Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-05-20
wealthy Folks In Ancient Times and
Now.

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Monthly.
Wealthy FOIks In Ancient Times and
Nov.
We occasionally read interesting accounts
Of the wealth and extravagant expenditures of
our railway kings, bonanza kings and other
financial kings. There is a certain fascina-
tion in these descriptions Of immense pos
sessions and the personal characteristics and
habits of those who control them. That Van
derbilt pays a small fortune for a picture,
that Mrs. Astor wears diamonds worth $780,
900 and that Mrs. Mackey gives a dinner at a
cost Of $25, 600, are facts which to the popu-
lar mind have a peculiar charm. And, un-
doubtedly, there is an impression in some
quarters that the amassing of enormous
wealth and the attendant extravagance are
things of comparatively modern growth.
How far this impression is from the truth
may be seen by glance at history, which in
this respect is really comforting to us poor
devils Of the present day. Pythes, or
Pythius, the Lydian Lord of Cel@n@, was
worth SIG, 900, 900. Cyrus returned from the
conquest of Asia with $500, 900, ,00O Darius
during his reign. had an income of $14, 500,-
600 year. The votive offering of Croesus to
the Delphian god amounted TO $4,000, 900.
Alexander's daily meal cost $1700. He paid
the debts of his soldiers, amounting to at least
$40, 900, 900, and made present of 81, 500,-
600 to the Thessalians. The obsequies of
Hephaestian are said to have cost 81, ,50O,-
600. Aristotle's investigations in natural his
tory involved an expense of $1,000, 900. He
left behind him a treasure Of $50 000, 600.
The wealth Of his satraps was extraordinary.
One of them, Harpalus, accumulated S5, ,000,-
900.
A festival of Ptolemy Philsdelphus cost not
Lace Ahav af
King amounted to 1915, 900, 900. There was
immense wealth among the Romans. The
landed estate of Cr@sus was valued at So
900, 600, and his house at $400, 900. Caecilius
Isidorus lost much, but still left s., ,235, 900.
Demetrius, freedman of Pompey, was worth
81, 600, 600. Lentulus, the augur, possessed
no less than $17, 900, ,000 Clodius paid $780,
600 for his house, and he once swallowed a
pearl worth $4,000. Antony squandered
altogether $735, 100000. Tiberius left at his
death S11S, 120, 600, and Caligula spent it all
in less than year. The extravagant Caligula
paid $50, 900 for one supper. Speaking of
suppers, one meal cost Heliogabalus $780,
900, and the supper of Lueullus at the Apollo
cost $3.50. Pegelius a singer, could and
did spend $40, 900 in five days.
Seneca had fortune of S17, 500, 600. Api-
cius was worth about So, 000, 900, and af-.
ter he had spent in his kitchen and other
wise squAndered sums to the amount of S4,-
1GG, 900 he poisoned himself leaving a few,
hundred thousand. That Cesar was very
comfortably fixed, at least, is indicated by the
fact that he presented Servilia, the mother of
Brutus, pearl worth $2O0, 900; another bit
of evidence is the large sum given to Paulus
by Caesar as q bribe-292, 900; and another
is the fact that he gave for a single pearl
$4,000. Curio must have been at one time
pretty sound financially, as he was able to
contract debts to the amount of 81, 500,0 900.
Tacitus informs us that Nero gave away in
presents to his friends $97, 900, 900. The
dresses of Lolita Paulina the rival of Agrippi-
na were valued at 81, ,6G4, 4SO. This did not
include her jewels. She wore at one supper
81, 562, 800 worth of jewels, and it was plain
citizens supper. She was worth altogether
$500, 900, OO0 The luxury of Pappae, below
ed by Nero, was at least equal 10 that of
Lolita. Pallas, the lover of Agrippina, left
an estate in lands valued at S15, 200, 900. M.
Scaurus had villa worth $15, 900, 900, and
this was only small part of his immense for
tune. The villa was burnt by his slaves out
of revenge for some injury received.
The sums paid by the old Greeks and Ro-
mans for works of art make the present price
appear somewhat shabby. Nicias, an artist,
refused to sell one Of his pictures to King
Attalus for $75, 200, choosing rather to pre-
sent it to his country as gift. Ncias was a
millionaire. For a single figure by Aristides,
King Attalus gave $4,000. Muason, the
the tyrant of Elates, paid $4,000 for small
picture by Aristides representing battle of
the Persians. Caesar was q generous patron
of art. He bought of Timomachus, painter
of Athens, two figures, one representing Ajax
and the other Medea, for which he paid
800, 900.
Apelles received $40, 900 for a portrait of
Alexander, which he painted on the walls of
the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus. Ptolemy
paid Aratus $500, 600 for some old pictures
by Melanthus and Pamphilus M. Agrippa
paid to the people of Cyzicus $50, 900 for two
small paintings, and it was he who built and
bequeathed TO his countrymen the magnificent
Therm@ in the Campus Martius, with their
gardens libraries and porticoes-one portion
of which, the Pantheon, still remains. Lucius
Mummius got picture in Greece, represent
ing Father Bacchus, which King Attalus val
ued at $3.50, 900, but Mummius said that the
price was too small and refused TO sell.
The picture of Venus Anadyomene, by
Apelles, was sold for 1926, 600 Isocrates re-
oeived $4,000 for one Grafton. Virgil, for
his lines on Marcellus, was rewarded by gift
of about $4,000. For a single dish of pot
terry the tragic actor of Esophus paid $4,000.
The Emperor Vitellius ordered a dish to be
made for him for which furnace was erect
ed in the fields outside the city, for S45, 900.
The colossal statue of Mercury, made for the
city of the Averni in Gaul, by Zenodorus,
cost 81 ,675, 900.
Nero paid S161 900 for carpet For the
famous statue of the Diademenos, which was
bronze figure of life size representing a
youth tying fillet round his head Polycleitus
received 1926, 900. And again dropping art
for literature, it is related that Tiberius pre-
sented TO Asellius Sabinus $4,000 for q dia-
logue he wrote between a mushroom, cab
bage, an oyster and thrush. Regarding the
immense wealth possessed by fortunes fa-
vorites in ancient days, the mystery is what
has become of all this gold and silver Y-for
the possessions of these rich men and women
consisted chiefly of the clean metal and pre-
cious stones.
There is no accounting for its disappearance
except on the theory that it passed from sight
as vessels laden with precious cargoes sink to
the bottom of the sea and are lost forever
The fact remains that in riches, extrava-
ganee and luxury the ancients exoelled rail-
road kings, bonanza kings and merchant
princes of the present day. 1t is fortunate,
indeed, that wealth is more fairly divided
than in olden times, and there is reason TO be-
leve that as the world grows older, and the
political rights of men are move freely ac-
knowledged, and restraints upon personal ac-
ton are thrown of, the accumulation Of inn
mense fortunes will become less and less pos
sible.-C Cincinnati Times.
President Garfield has promised TO see
that the order by President Hayes, prohibit
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