Cæcilius Isidorus, after having lost much, left 5,235,800
Demetrius, a freedman of Pompey, was worth 3,875,000
Lentulus, the augur, no less than 16,666,666
Clodius, who was slain by Milo, paid for his house 700,000
He poisoned himself after he had spent in his kitchen and otherwise squandered immense sums to the amount of 4,160,000
The establishment belonging to M. Scaurus, at Tusculum, was valued at 4,150,000
Curio contracted debts to the amount of 2,500,000
Antony owed at the Ides of March, which he paid before the Calends of April 1,666,666
Tiberius left at his death, and Caligula spent in less than twelve months 118,120,000
Gifts and bribes may be considered signs of great riches:
Cæsar presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl worth 200,000
Paulus, the consul, was bribed by Cæsar with the sum of 292,000
Applicant Drops Coin in Slot, Writes His Name Through an Opening, and Then Gets the Document.
Do nothing by human labor that can be done by machinery--that is the business maxim of the twentieth century.
No man is sure of his job once an inventor gets on his trail.
Twenty years ago it was said that nothing on earth, with less intelligence than a human being, could set type, play the piano, add figures, or tie a knot in a piece of binding-twine.
The inventors said, "We can make machines of wood and steel--machines that have no brains and no feeling, that can do these things, and do them better than a man."
The world haw-hawed at the silly inventors, but the inventors have made good. In England, to-day, there are showing us a machine that can hand out an insurance policy, properly stamped and signed.
The machine, which defies fraud, looks like a clock. When the applicant drops his coin into the slot he pulls forward a handle, when out drops a pencil, already sharpened, and an opening is disclosed through which the signature is made. Then the client pushes back the handle and simultaneously the space closes and an insurance policy is issued through another slot.
Against the signature inside the machine is printed the exact date and the time to the very minute when the policy was issued. If the insured meets with an accident within seven days he applies to the insurance company for his weekly allowance, and if his name is on the register retained by the machine the policy is paid.