第604页 / 共2651页

Three sestertii equal to about sixpence sterling, was the price

which the republic paid for the modius or peck of the tithe wheat

of Sicily. This price, however, was probably below the average

market price, the obligation to deliver their wheat at this rate

being considered as a tax upon the Sicilian farmers. When the

Romans, therefore, had occasion to order more corn than the tithe

of wheat amounted to, they were bound by capitulation to pay for

the surplus at the rate of four sestertii, or eightpence sterling

the peck; and this had probably been reckoned the moderate and

reasonable, that is, the ordinary or average contract price of

those times; it is equal to about one-and-twenty shillings the

quarter. Eight-and-twenty shillings the quarter was, before the

late years of scarcity, the ordinary contract price of English

wheat, which in quality is inferior to the Sicilian, and

generally sells for a lower price in the European market.