Truly it is so!
From the Internet web site of the esteemed Israeli military historian/scholar/theoretician Martin van Creveld an extract from an article:
"Rich Man, Poor Man"
"the Triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus boasted that no one was truly rich unless the interest he drew from his investments enabled him to maintain an army."
THAT DEFINITION OF CRASSUS REQUIRING HOW MUCH IN CAPITAL?
"REMUNERATION OF ROMAN COMMON FOOT SOLDIERS (about AD 70)" [as from the wiki]:
That yearly pay for the common foot soldier [pedes] of the lowest rank:
"Stipendium (gross salary) 225 denarii. Not to include deductions for food and equipment."
Further:
"Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire (circa 27 BC) the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius (with no tax deductions) or about US$20 in bread."
"During the republic (509 BC–27 BC), legionary pay was 112.5 denarii per year (0.3 per day), later doubled by Julius Caesar to 225 denarii (0.6 per day), with soldiers having to pay for their own food and arms."
My rough and dirty calculations:
YEARLY PAY FOR A PEDES IN AMERICAN CURRENT [?] USD $4,500.
That cost of maintaining an army consisting of 18,000 pedes alone [three legions] about $81 million USD per year. A tidy sum.
Given a rough six percent [6 %] investment return on capital per year consider that a man such as Crassus would need to possess a fortune of around $1.35 billion USD in current value.
Crassus during the time of the Triumvirate reputed to be the richest man in the world [or at least in Rome], the value of his estate estimated to be about $800 million in current $USD value.
ANYONE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY METHODOLOGY OR CALCULATIONS? RELATIVE VALUE OF $USD AND DENARIUS ALWAYS FLUCTUATING AND HARD TO ESTIMATE WITH ACCURACY BUT I AM BALLPARK?
coolbert.