Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1868-12-05

aments observable on cashmere shawls,
on silks and cotton goods from the
gorgeous window drapery so acommon
silk handkerchief may be traced TO
/, he same source.
We boast, too, Of the immense wealth
fof the world in gold and silver bullion. |
Why, it is nothing compared with that
Of the ancient world. OF the immense
quantity OF gold possessed by the
Egyptian, as well rs of their elegant
nlanuf;ictnic of it. abundant testimony
may be had from writer's, sacred as
Well az profane. DiodoBns, describing
The mausolem of Osmandys, informs
rs that the amount of gold and silver
dug from the mines IF the Thebais was
three millions of nina or about four
hundred and fifty millions Of cur
money. In one voyage from Sofala,
on the African coast, no doubt the
Ophir of Scripture. Solomon is report
ed by Josephus to have brought home
four hundred and fifty talents in gold,
or about twenty millions of our money
King David left in his treasury, accord
| ing to the Book of Chronicles, an
amount of gold and silver that would
be equal to about n thousand millions
of dollars. In the great temple of Be-
ms, built by Semiramis, we have an
account of three prodigious statues,
representing Jupiter, Juno, and Rbea,
al of heated gold The first statue was
forty feet high, the third. of Rhoa, was
sculptured out of solid gold, sitting on
golden throne. The statue of Juno
was in an erect position, and about the
sam G height with that of Jupiter.
The colossal image of solid old that
Nebuchannezzer set up was ninety feet
high and computed by our standard
of value, was worth about fifty millions
of dollars. Alexander carried away
from the Persian capital alone one
thousand millions of bullion by our
money value. On the funeral Of one
of his favorites he expended ten mil
lions of gold.
But the lavishness of Cleopatra I'M
folds to us a bewildering vision of the
immense wealth Of the Eastern mon
arches Having invited Antony to a
banquet, at which the vast number of
gold cups set with jewels attracted his
admiration, she presented him with the
whole assortment. The next day he
was again invited to royal banquet
with all the chief officers of the army /;
and when that banquet was over, every
guest was presented with the gold cup
from which he had quaffed. The pearl
that she dissolved and swallowed was
worth about eighty thousand pounds,
or four hundred thousand of our money
The pearl that Caesar presented to the
mother of Brutus, and which was found
among Cleopatra's treasures after her
death, was estimated at fifty thousand
pounds, or two hun dred and fifty thou
sand dollars.
But what shall We say of Roman ex-
travagance Paulina, great beauty
in the time of Caligula, wore jewels to
the value or more than two million dol
} lars. The houses of Cassius and Cras-
sus were respectively valued at more
than half million estimated by our
currency. They We're externally cased
with marble, and had costly marble
pillars to support their ceilings. They
were internally decorated with rich Ia.
pestry, with rare hanging of Tyrean
purple, with urns and statues exquisit-
ely sculptured and polished. Fountains
of perfumed waters played in the ban
quoting rooms, cooling the air and re.
freshing the guests, who dined off gold
plate served up OH tables overlaid with
silver, while they reclined ON sofas sus
I tanned by legs of ivory, silver and gold
Antony made Asia pay thousands Of
millions in tribute The effect of SC
much wealth was an unbounded licen-
tiousness in the people of Rome, who
in their magnificent entertainments
and sumptuous mode of living, soor
surpassed the princes of Asia them
selves, for we soon find them sleeping
on beds of gold and ivory, quaffing the
rich wines of Cheos and Falernium out
of gold and silver goblets, and riding
in papri nac novorol- oil ,,,.o,. al,