Chap. 5.] GOLD POSSESSED BY THE ATfCIENTS. 75 



shield is held. "We find mention made too, in Homer/* of men 

 wearing gold plaited with the hair ; and hence it is that I am 

 at a loss to say whether the practice first originated with 

 females. 



CHAP. 5. — THE QUANTITY OF GOLD POSSESSED BY THE ANCIENTS. 



At Rome, for a long period of time, the quantity of gold 

 was but very small. At all events, after the capture of the 

 City by the Gauls, when peace was about to be purchased, not 

 more than one thousand pounds' weight of gold could be col- 

 lected. I am by no means unaware of the fact that in the 

 third "^^ consulship of Pompeius there was lost from the throne 

 of Jupiter Capitolinus two thousand pounds' weight of gold, 

 originally placed there by Camillus ; a circumstance which has 

 led most persons to suppose, that two thousand pounds' weight 

 was the quantity then collected. But in reality, this excess 

 of one thousand pounds was contributed from the spoil taken 

 from the Gauls, amplified as it was by the gold of which they 

 had stripped the temples, in that part of the City which they 

 had captured. 



The story of Torquatus,*' too, is a proof that the Gauls were 

 in the habit of wearing ornaments of gold when engaged in 

 combat ;*® from which it would appear that the sum taken 

 from the Gauls themselves, and the amount of which they had 

 pillaged the temples, were only equal to the amount of gold 

 collected for the ransom, and no more ; and this is what was 

 really meant by the response given by the augurs, that Jupiter 

 Capitolinus had rendered again the ransom twofold.*^ As we 



45 II. B. xvii. 1. 52. 



*s The reading in most MSS. is the " fourth consulship." This, how- 

 ever, is an error which has been rectified by the Bamberg and some other 

 MSS. Pompey was but thrice consul. M. Crassus was the person generally 

 accused of the act of robbery here alluded to. 



4^ Who took the golden tore (torques) from the Gaul whom he slew ; 

 whence his name, *^ " Cum auro pugnare solitos." 



*9 " Quod equidem in augurio intellectum est, cum Capitolinus duplum 

 reddidisset." The meaning of this passage is obscure, and cannot with 

 certainty be ascertained. Holland renders it, " To the light and know- 

 ledge whereof we come by means of revelation from Augurie, which gave 

 us to understand, that Jupiter Capitolinus had rendered again the foresaid 

 summe in duple proportion." Littre gives a similar translation. Ajasson 

 translates it, " This, at least, is what we may presume, from the fact of 

 there being discovered double the amount expected ;" following the ex- 

 planation given by Hardouin. 



