A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

376 Roman Organization
Ancient
World, 366 f.
A denarius
was worth
about 20
cents. The
as, at first
about 45
cents, fell to
2 cents;
Botsford,
Roman Assemblies,
87,
n. 4.
time it was ordained that the value of the denarius should
be ten pounds of copper, that of the quinarius five pounds,
and that of the sestertius two pounds and a half. The
weight, however, of the copper "pound" was diminished
during the First Punic War, the republic not having means
to meet its expenditure: in consequence an ordinance was
made that the as should in future be struck of two ounces
weight. By this contrivance a saving of five-sixtlis was
effected, and the public debt was liquidated. The impression
upon those copper coins was a two faced Janus on one
side, and the beak of a ship of war on the other.
The Appian
Aqueduct
and the
Appian Way,
312 B.C.
Diodorus
XX. 36.
A stade
(stadium)
was 600 feet.
There were two censors this year at Rome—Appius
Claudius and Caius Plautius. With the concurrence of
Plautius, Appius disturbed many matters of ancient wont
and usage; for to gratify the people, he made no account
of the senate. Also he constructed an aqueduct, named
the Appian Aqueduct after himself, which brought water
from regions 80 stades distant. On this he expended a
great sum of money without the consent of the senate.
Then he laid a causeway of hard stones from Rome to
Capua a thousand stades and upward, and levelled it at
great cost. This was called the Via Appia after him. In
this way he drained the treasury. But by promoting the
public good, he left behind him an everlasting monument.
Early Italic
painting.
Pliny, Natural
History,
XXXV. 6 f.
But already in fact had the art of painting been perfectly
developed in Italy. At all events there are extant
in the temples at Ardea at this day paintings of greater
antiquity than Rome itself; in which in my opinion, nothing
is more marvellous than that they should have remained
so long unprotected by a roof, and yet preserve
their freshness. At Lanuvium, too, it is the same, where