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MINES OF

CIIAP. II

rich silver mines of Attica, as in the productivegold mines in their foreign possessions, in Thrace ,and in the island of Thasus. Thessaly producedores that were rich in gold, whilst Boeotia fur-nished iron from its mines. Epirus also hadsilver mines, which were continued to be workedin the time of Strabo .

The whole of these mines make their appear-ance either a little before or soon after the Per-sian war; for shortly before the victory of theGreeks over the Persians , gold and silver weremuch more scarce among the former than they-could have been if the rich mines of both thosemetals had been diligently laboured before thattime. According to the report of Xenophon *,the Athenians worked the silver mines of theirown country from an unknown distant age ; butit appears probable that for a long time the onlyore that was used was that found near the sur-face, and that the imperfect application of laboureven to that met with frequent interruptions.Capital and scientific knowledge were on muchtoo low a scale to admit of decided perseverancein mining pursuits.

A classification, by which Solon had arrangedthe citizens according to their incomes a shorttime before the Persian war, shows how verysmall was the amount of wealth then in exist-

Xenophon cle Reilit.