v> 



AS. 



Pinkerton offers the {..Homing .ketch of a plan to determine the 

 asof the diflerent sort* uf Aaes from their weight :Th A. librmiis, 

 coated by Tulliu. with the figure* uf oxen, Ac., about 167 years af 

 Rotae was built, acconUng to Sir Isaac Newton, or B.C. 4<JO ; As libralU, 

 with Janus and prow. 400; the Ai of ten ounce*. 300; eight, 290 ; 

 ix. WO; four, S70; three. MO; two, according to Pliny, 250; one, 

 alao from Pliny. 214. But thi* scheme fa conjectural, at least down to 

 LC. MO, and may be coiwidered a* intended ratlier for the amusement 

 { the collector, than as instruction to the aober inquirer. 



The A* libralia with the bead of Janua U the most common form 

 now found of the As, prerioua to it* being reduced to two ounces ; a 

 circumstance which ahowa that form to hare been of long duration. 



The exact period when the parti of the Aa were firat given, in their 

 proportion* <( weight and value, U not now ancertainable ; but the beat 

 author* on numiamatic science agree that the time was not very far 

 removed from that of the tint coinage of the Aa. 



The coined divisions of the Aa were the *rmu, quincunx, triau, 

 qitaJnnt or terumcita, texUuu, and imrt'o. There were other divisions 

 of the Aa by weight, which it may be proper to enumerate concisely. 

 These were the deunx of eleven ounces, the dextana of ten, the dodrans 

 of nine, the bea of eight, the aeptunx of seven, the aeacuncia of on 

 ounce and a half, and the aemuncia of half an ounce. But none of 

 theae hare been found in a coined form in numismatic cabinets ; they 

 are therefore universally considered to have been nominal sums. 

 Indeed it is clear they would not be wanted, for 6 + 5 = 11 ; + 4 = 10; 

 04-3 = 9: ao that theae nominal gums were mode up of the real coins 

 by adding them.* 



The Semi*, Semimt, or Srmi-Ai, half the As. or six (incite, waa of 

 various typea, but always marked with an S. The one here engraved 

 represents a female head on one side, with a strigil behind, or perhaps 

 a hook for reaping or other agricultural purposes, and a head of Pallas 

 on the other : the S, at length, occurs on both sides. Mionnet (' De la 

 Karate 1 et du Prix dea MMailles Romainea,' torn. i. p. 5) ; and Akennan 

 (' Deacr. Cat. of Rare and unedited Roman Coins,' vol. i pp. 8, 7) have 



[Wrifht 



c, .:..-- 



numerated many different varieties. See also Raw-he (' Lexicon Rei 

 Num.' T. Semlasia). 

 The QnmniKX, the division of five ounces or portions of the As, is 



BoriM ( An. Pott.' U 115) sajrs, IB* 

 late a hundrnJ part* : 



routh lesrn to divide the Ai 



to a*. 



DkwaM In perls* centum dlductrt." 



ha* a rtferac* to t eratnlmal dlrlfloo of tbf A. than 



uf very rare occurrence. All the other portions of the As have been 

 copied for the present work from original coins in the British Museum ; 

 but the Quincunx, it U believed, exists in no cabinet at present in thii 

 country. 



Our present representation of it has been copied from a work entitled 

 ' De Numtnis aliquot tcreia uncialibua Epistola,' by the Cardinal de 

 Zelada, 4to. Rom. 1778, a volume of extreme rarity, written for tin- 

 express purpose of illustrating the psaaagni already quote.1 from 

 Pliny. 



The Quincunx here given represents, on one side a bearded head ; 

 and, on the other, a buckler, or shield, bearing five globules on the 

 dexter half, which indicate its value. Another type U said to repre- 

 sent a sort of cross on both Bides ; nnd a third kind has the head of 

 Apollo, with the Dioscuri on horseback, on the reverse, and the word 



ROMA ; both these also bear the 



U preserved in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna. 



The Lut-mcntiuu^l t\\- 



