ing in his gorgeous litter, surrounded with his guards, or seated
on his throne to dispense justice and equity, or feasting with his
nobles to the sound of joyous music.

To keep up this regal splendor, to support seven hundred wives and
three hundred concubines on the fattest of the land, and deck them all
in robes of purple and gold; to build magnificent palaces, to dig
canals, and construct gigantic reservoirs for parks and gardens; to
maintain a large standing army in time of peace; to erect strong
fortresses wherever caravans were in danger of pillage; to found cities
in the wilderness; to level mountains and fill up valleys,--to
accomplish all this even the resources of Solomon were insufficient.
What were six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, yearly received
(thirty-five million dollars), besides the taxes on all merchants and
travellers, and the vast gifts which flowed from kings and princes, when
that constant drain on the royal treasury is considered! Even a Louis
XIV. was impoverished by his court and palace building, though he
controlled the fortunes of twenty-five millions of people. King Solomon,
in all his glory, became embarrassed, and was obliged to make forced
contributions,--to levy a heavy tribute on his own subjects from Dan to
Beersheba, and make bondmen of all the people that were left of the
Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The people were
virtually enslaved to aggrandize a single person. The burdens laid on
all classes and the excessive taxation at last alienated the nation.
"The division of the whole country into twelve revenue districts was a
serious grievance,--especially as the high official over each could make
large profits from the excess of contributions demanded." A poll-tax,
from which the nation in the olden times was freed, was levied on
Israelite and Canaanite alike. The virtual slave-labor by which the
great public improvements were made, sapped the loyalty of the people
and produced discontent. This forced labor was as fatal as war to the
real property of the nation, for wealth is ever based on private
industry, on farms and vineyards, rather than on the palaces of kings.
Moreover, the friendly relations which Solomon established with the
neighboring heathen nations disgusted the old religious leaders, while
the tendency to Oriental luxury which outward prosperity favored alarmed
the more thoughtful. It was not a pleasant sight for the princes of
Israel