Accumulations of Gold and Silver in Rome. 149 



securities. But unless the metallic wealth had increased in a 

 prodigious degree, that remarkable rise in the prices of other 

 commodities could not have been experienced, which is noticed 

 by all writers. As, among other instances, we know that the 

 house of Marius *, at Misenum, was purchased by Cornelia for 

 75,000 drachmas -f*, and a few years after sold to LucuUus for 

 500,200 drachmas J. The fortunes of private individuals may 

 be judged of by a few select notices to be found in contemporary 

 authors. Crassus is said to have possessed, in lands, bismillies §, 

 besides money, slaves, and household furniture, estimated at as 

 much more ||. Seneca is related to have possessed termillies^. 

 Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, an equal sum. Lentulus, 

 the augur, quatermillies* *. •C.C. Claudius Isidorus, although 

 he had lost a great part of his fortune in the civil wars, left, by 

 his will, 4116 slaves, 3600 yoke of oxen, 257,000 head of other 

 cattle, and, in ready money, H. S, sex centies -f- -f. 



The emperors were possessed of wealth in a proportion com- 

 mensurate with their superior rank and power. Augustus ob- 

 tained, by the testamentary dispositions of his friends, quater- 

 decies millies | J. Tiberius left at his death vigesies a septies mil- 

 lies § §, which Caligula lavished away in a single year. 



The expenses of the government, and the debts and credits of 

 the most eminent individuals, seem to have been on the same 

 colossal scale. Vespasian, at his accession, estimated the mo- 



• Plutarch in Mario. t L. 2421 : 17 : 6 Sterling. 



+ L. 16,152 : 5 : 10 Sterling. § L. 1,614,583 : 6 : 8 Sterling. 



II Though Crassus had several silver mines, and estates of great value, 

 which were profitably managed, yet his revenues from those sources are re- 

 presented as inconsiderable, when compared with those he derived from his 

 slaves. He had a large number of them, whom he educated, who were taught 

 to become readers, amanuenses, book-keepers, stewards, and cooks. Besides 

 this, he made interest of his money, at a high rate, receiving for the use of 

 it one per cent, at the end of each month. It is recorded, as a saying of his, 

 ** that no man could be accounted rich who was not able to maintain an army 

 out of his own revenues." It would seem, that when he was desirous to form 

 a powerful party in the state, he could be occasionally as profuse as he was 

 habitually avaricious ; for on one occasion he gave an entertainment to the 

 populace, who were seated at 10,000 tables, and at another time gave them a 

 supply of bread-corn for three months.— Plutarch, Life of M. Crassus. 



f L. 2,421,875 Sterling. •• L. 3,229,166 Sterling. 



tt L- 484,375 Sterling. %% L. 32,291,666 Sterling. 



§§L. 21,796,875 Sterling. 



