Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/54

 1 THUCYDIDES The figures which form the basis of these calculations are taken from the table of tributary cities and the amount paid by them at the end of Kirchhofif, C. I. A,, vol. i, cor- rected from Busolt's article in Philologus 41. It is an element of uncertainty which must not be overlooked, that owing to the incomplete state of the tribute lists we can often only compare the raft? of 425 or the tribute recorded in the later fragments with the tribute actually paid many years before. And there is no year for which we have both an estimate and the sum actually paid. Let us now consider the nature of the proof, or rather want of proof, that pervades the whole argument : — (i) None of the comparisons are made upon an adequate basis, being taken only upon about jth (Ionia), h (Caria), f (Islands) : while for the Hellespont we have a question- able total without items, and for Thrace some 9 or 10 out of 30 or 40 cities, estimated not at double, but at about one-sixth of their previous payment. (2) None of the totals exhibit an exact ratio of 2 : i. (3) The whole number of cities which furnish the increase is only 51. Of these 7 are precisely doubled ; and 15 pay the same tribute as before. (4) The irregularity in the increase of the tribute in the states of which the names and payments are preserved to us makes it impossible to argue with any degree of certainty from them to the states whose names and pay- ments are unknown to us. And the comparison of the earlier quota lists shows that extensive, and to us inexplic- able, changes in the amount paid were not uncommon. The various fragments of the quota lists which have been referred to above are only dated later than 425 on I to a date later than 425, because Cythnus paj^s a quota on 6 talents as in the ra^is fopov, instead of 3 as before, and Ceos, Paros, and Naxos pay a quota on 6, 18, and 7 talents respectively, instead of 4, i6t, and 6f. If this be the case, and if the fragment belongs to one of the j-ears soon after 425, the rafis fupuv was very imperfectly carried out, for in it Ceos is rated at 10, Paros at 30, and Naxos at 15 talents]