Money, Bulls and Slaves

The bull was the symbol of wealth and power in Rome.   A person defined his wealth by his possession of commodities, most especially cattle.  When Julius Caesar wanted to show the populus his paternal care, he gave lavish citywide feasts.  These helped him to buy elections, satisfy the hunger of the people, and ensure continued support for his policies: red meat, a luxury and a commodity.   This commodity backed the metal bars and coins that was the first money.  Indeed, the first moneychangers stamped metal bars with the image of the ox to indicate the value of that copper.  The word “pecuniary”, “monetary” comes from the Latin word pecunia, money, which further derives from the word pecus, or herd, the true indicator of wealth in the ancient world.

Many people today are taking refuge in gold and precious metals.  With romantic longing, many remember the dollar based on the gold standard and wish to return to that mercantile economy.  There is no doubt that the weight of metals and jewels entices, but can we return to that lost era?  We must define the value of money today.

Is money the exchange of labor for symbolic reimbursement?  I give my thought, time, and labor for electronic funds, paper I never see or hold.  I sell myself for the cyber trail, which indicates what I can purchase to keep myself alive and happy.   I am my own commodity.  This is the danger.  The modern economy, as Camus foretold, is reverting to slavery.  Perhaps we have never truly disassociated from this concept, simply redefining slave labor as wage labor.  Rome, after its brief time as a city-state of independent farmers fell into the trap of an economy of slaves.  The bull continued to hold the symbolic value of wealth, but the real value was in how many people’s lives you could purchase.  Has anything ever really changed?