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