Mr. Mitford had in the previous sentence stated _three oboli_ as equal to not quite _fourpence_ sterling. Of course, therefore, it is plain that he did not consider three oboli as the half of a drachma (Hist. Greece, ch. xx, sect. i. vol. iv, p. 317, oct. ed. 1814). That a drachma was equivalent to _six_ oboli, that is, an Æginæan drachma to six Æginæan oboli, and an Attic drachma to six Attic oboli, is so familiarly known, that I should almost have imagined the word _eight_, in the first sentence here cited, to be a misprint for _six_, if the sentence cited next had not clearly demonstrated that Mr. Mitford really believed a drachma to he equal to _eight_ oboli. It is certainly a mistake surprising to find. [207] Thucyd. viii, 29. The incident here described not only procured for the seamen of the Peloponnesian fleet the daily pay of four oboli, instead of three, per man, but also insured to Lysander himself a degree of esteem and confidence from Cyrus which he knew well how to turn to account. I have already remarked,[208] in reference to Periklês and Nikias, that an established reputation for personal incorruptibility, rare as that quality was among Grecian leading politicians, was among the most precious items in the capital stock of an ambitious man, even if looked at only in regard to the durability of his own influence. If the proof of such disinterestedness was of so much value in the eyes of the Athenian people, yet more powerfully did it work upon the mind of Cyrus. With his Persian and princely ideas of winning adherents by munificence,[209] a man who despised presents was a phenomenon commanding the higher sentiment of wonder and respect. From this time forward he not only trusted Lysander with implicit pecuniary confidence, but consulted him as to the prosecution of the war, and even condescended to second his personal ambition to the detriment of this object.[210] [208] See the former volume vi, ch. li, p. 287. [209] See the remarkable character of Cyrus the younger, given in the Anabasis of Xenophon, i, 9, 22-28. [210] Xenoph. Hellen. ii, 1, 13; Plutarch, Lysand. c. 4-9.