406 Money and Money ers. 



maintained her independence, the Darics were in extensive 

 circulation ; but after the Grecian conquest of the country it is 

 believed that they were almost entirely melted down, re-coined, 

 and re-issued with ' c the image and superscription" of Alexander. 

 The silver coins of Aryandes, who was appointed a prefect 

 in Egypt by Cambyses, were of Persian mintage, and they, like 

 the Daric, had an indent on one side, and the effigy of an 

 archer on the other. The specimens of these silver coins in 

 England vary in weight from seventy-nine to eighty-one grains. 

 This discrepancy, no doubt, arose from the imperfect mode of 

 manufacture then pursued ; and, indeed, as we shall probably 

 have occasion to show, it is next to impossible, even now, to 

 produce coins, in large quantities, of uniform weight. With 

 regard to the scriptural word " talent," in reference to money, 

 it may be stated that Homer used it to signify a balance ; and, 

 in general, in his days, it was applied either to a weight or a 

 sum of money — such sum differing in value with the country or 

 period in which it was used. Every talent consisted of sixty 

 mina3, and every mina of one hundred drachmas ; but of course 

 the talent varied in weight with the rainse or drachmas of which 

 they were composed. When Darius became sovereign of Persia 

 he divided the kingdom into satrapies or provinces, each of 

 which was assessed at a fixed amount of tribute money. Those 

 provinces that paid in silver were compelled to adopt the talent 

 of Babylon for their standard, whilst those which paid in gold 

 adopted the Euboic standard. The Babylonian talent, accord- 

 ing to the showing of Herodotus, was equal to seventy Euboic 

 minas. The Euboic talent was so called from the island of 

 Euboea. It is generally supposed to be identical with the 

 Attic talent, because Athens and Eubcea used the same stand- 

 ard of weight. The mina Euboica and the mina Attica con- 

 sisted each of one hundred drachmae. As represented by Eng- 

 lish money of the present day, the talent of Babylon was worth 

 £226, and that of Euboea, or the Attic talent, £193 15s. 



It is well ascertained, however, that among the ancients 

 the relative proportionate value of gold and silver was subject to 

 considerable fluctuations. In the reign of Darius, for example, 

 gold was thirteen times as valuable, weight for weight, as silver. 

 In the time of Plato it was twelve times as valuable ; in that of 

 Meander, the Ionic poet, it was only ten times the value ; and 

 in the days of Julius Cresar gold was only nine times more 

 valuable than silver. The last named reduction was due, un- 

 doubtedly, to the enormous quantities of gold which Caesar 

 had " appropriated" from the temples and public buildiugs in 

 the vai-ious cities he conquered. 



The word " Money" is derived from Moneta, which, again, 

 came from the verb Monere t to advise. The Anglo-Saxon 



