica

(de Coron. p. 266.) he is followed by the author of the Lives of

the Ten Orators (p. 263. ed. Tubing.). Concerning Conon see
Nepos Timoth. 4.
885
Inscript. 76. . 9.
* 36
Pericl. 12.
237
Thuc. II. 13.
 275

many works that had been left unfinished; the Docks, the
Arsenal, and the theatre of Bacchus : it was he who laid
the foundation of the Panathenaic Stadium, the Gymnasium,
Odeum, and Lyceum, embellished the city with several
other works, and moreover furnished many decorations
for processions, and for the temple of Minerva golden
statues of victory, and gold and silver ornaments for 100
238 . But upon the whole the public buildings
Canephorae
of this age were inconsiderable when compared with those
of earlier times, while the splendour of private buildings
had increased. " In ancient days*? says Demosthenes 239 ,
"
every thing that belonged to the State was costly and
splendid, and no individual distinguished himself from the
multitude; and the proof of it is, that if any of you know
the houses of Themistocles and Miltiades, and the famous
men of that time, he will see that they are not more mag-
nificent than those of other people ; but the buildings and

constructions of the State were of such size and number,

that not in the power of succeeding generations to
it is

surpass them the Propylaea, the Docks, the Porticoes,

the Piraeeus, and the other works with which you see
the city adorned But now all who are concerned in the
!

management of public affairs have such a superfluity of

riches, that some have
built private houses more
mag-
nificent than public edifices ; and some of them
many
have purchased more land than all of you who are sitting
in the court are together possessed of; but your public

138
See the passages in Meursius Fort. Att. p. 58. of the 4to
edition, where nothing is omitted but the original source, viz.
the third decree in the Lives of the Ten Orators.
239
In Aristoc. p. 689. 1124. Olynth. III. p. 35, 36. which
two passages I have combined. See the spurious speech trig*
<rvT<*|w s from p. 174. 17. to p. 175. 12.
 276

buildings and works, it is

disgraceful totell how scanty and

contemptible they are. What indeed can be said of your

works? what of the parapets which we throw up? of the
roads which we construct, and the fountains, and the trifles
at which we labour?" Thus speaks the ardent enthusiast for
the happiness and fame of his country ; his speeches of
admonition might with a few alterations be adapted to the

present age, in which such vast sums have been squandered

away without producing any thing useful or durable.
(11.) It is evident that the police could not possess that
distinctand important character among the Greeks, which
ithas in the States of modern Europe, as from their re-

publican government, judicial decisions were always pre-

ferred to the operations of police. It is indeed wholly

impossible for such an institution as a secret police to exist

as a separate establishment in a democracy but a strict:

and vigilant inspection was produced by the privilege

which the citizens possessed of coming forward as accusers
in all thingswhich affected the public interest, though this
right was not exercised without cunning, envy, and ca-

lumny. There existed a system of watching and espionage,

which in its consequences was not less pernicious than the
worst institutions of modern despots ; although it had the
double advantage over these, that no person could be
condemned without a public trial, and^ that it cost the
State nothing. The only kind of Police which existed as
a distinct institution in ancient times, was that to which
was entrusted the performance of certain needful services,
such as the street-police, which was in the charge of the

Astynomi, together with that of the market, and traders :

which latter did not cause any expence and finally, some
:

institution must have been indispensable as well in respect

to the aliens, as to the maintenance of order and security

in the city, particularly in the public assembly. In all

the Grecian States, notwithstanding their hospitality,

foreigners were considered as enemies, and for that reason

they were at Athens under the jurisdiction of the Archon
Polemarchus, as at Rome under that of the Praetor Pere-

grinus : not improbable that the foreign police as well

it is

as some establishment for granting passports was under his

direction, of which a slight indication occurs in a passage

of Aristophanes 240 For the maintenance of security and
.

order there was a city-guard composed of public slaves

(8>3ju,o'<roj)24i
these persons, although they were of low
:

rank, enjoyed a certain consideration, as the /State em-

ployed them in the capacity of bailiffs. These public
slaves were sometimes also appointed for the trade-
242
police ; and subordinate places, such as heralds and
checking-clerks, together with other offices in the assembly
and courts of justice, were filled by persons of the same
description. The public slaves who composed the city-

guard must be looked upon as a body-guard of the

Athenian people ; which thus resembled Polycrates the
tyrant of Samos, who kept a thousand bowmen about his
own 243 . are called bowmen
person They generally
from the native country of the majority,
(rojjoVaj), or,

Scythians, also Speusinians ; they lived under tents in the

market-place, and afterwards upon the
Areopagus
244 .

210 1

Av. 1209. and Scho . ad 1214. The name is

<r<pgy/f , v'vft.-

y3eX>.
41
Concerning these see Harpocrat. Suid. Etym. Poll. IX. 10.
and Hemsterhuis' note, also Maussac ad Harpocrat. in v. 2v[tw{
Lex. Seg. p. 234.
242
Inscript. 123. 5 sqq.
.

243
Herod. III. 39,45.
4
Poll. VIII. 132. and his commentators, A ristoph. Lysistrat.
 278

Among their number there were also many Thracians

and other Barbarians. Their officers had the name of
Toxarchs (To'^^o<) 24 5. Their number increased progres-
sively : in the first instance 300 were purchased soon
after the battle of Salamis 246 :
subsequently it rose,

according to the Scholiast to the Acharnenses of Aristo-

phanes and Suidas, to a thousand, according to Andocides
and JSschines, to 1200 247 It is evident that these troops
.

437. Acharn. 54. Schneider ad Xenoph. Mem. Socrat. III. 6.

Lex. Seg.p. 234. Photius
in v. TO|'TI.
445
Inscript. 80.
446
jEsch. my 5Tg7rgi7-/3. p.
335.
v47
.ZEschin. ut sup. p. 336. <X/vj 21 XMI 3iauto<rt6v{ l-xirat^ KMT-

i-Tii<rpf text rotyrctf iTSgtvs ro<rovrvf. Hieronymus Wolf

asks whether 300 or 600 are meant, as he makes mgavj Torovrovf
refer to the 300 mentioned in p. 335. which were first bought it :

is clear to me that mgo< Too-ovrot used in this manner can only

refer to the number which immediately precedes, and therefore
in this place only to X/ov{ *..} ^tomoa-Uvf, and that here the whole

number of the bowmen is meant, including those that were first

bought, most of whom might besides have died and their vacan-
cies filled up. It is undeniably true as Hier. Wolf observes,
and as Viger has said after him, that once as many is often

said, when the preceding number is reckoned, and the same

number is added. But unquestionably, taken in its original and
strict sense, it means just as many, as mga? Totovres another person

of the same kind, as in ^sch. in Ctesiph. p. 448. oc nAo5rej<ra;

That this is the force of it in the present passage is shewn more

de Pace rt *.} dtctxwovs
particularly by Andocides p. 93. ^<A/t{

iir7ti*s, tttti ro^oreig TOTOVTOVS ii'i^ovs xonirTtrxpiY, where the preceding

number meaning of rortinevf. This also agrees the best

fixes the

with Suidas and the Scholiast. There were 1200 horsemen at

Athens, but Xenophon only speaks of 1000. The same account
is given by Suidas and the Scholiast in reference to ^Eschines.
 279

might, if necessary, be used in the field; although the

Athenians had also free aliens, of whom I shall presently

speak. The expence which this regiment occasioned may

be nearly ascertained. As it was necessary for them to
be strong, able-bodied men, upon whom dependence could
be placed, the purchase-money cannot be fixed at less than
three or four minas apiece : and as the whole number
would have required renewal about every thirty or forty
years, exclusively of any increased number of casualties

which might have been produced by war, thirty at least

must have been purchased annually, which would have
caused an expence of from one and half to two talents.
Their pay doubtless amounted to three oboli a day 248 ,
making altogether about 36 talents a year.

(12.) The
celebration of festivals produced in the early
times of the Athenian republic, a profuseness of expen-
diture in no way inferior to that of the courts of luxurious

princes :
system however possessed several
this republican

advantages over the latter method of useless expenditure.

For in the first place, all the citizens partook in these
and not a select few ; in the second place they
solemnities,
were founded upon the duties of religion and again, the ;

public games or contests, which had a powerful influence

in forming the national mind, awakened and improved
the taste and spirit of the people. To expend large sums

The only thing that can be remarkable is the woid Ir'^ovf, since
bowmen were not cavalry ;
this however is
evidently according to
the same idiom, by which Xenophon says, rev? <nrkirotf *<*< raw?
*AAt>s Imrias. Moreover the rest of the narration shews that the
author is not speaking here of bowmen in general but of the
slaves, since the first three hundred are distinctly said to have
been bought.
21S
From the traces in Inscript. 80.
 280

of money on the fine arts, which appeared in the highest

perfection at the sacred festivals, upon costly but lasting

ornaments for the temples, upon choruses and musical
entertainments, and upon a theatre, which was so perfect
that it excelled
equally in tragedy and comedy, were con-
sidered as acts of a liberal and noble mind. And while
the Athenians were led by their religious obligations to
these costly practices, the Spartans were satisfied to mani-
fest their piety by offering small sacrifices to the gods.

That the person who provides the sacrificial feast should

receive a share of the offering, appears both natural and
reasonable ; but when the principal revenues of the State
were wasted upon public banquets, and the sacrifices were
maintained at the public expence not so much for the
249
purposes of religion, as for the support of the poor ,

the policy of the Athenians was alike unjust and inexpe-

dient, inasmuch as the continuance ofwithout oppressing

it

the allies was impossible, and the State, being deprived of

the means of self-defence in a most frivolous and unpar-
donable manner, was led on to certain destruction. The
Athenians not only had twice as many festivals as other
Grecian States 250 , but every thing was considered se-
" The
condary to them. Panathenaea, the Dionysia,"
251 " are
says Demosthenes , always celebrated at the proper
time, festivals on which you expend more money than on
any naval enterprize, and for .which you make such pre-
parations as were never heard of elsewhere ; but when you
send out a fleet it always arrives too late."" Even Plutarch,
by nature of an admiring and laudatory turn of mind,

249
Cf. Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 2. 9.
250
Xenoph. ibid. 3. 8.
251
Philipp. I. p. 50. 3.
 281

who with his beautiful style and amiable disposition has

misled the understandings of many readers by engaging
their feelings, in his Essay upon the Glory of Athens 252 ,

perceives this weak point. For after having enumerated

the various splendour of the tragedies, he thus proceeds.
"
Gazing upon this the Lacedaemonian justly remarked that
the Athenians erred greatly in making serious matter of

trifles, that is, in expending upon the theatre sums suffi-

cient for the equipment of large fleets, and for the main-
tenance of great armies. For if it were calculated what
sum each play cost the Athenians, it would be found
that they had spent more treasure upon Bacchaes, and
Phoenissaes, and CEdipusses, and Antigones, and the woes
of Medea and Electra, than upon wars undertaken for

empire and freedom against the Barbarians.""

for

With the exception of the Theoricon, the most consi-

derable expences of the festivals were those for sacrifices,

plays, and processions. In many festivals all these three

were combined, as, for instance, at the great Dionysia;

and such festivals must therefore have been extremely
expensive
253 The sacrifices were of very different kinds
.
;

a number of small offerings, consisting either of young

pigs, sheep, cocks, &c., or of cakes, and fruits, were sacri-

ficed to some god or object of worship : of this description

252
Cap. 6.
An account of the costliness of the Dionysia, especially on
25:5

account of the sacrifices, is given in the second book of Pseud-

Aristot. CEcon. sec. 6. where it has been thought that Athens
was meant. It is however by no means certain that it relates to
that town, as may be seen from Schneider's note. It seems to
me most probable that it should be referred to Antissa, as the
man is called 'Amwaio;, who is mentioned as the originator of
the proposal there cited.
 282

were the sacrifices performed before every public assembly

and every sitting of the senate and the courts of justice;

and, in the second place, more expensive sacrifices, which

had been in use from early times. The ancient and most
sacred offerings were called
paternal sacrifices (Trargjoi
0u<n'aj), and were opposed to those which were made at

the more recent, or, as they were called, the 'additional

festivals (eTnflsrou eogroii). In the bad times which ensued,
the former were at most but sparingly solemnized, or were
sometimes entirely discontinued at the celebration of the :

latter greatbanquets were given, for which perhaps 300

oxen were slaughtered at the public cost, and the paternal
sacrifices were paid for out of the rents of the sacred
estates, or rather they were furnished by a contractor for a
certain sum, who was indemnified out of these rents 254 .

It is easy to judge of the immense number of these great

sacrifices, from the fact, that the money received for skins
in Olymp. 111. 3. amounted to 5148| drach-

254 u WOTS
Isocrat. Areopag. 11. Oi)3' fttt 3o%tnt uvroif,
oxen 31 -rvfrotu, T? Trccrgitvs ivrias \%&nrw ovdl TJ
Harpocrat. in h. v.), e<$ l
(cf.

That TTO
fturBaftdrai means e* T&V npivutai vf>o<ro$ay, we learn
from Harpocration in this phrase. That the sacrifices were let

to contractors is shewn by the last words of this article : ov

yg
KM.T tvrtfiiict* tivoi to, itittc, etXXa pio-dovfttw, and more distinctly in
Lex. Seg. p. 207. of which I only transcribe the end : 'i&{ yg |j

TS /Sat/Xoytte***? fita-dovffi&i raj 6v<riet{, x.u.1 reAc? 55* ruv 6vnui w^vftati
iv povhofttia : an incorrect expression, for how could it be called
a TX{, when a contractor undertook any thing at the expence of
the State ?
Concerning the neglect of the yrdr^tti 6va-txi see also
Lysias in Nicoraach. in the passage quoted below, and concern-
ing the public banquets in the temples Petit I. 2. 1.
 283

mas for only seven months . Thus 500 young kids were
sacrificed to Diana Agrotera alone at the festival for the

battle of Marathon 255 : but the frequent sacrifices of oxen

were particularly designed to allure the people, on which
account Demosthenes 256 connects this donation of oxen
with the Theoricon. A hecatomb alone cost upon an
257 ; and
average a talent many other expences were neces-
sarily connected with these solemnities. The law of Solon
upon the sacred tablets (xyg/Ssjj) had fixed the amount of
the sacrifices and of other solemnities; a single one was
rated at a talent. But this in the age of Lysias appeared
very inconsiderable : named Nicomachus, who
a secretary
was employed to transcribe the laws, fixed it upon his own
authority at nine talents, and moreover at a moment when
the State had from poverty suffered the walls and docks to
fall out of repair, and was unable to pay three talents to

the Boeotians, as an indemnity for the reprisals made

against them by which means the State lost twelve

:

talents in two years, and was incapable of performing

the paternal sacrifices 258 Demosthenes, when he was
.

manager of the Theoricon, contributed 100 minas to the

259
sacrifices, which he paid out of that fund ; a proof that,

See Boeckh Inscript. T. I. p. 250. No. 157.

" 5 See the passages in my Preface to the Catalogue of the
Lectures in the University of Berlin, Summer, 1816. p. 4.
26C
Olynth. p. 37. 6. These were presents from the public
coffers. Those referred to in the second Prytaheia of the Choiseul
Inscription are quite different.
257
Book I. 14.
18
Lysias in Nicomach. p. 856 860. which passage has not
been entirely understood by the Commentators.
459
Decret. ap. Demosth.' de Coron. p. 266. 23. Lives of the
 284

although it was for the most part well filled, it did not

satisfy the people. Besides the sacrifices furnished by the

State (8>jju,oTeA>i iega), there were many others provided by

particular corporations and societies, such, for instance, as

those furnished by the boroughs (rjp,oTx Jega) and by the
260 ; not to mention
companies of the Orgeones (o^ysowxa)
the feasting of the tribes, of which I will speak in a

subsequent part of this work. The entertainments at the

festivals were either musical or gymnastic, both being

attended with considerable expence. The choruses, both

in and out of the plays,their teaching, maintenance, and

dresses, the cost of the musicians and actors, together with

the decorations, machinery, and dresses, and in the gym-
nastic games, the maintenance of the combatants of all

Ten Orators p. 263. where the words H-rrtiux.!. 21 KI Stu^oif (a

singular expression) ftvg/ae?
rafer to this circumstance.
260
Lex. Seg. p. 240. Hesychius and Harpocration in v. Jx^s-

rt>>i g. Some
of these expressions occurred in the Laws of

Solon, as e. g. the Jjj^toTeAii h^oi. See ^Esch. in Timarch. p. 47.

p.
176. in Ctesiph. p. 566. These words also occur in the

speech against Neaera 1374. 2. p. 1374. 4.) in the Formula

(p.
titriivett its i*. which induced Reiske, in the Index to
\MoT8A55 ii%*,

Demosthenes, and Buttmann ad Mid. p. 125. to think that the

temple was meant but IKTWIOU tj rot,
:
g<* evidently refers in

particular to the admission to the sacrifices, although it also

includes permission to enter the temples in which the sacrifices
were held. To these passages all the interpretations of the

grammarians and perhaps to the words of the Dodonaean

refer,

oracle excellently emended by Buttmann ad Demosth. in Mid.

p. 531. 24. Buttmann also quotes from Pollux the Jiftonkitf

igT? from,
which these sacrifices were bought. Thyatir. Inscript.
in Spon's Travels vol. III. part 1. p. 110. T*S JETSAM? 6v<rfa **i

JgTs atQSittif xcti liriT&irecvTet. Thucydides (II. 15.)

eivvTrt^K^truf
has legTji $jj|aTAii, Dio Cassius (XLI1I. 25.) and Herodotus
(VI. 57.)
 285

kinds, and the preparation of every thing which belonged

to their exercises and contests, required a considerable

outlay of money : and although this was in part provided

by direct Liturgies, the Choregia and Gymnasiarchy, it all
came at last from the same source and it makes no essen-
;

tial difference whether the State raised the money and gave
entertainments for or whether private individuals pro-
it,

vided the games instead of paying the money in the shape

of a tax. To these must be added the prizes awarded to
the successful competitor, of which some had no great

value, while others were costly, and were given either in

money (in the aywvs? a^yvglrai), crowns, or tripods, which
either the State or whoever defrayed the costs of the
festival provided, or the conqueror himself furnished at
his own expence 261 There occurs in an inscription 262 a
.

golden crown of victory weighing 85 drachmas, which must

at the least have cost 1000 or 1200 drachmas of silver.
At the games of Neptune in the Piraeeus, the first Cyclic
chorus that gained the victory, received, according to a

regulation of Lycurgus, at the lowest a reward of ten

minas, the second eight, and the third six 263 ; and, even
before the time of Solon, it was customary to grant to the
Athenians who gained the prize in foreign sacred games
(i. e. in the four great contests)
rewards of a certain sum
of money, which for that age were not inconsiderable, to
the conqueror at the Olympic contests 500 drachmas, at
the Isthmian 100, and to the others in proportion 2 64.
Lastly, something may be said upon the splendour of the

261
Lysias pro Aristoph. bonis, and Inscript. 158. . 5.
262
No. 150. . 15.
263
Lives of the Ten Orators p. 252.
264
Petit Leg. Att. I. 1.29, 30.
 286

Athenian Iloju-Traj or sacred processions. These indeed

yielded in nothing to the theatrical representations : no
expence was spared for them, and even the cavalry was
partly maintained in time of peace for their sake. Another
expence connected with this subject were the public burials
(8>jjw.o(ra T<pa), which indeed only occurred in time of
war. Again, the greater and less Theorias or sacred
embassies were of frequent occurrence, which were sent,
after each of the four great Grecian games, to Delos and

to other sacred places for the purposes of festivals, and

united in themselves sacrifices and processions. One part
of the expence was borne by the Architheorus as a Liturgy,
another part by the State: thus the Delphian Theori,

according to an ancient law, received money for their

journey and all their other expences; and thus Aristo-
phanes mentions the wages of a Theorus to Paros of so
small an amount as two oboli 265 ; thus also the Delian
Architheorus received a talent from the public purse 266 .

The Theori were obliged to appear with a splendour and

dignity suitable to the character of their nation ; they
themselves, wearing splendid crowns, drove into the city
upon crowned chariots, which were often expensively

painted, gilt, and hung with carpets 267 . When Nicias

265
Concerning the former see Androtion ap. Schol. Aristoph.
Av. 1545. (comp. above book II. 6.); concerning the latter see
Aristoph. Vesp. 1183. where neither the entrance-money into
the theatre, nor the pay of the soldiers, can be meant, as the
Scholiast thinks. The first does not at all suit the context; in
the latter case a soldier may have been called in joke a Theorus,
which is very improbable.
268
Inscript. 158. . 5.
267
Hesych. in v. 6fwt>e.os and his Commentators, and Plutarch.
Nic. 3.
 287
went as Architheorus to Delos, he built a bridge from
Rhenea to Dclos, for his entry, four stadii in length 268.
The passage of the Theori and Choruses from Athens to
Delos cost on a later occasion 7000 drachmas 269 , and the

quadriennial Delian festival, which was celebrated entirely

at the expence of this Theoria, cost, according to the
accounts now extant, inclusively of this latter expence, but
with the exclusion of many other items which have been lost,
4 talents 43 drachmas, although they were not paid out of
the funds of the State, but from those of the temple of
Delos. From all that has been said, it is easy to conceive
that the State expended much money upon the celebration
of festivals; and at times it even became necessary to
resort to the public treasure for money to defray those

expences. Thus in Olymp. 92. 3. five talents and a

thousand drachmas were paid out of the treasure for the
Athlothetae, at the celebration of the great Panathenaea,
and 5114 drachmas to the sacrificers for hecatombs, and an
Olympiad earlier the Athlothetse received at the same
255 Cyzicenic
festival staters (7140 drachmas) 27 0. A
large part of the other payments in Olymp. 92. 3. appear,
according to an account of the money disbursed from the
public treasure, of which the destination is not specified,
to have been also for festivals 271 .

For the administration and superintendence of all reli-

268
Plutarch, ut sup. See Taylor ad Marm. Sandw. p. 18.
269
Inscript. 158. .5.
870
Inscript. 147. 2d Prytan. Inscript. 144. Pryt. 3. Item 3.
271
Barthelemy Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions torn. XLV1II.
p. 378. calculates the money supplied out of the public treasure
for the festivals, as given in the Choiseul Inscription, upon

perfectly false suppositions ;

for which reason I have made no
use of his computation.
 288
X

gious solemnities certain unpaid authorities were appointed,

who ranked among the principal public officers. Of tnis
description are the Managers of the Mysteries and of the
Dionysia (eTijU-sArjTal TWV /xucrTijga>v,
TUJV A<ovu<r/cov) : to parti-

cular Archons certain sacrifices also belonged 272 , as well

as to the Generals 273 , together with the Collectors of the
274 and all sacred rites at Delos
People (<ruAAoye7j TOU Sr^ou) ,

were managed by the Amphictyons; but the most numerous

officers were the yearly and monthly Sacrificers, the former

of whom were ten in number ; and again there were Sacri-

ficers for the Revered Goddesses or the Eumenides (legoiroidl

KO.T evKzvTOV, STTipyviot, IsgoTtoidl rctif as^voC^ 0ea7j) 275 . For the
games there were Athlothetae, who had
the particular care of
the great Panathenaea (though probably with the exception

272
Sigon. R. A. IV. 7.
273
Inscript. 157. 2, 3.
.

274
Inscript. 157. . 2.
275
Hesychius <{wa<, and his Commentators, who
in v.

quote Pbotius and other grammarians, Poll. VIII. 107. and his
Commentators, Lex. Seg. p. 265. they also occur particularly
often in Inscript. 157. I. p. 250. See also Barthelemy ut sup.
p. 342. The /sgowow rut o-ipvuii 6tat, quoted by Photius, are taken
from Demosth. in Mid. p. 552. 6. Whether they, as Creuzer
represents them (Symbolik vol. IV. p. 518.), were properly priests
for sacrifices might appear uncertain, if Demosthenes did not

shew that they at least performed the commencement of the

sacrifice, or the immolation of the victim (T wrd^eta-tou run goi).
The grammarians also consider the as having actually
it^CTroiot

performed the sacrifice. Aristotle Polit. VI. 8. expresses himself

too generally to allow a safe conclusion to be drawn. That they
had however certain duties of administration to perform is evident
from the Choiseul Inscription and from Inscript. 158. That the
o-tpwi 6i*t are the Eumenides is remarked by Ulpian, Photius,
and Harpocration, in v. nftieti 6ti, and Lex. Seg. p. 303.
 289

of the 276 as also the

sacrifices) , Agonothetae, &c. Lastly,
the fitwvw, or Purchasers of Oxen, were considered among
the highest officers; Demosthenes ranks them with the

Sacrificers, and Libanius with the Sitonae, Generals, and

Ambassadors: they were elected by the Public Assembly,
and provided the cattle and animals which were slaughr
tered at the sacrifices and feasts 277 : a proof how important
to the people these institutions were, which suited equally
their appetite and their principles of religion, and by
which we are forcibly reminded of the Roast Beef of Old
England.
(18.) The public donations, or distributions among the
people (8vo/x,a, 8a&Kmj), were of frequent occurrence.
To these belong the distributions of corn, which have been
mentioned before^ 78 , the Cleruchias, and the revenues from
the mines, which before the time of Themistocles were
divided among the citizens ; and, lastly, the money of the
Theorica, for the introduction of which Periclesis
charge-
able. For unable by reason
this statesman, finding himself

of the scantiness of his fortune to vie with other public

leaders and demagogues in liberality, thought of supplying
his private incapacity (according to the testimony of Ari-

stotle, at the suggestion of Demonides of (Ea) by a distri-

276
See the Choiseul Inscription Pryt. 2. although the gram-
marians assert (see Barthelemy and Photius, and Lex. Seg.) that
the sacrificers had nothing to do at the great Panathenaea.
277
Deinosth. in Mid. p. 570. 7. and there Ulpian. Liban.
Declam. VIII. Harpocrat. Suid. Lex. Seg. p. 219.
in v. /3oa>v?,

Harpocration: T< A^wgoj sj /SMis < eci

ft^yKTrcn ce^%cti ITTI TOVTM
<5

i<goTo6t/vT. Pollux VIII. 114. falsely includes them among the

inferior offices, or offices of service They occur fre-
(vir^ia-leti).

quently in Inscript. 157.

278
Book I. 15.
VOL. I. IT
 290

bution of the public revenue, and bribed the multitude

partly with the Theorica, partly with the payment of the

Dicasts, and salaries of other descriptions 279 : while he at
the same time maintained himself in popular favour by

processions, feastings, and other solemnities. The great ad-

mirer of the Lacedaemonian customs, who, like Plato and his
master, formed a correct judgment in a moral point of
view, perceived that Pericles had made his countrymen
covetous and indolent, loquacious and effeminate, extrava-

gant, vicious, and unruly, by maintaining them at the

28
public expence with donatives, salaries, and Cleruchise ,

and by flattering their sensuality and love of enjoyment by

sumptuous festivals; nay, even Pericles himself had too
acute a mind to overlook the consequences of his own
measures; but he considered that there was no other
means of maintaining his own and the people's sovereignty
in Greece, thanby supporting the populace in this.manner;
he was aware that with him the power of Athens would
cease, and he endeavoured to preserve it as long as was

possible ; but upon the whole his contempt for the people
was as great as his liberality towards them. In the mean
time the people, so long as Pericles lived, were neither
wanting in activity nor public spirit, which tended to make
these measures more harmless; and as long as neither
injustice abroad, nor negligence in the national enterprizes,
nor disorder in the State, resulted from them, it might
appear just and equitable that the citizens should enjoy
the fruit of their exertions and valour. Besides which
Pericles could not suspect that, twenty Olympiads after

his death, the multitude would rather consume the public

*79
Plutarch. Pericl. 9. cf. 11.
*so
Plat. Gorg. p. 515. E. Plutarch. Pericl. 9.
 291

revenues in feasting, than equip an armament in defence

of their freedom, a corruption which was first produced by
the avaricious and treacherous demagogues of later days r
who flattered every whimof the twenty thousand headed

Hydra. These considerations might then appear to pal-

liate the conduct of Pericles. But he must have been
aware that the unavoidable result of his measures was to
increase the oppression of the allies, the dominion of the

multitude, and the injustice towards the opulent citizens;

while Pericles himself only raised the tribute by a small

amount, his successors were forced to augment it to a far

greater extent, in order to keep up his profuse expenditure.

The surplus of the tributes was brought by talents at the
Dionysia into the orchestra to be distributed here the :

allies were shewn in what light their property was

viewed 281 The oligarchical party was well aware that
.

the abolition of these payments would be a severe blow to

the democracy ; and accordingly, during the government
of the Five thousand (Olymp. 92. 1.), which was only of

very short duration, no superior office received any sa-

lary
282Aristotle 283 has indeed already remarked, that
.

the different .kinds of salaries, for example, the wages of

the Public Assembly, are dangerous to the chief persons
in the State, for that they occasion the imposition of

property-taxes, confiscations of property, and bribery of

justice. Not only was it the practice to adjudge property
to the State, in order to increase the revenue 284 , but the

demagogues publicly declared in law-suits, that if judgment

281
Isocrat. ffvpftxx. 29.
482
Thucyd. VIII. 97.
283
Polit. VI. 5.
284
Lys. in Nicom. p. 861.
 292
was not given in some certain manner, the salaries could
not any longer be paid to the 285 ; and therefore the
people
wealthy, in order to prevent this jealousy, made voluntary
donations of their possessions 286 . It sometimes happened
that the proceeds of the confiscated
property were distri-
buted among the citizens without any authority; and even

Lycurgus divided in this manner 160 talents, which the

property of Diphilus had produced. Thus they were not
satisfied that
by these distributions the State was deprived
of its most powerful resources for useful and advantageous
objects, but those who
by these measures encou-
profited
raged in the people a desire after the property of others, and
widened the breach between the rich and poor, which in the
States of antiquity was an incessant and highly dangerous
evil. Aristotle justly compares these institutions to the per-
forated vessel of the Danaides, as the Athenians were per-

petually receiving taxes, and then paying them away, and

were then compelled to raise fresh supplies' ; but the moral 1

corruption which they caused was a far more pernicious

consequence ; the Athenians were themselves, to make use
of an illustration of PlatoX the vessels of the Danaides,
which were continually receiving the gratification of their
desires, without ever being completely satisfied.
The distribution of the Theorica, which, as we have
seen, produced such fatal consequences to the Athenians,
took its origin from the entrance-money to the theatre.

286
Lys. in Epicrat. init.
286
Herald. Animadv. in Salmas. Observat. ad I. A. et R. VI.
3. 13.
d VI. 5. "Oirev yrtntf
[Aristot. Polit.
S" ti<rt t/ ei
7rgVJa<, p.*

Tfoio'vyi' tu, yap irietotTet ntftoveri, hctftfidvovo-i 01 oe.fj.cc

xcti

Xioirett TA>V uviui' o

rtr^^vos yeeg
IFTI m8os t> TOIXVTV /Zo-^ux rT(
 293

The entrance was at first free, and crowds and tumults

having arisen from the concourse of many persons, of
whom some had not any right to enter, it was evidently to
be expected that in a theatre constructed of wood, which
was the only one that Athens then possessed, the scaffold-
ing would break ; and this accident in fact took place ; to
avoid which evil it was determined to sell the seats for two
oboli; but in order that the poor might not be excluded,
the entrance-money was given them, on the delivery of
which each person received his seat 287 Persons of high .

rank no doubt at first disdained this as well as other

donations 288 ;although in the age of Demosthenes they
received the Theoricon 289 It is possible that the entrance-
.

money for the theatre was introduced before the Theoricon

was first
paid by the State it
may be fairly supposed that,
:

the citizens having for a time defrayed it at their own

expence, the State undertook to pay for the poor ; and the
introduction of the entrance-money may be fixed without

improbability as early as the 70th Olympiad, at which

time the scaffolding fell in suddenly, when Pratinas, and

287
Liban. Argum. ad Demosth. Olynth. 1. Schol. Lucian.
Timon. 49. Suidas in the first article of iw^uo*, and Etymol. in
v. 6w%iMi yviy, where, as in Photius, there is a mixture of the
articles occurring in the other grammarians. The account given
in Lex. Seg. (Six. af6.) p. 189. 29. does not deserve to be men-
tioned.
288
,Cf. Herald. Animadv. in Salmas. Obser. ad I. A. et R.
VI. 3. 11.
289
Philipp. IV. p. 141. 18. which oration, as Valckenaer and
Wolf have justly remarked, is not the production of Demosthenes,

but is different passages of this orator, and is written

composed of
in the style ofa sophist. The defence of the Theoricon in par-
ticular, which occurs in p. 141., is in direct contradiction with
Demosthenes.
 294
29
probably also /Eschylus, were representing in the theatre <>.
But the payment of the Theoricon out of the public
money was first introduced by Pericles 291 ; and when
Harpocration calls Agyrrhius the author of the Theoricon
in the extended sense of a distribution of money, he refers

to an increase of it made at a later period, of which I shall

292 This distribution of the Theoricon
presently speak .

filled the theatre 293 . We may observe, that the entrance-

money was paid to the lessee of the theatre (0Tgo;v>j?, Qeot-
294 who was bound to
TgoTrwAijf, ag^iTsxTcov) , keep the the-
atre in repair, and who paid something to the State for
rent, as we see in the case of the theatre at the Piraeeus.

Ulpian, a writer on whom very little dependence can be

placed, affirms that one obolus was given to the lessee of

the theatre, or, as he calls him, to the Architecton, and
that the citizens received the other for their support ; this

statement is however without foundation, for, according to

Demosthenes, the regular entrance-money was two oboli 295 ;
although it is so far true, that a separate payment of
Theorica was made for the banquet of the citizens 296 It .

290
Vid. Graec. Tragoed. Princip.p. 38. and more particularly Her-
mann's de Choro Eumenidum ^Eschyli Diss. II. p. VIII, XIV.
291
Ulpian. ad Demosth. Olyntb. 1 Plutarch. Pericl. 9. .

292
pe tit
IV. 10. 9. unjustly charges the grammarian with

confusing this with the pay of the Assembly.

293
Plutarch de Sank. Tuend. p. 373. vol. I. ed. Hutt.
294
Ulpian. ad Demosth. Olynth. 1. cf. Casaub. ad Theoph.
Char. 11. [See Rose Inscript. p. 257.]
295
De Corona p. 234. 23.
296
Harpocrat. in v. fia^x** (from Philinus), from which the
second article of 6iane.u in Suidas, and the third in Photius, is
transcribed. As this is frequently the case, I shall not always
quote Suidas and Photius, where they have nothing new.
 295

might be supposed that, as Demosthenes reckons the

also

entrance-money among the smaller revenues of the State,

the payment was received on the public account, and not
for the lessee
; but even though the tenant received it, it
might have been enumerated among the national profits,
inasmuch as he paid a rent to the State; so that this
example from Demosthenes, who only speaks in general
terms, and without any great precision, proves nothing in
contradiction to my opinion. The privilege of receiving
the Theorica was obtained through registration in the book
of the citizens (At]<agpixov yga^cniiov) 297 ; the distribution
was made both individually and by tribes 298 , absentees
299
took place in the Assembly 300 ,
and it
receiving nothing ;

which was sometimes held in the theatre, particularly when

the business related to the celebration of the Dionysia 301 .

The application of the Theorica was soon extended, and

money was distributed on other occasions than at the
theatre 302 ,
though always at the celebration of some festival ;
and as either a play or procession was invariably connected
with it, the name
continued applicable. Under the
still

head of Theorica were also comprised the sums expended

upon sacrifices and other solemnities 303 . Not only at the
Panathenasa 304 , but at all the great festivals (Jego^rj-

297
Demosth. in Leochar. p. 1091 sq.
298
Herald, ut sup. VI. 3. 10. also Lucian Timon. 49.
299
Hyperides ap. Harpocrat. ut sup.
300
jEsch. in Ctesiph. p. 642.
301
Lex ap. Demosth. in Mid. p. 517. cf. Isocrat. rvft(tet%. 29.
?02
Libanius ut sup.
Hesych. in v. Sta^met x^petret, Stugixov u^v^tov, and
13

Stage),
and hisCommentators. See above chap. 7.
M
Hesych. in v. 6tn^nt,et, xpftetret. Dem. in Leochar. ut. sup.
 296
305 Theorica were distributed. In the Choiseul In-
Wai) y

scription we find that in Olymp. 92. 3. from the public

treasure alone (probably however on condition of repay-

ment) in the first seven Prytaneias 16 talents 4787 drach-

mas were paid to the Hellenotainiae, under the name of
Diobelia, which formed a part of the Theorica. The
citizens were thus enabled to celebrate the festival with

greater luxury ; and from this various application of the

money there has arisen an uncertainty whence the Theo-
ricon took its name ; and Ammonius, in direct contradic-
tion to Caecilius, denies that it had reference to spectacles

(0e) 306 . From this uncertainty the question suggests

itself, whether the rate of the Theoricon for the separate
festivals was not raised when its objects were multiplied,
and whether the difference in the statements of ancient

writers may not be thus explained. The grammarians

307
speak in general of two oboli ; the inscription above
referred to mentions the Diobelia, as also Aristotle and
the Lexicon Rhetoricum 308 . In an oration falsely indeed
attributed to Demosthenes, but not on that account unde-
309 the
serving of credit , Theoricon, for the distribution
of which a nominal assembly was heldj is estimated at

308
Ulpian. ad Demosth. Olynth. III.
808
Ammonius in v. itafa, where he falsely derives it from 6tr
UQUI : $i T it reiis legrawj its revs Sioiif ivtnfiitv tuu tirtOvw (as

Valckenaer corrects for iiriQui) tutl 6v<potmr6at.

307
Ulpian, Libanius, Suidas, in the first article, Etymol. Pho-
tius in the first article, Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 1183.
308
Aristot. Polit. II. 5. (II. 4. 11. ed. Schneid.), who calls it

3</3eA/, although he speaks of it with another view. Schneider

has not examined the subject with sufficient accuracy. Lex.
Seg. p. 237. duup&icf o/3Ao/ 2w>, ovs
309
*/ rvrrei%. p. 169. 1.
 297
two oboli. On the other hand, Philochorus, as quoted by
" the Theoricon was
Harpocration, states, that originally
a drachma for the theatre, whence in after times it re-
ceived its name," and the grammarians mention the same
amount 310 ; Lucian 311 speaks of the drachma and the
three oboli, where from the context the former can only
be referred to the Theoricon, and the latter to the pay of
the Assembly or of the Dicasts and in the spurious
;

Prooemia to the Public Speeches of Demosthenes 312 it 'is

" with the
said, drachma, and the chus (of wine probably),
and the four oboli (which latter I confess I cannot explain),
the orators prolong the life of the people, as physicians do
of the dying." The difficulty appears to vanish if we ad-
mit that the Theoricon was very variable, which seems to
be pointed at by Harpocration ; nor will I deny that this
was the case : since however two oboli are mentioned both
in ancient and recent times,
it does not
appear to have
been raised by increasing the regular rate ; the change
was probably effected by doubling or trebling the same
two oboli for festivals which lasted several days, in such a
manner that for a festival of three days a drachma was
given, and for one of two days four oboli, to which the
above-cited passage of the Pseudo-Demosthenes may be
referred. Hesychius, Suidas, and Zenobius, indeed assert,
that in the Archonship of Diophantus the Theoricon
amounted to a drachma ; but this is not contrary to my

310
Hesych. and Suid. in v. 2#ft> Aaisr, Zenob. III. 27.
311
Demosth. Eulog. 36. where J. M. Gessner thinks that th.e
drachma is the pay of the orators, which however is too small a
sum the regular stipend, to be meant here.
for He should have
rather instanced the pay of the senators.
' 12
P. 1459. 27.
 298

supposition. Diophantus was Archon in Olymp. 96. 2.

according to Petit's correct remark, against which it is

needless to object that the nation could not at that time
have given so high a Theoricon, as it had not yet recovered
from its impoverished State; for it was precisely at this
moment that the condition of Athens began to ameliorate;
and with the democratic constitution which then existed, it
would undoubtedly have been the first object to restore
the Theoricon : and this probably was in fact the case ; so
that for three great festivals of three days a Diobelia was

paid three times. From a passage of Harpocration

313
,

rather obscurely expressed, it may be inferred that its

renewal was effected by Agyrrhius, who flourished at
this period,and who, as will be presently shewn, tripled
the pay of the Assembly about the same time. Moreover
it may be observed, that in the age which followed the
Anarchy, the price of an ordinary place in the theatre
remained at two oboli 314 ; the price of the best places at

13
In v.

7rg<rJ#ii pvvxyoftsvet'
retvrec ol
irgoifge* pli fi{ rf TOV

l(pwX'rTO XMI fzcthUTe ^r^ntrturniM, vff-ri^ev

31 xxrtrtStro &n
i>[to-iot{ x-screto-Kivetf xat dmtropcis, ui v^aref ^T 'Ayvggios o

Photius has the same

article, only the most im-

portant part, the mention of Agyrrhius, he omits.

314
Demosth. pro Corona p. 234. where he says if it had not
been ordered that the Architecton was to assign a place to
Philip's ambassadors, they must have sat I toll $vou e^cXeir, which
should not be taken with Hier. Wolf for SvoTi o/SeAoir, for in that

case what would be the use of the preposition and the article ?
Reiske correctly refers it to a particular place ; it means however
a common, as opposed to a good, seat ; such, for instance, as the

place of those who had the privilege of Proedria (cf. ^Eschin. in

Ctesiph. p. 466.), which the ambassadors occupied: what Ulpian
(p. 281. ed. Bekker), or rather the collection of scholia com-
 299

the representation of comedies was at the highest no more

than a drachma 315 .

If we reckon that eight thousand people received the

Theoricon and the number of the receivers cannot have
been well less the Diobelia for one day amounted to a

talent ; and since it was without doubt paid on twenty-five

or thirty days in the course of a year, the lowest rate at
which we can estimate the annual expence of it, is from
twenty-five to thirty talents. They were not however satis-

fied with allowing it to remain at this point, but, as I have

before remarked, they squandered away as Theorica all the

money destined for the uses of war; that the funds however
of the Theorica amounted to 1000 talents, which were

dissipated in this manner, as asserted by a modern writer,

is a statement of which I have been unable to find any
confirmation. It was by this means that the Athenians
" With
delivered themselves to the power of Macedon.
the death of Epaminondas,
1'

says Justin 316 , who pro-

avails himself of an idea of
"
bably Theopompus, perished
also the virtue of the Athenians. For after the excitement
which had been produced by the emulation existing be-
tween the Athenians and Epaminondas had ceased, they
resigned themselves to indolence and inactivity, and squan-

posed of various kinds of notes, says in this place about a trio-

bolon and of an obolus is mere absurdity.

315
Plat. Apol. Socrat. p. 26. E. Suidas also and Photius (in
the second article) in v. 6eagnca, and Schol. Lucian. ut sup.
assert that a drachma was the highest sum which was given for
a place; but to suppose that a lower sum was never given, as
they assume, with the exception of Photius, is absurd, since it

would contradict what occurs before.

316
VI. 9. He says at the end, Dividi cceptum est, which is

not entirely correct.

 300
dered away on festivals and shows the public revenue
which formerly had been used for the equipment of fleets
and armies. Then were the taxes, with which soldiers and
sailors used to be maintained, distributed among the inha-
bitants of the city. Thus was Philip able to gain the
ascendancy."" .What in Pericles indeed originated from
no motives of patriotism, was employed by profligate
Demagogues to work upon a depraved multitude and ;

we may here remark that nothing can be a more striking

proof how destructive the immorality of the governors is
to the welfare of the governed. For is it not the fact that
the chief promoters of the Theoricon were men distin-

guished for their effeminacy, immorality, and general de-

pravity ?
Agyrrhius, who obtained such popularity by
his profuse administration of the public revenue, that
after the death of Thrasybulus (Olymp. 97.) he was ap-
pointed to succeed him as general 317 , was notorious for
his effeminacy, farmed the taxes like an usurer, and was in

prisonmany years for embezzlement of public money 318 .

Eubulus of Anaphlystus, by his distribution of the Theo-
rica, arrived at the highest pitch of popular favour 319 ^
and after his death great honours were decreed him (as
had been done to Lycurgus and Demosthenes), which Hy-
perides spoke of in his oration iregi
TU>V Eu/3oyAou Scogscov;

317
Xenoph. Hell. IV. 8. 31. Diod. XIV. 99.
318
Concerning him see Harpocration in v. 'Ayvggwf and there
Valesius, and Suidas, also Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 742. 16.
and Andocid. de Myst. p. 65. who ironically calls him rov *#A
and the passages collected by Meursius, Lcct. Att.
xoiyxioi,
VI. 4.
319
See book II. 1. and 7. Concerning the Theorica which he
distributed, see more particularly Philiuus ap. Harpocrat. and
Photius in v.
but he was strongly suspected of being in the pay of
Philip, and was actively instrumental to the downfal of
his country. The severe but impartial Theopompus gave
his character with perfect justice, " that he was a celebrated

demagogue, active and indefatigable in his vocation, but that

during his administration and by his distributions of money,
Athens sunk to the lowest state of inactivity and indo-
lence, exceeding even Tarentum in extravagance and de-
ri

bauchery 320. Lastly, what shall we say of Demades,

who promised each Athenian fifty drachmas for the Choeis
in order to hinder the equipment of a fleetagainst Alex-
ander for the support of the common safety of Greece 321 ;
and carried his effrontery to such a pitch as to call these

distributions the cement of the 322 ? Even ZEs-

Democracy
chines 323 did not go so far as this, for he at least declared

3M in the tenth book of the History of Philip had

Theopompus
treated of the Athenian Demagogues, and particularly of Eubu-
lus. Some account from that source
given by Harpocration is

in v. Et/3vX5, and more by Athen. IV. p. 166. E. according to

whom he had called him ua-arog. But the passage of Theopom-
pus quoted as a proof refers to the Athenian people and not to
: XXI TOIT6VT6V at-ffUTlCt XXI W/eflVff/a <J<eIJg TON 2x'6ii TOU T-
otrov o plv Trigi -retg ta-Tioiffitg ti%f [tow axgxTtig, o ol rui 'ASnuxtav

vg xx-rx(At<r6o(powv dixTirifaxw. Casaubon perceived this,

but Schweighauser confuses it all
again, although the passage of
-ZEschines (in Ctesiph. p. 300.) which he had already quoted upon
the word xT#ftr0(pogeiV might have taught him that the people is
meant. Theopompus however had evidently censured Eubulus
severely, and compared him to his disadvantage with Callis-
tratus, the son of Callicrates, whose luxurious life he indeed
blamed, but appears to have praised his political conduct.
321
See book II. 6.
32*
Plutarch. Qu. Plat. X. 4.
323
jEschin. in Ctesiph. p. 642.
 302

himself hostile to the distribution of the revenue; al-

though his professions and his real opinions probably

disagreed. What however was the public and private
life of Demades ? Though a man of such splendid quali-
ties of mind that an ancient said of him, that he was above
the State, while he could only call Demosthenes worthy of
the State, he yet became openly a traitor to his country,

indulging only his own appetites, and his principles

became as loose and unsteady as his judgment was
perverse. It is vain to
urge in extenuation of his public

conduct that a fragment only of the vessel of the State

was left to his charge, which was scarce worth preserving
from shipwreck ; he himself was, as Plutarch happily
expresses it, the shipwreck of the State
324 How dis- .

gracefully he yielded himself to the will of Antipater;

how did he delight in every unlawful practice, and in
dissolute opulence, fragrant with perfumes and walking
in a costly chlamys ! He
manner that
lived in such a

Antipater could never supply him with money sufficient

for his purposes'; and aptly said of him when he grew

old, that like a dressed ox upon the altar, nothing re-

mained of him but belly and tongue 325 . His profligate
life hardly allows us to bestow upon his mournful death
the compassion which common humanity would dictate.

(14.) The Athens were of various kinds, but

salaries at

the most important were the wages of the Assembly, the

Senate, and the Dicasts. The nature of Democracy re-

affairs should be determined upon
quires that all public

324
Plutarch. Phoc. 1 . where he calls him the yavy " ( T

w(jx#f, which does not however signify shipwreck, but a fragment

of a vessel wrecked ; there is however no other word by which it
can he translated into our language.
" Plut. Phoc. 20, 26, 30.
 303

by the whole people in an assembly, and that the business

and decrees be prepared beforehand by a select body,
which should have the management of them, and execute
the resolutions of the popular assembly ; and unless the

governing power is to fall into the hands of the mob, the

people should receive no pecuniary compensation for their
share in the government, an expence which it is impossible
to defray by revenues justly raised ; it is a condition

requisite for good wish to par-

government, that all who
take in the ruling power should support themselves upon
their own property. Athens was not however the only
State in which the people were paid for governing ; a
similar system of salaries had been introduced at Rhodes by
the 326
As to the wages of the Dicasts, it
Demagogues .

is some compensation should be allowed for the

right that
performance of judicial duties, and it was at all times
customary Oligarchies indeed were enabled to compel
;

the rich by the threat of punishment to execute these

duties, whereas in Democracies the poor were paid for

their labour 327 . But from the number of judges in a
democratical court of justice, this practice could not exist
without the expences being defrayed by a tax, which it
was impossible to raise without oppression. And if Athens
like other States had only decided her own law-suits, it

would not have been necessary to pay the Dicasts; the

citizens would have remained at their business, active
and industrious. But to the great injury of the allied
States, Athens, in order to ensure her own power,

usurped the jurisdiction over them, and the people were

well pleased, that the custom-duties became by these

326
Aristot. Polit. V. 5.
MT Aristot.
Polit, IV. 9. and 14.
 304

means more productive, that the judicial fees were multi-

plied, and that the rent of houses and slaves was in-
creased 328 . Under these circumstances the number of
causes was so much augmented that there were more to
decide in Athens than in the whole of Greece; and the
law-suits, particularly as the festivals produced so large
a number of days on which no business was done, were

extremely protracted, unless indeed they were accelerated

329 which nevertheless at Athens
by bribery , against
as well as at Rome very excellent regulations were in
existence. Nearly the third part of the citizens sat
as judges every day hence that passion for judging
:

necessarily arose, which Aristophanes describes in the

Wasps, and the citizens were thus not only made averse
to every profitable and useful employment, but were ren-
dered sophistical and litigious; and the whole town became
full of pettifoggers and chicaners, who were without any

real knowledge of law or justice, and on that account only

the more rash and thoughtless. According to the expres-

sion of the comic poet, they sat, like sheep, muffled up in

their cloaks and with their judicial staff, for three oboli a

day, thinking indeed that they managed the affairs of the

State, while they were themselves the tools of the party-
leaders.
The wages of the Assembly (/xKrfloj !xxAr)<na<mxof) the

sovereign people paid to itself. The honour of invent-

ing this salary is contended for between Callistratus

and Agyrrhius, and fortunately both claimants can be
satisfied. Pericles, as far as we know, had no share in it,
and it may be asserted with sufficient probability that this

328
Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. 3. Aristoph. Av. 1430, 1465.
329
Xenoph. ut sup. 3. 2.
 305

payment had not been introduced in the early part at least

of his administration.
" When the noble Myronides
330 with reference to the
ruled," observes Aristophanes ,

" no one administered the affairs

wages of the Ecclesiasts,
of the State for money." Now Myronides was an early
331 after the time then of this
cotemporary of Pericles ;

Myronides, and consequently long after the beginning of

the influence of Pericles, the payment of the Ecclesiasts
was introduced, which at first amounted to one obolus
and afterwards to three. Callistratus Parnytes first intro-
duced the obolus as the pay of the Ecclesiasts 332 , and this
was a considerable time before the Ecclesiazusae of Aris-
tophanes, which was acted in Olymp. 96. 4.; but, at what
particular period we are ignorant, since who this Callis-

330
Eccles. 302.
331
Myronides was general in the 80th Olympiad, Thucyd. I,

105, 108. IV. 95. Diod. XT. 97, 81. Cf. Plutarch. Pericl. 16.
The Myronides in Demosth. c. Timocrat. p. 742. 25. is a dif-
ferent person. [Myronides was introduced by Eupolis in the
Anpot (ap. Plutarch. Pericl. 24.) as holding a dialogue with
Pericles: if therefore Eupolis first exhibited in 429. B. C. the

year in which Pericles died (Clinton Fast. Hell. p. 63.) the Ap

must have been his first play ; and consequently Myronides had
a part in public affairs in the last year of the life of Pericles.
Photius in uv TTXI^I payp^iM.
" do not trust the
Evirohts Avpoif ^ yrxt^i TO, xeivei,

i. e.
probably, management of public affairs
to Alcibiades." This allusion is not inconsistent with the date
429. B. C. two years afterwards he was mentioned by Aris-
for

tophanes in the Aflt<Te><5 (427. B. C.), at

which time, as Elmsley
says, ad Acharn. 716. "inter claroS oratores habitus est Alci-
biades."]
332
Append. Vatic. Proverb. III. 35. 'O/3X tup YlctpviK. That
Petit should suppose (III. 1. 3.) that the Ecclesiasts here men-
tioned might be the orators, is quite natural, as he always hits

upon the most improbable explanation.

VOL. I. X
 306

tratus was is
wholly unknown. The most celebrated of
the persons of this name is Callistratus, the son of Calli-

crates, of Aphidna, the near relation of Agyrrhius 333 , a

famous orator and general in the 100th and 101st Olym-
334 censured for his private life
piads , by Theopompus,
but praised for his zeal in the public service 335 ; he is
said to have excited Demosthenes to the study of elo-
336 and
quence by the famous law-suit concerning Oropus ,

having been at first acquitted, was afterwards condemned

to death in Olymp. 104. 3. ; he lived in Macedonia, chiefly
at Methone, and was the founder of Datum 337
; and is

doubtless the person to whom the improvement in the

system of custom-duties in Macedonia is ascribed

338 ;

finally, after return from exile he was put to death.

his

This person however lived at too late a period to have

been the introducer of the obolus ; and still less can we
suppose it to have been the Callistratus, who was Archon
in Olymp. 106. 2. Not then to mention less noted
per-

333
Concerning him see Demosth. pro Corona p. 301. 18. in
Timocrat. p. 742. 23. de Fals. Leg. p. 436. 13. Orat. in Neser.

p. 1353. 19. and p. 1359. 18. in Timoth. p. 1187. 7. p. 1188. 10.

p. 1 198. 10. The latter speech, together with that against Neaera,

is probahly not the work of Demosthenes, according to the sus-

picion of the ancients ap. Harpocrat. in v. x.*)ioTt%vt>r.
334
See book JII. 18. He also occurs in Xenophon's Hellenics.
335
Ap. Athen. IV. p. 166. E,
330
Cf. Ruhnken. Hist. Grit. Orat. p. 140. vol. VIII. of
Reiske's Orators.
337
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1220, 1221. Scylax p. 27. Isocrat.

<rvtifA*x,, 9. Comp. Niehuhr Transactions of the Berlin Academy

for 1804 1811. p. 93, 94.
338
Pseud-Aristot. CEcon. 2. 22. This he did in his exile, not
for Athenians, as Schneider appears to think, but for the Mace-
donians.
 so;
sons of this name, it is more probable that Callistratus,
the son of Empedus, is meant, who in Olymp. 91. 4.

perished as commander of cavalry in the Sicilian expe-

dition 339 ; or perhaps Callistratus of Marathon, who in

Olymp. 92. 3. was treasurer of the Goddess 34 , and pro-

bably is the same person as the Knight of the tribe

Leontis (to which Marathon belonged), who was killed

during the Anarchy by the party in the Pirseeus

341 . The
increase in the wages of the Ecclesiasts to three oboli

evidently took place but a short time before the Eccle-

siazusae of 342
perhaps in Olymp. 96. 3.
Aristophanes; ,

when Agyrrhius re-established the Theoricon ; to him

also the Scholiast .upon Aristophanes 343 ascribes the first

introduction of the wages of Ecclesiasts; from which it

is evident, as Petit remarked 344 , that he was the
person
who increased them.

339
Pausan. VII. 16. In the Lives of the Ten Orators (De-
mosth. ad init.) this one is strangely confounded with the cele-

brated Aphidnaean.
340
Choiseul Inscription, at the beginning.
341
Xenoph. Hell. II. 4. 18.
w Aristoph. Eccl. 302, 380, 392, 543. This increased pay
also occurs in the Plutus vs. 329. which passage is therefore from
the second edition produced in Olymp. 97. 4. ; the date of the
first is Olymp. 92. 4, The triobolon in the Ecclesia is also men-
tioned by the Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 171.
343
Eccl. 102.
344
Leg. Att. The Scholiast of Aristophanes (Plut.
III. 1. 3.

329, 330.) speaks of the pay being raised to three oboli, which
was said to have been done by Cleon, but we must avoid under-
standing this of the wages of the Ecclesiasts, which are there
confounded with the pay of the Dicasts, although the words are
not ambiguous it refers to the wages of the Dicasts. Both have
;

been frequently confounded with one another by both ancient and

 308

The number of the Athenian citizens cannot be taken

on an average, as has been before shewn, at more than
20,000; it is absurd then to suppose that there were
assemblies of 30,000 persons. But of these 20,000 many
were absent in the country on military service, or upon
mercantile business ; or even if they were in the city, they
did not attend the assembly ; so that, particular cases being

excepted, it is
impossible to imagine that the assembly
ever contained even this number to the full. But after

the introduction of the three oboli, there was a more

numerous attendance of the poor citizens. " Formerly
"
1 1

when the Ecclesiasts only received one obelus, says Aris-

" the
tophanes in the Ecclesiazusae, people sat talking ;

now that they receive three oboli they crowd in num-

bers 345 ; and jostle against one another for this small
1
sum 346 .' But the wealthy usually were glad to stay

modern interpreters, for instance by Spanheim upon Aristo-

phanes, and by the Scholiast to the same poet. The author of

the note to the 861st verse of the Clouds even explains the
ofio>.o<; tihieiirrncos as the pay of the Ecclesiasts, which passage is
not to be corrected, but the mistake is solely to be attributed to
the ignorance of the writer. I
may also mention that I have
intentionally omitted Pollux VIII. 113. as his words are too
indefinite to allow us to infer from them with Meursius (Lect.
Att. V. 12. VI. 4.) that the wages of the Ecclesiasts ever
were an obolus ;
it is even preferable to refer the three words
that occur there, Tg^/3oAa, 2<|8Ao)>, and e/SeXo?, all to the pay of
the Dicasts.
345
Aristoph. Eccl. 302 sqq. Compare with this the opinion of
Aristotle, that where the nation is wealthy or the Ecclesiasts
receive pay, the people being unoccupied frequently assemble
and decide every thing, without the Senate having any great
influence.
31(5
Aristoph. Plut. 329.
 309

recom- 34 '
away from the public assemblies, so that Aristotle
mended that a fine should be imposed upon them if they did
not attend, and to give wages to the poor alone, in order to

produce a salutary mixture of both classes ; the rich there-

fore always composed the minority. It is probable that we
should not err much if we took an assembly of the people
at about 8000"; we know that in certain cases, particularly
for the ratification of a decree, which related to an indi-
vidual (privilegium), such as Ostracism or the admission
of a fresh citizen, 6000 votes were requisite 348 , in order
a large majority ; in general then not many more
to secure
than 6000 could have been present. If we suppose 8000,
the wages of an Assembly taken at three oboli amount to
about 4000 drachmas. Now there were forty regular As-

317
Polit. IV. 14. Cf. IV. 6.
e
The author says in the Addenda that " the number of
citizens attending the Ecclesia is estimated too high.
According
to the Oligarchs in Thucydides VIII. 72. there never was an
assembly of 5000 to deliberate on the most important questions :

Kturci ov 7ra7T6Tt Ain^etlovf otei rot,<; ngofriiots x.xt Tfjv

viri^ogtot 0%oA/
If ov^lv TTgeiyftct OVTU f/.-.yct,
ihQtiv @ovhtv<rovrctf } Iv a irtVTecmrtyhJovf
tynXdiii. According to this passage then it must be assumed
that the 6000 which was the number prescribed for cer-
votes,
tain questions, was not the number of those who voted for
the particular subject in debate, but only of the citizens who
voted both ways on the question, which indeed is expressly stated
to have been the case with regard to the Ostracism,
although
when I wrote the passage in the text it appeared to me impro-
bable. The accurate investigation of this point must however
be deferred to some other occasion."
848
Petit. Leg. Att. II. 1. 8. II. 3. 10. Sigon. R. A. II. 4.
The remarks that Petit has made in different places (II. 1. 8.
III. 1. 3. III. 3. ad fin.) concerning this majority of the votes,
which was not by any means necessary for all decrees, arise from
mere misapprehension and delusion.
 310

semblies in a year; the extraordinary meetings (which

were numerously attended) at very disturbed seasons
exceeded the number of the regular 349 ; but upon an

average not more than ten can be fairly assumed, one being
reckoned to each Prytaneia. Consequently the wages of
the Assembly cannot be estimated at more than thirty or

thirty-five talents, and thus it is not true that they fell more
35
heavily on the public than the wages of the Dicasts .

The money was paid to each person as he entered the

351
which officers received
Assembly by the Thesmotheta? ,

it from the treasurer of the administration those who :

came too late received nothing 352.

Of nearly equal amount were the wages of the Senate of

Five hundred (fu<r0dj /SouAsimxoV). These amounted to a
drachma for each day on which the Senate assembled 353.
Now the Senate sat mostly on the same days as the courts
of justice ; that is to say, every day, with the exception of
the festivals, which were the only holidays the Senators
had ; and consequently the number of days on which they '

sat was about three hundred 354. The annual expence

therefore 25 talents. In what manner the wages
amounted to
of the Senate were paid, we are not informed probably by ;

Prytaneias. When the Four hundred abolished the demo-

349
jEsch. de Fals. Leg. p. 261.
350
As Meiners
says in his History of the Origin, Progress, and
Decline of the Sciences, vol. II. p. 150.
351
Aristoph. Eccl. 290.
352
Aristoph. ibid, and 381.
353
Hesych. in v. Povtiif A*%HT, Xenoph. Hell. II. 3. 18. and
his Commentators.
364
Cf. Aristoph. Thesmoph. 85. The senate originally sat on
some feast-days, and was not released from these duties till later
times, as is shewn by the document in Athen. IV. p, 171. E.
cracy,and drove the Senate out of the Senate-house, they
gave the Senators the whole pay for the rest of the year in
advance 355 .

The largest item among the salaries regularly paid

(15.)
intime of peace was the wages of the Dicasts (p,i<rQo$ &xa-

<mxo), the introduction of which is ascribed to Pericles by

Aristotle 356 , on whose accurate acquaintance with anti-

quity perfect reliance can be placed. And from the testi-

mony of the same writer we learn that the wages of the

Dicasts did not remain the same, but underwent some

356
Thucyd. VIII. 69.
366
10.
Petit II. It is therefore unnecessary to refute the

Prov. Vatic. III. 35. which attributes the first institu-

Append.
tion of this pay to Callistratus. [The passage in the Politics
referred to, to, 2t 3<*<*<rnjg< pu<r6o<poc6 xmo"nj negwt/tjj, is from a

chapter which appears not be the production of Aristotle (see

to

Gottling ad loc. p. 345. ; another statement in the same chapter

is called in question by the author himself, vol. II. p. 261.) ; it is

however confirmed by Plutarch, Pericl. 9. xec) ret^v Sta^aceif ttoit

.... crvidutdrets TO K^dos, &c. The testimony of
2<>c<*<rmo<V htftftecrt

the Scholiast to Aristophanes (Vesp* 682.), cited in the next note,

seems to be unfairly made use of. It is as follows ra <p' :

$> ui IOTO
'

yuyai Tec, irh*i6r, KohaxtvatTUt, us Qqirn

Ag7TOTAis \i IloXiru'xis, i. e.
wages were given to the Dicasts at different rates at different
times, the demagogues flattering the populace, as Aristotle says
in the Politics, viz. IV. 4. o lypat'ya'yas x.t o xo).a% 01 ecvrot xai

Ayy, &c. and V. 11. 3*i KI o xaA<| TT/X,^' f<pTSgo<$ ttrtfttf TTO,^.

ftlv TOI$ dypots o

^matyuyis, lo-rt
yg o dvftetyayas rev dvptov
No objection can be made from the use of the plural n
for Aristotle himself says IV. 7. arm^ nxTv I rats

The same expression with regard to the variable rate of the

Dicasts' wages used by Hesychius, without any mention of

is

Aristotle: $i*<mxv 'AgrTpv>)j iv"ilg<af r^aftt^ai <pw> then' tit

 -312

change
357 . What then were these alterations, and when
did they take place 358
Strepsiadcs says in the Clouds
?

that he had given the first Heliastic obolus to his son,

when he was six years old, to buy a little cart ; hence we
learn that originally the pay of the Dicasts amounted to
an obolus; and since in Olymp. 89. 1. the child is re-

presented in the Clouds as a practised rider, this obolus

must have been introduced for at least four Olympiads.
The Scholiast tells us that the wages of the Dicasts
amounted to two oboli in the time of the Frogs of Aristo-
phanes ; it is also stated that they were a drachma at the
same period 359 . With to the latter
regard statement, there
is evidently a confusion either with the drachma of the
Diaetetae, or with the pay of the advocates (fu<r0of <ruvrjyo-

gjxoj),of which latter Aristophanes speaks in a passage

that the Scholiast perhaps referred to the wages of the
Dicasts. But no traces occur of their wages ever having
been two oboli, except a vague report in the Scholiast to
the Birds, that the Dicasts had for a time received two

357
Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 682. from Aristotle's State of
Athens. Schol. Nub. 861. Plut. 329. Av. 1540. Hesych. in
Snidas in v. faicttneu.
v. 2ixMa-Tix.er, Concerning the expression of
tbe grammarians compare Hemsterhuis ad Plut. ut sup. Petit
as usual (III. 1. 3.) founds a false view of the subject upon a
false interpretation of the Scholiast of Aristophanes.
358
Vs. 861.
359
Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 141. (Cf. Schol. Vesp. 658. con-

cerning the drachma). Welcker, at the above passage in the

Frogs, allows that the Triobolon may have been introduced pre-
viously, but he prefers adhering to the explanation of the Scho-
liast, as he thinks that Aristophanes mentions two oboli accord-

ing to the ancient usage, although they received three at that

time. This is not very probable, and I do not doubt that he
will prefer my interpretation.
 313

oboli ; either the grammarian inferred this from the words

of Aristophanes (5? p-iya.
8uva<r$ov Travrap^ou TW 2u' o/SoXco), or
he had heard something of the Diobelia, and supposed
it was the wages of the Dicasts. But the words of
Aristophanes unquestionably refer to the Diobelia. That
this was in full force in Olymp. 92. 3. we know from the
Choiseul Inscription, and why should it not have been
equally in Olymp. 93. 3., the year in which the
so

Comedy of the Frogs was acted? If the wages of the

Dicasts had been raised before this time to three oboli, no
one will suppose that the Athenians would have lowered
this rate in opposition to their pecuniary interest ; and
in fact we had been introduced previously.
find that it

In the Birds of Aristophanes 360 which was acted in ,

Olymp. 91. &, the Triobolon occurs as the wages of the

Dicasts, as proved by the connection with the Colacretae ;
is

and indeed it is mentioned at a much earlier date, viz. in

the Knights (Olymp. 88. 4.) and the Wasps (Olymp. 89.

2.) 361. I n both plays Cleon is the chief object of ridicule,

and the Knights he is distinctly mentioned as the

in
favourer of the Triobolon 362 ; in the latter comedy he
boasts of having always taken care that it did not fail;
and he flatters the people by telling them that, according
to ancient oracles, the pay of the Dicasts would be in
Arcadia as high as five oboli ; i. e. as the Scholiast adds,
when the Peloponnese should be conquered 363 . If we add

360
Vs. 1540.
361
Eq. 51, 255. Vesp. 607, 682, 688, 797, 1116.
362
Eq. 257.
363
Eq. 797. This passage has been strangely misunderstood
by Spanheim (ad Nub. 861.), who has inferred from it that in
Arcadia the pay of the Dicasts amounted to five oboli. The Ar-
cadians probably never thought of the Dicasts' wages : but Cleon
 314
to this the testimony of the Scholiast to the Plutus 36*, it

follows with certainty that none other than this noxious

at the time of his greatest
demagogue, power, about the
88th Olympiad, raised the wages of the Dicasts from one
to three oboli From this it seems that the rate of pay-
f
.

ment never was at two oboli ; yet Pollux

365 as well as
,

the Scholiast to Aristophanes, appears to have believed in

itsexistence. Otherwise the grammarians, in speaking of
the wages of the Dicasts, generally mention three oboli, at
the same time recognizing their mutability 366 The hero .

forcibly represents to the Athenians the extension of their juris-

diction to the middle of the Peloponnese, and its consequence, a
plentiful harvest ofmoney.
364
Vs. 330. which, although adduced in an improper place,
should be referred to the pay of the Dicasts.
f
[Zenobius and Photius in v. 1*1% ia KAA*xgTMf 'AgieroTeAi}?
$s <pi)<rw ! 'A6i)tauui -Tfo^iuci Kct>.>.tKpuTr,}i T<V* irfwrov TOVJ 3<JtaC5-r<-
TJJ

xov$ ftur6oi>f ($M&TTUI TOVJ fturSov; Zen.) e<$

i/wg/3flA>j otvl$<rsii. ,
From
the expression " a certain Callicrates, KAA*X'T) TV," it seems
that the increaser of the Dicasts' wages could not have been a
well-known person. Callistratus, the son of Callicrates, flou-
rished about the 100th Olympiad (see above p. 306.); his father
therefore might have carried this measure ten Olympiads before
that time ;
which nearly agrees with the date given in the text
for the supposed increase by Cleon.]
365
VIII. 113. According to the explanation of Spanheim ut

sup. which, as I have above mentioned, I prefer to that of Meur-

sius, without however believing the account of Pollux, as Span-
heim does.
366
Poll. VIII. 20. Hesych. in v. ^Meta-rMov, Suid. in v. X*<rr/

and /3**T)g/, Schol. Aristoph. in the passages quoted above and

Plut. 277. Suid. and Phot, in v. o-t/t/SeAan Schol. Demosth. in ,

Reisk. Demosth. vol. II. p. 131. Lucian. Bis Accus. 12. and 15.
Several other passages, as e. g. Hesychius in v. /3oAi, I omit, as

they contain nothing to make them worth quoting.

 315

Lycus, under whose protection the system of judicature

was placed, regularly received his three oboli, if he had a
3(> 7
sanctuary in the court of justice .

The payment of the wages of the Dicasts, which was the

duty of the Colacretae, took place at each sitting of the
court 368 , in the following manner. Besides the judicial

staff, each person received at his entrance into the court a

small tablet (called <ruj,/3oAov) ; at the close of the sitting

he gave this to the Prytanes, and received the money
for it ; whoever came late into court ran the risk of

receiving nothing The Prytaneia were first appointed

369 .

for defraying the expence ; if these were not sufficient

(and how could they ever have been so), the other
branches of the revenue contributed, particularly the fines,
and probably in ancient times the tributes 370 . Aristo-

phanes reckons the annual amount at 150 talents, assuming

300 days on which the courts sat, and 6000 Dicasts a day
who received the Triobolon 371 ; and that the expence was
not less we learn from other sources. It is however to be

remarked, that Aristophanes in forming his calculation

367
See Hudtwalcker von den Diateten p. 14.
368
Lucian. ut sup.
369
Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 277. whose information is chiefly
taken from Aristotle's State of Athens quoted by thexScholiast at
v. 278. also Suidas in v. ftentr^lat, Etymol. in v. o-vpfioXov, Poll.

VIII. 16. Aristoph. Vesp. 710.

370
Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 682.
371
Vesp. 660 sqq. and the Scholiast. About sixty holidays,
on which the courts did not sit, are not too many for Athens ;

this leaves 300 sitting-days'. But I am

not able to find any
confirmation of Hudtwalcker's supposition (von den Diateten
p. 30.) that the courts did not sit through the whole of Sciro-
phorion.
 316

has taken the Dicasts at 6000, their highest number, who

did not perform their duties every day. Six thousand were

appointed for each year ; and from these the Dicasts were
first selected for each
particular cause, and it was not till
they were actually assigned to some court that they re-
ceived the pay. The ten regular courts of justice at
Athens, consisting each of 500 Dicasts, required only the
372 "Now it is true that
daily attendance of five thousand .

large tribunals occur of 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 6000

Dicasts; but, on the other hand, small ones of 201, 401,
&c. 373 . It is therefore possible that the expence was
something less than Aristophanes states it ; I am willing
however to allow his estimate to pass as an approximation
to the truth, when applied to the times preceding the

Anarchy, and to compute the expences of jurisdiction

generally at 150 talents, particularly as many small ex-
pences, in addition to the pay of the Dicasts, must ne-
cessarily have been incurred in the courts ; but after
the Archonship of Euclid, when the allies had revolted,
it is not possible that there could have been so many

Dicasts, and the expence must therefore have been less.

And as in time of war the courts did not always
continue sitting 374 , these expences occasionally ceased.
The wages of the Diaetetae were not provided out of the
public money ; these persons were paid for each separate
cause by the litigant parties themselves. The Diaetetae
received a drachma from the plaintiff at the coramence-

372
See Matthia Miscell. Philog. vol. I. p. 251 sqq. comp. also
p. 158.
373
Besides Matthia see Pollux VIII. 53 and 48. Lex. Seg.
p. 310. 30. and p. 189. 20. Phot, in v,
374
Lys. Trip 2/to<r. 3x. p. 590.
 3J7
ment of the and again the same sum from both par-
suit,
ties at the Antomosia, and at every Hypomosia 375 A .

376 states that the Diaetetas

grammarian of mean authority
arbitrated many law-suits, and that the public authorities
employed every possible means to prevent the sitting of

the courts, in order that the State might not be compelled

to expend so much money upon the wages of the Dicasts ;

but, judging from the disposition of the Athenians, we can

at the most believe that such a motive might have influ-

enced them at seasons of the greatest national distress ; for

in ordinary times they demanded pecuniary largesses for
the maintenance of the people.

(16.) The wages of the public advocates or orators

(jw,i<r0oj cruvrjyogotof) occasioned a small expence, which
amounted every day, i. e. for the 300 days of busi-
ness, to a drachma, and not for each speech, as the

Scholiast of
Aristophanes erroneously asserts As 377 .

these advocates were ten in number, the whole expence

amounted to half a talent a year. The ambassadors also
received a stipend in ancient times ; and although resident
embassies (a practice first introduced by the French) were
unknown, it is not yet impossible that they were reckoned

among the regular expences, since ambassadors were very

frequently despatched to foreign States and when they ;.

travelled to a distance, as, for example, to Persia, were

375
This is the Tftt^eicrnca-tf
or iretet>cefrtirr'<n$. Pollux VIII. 39.
127. Harpocrat. in v. MgtfonuBiit and thence Suidas, Photius,
and Lex. Seg. p. 290, 298. n#g*T*<rT<r<j occurs in Photius,
Etymol., and Lex. Seg. See Hudtwalcker von den Di'at. p. 14
sqq.
377
Schol. Demosth. ap. Reisk. ut sup. to which statement
Hudtwalcker assents, p. 34.
"7
.
Aristoph. Vesp. 689. and the Scholiast.
 318

necessarily absent for a long time. The ambassadors to

Philip of Macedon attended him even on marches and

378 All ambassadors, during the time that they
journeys .

were able to have fixed residence, were never compelled to

live at their own expence; they were supported by pre-
sents which they received both in free States 379 and in
countries where the government was monarchical. It may

be seen from the speech of Demosthenes for the Crown,

that in the Greek they were not only honoured with
cities

the first place in the theatres, but were hospitably enter-

tained, and generally resided at the house of the Proxenus,

although an instance occurs of an embassy to Philip having

for particular reasons preferred the public inn 380 . The
treasurer however usually paid them a sum in advance for
381 In the
thirty days, as travelling money (!<po'8*ov, TTO^SJOV)
.

time of Aristophanes the ambassadors received two or

three drachmas a day 382 The highest pay which we
.

meet with, such indeed as never was given in any other

State, is 1000 drachmas, which was received by five Athe-
nian ambassadors who were sent to Philip. These ambas-
sadors remained absent three months, although they might
have equally well returned at the end of one 383 In .

378
Demosth. Philipp. III. p. 113. 18.
379
Demosth. de Fals. Leg. p. 393. 25. Lys. pro Aristoph.
bonis p. 629. Julian. Var. Hist. I. 22. Decree of the Arcadians
in Crete in ChishulFs Ant. Asiat. p. 118.
380
Orat. de Halon. p. 81. 19. Xenoph. Hell. V. 4. 22. Dem.
de Fals. Leg. p. 390. 26.
381
Casaub. ad Theoph. Char. XI. Etymol. in v. {, Chand.
Inscript. II. 12.
582
Acharn. 65. and from the context 602.
331
Demosth. de Fals. Leg. p. 390. That there were only five of
 319

general however the Athenians sent ten ambassadors, and

occasionally not more than two or three
5
The Sophro- .

nista?, or inspectors of the youths in the training schools,

of whom there were ten annually elected by Cheirotonia,
one from each tribe, received a daily stipend of one
drachma 384 ; the
Episcopi also, who were sent to subject

States, received a salary, probably at the cost of the cities

over which they presided
385 . The
Nomothetae, a law-
commission consisting of 501, 1001, or 1-501 persons, who

them is evident from the decree in Demostb. pro Corona p. 235.

Demosthenes was indeed one of the number, but his name is
not in the decree, and therefore the 1000 drachmas should
only be referred to the five mentioned in it, unless a subsequent
decree was framed, and other ambassadors were appointed in
addition to the former. My space however does not permit me
to treat of this point at full length, particularly as there are
great
chronological difficulties connected with it.
6 Four drachmas a
day appear to have been given in later
'
times. Menander ap. Phot, in <pgv ~M.tr
A.^Krrtn^.ovg y^
T6TTSg$ TI1S ilftt^Xf 'O/3AflVf tp'-g&iV.
14
Lex. Seg. p. 301. Phot, in v. o-aQgovKrrai, cf. Etym. in v.
in the two latter read l*<rr]j <pt/A?j tif. The words of the Etymo-
logist are both in Phavorinus and Stobaeus. See Fischer's Ind.
^Eschin. in v. <raq>on<rrat, where however, together with Hem-
sterhuis ad Poll. VIII. 138. he falsely assumes that there were a
hundred Sophronistae, from the incorrect reading in the gramma-
rians above quoted. In the times of the emperors there were

only six, and probably the same number of Hyposophronistas,

who entered their office together at the beginning of the month
Boedromion, as may be concluded from an Inscription in Wheler
p. 402. Spon, vol. III. part II. p. 158. The Gloss refers to
Demosth. de Fals. Leg. p. 433. 3. where however there is only
an allusion to this office, which is also mentioned in the Axiochus
p. 367 A.
IS *
Aristoph. Av. 1023 sqq.
 320
were selected from those who had been Dicasts, also per-
haps received a stipend ; for in their former capacity they
had been accustomed to the Triobolon and the Senate ;

was commanded by law to administer the money for the

Nomothetae 386 The collection of the public revenue did
.

not require any paid officers, as it was let out in farm ;

even when the Senate found it necessary to appoint a
collector in order to enforce payment of the farmers, he

was but scantily paid. All the servants of the different

authorities received salaries, for example, the Prome-
tretae 3 87; however probable that these officers were
it is

paid by the sellers of the commodities measured. Ori-

ginally there was an important distinction between service

(farigstria.)
and anof government (%>?) ; the former
office

received a salary, the latter none. The heralds and clerks

particularly deserve notice ; since certain heralds, as well
as the clerk of the Senate, the clerk of the Senate and
People, and the checking-clerk and under-clerk of the
Senate, were fed at the cost of the State in the Tholus or
388
where doubtless they also resided. To the
Prytaneum ,

transcribers of the laws a stipend was allowed for a fixed

time, within which they were bound to complete their

labours 389 ; and a particular sum of money was set apart
for engraving the decrees 390 How large the salary of
.

the physicians and the pay of the singers and musicians

were at Athens and in other places has been shewn in the

386
Petit Leg. Att. II. 1. 1. See Wolf Proleg. ad Lept.
p. CXLVII.
387
Harpocrat. in Tr^fitr^rxt.
388
See the Inscriptions quoted in Book II. 8. and Demostb. de
Fals. Leg. p. 419. 25.
389
Lysias in Nicom.
390
Book II. 6.
 321

first book 391 .And how great must have been the number
of persons whom the State remunerated for their services
(either by its own means or by those of subordinate corpo-
rations), such as Citharists, Gymnasts, and others of the
same description. The poets also received a salary, which
was allowed them by the Senate of Five-hundred ; and we
have reason to suppose that its amount was not incon-
siderable ; for Agyrrhius having been offended, as it seems,
by the ridicule of comic poets, thought it worth while to

persuade the to reduce it 392

people .
Lastly, several
hundred sailors received regular
pay In in time of peace.

early times the Athenians had two sacred triremes, the

Paralos, the crew of which bore the name of Paralitse

(Tra^aATrai, also TragaAoi), and the Salaminia or Delia

(sometimes simply called Theoris), and its crew were
named Salaminians 393 the latter vessel belonged to the
:

Delian Theoria; and both these triremes, as being quick

sailers, were used for other Theorias, as well as for em-
bassies and for the transport of money and persons; in
battles also, and then they conveyed the admiral. That the
crew of the Paralos, although it was mostly in harbour,
always received four oboli a day, we know from distinct

391
Chap. 21.
398
Schol. Eccl. 102. Aristoph. Ran. 370. and the Scholiast.
Archinus is mentioned in the last Scholium ; but the Scholiast
on the Ecclesiazusae appears better informed ; and perhaps Ar-
chinus is only an error of the transcriber for Agyrrhius.
393
Concerning both these vessels see Sigon. R. A. IV. 5. In
Photius (in v. 7r'gAo<) the Salaminia and the Paralos are stated
to be the same ship, which is false. But in the word 7r'g*Aj,
and in the first article of 7r'g*A<, they are correctly distinguished.

Concerning the name of the crew see Pollux VIII. 116. Hesych.
in v. 7T*<*A/T5. Concerning the Delia vid. ad luscript. 158. 1. .

VOL. I. Y
 322
394 and as the Salaminia performed the same
testimony ;

services, we may without any hesitation assume that the

Salaminians received the same pay. The pay of the tri-

reme-crews having been generally calculated by estimating

the wages of two hundred common sailors, the pay of two
triremes at four oboli a man per day: for a year reckoned at
365 days (the intercalary month being divided among the
several years) will amount to 16 talents 1333 drachmas
two oboli. In latter times we meet with a trireme named
Ammonis, which is undoubtedly different from the two

first;and an Antigonis and a Demetrias, so called no doubt

from the names of those much honoured kings; and finally
a Ptolemais 395 , of which probable, that like the tribe
it is

Ptolemais, it only succeeded in the place of the Antigonis

or the Demetrias. We
are not informed how the pay of

these vessels was regulated ; but as the Ammonis had a

treasurer, it is probable the others had the same, and since

the Ammonis served in time of peace, it must occasionally
have had sailors who would then have received pay. I
will presently speak of two other kids of salaries paid in
time of peace, the pay of the cavalry, and the maintenance
of the infirm, which was also called jttwfioj or pay 396 ; all

these taken together caused a considerable expence. In

order however produce some diminution in the amount,
to

and to prevent any person from obtaining greater emolu-

ments from the State than was fair, the law ordered that
no one should receive pay from more than one source
397 - Thus the wages of the Dicasts,
|w.F0o<pof s7v)

394
Harpocrat. and Phot, in v. 7r'gc*o.
395
Harpocrat. and Suidas in v. 'Aftfiuiis and there Maussac,
Lex. Seg. p. 267. Phot, in v. o-cc'gaAaf and
396
.Esch. in Tiraarch. p. 123.
897
Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 739. 6. Petit alone (Leg. Att.
 323

orators, Ecclesiasts, senators, soldiers, sailors, cavalry, in-

short all whatever, precluded any person from

salaries

receiving pay for other services upon the same day. More-
over the grammarians assert that pay was given out by Pry-
taneias 398 , a statement which is incorrect in this general
sense. For the Dicasts and the Assembly were (as well as
the Theorica) paid by the day, the soldiers and sailors in
war by the month; but of all other persons receiving
salaries it
may have been true. Nothing seems more
natural than that the Senate of Five-hundred, the orators,
clerks, and other inferior officers should have been paid by
Pry taneias ; with regard to the maintenance of the infirm,
this was certainly the regulation, and for the soldiers and
sailors in thetime of peace we may suppose that it was

adopted for the sake of uniformity. This mode of pay-

ment was also the most convenient for passing the accounts,
which took place in eyery Prytaneia.
(17.) The maintenance of those citizens, who on account
of bodily defects or infirmities were unable to obtain a
livelihood (aSuvaroj), was a laudable institution. This
practice however, as well as the custom of supporting
children whose fathers had died in war, until they reached
the age of manhood 399 9 belonged exclusively to the Athe-

V. 6. 2.) has believed the absurd idea of Ulpian that this means
a prohibition to follow more than one occupation at the same
time.
398
Ammonius and from him Thomas Mag. in v. Tr^vrecnTot.

Hesychius in the same word says that ITTI ftnvi ftta-ioipogtct is also
called TT^vTetmor, which probably means the pay of the Prytanes
and the other Senators, which was paid by Pry taneias, for in

later times the Prytaneias coincided with the months.

395
Aristid. Panath. vol. T. p. 331. ed. Cant. [Aristotle how-
ever (Pol. II. 5.) states that in his time this last institution
 324

mans, as compassion was a virtue rarely met with

among the Greeks. With regard to the maintenance

of persons who had been mutilated in war, Pisistratus is

mentioned as the originator of this custom 400 ; an account

which has every probability, since Pisistratus was of a mild
and usurpers are generally glad to seize every
disposition,

opportunity of conferring a benefit, with a view to make

themselves popular; nor would the Athenians with their
hatred of tyranny have attributed this honour to him, if
he had not deserved According to others
it. this pro- 401

vision derived its origin from a law of Solon, who certainly

gave the example to Pisistratus by the proposal being
made, as Heraclides in Plutarch informs us, for the benefit
of an individual. In early times Athens could boast of
having no citizen in want of the necessaries of life,
nor did any one ever disgrace the nation by begging40*;
but after the Peloponnesian war, poverty made itself every
where manifest ; and no small number stood in need of this

assistance, they were infirm or maimed. The bounty

if

was restricted by law to persons whose property was under

three minas 403 ; but even in the age of Socrates an income
of this amount was very inconsiderable; and, accordingly,
all those who received this bounty were in fact
nearly
destitute. The Athenians however do not seem to have

existed in other States except Athens : t<rrt 21 */ ! T*I<

ovros o topes ivi Ktii fv

Jrigflu;
rat vc>.tui\.
400
Plutarch. Solon. 31.
401
Schol. ^schin. ap. Taylor, ad Lys. vol. V. p. 739. ed.
Reiske. et ap. Reisk. vol. III. p. 738.
408
Isocrat. Areop. 38.
403
Harpocrat. Suid. Hesych. and the above-quoted passages
of the Lexica in Taylor, ut sup. and the commentators upon

Hesychius.
 325

been very sparing of this donative; the individual for

whom Lysfes 404 wrote his speech in order to prove that he
was deserving of this support, carried on certainly some
trade, although he asserts it was not sufficient to maintain
him, and appears that he rode occasionally, although
it

indeed not upon his own horse, and also because he was
unable to walk without the help of crutches. This bounty
-was awarded 405 but the ex-
by a decree of the people ;

amination of the individuals belonged to the Senate of Five-

hundred 406 the payments were made by Prytaneias;
;

consequently ifany one deferred his examination in one

Prytaneia he was obliged to wait till the next 407 .

The unpublished Scholiast to JSsehines, who is

quoted
by Taylor bounty amounted to
in his notes, states that this

three oboli a day ; here then again we meet with the

Triobolon of the Dicasts, which is always crossing the path
of the grammarians. The money paid to the infirm was never
more than two oboli or less than one between these two :

rates ancient writers are divided ; the obvious supposition

is that some received more than others, according as their
necessities were more or less urgent ; but a closer consider-
ation teaches us that the difference refers only to the times.
In the time of Lysias one obolus was given 408 ; afterwards

404
[riegi
TOV adviai'rov. This speech is written in such a
jesting
tone, that I consider it to be a mere rhetorical exercise, which
was never delivered: at least the Athenians must have been
very much
astonished at the jocularity of this
poor man when
petitioning for a pecuniary allowance.
405
Herald. Anim. in Salm. Observ. ad I. A. et R. III.
8.4.
400
jEschin. in Timarch. p. 123. Harpocrat. Suid. and
Hesych.
a Lexicon in the Bibl. Coislin. p. 603. p. 238.
407
/Eschin. ut sup.
+OS
Lys. ut sup. p. 749, p. 758.
 326

when the difficulty of procuring subsistence had increased,

this rate was doubled. The time at which this increase
took place may be nearly ascertained from the gramma-
rians. 409
states
" that the infirm or
Harpocration impotent
(aSuva-roi) received two oboli a day, as some say, or one obolus,
as Aristotle in the constitution of Athens states; but
drachmas every month." Suidas
as Philochorus says, nine

gives the same account from Philochorus 410 ; Hesychius

mentions two oboli without any farther limitation. In
Suidas and other Lexicons 411 it is stated that some re-
,

ceived one, and others two oboli but Bast has proved
;

that the reading in Suidas is erroneous ; and according to

the true reading the grammarian says that some writers
mention that they received one, and others two; it
is evident therefore that the error should be corrected
in the same manner in the other Lexicons. We see
from these passages that Aristotle as well as Lysias spoke
412 and we may thence
only of one obolus : infer that up

409 where the right reading

In v. Jwy*Toi, is
preserved in the
Paris MS. in Bast's Epist. Grit. p. 176. 3vo c/JeAot* rtis
i^sgaj e't

[tit tyctvn ixceVr*);.

410
In v. etivietrot, comp. Zonaras in v. a3vv*Tot. The Lexicon
in the Bibl. Coisl. p. 603. falsely charges Philochorus with
oboli a day but there is an error
saying that they received five ;

of the copyist, viz. t instead of wvae 3g#pf as Alberti has , shewn

by the comparison and correction of Bibl. Coisl. p. 238.
411
Suid. in v. 3v>T, Zonaras, and the Lexicon in Bibl.
'

Coisl. p. 238. In Suidas it should be written

pi <petm* txaWu*
tytte$ o/3oAov? 3i>o,6i
See Bast's Epist. Crit. p. 176.
$1 ofiohov.

411
For although the Lexicon in Bibl. Coisl. p. 603. represents
Aristotle to have said that they received two oboli, without

making any mention of one, this is an evident error, which

is not worth the trouble of refutation.
 327
to the time of the latter this bounty was not greater it ;

must therefore have been subsequently raised, perhaps,

between the times of Aristotle and Philochorus, who was a
youth when Eratosthenes was an old man. For the state-

ment of Philochorus is the same in substance with

the other account, that they received two oboli a day ;
which for the month of twenty-nine days gives nine
drachmas four oboli ; the latter the grammarians omit.
Philochorus's computation by months proves of itself that
he is speaking of later times, when the Prytaneias coincided
with the months; it does not however follow from this
that the increase did not take place before the introduction
of the twelve tribes. If we could now ascertain how many

upon an average were in need of this bounty, an estimate

of the expence might be made; but the assumption of
Meursius that they amounted to five hundred, is founded
upon a false reading in Suidas 413 .
Considering however
the necessitous condition of most of the Athenian citizens,
and the frequency of wars, five hundred may be assumed
as the lowest number of the old, blind, lame, sick and

maimed, who were to be maintained ; and the expence of

their maintenance, according as we reckon it at one or two

oboli a head, may be at the lowest estimated at five or ten

talents. To must be added the support of the orphan

this

children, whose fathers had perished in war; for whose

instruction also the State provided until their eighteenth

year, in order that their education might be completed

before they were sent forth into society 4 * 4 . That the

415
Meurs. Lect. Att. VI. 5. The passage in Suidas which
others thought that they had was
corrected, first ingeniously
emended by Bast Epist. Crit. p. 176.
414
Comp. Petit Leg. Att. VIII. 3. 6.
 328

number of orphans after so many wars was considerable,

might have been assumed without the authority of Iso-
The support which private individuals pro-
crates 415 .
cured by means of a particular agreement which they made

by entering into a society (epotvo;) differed from public

maintenance 416 The society itself and the money sub-
.

scribed were each called Eranos, the members Eranistse,

theirwhole number, the company of the Eranistae (TO xovo>
TWV egavKTToav), and their president an Eranarch. Their
objects were of the most various description ; if some
friends wanted to provide a dinner, or a corporation to
celebrate a solemnity, to give a banquet, or forward any
* 17 the
particular purpose by bribery , expence was defrayed
by an Eranos. Associations of this kind were very common
in the democratic States of Greece, and to this class the

numberless political and religious societies, corporations,

unions for commerce and shipping, belonged many of :

them, more particularly the religious associations (0'a<ro),

were possessed of real property 418 , and like States and
subordinate corporations they had power to make decrees,
which they recorded upon stone 419 ; and lastly, there

415
Ztytptfc. 29.
416
I only mention this subject in a few words : several
early
writers have treated on it at full length, who mutually correct
one other, of which the chief are, Petit Leg. Att. V. 7. I. Sal-
niasius de Usuris chap. 3. Defens. Misc. chap. 1 sqq. Herald.
Observ. chap. 43. Animadv. in Salmas. Observ. ad I. A. et
Rom. VI. 1 8. An account more suited to common readers
but not without some errors may be seen in Birger Thorlacius*
populdre Aufsiitze das Gr. Rom. und Nord. Alterth. betreffend.
German transl. p. 71 sqq.
417
Demosth. pro Corona p. 329. 15.
418
Pseud-Aristot. (Econ. II. 2. 3.
419
See for example Chandl. Inscript. II. 22, 127.
 329

were laws concerning these companies

and law-suits called after their name (Igavixa* 8/xa<), in

which, as well as in the commercial causes, a more rapid

course of justice was prescribed 420 . Another kind of
Eranos is that which was made for the support of the
destitute citizens; was founded upon the principle of
it

mutual assistance, and it was expected that the members

who had been relieved should pay the money back
again when they had raised themselves to better circum-
stances 421.

(18.) A
small expence was occasioned by one part of
the public allowances and rewards. Under this head may
be mentioned the public entertainments ((nVijtnj Iv Trgorave/w),
which many others, besides the fifty Prytanes and certain
inferior officers, received as a mark of distinction, and
which must have cost two or three talents a year. The
donation of the golden crown (v-rtyavos) was by no means a
rare occurrence; the Senate of Five-hundred, if it per-
formed its duties honestly, was presented with a crown
422 nations gave crowns to one another, and
every year ;

private individuals were frequently crowned by the State :

how great was the weight of these golden crowns has been
423 In ancient times however they were
already shewn .

not frequently given ; those who after the Anarchy brought

back the people from Phyle to Athens, only received
chaplets of leaves; the value of which at that time was
421
greater than of golden crowns in the age of Demosthenes .

420
See book I. 9. Pollux VIII. 144.
421
Isaeus de Hagn. Hered. p. 294. Theophrast. Char. 17.
422
Dem. in Androt. cf. /Eschin. in Timarch. p. 130.
423
Book I. 5.
424
jEsch. in Ctesiph. p. 570 sqq. and particularly p. 577.
 330

The erection of a metal statue (eJxwv) to a person who had

deserved well of the State, was in early times still more

unfrequent ; Harmodius, and Aristogiton, this

after Solon,
honour was conferred upon Conon, as having liberated
first

his country from the intolerable yoke of the Spartans *25 .

But in later times this reward ceased to confer any distinc-
tion ; Chabrias, Iphicrates, and Timotheus received crowns
in honour of their services, as well as others, although

theirdeeds were not thought worthy to be recounted 416 .

But in that age trifling or even negative services were

highly celebrated, and in the time of Demetrius Phalereus
this practice was carried to such a pitch, that in one year

they erected to him three hundred and sixty statues, in

427
chariots, on horseback, and on foot This frivolous ex- .

penditure partly owed its

by which
origin to the Theoricon,
the Demagogues had made the people indolent, and had in-
duced them to flatter their 42 8 and partly
corruptors ;

resulted from the general decline of the State and of morals,

and the loss of that simplicity and honesty, which disdaining

4M Demosth. in
Lept. p. 478.
426
jEsch. in Ctesiph. p. 635. See the oration xt

p. 172.
427
Diog. Laert. V. 75. and the passages there quoted by
Menage.
4M
Comp. Nepos Miltiad. Of these and of other marks of
honour the learned K. E. Kbhler has treated at full length in
his excellent dissertation of which the title is Etwas zur Beant-

wortung der Frage, gab es bei den Alien Belohnungen des

Verdienstes um den Staat, welche dem Ritterorden neuerer Zeit
dhnlich waren, third book, in the Dorptische Beitrage for 1814,
firstand second half; which dissertation I have not been able to
make use of, as I did not meet with it till after the completion

of this work.
outward splendour, finds a sufficient reward in the exercise
of virtues. Athens from her republican constitution, which
would always have prevented this corruption from attaining
itsutmost height, only displays a feeble shadow of what in
monarchies or despotisms, in which the moral state of the

people and the government is at a low ebb,, appears to

excess. Then are the citizens, both for the State and for

themselves, covetous of and rank, as may be seen

titles

remarkably in the eastern and western Roman empire :

titles of every
description were created and lavishly dis-
tributed ; regulations concerning rank, and the splendour
of the oriental courts, were introduced into the west ; out-
ward show and pageantry, which render the mind vain and
slavish, became the substitutes for intrinsic excellence and ;

as no claims could be advanced on the ground of personal

merit, all consideration was derived from the favour of the

ruling power. On particular occasions pecuniary rewards

were bestowed at Athens. After the return of the people
from the Piraeeus, those who at Phyle had undertaken the

restoration of the democracy, received a thousand drachmas

for sacrifices and sacred offerings, which however did not

amount drachmas apiece 429 According to Isocrates

to ten .

10,000 drachmas were given to Pindar for his splendid

praise of the Athenians, for which the Thebans had sub-
jected him to a fine ; according to others the reward given
was the double of the fine which he had been condemned
to 430 Aristides received in honour of his father,
pay .

489
jEschin. in Ctesiph. p. 575.
430
Isocrat. de Antidosi p. 87. ed. Orell. The other account
is
given by the author of the Fourth epistle of ^schines p. 669.
Tzetzes and others state that the fine itself was only a thousand
drachmas. See the fragments of Pindar p. 74. Heyn. Schneider's
 332

upon the proposal of Alcibiades, a hundred minas of silver,

a hundred plethra of wooded land, and as much unplanted
land in the island of Eubo?a, and in addition four drach-
mas a day 431 , a most absurd expence for an insig-
nificant and worthless individual. With better reason

they gave 3000 drachmas to the two daughters of this

distinguished man, and to the daughter of Lysimachus the
privilege of being maintained in the Prytaneum, like the
victors at the Olympic contest ; and other donations in
money were granted to the successors of Aristides down to
the time of Demetrius Phalereus 432 These single exam- .

ples, to
which many others might have been added, prove
that the Athenian people were not illiberal in bestowing

pensions. Lastly, rewards for the discovery of offenders

(pjvwrga) deserve to be mentioned ; thus in Andocides 433 ,

two rewards of this kind occur, one of 10,000 and another

of a thousand drachmas, which were both actually paid.

(19.) Although the most opulent citizens equipped them-

selves at their own expence, there is no doubt that the
Athenian State was under the necessity of providing a store
of arms, as well in time of war as during peace, that in
case of need it might be possible to arm not only such
citizens as from poverty could not provide for themselves,

but the resident aliens, and even the slaves. That such
was the practice is rendered highly probable, by the circum-

Life of Pindar p. 39. and the Life of Pindar which he has

published before the Theriaca of Nicander.
431
Dem. in Lept. 95. and Wolf's note.
432
Plutarch. Aristid. 27. an obscure passage, the interpreta-
tion of it however would lead me too far.
433
De Myst. p. 14. Of the nature of rewards were the prices
which were set upon the heads of offenders. Cf. Aristoph. Av.
1072 sqq.
 333

stance that large sums were expended upon naval prepa-

rations in time of peace. In the Piraeeus was the marine
storehouse, which contained sails, ropes, leather-bags for
provisions, oars, and other equipment of
articles for the

vessels ; and the building of ships of war was carried on

unceasingly both in peace and war. Themistocles passed

a law that twenty new triremes should be built every year:
Diodorus 434 indeed relates this event under Olymp. 75. 4.

but it is
probable that he, like many other historians, has
on this occasion confounded together institutions of different
periods, in order to introduce the circumstances which in
the narration immediately follow ; and Themistocles had

perhaps in fact carried the law at a much earlier period,

viz. when he obtained the decree which directed the money
derived from the mines to be applied to the building of ships
for the ^ginetan war 435 We
are not informed whether
.

subsequently the same number of ships was built every

year ; but we cannot well suppose that they provided a less
number ; for the triremes would be falling into decay, and
there were generally three or four hundred in existence. The
Senate of Five-hundred had to superintend the building of
the triremes 436 ; if this was not done, the customary crown
was denied them ; the personal superintendence was dele-

gated to commissioners called the builders of the triremes,

In the time of Demosthenes the building was stopped for

434
Diod. XI. 43.
435
my dissertation upon the silver-mines of Laurion in the
See
Memoirs of the Berlin Academy.
436
Demosth. in Androt. p. 598. 20 sqq. where there is also
the account of the paymaster who ran away. The following
story of Demetrius is given by Diod. XX. 46. Plutarch. Demetr.
10.
 334

a year, the treasurer of the trireme-builders having

eloped with two and a half talents from the smallness of
:

this sum it would be natural to conclude that not many

triremes were building at the time ; but as it is probable

that the timber and other necessaries had been previously
laid up money may have been applicable
in store, the stolen

only to the payment of the labourers even this sum too.

:

may have been destined only to some particular portion of

the labour ; and therefore it would not be safe to infer from
than twenty triremes were built every year.
this fact that less

After the time of Alexander the building nearly ceased, as

the supply of timber from Macedonia then failed. Deme-
trius Poliorcetes in Olymp. 118. 2. promised the Athenians
timber for a hundred triremes, a proof that there was a

scarcity of it at Athens.
Another part of the military force for which Athens
incurred some expence in time of peace, was the Cavalry,
which was maintained partly on account of the sumptuous

appearance which from the beauty of the riders and

horses and the magnificence of their trappings it produced
at processions ; and partly because the Athenians were
well aware that if both men and
horses had not gone

through previous training, they were unserviceable in war.

The particular superintendence of this body belonged to
the Senate of Five-hundred, who also examined the horses
and riders 437 ; the rich were bound by law to serve in it.

The pay of the cavalry in time of peace was called Cata-

stasis 438 , by which name the examination of the horsemen

437
Xenoph. de re Equestri 1. 8. CEcon. 9. 15. and in the
Hipparchus. Also Lycurgus ap. Harpocrat. in v. ttuftaa-tus.
438
Lys. pro Mantith. p. 574. Harpoc. Suid. Phot, in v.
, Lex. Seg. p. 270. Reiske's error in his note upon
 335

made by the senate is also stated to have been called ;

probably because the distribution of the pay and the

examinations were connected with one another ; it was
however a regular pay, and not an extraordinary donative,
as Reiske supposed. In the speech of Lysias for Man-
titheus it is mentioned, that the horsemen who had served

during the Anarchy, were compelled after the restoration

of the democracy to refund the money which they had
received during that time hence the grammarians by a
:

a particular case have inferred, that

false generalization of

if the State dismissed the cavalry and appointed others, it

*39
required them to refund their pay to the Phy larch s .

But the public would probably have preferred giving none

at all. The truth is that this measure was effected by a
special decree,and only on that single occasion, as the
knights had been the chief attendants of the thirty tyrants,
and had incurred the public hatred to such a degree, that
to have been a knight under the thirty tyrants was reckoned
a disgrace. The expence of the cavalry in time of peace
amounted, according to Xenophon 44 , to forty talents;
which agrees with the Choiseul Inscription, in which it is
stated that there were paid out of the public treasure in
four Prytaneias, 16 talents 2148 drachmas 3^ oboli, viz.
in the first, three talents 3328 drachmas 3 oboli, in the
third five talents 4820 drachmas, in the fourth three
talents, in the seventh four talents; the rest of the pay
appears to have been defrayed out of the current revenue.
The object of these payments was to supply the provender

Lysias had been already corrected by Larcher Mem. de 1'Acad.

des Inscript. torn. XLVIII. p. 92.
439
Properly it was collected by the Demarchs. vid. ad In-

script. 80.
440
Hipparch. 1. 19.
 336

of the horses ;
Ulpian expressly says that pay was given
for the keep of the horses 441 , and in the above-mentioned

inscription this money is accounted for under the name

of provender for the horses (O-JTOJ Tjnrojc). The amount
which each person received out of this grant has been dif-
ferently determined by modern writers, according as they
assumed a thousand or twelve hundred as the number
of knights at Athens 442 . In the latter case it has been
calculated that they received sixteen drachmas a month or
two oboli a day, in the former twenty drachmas a month
or about four oboli a day. Both estimates appear to be
too low; for even the sailors who were paid in time of

peace received four oboli a day, while the knights were not
only obliged to keep a servant, but also two horses. The
provision of a horseman in war cost the Athenians a
drachma a day 443 . Doubtless the same sum was allowed
in peace, and the only difference^ was, that in war they
received provision-money in addition to their pay. This
view is confirmed by the fact that the Catastasis (which
1

was in truth nothing more than the knights' allowance for

provision in time of peace, and which they were forced
after the Anarchy to refund) amounted to a drachma.
I state this however solely upon the authority of an in-
scription, with respect to
which I entertain no doubt that

it refers to and establishes this fact. It thus appears to

me probable, that the whole cavalry did not receive pay in
time of peace, but only about six hundred ; and for a long
time Athens had not more than this number. Now the

***
Ad Demosth. in Timocrat. p. 460.
112
Petit Leg. Alt. VIII. 1. 2. Bartbel. Anachars T. II.

p.
184. Larcher ut sup. p. 92.
40 See Book II. 122.
 337

pay of these, reckoning the year at 360 days, as Xenophon

does in another place, would exactly amount to thirty-six
talents for that time. Xenophon too only says that the
State paid annually to the cavalry nearly forty talents;
nor can the payments made out of the public treasure,

according to the above-quoted (which are

Inscription
moreover unequal in different Prytaneias) be adduced
against my hypothesis, for they were contributions which
might in part have been paid for arrears of preceding
444 asserts that the
Prytaneias. Lastly, Barthelemy Knights
frequently kept their own horses, an error into which he is
led by referring to the public cavalry a passage which
relates only to those citizens, who expended money upon
horses either from fondness of the animal, or in order to
contend for the prize at the public games.
(20.) These expences when taken together, if the lowest
estimate be made of each item, did not amount annually to
less than 400 talents ; to these however if great works of

building, extraordinary distributions of money, and large

sums for festivals were added, the State might have
easily consumed 1000 talents in a year, even without
carrying on war, the expences of which are unlimited.
Four hundred talents, which are equal to about 96,666,
were in ancient times at least worth three times as much
as at the present day, if the value of the precious metals
is compared with that of the common necessaries of life ;

with this view then we may consider that the former sum
is
equal to triple its amount, or in the currency of modern
times to about .290,000 ; which is in fair proportion to a

population of 500,000 souls, or indeed if we consider the

MM&m. de 1'Acad. des Inscriptions torn. XLVIII. 351.

p.
referring to Lycurg. in Leocrat.
VOL. I. Z
 338

high rate of interest, low in comparison with the incomes

of the inhabitants. If however in consequence of war or
some particular extravagance the amount was increased
(an event which was unquestionably of no unfrequent
occurrence) to 1000 talents or more, and as the citizens
were at such a period (as indeed at all others) forced to
serve the Liturgies required by law, the expence was
evidently incommensurate with the means of the State,
and could not be well defrayed without oppressing the
more wealthy classes by property-taxes, and without the
help of tributary allies. Now war, it is certain, produced un-

usually large and inevitable expences. At the present day

indeed the equipment of armies costs the State immense sums
of money ; an expence from which the Greeks were very

nearly exempt ; for every citizen carried with him clothes

and arms into the field, which indeed may be considered

as a tax levied in another form ; the mercenaries also came
completely armed ; sometimes perhaps it
happened that
poor citizens, foreign settlers, or slaves, were sent into the
field, and assistance on the part of the State was necessary ;

a point however on which we have no accurate information.

Another considerable expence in modern warfare is caused
by artillery and ammunition ; but as in ancient days the
heavier engines of war were on account of their helplessness
seldom brought into the field ; they in general only had to
provide them upon the occasion of a siege or of the defence
of fortified places: the quantity of light darts or jave-
lins used was inconsiderable. The equipment of fleets,
which was necessary for Maritime Warfare, created a
separate branch of expenditure; for which it was altogether
impossible that such effectual provision could have been
made during peace as to leave nothing to be provided at
the breaking out of war. Lastly, the infantry and cavalry,
 339

together with the persons attending upon them, and the

crews of the different ships, were to be supplied with pay
and provisions and if the total expence of providing for
:

these services should appear to be less than would be neces-

sary in the times in which we live, it must be remembered

that although the Grecians maintained no standing army,
and the funds for the pay and provision of their troops
were required only for a short time, yet on the other hand the
soldierswere not only better paid, and also that during the
most flourishing periods of the history of Athens war was
almost incessant. In order to enable the reader to take a ge-
neral survey of these subjects, I will treat of them separately,
after having in the first instance acquired some general know-

ledge of the magnitude of the military force of Athens.

(21.) Although the numbers of which the armies con-
sisted were in the ancient times of Greece very different
according to circumstances and the necessities of the oc-

casion, and although to state any one precise number of

men is no more possible than in the case of any European
nation, yet it can be safely asserted that no modern State,
even in the latest times in which armies have been sent into
the field, maintained so large a regular force in proportion
to its population as was supported by Athens. And it is
equally true that her military force was not only on a par
with that of all the other States of Greece, but, with the ex-

ception of Sparta, it was superior to them. What Demos-

thenes 445 says of Athens at the period at which he is speak-

ing, that of all the Grecian States it had the most nume-
rous naval force, heavy-armed infantry, and cavalry, and
the greatest quantity of money, must have held good in a

higher degree when the strength of Athens had not been

445
Philipp. I.
p. 51. 20.
 340

broken, excepting that Sparta could send into the field a

larger number of land-forces. Upon the irruptions into
Attica at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, the Pelo-

ponnesian and Boeotian forces, which were then enumerated,

heavy-armed soldiers alone to 60,000 men 6,
amounted in 44

and consequently the whole army was more than double this
number. We meet indeed with far more numerous armies
in the Grecian States of and Italy. According to
Sicily
Diodorus 300,000 Sybarites contended with 100,000 in-
habitants of Crotona; Philistus stated the military force
of Dionysius at 100,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and 400 ships
of war, which required an equipment of .50,000 men.
The first is an evident exaggeration, greater even than
modern newspapers are accustomed to make ; whether
the latter is
possible, I leave to others to decide. Hume 447
has already exposed the exaggerations in numbers com-
mitted by the ancients, and on the whole not without
success, although he may have erred in particular points.
It is not enough to know that Athens had about 20,000
citizens who were bound to serve in war were we to
:

estimate its military strength merely from this datum, we

should form a very incorrect judgment. The safest way

to arrive at a satisfactory result is, without pretending to
a complete enumeration, to collect the principal accounts
of the land and sea forces at the different periods. First, it
isneedless to speak of the Trojan war, at which the Athe-
nians appeared with fifty, or, according to another report,
with sixty ships 448 a somewhat more certain account may
:

446
Plutarch. Pericl. 33.
447
Essay upon the Populousness of Ancient Nations, vol. II.

p. 230. Lond. 1760.

448 247.
II. B. 556. Eurip. Iphig. Aul. Cf. Graec. Tragoed.

Princip. p. 238.
 341
/

however be given of the times of Solon. Before the consti-

tution of Cleisthenes, Athens had twelve Phratrias, and in
each of them four Naucrarias or Naucarias, which, as pub-
liccorporations, were originally the same that the boroughs
were afterwards; they must indeed have been in existence
before the time of Solon, as the presidents of the Naucrari

(vguTuvs^ TCUV
vavxgagcw) are mentioned before the period of
his legislation 449 , and probably all that Aristotle 45 means
when he ascribes their institution to Solon is, that the
existence of their office was confirmed by that lawgiver.
Now each Naucraria furnished two horsemen, amounting

altogether to ninety-six, and one vessel, making therefore

in all forty-eight ; and the whole military system, in

respect to defraying the expences, was doubtless regu-

lated according to Naucrarias
451 When Cleisthenes .

afterwards introduced the boroughs, the Naucrarias were

stillretained, probably with a financial and military
view; but he so far altered their constitution, that he
created fifty Naucrarias, five in each tribe 452 , and con-

sequently they now furnished a hundred horsemen and

fifty ships. This is perfectly consonant with the fact
mentioned by Herodotus 453 , that the Athenians in the
war against the ^Eginetans anterior to the Persian wars,

449
Herod. V. 71. Instead of these Thucydides (I.
126.)
mentions the nine Archons, who probably were at the head of
the Prytaneias.
150
Ap. Phot, in v. tetvtc^x^iet.
441
Poll. from which passage Zeun. ad
VIII. 108.
Xenoph.
Hipparch. 9. 3. has drawn some false conclusions, Hesych. in v.
ew6Agas, Phot, ut sup. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 37. Ammon. in
v. yctAjg, Harpocrat. and Suidas in v.
yvgagf'.
52
Cleidenaus ap. Phot, ut sup.
453
VI. 89.
 342

could only send out ships of their own, and were

fifty

compelled to receive twenty ships from the Corinthians in

order to increase their force ; and we may observe that in
this case triremes and not smaller vessels are meant, as is

proved by their connexion with the Corinthian ships, the

Corinthians being the first who had triremes. Now Mil-
tiades after the battle of Marathon undertook the expedi-
tion Paros with 454 But it was
against seventy ships .

precisely at this time that Themistocles increased the

naval force, and brought it to the height at which we find
it in the Persian war after the battles of Artemisium and

Salamis. In the former action 271 triremes were engaged,

among which there were 127 belonging to Athens, which

were in part manned with Plataeans, they having no
ships of their own : besides these the Athenians gave

twenty to the Chalcideans 455 . To these were added

fifty-three other
Athenian vessels, so that Athens num-
bered two hundred vessels among those engaged at Salamis,
although the whole Grecian fleet present at that battle
only amounted to 378 triremes 456 . Demosthenes in the

oration for the Crown 457 agrees exactly with these state-

454
Herod. VI. 132.
455
Herod. VIII. 1. Herodotus in this and in nearly every

place where he speaks of ships of war, means triremes, as is

shewn by their being opposed to Penteconters. Comp. also VIII.
4248.
466
Herod. VIII. 14. 4248. If however all the separate
numbers are added together, the sum is only 366 something ;

therefore must have been lost in the text, as others have already
remarked. Concerning the 200 triremes, or 180 without the Chal-
cidean, compare also Herod. VII. 144. VIII. 61. Plutarch. Tbe-
mistocl. II. 14. The more ambiguous passages of Isocrates

(Paneg. p. 79, 82. ed. Hall.) I

pass over.
< 57
P. 306. 21.
 343

ments of Herodotus, as far as the Athenians are concerned;

for out of 300 Grecian he reckons 200 Athenian triremes :

how it came to pass that in the speech upon the Sym-

moriae 4 53 only 100 Athenian vessels are mentioned among
300 Grecian, I am
unable to explain this circumstance :

might indeed lead one to suspect that this oration is

spurious, if there was not such strong internal evidence in
favour of its authenticity. We may farther observe that
the manning of 180 triremes required 36,000 men, of
whom only a few were Plataeans ; but as the Athenians
had at that time wholly deserted their country, it would not
have been difficult to man that number of triremes solely
with citizens, and aliens, taking both old and young, even
without slaves; land-forces, as such, were for the moment
not in existence. And how numerous these were, we learn
from the battles of Marathon and Plataeae. In the first of
these 10,000 Athenians were engaged, including of course
none but Hoplitae ; we cannot suppose that in those times
there were any slaves among the regular forces ; and al-
459
though Pausanias asserts that slaves fought for the first

time in the former battle, it may be inferred from his

words that they were in the ranks of the Plataeans; so
that as far as Athens is concerned, his testimony does
not apply. Athens could not then have raised a larger
number of troops, otherwise it would have done so at the
times of the greatest necessity for probably only the
:

three superior classes were Hoplitae, and the Thetes were

light-armed; subsequently the Thetes were employed as

Hoplitae, although this is pointed out as an uncommon event

458
P. 186. 5.
459
I. 32. 3. They appear to have been runaway Boeotian
slaves, who lived at Platsese.
 344

in thetimes of the Peloponnesian war 4gO. The Athenians

had not any bowmen or cavalry in this battle 461 ; even the
small number of horsemen, which must have been in exist-

ence according to the former regulations, were not at their

post, and the whole order of Knights was at that time

no
more than a name. from the nature of the country,
Attica,
was little suited for cavalry 462
and as this species of mi-
;

litary powerful among undisciplined masses of infantry,

is

the aristocracy or oligarchy in ancient days was generally

composed of horsemen, a form of government which the

Athenians of all the Grecian States were most averse
to. Bceotia, Phocis, Locris 4^ 3 and , Thessaly, were the
highlands, which the cavalry was most numerous:
in

even the Pisistratidae had 1000 Thessalian horsemen, which

a Thessalian prince had sent to support them against the
464 and
Spartans , according to an ancient alliance, the
Thessalian cavalry came to the assistance of the Athenians
before and during the Peloponnesian war 465 At Plataeas .

the heavy-armed infantry of the Greeks amounted to

38,700 men, together with 69,500 light-armed troops,
besides1800 light-armed Thespians among them there :

were 5000 Spartans, with 35,000 light-armed Helots and

5000 Lacedaemonian Hoplitae, with 5000 light-armed
troops; the Athenians had only 8000 Hoplitse, together
with the same number of light-armed troops, for Hero-
dotus expressly reckons upon an average one light-armed
man to each Hoplites, with the exception only of the

460
Cft Harpocrat. in v. tfjrgj. Thucyd. VI. 43.
461
Herod. VI. 112.
462
Herod. IX. 1 3.
463
Thuc. II. 9.
464
Herod. V. 63.
Thuc. I. 102, 107. II. 22.
 345

Spartans, of whom each one had seven with him 4 66. The
allied Grecian army appears not to have had any cavalry,

as the equestrian nations were on the side of the Persians ;

but the Athenians at this battle had bowmen for the first

time on land 467 , who were doubtless citizens belonging to

the light-armed troops, and of the class of Thetes ;
by more than 700 bowmen had already been employed
sea
at the battle of Salamis. The Athenians would without
doubt have had more troops for the battle of Plataese, if
they had not at the same time been compelled to furnish
crews for the fleet which was engaged at Mycale, and
consisted, according to Herodotus, of 110, according to
Diodorus, of 250 triremes, under the command of Leoty-
chides, and on the side of the Athenians Xanthippus 468 .

In the next age the Athenian force remained nearly the

same: Cimon commanded 200 Athenian and 100 allied

triremes, according to one account, but, according to the

more credible statement of Thucydides, both taken toge-
ther amounted to 200 triremes
by land they were not
:

stronger than before. In the battle of Tanagra (Olymp.

80. 3.) the whole Athenian land-forces were present, ex-

cepting what were at that time in Egypt ; 1000 Argives

were on their side, together with other allies, and yet

466
Herod. IX. 28 sqq. cf. 61. In the number of the light-
armed troops Herodotus reckons 800 more than results from his
own data this difficulty cannot be solved.
: I
pass over the
accounts of Diodorus and Pausanias, which cannot have much
weight. Plutarch (Aristid. 11.) agrees in the number of the
Athenian Hoplitae.
467
Herod. IX. 60. cf. 22. Concerning the archers in the
battle of Salamis see Plutarch. Themistocl. 14.
* Herod. VIII.131. Diod. XI. 34.
 346

altogether they only made up 14,000 men 469 , that is,

exclusively of the light-armed troops, which were usually

not taken into the account. At the same time moreover
there was a fleet of 50 ships cruising against the Spartans
at sea, which likewise required 10,000 men. The Athe-
nians however endeavoured at all times to improve and to
increase both the land and sea forces. It is stated by
Andocides, and also ^Eschines in a most obscure passage 470
(from which however, after the errors have been corrected,
some truth may be extracted), that in thirteen years pre-
ceding the ^Eginetan war (from the 77th to the 80th
Olympiad) 100 new ships were added to the 200 which
before existedbesides which they had formed a regiment
;

of 300 horsemen, and had purchased the first Scythian

bowmen, to the number of 300. During the armistice,

which was shortly afterwards concluded with Sparta, in
Olymp. 83. 3. and which was observed up to the time of
the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians again made great
exertions in the building of ships, so that in Olymp. 87.
2. they were enabled to decree that a hundred new tri-
remes should be provided for particular purposes 471 ; the
cavalry was also raised to 1200, and the same number of
bowmen appointed 472 Also after the peace of Nicias
.

(Olymp. 89. 3.) JEschines states that they procured

300, or, according to Andocides, 400 triremes. The
estimate of Pericles at the breaking out of the Pelo-

ponnesian war agrees sufficiently well with the principal

469
Thuc. I. 107. Diod. XI. 80.
470
de Fals. Leg. p. 334337. taken from the begin-
JEscln.

ning of Andocides de Pace.

471
See below chap. 23. It was this that floated in the mind

of the orator.
472
See above chap. 11.
 347
statements which have been here quoted 473 According .

to his account Athens had not at that time more than

3000 heavy-armed men fit for active service ; besides

these, 6000 of the oldest and youngest of the citizens,

and as many of the resident aliens as were heavy-armed,
were appointed to defend the fortifications of the city ; to
which must be added 1200 cavalry, including the mounted
bowmen, 1600 bowmen who served on foot, and 300
triremes ready to put to sea ; and, according to Xeno-
474 there were in the docks and on service
phon , altogether
400. Isocrates, with the amplification of an orator, gives
the numbers at double the amount stated by all the other
writers.

we reckon that 300 triremes were manned with 60,000

If

men, the sum total of the crews does not amount to less
than 91,800 men, a number incredibly great for a popula-
tion of 500,000 souls, four-fifths of which were slaves. It

might indeed be said that Athens was not able to man

300 triremes, if all the Hoplitas were deducted ; but even
if about 10,000 Hoplitae are reckoned as included in the
1

ships companies, the number which remains is still very

considerable. This fact may however be accounted for
by the following considerations. The number of Hoplita?
is larger than we find in the accounts of earlier times, as

473
Thuc. II. 13. The inaccurate Diodorus (XII. 40.) dis-
agrees in some points, and is not so explicit as Thucydides.
474
Cyr. Exped. VII. 1. 27. Isocrat. Panegyr. p. 85. With
regard to the number 300 compare Aristoph. Acharn. 544. The
places for the ships in the Piraeeus were calculated for 400, as
Strabo mentions in the ninth book, adding at the same time that
the Athenians had sent out that number. Whether the 400
Trierarchs who were formerly appointed every year refer to this
circumstance may be questioned. .See book IV. 12.
 348

persons of greater or less age were included, who only

served on garrison-duty and not in the field ; and it was
farther increased by the addition of some resident aliens.
All indeed were regularly armed; but the whole together
was not essentially unlike the rising in mass of a popula-
*
tion on the alarm of invasion ; and it comprised every
individual capable of bearing arms, from eighteen to sixty

years of age. .The resident aliens were originally, when

armed as Hoplita?, only used as garrison-soldiers ; in later

times they also served in campaigns, to which aliens not

* 75 but
yet domiciliated were occasionally summoned , they
were prohibited from serving in the cavalry 476 ; nor could
there have been many among the Hoplitae ; for several
Athenian boroughs supplied a large number of these.
Acharnae (by which we are not to understand the little
village of the charcoal-burners, as is
generally supposed,
but a more considerable town which was celebrated for the
heroism of its ancient 477 alone supplied
inhabitants)
3000 478; consequently a greater number of aliens could be

spared for the fleet ; for this class of persons was probably
more numerous in Attica at the time of Pericles than in
that of Demetrius Phalereus; and it is well known that
479 In addition to these
they chiefly served in the fleet .

the State also took into its service the out-dwellers (o

475
Thuc. IV. 90.
< 76
Xenoph. de Vectig. 2. 2. 5. Cf. Hipparch. 9. 6. That the
resident aliens frequently went into the field is also observed
by
Ammonias in v. <rX5, and I have remarked various passages
in different authors to the same purpose.
477
Pindar. Nem. II. 16.
478
Thuc. II. 20.
i7<J
Thuc. I. 143. IIL 16. Xenoph. de Rep. Ath. I. 12. De-
mosth. Philipp. I. p. 50. 22. and others.
 349

oixoOvrsj) as they were called, by whom we must

either understand with the grammarians, freedmen, or else

persons, who, though still slaves, lived apart from their

masters, and supported themselves by their own labour
48 .

If it is borne in mind that the Spartans brought their

Helots with them into the field, that the Thessalian
mounted Penestse were bondsmen, that a considerable
number of slaves was always employed in war as at-
tendants on the army, who were sometimes even manu-
mitted 481 that slaves are said to have fought as early as
,

at the battle of Marathon, and afterwards at Chaeronea

when the Athenians granted them their liberty 482 , it can-
not excite any surprise that a large proportion of the
rowers were slaves. It is remarked as an unusual circum-

stance that the seamen of the Paralos were all freemen 483.
At the successful sea-fight of Arginusae there were many
slaves in the Athenian fleet 484 ; and it
equally redounds to
the honour of both parties, on the one hand that victory
was chiefly owing to the slaves, and on the other that the
Athenians immediately emancipated them, and made them
Plataean citizens 485 This must have taken place at an
.

480
Deraosth. ut sup. and Hier. Wolf's note, but more particu-
larly Harpocrat. Suid. and Photius in v. revs cUcvvrecs. Lex. %&
Seg. p. 316. The author of the speech against Euergus and Mne-
sibulus p. 1161. 15. says of a freedman #/ **v.
481
See book I. 13,
482
Dio Chrysost. XV.
483
Thuc. VIII. 73.
484
Xenoph. Hell. I. 6. 17.
485
Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 33. cf. 193. A clearer reference to
it made by Aristophanes himself, ibid. 706. This play .was
is

produced in the same year (Olymp. 93. 3.) in which the battle
was fought, but later in the year, in the month Gamelion. Con-
 350

earlier period in the time of the Peloponnesian war; for

according to Hellanicus, who could not have been alive at

the time of this action, slaves who had been engaged in

sea-fights were made Plataeans

486 A large number . of
slaves was considered not as useful only, but as neces-
sary to a State which possessed a naval force 487 The .

Athenians also employed foreign seamen who served for

hire, and who remained as long only as they pleased,

so that if the enemy offered better pay they immediately
changed Thus the Athenians were able to man far
sides.

more ships than appears to have been possible if we merely

judge from the numbers of the free population. It was
only on some pressing emergency that citizens were em-
ployed as rowers ; excepting indeed in the sacred triremes,
in which the rowers were generally Thetes; Knights indeed
were so employed on rare occasions, and at times even Pen-
tacosiomedimni. Lastly, they sometimes pressed sailors
in the countries of the allies, and made compulsory levies

of troops, as for instance before the battle of Arginusae,

cerning the fact comp. also Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 6. Diodorus

expresses himself inaccurately XIII. 97.

486 Ran. 706.
Schol. Aristoph. revs

*EAX*Mf5 ^)|o-< faiv6iu6>iict( xctt lyy^etfa

nvta-ieu. Sturz Hellan. p. 119.) has wholly mis-
(Fragment.
understood this passage, as he was not aware that Plataeans
were a kind of Athenian citizens. The Plataean rights of citizen-
ship were first introduced at Athens in Olymp. 88. I.; conse-
quently this occurrence cannot be placed earlier, nor can it by
any means be referred with Sturz to the battle of Salami's.
[Hellanicus died in 411 B. C. the year in which the history
of Thucydides breaks off; consequently he could not have alluded
to the enfranchisement of the slaves after the battle of Arginusae.
See however Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 732.]
487
Xenoph. de Vectig. 4. 42. de Rep. Athen. I. 11.
 351

and for the Sicilian expedition 488 ; and this even in the

subject States, although they had long redeemed their

obligation to serve in war, which arrangement the Athe-
nians willingly concurredthey were rejoiced to
in, as
see them thus deprived of the means of revolting 489 .

Upon the whole then it would be assuming too much,

if we reckoned, according to the usual computation, a
servant for each Hoplites over and above the ship's com-

pany ; there can be no doubt that we must consider those

who served at sea in the capacity of rowers, as analogous
to the servants who attended the heavy-armed soldiers by
land.
The cavalry was composed of the order of Knights, but
as a military force it at first increased
slowly ; the numbers
of one hundred and three hundred I have already quoted :

afterwards, according to the Scholiast on Aristophanes

and Suidas 490 the number amounted
, to 600, and last of
all there were 1200 Knights at Athens, according to the
statements of Thucydides and ^Eschines. The ratio- of
the cavalry to the infantry was among the Greeks as one
to ten,and 1200 horsemen are consequently nearly in this
ratio to13,000 Hoplitae; but were all the 1200 composed
of Athenians, and of the order of Knights? That this
order might have contained 1200 persons no one will

488
Xenoph. Hell. I. 6. 18. Thuc. VI. 43.
489
Thuc. I. 99. Plutarch. Cim. 11. This had been brought
about by the management of Cimon himself.
490
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 624. and thence Suidas in v. *Wc<V.
Diod. XIII. 72. cannot be referred to this with safety, as there
may be auxiliary troops among his 1200 Athenian cavalry,
The passage of Harpocration quoted
for instance Thessalians.

by Zeune ad Xenoph. Hipparch. 9. 3. has nothing to do with

this point.
 352

deny ; and even if it contained "fewer, there might have

been that number of horsemen, for probably there were

many Pentacosiomedimni among them. But Aristophanes

491 and
only reckons a thousand Knights , this too in the

comedy called
by name, which was produced in Olymp.
their
88. 4. ; the same number was given by Philochorus in
the fourth book of the Atthis 492 , who did not however
omit to mention that their number occasionally varied;
493
Demosthenes states the very same number ; and Xeno-
phon proposes, in order to bring the cavalry more rapidly
and easily to 1000 men, which he evidently considers as
the usual number, that they should keep foreign horse-
soldiers 494 Larcher 493 very properly rejects the suppo-
.

sition of Petit 496 , that the ancient writers had made use
of 1000 as a round number, upon the ground that 1200
would have equally suited their purpose ; and he sup-
poses that the origin of the difference in the statements
was, that from the beginning of the Peloponnesian war,
Knights of Aristophanes, they had
until the date of the

been diminished about 200 ; which supposition appears

to be untenable. My
opinion coincides rather with
Schneider's 497 , that in the 1200 the mounted bowmen are

included, as Thucydides expressly states ; it is possible that

besides these bowmen there were a thousand, viz. a hun-

1
Eq. 225.
492 in v. I
Ap. Hesych.
493
DeSymmor. p. 181. 17.
494
Hipparch. ut sup.
495
In his otherwise superficial Memoir on the Class of

Knights in Greece, Mem. de 1'Acacl. des Inscript. torn. XLVII1.

p. 92.
496
Leg. Alt. VIII. 1.2.
497
Ad Xenoph. Hipparch. ut sup.
 353

dred from each tribe, who were Athenians, and armed in

the Greek manner ; while the 200 mounted bowmen were
doubtless in the cavalry what the Scythians were in the

infantry, i. e.
light-armed. In this capacity they rode
in front, even before the Hipparch 498 ; and in an oration
attributed to Lysias it is considered degrading to an
Athenian to serve in the cavalry among the bowmen 4 ".
It no objection to the above hypothesis, that Xeno-
is

phon not only makes no mention of the existence of the

foreign cavalry at Athens, but himself first proposes that
such a body should be formed ; for these bowmen, being

light-armed soldiers, did not come into consideration when

he was treating of the maintenance or improvement of the
cavalry, which was composed of citizens. Thucydides
mentions 1600 bowmen who served on foot, the orators

only 1200 ; this difference also may probably be accounted

forby the fact that the mercenary Scythian bowmen were
at most 1200 50 , but that the others were either citizens of
the poorer classes, or resident aliens, who were light-armed,
and chiefly trained in shooting. Bowmen occur in the
battles of Salamis and Platseae, before any Scythians had
been procured ; and it may be distinctly seen from an

inscription still extant, that a difference was made between

foreign bowmen and thosewho were citizens (sv<xo< and
atmxo/)': finally, the bowmen, who occur in two Athenian
lists 501 , appear to have been citizens, especially
military

498
Xenoph Socrat. Mem. III. 3. 1.
499
Lys. in Alcib. AI*TTT|. II. p. 565. This passage is de-
cisive, although the speech is probably not the work of Lysias,
but of some other contemporary.
500
See book II. 11.

Inscript. 80. I. p. 119. ed. Boeckh.

'

501
In the well-known list of the killed, of the date of Olymp.
VOL. i. Aa
 354

as in one immediately after the bowmen a new division

" The
begins with the superscription foreigners'" (e'voj).
Athenians also had Cretan bowmen in pay for a time, as
Thucydides and Pausanias mention.
The accounts of the military force which was in action

during the Peloponnesian war appear to coincide with the

numbers here ascertained ; and of this I will now adduce
some examples. At the very beginning of the war Pericles
sent 100 ships to the Peloponnese, to which 50 Corcyraean
and other allied ships were added ; at the same time 80
vessels were sent to Locris, and some must without doubt
have been reserved for the defence of Attica itself 502 . So
again, in the second year of the war, while the enemy's
troops were in the country, Pericles went to Epidaurus
with 100 Athenian and 50 Lesbian and Chian triremes,

having on board 4000 Hoplitae and 300 horsemen. In the

fourth year of the same war, the Lesbians having revolted,
40 triremes were sent against them; at the same time
30 were sent to the Peloponnese, and 30 others were
equipped in order to protect Athens from invasion ; these
were manned with Athenians, who were however neither
505
Knights nor Pentecosiomedimni, and with resident aliens .

At the end of the summer 1000 Hoplitae were sent to

80. f which has been edited by Spon, Maffei, Corsini, and

.

others, inwhich indeed some names sound rather common and

not of Athenian origin, but they may be the names of inferior

persons admitted to the rights of citizenship from foreign coun-

tries ;
and in another inscription which I have published in the

Catalogue of the Winter Lectures of the University of Berlin,

1816, 1817, as well as Clarke in his Travels. The passage of
Pausanias I. 29. 5. refers to the Cretan bowmen.
m Thuc. II. 2426.
503
Thuc. II. 56. III. 3, 7, 16.
 355

Lesbos, who themselves rowed the ships thither 50 *.

Thucydides remarks, that at that time the number of

ships in use was very large, but that it was still greater at
the beginning of the war, when Attica, Salamis, and
Euboea, were guarded by 100 ships, 100 had been de-
spatched to the Peloponnese, and 50 more to Potidasa
and to other amounting altogether to 250 besides
places, ;

these there were 4600 Hoplitae before the walls of Potidaea

(only 1600 however for some time), and an equal number

of attendants 505 Thus we find in this instance, in addi-
.

tion to the land-forces that remained in Attica, a body of

60,000 men in service. In the expedition to Sicily the
numbers were not inferior 506 .
Although the war was
continued in Greece, the Athenians decreed that 60 ships
should be sent to Sicily, under the command of Nicias and
Alcibiades ; but Nicias, rightly estimating the magnitude
of the enterprize, saw that it would be necessary to have

land-troops in addition to a powerful naval armament, and

counselled them to send a large number of Hoplitae, bow-

men, and slingers, both of their own and of the allies,

together with provision-ships and apparatus for baking.

He disapproved however of the war altogether; but in
consequence of his advice the People sent 60 swift-sailing
triremes with 40 military transports, to which were also
added 34 allied triremes and the
the
provision-ships :

Hoplitae were 5100 in number, of whom 700 were Thetes

created for the occasion, and 1500 Athenians from the list
of citizens ; the others were mostly subject allies and a few
mercenaries also 480 bowmen, of whom 80 were
;
Cretans,

504
Thuc. III. 18.
504
Thuc.
III. 17.
** Thuc. VI.
8, 21, 22, 31 sqq., 43.
 356
700 Rhodian slingers, 120 light -armed Megarian exiles,
and 30 horsemen. If we reckon the crews of 134 triremes,
each at 200 men, and the attendants of the Hoplitae and

cavalry, we find that they amounted to 38,560 men : 250

dismounted horse-soldiers followed at a later period, who
were to have been mounted in Sicily, and also 30 mounted
bowmen And yet they were able at the same time to
507 .

send 30 ships to the Peloponnese s08 and other small fleets ,

were dispersed about in various places. Nor was this all ;

for ten ships were sent as a reinforcement under
Eury-
medon to Sicily,and twenty for the blockade of the
Peloponnese; where soon after wards thirty more were
sent under the joint command of Charicles and De-
mosthenes, with sixty Athenian and five Chian vessels,
together with 1200 Hoplitae from the list of the citizens,
and others from the islands ; the Thracian Peltasts, who
arrived too late, were sent home again on account of the

scarcity of pay ; fresh troops however were received in

different places ; other ships were also provided, but some
of them were again dismissed. When Demosthenes and Eu-

rymedon arrived in Sicily they had 73 triremes, 5000 Hop-

litae, number of Grecian and Barbarian ja-
together with a
5 9 Now if we add
and bowmen
velineers, slingers, together .

the whole number of men of all descriptions who went,

after the departure of the first fleet, to Sicily, viz.
cavalry,
Hoplitae, light-armed soldiers, and ships'* crews, together
with the servants ot the cavalry and Hoplitae, it gives

607
Thuc. VI. 94. cf. Plutarch. Alcib. 20.
508
Thuc. VI. 105.
809
Thuc. VII. 16, 17, 20, 27, 42. Diodorus is less precise

in his statements than Thucydides ; but he agrees with him

upon the whole. See XII. 84. XIII. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11.

 35?
about 26,000 men so that the whole military force which
;

was sent to Sicily amounted to about 65,000 men. In

this moreover the Sicilian auxiliaries are not included, but
only the Grecian and Italian. But in the decisive sea

fight at Syracuse only 110 ships were engaged, and some

of these were in very bad condition 510 ; 40,000 men sur-
vived the battle, as Thucydides informs us 511 ; of whom

many were destroyed by land, 8000 were put to death, 7000

made prisoners in abody of the rest some were kept as
;

slaves by the soldiers, and others sold 5l2 Diodorus there-

.

fore makes Nicolaus underrate the number, when he states

the Athenian forces in Sicily at more than 200 ships, and
above 40,000 men 515 he might have said above 60,000
;

men.
This was the greatest that the Athenians had ever
loss

experienced ; although nearly equal reverses had been

sustained in earlier times. " In 514
Egypt," says Isocrates ,
whose account of the defeats of Athens, although inaccu-
" 200 triremes were
rate, is very remarkable, lost, with all

510
Time. VII. 60.
511
Thuc. VII. 75.
512
Died. XIII. 20.
513
Diod. XIII. 21. Manso charges Diodorus with some false

statement, and censures him for exaggerating: see his History

of Sparta vol. II. p> 455.
511
Vvftfutfr 29. To what the loss of 10,000 Hoplitae in the
Pontus refers I am
wholly ignorant; but hardly to the auxiliary
troops of Cyrus, which had nothing to do with the Athenians.
./Elian Hist. Var. V. 11. transcribes this passage of Isocrates,

but purposely omits these 10,000 soldiers. The manner in

which Isocrates counted the 240 ships has been shewn by
Perizonius upon 7Elian. Cneius Piso justly observed that the
population of Attica in later times was a conflux of vagabonds
and rabble, Tacit. Annal. II. 55.
their crew, 150 off Cyprus; and in the Pontus 10,000
Hoplita* of the Athenians and the allies ; in Sicily 40,000
men, and 240 triremes ; and afterwards in the Hellespont
200 more : but as to the triremes which had been lost by
tens and and the men who had been destroyed by
fives,
thousands and two thousands, who could enumerate them?"
In consequence "of these calamities, the Phratrias and the

register of the Lexiarchs were filled with aliens, in order

to replenish the number of the citizens ; and the races of
the most celebrated men and the noblest families, which
had hitherto preserved an unbroken descent through in-
ternal troubles and disturbances, and through the vicis-
situdes of the Persian wars, were at length sacrificed to
their struggles for dominion, and became extinct. Per-

haps no country ever adopted so many strangers as Athens :

hence that mixture of languages soon arose, which Xeno-

phon complains of in his Essay upon the Athenian State ;

but whatever may have been the inconveniences resulting
from this practice, no other means would have sufficed, after
such great and repeated losses, to keep up the numbers of
the citizens with regard indeed to the defeat in Sicily,
:

many strangers were involved in it ; the greater part of

the citizens were at home for as at that precise period,
:

after Alcibiades had been recalled from Sicily, the Spartans

occupied Decelea, and kept it

constantly garrisoned, it was

impossible to leave the city in a defenceless state. The fact

of there having been only 5000 Hoplitse admitted into a share
of the government which was introduced in Olymp. 92. 1.,
515 indeed
immediately after the Sicilian expedition , may

in part have been occasioned by the misfortunes of war,

but is chiefly to be accounted for from the circumstance
that the Thetes are not comprised in this number ; for by
515
Thuc. VIII. 97.
 359

law they were prohibited from serving as Hoplitae ; and in

this instance they would have been still more strictly

excluded, as the registration was made in reference to an
which the Hoplitae were to
aristocratical constitution, in

compose the Public Assembly for which reason many

;

citizens, even who were not Thetes, were unquestionably

debarred from a participation. The same holds good of
the 3000 in the Anarchy 516 3 who were Hoplitae ; but it is

impossible that persons of this description alone were

admitted, and we may conclude that they were selected
arbitrarily from among the citizens who remained at home.
By these means Athens sustained herself in the years

immediately following the Sicilian expedition ; and, not-

withstanding her unfavourable condition, defeated the
Lacedaemonians off Abydos (Olymp. 92. 2.) with eighty-
six ships 517 ; and, soon afterwards, for the second time, off

Cyzicus
518 Then Alcibiades appeared with 100, and
.

afterwards Conon with 70 ships 519 ; and this fleet being

unsuccessful, the Athenians in Olymp. 93. 3. equipped

110 ships within thirty days, the crews of which were
composed of all persons who were able to serve in war,
both slaves and citizens ; and there were even some
Knights who went with them. To these were added ten
Samian and more than thirty other allied vessels, and
had been detached to different places were
several which
recalled ; making altogether 150 ; while Conon retained
seventy under his immediate command, of which thirty
were lost 520 . The crews of the ships that fought at

518
Xenoph. Hell. II. 3. 12, 13. 4. 2.
517
Thuc. VIII. 104. and Diod. XIII. under Olymp. 92. 2.
518
Xenoph. Hell. I. 1. Diod. XIII, under Olymp. 92. 2.
519
Xenopb. Hell. I. 5. Diod. under Olymp. 93. 1, 2.
520
Xenoph. Hell. I. 6. Diod. under Olymp. 93. 3.
 360

Arginusae alone amounted to more than 30,000 men ;

those of Conon's fleet to 14,000, and many persons capable
of bearing arms must at home.
necessarily have remained
Lastly, in the battle of ^Egospotamos the Athenian force
amounted to 180 triremes, which would require alone (

36,000 men 521.

Even after the unfortunate termination of the Pelopon-

nesian war, the Athenians soon recovered themselves, and
in Olymp. 100. f were enabled to think of equipping, ac-

cording to Polybius, a hundred ships and 10,000 Hoplitae;

or according to Diodorus, 200 ships, 20,000 Hoplitae, and
500 cavalry 522 The forces of Chares, Timotheus, Cha-
.

brias, and Iphicrates were not inconsiderable, as we learn

from the Historians ; according to Isocrates the State pos-
sessed 200 triremes even at a later period than this;

Demosthenes in the 106th Olympiad reckons the naval

force at 300 vessels which could be sent to sea on
an emergency, together with 1000 horse-soldiers, and as
523 ;
large a number of Hoplitae as might be wished Ly-
524 and so
curgus provided the State with 400 triremes ,

completely filled the docks that they could not contain any
more ; the Athenians sent to the assistance of the Byzan-
tines not less than 120 ships together with Hoplitae and a
525 and before the battle of Chaeronea,
supply of missiles ;

526 At this time how-

they decreed to send 200 ships to sea .

A21
Xenoph. Hell. II. 1.13. Diod. under Olymp. 93. 4.
522
Diod. XV. 29. Polyb. II. Comp. Book IV. 4.
62.
523
Isocrat. Areop. 1. Demosth. de Symmor. p. 181. 17. p. 183.
15. p. 186. 8.
524
See Meurs. Fort. Att. VII. and more particularly the third
decree after the Lives of the Ten Orators.
i3 '
Decree of the Byzantians in Demosth. pro Corona, p. 256.
5% Decree in Demosth.
pro Corona, p. 290.
 361

ever the military force was in a continually declining state,

as the citizens were unwilling to serve, and preferred

carrying on war with mercenaries, while they were squan-

dering away the public revenue in shows and banquets at
home. It is
undoubtedly true that mercenaries had been
frequently employed in the Peloponnesian war, both in the
fleet as rowers, and
by land as heavy and light-armed troops:
but it had not at that time become a principle, that the
whole war should depend on the services of mercenaries.
Isocrates 527 at the time of the Social war complains
that his countrymen no longer exerted themselves so far ;

from it that they employed refugees, deserters, and other

criminals, who would immediately turn their arms against
Athens if
any body offered them higher pay : this the

Athenians did at a time when they were hardly able to

defray the expences of the administration; whereas formerly

when there was abundance of gold and silver in the Acro-

polis, the citizens themselves served in war. It was a

common practice to write down 10,000, 20,000 mercena-
ries; but it was a force which existed only on paper,
and nothing more than a decree to that effect went out

with the general: they chose ten Generals, ten Taxiarchs,

ten Phylarchs, and two Hipparchs ; but with the
excep-
tion of one, they all remained
at home, and together

with the sacrificers, superintended the processions. Every

general was two or three times put upon his trial for life
or death, and when defeated with his mercenaries, was
made the object of party accusations. In order to diminish
this evil, Demosthenes counselled the Athenians that the

fourth part of the standing army should be composed of

citizens. In addition to this it often happened that the

. 16.
 362

foreign leader of the mercenaries was a general, the

equipments of the army were never ready at the right

time, and that the war was carried on upon unsound
5i8
military principles . The greatest number of mercenaries
which Athens collected at this time against Philip was,

according to the statement of Demosthenes, 15,000 to-

gether with 2000 cavalry, which were furnished by the
Eubooans, Achaeans, Corinthians, Thebans, Megarians,
Leucadians, and Corcyra?ans, in addition to the other
force composed of the citizens of these nations 529 others :

than these Athens was forced to maintain at her own

expence.
The total numerical amount of the land army must

always be estimated at twice the number of men which is

stated by when they merely mention

ancient authors,

Hoplitas and cavalry. For each Hoplites had an attendant

(wrygsTris, crxsuo4>ooj)
who carried his baggage and provi-
sions, and also his shield the horseman too had a servant
;

who attended to his horse (Imroxdpiog) 530. This regulation

diminished the labour of the soldiers ; butit must neces-

sarily have produced a regular and continual system of

depredation. That the armies were also attended by a
531
large train of carriages and asses and of suttlers does not

require to be stated.

528
Deraosth. Philipp. I.
p. 45, 47, 53.
Demosth. pro Corona p. 306. And thence Plutarch, in his
529

Life of Demosthenes 17. The statement in the first decree at the

end of the Lives of the Ten Orators and in jEsch. in Ctesiph.
p. 488. is lower. Cf. ibid. 536. jEschines states a less number, as
he does not include the Theban mercenaries.
530
Thuc. III. 17. VII. 75, 78. Xenoph. Hell. II. 4.
comp.
Barthel. Anachar. vol. II. p. 145.
431
Xenoph. CEcon. 84. and frequently in the Historians.
 363

In ancient times the troops received no pay,

excepting such foreign soldiers as engaged themselves in

the service of a State ; a practice which the Carians were
the first to introduce, and which among the Greeks the

Arcadians, who resembled the Swiss in such mercenary

habits, were particularly prone to. Pericles first introduced
the pay of the citizens who served as soldiers 532 . The
payment was made under two different names ; one being
the wages (j,<r0of) paid for actual service, which the soldiers
when the cost of their arms and clothes had been deducted,
were able to lay by ; and secondly the allowance for pro-
visions (<rT*)gg(rov, tnragxsja, triroj), they being seldom
furnished in kind. The soldiers being free citizens, it was
thought that the State was bound to pay them highly,
and that if freemen voluntarily undertook this hazardous
service and discharged their duties at the risk of their

lives, they were entitled at least to a maintenance the :

generals and commanders were however proportionally ill

paid, as their distance from the common soldiers was not
so great as at the present day ; the honour of their situa-

tion was also considered as sufficient indemnification, and

they had the chance of being remunerated by booty and
contributions. The pay was generally given out in gold ;
by the Athenians probably for the most part in their own

silver 533
; the provision-money was also given at the same
time, which for that reason has not always been properly

distinguished by the ancient writers from the pay, and

consequently it will be impossible for us always to ascertain

532
Ulpian ad Demosth. nty ervT<*|. p. 50. A.
MI That Athens sometimes
paid in Cyzicenic staters, may be
inferred from Demosth. in Mid. p. 570. (See however book I.
note 84.)
 364
the difference. The pay of an Hoplites never amounted
to less than two oboli a day, and the provision-money to
the same sum : which was still the common rate in the

age of Demosthenes ; since this orator reckons ten drach-

mas a month for the provision- money of the Hoplitae, and
thirty drachmas for that of the cavalry, together con-
sequently they amounted to four oboli a day for each
Hoplites; the attendants were not always paid separately.
The life of a soldier was proverbially called, on account of
534
this rate of pay, the life of a Tetrobolon (rergcu/SoAoy /3/o;) .

At the same time higher pay was frequently given. In

the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, the Hoplitae who

besieged Potidaaa received daily two drachmas a head, one

for themselves, the other for their servants 535 ; in which
instance the pay was doubtless rated at three oboli, and
the provision at the same sum. In the Acharneans of
536 some Thracian soldiers are introduced
Aristophanes
demanding two drachmas forpay, including of course
the provision-money : the Thracians who were sent back
in the Sicilian war on account of a scarcity of money,
were to have received a drachma each day 537 ; this was
the rate of pay for every description of force in the Sicilian

expedition. If here again we reckon one half for the pay,

and the other for provision, each amounted to three oboli ;

and this was the sum which the bowmen at Athens, who
composed the city-guard, received, and as they were

534
Eustath. ad Odyss. p. 1405. ad II. p. 951. ed. Rom. A
passage of the comic poet Theopompus, where he speaks of a
payment of two oboli, can only be understood of the pay, without
the provision. See book I. 22.
534
Thuc. III. 17. to which Pollux IV. 165. refers.
i36
Vs. 158. The date of this play is Olymp. 88. 3.
m Thuc. VII. 27.
 365

bondsmen it was probably not paid as wages, but provision-

538
money .
Cyrus the younger at first gave a daric a
month to the Grecians in his service, and afterwards
one and a half 539 ; the former pay would amount to

twenty, the latter to thirty drachmas of silver, reckoning

the ratio of gold to silver as one to ten, which is probably
far too low for that age. Seuthes gave a Cyzicenic stater
a month to the common soldiers, twice thatsum to the
54
Lochagi, and four times that sum to the generals this :

same gold coin is also mentioned in other places as monthly

541 the double and fourfold scale for the commanders
pay ;

was probably the established rate of payment; thus

Thimbron offered the common soldiers a daric a month,
and the commanders in the same proportion as Seuthes 542 ;

sometimes indeed common mercenaries, if they particularly

distinguished themselves, received from those who under-
stood how to ingratiate themselves with them, two-fold,
three-fold, and four-fold pay (8j/*ojg/a, Tgjj,o<g/a, Tsrgoi-
543 . In these cases the provision-money is included,
/x,og/a)
without its being particularly specified. After the defeat
at Mantinea, the Spartans and their allies having decreed
to raise an army, the allies were permitted to contribute

money instead of troops, at the rate of three ^ginetan

oboli a day for each foot soldier, and four times this sum
for the cavalry 544 ; now three ^Eginetan are five Athenian

538
Comp. above book II. 11.
539
Xenoph. Cyr. Exped. I. 3. 21.
540
Xenoph. ibid. VII. 3. 19. cf. VII. 6. 1.
541
Xenoph. ibid. V. 6. 12.
542
Xenoph. ibid. VII. 6. 1.
543
Xenoph. Hell. VI. 1. 4.
A^o^rr** is
interpreted incorrectly
in Lex. Seg. p. 242.
544
Xenoph. Hell. V. 2. 14.
 366

oboli,which were in this case evidently to be given for pay

and provision together. In the time of the Peloponnesian
war, the same sum was stipulated for provision alone.
For in the alliance of the Athenians, Argives, Mantineans,

and Eleans, it was fixed that the State affording assistance

should provide the troops which they sent with necessaries
for thirty days ; and that if the troops remain longer, the
State to whose assistance they came should give the in-

fantry three ^Eginetan oboli a day, and the cavalry twice

this sum, for provision (trTrof) 545 . It follows at the same
time from these facts, that the cavalry were treated very

differently from the infantry, as their pay or provision-

money sometimes amounted to twice and even three or
four times the pay received by the latter at Athens the :

three-fold scale was adopted ; if the Hoplitse received

two oboli for provision-money, the horsemen received a
drachma 546. This latter proportion existed among the
Romans 547 .

These examples shew that during the Peloponnesian

war, the soldiers who
served on land were the best paid ;

afterwards, and particularly in the time of Philip, less was

given, as the multitude of adventurers and mercenaries
had increased, and the wealthy citizens seldom served,
who would have required a higher pay to have enabled
them to live in a manner suitable to their habits. The
pay of the naval forces was in like manner variable;
although it does not appear to have fallen off in a degree
at all corresponding to that of the land service ; but it was

first higher, then it became lower, and then something

M5
Thucyd. V. 47.
M6 Demosth.
Philipp. I.
p. 47.
*7 Rom. V. 16.
Lipsius Milit.
higher again. As the statements given are generally of
the sum total of the pay of the whole ship's company, it
willbe necessary first to ascertain the numbers of the crew
of a trireme. In the sea as well as in the land service
a distinction was made between pay, and provision (O-<T>J-

548
the sea service the latter was frequently
; in
gsenov)
549 and was
given in money , supplied at the public ex-
pence, although if it happened that the generals had no
money, the Trierarchs perhaps would either contribute
some part, or engage the whole number of seamen at their
own cost 55 . Demosthenes reckons twenty minas a month
as the provision-money of a trireme 551 ; which, upon the

supposition that the 200 men in a trireme were paid ac-

cording to the same rate, or rather that 200 times the pay
of a common sailor was required for the payment of the
whole crew, would come to two oboli a head, the same
sum that a common land-soldier was to receive according
to the plan of Demosthenes. Now since the pay and pro-
vision-money used to be equal, the common soldier
received at that time four oboli for both, the sum paid
to the Paralitae aswages in time of peace
552 On the .

other hand, the Athenians in the beginning of the Pelo-

ponnesian war gave the seamen as much as a drachma a

dav 553 which was the case afterwards in the expedition
against Sicily ; when the Trierarchs also made additional

648
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1209. 12.
549
Orat. in Timoth. p. 1187. 21. Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1223.
19. p. 1224. 1.
650
The latter for example in the case in Demosth. in Polycl.

p. 1208. 15.
551
Philip. I. p. 47, 48.
552
Book II. 16.
553
Thuc. III. 17.
 368

allowances to the Thranitae, and to' certain other persons

employed in the ship, such as the steersman, &c. 554 If

at this rate of payment we reckon the crew at 200 men,
the monthly pay amounted to a talent ; according to which
the Egestaeans, for the purpose of promoting the war

against Syracuse, sent sixty talents to Athens as monthly

5S5 In general however the Athe-
pay for sixty vessels .

nians at that time only gave three oboli, which, it clearly

appears, were both for the daily pay and provision of a

sailor they gave a drachma, it was for the purpose of
; if

stimulating the exertions and augmenting the numbers of

the men. Thus Tissaphernes promised to the seamen at
Sparta an Attic drachma a day, and at first he kept his
word (Olymp. 92. 1.), although afterwards at the instiga-
tion of Alcibiades he refused to give more than three oboli,
until theking had allowed the whole drachma, as even
Athens only gave three oboli; in withholding which he
was not influenced by want of money but, in addition to ;

other reasons, he feared lest the possession of so much

more money than they wanted should produce insubordi-
nation amongst the seamen, and lead them into dissolute

habits, by which their bodies would be enfeebled. At

the same time he consented, instead of three oboli a day
for each man, to give three talents a month for five ships,
if therefore we reckon 200
i. e. for every ship 36 minas ;

men to a trireme, eighteen drachmas a month or 31 oboli

a day would be the pay of each man 556. in t he agree-

654
Thuc. VI. 31. with the Scholiast.
555
Thuc. VI. 8.

Thuc. VIII. 45, 29. The latter passage Pa'lmerius and

556

Duker have alone rightly understood the note of the latter :

is the best worth consulting. It should evidently be written,

K y*{ vtrrt ivt iy* rtihecvrit Qfiov ftv pjwj, and the words
 369

ment between Sparta and Persia the rate fixed had been
557 and
only three oboli Tissaphernes gave the rest merely
,

as a voluntary addition, and without the approval of the

king. Again at a subsequent period, the Spartans de-

manded a drachma of Cyrus the younger, and maintained
their unreasonable claim by saying that the Athenian
sailors would desert to their side, as they only received
half as much in answer to which Cyrus appealed to the
:

agreement, by which each ship was to receive only thirty

minas a month, or three oboli for each man ; however,
Cyrus allowed himself to be prevailed on by their en-
treaties to give to each sailor an additional obolus, after
which they received four oboli a day 558 In this instance .

also 200 men are reckoned to the trireme. It may be far-

ther observed that the seamen, when they were first

engaged,
received bounties and advances of money, that they gene-

rally made considerable demands, and after all were with

difficulty retained
in the service. The travelling expences
of those who went away either by land or water were
frequently paid, and particularly by private indivi-
duals^.

KM 9TTt)X8T are an unintelligible addition from VIII. 26.

The preceding sentence opuc, Si vct^a, Trtvrt Ktv( irhioi v?g/ <*W Ij

Tgt7j /3A/ A>f6o^.oyS^a-*i contains the same sense, since iretgei

-x'vm

means, by every five ships, and the following sentence from tuti
Tr? eAAa? down to 3$T, shews the justness of this correction.
557
Concerning the agreement see Thuc. VIII. 5. That only
three oboli was the sum fixed in it is evident from Xenoph.
Hel!en. 1. 5. 3.
M8
Xenoph. Hell. 1.5. 3, 4.
559
Demosth. in Polycl. p. 1208. 16. p. 1212. 9, 19. de Trie-
rarch. Corona p. 1231. 10. Thuc. VI. 31. Lysias pro Mantith.
p. 579.
VOL. I. B b
 370
The statements relative to the pay of the
foregoing
sailors,* concur throughout
o in the fact that there were 200

men to be paid in each trireme and in these accounts the

:

marines or soldiers, as well as the sailors, must have been

included, since otherwise a separate payment for them
would have been somewhere mentioned ; and they are evi-
dently comprised among the ship's company, when the
ancients speak of the pay of the seamen. But as a doubt
has been raised whether a trireme did in fact contain so

large a crew, it
appears necessary to produce additional
testimony in order to confirm our supposition. According
to Herodotus, Cleinias, the son of Alcibiades, served in
the battle of Salamis with a trireme of his own and 200
men 560 . The same author 561 estimates the whole force
of Xerxes, which consisted of 1207 ships, at 241,400 men,
inclusive of
taking 200 for each as the regular number,
the marines that belonged to them ; the 30 Epibatae who
were also on board, did not belong to the regular comple-
ment, but were added to the full crew from the Persians,
Medes, and Plato in the Critias 562 gives a sketch
Sacae.

of a military force for the inhabitants of Atlantica accord-

in his own time, excepting
ing to the custom prevalent
that he speaks of military chariots, which were but seldom
used even in the times between the Persian and Pelopon-
nesian wars. Of the 6000 lots into which he divides the

country, each is to supply, besides a chariot and its driver,

two Hoplitae, two bowmen, two slingers, three light-armed

560
Herod. VIII. 17.
661
VII. 184. cf. 96. Duker ad Thucyd. VIM. 29. unjustly
blames Meibomius (de Fabrica Triremium) for not including
these thirty Epibatae in the calculation.
564
P. 119. Asqq.
 371

soldiers for throwing stones, and the same number for throw-
ing javelins, and lastly four seamen for the manning
(TTAJJ-

o>ju.a)
of 200 ships, which gives 200 apiece. There is how-
ever one statement which does not agree with this number.
In the 'Lexicon Rhetoricum 563 the complement of a Pente-
conter is stated at 50 men, or one Lochus, and the trireme

at 300 men, or six Lochi. It is possible that the rowers

of the triremes were distributed into six Lochi, each row

upon either side being separately considered a Lochus ;

but that each Lochus amounted to 50 men is unquestion-
ably false; it is more probable that the number was 25
men or thereabouts, if the Lochus was numerous, and that
the marines made up the rest of the crew. But it may be
said, if there were 200 men to each trireme, how could the
pay of the whole crew have been exactly 200 times that
which the common sailor received ; a talent a month, when
the common sailor received a drachma, and a half talent
when he received three oboli ? must not the commanders
and the experienced seamen have received more than the
common rowers ? To this I answer as follows ; that in the
payment of a ship^s crew it was settled once for all, that
the pay of a trireme should be 200 times the wages of a
common seaman it must at the same time be considered
:

as possible, or rather probable, that the seaman received

lessthan the average rate of pay, and that the able seaman
received somewhat more, so that what was deducted from
the former was added to the latter. The Scholiast of
564
Aristophanes distinctly asserts that the Thalamitae re-
ceived lower wages, because they had the shortest oars,
and consequently the lightest labour: the Thranitae on

863
Lex. Seg. p. 298.
.** Acharn, 1106.
 372
the other hand from having the largest oars had the great-
est fatigue,and for this reason in the Sicilian expedition
the Trierarchs made them an additional allowance, toge-
ther with some other inferior persons in the vessel, proba-

bly the steersman, the Proreus, &c.; but that their regular
pay was higher we are neither told by Thucydides nor his
interpreter
565
, who have been adduced as authorities for
the fact. But even the pay was graduated according to
if

rank, we could not apportion the different rates for each

description of seamen ; especially as we are not able to

ascertain with accuracy the respective numbers of each
class. It is indeed scarcely possible even with the aid of

conjecture to determine the proportion which the sailors

in a shipbore to the soldiers ; I will therefore make some
addition to what has been already observed on this point
with a view to render more intelligible our assumption

respecting the numbers of the crew of a trireme.

Triremes were of different kinds, either swift (ra^eTaj),
or military transports (oT^aTjarnSsf, OTrAiTaycwyo/) : the latter
were completely filled with land-forces, who, as they were

put on board solely for the purpose of being carried from

one place to another, were for this reason ineffective in
battle, and therefore never called on to fight except on
566
the former kind however took on board
emergencies ;

no more than the full complement of men (TrA^Wju-a) which

was necessary for working and defending the ship. The
troops on board the military transports in addition to the
proper crews were, like all
persons who travelled by sea,
called Epibatae ; 5100 men were transported in forty such
vessels, according to the account of Thucydides, making

565
VI. 31.
566
Thucyd. I. 116. affords<an instance of this.
 373

altogether with their respective attendants more than 200

men to a trireme ; the Thebans sent 300 men to Pagasae
in two triremes 567 , whose motion was consequently much
retarded. The Hoplitae upon a few occasions transported
themselves, performing the labour of rowing with their
own hands (auregerai) 568 The crews of the swift triremes
.

however consisted of two descriptions of men, of the

soldiers or marines appointed to defend the vessels, who
were also called Epibatae; and of the sailors. These
Epibatse were entirely distinct from the land-soldiers, such
as Hoplitae, Peltasts, and cavalry 569 ; and belonged to the
vessel : but if it was an object to increase the usual num-
ber, it was easy to give an additional quota of land-soldiers,
1
as for instance, the 80 to each trireme in Xerxes fleet.

The seamen, under whom I include the whole crew with

the exception of the soldiers, are called sometimes servants

(uTnjgeVat), sometimes sailors (vauraj): in the more limited

sense however the rowers (sgsrctt, KamjAara*) are dis-

tinct from the servants and sailors, and only comprise

those who were employed at the steerage, sails, cordage,

pumps, &c. Finally, the rowers were of three kinds,

Thranitae, Zugitas, and Thalamitae. If now the regu-
lar crew of the swift triremes amounted to 200 men,

how was this number divided ? Meibomius reckons 180

rowers, in three rows, so that there were 30 upon each
bank, on either side. This is a most singular hypothesis.
For if there were 180 rowers, there would only remain 20

567
Thucyd. VIII. 43. Xenoph. Hell. V. 4. 56. There were
300 citizenswho were on board the triremes as Epibatas and no
rowers.
868
Thuc. III. IS.cf. VI. 91.
i69-
Xenoph. Hell. 1.2.4.
 374
for all the rest of the crew, whereas the navigation of the

ship alone would have required this number ; if we consider

only the steersman, the Proreus, the Celeuustes, the Trie-
raules, theNauphylax, the Toicharchs, the Diopes, the
Eschareus, and the many others that were unquestionably
employed and what room do we then leave for the ma-
;

rines ? The supposition of 'Meibomius is borrowed from the

Quinquireme, to which Polybius assigns 300 rowers, and
120 fighting men the former in five rows of 60 men, 30
;

on each side but his reason for crowding as many rowers

;

into the long side of the trireme, which he reckons at

150 feet, as into that of the Quinquireme which measured
105 feet, is arbitrary. Not to go into farther details, the
rowers could not have amounted to more than 130 or 140
men, if we leave a sufficient number for that part of the
crew which worked the ship, and for the Epibatae. In the
Quinquireme the rowers were to the marines in the ratio
of five to twoin a Penteconter there were 30 men besides
;

the 50 rowers 570 , most of whom

were undoubtedly soldiers,
as the number required working of the vessel must
for the
in this case have been smaller; probably only about ten

men, so that the ratio of the rowers to the fighters was

again as five to two. If therefore we reckon that there
were in a trireme 130 or 140 rowers, and 40 or 50 Epi-
batae, in addition to twenty other seamen, the number of
rowers assumed is
proportionally large. I know only of

two definite accounts of the number of the Epibatae which

refer to particular occasions. Herodotus 571 tells us that
the Chians having revolted from Persia, and equipped a
hundred ships, distributed 40 opulent citizens as Epibatae

570
Herod. VII. 184.
671
Herod. VI. 15.
 375
in each trireme, which agrees perfectly with my computa-
tion. Plutarch 572 informs us that only eighteen men

fought upon deck on board the Athenian triremes at the

battle of Salamis; that of these, four were bowmen and
the others heavy-armed; this estimate is however singu-

larly low. With regard to the mode of fighting it may

be observed, that the rowers struck their opponents with
oars, the Epibatae used arrows and darts at a distance,
573 It must not how-
spears and swords in close combat .

ever be supposed that the rowers were so nearly defence-

less. Isocrates 574 indeed in the passage in which he com-

plains that foreigners were then serving as fighting-men,

and citizens as rowers, remarks, that in descents upon the
enemies' territory, the former fought as Hoplitae, while
the latter landed with the cushions on which they sat ;
from which it
might be. inferred that the rowers were un-
provided with any weapons of defence there can however :

be no doubt that they were armed, only not in any regular

manner, every one providing for himself as he could, or as
accident determined for him, some as Peltasts, bowmen,
8tc. the Thranitse and Zeugitae 575 , and probably
that is,

the Thalamitae also. They were therefore able to serve

on land, which was necessarily the case with the Hoplitae
who rowed themselves 576 Since then the arming of the
.

rowers was irregular, some preparations were frequently

required in order to make them serviceable on land. Thus

Thrasyllus armed 5000 seamen belonging to his fifty

475
Themist. 14.
573
Compare for example Diod. XIII. 46.
574
St^t|tt*#. 16.
475
Thuc. IV. 3. 2.
i76
See the passages referred to in note 568.
 376*

triremes as Peltasts 577 ; and on an occasion mentioned by

578
the sailors were obliged _to be provided
Thucydides
with shields before they could serve upon land. This

irregularity in the equipment of the seamen is the less

surprising, as we find that even the Hoplitae and the

Epibatae were not armed with perfect uniformity ; for, had
this been the case, there would have been no foundation

for the story which Herodotus relates of an Hoplites in

the battle of Plataeae, who brought an anchor with him, in
order to fasten himself to the ground 579 ; or an Epibates,
who made use of a spear-sickle (SoguSgeTravov) instead of a
58
spear, as Plato mentions.
The land and sea forces generally received their pay
and provision at the same time; if any portion of it
remained in arrear, it was commonly the pay ; and the

provision-money, as being necessary, was usually supplied

first. In the expedition of Timotheus against Corcyra,
1

the mercenaries had received three months' provisions in

advance, but no pay had been supplied; so that there

would have been considerable danger of their going over
to the enemy, if Timotheus had not inspired them with
confidence in his pecuniary resources by giving them the

provision-money
581 in advance. Demosthenes 582 produces
another instance, in which the Trierarch had received the
whole of the provision-money for his crew, though he
obtained no more than two months' pay for the whole
time of his Trierarchy. Here too should be mentioned a

577
Xenoph. Hell. I. 21. cf. I. 1. 24.
578
IV. 9.
"* Herod. IX. 74.
580
Laches p. 183. D.
Ml Pseud-Aristot. (Econ. II. 23.
wt 1209. 12.
InPolycl. p.
 377

suggestion of the same statesman in the first Philippic,

which however was never put into execution. He pro-
posed to maintain a standing army, in order to carry on
war against the Macedonians without intermission ten ;

ships and 2000 infantry, at an expence for each of forty

talents and 200 cavalry, at twelve talents a year these
; :

sums however were only to be given them as provision-

money he would not allow any pay, but they were to
;

have unlimited permission to plunder. This proposal is

worthy of remark, as having no parallel in any Grecian
author; it is the outline of a plan for embodying a
military force to maintain itself at free quarters, and at
the same time to form a permanent standing army ;

though its continuance was indeed limited to the duration

of war. A
standing army in time of peace would not only
^ave utterly ruined the finances, had it received pay, but,
if it had consisted of citizens, would have led to a military

government; as the Thousand at Argos, who were required

to devote themselves exclusively to the exercise of arms,
and received pay for their services, took forcible possession
of the sovereign power, and changed the democracy into
an oligarchy 583 The Greeks were vvell aware that a
.

standing army obtained a greater degree of skill in the

art of war ; but they were prevented from introducing it

by the nature of their constitutions for neither were they

:

able to realize the ideal state of Plato, in which the stand-

ing army, formed according to philosophical and moral

principles, is at the head of the government ; nor could
they return to the oriental form of castes, an institution
of universal adoption in remote antiquity, and under

583
Diod. XII. 75, 80. Thuc. V. 81. Pausan. II. 20. Aristot.
Polit. V. 4.
 378
which Attica had in early times had her military caste;
nor, lastly, could they have endured the oppression of a

military government. The Romans were of the same

opinion : even after their government had declined into a
barbarous military despotism, it was nevertheless consi-
dered indecorous that an armed force should reside in the

capital, for the purpose, as it were, of overawing the people ;

and in order to preserve the decorum to which they owed
the continuance of all ancient forms, and even of the Senate

itself, Rome were compelled to wear

the imperial guards at
the civil toga, and their helmets and shields were kept in
the armoury 584 . With regard to the scheme of Demos-
thenes mentioned above, it seems strange, according to
our notions, that the soldiers were to have first received

money merely for provision, and to have had no pay

whatever ; as it appears more natural to have given
them pay, and have supplied provisions by means of
requisition and quartering: but the former method was
too tedious and an enemy^s country, if it
difficult in

was to be exacted regularly ; and the latter was very

rarely practised in the Greek States. In the first place,
it was unnecessary, war being generally carried on in the

favourable time of year, and the life of a camp in so mild

a climate was healthy and pleasant; in the second place,
it was inadmissible upon military in a foreign, and on

political principles
a friendly, country. The ancients,
in

on account of the freedom of their governments, would not,

any more than England, have submitted to an institution

from which every sort of oppression and injustice is inse-
parable, and which endangers
the very existence of liberty ;

considering too the greater dissoluteness of their morals

584
See Lipsius ad Tacit. Ann. I. 38.
 379

(particularly with regard to the intercourse of the sexes

and their proneness to unnatural vices), the susceptibility
of their passions, the want of discipline in the armies, and
the great claims and pretensions of the soldiers, the neces-

sary consequences of such an institution would have been

murders, insurrections, and revolutions. In the case of
friendly States it was first necessary to ask whether an
army in march or a naval force could be received into the

city alone, and even this was frequently denied if per- :

mission was granted, every thing was paid for on the spot.
When Athens sent an arrny to the assistance of the
Thebans, they received it in so friendly a manner, that
the Hoplitae and cavalry being encamped without the

city, the Thebans admitted them into their houses but in :

how marked a manner does Demosthenes boast that no

" The three most
disturbance ensued. splendid encomia
he says 585 , " the Thebans shewed on
11
of your virtues,
that day to all the Greeks ; the first of your courage, the
second of your justice, the third of your moderation for :

by giving into your power what with them and all people
is guarded with the greatest sanctity, their wives and
children, they shewed that they had a firm assurance of

your continence: and inthat they judged rightly, for

after the army had entered the city, no inhabitant made

any complaint against you, no, not even an unjust one."

The Persians however managed their army in a different
manner : in their expedition Greece they encamped
to
indeed in the open fields, but were supported by the
1
inhabitants: the reception and maintenance of Xerxes

army cost the Thasians alone, for their towns situated

upon the main-land, 400 talents, which were paid out of

585
Pro Corona p. 299. extr.
 380
the public money, so that individuals did not directly bear
the burden ; and the Abderite said with justice that the
whole State would have been destroyed if Xerxes had
breakfasted as well as dined there 586. Datames the Per-
sian provisioned his troops in the same manner in a foreign

country
587 . The Romans oppressed the provinces most
grievously with their armies, especially for winter-quar-
ters ; the Praetors were not ashamed to burden one State

with money for expences which had been defrayed by

another : these bribes were called the Vectigal PrtJBtorium,
whence 588 .
subsequent times the Epidemeticum arose
in

Whether the allowance for provision was given out in

money or in kind, it was the imperative duty of the
generals to attend to the provisioning of the troops, espe-
cially for voyages, when food could not be purchased day

by day. It usually happened that a large market esta-

blished itself in any place where the armies either re-

mained for a time, or were expected. Here the soldiers
supplied their wants, and upon a march their servants
and beasts of burden carried provisions in the rear ; sut-
tlers and handicraftsmen followed for the sake of their
own gain Datames the Persian even supported a number
:

of these traffickers, in order to have a share in their profits,

and prohibited others from entering into competition
all

with them 589 With

great armies the supply of pro-
.

visions was necessarily on a large scale the Grecian army :

at Platseae was followed by large stores from the Pelopon-

886
Herod. VII. 118sqq.
587
Pseud- Aristot. (Econ. II. 24.
688
Burmann de Vect. Pop. Rom. XII. An action of similar

oppression is mentioned by Tacitus, Hist. I. 66.

589
Pseud-Aristot. ut sup.
 381

nese, tne care of which belonged to the attendants 590 ; in

like manner the Persian army was followed by whole fleets

of store-ships. The
provident Nicias stated it as an indis-
pensable requisite to the undertaking of the Sicilian expe-
dition, that wheat and roasted barley should be sent from
Attica to Sicily, and that they should take with them
hired bakers, who were procured from the mills by a
591 the provision-fleet collected at Cor-
compulsory levy ;

cyra consisting of 30 corn-vessels, with the bakers and

other handicraftsmen, such as stone-masons and carpenters,
and the implements required for a siege also a hundred ;

smaller vessels were constrained to attend the store-ships,

and many others both smaller and larger followed the
army for the sake of traffic
592 When such was the case
.

however the soldiers doubtless purchased their provision

either from individuals or from the State, which had only
the care of procuring supplies, without any thing being

given freely to the soldiers, unless perchance no provision-

money had been paid them. When Timotheus besieged
Samos, a scarcity of provisions was produced by the
concourse of so many strangers; he therefore prohibited
the selling of ground corn, and did not allow it to be sold

plain in less quantities than a medimnus, or any liquids

690
Herod. IX. 39. cf. 50.
591
Thuc. VI. 22. where the bakers are called limyxairpiw
sfipurOoi, as, although they received pay, they had been forced to
follow this expedition. The worthy critic, who was puzzled with
this expression, did not know how many men serve for pay

contrary to their will. Ilges ft^os Duker rightly interprets pro

rata portions; it is not however in reference to the corn, but
means that a proportional number should be taken from each
mill, lc rut ptvbatw* irfa {*ts, for example, two out of each.
592
Thuc. VI. 30, 44.
 382
in less quantities than a metretes; by these means the
strangers were obliged to bring their provisions with them,
and they sold whatever remained unconsumed ; while the
Taxiarchs and Lochagi bought food by wholesale, and re-
tailed it among the soldiers 593 The same must be considered
.

to have been the case in the Sicilian expedition, and other

similar occasions. If the provision was supplied in kind,
which was necessarily more general with the sea than with
the land service, the commanders received the Siteresion,
and with that money they purchased a store of pro-
visions. The Trierarchs supplied their inferiors with
and onions 594 or garlic,
barley-meal (#A<pT), cheese, ,

which were carried in nets 595 ; the maza was baked from
the barley-meal 596 , with water and oil 597 ; and if it was
wished particularly to stimulate the rowers, wine also was
Probably each man received a chcenix of
added 598 .

barley-meal a day a comic poet indeed says of a man,

:

who boasted of eating 2$ medimni in a day, that he would

consume the provisions of a long trireme 599 although ,

what he eat was in fact only 120 choenices but who will ;

require of a jester accuracy on such a subject as this?

Ptolemy gave the Rhodians, for the provision of ten
600
triremes, 20,000 artabae of corn , probably of wheat,

593
Pseud-Aristot. II. 23. Polyaen. III. 10. 10.
594
Plutarch, de Glor. Ath. 6.
595
Thence the saying, mo^toi !
J<*Tt?, see Suidas in v.

encode J/o<?
.

596
Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 1105.
597
Hesychius and Zonaras in v. patpt.
598
Thuc. III. 49. comp. Scheffer Mil. Nav. IV. 1. This p'g
is the oirovrrx, Athen. III. p. 114. F.
599
Athen. X. p. 415. C.
600
Polyb. V. 89.
 383

making ten artabae a year for each man, if we reckon 200

to a trireme ; which amounts to almost one choenix and a
half a day, if large artabae are meant, and if small, only
three quarters of a choenix.
To estimate the amount of the pay and provision-money
required for a war, another condition is necessary besides
the numerical force of the army and the rate of the pay,
viz. the length of the campaign. As soon as the campaign
was over, the payment of the troops ceased; even mer-
cenaries did not constantly receive wages, but were paid
for a portion only of the time 601 In early times war was
.

carried on with the Lacedaemonians for four'or five months;

but Philip made no difference between summer and win-
ter 603. Yet as early as in the Peloponnesian war, armies
were paid in winter, as in Sicily and elsewhere ; and
Pericles used regularly to keep sixty ships eight months
at sea, and to pay them for the whole time 603 these alone :

must have cost 480 talents a year, if each man received a

drachma a day. But how could Athens have raised pay
and provision-money for more than 60,000 men in the
Sicilian expedition, the cost being 3600 talents in a year,
i. e. in the money of the present day, ^STOjOOO, which,
according to the prices of commodities at that time,

may be considered as equal to more than two millions

sterling. We
must not therefore wonder that, notwith-
standing the high tributes and the oppression of the allies
(though the independent confederate States in great mea-
sure paid their own troops), a scarcity of supplies quickly
arose ; nor need we be surprised that Pericles, who, in the

601
For an instance of this see Thucyd. VIII. 45.
608
Demosth. Philipp. III. p. 123.
603
Plutarch. Pericl. 11.
 384

beginning of the war, kept an equally large force on foot,

although not throughout the whole year, was compelled to
have recourse to the public treasure.
(23.) The expences
of war were also considerably in-
creased by the equipment of fleets, and the preparation of
machines used in war and of instruments for sieges. Be-
sides the ships which were built in time of peace, they
were accustomed, as soon as any severe struggle was appre-
hended, to apply themselves with extraordinary zeal to the
construction of vessels; yet, before the ships could be
remained always much to be done in
ready to sail, there
order to complete their equipment ; part of which was
furnished by the State, and part by the Trierarch at his
own cost. Besides the swift triremes, it was also necessary
to provide many transports (oAxaSej), auxiliary vessels

(uTrrj^s-nxa TrXoia),
and cavalry transports (jVTraycoya TrAoTa) ;

which latter, although the Greeks had taken horses with

them to the siege of Troy, and the Persians had employed
many ships of this description in the war against Greece,
were yet for the first time regularly introduced at Athens
in the second year of the Peloponnesian war, and were
afterwards frequently used 604 On rare occasions only it
.

happened that the Athenians had a fleet equipped and

ready for battle, such as that appointed in Olymp. 87. 2.,

when it was decreed that the 100 best triremes should be
selected, to which Trierarchs were immediately assigned,
in order that Attica might be defended in the event of an
attack from the sea; and at the same time a thousand

604
Thuc. II. 56. IV. 42. VI. 43. and elsewhere, Demosth.

Philipp. p. 46. 5.
I. Plutarch. Pericl. 35. Concerning the
Persians see Diod. XI. 3. Herod. VII. 97.
 385
605
talents were ordered to by for the same object
be laid .

The preparations for sieges were particularly expensive,

as much carpenters' work and masonry and many handi-
1

craftsmen were required for these purposes machines for :

attack and defence were used in early times, not only in

the Peloponnesian war, but even at an earlier period, as,
for example, by Miltiades, and by Pericles at the siege of

Samos; although the art of besieging did not attain its

greatest perfection among the Greeks until the time of

Demetrius Poliorcetes. That considerable outlays were
made for missile weapons is evident from several passages
in ancient writers. With regard to Athens, it will be
sufficient to mention the two decrees 606 by which honours
were conferred on Demochares and Lycurgus ; the former,
for having procured arms, darts, and machines the latter, ;

for having brought arms and 50,000 darts into the Acro-
polis.

(24.) If all these several heads are added together, it

will be at once evident how immense must have been the

whole expences of a war after the time that Pericles had
introduced the pay of the forces. Whereas in earlier times
the building and equipment of the fleets were the only

things that caused any expence to the State. The fine of

fifty talents, to which Miltiades was condemned on account
of the failure of his expedition against Paros, might there-
fore have been taken as equivalent to the whole expence,
as 607 thinks it was, did we not know that this sum
Nepos
605
Thuc. II. 24. VIII.
15. JEsch. de Fals. Leg. p. 336.
Andoc. de Pace p. 92. Suid. in v. /3v<r<r5. The money was laid
by only once, and not annually, as some writers have erroneously
supposed.
eofi
At the end of the Lires of the Ten Orators, II. Ill,
* 7
Miltiad, 7.
VOL, I, C C
 386
was a common fine, without any regard to a particular

compensation. The siege of Samos in Olymp. 84.

4.

appears, according to Diodorus, to have cost 200 talents ;

for Pericles required a contribution to this amount, as an
indemnification for the expences which had been incurred 608 .

The Olympian Jupiter must however have reckoned very

leniently in this case; for a nine months' siege by land
and sea, in which, according to the account of Thucydides,
not less than 199 triremes were employed, or at any rate
a large part of this number for a considerable time, must

evidently have caused a greater expence; and the state-

ment therefore of Isocrates and Nepos 609, that 1200
talents were expended upon it.
by no means
appears to be
exaggerated. But the expences of the Peloponnesian war
are the most extraordinary in the financial history of
Athens. If we assume that the ships employed at the

beginning of the war received only six months' pay, they

must have cost 1500 talents ; and in this number the
forcesemployed at the siege of Potidaea are not included.
This siege was extremely expensive, having been continued
uninterruptedly during both summer 'and winter for two
61
years; Thucydides reckons the expence at 2000 , Iso-

crates at 2400 talents, a part of which Pericles took from

the public treasure 611 . A separate war-tax of 200 talents

608
Diod. XII. 28. cf. Thuc. I. 117.
609
Thuc. I. 116, 117. Isocrat. de Antidosi p. 69. Nepos
Timoth. 1.
610
Thuc. II. 70. where the reading ^/Xi is undoubtedly false,
Isocrat. de Antid. p. 70. Diodorus (XII. 46.) reckons the
expences some months before the surrender at more than 1000
talents.
611
Thuc. III. 17. II. 13. According to the latter passage
3700 talents were taken out of the treasury, \\hich Diodorus
 387
was levied for the siege of Mytilene, and twelve ships were
dispatched for the purpose of collecting money from the
allies 612 . No
enterprize went so far beyond the resources
of the Athenian State as the Sicilian expedition. The
annual pay alone amounted, as we have already seen, to
3600 talents, nearly the double of the whole annual re-
venue of Athens, if we take it at the highest estimate;
and at how great an amount must we reckon the other
expences of this war ? By these means both money and
provisions soon almost wholly failed nor were the sub-
;

sidies furnished by the Egestaeans at all considerable, viz.

sixty talents given at the very commencement, as monthly

pay for sixty ships, and thirty talents sent at a subsequent
613 There was little plunder taken, although 100
period .

talents were once obtained from that source 614 : the remit-
tances from Athens were by no means
large, 20, 120, or
300 talents, and these, as it
appears, even came, in part at
615
least, from the public treasure , to which, both then and

afterwards, they were compelled to have recourse, in order

to support the expences of the war, for which purpose
indeed it had been originally collected. Nothing but a
fortunate issue could have put Athens in a condition to

(XII. 40.) less accurately calls 4000. Barthelemy reckons 3000

for the public works of Pericles, and 700 for the first part of the

siege (Anach. torn. I. note VIII.). This assumption is however

quite arbitrary Potidaea and the works of building and art
;
might
have cost more than 5000 talents, and those 3700 have been
only an advance from the public treasure, in addition to what
was paid for out of the current revenues.
612
Thuc. III. 19.
618
Diod. XIII. 6.
614
Diod. ibid.
'"
See Inscript. 144. according to my interpretation.
 388

defray the immense sums required for pay ; without which

however would have been impossible to adopt so vast a
it

plan. If Pericles had not introduced the pay of the

soldiers, Athens could not have carried on the Pelopon-

nesian war for so long a time nor again, could the
;

youthful imagination of Alcibiades have conceived the

lofty notion of obtaining a footing in Sicily, as a new

centre from which they might subdue Carthage and Libya,
616 ; the
Italy, and finally, the Peloponnese people and the
soldiers were moreover favourably inclined to this expedi-
tion, because they hoped to receive money immediately,
and to make conquests, by which they would be enabled
617 .
to receive their pay without intermission In the age
of Demosthenes also much treasure, levied chiefly by
property -taxes, was applied to the uses of war ; but with
much money was
effected.
little A
fruitless expedition to

Pylse cost, together with the expences incurred by private

individuals, above 200 talents 618 ; Isocrates complains of
the loss of more than 1000 talents, which had been given
to foreigners 619 ;
Demosthenes of the squandering of more
than 1500, which, as ^Eschines remarks, were not expended

upon the soldiers, but upon the ostentatious splendour of

616
Thuc. VI. 15, 90. Isocrat. St^a^. 29. Plutarch. Alcib.
17. The idea was new; for
although in the
Knights of Aristo-
a is hinted at for
phanes (vs. 174, 1300.) plan attacking Car-
thage, it only owes its existence to a false reading. In both

places Ket^YiSat should evidently be read for Kg^jj5v, as the

Scholiast at vs. 1 300 writes, and as the sense requires in
vs. 174.
617
Thuc. VI. 24.
618
Demosth. de Fals. Leg. p. 367. 21.
619
Isocrat. Areopag. 4.
 389

the generals 62 ,
at the very time they lost the allied cities

and their ships. The State had been impoverished by

ihe Theorica, while individuals had enriched themselves;
there was not in the military chest money enough for a
621
single day's march
; any funds were collected
and if

for war, the mismanagement and maladministration would

surpass all belief, did we not know that the same mischief
has recurred in all times. Commanders or demagogues, who
received pay for the troops, drew it for empty places ^, as 6

was the expression ; in the same manner that in modern times

generals have received pay for what
were termed men of
straw, or soldiers that existed on the roll. To ascertain
only
the extent of these practices, commissioners were sent out
to discover whether there were as many mercenaries, as the

generals reported; these enquirers however frequently

allowed themselves to be bribed 623 . The Trierarchs, as

early even as in the time

of the poet Aristophanes, were
accused of embezzling the pay of part of the crew, and
for the oars in their
stopping the unoccupied apertures
it might not be seen that there was a
ships, in order that

620
Demosth. Olyuth. III. p. 36. 8. (and thence
174. 11.) JEsch. de
Fals. Leg. p. 249.
p.
621
Demosth. in Aristocrat, p. 690.
622
This is the meaning of ft70opgejv ! i %,vnx.Z

jEschin. in Ctesiph. p. 536. Others cheated the soldiers, as

e. g. Memnon
of Rhodes and Cleotnenes. See Aristot. CEcon.
II. 29, 39.
623 ^Esch. in Timarch. p. 131.
These are the farcco-Tit}, jregi

Trazxirprp. p. 339. Lex. Seg. p. 252. The passage in the

oration TH^I <mvT<*l;e#j p. 167. 17. seems also to refer to the
Exetastse ; those however mentioned in the decree communicated
by Chishull Ant. As. p. 164. from Ainsworth, which prohably
belongs to Athens, jire of a different description.
 390
624 .
In the mean time the public
deficiency of rowers
money was squandered away by such generals as Chares
and many resembling him, who were distinguished by
every kind of profligacy. If in an age of simplicity and

decorum, Themistocles was not ashamed to drive through

the Ceramicus in the morning with a carriage full of
courtesans 62<
5, it is
easy to understand how Alcibiades,
who, notwithstanding his extraordinary talents, was a man
of the most immoral and irreligious character, did not -

scruple (as at least his enemies said of him 626 ) to carry

women about with him in his campaigns, and to embezzle
200 talents ; how Chabrias, according to Theopompus, was

not able to remain in Athens on account of his debauched

habits and how, according to the same authority, Chares
;

had with him in the field women even of the lowest descrip-
tion, and applied the public money to uses wholly at variance

with its proper destination. But the Athenians could not

censure such a course of habits, for they themselves lived in
an equally depraved manner, the young men with female
flute-players and courtesans, the old gambling; while
in

they consumed more money in public banquettings and

distributions of food than for the real service of the State,
and allowed themselves to be entertained in the market

place at a triumphal festival

for a battle won over the
mercenaries of Philip with an expence of sixty talents,
which Chares had received from Delphi 627 . Theopompus
is decried as censorious for having painted from nature
the dissolute manners of a corrupt age for most people :

'4
fi
Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 1233.
624
Heraclides ap. Athen. XII. p. 533. D.
M6 598.
Lysias in Alcib. A?rT*J;. 1.
p.
627
Theopompus ap. Athen. XII. p. 532. B sqq.
 391

are inclined to view every thing on its fairest side,

especially if they view it from a distance, when all the

passions are silent, and the benevolent feeling which is
implanted in the heart of man is not contradicted by
immediate and personal experience : but honour is due to
the Historian who knows how to distinguish the covering
from the substance, and, judge of the infernal
like the

regions, drags the souls before his judgment-seat, naked

and stripped of all pomp and pageantry.
Timotheus the son of Conon, deserves to be honourably
mentioned as a warrior equal to his father, and among all
the Athenian generals of being that one who knew how to

carry his enterprizes into execution with the least outlay

of money, and therefore without burdening the allies, and

making himself and his country odious through extor-

tion. I pass over his other services, which will be men-
tioned hereafter ; but his skill in maintaining his soldiers
ought not to be Timotheus generally
left unnoticed.
received or nothing in the beginning of the cam-
little

paign ; though there arose the greatest scarcity in the

army, he was still successful in the war, and paid his
soldiers to the last obolus 628 He subdued four and
.

twenty States with less expence than the siege of Melos

had occasioned in the Peloponnesian war 629 ; the siege of
Potidaea, which had cost such vast sums in the time of
Pericles, he carried on with money which he had raised
himself, together with the contributions of the Thracian
cities 63 ; according to Nepos he gained in the war
against

648
Isocrat. de Antidosi p. 72. ed. Orell.
6M
Isocrat. ibid. p. 70.
630
Isocrat. ibid. p. 70.
 392
631
Cotys 1200 talents of prize-money In the expedition .

against Olynthus having no silver money he issued a

coinage of copper tokens, and induced the merchants to
take it
by promising them that they might use it in paying
for whatever property either in land or plunder they might
purchase, and he pledged himself to redeem whatever
should remain over 632 . In the expedition round the

Peloponnese to Corcyra, there was likewise great scarcity :

for Timotheus had received only thirteen talents 633 . He

accordingly compelled each of the Trierarchs to give pay
to the sailors to the amount of seven minas, for which he
634
pledged his own property : afterwards being unable to
furnish any more pay to the troops, he gave them the
provision-money for three months in advance, in order
that they might believe he was in the expectation of large
sums which were only detained by the unfavourable state
of the weather 635 ; and in the mean time he sent for a
fresh supply of money from Athens for his numerous
fleet 636 But he and Iphicrates also paid away some of
.

the prize-money on this occasion 637 Lastly, Timotheus .

kept thirty triremes and 8000 peltasts in pay (with which

631
Nep. Timoth. I.
634
Pseud- Aristot. CEcon. II. 2. 23. Polyajn. III. 10. 1.
633
Isocrat. ut sup. p. 68.
634
Orat. in Timoth. (in Demosthenes) p. 1187, 1188.
635
Pseud-Aristot. (Econ. ut sup.
636
Xenoph. Hell. V. 4. 66.
637
Diod. XV. 47. cf. XVI. 57. Xenophon indeed (Hell. VI. 2.

23.) relates the accounts, which Diodorus ascribes to both, of

alone, and undoubtedly with more correctness but it ;
Iphicrates
can be safely asserted of Timotheus that he assisted himself at
that time with plunder.
 393

he besieged Samos for eleven months) sustaining them

wholly from the enemy's country, whereas Pericles had

not been able to take the same island without incurring
a vast expence 638 .

638
Isocrat. ut sup. p. 69. Aristot. (Econ. ut sup. Polyaen. I.

10. 5, 9.

VOL. I. D d
 Note to p. 374. I. 12.

" reckons at 105 feet." In the original is

"
it
printed auf
150 F&ssen anschl&ght." The words of Meibomius (De Fabrica
Triremium, Gronov. Thes. Ant. Rom. vol. XII. p. 584 B.) are,
"
Longitudinem triremis antiques facio circiter pedum CV. lati-
tudinem pedum XI. sedilia cujusque ordinis XXX. ut caperet
remiges CLXXX."
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