90 pLiinr's natueal histoet. [BookXXXIIl. 



twenty thousand asses, and consequently that amount of pro- 

 perty was considered the standard of the first class. 



Silver was not impressed with a mark until the year of the 

 City 485, the year of the consulship of Q. Ogulnius and C 

 Fabius, five years before the First Punic "War ; at which time 

 it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be ten 

 librae^' of copper, that of the quinarius five librae, and that 

 of the sestertius two librae and a half. The weight, how- 

 ever, of the libra of copper was diminished during the First 

 Punic War, the republic not having means to meet its ex- 

 penditure : in consequence of which, an ordinance was made 

 that the as should in future be struck of two ounces weight. 

 By this contrivance a saving of five-sixths was efi^ected, and 

 the public debt was liquidated. The impression upon these 

 copper coins was a two-faced Janus on one side, and the beak 

 of a ship of war on the other : the triens,^^ however, and the 

 quadrans,^^ bore the impression of a ship. The quadrans, too, 

 had, previously to this, been called " teruncius," as being three 

 unciae^" in weight. At a later period again, when Hannibal 

 was pressing hard upon Rome, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius 

 Maximus, asses of one ounce weight were struck, and it was 

 ordained that the value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, 

 that of the quinarius eight asses, and that of the sestertius 

 four asses ; by which last reduction of the weight of the as 

 the republic made a clear gain of one half. Still, however, 

 BO far as the pay of the soldiers is concerned, one denarius has 

 always been given for every ten asses. The impressions upon 

 the coins of silver were two- horse and four-horse chariots, 

 and hence it is that they received the names of ^' bigati " and 

 ^'quadrigati." 



Shortly after, in accordance with the Law of Papirius, asses 

 were coined weighing half an ounce only. Livius Drusus, 

 when^^ tribune of the people, alloyed the silver with one-eighth 

 part of copper. The coin that is known at the present day 

 as the "victoriatus,"^^ was first struck in accordance with the 



" " Pounds " or " asses.'* ^ The third of an " as.'» 



59 The fourth of an " as." 



^° Or ounces ; being one-fourth of the " as," of one "libra'* in weight. 

 See Introduction to Vol. III. ^i a.u.c. 663. 



^^ The same as the quinarius, one-half of the denarius. In B. xx. c. 

 100, it is mentioned as a weight. See also the Introduction to Vol. 111. 



