On Revenues E-Book

Xenophon

• Herausgeber: Science & Technology Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 48

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

On Revenues is a treatise attributed to Xenophon, the ancient Greek historian, soldier, and philosopher. Written in the 4th century BCE, the work addresses the economic challenges facing Athens in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War. Xenophon, concerned with the city's declining finances and diminished power, offers a series of practical recommendations aimed at revitalizing Athenian prosperity and restoring its influence. The treatise begins with an analysis of the sources of Athenian revenue, including the silver mines at Laurium, the city’s port duties, and the income from public lands and properties. Xenophon advocates for the expansion and more efficient management of these resources, suggesting that increased investment in the silver mines and the encouragement of skilled labor could significantly boost state income. He also proposes reforms to attract more resident aliens (metics), whose taxes and economic activity would further enrich the city. Xenophon’s vision extends beyond mere fiscal policy. He emphasizes the importance of fostering a stable and welcoming environment for both citizens and foreigners, arguing that Athens’ reputation for justice and hospitality can be leveraged to draw in wealth and talent from across the Greek world. The treatise outlines measures to improve the administration of public finances, reduce corruption, and ensure that revenues are used for the common good. Throughout On Revenues, Xenophon combines practical economic advice with a broader philosophical perspective on the role of wealth in supporting civic virtue and public happiness. His proposals reflect a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of economic, social, and political life in classical Athens. The work stands as an early and influential contribution to economic thought, offering insights that remain relevant to discussions of public finance and statecraft today.

Leseprobe

ON REVENUES

By Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns

Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C. Revenues describes Xenophon's ideas to solve the problem of poverty in Athens, and thus remove an excuse to mistreat the Athenian allies.

PREPARER'S NOTE This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though there is doubt about some of these) is: Work Number of books The Anabasis 7 The Hellenica 7 The Cyropaedia 8 The Memorabilia 4 The Symposium 1 The Economist 1 On Horsemanship 1 The Sportsman 1 The Cavalry General 1 The Apology 1 On Revenues 1 The Hiero 1 The Agesilaus 1 The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks have been lost.

WAYS AND MEANS

A Pamphlet On Revenues

I

For myself I hold to the opinion that the qualities of the leading statesmen in a state, whatever they be, are reproduced in the character of the constitution itself. (1)

(1) "Like minister, like government." For the same idea more fully expressed, see "Cyrop." VIII. i. 8; viii. 5.

As, however, it has been maintained by certain leading statesmen in Athens that the recognised standard of right and wrong is as high at Athens as elsewhere, but that, owing to the pressure of poverty on the masses, a certain measure of injustice in their dealing with the allied states (2) could not be avoided; I set myself to discover whether by any manner of means it were possible for the citizens of Athens to be supported solely from the soil of Attica itself, which was obviously the most equitable solution. For if so, herein lay, as I believed, the antidote at once to their own poverty and to the feeling of suspicion with which they are regarded by the rest of Hellas.

(2) Lit. "the cities," i.e. of the alliance, {tas summakhidas}.

I had no sooner begun my investigation than one fact presented itself clearly to my mind, which is that the country itself is made by nature to provide the amplest resources. And with a view to establishing the truth of this initial proposition I will describe the physical features of Attica.

In the first place, the extraordinary mildness of the climate is proved by the actual products of the soil. Numerous plants which in many parts of the world appear as stunted leafless growths are here fruit-bearing. And as with the soil so with the sea indenting our coasts, the varied productivity of which is exceptionally great. Again with regard to those kindly fruits of earth (3) which Providence bestows on man season by season, one and all they commence earlier and end later in this land. Nor is the supremacy of Attica shown only in those products which year after year flourish and grow old, but the land contains treasures of a more perennial kind. Within its folds lies imbedded by nature an unstinted store of marble, out of which are chiselled (4) temples and altars of rarest beauty and the glittering splendour of images sacred to the gods. This marble, moreover, is an object of desire to many foreigners, Hellenes and barbarians alike. Then there is land which, although it yields no fruit to the sower, needs only to be quarried in order to feed many times more mouths than it could as corn-land. Doubtless we owe it to a divine dispensation that our land is veined with silver; if we consider how many neighbouring states lie round us by land 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