The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-01 00:00:00

ANCIENT GREEK LEASE.

The attention of the learned world has re'
cently been called to some inscriptions of Inv
questionable authenticity, brought from
Greece
many years since, and now in the UniversitY (
Leyden, which had hitherto been most strangely
overlooked, that contain not merely an allusion
to the practice of letting land in Attica, but
leases actually entered into. One of these
scriptions was found near Mount Hymettus, and
is dated in the fourth year of the 108th Olynv
paid, or 345 years before the Christian era. It
is a lease by the Aexonians, the town's peuPle;
or demos of Aexone, of a piece of land callea
the Philais, near Mount Hymettus, to a father
and his son, for forty years, for 152 drachma°
year. But as the inscription is exceedingly
'1
rious and instructive, we take the liberty to 0'
join the following translation of it, which y'a,
believe will be found to be sufficiently exact
" The demos of Aexone let on lease the Ph'
lais, to Autocles, the son of Auteas, and t°
Autcas, the son of Autocles, for forty years, f°r
152 drachmas a year ; the said land to be farm
by them, or planted with trees, as they please'
the rent to be paid in the month of Aecatombleoll'
If they do not pay it, they forfeit their securitit
and as much of the produce as they stand ia
arrear. The Aexonians not to sell nor to let
the said land to any one else, until the 40 yearst
have elapsed. In case of a loss on the part 0'
the tenants by hostile invasion, no rent toe,
paid, but the produce of the land to be divided
between the Aexonians and the tenants. The
tenants are to deliver up half the land fallaft
and all the trees upon the land ; for the last Oa
years the Aexonians may appoint a vine dressed
The lease to begin with respect to the corn la°
with Eubulus the Archon entering into office'
but with respect to the wood, not before Elba-
lus goes out of office. The lease to be cut urn
stone, to be set up by the Magistrates, one OP/
in the temple of Hebe, the other in the Lesehe°
and boundary stones (oroi) to be set upon the
land, not less than two tripods on each side!
And if a tax should be paid for the land to Gil
vernment, the said tax to be paid by the Aeti
onians, or if paid by the tenants, to be deduct!
from the rent. No soil to be carried away Plc
digging of the ground, except from one part 0
the land to another. If any person makes a 01°,'
tion in contravention of the contract, or puts 4
to the vote, he shall be answerable to the tenants
for the damage." And there are some further
stipulations with respect to the cutting of the
olive trees, and the division of the price obtainc"
for them between the Aexonians and the tenants.
Now it appears clearly from this inscription or
lease, that the mode of letting land for a moneY,
rent, for a considerable number of years, and
under conditions with respect to management/
must have been well understood in Attica. The
terms of the lease are such as indicate a very
high state of civilization, and a very considerable
knowledge of agriculture. In proof of this, it is
only necessary to advert to the clause binding
the tenants to have half the land in fallow, at the
termination of the lease, and to that which
authorises the Aexonians, or lessors, to appoi'll
a vine-dresser for five years previous to the °"
piration : the making different entries to the corn
and and vine lands, the provisions with respect
damage that might arise from hostile invasi°°'
and the interdiction of carrying away any P°r;
tion of the soil to another. farm, all discover
st
disposition to protect as far as possible the
rights and interests of both parties, and to ase
vance the progress of agriculture. The leafor
cannot be objected to on account of its being be
too short a term ; in this country it might.
thought too long.—Foreign Quarterly Revtewt
No. 8.

THE LATE Ma. JACOB.--The musical
world has sustained a great loss in the decease of Mr:
JACOB, the eminent Organist, who expired on Maui'
morning, at his residence in College-street, Brompt°l4

after a long illness.
FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS.---11.1
Welsh firmly believe that one of their princes, nallij
MADOC (the hero of SOUTHEY'S poem of the same nall'e!
discovered America long before COLUMBUS, and that thee
Indians of that vast continent are descended from hinis
of the strongest proofs of which position was the bet i°
the existence of a bird there named the penguin, whi°4'
as the Welsh men of letters observed, was evidently de
rived from the Cambrian pen (white) and gain (held).-;
This argument was held to be unanswerable until it
observed by an eminent naturalist that penguins have jolly
riably black- heads !