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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 131metals, they were originally struck of precious metal only,and probablyat first of nothing but silver. So few of thegold coins have been preserved, that we cannot certainlysay, whether they are altogether as ancient but those of;base metal are certainly of a later period. That, even beforethe time of Solon, silver money had in many cities a largeproportion of alloy, appears from the passage which we citedfrom Demosthenes. 1 In Hellas itself, we know of no silvermines except those of 2Laurium, which were very ancient ;but the gold mines of Thrace and the neighbouring islandThasos were quiteas ancient, for they were wrought by thePhoenicians. Yet the Greeks received most of their goldfrom Lydia. And still there was not specie enoughin circulation, especially in the commercial towns ;and althoughthe Greeks knew nothing of paper money, several citiesmade use of the same resource, which had been introducedat Carthage, 3 the use of nominal coins, which possessed acurrent value, not corresponding to their intrinsic one. 4Such was the iron money (if my view is a just one) whichwas adopted in Byzantium, Clazomene, 5 and perhaps insome other cities. 6 It is certain, therefore, that the Greekshad money which was current only in the state, and out ofit was of no value ;as we learn also from a passage in Plato. 7It is much to be regretted, that we do not know by whatmeans its value was kept from falling.The inquiry into the economy of a nation, intricate as itmay be, can be reduced to the following points: Whatwere the wants of the state? What means were adopted toYet the ancient gold coins which we still possess, have almost no alloy,1and the silver ones very little.2So old, that it was impossible to fix their age. Xenoph. de Kedit. Op.p. 924.8 Heeren's Ideen ii. S. 164.4 Pollux ix. 78.5 Aristot. (Econ. ii.Op. ii. p. 383. A decisive 6 passage.Most of the citiesj says Xenophon, Op. p. 922, have money, which is notcurrent except in their own territory hence merchants are,*obliged to bartertheir own wares for other wares. Athens makes a solitary exception ;itssilver drachmas had universal currency. It was therefore quite common forcities to have two kinds of money, coins of nominal value, current only inthe city which struck them; and metallic money, of which the value depended on its intrinsic worth, and which circulated in other places. HencePlato, de Legg. v. p. 742, permits this in his state.7 Plato L c. The current silver money consisted in drachmas, and piecesof money were struck of as much as four drachmas. Ekhel. i.p. txxxv.thinks it probable, that the other cities, in their silver coin, ^followed theAttic standard.K 2