XLI.13) which would fix the first coinage of the victoriati at Rome, B.C. 177 that is, 92 years after the first silver coinage. The Clodius, who proposed this law, is supposed to have been the person who obtained a triumph for his victories in Istria, whence he brought home a large sum of money Says that victoriati were first coined at Rome in pursuance of the lex Clodia and that previous to that time, they were imported as an article of trade from Illyria. Pro Font. 5), for the impression of a figure of Victory which it bore. The quinarius was also called victoriatus They were, the quinarius or half-denarius, the sestertius or quarter denarius, the libella or tenth of the denarius (equal to the as), the sembella or half libella, and the teruncius or quarter libella. The Roman coins of silver went at one time as low down as the fortieth part of the denarius, the teruncius. If the same method of reckoning be applied to the later denarius, its value will be about 7♵ pence, or 7½ d.īritish Museum. 80♷ grains of pure silver, the value of the best denarii will be 58/80♷ of a shilling, or 8♶245 pence which may be reckoned in round numbers 8½ d.58 grains of pure silver and since the shilling contains.If we deduct, as the average, 1⁄ 30 of the weight for alloy, from the denarii of the commonwealth, there will remain 60 grains, and those under the empire at.Mr. Hussey calculates the average weight of the denarii coined at the end of the commonwealth at Proves that 84 denarii went still to the pound, about the year B.C. 50 since if we reckon 96 to the pound, the proportion of the value of gold to silver is 7♸ to 1, which is incredibly low while the value on the other supposition, 8♹ to 1, is more probable. Some have conjectured that it was completed in Nero's reign and Mr. Hussey At what time this reduction was made in the weight of the denarius is uncertain, as it is not mentioned in history. There were originally 84 denarii to a pound ( Plin. The denarius was first coined five years before the first Punic war, B.C. 269. The principal silver coin among the Romans, was so called because it was originally equal to ten asses but on the reduction of the weight of the as, it was made equal to sixteen asses, except in military pay, in which it was still reckoned as ten asses A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.
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