Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises (Penguin Classics) (24 page)
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Authors: Xenophon
‘Cities, like households, but to an even greater extent, are often in want of financial resources and in need of more ways of gaining them’ (Aristotle,
Politics
1259a40). Whether or not Aristotle had read the present work, that observation provides the context in which
Ways and Means
should be read within Xenophon’s
œuvre.
For it is primarily valuable, not, as are several of the treatises, for Xenophon’s views on
leadership qualities or any other facets of individual moral virtue, but for how he envisaged practical Athenian. ‘political economy’. It is in fact the most overtly pragmatic of Xenophon’s treatises, more so even than
Cavalry Commander.
As such, it is an oddity, not only within Xenophon’s œuvre but in Greek literature as a whole. Whereas
The Estate-manager
fits seamlessly into what the Germans call
Hausvaterliteratur,
that is homespun wisdom literature regarding domestic management,
Ways and Means
seeks to operate at the level of ‘national’ or state economy, that is, to be received as an exercise in political economy rather than domestic science. Whereas the central term of
The Estate-manager
is arguably
epimeleia
(care, concern), which has inescapably moral implications, the analysis and recommendations in
Ways and Means
are offered in a spirit of goal-oriented economic rationality.
In fact, so pragmatic in orientation is
Ways and Means
that it could be read – and perhaps was written – almost as a party-political pamphlet. Athens in the mid-350s was desperately short of public funds, so short indeed that certain forms of pay for public service which were normally distributed out of central funds had to be temporarily suspended. Desperate times demanded desperate measures. In advocating above all a large investment in publicly owned slave labour in the state silver mines, Xenophon was arguing radically against alternative, more conservative and conventional schemes: such as, at one extreme, deep cuts in public expenditure associated with a mild increase in indirect taxation, or, at the other extreme, aggressive overseas imperialism financed initially by hugely increased direct taxation of the very rich.
Its pragmatic orientation, however, does not of course mean that the treatise is value-free. It is noticeable that immediately after the long chapter on slave investment (4) Xenophon ceases to be a narrowly fiscal reformer and puts on again his political theorist hat, aiming to show his readers how to lead the good life of military and other public political service. Moreover, the treatise simply assumes the validity of slave labour, whereas an important part of the first book of Aristotle’s
Politics
is given over to an attempted justification of a doctrine of natural slavery against the views of those philosophers or sophists who argued that all slavery, inasmuch as it was based on force rather than
rational persuasion, was morally indefensible. Aristotle’s unconvincing rejoinder amounted to little more than an endorsement of the standard Greek view according to which all non-Greek ‘barbarians’ were by their nature morally and intellectually barbaric, and therefore ‘naturally’ suited for slavery in the Greek world. Xenophon too was presumably looking to the non-Greek periphery (Thrace and Asia Minor were the chief actual sources of slave labour) for the supply of his mine-slaves.
Perhaps it is needless to say, but Xenophon’s scheme was not in practice adopted. In the real world of the mid fourth century Athens veered opportunistically between versions of the two extreme solutions to the problems of raising public revenues sketched above. Not that this was at all exceptional: other Greek cities habitually resorted to a variety of expedients that can rarely be dignified with a label other than ‘scams’; many such examples are listed, in sometimes hilarious detail, in the second book of the Pseudo-Aristotelian
Oeconomica
. In a historical context like that, Xenophon’s
Ways and Means
deserves more credit from us than his contemporaries were willing or able to accord it, as a bold and original intellectual construct.
My view has always been that a state’s political system reflects [1] the characteristics of its leaders. However, it has in the past been claimed by some of the leading politicians in Athens that, although they recognize the principle of equity just as much as anyone else, the poverty of the citizen masses forces their political programme to fall somewhat short of total equity towards the allied cities.
1
I therefore undertook to see if there was a way for the citizens of Athens to sustain themselves from their own resources, which would be the fairest system, because that would, in my opinion, not only provide them with a remedy for their poverty, but also alleviate the mistrust in which they are held in Greece. As soon as I started to look into [2] the project, I was struck by the realization that the land is naturally capable of providing a very good income. In order to demonstrate the truth of this, I shall begin by describing the natural properties of Attica.
In the first place, the plants themselves prove how exceptionally [3] mild the climate is here; I mean, plants that cannot even grow in many parts of the world actually bear fruit here. In the second place, the sea off the coast of Attica is just as profusely productive as the land. Then again, whatever the season, all the good things supplied by the gods begin earlier and end later here than anywhere else.
2
Moreover, the excellence of this land depends not just on things that [4] flourish and decline annually: it also bears good things that last for ever. For instance, there is an inexhaustible supply of stone
3
in it which is turned into wonderful temples, magnificent altars, and most fittingly beautiful statues of the gods, and is much in demand both in Greece and abroad; there is land which is unproductive when [5]
cultivated, but which when mined feeds far more people than the equivalent amount of arable land does. The land is shot through with silver – and who can doubt that this is the gods’ doing, when not even the tiniest vein of silver ore reaches any of the states that border on Attica by land or sea?
4
[6] It is not unreasonable to hold that Athens was founded at the centre of Greece and therefore of the whole inhabited world,
5
considering that the further away from it one is, the more one encounters severity of cold or heat, and that everyone who undertakes the journey from one end of Greece to the other, by sea or by land, passes Athens, as if it were the pivot of a circle.
6
[7] Even though Attica is not actually surrounded by water, it resembles an island in the sense that anything it needs to import or wants to export is borne to and from the country by the winds from every quarter. This is because Attica lies between two seas, but it is also connected to the mainland, so there is a thriving land trade as well.
[8] Moreover, most states have non-Greeks on their borders who make trouble for them, but Athens’ neighbours are themselves far away from non-Greek lands.
7
[1] As I said, all these things are due, in my opinion, to the land itself, but in addition to these indigenous advantages, let us start by also taking the interests of the resident aliens into consideration.
1
This group constitutes, I believe, one of the best sources of income Athens has, because they are self-supporting and help their states in a number of ways without receiving public pay for it; in fact, they pay a resident [2] alien’s tax.
2
I think their interests would be adequately served if we were to abolish all the rules which apparently deprive resident aliens of status and honour without helping the state in the slightest, and also were to rescind their obligation to form a company ofheavy-armed infantry to serve alongside the citizen units. After all, it is very risky for them to leave Athens, and no trivial matter for them to leave their [3] children and households.
3
Besides, it would help us if military service
were undertaken entirely by citizens rather than having citizens, as now, enlist alongside non-Greeks from far-flung places such as Lydia, Phrygia and Syria, where quite a few resident aliens come from.
4
In [4] addition to the advantage gained by abrogating their duty to join the army, it would also be to the state’s credit if Athenians were seen to rely on themselves rather than foreigners to fight their battles.
Also, if we granted resident aliens certain privileges, and in particular [5] the right to serve in the cavalry,
5
I think we would make them more loyal and at the same time improve Athens’ strength and importance.
Another point is that there are a number of abandoned houses and [6] sites within the city walls, and if the state were to allow those applicants whom they judged suitable to take possession of these sites and build on them, I think this would greatly improve both the numbers and quality of people who wanted to live in Athens.
6
Then again, if we made the custody of resident aliens an official [7] post, along the lines of the custodians of orphans,
7
and rewarded in some way those who presented the state with the most resident aliens, this is another move that would increase the resident aliens’ loyalty; the chances are that it would also make everyone who is currently not enrolled as a citizen of some state want to live in Athens, which would raise its revenues.
I shall now explain why maritime trade is a particularly agreeable and [1] profitable pursuit for Athens. In the first place, of course, there is nowhere that can rival the excellence of the havens it offers shipping, where ships can berth and ride out stormy weather in complete safety.
1
Moreover, in most states traders are more or less compelled to take [2] on a return cargo, because the local currency is unusable beyond the borders of these states. In Athens, however, although it is usual for traders to export goods for which there is a demand in return for the merchandise they imported, they can also export silver instead, if they would rather not take on a return cargo – and this is good business because they will be able to sell the silver anywhere in the world for
[3] more than the original purchase price.
2
Also, if the Controllers of the Peiraeus Emporium were to offer a reward for the fair and rapid resolution of disputes,
3
so that the departure of traders was facilitated, this would make Athens much more attractive for traders, and they [4] would come in far greater numbers. It would also be a sound and good idea to give traders and shipowners the right to front seats in the theatre, and occasionally to invite to state banquets the ones whose ships and cargo seem so outstanding that they may be counted as benefactors of Athens. The point is that if they are honoured in these ways the prospect of prestige as well as profit will make them look [5] on us as their friends and flock to Athens.
4
And obviously imports, exports, transactions, sales, rents and excise duties would increase along with the rise in the number of residents and visitors.
[6] The kinds of increase in revenue I have been discussing need involve no prior expenditure apart from considerate legislation
5
and attention to detail. However, all the other sources of income that [7] occur to me would, I am sure, require an initial capital fund. Nevertheless, remembering how generous the citizenry was when we went to the assistance of Arcadia during Lysistratus’ period of command, and again during Hegesileos’ command,
6
I am reasonably confident that the people of Athens will fund the kinds of projects I have in mind. [8] Also, I am aware how often war-ships are dispatched abroad, fitted out
*
at considerable expense, when it is unclear whether or not the expedition will be successful, and all that is certain is that those who paid for it will never recover their money in whole or even in part.
7
[9] However, they will never find any return as good as what they can get from investing in the state capital fund: given a return of three obols a day, the return on ten minas is almost a fifth (i.e. the same as the return on financing a ship’s voyage), while the return on five [10] minas is a third, and most Athenian citizens will receive a larger return each year than their initial outlay, because their outlay of one mina will yield a return of almost two minas.
8
What is more, these returns are provided by a state, and a state is held to be the most secure and [11] enduring of human institutions.
9
I also think that if their names were to be included in the register of eternal benefactors of the state, plenty of non-Athenians would make a contribution, and even some foreign
states, attracted by the register. I would go so far as to expect even some kings, tyrants and satraps to want to share in this bounty.
10
Once the capital reserve fund is in existence, it would be a sound [12] and good idea to construct extra hostels for shipowners in the vicinity of the harbour (in addition to the ones that already exist), purpose-built places for traders to do their buying and selling, and state-subsidized hostels for visitors. Also, if houses and shops were built in Peiraeus [13] and Athens for retailers, this would not only be to the state’s credit, but would also generate a great deal of revenue.
I also think it would be a good idea to investigate the feasibility of [14] state ownership of a merchant marine, as already happens in the case of war-ships; these merchant ships could then be hired out against collateral, on similar terms to those which apply to state property in general.
11
If this proved to be feasible, it would turn out to be another rich source of revenue.
As for the silver mines, it is my opinion that if they were organized [1] properly they would make an enormous amount of money for Athens, leaving aside any other sources of revenue it may have. I should explain what I mean for the sake of any readers who are not aware of the mines’ potential, because once you have grasped their potential you will be in a better position to decide what to do with them.
Everyone knows that the mines have been worked for a very long [2] time; at any rate, no one even hazards a guess as to when the enterprise was first undertaken.
1
Yet although the mining and removal of silver ore have been going on for so long, you should consider how small a pile what has been removed so far would make compared to the untouched silver-bearing hills. Nor is it the case that the area with [3] deposits of silver is contracting: further reaches of it are constantly being discovered.
Now, for a while
2
huge numbers of men were to be found in the mines, and during that period no one was ever without work; in fact, there was always more work than there were workers. And even now, [4]
if someone owns slaves who work in the mines, he never decreases the size of his work-force, but always adds as many men to it as he possibly can. The reason for this, I suppose, is that the quantity of the precious metal that is discovered is directly proportionate to the size of the work-force engaged in digging and searching for silver ore. The upshot of this is that it is the only work I know of where no one is envious of new entrepreneurs.
3
[5] Here is another point. Whereas farm-owners can always tell you the right number of teams of oxen and men to work their land, and count themselves worse off if they gain more than this optimum number, all you ever hear from people involved in the silver mines [6] is that they are short of workers.
4
The point is that mining is not like working with bronze or iron, for instance, where if there is a large number of smiths their products become cheap and the smiths are forced out of business. Likewise, when grain or wine is plentiful, the price of the crops falls, working the land becomes unprofitable and in the end large numbers of farmers abandon their work and become traders or retailers or money-lenders instead. However, the more silver ore that is discovered and the more silver there is as a result, the [7] more people turn to this line of work.
5
I mean, when someone has enough furniture for his house he stops buying it there and then, but no one has ever had so much silver that he did not feel the need for more; no, some people with silver in vast quantities derive as much pleasure from
burying
the amount that is surplus to their requirements as they do from putting the silver to use!
6
[8] Another point is that times of national prosperity are accompanied by a strong demand for silver. Men want to spend money on fine arms and armour, good horses, and impressive houses and fittings; [9] women indulge in expensive clothes and golden jewellery. At the same time, however, in times of national crisis, brought on by crop failure or war, silver coin is even more in demand, to pay for supplies and mercenaries, given that the land is being left unfarmed.
[10] Then again, while I do not wish to contradict the claim that gold is just as useful as silver, I do know that when gold is being discovered in large quantities, its value goes down, but it pushes up the value of silver.
7
[11] Now, my purpose in explaining all this is to encourage us to channel
as large a work-force as possible towards the silver mines and make arrangements for them, confident in the knowledge that the ore will never give out and that silver will never lose its value. In actual fact, [12] I think the state has anticipated me in this plan, because it permits any foreigner who wants to make mining his business to do so on the same conditions as citizens.
8
I want to make my position on the subject of the state allowance [13] even clearer than I have so far. In order to do so, I shall now go on to describe how the mining of silver should be organized for Athens to derive the maximum benefit. I do not expect what I am about to say to occasion any astonishment, as if I had solved a difficult problem, because I will partly be doing no more than pointing out what is still plain for all of us to see even today,
9
and we have also all heard that in the past things were no different. However, what may very well [14] be surprising is that the state just watches all the private individuals who make money from the mines and does not copy them.
For instance, those of us who have bothered to pay attention to these matters have of course known for a long time by hearsay that Nicias the son of Niceratus once had 1,000 of his slaves working in the mines, and that he hired these men out to Sosias the Thracian for an obol each a day, after deductions, with any losses in the work-force to be made up by Sosias. Then there were Hipponicus,
10
whose 600 [15] slaves, hired out on the same terms, brought him a clear mina a day, and Philemonides with 300 slaves bringing him half a mina a day. I imagine there were others too, each capable of realizing his own level of profit. But why should I bring up instances from the past? Even [16] today there are plenty of men in the mines hired out in the same way. If my proposals were put into practice, the only novelty would be [17] that the state would imitate those private individuals who have arranged things so that their ownership of slaves is a permanent source of income for themselves, and would acquire state-owned slaves, up to the level of three for each Athenian citizen.
11
Is this plan viable? Every aspect of it should be examined separately [18] to decide whether or not it is. Taking first the cost of the slaves, it is perfectly clear that public funding is a far more realistic proposition than raising that kind of money from private citizens. And it would
be a simple matter for the Council to announce that people are [19] welcome to bring slaves for it to buy. Once the slaves have been bought, why should anyone be more reluctant to hire from the state rather than from private individuals, assuming that the conditions of hire are the same? After all, people hire sanctuaries and houses from the state, and buy the rights to levy taxes from it.
[20] The slaves the state now owns can be insured by obtaining guarantees from the people who hire them, just as the state does from those who buy the rights to levy taxes. In actual fact, though, it is easier for a [21] tax-farmer to cheat than it is for a slave-hirer. I mean, the question in the case of public money is how do you catch someone in the act of exporting it, when it is indistinguishable from private money? But the question in the case of slaves is how is anyone going to steal them, when they have been branded with the official public tattoo and when there is a stipulated penalty for anyone selling or exporting them?
12
So far, then, there seems to be nothing to prevent Athens owning [22] and keeping slaves. But suppose someone wonders where all the hirers are going to come from, to cope with the number of labourers. This is not a problem, however. One need only bear in mind, first, that a good proportion of those who are already established in the mines are so well off that they will hire state-owned slaves to supplement their own work-force; second, that a good proportion of the labourers in the mines are getting on in age; and, third, that there are plenty of people, from both Athens and abroad, who may not have the physical strength to be either willing or able to do this kind of work themselves, but who would be glad to make a living working in an administrative capacity with their minds.
13
[23] Suppose, however, that the initial work-force consisted of 1,200 slaves. There can hardly be any doubt that within five or six years, on the basis of just the revenue from this initial work-force, the number would grow to at least 6,000. Then the annual income derived from a work-force this size, assuming that each slave brings in a clear [24] obol a day, is sixty talents a year. If twenty talents of this are spent on further slaves, the state will already have forty talents available for other important projects. And once there are 10,000 men in all in the work-force, they will generate an income of 100 talents.
In actual fact, though, the state will receive far more than that, as [25] any of my readers who still remember how much slaves cost before the Deceleian affair will verify.
14
Further evidence comes from the fact that throughout the period of the mines’ existence countless thousands of men have worked in them, and yet there is no difference between the mines today and in the past, as we can tell from our ancestors’ records. The whole current situation of the mines suggests [26] that the work will always require more slaves than can be found there at any given time, since however deep or far underground the mining operations extend, there appears to be no end to the silver;
15
and it is [27] just as possible to open new seams nowadays as it always was, so no one can say for sure whether there is more ore in the areas that have already been opened up or in those that have yet to be mined.
Why, then, it might be asked, are fewer slaves employed at present [28] on opening new seams than in former times? Because the people with an interest in the mines today have less money, since work has only recently restarted there.
16
Opening a new seam is, after all, highly risky: if you strike a good seam, you can make a fortune, but otherwise [29] you can lose all the money you have invested in the operation. So people nowadays are rather reluctant to take this risk. However, here [30] again I think I can offer some advice which will make the business of opening new seams entirely risk-free. There are, of course, ten Athenian tribes. If the state were to give each tribe the same number of slaves, and if they were to pool their fortunes as they went about opening new seams, it would take only a single successful strike for them all to profit, and if two, three, four or five tribes found rich [31] seams, the profits from these operations would obviously be even greater. Past experience shows that in all probability they would not all fail to make a lucky strike.
Private individuals can of course combine in this way too – that is, [32] they can pool their fortunes to reduce the risks – but there is no need to worry about either the state-run operation interfering with the private concerns or vice versa. No, just as every contingent that joins an alliance strengthens and is strengthened by all the others, so the more people who make mining their business, the more of value they will discover and extract.
[33] So much, then, for the ways I suggest Athens’ affairs should be organized for there to be sufficient money in the public treasury to [34] pay every Athenian his allowance. As a result of calculating the huge capital sum necessary to finance all these measures, some people might doubt whether enough money could ever be raised, but in fact even [35] so they should not lose heart. After all, it is not the case that these measures are necessarily advantageous only if they are implemented in their totality all at once. No, there will be instant benefit however [36] many houses are constructed, ships built or slaves bought. In fact, there is a sense in which it will be better to implement them step by step rather than all at once: if a whole lot of us go ahead and build houses at the same time, we will end up paying more for lower-quality products than we would on a gradual approach, and if we go in search of huge numbers of slaves we will be forced to buy inferior men at [37] inflated prices. If we let our resources dictate the pace at which we go about the business, however, we can repeat
*
those aspects of our [38] plans which were well conceived and avoid any mistakes. Besides, if everything happened at once it would be up to us to cover all the costs, whereas if we put some things in motion and postpone the rest for a later date, the revenue generated would contribute towards 39 the necessary expenditure. Then again, the chief worry everyone seems to have is probably the prospect of the mines becoming overcrowded if the state acquires too many slaves, but we can eliminate this worry by not putting more men in each year than the work itself demands.
17
[40] So it seems to me that the least troublesome way of implementing these measures is also the best way. However, if you think that the expenses of the recent war
18
have completely drained the state’s resources, what you should do is make sure that the administration of the state in the year to come is covered by the amount of money raised by the taxes that were levied before the end of the war, and then invest the surplus so as to maximize your revenues – the surplus coming from the fact that there is peace, from looking after the resident aliens and the traders, from the expansion of import-export business now that more people can be involved in it, and from increased excise duties and market rents.
19
Another fear might be that these measures would be nullified in [41] the event of war. It should be borne in mind, however, that with these measures in place a war would be much more frightening for the aggressors than for Athens. After all, could there be a more useful [42] asset in wartime than men? There would be enough of them to man a sizeable state-funded fleet, and a large well-tended land army too would make life difficult for the enemy.
20
Besides, on my evaluation, it would be possible to keep the mines [43] open even in wartime. In the vicinity of the mines there are two strongholds about sixty stades apart: one at Anaphlystus to the south, and the other at Thoricus to the north. If there were a third fortress [44] halfway between these two at the highest point of Besa, the mines would be the focus of all the strongholds, and at the first hint of enemy activity no one would have far to retreat to safety. If the enemy came [45] in some force, they would obviously make off with any grain or wine or sheep they found out in the open, but silver ore would do them as little good as stones, so why would they seize it?