26

ACCUMULATION IN

CHAP. I.

sessed ter millies \ Pallas, the freedman ofClaudius, an equal sum. Lentulus, the augur,quater millies 2 . C. C. Claudius Isidorus, al-though he had lost a great part of his fortune inthe civil wars, left by his will four thousand onehundred and sixteen slaves, three thousand sixhundred yoke of oxen, two hundred and fifty-seven thousand head of other cattle, and inready money US. sexcenties 3 .

The emperors were possessed of wealth in aproportion commensurate with their superiorrank and power. Augustus obtained, by the tes-tamentary dispositions of his friends, quater deciesmillies 4 . Tiberius left at his death vigesies acsepties millies 5 , which Caligula lavished away ina single year.

The expenses of the government, and thedebts and credits of the most eminent indivi-duals, seem to have been on the same colossalscale. Vespasian , at his accession, estimatedthe money which the maintenance of the com-monwealth required at three hundred andtwenty-two millions nine hundred sixteen thou-sand six hundred and sixty pounds.

one occasion he gave an entertainment to the populace, whowere seated at ten thousand tables, and at another time gavethem a supply of bread-corn for three months.— Plutarch ,Life of M. Crassus.

1 £2,421,875 sterling. 2 £3,229,166 sterling.

3 £484,375 sterling. 4 £32,291,666 sterling.

6 £21,796,875 sterling.