[ 83 ] 
'fnore rude and barbarous than thofe of any fimilar 
Etrufcan coins hitherto publidied, Vv'hich is an incon- 
teftable proof of the exceeding high antiquity of this 
piece. The forms of feveral of them are likewife fome- 
what different from thofeofthe correfpondent elements 
on all the other fimilar Etrufcan weights, hitherto com- 
municated to the learned world. The concha marina, 
and perhaps the bufolo’s head, is a Angularity that 
will announce the weight before me an inedited 
coin. The piece weighs precifely five ounces, and 
twelve grains; and is, in all refpedts, except what re- 
lates to the concha and bufolo’s head, tolerably well 
preferved. 
The firft riches of mankind were their flocks and 
their herds, and particularly their (i) oxen. Hence 
the firfl: money in Italy, from pecus, was (2) called 
pecunia, and the mofl; ancient brafs coins had the 
figure of an ox (3 ) impreffed upon them. Hence 
alfo the Greeks, in the days of Homer (4), eflimated 
the value of their properties according to the number 
of oxen they were equivalent to, as we learn from 
that celebrated poet. For he informs us, that 
Glaucus’s golden armour was worth an hundred 
pxen, whereas that of Diomedes, for which it was 
fi) Erafm. Frolich. Notit. Elementar. Numifrn. Antiqmr. ^c,’ 
p. 2. Viennae, Pragae, & Tergefti, 1758. 
(2) Plin. Nat. Hijf. Lib. xviii. p. 98. 1 . 6, 7. & Lib. 
xxxiii. p. 610. 1 . 6,7. Ed. Hard. Parifiis,-i723. Fiol. ubi fup. et 
alib. Una lettera del Annib. degli Abati Olivieri al Sig. Abate 
. Barthelemy^ ( 3 ’c. p. 28, 29. In Pefaro, 1757. Ezech. Spanhem. 
De Uf, et Prajlant. Num’fmat. Antiquor. Diflert. prim. p. 23. 
Londini, 1706. 
(3) lidem ibid. 
(4} Horn. II. z. 235, 236, 237. Vid, etiam Euftath. in loc. 
M 2 exchanged, 
