ROMAN WEIGHTS FOUND AT MELANDRA. 171 



in all transactions in which gold passed" {Hamibook of 

 Greek and Roman Cotns, p. 54). By the time of Diocletian, 

 A.D. 284, successive debasements had reduced the principal 

 yold com to one-sixtieth of the Ubra (84 grains), the silver to 

 one-nmety-sixth of the Ubra (53.6 grains), and the brass 

 scslerluis had disappeared. The restorations bv the latter 

 emperor m a.d. .96, and by Constantine the Great in a.d. ,06 

 established (z) the gold soUdus or sexinla of ..ne-seventy-second 

 of the hbra (70 grains), which remained long in use- (A the 

 silver nuUarense* of equal weight, but alloyed to equal'in value 

 one-twelfth of the soUdus ; and (3) the bronze /.//.., worth one^ 

 twenty-tourth of the nuUaren.e. In a.d. 30:, the nominal 

 value of Ubra of gold (5,053 grains) was ,0 ...-.;, or , 000 

 miUarensm, or .5,000 /.//.., or 50,000 denarn ; the latter 

 <leno,nmation being merely money of account. The standard 

 weights of the gold aureus and silver m,Uarense were con- 

 -quently xox grains and 70 grains respectivelv. The silver 

 1olUs or pur.e was equal to 250 miUarensia. 



Under the early Empire, silver dcnarU were the coins actually 

 used in the payment of large amounts, which were generally 

 reckoned m sesterUi ; the unit sesterUum meaning 10 aurei, or 

 250 denarii, or r,ooo sesieriii. 



During the Republic there was a separate military coinage, 

 the earliest gold coins, issued about 217 b.c, being for that 

 purpose.! Under the emperors this series of the co'inage was 

 included in the general .system. According to Polybius (vi., 37), 

 in his time the foot soldier received 2 oboU (3^ asses) a' day.' 

 He uses the word bx}ju>viov, which Luke (iii. 14) also employs 

 in the passage "and be content with your wages." It is 

 equivalent to the Latin stipendium, a unit paid three times a 

 year. The soldier's annual pay was, therefore, 1,200 old 

 standard asses or 120 denarii, the denarius being always 

 reckoned as 10 asses in such payments (Pliny, N.H. xxxiii. 45), 



t Ibid, p. 90. ^ ^^' 



