ibute collected and sent it to the
king.

=Revenues of the Empire.=--The total revenue of the king amounted to
sixteen millions of dollars and this money was paid by weight. This
sum was in addition to the tributes in kind. These sixteen millions of
dollars, if we estimate them by the value of the metals at this time,
would be equivalent to one hundred and twenty millions in our day.
With this sum the king supported his satraps, his army, his domestic
servants and an extravagant court; there still remained to him every
year enormous ingots of metal which accumulated in his treasuries.
The king of Persia, like all the Orientals, exercised his vanity in
possessing an immense treasure.

=The Great King.=--No king had ever been so powerful and rich. The
Greeks called the Persian king The Great King. Like all the monarchs
of the East, the king had absolute sway over all his subjects, over
the Persians as well as over tributary peoples. From Herodotus one can
see how Cambyses treated the great lords at his court. "What do the
Persians think of me?" said he one day to Prexaspes, whose son was his
cupbearer. "Master, they load you with praises, but they believe that
you have a little too strong desire for wine." "Learn," said Cambyses
in anger, "whether the Persians speak the truth. If I strike in the
middle of the heart of your son who is standing in the vestibule, that
will show that the Persians do not know what they say." He drew his
bow and struck the son of Prexaspes. The youth fell; Cambyses had the
body opened to see where the shot had taken effect The arrow was found
in the middle of the heart. The prince, full of joy said in derision
to the father of the young man, "You see that it is the Persians who
are out of their senses; tell me if you have seen anybody strike the
mark with so great accuracy." "Master," replied Prexaspes, "I do not
believe that even a god could shoot so surely."[35]

=Services Rendered by the Persians.=--The peoples of Asia have always
paid tribute to conquerors and given allegiance to despots. The
Persians, at least, rendered them a great service: in subjecting all
these peoples to one master they prevented them from fighting among
themselves. Under their domination we do not see a ceaseless burning
of cities, devastation of fields, massacre or wholesale enslavement of
inhabitants. It was a period of peace.

=Susa and Persepolis.=--The kings of the Medes and Persians, following
the example