The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-06-11
The Wealth of tho Ancients.

WONDERS where the money came from. Blu
wnen, by chance, a learned person suggest
the inquiry, only an IDIOT. says the Londor
STANDARD, fails to be struck for a moment
| II is so curious that while modern states
With all the accumulated wealth Of the an
tque world at their back, ana the treasures
OF Mexico. California, Australia, the Trans
wall IN addition, have TO consider ways and
means with anxious care before building a
government Office the early monarchs raised
palaces and temples by the hundreds at will
Inc thoughtless have ready explanation
slave labor did IL ALL But in the first place
the slaves had to be procured somehow-oy
war or purchase-and either means was ex-
pens;Ve. There is a reply to that objection
equally facile-the war paid its own cost IL
loot. But this only leads Us q step back
ward. The loot must have been enormous,
and where did it come from? In the second
place, those slaves had 10 be fed. and how
ever cheap their "a tons. the sum total must
have been immense when such vast num-
bers were employed.
But captives Of war could only do rough
work They might build the Coliseum or the
Pyramids. directed by an army Of skilled
craftsmen. But the sculpture OF Assyr.an
palaces, the painting of Egyptian temples
and toHnbs. must have been effected by ar
lists. probably free, or. if slaves, trained at
great expense. When we read that the city
OF Dur-Sargunu was created on an empty
plain. by order of the king, in eight years.
standing on a mound OF brick 100 acres in
area, lis walls sixty feet high, broad enough
for seven chariots to run abreast, and faced
with stone. ali the evidence Is needed to
make US credit the story; but the marvel
becomes far greater when We observe the
Ei;ies of sculptured stone that decorated Sar
CONS palace with colossal bulls on each side
Of every doorway. They are the work of ar
lists, not made for sale when wanted, but to
order. each slab telling its fragment Of the
royal annals. Were all the sculptors of the
empire summoned to this task. to be finish
&c in eight years? But the tombs Of private
individuals IN Egypt must have been paint
ed a. the cost Of the family by masters Of
the craft; animals and birds show a skill
not to be surpassed. We may be quite sure
that work like this was highly paid-oy
comparison. that is, with slave labor.
So the question recurs. how much gold
and silver did these ancients possess? In
the Roman time men appear to have been
struck with the evidence of vast wealth dis
played by their predecessors. such as the
Caesars could not equal. But they escaped
the difficulty with ease, by granting them
riches literally beyond the dreams Of ava
rice. DR.. Arbuthnot, for example. has pa
tiently reckoned up the amount of treasure
heaped upon the Pile Of Sardanapalus by
AtheEaeus,, and finds that it came to
ZIG, $50, 900 in our money at the least: for
Il computation which Athenaeus himself
suggests be admitted. the total would be
. hnt sy.t4.
statement Of Diodorus-that the Pharaohs
nually from gold mines in the Bishari Des-
ert, aud drew an equal sum by taxation
is very moderate. But when the same most
valuable writer-who talked nonsene only
when he repeated the words of other men
comes to deal with Babylon, he lets himself
SO. There was gold statue of Zeus-the
Greek assigned his own gods to Babylon as
ueUal-forty feet high; of Rhea equally tail,
with hon Of gold at each knee. and silver
SCI penis to correspond; Juno weighed 500
talents; In front Of her wan golden table.
500 talents, upon which stood two cups, 800
talents each, and three bowls 1900 600 and
500 talents. These ornaments of single
temple represented about fiji. 100000, and the
building was covered with gold plates 1t
mentioned in Daniel would be
worth three and half millions sterling;
that the treasure left by David amounted to
a hundred and fifty million in gold. two
hundred millions in silver; but the value Of
the Hebrew talent is doubtful. We are told
that Fytheus, seemingly a private gentle
men of Phyrgea. entertained Xerxes and all
his army-"with most stupendous feasts."
then had f4.T7ooo0 left, or. as
some compute, f3.6O0.0o0. The tale Of Alex
anders loor is most wonderful of all. and
that is historic: II we entertain doubts. i,
s futile to express them when the state
ments are So clear and the means of dis
proving them absent. In the Persian camp
hen. at BABY lon. Alexander secured some
thing like $40. 900 COO; at Persepolis. f1Se Co.,
10; at Pasagurda, trifle of 100000; a.
Ecbatana. 1900. Al; say ESQ. 0O0,co0. AMI
Darius carried of f9, 100000 which his muir
ierers seized.
We come to the prosiac facts which have
been collected by several patient inqu:rers
from a note or a hint here and there. OF
Egypt. indeed, nothing profitable can be said
until the age Of the Ptolemies. and little
wen then. The Pharaohs certainly drew a
,onsioeI able revenue from their gold mines |
md a multitude Of inscriptions show them |
eceiving tribute Of the precious metal from |
Ethiopia and Syria in the days of their J
supremacy. Before and afterwards the peo-
lie were great manufacturers and traders |
otolemy Ph;ladelphus left 6. 900 900 at least |
n his treasury. Heroditus tells US the |
evenue Of the Persian Empire. under Da- |
Jus Hystaspes. and the moderation of the |
UNI is assurance that he obtained his fig- |
Tres from a competent authority-it was |
bout Is. 10000; but this was cash alone. |
revenue is said 10 have been far
.reater-over e. 900 coo IN gold. and as much 1
n silver; but il has been mentioned that
ie brew talents cannot be computed with /
ertainty. That with such an income the /
'ersian monsrchs could contrive to hoard /
be amazing treasures captured by Alex
nder has often been questioned; but ve
nay suppose that the revenue had increas-
q vastly since Herodotus wrote and that
he taxes in kind and the tribute yielded
ar more than the returns IN cash: and the
lunder of Egypt, northern India Syria,
M countless nations must be added. We
re told. indeed, that the Macedonian loot
epresented the accumulation OF ages. But
IL a relief. as ever in such cases. 70 get
, Rome. where dry facts preaviL Piiny
smarks that the treasury had contained
yer f70.olo.o,o more than once This Is a
easonable hs1r When Augustus had or
anized the public service, and sscertainei
recisely what the receipts and expenses
the empire might be. he found that the
rnuai income was about .Cto. and ne
eclarei that It left very small balance
TO the good" But Caesar had private re-
1urces for any extravaganza he might
incy.
AUGUSTUS was no tyrant. but people reck-
ned that turing his lifetime he received I
0 less than f3..o1ocoo by legacy from
-ienis- The savings OF T;berius amounted
~ S5.eo. which again Is reasonable.