In his discussion on this point, Boeckh[101] charges Demosthenes with intentional falsehood, because, in his oration against Aphobos, he reckons fourteen sword-cutlers at forty minæ, something less than three minæ a-piece. But among those possessed by his father at his death some were reckoned at only three minæ. His guardians made use of them for ten years, that is, till they were grown old, by which time the best would have deteriorated, and the others become of no value.[102] This being the case, I do not see upon what ground Boeckh bases his accusation. The wages of slaves, when let out by their masters on hire, varied greatly, as did also the profit derived from them. A miner was supposed to yield his master an obolos per day, a leather-worker two oboli, and a foreman or overseer three. Expert manufacturers of fine goods, such as head-nets, stuffs of Amorgos, and variegated fabrics like our flowered muslins, must have produced their owners much greater returns.[103] ----- Footnote 101: Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 94. Footnote 102: Orat. in Aphob. § 2. Footnote 103: Boeckh Pub. Econ. of Athen. i. 92, sqq. ----- Slaves, at Athens, were divided into two classes, private and public. The latter, who were the property of the state, performed several kinds of service supposed to be unworthy of freemen: they were, for example, employed as vergers, messengers, apparitors, scribes, clerks of public works,[104] and inferior servants of the gods. Most of the temples of Greece possessed, in fact, a great number of slaves or serfs, who cultivated the sacred domains, exercised various humbler offices of religion, and were, in short, ready on all occasions to execute the orders of the priests.[105] At Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite chiefly prevailed, these slaves consisted almost exclusively of women,[106] who having, on certain occasions, burnt frankincense, and offered up public prayers to the goddess, were sumptuously feasted within the precincts of her fane. ----- Footnote 104: Rudig. ad Dem. Olynth. B. § 7. Etymol. Mag. 265. 29, seq. Footnote 105: Dissen. ad Fragm. Pind. p. 640. Footnote 106: See a representation of sacred female slaves dancing, in Zoëga, Bassi Relievi. Tav. 20, seq. ----- Among the Athenians, the slaves of the republic, generally captives taken in war, received a careful education, and were sometimes entrusted with important duties. Out of their number were selected the secretaries,[107] who, in time of war, accompanied the generals and treasurers of the army, and made exact minutes of their expenditure, in order that, when on their return these officers should come to render an account of their proceedings, their books might be compared with those of the secretaries. In cases of difficulty, moreover, these unfortunate individuals were subjected to torture, in order to obtain that kind of evidence which the ancients deemed most satisfactory.[108] ----- Footnote 107: