Author Description

Excerpt from The Public Economy of Athens, Vol. 1 of 4: In Four Books; To Which Is Added, a Dissertation on the Silver-Mines of Laurion The Staatshaushaltung der Athener, of which 'a translation is now offered to the public, was pub lished at Berlin in the year 1817. It is preceded by a dedication to Niebuhr, the author of the Roman History, and a short preface, in which Mr. Boeckh, after stating that the knowledge of the ancient history of Greece is still in its infancy, and lamenting that it has so often fallen into the hands of mere compilers or verbal grammarians, considers that it is impossible to gain a complete knowledge of the whole subject before some sub ordinate departments have been fully investigated. The following work he intends to be a contribution Of this nature upon a subject of ancient history little understood. If, he continues, it should appear to many that the length of this work is incommensurate with the importance of its object, the author is comforted by the consciousness 'of having aimed at brevity as much as cleamess of style would permit, and he is afraid of having erred rather on the side of conciseness, thus frequently creating harsh and abrupt transitions, than on that of prolixity. After a few other remarks he pro ceeds to speak Of some inscriptions, on which it is necessary for the translator to say a few words. The latter half of the second volume of the original edition Of his book is occupied by an Ap pendix, which contains twenty-nine Greek inscrip tions, illustrating the subjects treated of in the body of the work. They are accompanied by a most ample commentary; and some of them were, upon the appearance of the original work (in published for the first time. In this translation these are omitted, and for the following reasons. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical wo