All the various talents, however, agreed in having sixty minæ; each mina one hundred drachmæ; each drachme six obols. The terms Æginetan and Eubœic point to the fact that the early Greek trade was chiefly in the hands of these people, where the weights and coinage were first fixed, just as the Attic standard became almost universal afterward. The Attic talent was about $1,180; the mina accordingly about $19.50; the drachme nineteen cents; the obolus three cents. This Attic drachme was of silver, which was the only metal habitually coined for a long time in Greece, as gold was very scarce. The Macedonian mines first produced gold enough for ordinary coinage. So also copper coinage came in from Sicily and Magna Græcia, where the talent was regarded as a weight of copper, and only equal to six (or even less) Attic drachmæ. There were at Athens silver pieces of four and eight drachmæ, and even half and quarter obols. This shows how much scarcer money was then than now, and how the public treasures and private fortunes, which seem to us so small, were really large in proportion to the prices paid even for the luxuries of life. Debasing the coinage, and using alloy, were common devices among the Greeks, whose local coins seem seldom to have had any general currency. It was specially noted of the Attic money, that it passed everywhere, on account of its excellence. POLITICS. The general principle of Greek states was to consider high political office as both a duty and an honor, but not a profession, so that no salaries were attached to such duties. It is certain, however, that the indirect profits were very great, inasmuch as the bribery of that day was applied, not to the electors, but to the holders of even very high office. This form of corruption is said to exist even now in Greece, where bribery of electors is very rare. The lower state officials, such as secretaries and heralds, were paid moderate salaries. When Athens became an imperial city, the sovereign people were paid sundry emoluments from the taxes of their subjects. For example, those Athenian citizens who were employed as dicasts,[8] or judges in court, received three obols per day—an income on which most of the poorer citizens lived. They were also paid by public distribution a sufficient sum for their entrance to the theater, and to enjoy themselves at the great festivals of the city. These profits were the direct result of political privileges.