Libella, Sembella, Teruncius, were also silver coins, but of less value than the above. Libella was of the same worth as the As—Sembella was half a Libella, equal to seventy-one hundredths of a cent—and the Teruncius was half of a Sembella.
Aureus Denarius was a gold coin, about the size of a silver Denarius, and probably stamped in a similar manner. At first, forty Aurei were made out of a pound of gold; but under the Emperors it was not so intrinsically valuable, being mixed with alloy.
The value of the Aureus, which was also called Solidus, varied at different times. According to Tacitus, it was valued and exchanged for 25 Denarii, which amounted to three dollars, fifty-eight cents and seventy-five hundredths.
The Abbreviations used by the Romans to express these various kinds of money, were, for the As, L.—for the Sesterce, L. L. S. or H. S.—for the Quinary, V. or λ.—for the Denarius, X. or :!:
Sesterces were the kind of money in which the Romans usually made their computations.—1,000 Sesterces made up a sum called Sestertium, the value of which in our money, was thirty-five dollars and seventy cents.
The art of reckoning by Sesterces was regulated by these rules:
First—If a numeral adjective were joined to Sestertii, and agreed with it in case, it signified just so many Sesterces; as decem Sestertii, 10 Sesterces—thirty-five cents and seven tenths.
Second—If a numeral adjective, of a different case, were joined to the genitive plural of Sestertius, it signified so many thousand Sesterces; as decem Sestertium, 10,000 Sesterces—$357.
Third—If a numeral adverb were placed by itself, or joined to Sestertium, it signified so many hundred thousand Sesterces; as Decies, or decies Sestertium, 1,000,000 Sesterces—$35,700.
Fourth—When the sums are expressed by letters, if the letters have a line over them, they signify also so many hundred thousand Sesterces: thus, H. S. M̅. C̅.—denotes the sum of 1,100 times 100,000 Sesterces, i.e. 110,000,000—nearly $4,000,000.