CHAP. II. GREECE. 73 



ence. Yet at that time the mining in Attica 

 makes some figure ; and at the beginning of the 

 war the income of the state, derived from the 

 mines, amounted to about 8,000 sterling. That 

 income, in a subsequent period, appears to have 

 risen higher, from the facilities afforded by an 

 increased capital, and from greater ardour in 

 the several undertakings. The augmentation of 

 riches from the mines, with the wealth of the 

 citizens, acquired by their industry, and the 

 additional aid afforded by the rich gold mines of 

 Thrace, and of the silver mines in the island of 

 Thasus, all conspired, after the foreign acquisi- 

 tions obtained by conquest, to raise the state of 

 Athens to the splendour and fame which it ulti- 

 mately reached. The various streams conti- 

 nued to flow copiously till the war of the Athe- 

 nians with their rivals and enemies in the Pelo- 

 ponnesus broke out ; a war which put an end to 

 the power of the republic, and presented many 

 impediments to all mining operations. 



Although the state was in some measure again 

 elevated in the succeeding years, yet the mines 

 were too much depressed to be restored to their 

 former condition. Xenophon's encouragement * 

 to their restoration was more patriotic than suc- 

 cessful; for, besides the injury to the property of 

 the citizens, which ensued from the impulse he 



1 Xcnophon de Redit. 



