444 
‘“<It only remains for me to say a few words in reference to 
the probable era of these coins, and this, fortunately, is a point 
which can be determined with sufficient certainty by an exa- 
mination of their several weights. As I have already re- 
marked, the as was originally of a pound weight, and its parts 
were, of course, in relative proportions. But, according to 
Pliny, in the first Punic war, A. C. 264, on account of the 
scarcity of money, ases were struck weighing only the sixth 
part ofa pound or two ounces ; and he regards this as the first 
reduction of the as in its weight. This opinion or statement 
of Pliny’s is, however, regarded as an error both by Niebuhr 
and Pinkerton, the latter of whom, on this point, thus ex- 
presses his opinion :— 
‘¢<Tf we trust Pliny,’ Pinkerton observes, ‘the as conti- 
nued of a pound weight till the first Punic war, when the ne- 
cessity of the Roman affairs forced the State to reduce it at 
once from a pound weight to two ounces. But this account, 
which is indeed improbable in itself, is confuted by the coins 
which remain: for we find ases and their parts of all weights, 
from the pound downwards to Pliny’s two ounces. The as 
must, therefore, have gradually diminished to ten ounces, to 
eight, to six, to four: and when the size was so much reduced, 
still more gradual diminutions must have taken place, to three, 
to two ounces. One or two of the pieces which remain might 
even imply that the decrease was more slow, to eleven, to ten, 
to nine, &c.’— Essay on Medals, vol. i. p. 126-7. 
‘«¢ Pliny further informs us that during the second Punic 
war, while Fabius was Dictator, about 215 years before our 
era, the ases were further reduced in weight to one ounce; 
and that afterwards, by the law of Papirius Turdus, who was 
Tribune of the people about 175 years before Christ, it was re- 
duced to half'an ounce, at which weight it continued till Pliny’s 
time. 
“ Finding, then, that the as among these coins is about an 
ounce in weight, and that the lesser coins are in just relative pro- 
