Gold and the Gold Standard.pdf

GOLD IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES
suffered several debasements. During the First
Punic War, according to Pliny, the weight of the
as was .reduced, "when the republic, being unable
to defray its expenses, resolved to coin six asses out
of the pound; whereby they gained five parts, and
paid their debts." Before the end of the Second
Punic War, the as had been debased again by 50 per
cent, thereby reaching a weight of 1 ounce, the
as uncial. Somewhat later, the as coins became token
money, subsidiary to silver. As such, their weights
were further reduced from time to time, but since
they were mere token coins, these reductions probably
did not materially affect their money value.
Long after the as libralis ceased to circulate, it
was used asa unit of account, in terms of which
people thought and expressed monetary values
even when payments were actually made in the
standard silver money.! In contracts then it appears
to have been called the as grave, to distinguish it
from the current as.
History has given us a descendant of the word as
(unit) in our word ace and descendants of the word
aes (bronze), as used in aes rude (p. 10), in our words .
esteem and estimate.
Sih'er Money. Silver in the form of ingots and
of foreign coins, notably those of the Greeks, Etruscans,
and Sicilians, circulated in Italy during part
1 It is interesting to note that our word money has its origin in early Roman
times. Money then was coined in a temple oiJuno on Capitoline Hill {n Rome.
One of Juno's many names was Moneta, a word cognate with Latin monere (to
warn). Moneta was guardian of finances (as well as the protector of the female
sex). Our wor4s monty and mint are cognate with Moneta.
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