462 THESSALONICA. 
CHAP, medals, and the carelessness of their fabrica- 
XI 
' , tion, was owing to the low price of silver at 
one period in Macedonia, in consequence of the 
abundance of its precious metals. Its enemies, 
in every period of history, seem to have en- 
Minesof tcrtaincd a orreater dread of its mines than of 
Macedonia' ^ 
the valour of its native troops. In the regu- 
lations for a new order of government made 
after the conquest of Macedonia by uEmilius, 
the Romans allowed the inhabitants their free- 
dom and the administration of their own laws, 
paying only half the tribute that they usually 
paid to their kings ; but they were prohibited 
from working any mines of gold or of silver. 
The principal wealth of Macedonia consisted in 
its mines ; of which it had many, of all kinds of 
metals, but particularly of gold. In Pieria, 
according to Aristotle, under its antient kings, 
large quantities of ^o/o^ were found in the sand, 
in lumps of considerable magnitude'. The 
country between Thessalonica and Stagira was 
also famous for its mines; but by far the most 
celebrated were those in the mountain PangceiLSy 
which Philip added to his dominions. It was 
(l) This fact is surely worthy of the attention of the minerological 
traveller. The alluvium of Pieria has not changed its nature, ia 
consequence of the lapse of time since the period to which Aristotle 
has alluded. 
