CHAP. I. SYRIA AND PERSIA. 13 



staspes, king of Persia, about 480 years before 

 Christ, drew from the several provinces, into 

 which, after completing his conquests, he divided 

 his extensive dominions. 



The amount supplied by each province is 

 stated, and whether paid in silver or in gold. 

 " The aggregate sum, he says, " will be found 

 to be nine thousand eight hundred and eighty 

 talents in silver, and, estimating the gold at 

 thirteen times the value of the silver, there will 

 be found, according to the Euboic talent, four 

 thousand six hundred and eighty of these talents. 

 The whole being estimated together, it will 

 appear that the annual tribute paid to Darius 

 was fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty 

 talents 1 ." 



This treasure is estimated by Gibbon and by 

 Rennel to be equivalent to about three millions 

 and a quarter sterling. According to the infer- 

 ence of the former writer, drawn from the same 

 authority, in book 1, cap. 192, this revenue was 

 the surplus, after the expenses of the mainten- 

 ance of the army and of the provincial admini- 

 stration had been discharged. This quantity of 

 gold and silver was probably that which became 

 the property of the monarch, forming a kind of 

 reserved stock to meet unforeseen contingencies. 



We find, in another passage in Herodotus, a 



1 Herodotus, book iii. cap. 95. 



