106 WEIGHTS 



we know from Tacitus (Ann. 1, 17) to have been 3,600 (Augustan) asses 

 =225 denaHi = 9 aurei. Hence a stipendium of that period = 3 aurei, 

 which, under Julius Csesar, would have meant ^/^j of a libra of gold, or 

 3787 grains ; 5 times this weight would give f of a libra or 4^ uncise, the 

 weight which Mr. May assumes as the original weight of our specimen. 

 We might, then, not unreasonably, say that we had before us the weight 

 of 5 stlpendia or 15 aurei of Julius Caesar. But under Augustus the 

 weight of the aureus (Hill, p. 54) was reduced to V.12 o^ the libra or 

 12037 grains (and so remained, though with a tendency to decrease till 

 Caracalla (198 — 217 A.D.) under whom it became '/solb-)- This specimen 

 therefore would represent more nearly 16 than 15 Augustan aurei, and a 

 paymaster was hardly likely to submit to a difference of some 6 per cent, 

 to his disadvantage. It is possible that some explanation may be forth- 

 coming (e.g. the soldier may conceivably have been entitled to the same 

 weight of metal in spite of the reduction of the coin; as in fact he was 

 in the case of the change of the copper as, see Hill p. 48 footnote), but 

 until this can be certainly determined, Mr. May's explanation must be 

 regarded only as an attractive conjecture. It might be worth while to 

 attempt by a narrower enquiry than would be appropriate here whether 

 the higher weight of the aureus suited any period between Augustus and 

 Caracalla. 



The Keltic Weights. 



During the visit of tlie Brancli of the Association to 

 Mr. May's beautiful collection of Roman pottery from 

 his excavation of Warrington in October, 1905, he very 

 kindly handed to me the draft of his second article (now 

 appearing in the current number of the Derbyshire 

 ArchcBological Journal), which pointed out the close 

 approximation of the heaviest specimen of the Melandra 

 weights to the standard which Mr. Reginald Smith, of the 

 British Museum, had shown to be represented by a bronze 

 weight found at Neath (4,770 grains), and another (of 

 basalt) at Mainz (4,767 grains), and by the normal weight 

 deduced from that of a large number of iron bars ^ 

 found in the purely British lake-village at Glastonbury 

 and in other British sites. Some of these iron bars, so far 

 as they have yet been examined, presumably represented 

 double the unit, three the unit itself, and two the unit 

 quadrupled, but as they have, of course, suffered a good 

 deal from rust, the variation in particular specimens is 



1. 4,484 grains; the difference is due to the rusting of the iron. 



