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Ch. 3: Argentum, Silver

Ch. 3: Argentum, Silver Page of 377 Ch. 3: Argentum, Silver Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
ARGENTUM.
129
and throughout the reign of Augustus and his next successor. The legal weight (according to Pliny) of the denarius was 74 to the pound, or 69 grs. Roman, about (53 Troy each. But, notwithstanding the vast supplies flowing into the treasury from Spain, the standard of the silver coin rapidly fell.* Under Vespasian the alloy was one eighth, under the Antonines one-fourth, under Severus about one-half; after which time there seems to have been no fixed standard, some denarii being worse, others apparently better than the last mentioned. The weight also diminished fast. Those of Augustus average 60 grs. ; of Vespasian and his sons, 50 ; and this weight seems to have been the legal one down to Caracalla, who issued double denarii (on the model, apparently, of the older didrachms), weighing about 90 grs., his denarii being about 45. Gordian only coined the large, the " pecunia majorina " of the edict of Constantine, and even this module declines under Galli-enus to 70 and 65, when the silver coinage ends, base though his be. For after Spain had been lost to the State, in consequence of the usurpation of the various pre­tenders to the Empire in the time of Gallienus, the silver currency altogether vanishes, and is replaced by Billon f denarii, in which the silver forms but one-fifth, or even less, of the weight of the coin. These pieces, extremely bright when fresh, in consequence of the silver being forced upon the surface by the pressure of the stamp, be-
Ch. 3: Argentum, Silver Page of 377 Ch. 3: Argentum, Silver
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