the particular case, that the acquisition of gold and silver was only to be obtained, in that remote period, by the mines being in the hands of severe as well as arbitrary despots, who spared neither the enjoyments, the labour, nor even the lives, of their subjects, in the eager pursuit after the metallic riches of their dominions.

It does not appear that the free states of Greece possessed a store of gold and silver, equal to that acquired by these absolute rulers of smaller portions of territory. When Pericles *, in order to animate the Athenians, in their defence against the Peloponnesians, about the year 431 before Christ, addressed them, he stated the amount of the money then in the citadel to be L. 1,162,250; and, in addition to that, the gold in the statue of Minerva, which must be replaced if appropriated to the public service, to amount to L.124,800. The revenues derived from the tributary states, amounted annually to the sum of L.116,250, and more than L.700,000 had been expended in improving the public works †.

The mass of the precious metals brought from the eastern to the western world by Alexander, must have been enormous, though much of that captured was expended in the subjugated countries, and in those which were between them and Greece. The accounts of historians are probably exaggerated; but whatever allowance may be made for such a practice which was too common with the ancients, we must be convinced from the numerous authorities which bear testimony to the facts, and corroborate each other, that the accumulation in the hands of individual monarchs and states, was much greater about the time of the establishment of the full power of the Roman empire, than any subsequent period.

The treasures acquired by Alexander in Susa and Persia, exclusive of those which were found in the Persian camp and in Babylon, are stated by the authors above referred to and others, by some at 40,000, by others at 50,000 talents. The treasure of Persepolis is rated at 120,000 talents; that of Pasagarda at 6000; and upon the capture of Ecbatana, according to the

Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, book ii.

†The sums here stated are taken according to the calculation of Dean Smith, the learned translator of Thucydides.

Strabo, 615, p. 502.—Arrian, iii. 3. Justin. xi. 14, and Plutarch, Vit. Alex, 36.

account preserved in Strabo, 180,000 talents are said to have been collected from thence, besides 6000 talents which Darius had with him, which were taken by the murderers.

Alexander's profuse expenditure, which his flatterers called generosity, was in accordance with the vast sums he seems to have acquired. He gave great rewards to his soldiers; and paid their debts, amounting to 9800 talents. He presented to the Thessalians 2000 talents. The funeral of Hephaestion is said to have cost 12,000 talents, and the researches in natural history, for the work of Aristotle, 800 talents. The wealth of his satraps was also enormous. Harpalus, one of them, is said to have amassed 50,000 talents, although, when at Athens, he denied the possession of more than 950. The successors of Alexander also collected large sums; though, by their extensive and fierce wars, the greater part was dissipated.

In Polybius is found a description of Ecbatana, at a period subsequent to the capture of that place by Alexander, and afterwards in the reigns of Antigonus and Seleucus.

"The magnificence of the palace," he says, "was such in every part as to give a high idea of the power and wealth of those by whom it had been erected; for though the wood was all cypress or cedar, no part of it was left naked; yet the beams, the roofs, and the pillars that supported the porticoes and peristyles, were all covered with plates, some of silver, and some of gold. The tiles, likewise, were all of silver. Though the place had been three times plundered by those we have named before Antiochus arrived, there was still remaining, in the reign of Ena, some pillars cased with gold, and a large quantity of silver tiles, laid together in a heap. There were also some few wedges of gold, and a much greater number of silver. These were coined into money, and amounted to the sum of about 5000 talents *."

Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt after Alexander, is stated by Appian, upon the authority of official documents, to have possessed treasure to the enormous amount of 740,000 talents; either Roman talents, or the small Ptolemaic talent. If Roman talents, which were about equal to the Attic talent, be rendered into money of the present day, it will give the amount as 178,000,000. If the smaller talent, which seems most correct, be taken, it will amount to at least one-quarter of

• Polybius, book v. cap. 9.-Hist. Rom. Proem. 10.

that sum. Though an account of this kind may appear exaggerated, 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 collections, completely drained of all their wrought gold and silver; and the tributes were collected by the farmers of the revenue, 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 provinces of Colesyria, 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 Cœelesyria; but in the time of Ptolemy, was separated from it. In the first instance, the tribute paid was 350 talents*. In the latter instance, 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.

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 ‡.

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 attracted them, from Asia and Africa, to its own metropolis. It is thus that the enormous fortunes of individuals, which are related by historians, are not 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 money lent at interest on mortgages or other "Herodot us, book iii. cap. 89.

+ Josephus Antiq. Jud. xii. 4.

See, on this subject, the valuable German work of Professor Boeckh, entitled, "Staatshaushaltung der Athener," an excellent translation of which was published in 1828, under the title of " Public Economy of Athens."

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 †, and a few years after sold to Lucullus for 500,200 drachmas ‡. 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 ††.

.

The emperors were possessed of wealth in a proportion commensurate with their superior rank and power. Augustus obtained, by the testamentary dispositions of his friends, quaterdecies millies. Tiberius left at his death vigesies a septies millies §§, 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.

+ L. 2421 : 17: 6 Sterling.

L. 16,152: 5:10 Sterling. § L. 1,614,583: 6: 8 Sterling. ||Though Crassus had several silver mines, and estates of great value, which were profitably managed, yet his revenues from those sources are represented 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.

** L. 3,229,166 Sterling.

TL. 2,421,875 Sterling.

++ L. 484,375 Sterling.

++ L. 32,291,666 Sterling,

§§ L. 21,796,875 Sterling.

ney which the maintenance of the commonwealth required at L. 322,916,660.

The debts of Milo amounted to H. G. septengenties *. Julius Cæsar, before he held any office, owed 1300 talents. When, after his prætorship, he set out for Spain, he is reported to have said, “Bis millies et quingenties sibi deesse, ut nihil haberet;" that is, that he was L. 2,0018,000 worse than nothing. When he first entered Rome, at the beginning of the civil war, he took out of the treasury to the amount of L. 1,095,000 Sterling, and brought into it, at the end of that war, L. 4,843,000. He is reported to have purchased the friendship of Curio, at the commencement of the civil contests, by a bribe of L. 484,370; and that of the Consul L. Paulus, the colleague of Marcellus, by one of L. 279,500 +.

Anthony, on the ides of March, when Cæsar was killed, owed L. 320,000, which he paid before the kalends of April, and squandered of the public money more than L. 5,600,000 ‡.

Many other instances might be found of vast masses of wealth being collected, of large debts being contracted, and of prodigious sums being expended, either on public occasions, or in private indulgences of the dress, the tables, or the furniture of the Romans, just after the acquisition of universal empire. At that period the treasure, which had been acquired by conquest, had not been generally in the hands of numerous individuals, nor had much of it been consumed by the friction, which the prac tice, soon after extended, of converting large quantities of it into coined money, necessarily occasioned.-Jacob on the Precious Metals.

On the Origin and Composition of Basalt.

BASALT, like granite, appears composed of several different minerals, and has not derived its existence from the fusion of * L. 565,104 Sterling.

+ It is remarked by Pliny (book xxxiii. cap. 3), that the city of Rome never possessed so much money as at the beginning of the war between Cæsar and Pompey.

See Adam's Roman Antiquities, 9th edit. p. 461, from whence, as far as regards Rome, the facts are selected, and where the evidence on which each of them rests is pointed out.