Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/137

CENSUS OF NAUSINIKUS. 113 had been . introduced in 403 B. c. at the archonship of Euklei- des, we have no information. Nor can we make out how large or how numerous were the assessments of direct property-tax, imposed at Athens between that archonship and the archonship of Nausim'kus in 378 B. c. v But at this latter epoch the reg- ister was again considerably modified, at the moment when Ath- ens was bracing herself up for increased exertions. A new valuation was made of the property of every man possessing prop- erty to the amount of twenty-five minas (or twenty-five hundred drachmas) and upwards. Proceeding upon this valuation, every one was entered in the schedule for a sum of taxable capital equal to a given fraction of what he possessed. But this fraction was different in each of the different classes. How many classes there were, we do not certainly know ; nor can we tell, except in refer- ence to the lowest class taxed, what sum was taken as the minimum for any one of them. There could hardly have been less, however, than three classes, and there may probably have been four. But respecting the first or richest class, we know that each man was entered in the schedule for a taxable capital equal to one-fifth of his estimated property ; and that possessors of fifteen talents were included in it. The father of Demosthenes died in this year, and the boy Demosthenes was returned by hia guardians to the first class, as possessor of fifteen talents ; upon which his name was entered on the schedule with a taxable capital of three talents set against him ; being one-fifth of his actual property. The taxable capital of the second class was entered at a fraction less than one-fifth of their actual property (probably enough, one-sixth, the same as all the registered metics) ; that of the third, at a fraction still smaller ; of the fourth (if there was a fourth), even smaller than the third. This last class descended down to the minimum of twenty-five minaa, or twenty-five hun- dred drachmae ; below which no account was taken. 1 1 Demosthen. cont. Aphob. i, p. 815, 816 ; cont. Aphob. ii, p. 836 ; cont. Aphob. de Perjur. p. 862. Compare Boeckh, Publ. Econ. Ath. iv, 7. In the exposition which M. Boeckh gives of the new property-schedule introduced under the archonship of Nausinikus, he inclines to the hypothe- sis of four distinct Classes, thus distributed (p. 671 of the new edition of his Staats-haushaltung der Athener) : 1. The first clas s included all persons who possessed property to the valuo