MONEY OF ATTICA. 



441 



are very clearly pointed out in a passage of Aristophanes ; and we 

 learn from the poet, that at the time when the play of the Vespse was 

 performed, or 423 B.C., the revenue of the republic was 2000 talents, 

 or 500,000/. sterling. 



Kcci ttqutov ftsv Xoyitrou (pdvXug, f^rj ^(poig, osXX' «Vo %£<^o? 

 Toy <po[jov vipl'v a.'no roov ttoXsuv ^vXX^(3^v tov nr^oclovTa.' 

 Ku^u toutcv roc TeXy y/u^ig, x.di rag iroXXoiq eitaTocrTtzg, 

 Tlgwuvzix, f/iTu\x\ (xyogdc, Xtpevxg, {Aitrdoug kxi 3rjpio7r(>oiT(x. 

 Toutoov 7rX"^u^a rotXavr eyyvg Stcr^iXia, ylyvsrott ypTv. 



Vespas, 656. 



The revenue in the year mentioned by Aristophanes seems to have 

 been unusually great ; for Xenophon, Anab. lib. vii., speaks of 1000 

 talents as the income of the republic during the war derived from the 



citizens as well as foreigners. Yl^ocrodGV ovtryjg kut evioiurou aVo r« ruv 

 svoyfttov Kcti \y* T'tjg Xjirz^o^loLg ou p&iov ^Xi'cov TocXoivruv. In the time of 



Demosthenes, the sum was much smaller ; the orator, Phil, iv., says 

 it amounted to 400 talents. 



The system of financial policy adopted by the Athenians (and 

 Greeks in general) led them to amass considerable sums to meet the 

 necessary expences of war. " The states of the ancient world," says 

 Hume, " prepared for their contests by hoarding as much as they 

 could. The mode adopted by modern Europe of anticipating the 

 revenues of future generations was unknown to them." Thucydides, 

 lib. ii., has communicated to us some particulars respecting the state 

 of the Athenian finances at the breaking out of the Peloponnesian 

 war. There were 6,000 talents, or 1,500,000/. in the treasury ; a sum 

 which had been collected from the contributions of the allies ; the 

 uncoined * gold and silver found in the religious offerings belonging 



* Xpuc/ou ajrijMov xdi apyvplov. Thuc. 1. 2. "A<r*jftov in modern Greek is " silver;" it 

 is found in this sense in Cedrenus : and in an epigram on a person who had placed at 

 table before his guests some empty dishes of silver, " Seek," says the epigrammist, " for 

 those who are fasting, if you want to make a display of your silver ; you may excite their 

 admiration by your empty dishes." 



Z>jts( vrjJT=uovx«f s; upyupeyv £7r/8ei£j!/, 



K«j tots §o.\)]xu.<tgy, xovcpov oLfrr^av ^x wv ' — Cas. His. A. S. 153. 



3l 



