Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| One who intends to manage a household properly must not be inexperienced in the localities where he will be doing business, and must be naturally well-suited by nature, and by choice both hardworking and just; for whichever of these elements is lacking, he will go badly wrong in many respects in the business he handles. There are four kinds of household management, to divide them in outline (for we shall find the others falling under these): royal, satrapal, political, and private. Of these the royal is the greatest and simplest, the political is the most varied and easiest, and the private is the smallest and most varied. It is necessary that they share much in common with one another; but what belongs most distinctively to each through itself is what we must examine. Let us then look first at the royal kind. This is capable of universal scope, but has four species: concerning coinage, concerning exports, concerning imports, concerning expenditures. Of these, I mean by the first, concerning coinage: what kind, and when it should be made dear or cheap; concerning exports and imports: when, and which goods, taken from the satraps as their assessed tribute, it will profit him to dispose of; concerning expenditures: what must be cut and when, and whether coined money should be given for expenses or the goods that money buys. Second, the satrapal kind. Of this there are six species of revenue: from the land, from the special products arising in the country, from trading centers, from tolls, from livestock, from other sources. Of these the first and strongest is that from the land (this is what some call rent, and others call a tithe); second is that arising from special products, in one place gold, in another silver, in another copper, in another whatever else it happens to produce; and third is that from trading centers,
2| [1346a] and fourth is that arising from tolls on land and in the marketplace, and fifth is that from livestock, called both a produce-due and a tithe, and sixth is that from other sources, called both a poll-tax and a tax on handicrafts. Third, the political kind. Of this the strongest revenue is that from the special products produced in the country, then that from trading centers and transit, then that from the regular dues. Fourth and last, the private kind. This is irregular, because it need not be managed with a view to a single aim, and it is the smallest, because both its revenues and its expenditures turn out slight. Of this itself the strongest revenue is that from land, second is that from other claims, third is that from money. Apart from these there is a point shared by all kinds of household management, which one ought to examine and not treat as a side matter, and especially in this last kind: that expenditures must not become greater than revenues. Since, then, we have stated the divisions, after this we must in turn consider whether the satrapy or the city we are dealing with can sustain all the sources we have just distinguished, or the greatest of these; and these are the ones to be used.
3| After this, we must consider which revenues do not exist at all but could be brought into being, or which, being small now, could be made larger, and among the expenditures now being made, which and how many could be cut away without harming the whole. We have, then, stated what concerns household management and its parts. And whatever some men of former times have done to procure funds, or have managed skillfully, and which we judged worth recording, we have gathered together. For we do not suppose this record to be useless; there are times when these examples will fit whatever business a person is himself engaged in. Cypselus of Corinth, having vowed to Zeus that if he became master of the city he would dedicate to him all the property of the Corinthians, ordered them to submit a written declaration of it.
4| [1346b] When they had made the declaration, he took a tenth part from each, and told them to go on working with the rest. And when the year had gone round he did this same thing again, so that it came about that in ten years he had all the property he had consecrated, while the Corinthians had come to possess an equal amount afresh. Lygdamis of Naxos, having driven out certain exiles, when no one was willing to buy their property except at a low price, sold it back to the exiles themselves. And the votive offerings of theirs that lay half-finished in various workshops, he sold to the exiles and to any other willing buyer, on condition that the buyer's name be inscribed on them. The Byzantines, being in need of money, sold off the public sacred precincts — the fruit-bearing ones for a fixed term, the unproductive ones outright and forever; and likewise those belonging to religious societies and to clan groups, and whatever lay within privately held land, since people would pay a high price for these because other property already belonged to them too. To the members of the societies they gave in exchange other, public sites — those around the gymnasium, or the marketplace, or the harbor — and the market stalls where people sold their wares; and they sold the right to fish the sea, and the right to sell salt, and the earnings of those working as conjurers, diviners, drug-sellers, and others of that kind, ordering a third part of what each such person earned to be paid over. They also sold the right to exchange currency to a single bank, and no one else was permitted either to sell currency to another or to buy it from another; otherwise the penalty was confiscation. And though they had a law that no one should be a citizen who was not born of citizen parents on both sides, when they needed money they voted that a man born of only one citizen parent could become a citizen by paying down thirty minas. And when a grain shortage arose and they were short of funds, they brought into port the ships sailing from the Pontus; and when time had passed and the merchants grew indignant, they paid them interest at a tenth, and ordered those who bought any of the grain to pay a tenth over and above the price.
5| [1347a] Some resident foreigners had lent money on the security of properties, though they did not have the right of ownership; the people voted that whoever wished, by paying a third of the loan, could hold the property outright. Hippias the Athenian sold off the parts of upper stories that projected over the public roads, and the steps, and the barriers, and the doors that opened outward: so the owners of the properties bought these back, and in this way a good deal of money was collected. He also declared the currency then current at Athens invalid, and having fixed a rate, ordered people to bring it in to him; and when they had assembled expecting a different design to be struck, he issued back the very same silver. And as many as were going to serve as trierarchs, or tribal commanders, or chorus-sponsors, or spend money on any other such public service, he fixed a moderate assessment and ordered that whoever wished could, by paying this, be enrolled among those who had already performed the service. He also ordered that, on behalf of anyone who died, a quart of barley and a quart of wheat and an obol should be brought to the priestess of Athena on the Acropolis, and that the same should be brought for anyone to whom a child was born. The Athenians living at Potidaea, needing money for the war, arranged for everyone to register their properties — not lumped together under each man's own deme, but item by item, in whatever place each item was, so that the poor could underassess themselves;
6| whoever had no property at all was to assess his own body at two minas. From these assessments, then, each man paid in to the city the sum assessed, in full. Sosipolis of Antissa, when the city needed money and the people were accustomed to celebrate the Dionysia lavishly, spending a great deal throughout the year on preparations including costly sacrificial victims, and this festival being close at hand, persuaded them to vow to Dionysus that they would repay double the next year, and to gather these preparations together and sell them off instead. So no small amount of money was collected for their need. The Lampsacenes, since many triremes were expected against them, and a medimnos of barley-meal cost four drachmas, ordered the market-sellers to sell it at six drachmas, and a chous of oil that cost three drachmas at four drachmas three obols, and likewise for wine and the rest. So the private seller received the original price,
7| [1347b] but the surplus went to the city, and it became well supplied with money. The Heracleots, sending forty ships against the tyrants in the Bosporus, not being well supplied with money, bought up on credit from the merchants all the grain and oil and wine and the rest of the market goods, with a period set within which they intended to pay the price. It suited the merchants well not to sell in small measures but to have their cargoes sold in bulk, and the Heracleots, paying in this other way, did not hand over wages but delivered the market goods aboard their transport ships, and set a treasurer over each of the vessels. When they arrived in enemy territory, the soldiers bought everything from these men. So the money was collected before the generals paid out wages again, with the result that the same money kept being handed over until the men returned home. The Spartans, when the Samians asked them for money toward their restoration, voted that they themselves, their household slaves, and their pack animals should fast for one day, and that each man should give the Samians as much as he would otherwise have spent. The Chalcedonians, since many foreigners staying in their city were owed wages they were unable to pay off, announced that if any citizen or resident foreigner had a claim of seizure against a city or a private individual and wished to press it, he should register it. When many had registered, they seized the ships sailing into the Pontus on some plausible pretext. They set a time by which they said they would render an account concerning these seizures. When a good deal of money had been collected, they paid off the soldiers, and had the seizure-claims adjudicated; to those who had been wrongly plundered the city made restitution out of its revenues. The Cyzicenes, torn by factional strife among themselves, with the popular party prevailing and the rich seized, and owing money to soldiers, voted not to put the men they had seized to death, but to exact money from them and banish them. The Chians, who had a law requiring debts to be registered with the public authority, being in need of money,
8| [1348a] voted that debtors should repay their loans to the city, and that the city should pay the interest to the lenders out of its revenues, until it could also make good the principal. Mausolus, the ruler of Caria, when the King sent to him demanding the tribute, gathered the wealthiest men in the country and told them that the King was demanding the tribute and that he himself was not well supplied with funds. Men who had been briefed by him in advance at once announced how much each would contribute. When these men had done this, the wealthier men, partly out of shame and partly out of fear, announced and paid in far more than these. On another occasion, needing money, he called an assembly of the Mylasians and told them that their city, though a mother-city, was unwalled, and that the King was marching against him. So he ordered the Mylasians each to bring as much money as possible, saying that by what they now contributed they would also preserve the rest of their property. When much had been contributed, he kept the money, but said that the god did not permit him to build the wall at present. Condalus, Mausolus's deputy, whenever anyone traveling through the country with him offered him a sheep or a pig or a calf, would register the giver and the date, and have the animal taken home and reared until he should return;
9| and whenever enough time seemed to have passed, he would reckon up the animal itself together with its offspring and demand payment. And the parts of trees that overhung or fell onto the royal roads he sold off as likewise part of the produce. And whenever any of the soldiers died, he demanded a toll of a drachma per body at the gate; so from this he both collected money and kept the commanders from deceiving him about when a soldier had actually died. And seeing that the Lycians liked to wear their hair long, he claimed that a letter had come from the King ordering hair to be sent for wigs, and that Mausolus had accordingly instructed him to have their hair cut off. He then said that if they wished to pay him a fixed poll-tax instead, he would send for hair from Greece; and they gladly gave what he asked, and a great deal of money was collected from the large number of people. Aristotle of Rhodes, ruler of Phocaea, being short of funds and seeing that the Phocaeans were split into two factions, held secret talks with one of the factions,
10| [1348b] telling them that the other faction was offering him money on condition that he tip affairs in their favor, but that he would rather take it from this faction and hand over the management of the city's affairs to them. On hearing this, those present at once raised as much money as he had specified and gave it to him. He then showed the other faction what he had received from the first, and they in turn said they would give no less. Having taken money from both sides, he reconciled them with one another. Then, observing that the citizens had many lawsuits pending, and great wrongs of long standing against one another arising from the war, he set up a court and announced beforehand that whoever did not bring his case to trial within the time he specified would no longer have any claim over earlier charges. Then indeed, by taking for himself the court-deposit fees of many suits and the appeal fees with their penalties, and by taking money from both sides through intermediaries, he collected no small amount of money. The Clazomenians, in a grain shortage and short of money, voted that private individuals who had oil should lend it to the city at interest — for this crop is abundant in their country. When they had lent it, the city hired ships and sent them to the trading ports from which their grain came, pledging the value of the oil as security.
11| Owing soldiers twenty talents in wages and unable to pay it, they instead paid the commanders four talents a year in interest; but since they were paying down none of the principal, and kept spending money to no purpose, they struck an iron coinage to the value of twenty talents of silver, then gave it to the wealthiest men in the city, each his proportionate share, and took from them an equal amount of silver in return. So the private citizens had money to spend on their daily needs, and the city was freed of its debt. Then, in turn, out of the revenues, they paid those men the interest, and, always setting aside a portion, distributed it to each in installments, taking back the iron coins as it was paid. The Selybrians, needing money, though they had a law forbidding the export of grain in time of famine, and though they had old grain in store, voted that private citizens should hand their grain over to the city at the fixed price,
12| [1349a] leaving each man his food for the year; then they gave the right of export to anyone who wished, fixing a price that seemed good to them. The people of Abydos, since their land had gone out of cultivation because of civil strife, and the resident aliens would advance them nothing because the city was already in debt to them, voted that anyone who wished should lend money to the farmers so that they might work the land, on the understanding that the lenders would be repaid first out of the produce, and the rest of the creditors out of what remained. The Ephesians, being in need of money, passed a law that women should not wear gold, but should instead lend to the city whatever gold they now had. They also had it inscribed on certain of the pillars in the temple the sum of money each was to contribute, and allowed the name of the giver of the money to be inscribed as though she had dedicated it. Dionysius of Syracuse, wishing to raise money, called an assembly and said he had seen Demeter, and that she ordered the women's ornaments to be carried to her temple. He himself, he said, had done this with the ornaments of the women in his own household; he called on the others to do the same, so that no anger might come from the goddess; and he said that whoever did not do so would be guilty of sacrilege. When everyone had brought in what they had, both out of fear of the goddess and out of fear of him, he sacrificed to the goddess and then carried the ornaments off again, as though he had borrowed them from the goddess.
13| As time went on and the women began wearing gold again, he ordered that any woman who wished to wear gold should dedicate a certain sum in the temple. When he was about to build triremes he knew he would need money. So he called an assembly and said that some city was being betrayed to him, for the taking of which he needed money, and he asked the citizens to contribute two staters each; and they contributed. After letting two or three days pass, as though the plan had failed, he praised them and gave back to each man what he had contributed. Having done this, he won back the citizens' trust. Then, when he called for contributions again, they gave, expecting to get the money back as before; but this time he took it and kept it for the shipbuilding. Being short of silver, he struck a coinage of tin, and calling an assembly he strongly recommended the coinage he had struck; and they voted, whether they wished it or not, that each man should treat whatever he had received as silver, not as tin.
14| [1349b] Again, being in need of money, he asked the citizens to contribute to him; but they said they had none. So he brought out his own household furniture and offered it for sale, as if he were doing this out of poverty; and as the Syracusans bought it up, he had a record made of what each man had bought. When they had paid the price, he ordered each man to bring back the piece of furniture he had bought. And since the citizens, because of the war-levies, were not raising livestock, he announced that what he had was sufficient for so great a need, and that therefore anyone who now acquired livestock would be exempt from tax. When many people had quickly acquired large numbers of animals, expecting to hold them tax-free, he waited until he thought the moment was right, then ordered a valuation and imposed the tax. The citizens, angry at having been deceived, began slaughtering their animals and selling them off. When in response to this he fixed how many were to be slaughtered per day, they took to making them sacrificial victims instead; so he forbade the sacrifice of females. Being again in need of money, he ordered a register to be made, for submission to him, of whatever households were orphaned of their heads. When others had made this register, he made use of the property of these estates until each heir came of age. And when he took Rhegium, he called an assembly and said that they might justly be sold into slavery by him, but that if instead they recovered for him the money spent on the war, and paid three minae for each person, he would release them.
15| The people of Rhegium then brought into the open whatever they had previously kept hidden, and those without means, borrowing from the wealthier citizens and from foreigners, raised the money he demanded. But once he had taken this from them, he sold every one of their persons into slavery all the same, and seized every piece of the furniture that had been hidden, now that it was out in the open. He also borrowed money from the citizens on the promise of repayment; and when they demanded it back, he ordered every man to bring to him whatever silver he had, on pain of death if he failed to do so. When the silver had been brought in, he stamped a new device on it and issued the drachma as worth two drachmas, and in this coin he repaid what he had previously owed. Sailing to Etruria with a hundred ships, he took from the temple of Leucothea a great quantity of gold and silver and no small amount of other ornament besides. And knowing that the sailors too had much plunder,
16| [1350a] he issued a proclamation that each man should bring him half of what he had, and keep the other half for himself; and he set death as the penalty for anyone who did not comply. The sailors, supposing that once they had handed over the half they would be allowed to keep the rest, brought it in without fear; but he, having got that much from them, then ordered them to hand over half of what remained as well. The people of Mende used the revenues that came to them from harbor dues and other taxes for the administration of the city, but did not collect the taxes owed on land and houses; instead they kept a record of those who owed them, and whenever they needed money the debtors paid up; so over the intervening time they had profited by having the use of the money interest-free. When at war with the Olynthians and in need of money, since they had slaves, they voted that each man should keep for himself one male and one female slave and sell the rest to the city, so that the city might lend the proceeds out to private citizens. Callistratus, in Macedonia, when the harbor tax was normally sold for about twenty talents, contrived to have it fetch double: for he observed that it was always the wealthier men who bid, because sureties for the twenty talents had to be worth a talent apiece; so he had it proclaimed that anyone who wished might bid, providing sureties for only a third of the sum and to whatever extent each man could persuade others to vouch for him. Timotheus the Athenian, at war with the Olynthians and short of silver, struck a bronze coinage and distributed it to the soldiers.
17| When the soldiers grew angry, he told them that the merchants and tradesmen would accept it in exchange for everything on the same terms. And he told the merchants in advance that whatever bronze coin anyone received, they should use it again to buy up the produce coming in from the countryside and the goods brought in from plunder; and whatever bronze was left over on their hands, they were to bring to him and receive silver for it. When he was at war around Corcyra and in serious financial straits, and the soldiers were demanding their pay and refusing to obey him, threatening to go over to the enemy, he called an assembly and said that he was unable, because of the storms, to get money brought to him, though he had so great a supply of it waiting for him that he would give them, as a gift, the three months' grain-allowance that had previously been promised.
18| [1350b] The soldiers, supposing that Timotheus would never have given away so much money to them unless the money really were on its way to him, kept quiet about their pay until he had settled the matters he wished. When he was besieging Samos, he sold off the crops and produce from the fields to the Samians themselves, so that he had ample money for the soldiers' pay. And when there was a shortage of provisions in the camp because of the crowds arriving, he forbade the sale of ground grain in any quantity less than a medimnus, or of any liquid in any quantity less than a metretes. So the taxiarchs and company commanders bought it up in bulk and distributed it to the soldiers, while those who came into camp brought their own provisions with them; and whenever they were leaving, they sold off whatever was left over. The result was that the soldiers had an ample supply of provisions. Didales the Persian, having soldiers under him, was able to supply their daily needs out of enemy territory, but had no coin to give them; and when payment was demanded of him, after a period during which he had fallen behind, he devised the following scheme. He called an assembly and said that he was not short of money, but that he had it stored in a certain place, and he named the place. Then he broke camp and marched toward it; and when he drew near the place, he went ahead into it and took from the temples there whatever hollow silverware was inside,
19| then, fitting out his mules as though they were carrying money, and letting this be glimpsed, he marched on. The soldiers, seeing this and supposing that everything being carried was silver, took heart, expecting to receive their pay. He then said they must go on to Amisus to have it certified; and the road to Amisus was one of many days and through wintry country. During that time he kept the army supplied, giving them nothing but provisions. The craftsmen in the camp he kept for his own use, along with the peddlers who traded in various goods; no one else was permitted to do any of this work. Chabrias the Athenian, when Tachos king of Egypt was on campaign and in need of money, advised him to tell the priests that, because of the expense, some of the temples and a portion of the priesthood needed to be dismissed.
20| [1351a] The priests, hearing this, and each wanting the temple to be in their own district, gave him money privately. But once he had taken it from all of them, he ordered them to devote to the temple and to himself only a tenth part of the expenditure they had previously been making, and to lend him the rest, until the war against the king should be settled. He ordered that from each household everyone should contribute an amount he fixed, and likewise a per-person levy; and when grain was sold, apart from the price, the seller was to give an obol per artaba, and the buyer likewise. From ships and workshops, and from those engaged in any other business, he ordered a tenth part of their earnings to be paid. When he was about to march out of the country, he ordered that anyone who had unstamped silver or gold should bring it to him; and when most had brought it, he ordered that he himself should make use of it, but arranged for those who had lent it to be registered with the nomarchs, so that they would be repaid out of the tribute revenues. Iphicrates the Athenian, when Cotys was gathering soldiers, procured money for him in the following way. He had it ordered that the people Cotys ruled should be told to sow for him land requiring three medimni of seed; and when this was done, a great quantity of grain was collected.
21| He then brought it down to the trading-posts and sold it, and so became well supplied with money. Cotys the Thracian was trying to borrow money from the Perinthians to gather soldiers, but the Perinthians would not give it to him. So he asked them to provide, at least, some of their citizens as garrison-guards for certain posts, so that he might be free to make use elsewhere of the soldiers currently garrisoning them. They did this quickly, thinking they would thereby become masters of the posts. But Cotys put the men who had been sent under guard, and ordered them to send for the money he had been trying to borrow from the city, so as to ransom themselves with it. Mentor the Rhodian, having seized Hermeias and taken control of his territories, left in place the overseers Hermeias had appointed. But once they had all grown confident, and kept with themselves whatever they had hidden away or set aside in reserve, he seized them and took away everything they had.
22| [1351b] Memnon the Rhodian, having gained control of Lampsacus and needing money, assessed a certain sum of silver on its wealthiest citizens, telling them they would be repaid by the rest of the citizens. But when the other citizens made their contribution, he ordered them to lend this too to him, fixing a time by which he would repay them. Needing money again, he asked them to contribute once more, saying they would be repaid out of the public revenues; and they contributed, since repayment was supposed to come to them quickly. But when the revenue payments came in as well, he said he had need of these too, and would repay everyone later, with interest. From the soldiers serving under him he also withheld six days' rations and pay each year, saying that on those days — which he called the 'exempt' days — they kept no guard duty, made no march, and incurred no expense. Whereas before he had given the soldiers their rations on the second day of the new month, in the first month he skipped three days, and in the next, five; and he continued in this way, extending the delay each time, until he reached the thirtieth day. Charidemus of Oreus, who held certain territories in Aeolis, when Artabazus marched against him, needed money for his soldiers. At first the people contributed to him, but afterward they said they had nothing left.
23| Charidemus, in the town he judged wealthiest, then ordered that if anyone had coin or any other valuable property, they should send it away to another town, and promised to provide an escort — and he was seen doing this himself at the same time. When the people were persuaded, he led them a short way outside the town, and searching what they had with them, took as much as he needed, then led them back into the town again. He also issued a proclamation in the cities under his rule that no one should keep any weapon in his house, on pain of paying the fine he announced — but he was careless about it and made no effort to enforce it. So the people, thinking he had made the proclamation for nothing, each kept in place whatever weapons they happened to own. Then he suddenly had the houses searched, and from whomever he found any weapon, he exacted the fine. A certain Philoxenus, a Macedonian who governed Caria as satrap, needing money, announced that he intended to hold the Dionysia.
24| [1352a] He posted a list appointing the wealthiest of the Carians as chorus-sponsors, and instructed them what they needed to provide. Seeing that they were unhappy about it, he sent men secretly to ask them what they would be willing to pay to be released from the public duty. They said they would give much more than they expected to spend, in order not to be troubled and to keep away from drawing on their own resources. He took what these men gave, then enrolled others in their place, and kept doing this until he had gotten what he wanted from them too, and each in turn had contributed his share. Evaeses the Syrian, satrap of Egypt, on learning that the nomarchs were about to revolt from him, summoned them all to the palace and had them all hanged, but ordered word given to their households that they were under guard. So each household went about pleading on behalf of its own man, and tried to buy back with money those who had been arrested. He came to terms for each one, and having received the agreed payment, handed over to each family its corpse. Cleomenes of Alexandria, satrap of Egypt, when a famine arose that was severe elsewhere but moderate in Egypt, forbade the export of grain. When the nomarchs said they would be unable to pay the tribute if grain could not be exported, he permitted the export but imposed a heavy tax on the grain, so that it worked out for him that even with only a little grain exported he collected a large tax, and the nomarchs themselves were deprived of their pretext.
25| While he was sailing through the nome where the crocodile is a god, one of his own boys was seized by a crocodile. So he summoned the priests and said that, having been wronged first, he would take revenge on the crocodiles, and he ordered them hunted. The priests, so that their god should not be held in contempt, gathered as much gold as they could and gave it to him, and so he stopped. When King Alexander instructed him to found a city by Pharos and to move there the trading-port that had formerly stood at Canobus, he sailed down to Canobus and told the priests and the property-owners there that he had come for the purpose of resettling them. The priests and the inhabitants raised money and gave it to him, so that he would leave the trading-port where it was. Having taken it, he went away for the time being; but later, when his preparations for the building were ready, he sailed down again,
26| [1352b] and demanded money from them once more, this time far exceeding the earlier sum; for it made all the difference to him whether the trading-port belonged to his city or remained there. When they said they would be unable to give it, he resettled them by force. He also once sent a man out to make a purchase, and, learning that the man had gotten good bargains but intended to charge him inflated prices, told the man's associates that he had heard the man had bought the goods at excessive prices, and that he himself would therefore not accept the account — and at the same time he abused the man's stupidity with a show of feigned anger. Hearing this, they said he ought not believe those who spoke against the man until the man himself came and gave an account. When the buyer arrived, they reported to him what Cleomenes had said. Wanting to prove himself honest both to them and to Cleomenes, he reported the true prices at which he had bought the goods. When grain was selling in the country at ten drachmas, he summoned the grain-dealers and asked at what price they were willing to work for him. They said for less than what they sold it to the merchants. He then ordered them to hand their grain over to him at that same price they sold it to others, but himself fixed the price of grain at thirty-two drachmas, and sold it at that rate. And summoning the priests, he told them that the expenditure on the temples throughout the country was highly irregular:
27| He said, then, that it was necessary that some of the temples be abolished, and the number of priests reduced. The priests, both individually and collectively, gave up the sacred funds, believing that he truly meant to do this, and each one wishing that his own temple remain standing and himself remain priest. Antimenes the Rhodian, who was an officer of Alexander's near Babylon, raised money in this way. There being an old law in Babylonia that a tenth be paid on goods brought in, though no one was enforcing it, he watched for the time when all the satraps were expected to arrive, along with soldiers, no small number of envoys, other summoned craftsmen bringing goods, private travelers, and many gifts being carried up to the king, and exacted the tenth according to the law as it stood. Again, in raising money from the slaves attached to the army, he ordered that whoever wished should register his slave at whatever value he chose, and that he would then pay eight drachmas a year for it; but if the slave ran off, he would recover the price at which it had been registered.
28| [1353a] Since many slaves were thus registered, this brought in no small amount of silver. And if a slave did run off, he ordered the satrap of the district in which the army then was either to recover it or to pay its price to the owner. Ophellas of Olynthus, having appointed a superintendent over the Athribite nome, when the nomarchs of that district came to him and said that they themselves wished to pay much more, and asked that he remove the superintendent now in office, asked them whether they would be able to make good on what they promised; and when they said they could, he left the superintendent in his place, but ordered the taxes to be exacted at the sum they themselves had assessed. In this way he seemed neither to dishonor the man he had appointed, nor to impose on the nomarchs greater taxes than they themselves had set, and yet he himself took in many times more money. Pythocles the Athenian advised the Athenians that the city should buy up the lead from Laurium from private dealers at the two-drachma price at which they were selling it, and then, having fixed a price of six drachmas, sell it at that rate themselves. Chabrias, when crews had been enrolled for a hundred and twenty ships, but Tachos needed only sixty, ordered that the men from the sixty ships left behind should either supply two months' rations for those who were sailing, or sail themselves. Those who wished to stay and attend to their own affairs gave what he demanded.
29| Antimenes ordered the satraps to keep the storehouses along the royal roads full, in accordance with the law of the country; and whenever an army or some other body of people passed through without the king, he would send one of his own men to sell off the contents of the storehouses. [1353b] Cleomenes, when the new moon was approaching and the soldiers' grain-ration was due, deliberately sailed downstream away; then, when the month was well advanced, he sailed back up and distributed the ration, and then, when the next month began, he waited again until the new moon. The soldiers, then, kept quiet, since they had only just received their ration; but by shifting one month out of the year in this way, he was continually cutting out a month's pay. Stabelbius the Mysian called the soldiers together to discuss their pay and told them he had no need of the common men, only of their commanders; and that whenever he needed soldiers, he would give money to each commander and send him off to recruit mercenaries, since he would rather give the pay owed to the men to the commanders instead. He therefore ordered each commander to send his own companies out of the country. The commanders, supposing this would mean profit for themselves, sent the soldiers away, just as he had ordered. But after letting a little time pass, he called them together and said that a flute-player without a chorus was no use, and commanders without common soldiers were no use either;
30| and he therefore ordered them to leave the country. Dionysius, making his rounds of the temples, whenever he saw a gold or silver table set out, would order a libation poured to the Good Spirit, and then have it taken away; and whenever any of the statues held out a bowl in offering, he would say, "I accept," and order it removed. He also stripped the golden robes and crowns from the statues, claiming that he himself would give them lighter and more fragrant ones in their place; he then put white robes on them, and crowns of white violets.