Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/78

 54 mSTOEY OF GREECE, first in an emphatic passage of the poet ^schylus, and next from Herodotus on the present occasion, that we hear of the silver mines of Laurium^ in Attica, and the vaUiable produce which they rendered to the state. They were situated in the southern portion of the territory, not very far from the promontory of Sunium,2 amidst a district of low hills which extended across much of the space between the eastern sea at Thorikus, and the western at Anaphlystus. At what time they first began to be worked, we have no infonnation ; but it seems hardly possible that they could have been worked with any spirit or profitable result until after the expulsion of Hippias and the establishment of the democratical constitution of Kleisthenes. Neither the strong local factions, by which different portions of Attica were set against each other before the time of Peisistratus, nor the rule of that despot succeeded by his two sons, were likely to afford confidence and encouragement. But when the democracy of Kleisthenes first brought Attica into one systematic and comprehensive whole, with equal rights to all the parts, and a common centre at Athens, — the power of that central govern- ment over the mineral wealth of the country, and its means of binding the whole people to respect agreements concluded with individual undertakers, would give a new stimulus to private speculation in the district of Laurium. It was the practice of the Athenian government either to sell, or to let for a long term of years, particular districts of this productive region to indi- viduals or companies, — on consideration partly of a sum or fine paid down, partly of a reserved rent equal to one-twenty-fourth part of the gross produce. "We are told by Herodotus that there was in the Athenian ^ ^schylus, Persse, 235. ^ The mountain region of Laurium has been occasionally visited by modem travellers, but never carefully surveyed until 1836, when Dr. Fiedler examined it mineralogicaUy by order of the present Greek government. See his Reisen durch Griechenland, vol. i, pp. 39, 73. The region is now little better than a desert, but Fiedler especially notices the great natural fertility of the plain near Thorikus, together with the good harbor at that place, — both circumstances of great value at the time when the mines were in work. Many remains are seen of shafts sunk in ancient times, — and Bimk in so workmanlike a manner as to satisfy the eye of a miner of the present day. — p. 76.