On Revenues | Page 4

and sea and yet into none of them does a single thinnest vein of
silver penetrate.
[3] Lit. "those good things which the gods afford in their seasons."
[4] Or, "arise," or "are fashioned."
Indeed it would be scarcely irrational to maintain that the city of
Athens lies at the navel, not of Hellas merely, but of the habitable
world. So true is it, that the farther we remove from Athens the greater
the extreme of heat or cold to be encountered; or to use another
illustration, the traveller who desires to traverse the confines of Hellas
from end to end will find that, whether he voyages by sea or by land, he
is describing a circle, the centre of which is Athens.[5]
[5] See "Geog. of Brit. Isles." J. R. and S. A. Green, ch. i. p. 7:
"London, in fact, is placed at what is very nearly the geometrical centre
of those masses of land which make up the earth surface of the globe,
and is thus more than any city of the world the natural point of
convergence for its different lines of navigation," etc. The natural
advantages of Boeotia are similarly set forth by Ephorus. Cf. Strab. ix.
2, p. 400.
Once more, this land though not literally sea-girt has all the advantages
of an island, being accessible to every wind that blows, and can invite

to its bosom or waft from its shore all products, since it is peninsular;
whilst by land it is the emporium of many markets, as being a portion
of the continent.
Lastly, while the majority of states have barbarian neighbours, the
source of many troubles, Athens has as her next-door neighbours
civilised states which are themselves far remote from the barbarians.

II
All these advantages, to repeat what I have said, may, I believe, be
traced primarily to the soil and position of Attica itself. But these
natural blessings may be added to: in the first place, by a careful
handling of our resident alien[1] population. And, for my part, I can
hardly conceive of a more splendid source of revenue than lies open in
this direction. Here you have a self-supporting class of residents
confering large benefits upon the state, and instead of receiving
payment[2] themselves, contributing on the contrary to the gain of the
exchequer by the sojourners' tax.[3] Nor, under the term careful
handling, do I demand more than the removal of obligations which,
whilst they confer no benefit on the state, have an air of inflicting
various disabilities on the resident aliens.[4] And I would further
relieve them from the obligation of serving as hoplites side by side with
the citizen proper; since, beside the personal risk, which is great, the
trouble of quitting trades and homesteads is no trifle.[5] Incidentally
the state itself would benefit by this exemption, if the citizens were
more in the habit of campaigning with one another, rather than[6]
shoulder to shoulder with Lydians, Phrygians, Syrians, and barbarians
from all quarters of the world, who form the staple of our resident alien
class. Besides the advantage [of so weeding the ranks],[7] it would add
a positive lustre to our city, were it admitted that the men of Athens,
her sons, have reliance on themselves rather than on foreigners to fight
her battles. And further, supposing we offered our resident aliens a
share in various other honourable duties, including the cavalry
service,[8] I shall be surprised if we do not increase the goodwill of the
aliens themselves, whilst at the same time we add distinctly to the
strength and grandeur of our city.
[1] Lit. "metics" or "metoecs."
[2] {misthos}, e.g. of the assembly, the senate, and the dicasts.

[3] The {metoikion}. See Plat. "Laws," 850 B; according to Isaeus, ap.
Harpocr. s.v., it was 12 drachmae per annum for a male and 6 drachmae
for a female.
[4] Or, "the class in question." According to Schneider (who cites the
{atimetos metanastes} of Homer, "Il." ix. 648), the reference is not to
disabilities in the technical sense, but to humiliating duties, such as the
{skaphephoria} imposed on the men, or the {udriaphoria} and
{skiadephoria} imposed on their wives and daughters in attendance on
the {kanephoroi} at the Panathenaic and other festival processions. See
Arist. "Eccles." 730 foll.; Boeckh, "P. E. A." IV. x. (Eng. tr. G.
Cornewall Lewis, p. 538).
[5] Or, reading {megas men gar o agon, mega de kai to apo ton tekhnon
kai ton oikeion apienai}, after Zurborg ("Xen. de Reditibus Libellus,"
Berolini, MDCCCLXXVI.), transl. "since it is severe enough to enter
the arena of war, but all the worse when that implies the abandonment
of your trade and your domestic concerns."
[6] Or, "instead of finding themselves brigaded as nowadays with a
motley crew of Lydians," etc.
[7] Zurborg,