222 WEIGHT OF GOLD COINS. CHAP. IX. 



culate the gradual wear of it, and thus see the 

 effect produced on the mass in a long period. 

 But as this cannot be obtained, it may be per- 

 mitted to have recourse to an assumption of 

 such quantity, and calculating from that the 

 wear by friction, try to approximate to the dif- 

 ference between the current coin in the age of 

 Augustus : the period of the greatest prosperity 

 of the Roman dominions, and that of the disso- 

 lution of the western empire; a time which 

 had been preceded and was followed by the 

 deepest distress and degradation. 



The gradual diminution in the weight of the 

 chief gold coin, the aureus, most probably arose 

 from some sensible decrease in the quantity of 

 the metal of which it consisted. In the time of 

 Augustus, as has been before remarked, it was 

 the fortieth part of a pound of gold, and con- 

 sequently was equivalent to twenty shillings of 

 our present money. In the reigri of Nero, 

 about seventy or eighty years later, it was only 

 the forty-fifth part of a pound, and consequently 

 equivalent to seventeen shillings and tenperice ; 

 but in the reign of Constantine, two hundred and 

 seventy or eighty years after, it had diminished 

 to a seventy-second part of the pound, and con- 

 sequently was worth no more than between 

 eleven and twelve shillings ; whether this de- 

 clension in the intrinsic value of the piece 

 arose from a diminution in the whole weight of 



