Chap. 13.] COIKS OF GOLD. 89 



THE VALUE OE COPPEK AND OF COINED MONEY HAS BEEN 

 CHANGED. 



The next*^ crime committed against the welfare of mankind 

 was on the part of him who was the first to coin a denarius ''^ 

 of gold, a crime the author of which is equally unknown. 

 The Eoman people made no use of impressed silver even before 

 the period of the defeat '^^ of King Pyrrhus. The " as" of cop- 

 per weighed exactly one libra ; and hence it is that we still use 

 the terms ''libella""^ and '' dupondius.'"'^ Hence it is, too, that 

 fines and penalties are inflicted under the name of ''ses grave, ""^^ 

 and that the words still used in keeping accounts are " ex- 

 pensa,"^ '* impendia,"^^ and "dependere."^^ Hence, too, the 

 word "stipendium,',' meaning the pay of the soldiers, which is 

 nothing more than " stipis pondera ;"^^ and from the same source 

 those other words, *' dispensatores" " and " libripendes."*^ It is 

 also from this circumstance that in sales of slaves, at the present 

 day even, the formality of using the balance is introduced. 



King Servius was the first to make an impress upon copper. 

 Before his time, according to Timaeus, at Eome the raw metal 

 only was used. The form of a sheep was the first figure im- 

 pressed upon money, and to this fact it owes its name, 

 *' pecunia."®^ The highest figure at which one man's property 

 was assessed in the reign of that king was one hundred and 



** The ^rst crime having been committed by him who introduced the 

 use of gold rings. See the beginning of c. 4 of this Book. 



^^ The golden denarius was known also as the "aureus" or" gold 

 coin." It was worth 25 silver denarii. As to the modern value of the 

 money used by the ancients, see the Introduction to Yol. III. The golden 

 denarius is mentioned also in B. xxxiv. c. 17, and in B. xxxvii. c. 3. 



*s A.u.c. 479. 



^'' Meaning, Hterally, the " little pound," in reference to the diminished 

 weight of the " as." 



^•^ Meaning " two pounds," or in other words, " two asses." See B. 

 xxxiv. c, 2. As to the weight of the " libra," or pound, see the Intro- 

 duction to Vol. III. 



*^ " Brasse bullion, or in masse." — JSolland. 



^ " Money weighed out," i. e. *' expenses." 



^^ " Money weighed out for the payment of interest." 



53 u "jiq weigh out money for payment," i.e. " to pay." 



^ " A weight of money." 



64 u Weighers-out ;" meaning " keepers of accounts," or "paymasters." 



55 "Weighers-out" of the soldiers' wages; i. e. "paymasters." 



s^ From "pecus," a sheep. See 13. xviii. c. 3. 



