On Revenues | Page 4

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, after Cobet, omits the words so rendered.
[8] See "Hipparch." ix. 3, where Xenophon in almost identical words recommends that reform.
In the next place, seeing that there are at present numerous building sites within the city walls as yet devoid of houses, supposing the state were to make free grants of such land[9] to foreigners for building purposes in cases where there could be no doubt as to the respectability of the applicant, if I am not mistaken, the result of such a measure will be that a larger number of persons, and of a better class, will be attracted to Athens as a place