C 521 } 
third of the whole; and Piiny obferves, that the 
Romans always required the tribute they impofed on 
conquered countries fliould be paid in filver, not in 
gold (2) ; therefore it is not probable that gold (liould 
bear a tnuch higher price at Rome than eltewhere, as 
It would, according to this account of its firft coinage 
if fewer than 84 Denarii were coined out of the 
1 ound of filver. 
There is another pafTage in Piiny relating to the 
value of gold, which requires correaion. Speaking 
of the Bylhne thread, he fays, ^laternis denarih 
jcrtpula ejus permutata quondam, ut auri, repcrio (P) 
When 96 Denarii were coined out of the Pound, each 
of _ them weighed 3 Scruples ; therefore 4 Denarii 
weighed 12 Scruples, which was nearly the value of a 
hcruple (^gold when Pliny wrote. But Pliny knew 
no fuch Denarius ; for he fays, the lawful weight of 
that com was the eighty-fourth part of the Pound : 
befides, he fpeaks here of former times. Therefore 
for ^^lafernis, we fliould read Terms j for 3 Denarii 
of S4 in the Pound weighed 10^ Scruples, which 
was nearly the ancient value of a Scruple of gold. 
From a pafiage in Tacitus, compared with Sue- 
tonius, we learn that in Galba’s time the Aureus pafied 
for 25 Denarii j the former fays —ut per Lciem 
convivu quoties^ Galba apiid Othonem epularetur, cohorti 
excubias agenti vtritim centum nummos divideret-, which 
the latter exprefies thus, quoties ccend principem exci- 
peret, Aure&s excubanti cohorti viritim dividebat (4) 
But 100 Nummi were equal to 25 Denarii ; tliere- 
SeltlJob ‘Caffiu; ULV.^ 
Voi. LXI. X X X foi-e 
