Pagina 605 de 2651

The value of silver, therefore, in those ancient times, must have

been to its value in the present, as three to four inversely;

that is, three ounces of silver would then have purchased the

same quantity of labour and commodities which four ounces will do

at present. When we read in Pliny, therefore, that Seius {Lib. X,

c. 29.} bought a white nightingale, as a present for the empress

Agrippina, at the price of six thousand sestertii, equal to about

fifty pounds of our present money; and that Asinius Celer {Lib.

IX, c. 17.} purchased a surmullet at the price of eight thousand

sestertii, equal to about sixty-six pounds thirteen shillings and

fourpence of our present money; the extravagance of those prices,

how much soever it may surprise us, is apt, notwithstanding, to

appear to us about one third less than it really was.