(M162) In the year 427 B.C. the Athenians conquered the island of Lesbos. They imposed no tribute on the subjugated islanders, but, making the land into three thousand κλῆροι “except the Methymnian land,” they first set apart three hundred κλῆροι as sacred to the gods, and on to the others they sent off κληροῦχοι chosen by lot from themselves; to these the Lesbians paid annually for each κλῆροι two minae, and _themselves worked the land_.(339) According to the account of Aelian, the same method of procedure was adopted after the conquest of Euboea in about 510 B.C. The Athenians, having conquered the Chalkidians, apportioned their land to κληροῦχοι(340) in two thousand κλῆροι, _i.e._ the country called Hippobotos; and, setting aside τεμένη to Athena in the place called Lelantos, they let out(341) the rest according to the pillars that stand in the King’s Stoa, which thus bear record of the leases.(342) (M163) The holding of each κληροῦχος may have varied in size according to the character of the soil and features of the country; but it may safely be asserted that it must have been of sufficient dimensions, not only to provide subsistence for the native population left on the soil, but also to pay a considerable portion towards the keep of the κληροῦχος himself, during his enforced residence in the conquered country. The class of citizen from amongst whom the κληροῦχοι were chosen by lot, did not consist of families with much property in Athens.(343) Younger sons without occupation, whom their fathers had not been quite callous enough to “expose” in infancy,(344) and restless individuals without property in the mother country, would be most likely to offer themselves. And to such the two minae per annum, paid by the Lesbians from the produce of each κλῆρος, would appear a reasonable if not a sumptuous provision of livelihood. There were a hundred drachmae in the mina, and if it is true, as asserted by Plutarch,(345) that in the time of Solon one drachma was the price of a sheep, a yearly income of two hundred sheep, or their equivalent, would be forthcoming to each κληροῦχος—surely a considerable contribution to the maintenance of his family.(346) Under these circumstances each κλῆρος served to provide maintenance for two households—both of whom had hereditary rights therein, though themselves in different strata of society. Both households also were in a sort attached to the soil, the one in practical bondage, the other bound by law to reside in the country wherein lay its substance, and (if we may use the common expression of the Welsh Laws) its privilege. (M164) This double and continuous ownership was not confined to the semi-servile tenure of lands annexed by Athenian conquests. Leases to be handed down from father to son _for ever_—τὸν πάντα χρόνον—subject of course to the regular payment of the rent, seem to have been quite usual.