264 BOOK VII. 



the 1st = 12 nummi =- i bes. 



,, 2nd = 6 „ 



„ 3rd = 3 „ 



„ 4th = 2 „ 



„ 5th = 1 ,, :^ 24 units of 4 siliquae each. 



„ 6th =12 units of 4 siliquae each. 



„ 7th = 6 „ 



„ 8th = 3 „ 



„ 9th = 2 ,, 



,, loth = I ,, 

 And so with them, just as with our own people, the mark is divided into 

 two hundred and eighty-eight grenlins, and by the people of Nuremberg it is 

 divided into two hundred and fifty-six pfennige. Lastly, the Venetians divide 

 the bes into eight unciae. The uncia into four sicilici, the sicilicus into 

 thirty-six siliquae. They make twelve weights, which they use whenever they 

 wish to assay alloys of silver and copper. Of these 

 the 1st = 8 unciae = i bes. 



Since the Venetians divide the bes into eleven hundred and fifty-two siliquae, 

 or two hundred and eighty-eight units of 4 siliquae each, into which number 

 our people also divide the bes, they thus make the same number of siliquae, 

 and both agree, even though the Venetians divide the bes into smaller 

 divisions. 



This, then, is the system of weights, both of the greater and the lesser kinds, 

 which metallurgists employ, and likewise the system of the lesser weights 

 which coiners and merchants employ, when they are assaying metals and 

 coined money. The bes of the larger weight with which they provide them- 

 selves when they weigh large masses of these things, I have explained in my 

 work De Mensuris et Ponderibus, and in another book, De Precio Metallorum 

 et Monetis. 



There are three small balances by which we weigh ore, metals, and 

 fluxes. The first, by which we weigh lead and fluxes, is the largest among these 

 smaller balances, and when eight unciae (of the greater weights) are placed in 

 one of its pans, and the same number in the other, it sustains no damage. 

 The second is more delicate, and by this we weigh the ore or the metal, which 

 is to be assayed ; this is well able to carry one centumpondium of the lesser 



