82 PLHTT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [?>ook XXXIII. 



thrown in the sea, was recovered from a fish that was caught ; 

 and this Polycratcs, we know, was put to death* 1 about tho 

 year of our City, 230. The use of the ring must, of necessity 

 have become greatly extended with the increase of usury ; 

 one proof of which is, the usage still prevalent among the 

 lower classes, of whipping off the ring 95 the moment a simple 

 contract is made ; a practice which takes its date, no doubt, 

 from a period when there was no more expeditions method of 

 giving an earnest on closing a bargain. We may therefore 

 very safely conclude, that though money was first introduced 

 among us, the use of rings was introduced very shortly after. 

 Of money, 1 shall shortly have occasion to speak further. 96 



CUAP. 7. THK DECURIKS OF THE JUDGES. 



Rings, as soon as they began to be commonly worn, distin- 

 guished the second order from the plebeians, in the same 

 manner as the use of the tunic* 7 distinguished the senate from 

 those who only wore the ring. Still, however, this last dis- 

 tinction was introduced at a later period only, and we find it 

 stated by writers that the public heralds 89 even were formerly 

 in the habit of wearing tho tunic with the purplo latielave ; 

 the father of Lucius JElins JStilo, w for instance, from whom 

 his sou received the cognomen of "Prxconinus," in conse- 

 quence of his father's occupation as a herald. But the use of 

 rings, no doubt, was the distinguishing mark of a third and 

 intermediate order, between the plebeians and the senators ; 

 and the title of " eqties," originally derived from the posses- 

 sion of a war-horse, 1 is given at the present day as an indica- 

 tion of a certain amount of income. This, however, is of 

 comparatively recent introduction; for when tho late Emperor 

 Augustus made his regulations for the declines, s the greater 

 part of the members thereof were persons who wore iron rings, 

 and these bore the name, not of "equites," but of " judices," 



w lie vas crucified by Oroetes, the Persian sntrap of Sar<15. 



w 4i Aimlo cxsiliente." 9lt In Chapter 13 of this Book. 



9 ' The latielave tunic. Sec B. viii. c. 73, and 35. ix. c. 63. 



& " Pnecoms." VJ See the list of Tvriu-rs at the end of B. is. 



1 " Equus militaris." 



2 Sci 15. xxix. c. 8. The " Decurior' of " judices," or "judges," were 

 so called, probably, from ti-n (dcrtin) having been originally chosen from 

 t-ach tribe. As to the J>tcuviaj of tho judiees, see Smith's Diet. Antiq. 

 pp. 5312. The account given by Tliny is confused in the extreme. 



