CONSUMPTION OF CHAP. v. 



CHAPTER V. 



On the consumption of the precious metals before the acces- 

 sion of Augustus to the imperial dignity in Rome. 



WHEN considering the consumption of gold 

 and silver in the earlier ages of the world, it is 

 necessary to bear in mind the great difference 

 between the state which society then displayed, 

 and that which it has since assumed. The 

 governments at first were strictly patriarchal. 

 The head of each family provided for the pro- 

 tection of the whole against hostile aggressions 

 from the neighbouring tribes ; and it thus be- 

 came necessary that he should have the means 

 of providing such weapons as the defence of the 

 community required. The metals of which 

 weapons were formed, at first brass and after- 

 wards iron, were scarce, and, as compared with 

 the common food and clothing then used, ex- 

 cessively costly ; and though coined money of 

 the precious metals was scarcely known, yet gold 

 and silver had acquired the faculty of being 

 more easily and conveniently exchanged for the 

 other metals, than such commodities as corn and 

 cattle. The gold and silver then would most 



