148 Accumulations of' Gold and Silver in Rome. 



that sum. Though an account of this kind may appear exag- 

 gerated, yet there seems no reason to doubt its general veracity. 

 The revenues of the Ptolomies were excessively large, and the 

 countries over which their dominions extended were, by the col- 

 lections, completely drained of all their wrought gold and sil- 

 ver ; and the tributes were collected by the farmers of the re- 

 venue, with the assistance of an armed force, composed not of 

 regular soldiers, but of organized bands of robbers. Some idea 

 of the degree of rapacity in extracting revenues under Ptolemy, 

 may be formed by comparing the tribute drawn from the pro- 

 vinces of Coelesyria, Palestine, and Samaria, under Cyrus, as 

 given by Herodotus, and that extorted by the successor of 

 Alexander, as given by Josephus. At the time of Cyrus, the 

 island of Cyprus was included in the province of Coelesyria ; 

 but in the time of Ptolemy, was separated from it. In the first 

 instance, the tribute paid was 350 talents *. In the latter in- 

 stance, it was farmed to Evergetes for 8000 talents ; but if the 

 taxes were farmed by a Jew, he was to pay double that amount, 

 and, moreover, supply to the royal treasury the money required 

 to redeem the confiscated goods of such persons as had not paid 

 their taxes -f*. 



During the period of the Macedonian empire, the precious 

 metals were spread in great abundance over the whole eastern 

 shores of the Mediterranean ; and if there had not been a very 

 large portion of them hoarded up in the royal treasury, their 

 value must have fallen much lower, in comparison with other 

 commodities, than was actually the case J. 



The Romans. — The extension of the Roman empire, until it 

 comprehended almost the whole of the known world, if it tended 

 to diminish the production of the precious metals, powerfully at- 

 tracted them, from Asia and Africa, to its own metropolis. It 

 is thus that the enormous fbrtunes of individuals, which are re- 

 lated by historians, are not to be accounted for. The descrip- 

 tions of such fortunes, it is true, are not confined to their mere 

 metallic wealth, but include their lands, houses, slaves, and fur- 

 niture, and also money lent at interest on mortgages or other 



•Herodot us, book iii. cap. 89. -f Josephus Antiq. Jud. xii. 4. 



X See, on this subject, the valuable German work of Professor Boeckh, en- 

 titled, " Staatshaushaltung der Athener," an excellent translation of which 

 was published in 1828, under the title of" Public Economy of Athens." 



