Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/45

 INSCRIPTIONS xli to 423 talents and 3,070 drachmae, the quota to the Goddess being 7 talents 351 drachmae, although we cannot be sure that so much was paid in any single year. It is alleged that, if we allow for defaulters, and remember that there are traces of a much larger tribute having been paid in earlier periods, this sum makes a near approach to the 460 talents fixed by Aristides. But how are these facts to be reconciled with the other statement of Thucydides that the Athenians, 'at the be- ginning of the war, had on an average 600 talents coming in from their allies * ? There are indications that the tribute of the cities was raised in or soon after the year 439, the net increase in the Thracian tribute being 17 talents, 2,100 drachmae Now the tribute lists are frag- mentary, and the sums set against the names of the allies are only extant in a part of them. We must acknowledge therefore that most of the inferences which are drawn from them might have been different or have appeared in a different light if the whole of the great inscription had been preserved. They are all ' subject to future dis- coveries'; and this particular inference is drawn only from the Thracian and from some of the Carian and Ionian cities ; while some cities, especially in Caria, disappear from the lists altogether, so that the increase in the pay- ment of others may have been no more than a compensa- tion for losses. A glance at the table of tributary states printed at the end of Kirchhoff, C. I. A. vol. i, v/ill show how imperfect our information is ; and also that in many cases the payment remained the same, and in a few v'as lowered instead of raised. But, while recognizing this general uncertainty, we may admit with Kohler that there appears to be a rise in the amount of the tribute shortly before the commencement of the war ; this rise may explain the difference between 460 and 600 talents, especially if we suppose it to have continued during the years 435-431* » Busolt, Philol. 41, p. 657. VOL. I. d