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EISPHORA/

Such a contribution could never be raised without a decree of the people, who also fixed upon the amount required (Demosth. c. Poh/cl. p. 120-8 ; Aristoph. JEccles. 818) ; the generals superintended its collection, and presided' in the courts where disputes connected with, or arising from, the levy­ing of the tax were settled. (Wolf, Proleg. in Leptin. p. 94 ; Dernosth. c. Boeot. p. 1002.) Such disputes seem to have occurred rather frequently ; personal enmity not seldom induced the officers to tax persons higher than was lawful, according to the amount of their property. (Aristoph. 1. c.; Demosth. c. Apliob. p. 815.) The usual expres­sions for paying this property-tax are : efV^e'pav XP^fwrcs, slcrfyepeiv els rbv TroAe^tov., sis t^v orca-Typiav ttjs TrcAews elortyopas elcrfyepew, and those who paid it were called of efcr^epoz/res1. On the occasion mentioned by Thucydides, the amount which was raised was, as we have seen, 200 talents, which, if we suppose the taxable property to have been 20,000 talents, was a tax of one per cent. (Bockh, PuU. Econ. p. 520, 2d edit.) On other occasions, the rates were higher or lower, ac­cording to the wants of the republic at the time ; we have accounts of rates of a twelfth, a fiftieth, a hundredth, and a five hundredth part of the tax­able property.

The census of Solon was during the first period the standard according to which the elfffyopd wras raised, until in 37,7 b. c., in the archonship of Nausinicus, a new census was instituted, in which the people, for the purpose of fixing the rates of the property-tax, were divided into a number of symmoriae (cru/ijUopicu) or classes, similar to those which were afterwards made for the trierarchy. (Philoch. apudHarpocrat. s.v. ^v^opia. • Demosth. c. Androt. p. 606 ; Ulpian, ad Demostk. Olyntk. ii. p. 33, e.) The nature of this new census, not­withstanding the minute investigation of Bockh (Ptibl. Econ. book iv), is still involved in great ob­scurity. Each of the ten phylae, according to Ulpian, appointed 120 of its wealthier citizens, who were divided into two parts, according to their property, called symmoriae, each consisting of sixty persons ; and the members of the wealthier of the two symmoriae were obliged, in cases of urgent necessity, to advance to the less wealthy the sum required for the elcrtyopd, (Trpoeicr^opa, Demosth. c. Mid. p. 564, &c.). When the wants of the state had been thus supplied, those who had advanced the money could at their ease, and in the usual way, exact their money back from those to whom they had advanced it. The whole number of per­sons included in the symmoriae was 1200, who were considered, as the representatives of the whole republic ; it would, however, as Bockh justly ob­serves, be absurd to suppose with Ulpian that these 1200 alone paid the property-tax, and that all the rest were exempt from it. The whole census of 6000 (Demosth. De Symmor.}, or more accurately of 5750 talents (Polyb. ii. 62. § 7), was surely not the property of 1200 citizens, but the taxable property of the whole republic. Many others, therefore, though their property was smaller than that of the 1200, must have contributed to the elcr^opd, and their property must be considered as included in the census of 5/50 talents of tax­able property.

The body of 1200 was, according to Ulpian, also divided into four classes, each consisting of -300. The first class, or the richest, were the

EISPHORA. U9

leaders of the symmoriae (^ye^Jj/es <Titfj.fjiopt$>y)y and are often called the three hundred /ear3 e5|o%T7^. They probably conducted the proceedings of the symmoriae, and they, or, which is more likely, the demarehs, had to value the taxable property. Other officers were appointed to make out the lists of the rates, and were called in-iypatys?!!, dia-ypatye'is, or e'/cAoye?.?. When the wants of the state were pressing, the 300 leaders, perhaps in connection with the 300 included in the second class — for Ulpian, in the first portion of his remark, states that the richer symmoria of every phyle had to perform this duty — advanced the money to the others on the above-mentioned terms (Demosth. c. Phaenipp. p. 146), which, however, was never done unless it was decreed by the people. (Demosth. c. Poh/cl. p. 1209.) The rates of taxation for the four classes have been made out with great proba­bility by Bockh (P-ubl. Econ. p. 519, 2d edit.), from whoso work the following table is taken : —

First Class, from twelve talents upwards.

Property. Taxable, Taxable Capital. ^"ffi,* "~ta?

or i-jUtii p;ivi»

500 tal. . i . 100 tal. ... 5 tal.

100 „ . * . 20 „ . . . 1 „

50 „ . i . 10 „ ... 30 min

12 " . |. 2 tal. 24 min/ 720 drach.

15 „ . i . 3

Second Class, from sue talents and upwards, but

wider twelve.

Property. Taxable.

11 tal. . * 10

T-iMaWe Camtal Property-tax laxawe Uapital. of 1-2Qth paft

1 tal. 50 min. 550 drach. 1 „ 40 „ 500

?3

55

?5

20

10

1

1

1

55

» ,3

7 „ 6

53

35

55

55

55

55

o j_ 6. J^ 6

400

350

300

55

Third Class, from two talents upwards, but under

six.

187*'drach.

55

55

55

112*

Property. Taxable. Taxable Capital. ^Stlfpart 5 tal. . i . 37-s- min. . . 4 „ . 4- . 30" „ . . 150 3

55

55

55

55

35

Oi

"a" « O

" 55

8

1

8

75

22*

15

Fourth Class, fwm tiventy-five minae upwards, but under two talents.

Property, Taxable. Taxable Capital. 1* tal. . yV . 900 drach.

45 drach, 30

„ „ „ „

33 3? 53 55

10

_J—

10 To TV

600

45 min.

30

25

15 12*

450

55

300

33

250

Every one had to pay his tax in the phyle where his landed property lay, as appears from the oration of Demosthenes against Polycles ; and if any one refused to pay, the state had a right to confiscate his estate, but not to punish the indi­vidual with atimia. (Demosth. c. Androt. p. 60#, g. Timocrat. p. 752.) But if any one thought that his property was taxed higher than that of another man on whom juster claims could be made,^he had the right to call upon this person to take the office in his stead, or to submit to a complete exchange of property. [antidosis.] No Athenian, on the other hand, if belonging to ^ the tax-paying classes, could be exempt from the ela-tyopd, not even the descendants of Harmodius and Aristogiton,

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