an old story, trite enough to those of us who have cared to attend to it, how once on a time Nicias, the son of Niceratus, owned a thousand men in the silver mines,[11] whom he let out to Sosias, a Thracian, on the following terms. Sosias was to pay him a net obol a day, without charge or deduction, for every slave of the thousand, and be[12] responsible for keeping up the number perpetually at that figure. So again Hipponicus[13] had six hundred slaves let out on the same principle, which brought him in a net mina[14] a day without charge or deduction. Then there was Philemonides, with three hundred, bringing him in half a mina, and others, I make no doubt there were, making profits in proportion to their respective resources and capital.[15] But there is no need to revert to ancient history. At the present moment there are hundreds of human beings in the mines let out on the same principle.[16] And given that my proposal were carried into effect, the only novelty in it is that, just as the individual in acquiring the ownership of a gang of slaves finds himself at once provided with a permanent source of income, so the state, in like fashion, should possess herself of a body of public slaves, to the number, say, of three for every Athenian citizen.[17] As to the feasability of our proposals, I challenge any one whom it may concern to test the scheme point by point, and to give his verdict.
[10] Reading {para ton pateron}, with Zurborg, after Wilamowitz-
Mollendorf.
[11] See 'Mem.' II. v. 2; Plut. 'Nicias,' 4; 'Athen.' vi. 272. See an
important criticism of Boeckh's view by Cornewall Lewis,
translation of 'P. E. A.' p. 675 foll.
[12] Reading {parekhein}, or if {pareikhen}, transl. 'whilst he
himself kept up the number.' See H. hagen in 'Journ. Philol.' x.
19, pp. 34-36; also Zurborg, 'Comm.' p. 28.
[13] Son of Callias.
[14] = L4:1:3 = 600 ob.
[15] Or, 'whose incomes would vary in proportion to their working
capital.'
[16] See Jebb, 'Theophr.' xxvi. 21.
[17] According to the ancient authorities the citizens of Athens
numbered about 21,000 at this date, which would give about 63,000
as the number of state-slaves contemplated for the purposes of the
scheme. See Zurborg, 'Comm.' p. 29. 'At a census taken in B.C. 309
the number of slaves was returned at 400,000, and it does not seem
likely that there were fewer at any time during the classical
period.'-'A Companion to School Classics' (James Gow), p. 101,
xiii. 'Population of Attica.'
With regard to the price then of the men themselves, it is obvious that the public treasury is in a better position to provide funds than any private individuals. What can be easier than for the Council[18] to invite by public proclamation all whom it may concern to bring their slaves, and to buy up those produced? Assuming the purchase to be effected, is it credible that people will hesitate to hire from the state rather than from the private owner, and actually on the same terms? People have at all events no hesitation at present in hiring consecrated grounds, sacred victims,[19] houses, etc., or in purchasing the right of farming taxes from the state. To ensure the preservation of the purchased property, the treasury can take the same securities precisely from the lessee as it does from those who purchase the right of farming its taxes. Indeed, fraudulent dealing is easier on the part of the man who has purchased such a right than of the man who hires slaves. Since it is not easy to see how the exportation[20] of public money is to be detected, when it differs in no way from private money. Whereas it will take a clever thief to make off with these slaves, marked as they will be with the public stamp, and in face of a heavy penalty attached at once to the sale and exportation of them. Up to this point then it would appear feasible enough for the state to acquire property in men and to keep a safe watch over them.[21]
[18] Or, 'senate.' See Aristot. 'Athen. Pol.' for the functions of the
Boule.
[19] So Zurborg. See Demosth. 'in Mid.' 570; Boeckh, 'P. E. A.' II.
xii. (p. 212, Eng. tr.) See Arnold's note to 'Thuc.' iii. 50, 7.
[20] Or, 'diversation,' 'defalcation.'
[21] Or, 'as far as that goes, then, there is nothing apparently to
prevent the state from acquiring property in slaves, and
safeguarding the property so acquired.'
But with reference to an opposite objection which may present itself to the mind of some one: what guarantee is there that, along with the increase in the supply of labourers, there will be a corrsponding demand for their services on the part of contractors?[22] It may be reassuring to note, first of all, that many of those who have already embarked on mining operations[23] will be anxious to increase their staff of labourers by hiring some of these public slaves (remember, they have a large capital at stake;[24] and again, many of the actual labourers now engaged are growing old); and secondly, there are many others, Athenians and foreigners alike, who, though unwilling and indeed incapable of working physically in the mines, will be glad enough to earn a livelihood by their wits as superintendents.[25]
[22] Or, 'with this influx (multiplying) of labourers there will be a
corresponding increase in the demand for labour on the part of the
lessees.'
[23] Or, 'got their mining establishments started.'
[24] Or, 'of course they will, considering the amount of fixed capital
at stake,' or, 'since they have large resources at their back.' I
have adopted Zurborg's stopping of this sentence.
[25] See 'Mem.' II. viii. 1, for an illustrative case.
Let it be granted, however, that at first a nucleus of twelve hundred slaves is formed. It is hardly too sanguine a supposition that out of the profits alone,[26] within five or six years this number may be increased to at least six thousand. Again, out of that number of six thousand-supposing each slave to being in an obol a day clear of all expenses-we get a revenue of sixty talents a year. And supposing twenty talents out of this sum laid out on the purchase of more slaves, there will be forty talents left for the state to apply to any other purpose it may find advisable. By the time the round number[27] of ten thousand is reached the yearly income will amount to a hundred talents.
[26] 'Out of the income so derived.'
[27] Or, 'full complement.'
As a matter of fact, the state will receive much more than these figures represent,[28] as any one here will bear me witness who can remember what the dues[29] derived from slaves realised before the troubles at Decelea.[30] Testimony to the same effect is borne by the fact, that in spite of the countless number of human beings employed in the silver mines within the whole period,[31] the mines present exactly the same appearance to-day as they did within the recollection of our forefathers.[32] And once more everything that is taking place to- day tends to prove that, whatever the number of slaves employed, you will never have more than the works can easily absorb. The miners find no limit of depth in sinking shafts or laterally in piercing galleries. To open cuttings in new directions to-day is just as possible as it was in former times. In fact no one can take on himself to say whether there is more ore in the regions already cut into, or in those where the pick has not yet struck.[33] Well then, it may be asked, why is it that there is not the same rush to make new cuttings now as in former times? The answer is, because the people concerned with the mines are poorer nowadays. The attempt to restart operations, renew plant, etc., is of recent date, and any one who ventures to open up a new area runs a considerable risk. Supposing he hits upon a productive field, he becomes a rich man, but supposing he draws a blank, he loses the whole of his outlay; and that is a danger which people of the present time are shy of facing.
[28] Or, 'a very much larger sum than we have calculated on.' Lit.
'many times over that sum.'
[29] Or, 'tax.' See below, S. 49; for the whole matter see Thuc. vii.
27, vi. 91; Xen. 'Mem.' III. vi. 12, in reference to B.C. 413,
when Decelea had been fortified. As to the wholesale desertion of
