Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/201

 CAPTURE OF BABYLON AND SUSA. 169 great : sufficient to furnish a large donative to the troops — - 600 drachms per man to the Macedonian cavahy, 500 to the foreign cavalry, 200 to the Macedonian infantry, and something less to the foreign infantry.* But the treasure found and ap- propriated at Susa was yet greater. It is stated at 50,000 talents^ (== about £11,500,000 sterling), a sum which we might have deemed incredible, if we did not find it greatly exceeded by what is subsequently reported about the treasures in Per- §epolis. Of this Susian treasure four-fifths are said to have been in uncoined gold and silver, the remainder in golden Da- rics3 ; the untouched accumulations of several preceding kings, who had husbanded them against a season of unforeseen urgency. A moderate portion of this immense wealth, employed by Darius three years earlier to push the operations of his fleet, subsidize able Grecian Officers, and organize anti-Macedonian resistance — would have preserved both his life and his crown. Alexander rested his troops for more than thirty days amidst the luxurious indulgences of Babylon. He gratified the feelings of the population and the Chaldgean priests by solemn sacrifices to Belus, as well as by directing that the temple of that god, and the other temples destroyed in the preceding century by Xerxes, should be rebuilt.* Treating the Persian empire now as an established conquest, he nominated the various satraps. He confirmed the Persian Mazseus in the satrapy of Babylon, but put along with them two Greeks as assistants and guarantees - - Apollodorus of Amphipolis, as commander of the military force — Asklepiodorus as collector of the revenue. He reward- ed the Persian traitor Mithrines, who had surrendered at his approach the strong citadel of Sardis, with the satrapy of Arme- nia. To that of Syria and Phenicia, he appointed Menes, who took with him 3000 talents, to be remitted to Antipater for levy- ing new troops against the Lacedaemonians in Peloponnesus.® 1 Curtius, V. 1, 45 ; Diodor. xvii. 64. " Arrian states this total of 50,000 talents (iii. 16, 12). I hiive tiiken them as Attic talents ; if they were ^ginsean talents, th« value of them would be greater in the proportion of five to three. •• Curtius, V. 2, 11 ; Diodor. xvii. 66. VOL. XII. 15
 * Arrian, iii. 16, 6-9 : compare Strabo, xvi. p. 738.
 * Arrian, iii. 16, 16; Curtius, v. 1, 44; Diodor. xvii. 64. Curtius and