---
title: "Ways and Means · Πόροι ἢ περὶ προσόδων"
author: "Xenophon"
translator: "Edgar Carew Marchant"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 2 of 6
url: https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-ways-and-means/2/
cite: "Xenophon, tr. Edgar Carew Marchant, Ways and Means · Πόροι ἢ περὶ προσόδων, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-ways-and-means/2/"
---

# Ways and Means · Πόροι ἢ περὶ προσόδων

*Xenophon, tr. Edgar Carew Marchant*

Proposals to restore the revenues of Athens.

> Greek: ed. Edgar Carew Marchant, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0032.tlg011, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Edgar Carew Marchant, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0032.tlg011.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-ways-and-means/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-ways-and-means/2/#p-N

[¶0] 1. All these advantages, as I have said, are, I believe, due to the country itself. But instead of limiting ourselves to the blessings that may be called indigenous, suppose that, in the first place, we studied the interests of the resident aliens. For in them we have one of the very best sources of revenue, in my opinion, inasmuch as they are self-supporting and, so far from receiving payment for the many services they render to states, they contribute by paying a special tax.

> Greek: 1. τούτων μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων, ὥσπερ εἶπον, νομίζω αὐτὴν τὴν χώραν αἰτίαν εἶναι. εἰ δὲ πρὸς τοῖς αὐτοφυέσιν ἀγαθοῖς πρῶτον μὲν τῶν μετοίκων ἐπιμέλεια γένοιτο· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πρόσοδος τῶν καλλίστων ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ εἶναι, ἐπείπερ ⟨αὐτοὶ⟩ αὑτοὺς τρέφοντες καὶ πολλὰ ὠφελοῦντες τὰς πόλεις οὐ λαμβάνουσι μισθόν, ἀλλὰ μετοίκιον προσφέρουσιν— ἐπιμέλειά γε μὴν ἥδʼ ἂν ἀρκεῖν μοι δοκεῖ, εἰ ἀφέλοιμεν μὲν ὅσα μηδὲν ὠφελοῦντα τὴν πόλιν ἀτιμίας δοκεῖ τοῖς μετοίκοις παρέχειν, ἀφέλοιμεν δὲ καὶ τὸ συστρατεύεσθαι ὁπλίτας μετοίκους τοῖς ἀστοῖς.

[¶1] 2. I think that we should study their interests sufficiently, if we relieved them of the duties that seem to impose a certain measure of disability on the resident alien without conferring any benefit on the state, and also of the obligation to serve in the infantry along with the citizens. Apart from the personal risk, it is no small thing to leave their trades and their private affairs. The state itself too would gain if the citizens served in the ranks together, and no longer found themselves in the same company with Lydians, Phrygians, Syrians, and barbarians of all sorts, of whom a large part of our alien population consists.

> Greek: 2. μέγας μὲν γὰρ ὁ κίνδυνος ἀπόντι· μέγα δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀπιέναι. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἡ πόλις γʼ ἂν ὠφεληθείη, εἰ οἱ πολῖται μετʼ ἀλλήλων στρατεύοιντο μᾶλλον ἢ εἰ συντάττοιντο αὐτοῖς, ὥσπερ νῦν, Λυδοὶ καὶ Φρύγες καὶ Σύροι καὶ ἄλλοι παντοδαποὶ βάρβαροι· πολλοὶ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι τῶν μετοίκων.

[¶2] 4. In addition to the advantage of dispensing with the services of these men, it would be an ornament to the state that the Athenians should be thought to rely on themselves rather than on the help of foreigners in fighting their battles.

> Greek: 4. πρὸς δὲ τῷ ἀγαθῷ τῷ τούτους [ἐκ] τοῦ συντάττεσθαι ἀφεθῆναι καὶ κόσμος ἂν τῇ πόλει εἴη, εἰ δοκοῖεν Ἀθηναῖοι εἰς τὰς μάχας αὑτοῖς μᾶλλον πιστεύειν ἢ ἀλλοδαποῖς.

[¶3] 5. If, moreover, we granted the resident aliens the right to serve in the cavalry and various other privileges which it is proper to grant them, I think that we should find their loyalty increase and at the same time should add to the strength and greatness of the state.

> Greek: 5. καὶ μεταδιδόντες δʼ ἄν μοι δοκοῦμεν τοῖς μετοίκοις τῶν ⟨τʼ⟩ ἄλλων ὧν καλὸν μεταδιδόναι καὶ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ εὐνουστέρους ἂν ποιεῖσθαι καὶ ἅμα ἰσχυροτέραν ἂν καὶ μείζω τὴν πόλιν ἀποδεικνύναι.

[¶4] 6. Then again, since there are many vacant sites for houses within the walls, if the state allowed approved applicants to erect houses on these and granted them the freehold of the land, I think that we should find a larger and better class of persons desiring to live at Athens.

> Greek: 6. εἶτα ἐπειδὴ καὶ πολλὰ οἰκιῶν ἔρημά ἐστιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν καὶ οἰκόπεδα, εἰ ἡ πόλις διδοίη οἰκοδομησομένοις ἐγκεκτῆσθαι οἳ ἂν αἰτούμενοι ἄξιοι δοκῶσιν εἶναι, πολὺ ἂν οἴομαι καὶ διὰ ταῦτα πλείους τε καὶ βελτίους ὀρέγεσθαι τῆς Ἀθήνησιν οἰκήσεως.

[¶5] 7. And if we appointed a board of Guardians of Aliens analogous to the Guardians of Orphans, and some kind of distinction were earmarked for guardians whose list of resident aliens was longest, that too would add to the loyalty of the aliens, and probably all without a city would covet the right of settling in Athens, and would increase our revenues.

> Greek: 7. καὶ εἰ μετοικοφύλακάς γε ὥσπερ ὀρφανοφύλακας ἀρχὴν καθισταῖμεν, καὶ τούτοις τιμή τις ἐπείη οἵτινες πλείστους μετοίκους ἀποδείξειαν, καὶ τοῦτο εὐνουστέρους ἂν τοὺς μετοίκους ποιοίη καί, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, πάντες ἂν οἱ ἀπόλιδες τῆς Ἀθήνησι μετοικίας ὀρέγοιντο καὶ τὰς προσόδους ἂν αὔξοιεν.