[ 534 ] 
coin gold, it did not exceed the eighty-fourth part of 
their Pound. 
The learned have differed much concerning the 
grammatical conftrudlion and ufe of the word Pondoy 
moft of them have fuppofed it to be a neuter inde- 
clinable j but Gronovius hath produced many au- 
thorities to fhew that it was the old ablative cafe of 
Pondus, poKdiy for which they afterward ufed Pondere, 
Livy has, Coronuin aureciin lihratn pondo^ and the like 
in many places. Columella, mediccwiinis pondo 
imcicim. Celllis, pondo dcnariorum trium. And 
Plautus in Mena;chmis, Pondo duiim niimmum. In all 
which pondo fecn'is to be the ablative cafe for pondere. 
And Feftus tells us, Centenas pondo dicehant anhquu 
^ref event €0 nd It hr a i (3)* Thus Livy fays, fex njilli<z 
pondo, for, fex millia librarum pondere, and Pondo bum 
& feUbras, for, Pondere bin a libranm ponder a ^ 
Jelibras. In the former of thefe paflages, Livy feems 
to have valued the Libra at 100 Denarii. For re- 
lating how Scipio was accufed of having received a 
'bribe from Antiochus of fex millia pondo auri, qua- 
dringenta odloginta argenti, he calls it in a round 
fum Ducenties quadragies, or 24000 Seftertia (4^, 
Now reckoning 100 Denarii to the Libra, and the 
value of gold decuple that of filver, it fliould 
amount to 24192 Seflertia ; whereas reckoning 84 
Denarii to the Libra, it would amount to no more 
than 20352. And Plutarch in his Life of Fabius, 
tranflates what Livy calls Pondo bina Gf felibras, by 
250 Drachms, which is a Seflertium. 
(3) Gronovius, 'De pcc. vet. I/. I. c. 6. 
(4) Livy, L. XXXVIII. § 55. 
The 
