ACCUMULATION IN CHAP. I. 



for eight thousand talents; but, if the taxes were 

 farmed by a Jew, he was to pay double that 

 amount, and moreover supply to the royal trea- 

 sury the money required to redeem the confis- 

 cated goods of such persons as had not paid their 

 taxes 1 . 



During the period of the Macedonian empire, 

 the precious metals were spread in great abund- 

 ance 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 2 . 



TheRo- 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 attracted 

 them, from Asia and Africa, to its own me- 

 tropolis. It is thus that the enormous fortunes 

 of individuals which are related by the historians 

 are to be accounted for. The descriptions of 

 such fortunes, it is true, are not confined to 

 their mere metallic wealth, but include their 

 lands, houses, slaves, and furniture, and also 



1 Josephus Antiq. Jud. xii. 4. 



2 See, on this subject, the valuable German work of Pro- 

 fessor Bceckh, entitled " Staatshausholtung der Athener," an 

 excellent translation of which was published in 1828, under 

 the title of <l Public Economy of Athens." 



mans. 



