697 



AS. 



AS. 



Varro (' De Re Rustics,' lib. ii. c. 1), Pliny, and Plutarch (' Poplieola," 

 edit. Bryan, torn. i. p. 226), assert that the most ancient Ases were so 

 marked. This, in fact, according to the two last writers, was the 

 origin of the term pemnia, as used for money, a word derived from 

 pecus, cattle ; and also of the term peculium. 



The next in point of antiquity to the Aa which bore the figure of an 

 animal, is considered by Pinkerton to be the As which was stamped 

 with the two-faced head of Janus on one side, and the prow of a ship 

 on the other. See Pinkerton's ' Essay on Medals,' vol. i. p. 100, who 



[This As weighi 3872 pains.] 



adopts his opinion of this being the second As in point of antiquity, 

 from a manuscript ' Dissertation on the Etruscan and Roman early 

 Coins,' written by Dr. Charles Combe. Ovid, in his "Fasti," expressly 

 alludes to the As thus marked ; and it is described by Pliny (xxxiii. 

 3). The head of Janus was usually so accompanied, because, according 

 to an old fable, Saturn arrived in Italy by sea. 



" * Multa quidf m didicl ; Bed cur navalis In cere 



Altera uLnata ent, altera forma biceps ! 

 Noocere me duplici pns-es in imagine,' dixit, 



Ni vctus ipsa dies extcnuacset opun. 

 CauMa ruti nupi ret : Tuscum rate venit in amnem 



Ante percrrato falcifur orbe Deu." 



Or. fatti, lib. i. 229234. 



I 



The figures on this coin will explain the expression used by the 

 Roman boys in tossing up capita aut narim, ' heads or ship.' (Macrob. 

 ' Sat.' i. 7.) 



The earliest Ases were cast, probably in imitation of the Etruscan 

 coins, which the Romans, in this instance, appear to have copied. In 



the British Museum there are even four Ases united together, as they 

 were taken from the mould or matrix, in which many were cast at 

 once. In most of the Ases preserved in our cabinets, the edge shows 

 evidently where they were severed from each other, and where the 



[Welglit 



4000 gr!n.] 



piece at the mouth of the mould was cut off. From being cast, it will 

 be judged that they are not very correctly sized. As the As fell in 

 weight, the smaller divisions were not cast, but struck. 



According to Pliny, the As continued of its original weight till the 

 first Punic war, when, the treasury of the state being exhausted, it 

 was reduced to two ounces. This, however, is improbable, and is con- 

 futed by the coins themselves ; since we find ases of all weights, from 

 the pound downward to Pliny's two ounces. The As must, therefore, 

 he says, 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, and 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., but it is to be observed 

 that neither the As nor its parts were ever correctly adjusted as to 

 size, so that the marks upon them only, not their comparative magni- 

 tude, distinguish the divisions. 



The middle of the first Punic war being about the year of Rome 

 502, or B.C. 250, supposing Pliny to be correct, would be the time of 

 the reduction of the As to two ounces. 



Pliny adds, that in the second Punic war, when Q. Fabius was 

 dictator, and the Romans were pressed by Hannibal, the As was fur- 

 ther reduced to one ounce. This event is ascribed to the 537th year 

 of Rome, or B.C. 215, being thirty-six years after the former change. 

 He adds, again, that, by the Papirian law, Ases of half an ounce were 

 coined. M ox is the word which Pliny uses to indicate the time of 

 this change. A. Papirius Turdus, who was tribune B c. 178, is sug- 

 gested by Pighius (ii. 343) as possibly the author of this law ; but 

 Eckhel (' Doctr. Num. Vet.' vol. v. p. 5) considers the time uncertain. 

 This weight of the As, however, continued till Pliny's time, and long 

 after. 



