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[1351a]
[1]
On hearing this, each priesthood, being anxious to retain
their own temple, offered him money from their private possessions <as
well as from the temple funds>. When the king had thus received money
from them all, Chabrias bade him tell the priests to spend on the temple-service
and on their own maintenance one-tenth of what they formerly spent, and lend him
the remainder until he had made peace with the King <of Persia>.Moreover, each inhabitant was to contribute a stated proportion of his
household and personal possessions; and when grain was sold, buyer and seller
were each to contribute, apart from the price, one obol per artabe1; while a
tax of one tenth was to be imposed on profits arising from ships and workshops
and other sources of gain.Again, when Taos was on the point of setting out from
Egypt, Chabrias advised him to make
requisition of all uncoined gold and silver in the possession of the
inhabitants; and when most of them complied, he bade the king make use of the
bullion, and refer the lenders to the governors of his provinces for
compensation out of the taxes. Iphicrates of Athens provided Cotys with money for a force which he had
collected in the following manner.
[20]
He
bade him order <each> of his subjects to sow for him a piece of
land bearing 4 1/2 bushels. A large quantity of grain was thus gathered, from
the price of which, when brought to the depots on the coast, the king obtained
as much money as he wanted. Cotys of Thrace asked the people of Peirinthus for a loan to enable him to
raise an army. On their refusing, he begged them at any rate to let him have
some of their citizens to garrison certain fortresses, and release for active
service the men who were there on duty. They readily complied, thinking thus to
obtain control of the fortresses. But Cotys placed in custody the men they sent,
and told the citizens that they might have them back when they had sent him the
amount of the loan he desired. Mentor of Rhodes, after taking Hermias prisoner and seizing his fortresses,
left in their various districts the officials appointed by him. By this means he
restored their confidence, so that they all took again to themselves the
property they had hidden or had sent secretly out of the country. Then Mentor
arrested them and stripped them of all they had.
1 The artabe was a Persian measure containing nearly 50 quarts. The obol was 1/6 of a drachma of silver.
Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 18, translated by G.C. Armstrong. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1935.
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