[3]
For my part, men of the
jury, I should be most happy to see myself enjoying the material prosperity
which was mine before, and remaining in the group of the Three Hundred,1 but since, partly through having
to share in the misfortunes common to all those who are engaged in mining works,
and partly through having met heavy reverses in my private business, I have lost
my estate, and now at the last must pay three talents to the state, a talent for
each share （for I too was a partner, as I wish I had not been, in the
confiscated mine）,2 I am compelled
to try to substitute in my place a man who is not only richer than I am now, but
was richer even before my losses, and who has never borne any state services,
nor made any contribution to the state.
1 Each of the ten Athenian tribes reported a list of its wealthiest citizens to the number of 120. The resulting body of 1200 was divided into four groups of 300 each （for the division into symmories, see note on vol. 1. p. 10）, and these groups, being made up of the richest citizens, naturally bore the heaviest burdens, and in times of crisis might be called upon to advance the entire amount of money required. See Boeckh, Publ. Econ., Book 6, chapter 13, and Gilbert, Gk. Const. Ant. pp. 368-374 （English Trans.）.
2 The mine had apparently been taken over by the state because of non-payment of the rental, and to recover possession the lessees had to make the payment specified. On the general subject of the mining business in ancient Athens see Dem. 37 with the Introduction and notes.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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