Abundance of
booty was taken possession of by the troops which never went into the
general mass. Sismondi estimates that the wealth in specie and movable
property before the capture was not less than twenty-four million
pounds sterling.
The distribution was made during the latter end of April. Many works
of art in bronze were sent to the melting-pot to be coined. Many
statues were broken up in order to obtain the metals with which they
were adorned. The conquerors knew nothing and cared nothing for the
art which had added value to the metal. The weight of the bronze was
to them the only question of interest. The works of art which they
destroyed were sacrificed not to any sentiment like that of the Moslem
against images which they believed to be idols or talismans. No such
excuse can be made for the Christians of the West Their motive for
destroying so much that was valuable was neither fanaticism nor
religion. It was the simple greed for gain. No sentiment restrained
their cupidity. The great statue of the Virgin which ornamented the
Taurus was sent as unhesitatingly to the furnace as the figure of
Hercules. No object was sufficiently sacred, none sufficiently
beautiful, to be worth saving if it could be converted into cash.
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