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Aurum, Gold

Aurum, Gold Page of 453 Basanites, Basalt Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
122
AURUM.
orders that no aureus, if of full weight, should be refused in payment of the tribute.
That from the beginning of the Imperial regime the taxes had been paid in gold, and no longer in silver, appears from the anecdote told by Suetonius of Caligula, that, wishing to view the tangible income of the state, he caused all the tributa of the year to be poured on the ground in one room, and, stripping himself, he wallowed " super immensos aureorum acervos," and literally bathed in gold; a freak befitting an imperial lunatic, and a fancy full of a certain insane magnificence. From this time too we find all the legal fines estimated in aurei, at first simply named as such ; but when pieces of different weight came to be in circulation together, the assessments are made in ounces or pounds of gold. The ancient method of reckoning by Sestertia was retained by the historians, who affected the antiquated mode of expression, and perhaps to a certain extent in ordinary life, for it happened to be convenient enough, a Sestertium being exactly ten aurei. In fact, this old way of reckoning had now a more tangible representa­tive in the currency than before, for the Sestertius, the unit, was issued in abundance, being what numismatists call the First Brass, whereas, under the Eepublic, it may be said to have been but a money of account, the few sestertii coined in silver being rare to an excess. Even this custom expired in the interval between Suetonius and the Scriptores Hist. Aug., for, in their reckonings of sums, the aurei, " Philippi," are counted by tale. But theorists unacquainted with this fact attempt by long and intricate calculations to give the value of the aureus in the terms of the silver standard, long before become obsolete. The sole true method is to compare the weight of the aureus with that (intrinsic) of the modern gold, and it will be found that for the times down to Severus the former was equivalent to our sovereign.
Aurum, Gold Page of 453 Basanites, Basalt
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