AMOUNT OF MONEY. CHAP. IX. 



about two years after the death of Nero. In 

 the time of Nero, the aureus had declined in 

 value, from the reign of Augustus, at the rate 

 of somewhat more tl^an ten per cent., and we 

 now assume that the coined money, in this 

 period, had decreased in nearly the same pro- 

 portion. With these views, we should calculate 

 the quantity of money in the time of Augustus 

 to have been about ,358,000,000. 



From the far greater proportion of the money 

 of a country which was constantly accumulated 

 in hoards in ancient than in the present times, 

 we must calculate the loss much less than ex- 

 periments made in the present day would show 

 to be sustained in modern European gold and 

 silver coins. 



We will estimate, then, the loss from wear, 

 on the whole quantity of money, to be at the 

 rate of one part in three hundred and sixty 

 annually. Thus a piece of gold or silver coin 

 weighing three hundred and sixty grains, would 

 lose in a single year one grain, or a thirty-sixth 

 part in ten years. 



The following table will show what, upon 

 such supposition, would be the decrease in the 

 quantity of gold and silver money in the Roman 

 empire, between the death of Augustus in the 

 year 14, and the termination of the western 

 empire in the years between 470 and 490. 



