Note 791 — Chapter V · Lydia

Babelon, in his account of the origin of money, rightly points out (Origines, p. 167) that “in general the prince has at his disposal a greater quantity of precious metal than any banker or merchant.” This fact does not however affect our argument. As Babelon himself goes on to observe, the princes of this period, like modern monarchs in the East, “had in reserve in their treasuries enormous quantities of gold and silver ingots.” He cites Midas, Alyattes, Croesus and Darius as coining according to their various requirements from this reserve. But there is a point that Babelon does not touch. What started these monarchs coining? If, as Babelon assumes, it was simply the fact that the previous private coiners supplied bad coins, the position of coins is on a par with that of any other commodity. We might expect to hear of kings who became butchers and bakers to ensure their subjects good bread and good meat. It is therefore more than doubtful whether the initiative is likely to have come generally from the ruling sovereign. To imagine again a popular clamour for state control, as is done by Babelon, ibid. pp. 168–9, is probably an anachronism. The platform would be too constructive and original for a popular agitation. As a general rule constructive movements begin or at least take shape with outstanding individuals. Parallels from later periods, such as quoted by Babelon, p. 171, are dangerous. A populace can of course clamour for the restoration of lost rights and advantages, that of a state coinage among the rest. In the days that we are considering no precedents could be quoted for a state currency. On the other hand, the situation as conceived either by Babelon or myself implies outstanding individuals in the mercantile class. It is surely among these that it is most natural to look for the beginnings alike of a state coinage and of the new statesmanship that sprang up with it. This need not, of course, imply that occasionally a monarch of the old regime did not grasp the situation and himself institute a state coinage. Pheidon of Argos is a case in point.