But, a thing that is more surprising still, crowns[775] of gold were given to the citizens as well. As to the person who was first presented with one, so far as I have enquired, I have not been able to ascertain his name: L. Piso says, however, that the Dictator[776] A. Posthumius was the first who conferred one: on taking the camp of the Latins at Lake Regillus,[777] he gave a crown of gold, made from the spoil, to the soldier whose valour had mainly contributed to this success. L. Lentulus, also, when consul,[778] presented one to Servius Cornelius Merenda, on taking a town of the Samnites; but in his case it was five pounds in weight. Piso Frugi, too, presented his son with a golden crown, at his own private expense, making[779] it a specific legacy in his will.
CHAP. 12. (3.)—OTHER USES MADE OF GOLD, BY FEMALES.
To honour the gods at their sacrifices, no greater mark of honour has been thought of than to gild the horns of the animals sacrificed—that is, of the larger victims[780] only. But in warfare, this species of luxury made such rapid advances, that in the Epistles of M. Brutus from the Plains of Philippi, we find expressions of indignation at the fibulæ[781] of gold that were worn by the tribunes. Yes, so it is, by Hercules! and yet you, the same Brutus, have not said a word about women wearing gold upon their feet; while we, on the other hand, charge him with criminality[782] who was the first to confer dignity upon gold by wearing the ring. Let men even, at the present day, wear gold upon the arms in form of bracelets—known as “dardania,” because the practice first originated in Dardania, and called “viriolæ” in the language of the Celts, “viriæ”[783] in that of Celtiberia, let women wear gold upon their arms[784] and all their fingers, their necks, their ears, the tresses of their hair; let chains of gold run meandering along their sides; and in the still hours of the night let sachets filled with pearls hang suspended from the necks of their mistresses, all bedizened with gold, so that in their very sleep even they may still retain the consciousness that they are the possessors of such gems: but are they to cover their feet[785] as well with gold, and so, between the stola[786] of the matrons and the garb of the plebeians, establish an intermediate[787] or equestrian[788] order of females? Much more becomingly do we accord this distinction to our pages,[789] and the adorned beauty of these youths has quite changed the features of our public baths.
At the present day, too, a fashion has been introduced among the men even, of wearing effigies upon their fingers representing Harpocrates[790] and other divinities of Egypt. In the reign of Claudius, also, there was introduced another unusual distinction, in the case of those to whom was granted the right of free admission,[791] that, namely, of wearing the likeness of the emperor engraved in gold upon a ring: a circumstance that gave rise to vast numbers of informations, until the timely elevation of the Emperor Vespasianus rendered them impossible, by proclaiming that the right of admission to the emperor belonged equally to all. Let these particulars suffice on the subject of golden rings and the use of them.
CHAP. 13.—COINS OF GOLD. AT WHAT PERIODS COPPER, GOLD, AND SILVER WERE FIRST IMPRESSED. HOW COPPER WAS USED BEFORE GOLD AND SILVER WERE COINED. WHAT WAS THE LARGEST SUM OF MONEY POSSESSED BY ANY ONE AT THE TIME OF OUR FIRST CENSUS. HOW OFTEN, AND AT WHAT PERIODS, THE VALUE OF COPPER AND OF COINED MONEY HAS BEEN CHANGED.
The next[792] crime committed against the welfare of mankind was on the part of him who was the first to coin a denarius[793] of gold, a crime the author of which is equally unknown. The Roman people made no use of impressed silver even before the period of the defeat[794] of King Pyrrhus. The “as” of copper weighed exactly one libra; and hence it is that we still use the terms “libella”[795] and “dupondius.”[796] Hence it is, too, that fines and penalties are inflicted under the name of “æs grave,”[797] and that the words still used in keeping accounts are “expensa,”[798] “impendia,”[799] and “dependere.”[800] Hence, too, the word “stipendium,” meaning the pay of the soldiers, which is nothing more than “stipis pondera;[801] and from the same source those other words, “dispensatores”[802] and “libripendes.”[803] It is also from this circumstance that in sales of slaves, at the present day even, the formality of using the balance is introduced.
King Servius was the first to make an impress upon copper. Before his time, according to Timæus, at Rome the raw metal only was used. The form of a sheep was the first figure impressed upon money, and to this fact it owes its name, “pecunia.”[804] The highest figure at which one man’s property was assessed in the reign of that king was one hundred and twenty thousand asses, and consequently that amount of property was considered the standard of the first class.
Silver was not impressed with a mark until the year of the City 485, the year of the consulship of Q. Ogulnius and C. Fabius, five years before the First Punic War; at which time it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be ten libræ[805] of copper, that of the quinarius five libræ, and that of the sestertius two libræ and a half. The weight, however, of the libra of copper was diminished during the First Punic War, the republic not having means to meet its expenditure: in consequence of which, an ordinance was made that the as should in future be struck of two ounces weight. By this contrivance a saving of five-sixths was effected, and the public debt was liquidated. The impression upon these copper coins was a two-faced Janus on one side, and the beak of a ship of war on the other: the triens,[806] however, and the quadrans,[807] bore the impression of a ship. The quadrans, too, had, previously to this, been called “teruncius,” as being three unciæ[808] in weight. At a later period again, when Hannibal was pressing hard upon Rome, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus, asses of one ounce weight were struck, and it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, that of the quinarius eight asses, and that of the sestertius four asses; by which last reduction of the weight of the as the republic made a clear gain of one half. Still, however, so far as the pay of the soldiers is concerned, one denarius has always been given for every ten asses. The impressions upon the coins of silver were two-horse and four-horse chariots, and hence it is that they received the names of “bigati” and “quadrigati.”
Shortly after, in accordance with the Law of Papirius, asses were coined weighing half an ounce only. Livius Drusus, when[809] tribune of the people, alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of copper. The coin that is known at the present day as the “victoriatus,”[810] was first struck in accordance with the Clodian Law: before which period, a coin of this name was imported from Illyricum, but was only looked upon as an article of merchandize. The impression upon it is a figure of Victory, and hence its name.
The first golden coin was struck sixty-two years after that of silver, the scruple of gold being valued at twenty sesterces; a computation which gave, according to the value of the sesterce then in use, nine hundred sesterces to each libra of gold.[811] In later times, again, an ordinance was made, that denarii of gold should be struck, at the rate of forty denarii[812] to each libra of gold; after which period, the emperors gradually curtailed the weight of the golden denarius, until at last, in the reign of Nero, it was coined at the rate of forty-five to the libra.