655 
MONEY. 
The drachma, didrachma, &c. were of filver; the reft, for 
the raoft part, of brafs. The other parts, as tridrachm, 
triobolus, &c. were fometimes coined. 
1 . 
d. 
The Grecian gold coin was the ftater aureus, 
weighing two Attic drachms, or half of the j 
ftater argenteus ; and exchanging ufually o 16 i£ 
for 25 Attic drachms of filver; in our | 
money _ J 
According to our proportion of gold to filver 1 09 
There are likewife the ftater Cyzicenus,ex- 7 0 jg j 
changing for 28 Attic drachms, or J 
Stater Philippicus, and ftater Alexandrinus, 
of the fame value. 
Stater Daricus, according to Jofephus, worth ? . 
50 Attic drachms, or J - 
Stater Crcefius, of the fame value. 
Teruncius, 
Sembella, 
Roman. 
s. d. qrs. 
o o 
Libella, ] 
As, 1 
Seftertius, 
Quinarius, 
ViCforiatus 
J 
o o 
• o 
0 I 
o 3 
,JSJL 
1 i06 
3^10 
3 l 
3 i 
2|Denarius, 
0 7 3 
The denarius, viftoriatus, feftertius, and fometimes the as, 
were of filver j the reft of brafs. 
I 
d. 
4 31 
16 
The Roman gold coin was the aureus, which') 
weighed generally double the denarius; | 
the value of which, according to the firft ^ 
proportion of coinage, mentioned byPliny, 
was, J 
According to the proportion that obtains ? 
now amongft us, worth, _ S 
According to the decuple proportion men- 7 
tioned by Livy and Julius Pollux, worth, 3 
According to the proportion mentioned by~| 
Tacitus, and which afterwards obtained, I 
whereby the aureus exchanged for 25 de- j 
narii, its value, J 
Thefe Tables are formed on the fuppofition that filver is 
worth five lhillings, and gold four pounds, an ounce. See 
Arbuthnot’s Tables of Ancient Coins. See alio on this 
fubjeCt an excellent paper by M. Raper, efq. intitled “ An 
Enquiry into the Value of Ancient Greek and Roman 
Money,” in the Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixi. part ii. art. 48. 
Of MODERN MONEY. 
The money or coin of a country is the ftandard tneafure, 
by which the value of all things bought and fold is re¬ 
gulated and afcertained 5 and it is itfelf, at the fame time, 
the value, or equivalent, for which goods are exchanged, 
and in which contracts are generally made payable. In 
this laft rel'peCt, money, as a mealure, differs from all 
others ; and to the combination of the two qualities be¬ 
fore defined, which conftitute the eflence of money, the 
principal difficulties that attend it, in fpeculation and 
practice, both as a meafure and an equivalent, are to be 
afcribed. Thefe two qualities can never be brought per¬ 
fectly to unite and agree; for, if money were a mealure 
alone, and made, like all other meafures, of a material of 
little or no value, it would not anl'wer the purpole of an 
equivalent. And if it is made, in order to anl'wer the 
purpole of an equivalent, of a material of value, fubjeCt 
to frequent variations, according to the price at which 
luch material fells at the market, it fails on that account 
in the quality of a ftandard or meafure, and w ill not con¬ 
tinue to be perfectly uniform, and at all times the fame. 
In all civilized nations, money has been, made either 
of gold, or filver, or copper, frequently of all three, and 
fometimes of a metal compofed of filver and copper in 
certain proportions, commonly called billon. It has been 
found by long experience, and by the concurrent Opinion 
of civilized nations in all ages, that thefe metals, and 
particularly gold and filver, are the fitteft materials of 
which money can be made. Gold and filver are perfectly 
homogeneous in themfelves; for no phyfical difference 
can be found in any pound of pure gold, or of pure fil ver, 
whether the production of Europe, Afia, Africa, or Ame¬ 
rica. They are divifible with the greatelt accuracy into 
exaCl proportions or parts. From their value, they are 
not too bulky for the common purpofes of exchange; 
and in all thefe refpeCts they ferve better than any other 
material as an equivalent. And laftly, they are lefs con- 
fumable, or fubjeCt to decay, than molt other commo¬ 
dities. 
Money, whether confidered as a meafure or an equiva¬ 
lent, is lubjeCt to four imperfections : the firft of which 
is the variation in its value with refpeCt to itfelf in fuc- 
ceffive periods, occafioned by the greater or lefs quantity 
that may happen to be at different times in circulation. 
Secondly, if coins are made of tw'o of thefe metals, a fe- 
cond imperfection is then introduced; for any two of thefe 
metals, in fucceffive periods, vary in value with refpeCt 
to each other. The value of fine gold, compared with 
that of fine filver, was rated, in the 43d of Elizabeth, at 
lefs than 11 to 1, at the Englifh mint. But, when guineas 
were firft coined in 1663, the value of fine gold, compared! 
with that of fine filver, was rated in the Englifh mint? 
at i4-Jf£ to 1. Guineas were then coined as 20-fliilling 
pieces, and declared by the mint-indenture to be current 
as fuch. They have fince been made current by procla¬ 
mation as 21-fhilling pieces. The relative value there¬ 
fore of fine gold to fine filver, in the coins of this king¬ 
dom, is now as 1 to 1 > anc * t ^ ie mints of feveral 
foreign countries, the value of gold, compared with that 
of filver, is rated ftill higher. Thefe metals will alfo oc- 
cafionally vary in their value, even at the fame time, in 
different countries; and exchange-brokers, and many 
bankers, are induced, on this account, to carry on a traffic 
in thefe metals, and in the coins made of them, to their 
own profit and to the lofs of others. Thirdly, if the fove- 
reign takes upon himfelf to determine the rate or value, 
at which coins of different metals fha.ll at the fame time 
pafs in currency, a third imperfection is introduced into 
the fyftem ; for it is not poffible that he fhould be able 
to purlue, with fufficient accuracy, the various fluctua¬ 
tions and changes that may in a fhort time happen in 
the relative values of thefe different metals. Their prices 
at the market will therefore frequently differ from the 
rate at which he has valued them in his coins; and, 
when coins made of different metals are equally legal 
tender, there will of courle be two meafures of property, 
differing occafionally from each other. A profit will al¬ 
ways in fuch cafe be made by thofe who traffic in coips, 
by exchanging that coin which has the leaft intrinfic va¬ 
lue, for that which has the greateft. The debtor will 
find it his intereft to make his payments in the coin 
made of that metal which is overvalued at the mint; and 
fuch coins as are made of the metal undervalued at the 
mint, will always be melted down and exported. The 
fourth imperfection arifes from the wear to which coins 
in circulation are liable. 
The imperfection arifing from the rivalfhip of gold and 
filver, might, it is thought, be removed by making one 
metal only the meafure of property. Sir William Petty, 
Mr. Locke, Mr. Harris, lord Liverpool, and other writers 
of high authority, concur in opinion, that the coin which 
is'the principal meafure of property, ought to be made 
of one metal only. But thefe authors do not agree whe¬ 
ther it fhould be gold or filver. Mr. Locke argues that 
it lhould be filver; while lord Liverpool maintains, that 
gold has latterly conftituted the ftandard value. Thefe 
a different 
