These observations naturally carry us back to the period in which the Parthenon was built. That which was the chief delight of the Athenians, and the wonder of strangers, was the magnificence of their edifices; yet no part of the conduct of Pericles moved the spleen of his adversaries more than this. They insisted that he had brought the greatest disgrace upon the Athenians, by removing the treasures of Greece from Delos, and taking them into his own custody; that he had not left himself even the specious apology of having caused the money to be brought to Athens for its greater security, and to keep it from being seized by the Barbarians; that Greece would consider such an attempt as a manifest tyranny; that the sums they had received from them, upon pretence of their being employed in the war, were laid out by the Athenians in gilding and embellishing their city, in making magnificent statues, and raising temples that cost millions. Nor did they amplify in the matter; for the Parthenon alone cost £145,000. Pericles,[84] on the contrary, remonstrated to the Athenians, that they were not obliged to give the allies an account of the money they had received; that it was enough they defended them from the Barbarians, whilst the allies furnished neither soldiers, horses, nor ships. He added, that as the Athenians were sufficiently provided with all things necessary for war, it was but just that they should employ the rest of their riches in edifices and other works, which, when finished, would give immortal glory to their city, and the whole time they were carrying on give bread to an infinite number of citizens: that they themselves had all kinds of materials, as timber, stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress wood; and all sorts of artificers capable of working them, as carpenters, masons, smiths, stone-cutters, dyers, goldsmiths; artificers in ebony, painters, embroiderers, and turners; men fit to conduct their naval affairs, as merchants, sailors, and experienced pilots; others for land carriage, as cartwrights, waggoners, carters, rope-makers, paviors, &c. &c.: that it was for the advantage of the state to employ these different artificers and workmen, who, as so many separate bodies, formed, when united, a kind of peaceable and domestic army, whose different functions and employments diffused gain and increase throughout all ages and sexes: lastly, that, whilst men of robust bodies, and of an age fit to bear arms, whether soldiers or mariners, and those who were in the different garrisons, were supported with the public moneys, it was but just that the rest of the people who lived in the city should also be maintained in their way: and that as all were members of the same republic, they should all reap the same advantages, by doing it services, which, though of a different kind, did, however, all contribute to its security or ornament. One day as the debaters were growing warm, Pericles offered to