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Article ON RICHES. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Riches.
ever left such great wealth to his successor as King David did to his son Solomon ; for the building of tho Temple alone , he dedicated ten thousand talents of gold , and a hundred thousand talents of silver , besides other materials of infinite value , which he had prepared . The magnificence of this temple was admirable : it was not finished in less than forty-seven years : eighty-four thousand working masons were employed ,
superintended by three thousand two hundred masters ; thirty thousand Hebrews were employed in cutting of wood , and seventy thousand more were burthen bearers , for stoves avid other materials proper for the work . Augustus Cesser was so imrnenfeiy rich , that he generally kept in pay forty-four legions , the expence of which amounted . yearly to twelve millions of gold . But then we are to consider , that the Roman Empire was at that time at the heiht of its grandeurhaving for its limits
g , to the east , the river Euphrates ; to the west , the Ocean ; to the south , the fertile region of Africa ; to the north , the Rhine and the Danube . Riches are the source of all misfortunes ; and there is no wickedness , however great , which the insatiable thirst of gold will- not drive men to commit . What treacheries , violences , and murders , has it not occasioned since the beginning of the world ! Lycurgus forbade the
Lacedemonians the use of gold and silver , which are the cause of all evil , and are by wise nature concealed in the bowels of the earth , as not intended for the use of man ; yet they have found means to draw them from their dark abode , in order to prove a mutual plague to each other . The Egyptians
were . averse from the laying up of treasure , m order to prevent their kings from rearing magnificent buildings , to which they seemed much inclined , and at the same time to avoid all contention and war with their neighbours . Philip of Macedon made war through all the territories of Greece , because , by the plunder of some little towns , he was firmly of opinion , they possessed great riches . The Scythians made a very proper answer to the the Ambassadors of Vexores , King of Egy * pt , who
came by orders of-their master to declare war against them ; they said , The King of Egypt was badly advised in declaring war against a nation so poor as themselves ; that as the King of Egypt was rich , he had much more reason to fear ah attack ; they were therefore resolved to prevent him , and seize the treasure which he held out to them . Marcus Curtius , the Roman Consul , and the first of men in his time , who had three times received the honours of a triumph for his victories , placed so little value
on riches , that he had . nothing but a small farm-house in the country , to which he retired , when his affairs would permit , cultivating with his own hands the little garden he possessed . One day certain ambassadors came to visit him ; they found him sitting by his fire , busily employed in roasting turnips for his supper ; they offered him from their community large sums of money ; he told them , that the person who contented himself with such a meal as they sawhad no occasion for money , and
, that he esteemed it much more honourable to command over those who had gold , than to be in possession of it himself . Anacreon , having received from Palycerlus a gift of five talents , could not sleep for the space of two nights , distressed with the care of preserving them from thieves , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Riches.
ever left such great wealth to his successor as King David did to his son Solomon ; for the building of tho Temple alone , he dedicated ten thousand talents of gold , and a hundred thousand talents of silver , besides other materials of infinite value , which he had prepared . The magnificence of this temple was admirable : it was not finished in less than forty-seven years : eighty-four thousand working masons were employed ,
superintended by three thousand two hundred masters ; thirty thousand Hebrews were employed in cutting of wood , and seventy thousand more were burthen bearers , for stoves avid other materials proper for the work . Augustus Cesser was so imrnenfeiy rich , that he generally kept in pay forty-four legions , the expence of which amounted . yearly to twelve millions of gold . But then we are to consider , that the Roman Empire was at that time at the heiht of its grandeurhaving for its limits
g , to the east , the river Euphrates ; to the west , the Ocean ; to the south , the fertile region of Africa ; to the north , the Rhine and the Danube . Riches are the source of all misfortunes ; and there is no wickedness , however great , which the insatiable thirst of gold will- not drive men to commit . What treacheries , violences , and murders , has it not occasioned since the beginning of the world ! Lycurgus forbade the
Lacedemonians the use of gold and silver , which are the cause of all evil , and are by wise nature concealed in the bowels of the earth , as not intended for the use of man ; yet they have found means to draw them from their dark abode , in order to prove a mutual plague to each other . The Egyptians
were . averse from the laying up of treasure , m order to prevent their kings from rearing magnificent buildings , to which they seemed much inclined , and at the same time to avoid all contention and war with their neighbours . Philip of Macedon made war through all the territories of Greece , because , by the plunder of some little towns , he was firmly of opinion , they possessed great riches . The Scythians made a very proper answer to the the Ambassadors of Vexores , King of Egy * pt , who
came by orders of-their master to declare war against them ; they said , The King of Egypt was badly advised in declaring war against a nation so poor as themselves ; that as the King of Egypt was rich , he had much more reason to fear ah attack ; they were therefore resolved to prevent him , and seize the treasure which he held out to them . Marcus Curtius , the Roman Consul , and the first of men in his time , who had three times received the honours of a triumph for his victories , placed so little value
on riches , that he had . nothing but a small farm-house in the country , to which he retired , when his affairs would permit , cultivating with his own hands the little garden he possessed . One day certain ambassadors came to visit him ; they found him sitting by his fire , busily employed in roasting turnips for his supper ; they offered him from their community large sums of money ; he told them , that the person who contented himself with such a meal as they sawhad no occasion for money , and
, that he esteemed it much more honourable to command over those who had gold , than to be in possession of it himself . Anacreon , having received from Palycerlus a gift of five talents , could not sleep for the space of two nights , distressed with the care of preserving them from thieves , and