208 ADDRESS TO THE [LECP. 



either by Numa or by Servius Tullius. They were of 

 bronze or copper, silver not being used till the first 

 Punic war, 269 B.C., and gold some sixty years later. 

 Even under the earlier emperors the different provinces 

 and colonies had their own coins, and it was not until 

 the time of Diocletian that one coinage was established 

 for the whole empire. For a long period, indeed, every 

 great Eoman family had the right of coining denarii with 

 their own device, though precautions were taken to pre- 

 clude any tampering with the weight or fineness. 



The first step in the degradation of the coinage was 

 effected by the celebrated Flaminian law. We must, 

 however, remember that this was passed as a measure 

 of desperate necessity, when Hannibal was at the gates 

 of Eome, and when the disasters of Lake Thrasimene 

 and the Trebia had brought the republic to the very verge 

 of ruin. By it the denarius was reduced from ^ to -% 

 of a pound. Still more important in its results was the 

 principle recognized in the law, namely that the coin 

 was a " sign." This unfortunate error naturally opened 

 the door to further debasement. Nevertheless, it was 

 not till the time of Nero that any further steps were 

 taken in this direction. He lowered the aureus, and 

 reduced the denarius from -^ to -f% of a pound, in- 

 creasing the alloy at the same time from 5 to 10 

 per cent. After this, though the aureus remained 

 stationary for some time, the denarius rapidly fell in 

 value. 



Although, as already mentioned, the great Koman 

 families were long permitted to coin under certain pre- 

 cautions, this was nevertheless not only under the 

 supervision, but in the name of the state. The first 



