Importance of the Chersonese 105 



not only dispossessed the Athenian settlers there, but made that region 

 a source of continual anxiety to Athens. She was no longer in secure 

 control of the strait through which the corn-ships passed from the 

 Pontus. A considerable revival of her naval power enabled her in 365 

 to occupy the island of Samos and to regain a footing in the Chersonese. 

 To both of these cleruchs were sent. But the tenure of the Chersonese 

 was disputed by Thracian princes, and it was necessary to send fre- 

 [uent expeditions thither. The success or failure of these enterprises 

 is recorded in histories of Greece. The importance of the position 

 justified great efforts to retain it. Greek cities on the Propontis and 

 Bosporus, not Thracian chiefs only, gave trouble. If short of supplies, 

 as in 362, they were tempted to lay hands 1 on the corn-ships, and con- 

 sume what was meant for Athens. But the result of much confused 

 warfare was that in 358 the Chersonese became once more a part of the 

 Athenian empire. Even after the dissolution of that empire in the war 

 with the Allies 358-6, part of the peninsula still remained Athenian. 

 But it was now exposed to the menace of the growing power of Mace- 

 don under Philip. To induce the Demos, who needed the corn, to 

 provide prompt and adequate protection for the gate of Pontic trade, 

 was one of the many difficult tasks of Demosthenes. 



Demosthenes is by far the most important witness to the circum- 

 stances of his age ; though much allowance must be made for bias and 

 partisan necessities, this does not greatly affect references to agricul- 

 tural matters. Unfortunately his supreme reputation caused the works 

 of other authors to be attributed to him in later times. Thus the total 

 number of speeches passing under his name is a good deal larger than 

 that of the undoubtedly genuine ones. But, if we set aside a few mere 

 forgeries of later rhetoricians, the speeches composed by contemporary 

 authors are no less authorities for stray details of rural life than those 

 of Demosthenes himself. It is therefore not necessary to discuss ques- 

 tions of authorship, on which even the ablest specialists are often not 

 agreed. But it is of interest to bear in mind that we are gleaning little 

 items, from a strictly Athenian point of view, bearing on the condition 

 of the same Athens and Attica as came under the cool observation of 

 the outsider Aristotle. The lives of Aristotle and Demosthenes, from 

 384-3 to 322 BC, are exactly contemporary. And, as in matters of 

 politics the speeches of the orators often illustrate the philosopher's 

 criticisms of democracy, so it is probable that the matters of food- 

 supply and rural economy, referred to by speakers for purposes of the 

 moment, were among the particulars noted by Aristotle when forming 

 his conclusions on those subjects. 



The right of owning real estate in Attica being reserved for 



1 (Dem) c Polycl 5, 6 pp 1207-8. 



