CHAP. II. SPAIN. 101 



of bread, corn, and other food, which must have 

 been of nearly equal value ; so that, supposing 

 the pay of a miner to be no higher than that 

 of a foot soldier, that there was no variation in 

 the produce of the mines, and that no capital 

 had been expended in the various works, which 

 in all cases precede the products and usually 

 amount to a large sum, it would appear that the 

 silver procured must have cost more than its 

 current worth. 



The produce of the mines then exceeded the 

 natural quantity, that is, the quantity which 

 would have been extracted if mere pecuniary 

 profit had been the sole object of the under- 

 takings ; it exceeded that quantity, owing to the 

 exertions which the Carthaginians made with a 

 view to the invasion contemplated by Hannibal 

 of the Roman territory, and owing to the pre- 

 sence and personal inspection of that distin- 

 guished and energetic commander. 



As the inferior kind of work in the mines was 

 performed in part by convicts and by slaves, an 

 officer, like the Carthaginian general, with an 

 object before him of such magnitude as scaling 

 the Alps, and exterminating the vast power and 

 the appalling name of the Roman people, would 

 think little of the cost of that metal which he 

 must have contemplated as one of the indis- 

 pensable means of his ultimate success. 



