BOOK XXXIII. XIII. 45-xiv. 48 



ship of Quintus Fabius Maximus, asses of one ounce 

 wei^i^ht were coined, and it was enacted that the 

 exchange-value of the denarius should be sixteen 

 asses, of the half-denarius eight and of the quarter- 

 denarius four ; by this measure the state made a 

 clear gain of one half. But nevertheless in the pay 

 of soldiers one denarius has always been given for 

 ten asses. The designs on silver were a two-horse 

 and a four-horse chariot, and consequently the coins 

 were called apair ofhorses and 2ifour-in-hand. 



Next according to a law of Papirius asses 39 b.o. 

 weiffhiniT half an ounce were struck. Livius 

 Drusus " when holding the office of tribune of the 

 plebs alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of 

 bronze. The coin now named the victory coin was 

 struck under the law of Clodius ; previously a coin c 104b.o. 

 of this name was imported from Illyria and was looked 

 on as an article of trade. The design on it was a 

 figure of Victory, which gives it its name. 



The first gold coin was struck 51 years later than 217 b.o. 

 the silver coinage, a scruple of gold having the value 

 of twenty sesterces ; this was done at 400 to the 

 pound of silver, at the then rating of the sesterce. 

 It was afterwards decided to coin denarii at the rate 49 b.c. 

 of 40 from a pound of gold, and the emperors grad- 

 ually reduced the weight of the gold denarius, and 

 most recently Nero brought it down to 45 denarii to a.d. 54-68. 

 the pound. 



XIV. But from the invention of money came the Ezampies o/ 

 original source of avarice when usury was devised, ^^'^*^-^ 

 and a profitable life of idleness ; by rapid stages 

 what was no longer mere avarice but a positive 



" Probably the tribune of 123 b.c, not his son who was 

 tribune in 91 b.c. 



39 



