The Historians' History of the World 03 [Greece to the Peloponnesian War]

[22] [Many wonderful anecdotes are related of the riches of individuals in more ancient times; among which this does not seem to be the least marvellous. The sum of which Pythius is said to have been possessed amounted to five millions and a half of sterling money [$27,500,000]; this is according to the estimate of Prideaux; that given by Montfaucon differs essentially. “The denii,” says this last writer, “weighed eight modern louis-d’ors; therefore Pythius possessed thirty-two millions of louis-d’ors” [£25,600,000, $128,000,000].

Montfaucon, relating the story of Pythius, adds these reflections:

“‘A man might in those days safely be rich, provided he obtained his riches honestly; and how great must have been the circulation in commerce, if a private man could amass so prodigious a sum!’ The wealth which the Roman Crassus possessed was not much inferior; when he had consecrated a tenth of his property to Hercules, and at ten thousand tables feasted all the people of Rome, beside giving as much corn to every citizen as was sufficient to last him three months, he found himself still possessed of seventy-one hundred Roman talents, equivalent to a million and a half of our money. The gold which Solomon employed in overlaying the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple, which was no more than thirty feet square and thirty feet high, amounted to four millions three hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. The gold which he had in one year from Ophir was equal to three millions two hundred and forty thousand pounds.”f]

[23] [It seems a matter of certainty that Herodotus’ numbers must be erroneous. Vessels placed transversely must reach to a much greater extent than the same number placed side by side; yet here the greater number of ships is stated to have been on the side where they were arranged transversely, that is, across the channel, with their broadsides to the stream. What the true numbers were it is vain to conjecture, it is sufficient to have pointed out that the present must be wrong.f

Since the Hellespont, in the neighbourhood of Abydos, has a very considerable bend in its course, first running northward from Abydos towards Sestos, and then taking a pretty sharp turn to the eastward, may it not have been, that the two lines of ships were disposed on different sides of the angle just mentioned, by which it might truly be said, that the ships in one line presented their heads to the Euxine, the other their sides, although the heads of both were presented to the current? The different numbers in the two lines certainly indicate different breadths of the strait, which can only be accounted for by their being at some distance from each other: for it cannot be supposed that the line was placed obliquely across the strait.

The cables extended from each shore appear to have been for the sole purpose of supporting the bridgeways. The ships were kept in their places by anchors ahead and astern; by the lateral pressure of each other, and by side-fastening.e]

[24] [This story will probably excite a smile from the English reader, whom it will remind of Mary Tofts and her rabbits.—Beloe.]

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