22.11. 11. Of the Proceedings of the Romans with respect to Money.
How great soever the exertion of authority had been in our times, with
respect to the specie of France, during the administration of two
successive ministers, still it was vastly exceeded by the Romans; not at
the time when corruption had crept into their republic, nor when they
were in a state of anarchy, but when they were as much by their wisdom
as their courage in the full vigour of the constitution, after having
conquered the cities of Italy, and at the very time that they disputed
for empire with the Carthaginians.
And here I am pleased that I have an opportunity of examining more
closely into this matter, that no example may be taken from what can
never justly be called one.
In the first Punic war the as,
[16]
which ought to be twelve ounces
of copper, weighed only two, and in the second it was no more than one.
This retrenchment answers to what we now call the raising of coin. To
take half the silver from a crown of six livres, in order to make two
crowns, or to raise it to the value of twelve livres, is precisely the
same thing.
They have left us no monument of the manner in which the Romans
conducted this affair in the first Punic war; but what they did in the
second is a proof of the most consummate wisdom. The republic found
herself under an impossibility of paying her debts: the as weighed two
ounces of copper, and the denarius, valued at ten ases, weighed twenty
ounces of copper. The republic, being willing to gain half on her
creditors, made the as of an ounce of copper,
[17]
and by this means paid
the value of a denarius with ten ounces. This proceeding must have given
a great shock to the state; they were obliged therefore to break the
force of it as well as they could. It was in itself unjust, and it was
necessary to render it as little so as possible. They had in view the
deliverance of the republic with respect to the citizens; they were not
therefore obliged to direct their view to the deliverance of the
citizens with respect to each other. This made a second step necessary.
It was ordained that the denarius, which hitherto contained but ten
ases, should contain sixteen. The result of this double operation was,
that while the creditors of the republic lost one-half,
[18]
those of
individuals lost only a fifth;
[19]
the price of merchandise was
increased only a fifth; the real change of the money was only a fifth.
The other consequences are obvious.
The Romans then conducted themselves with greater prudence than we,
who in our transactions involved both the public treasure and the
fortunes of individuals. But this is not all: their business was carried
on amidst more favourable circumstances than ours.
Footnotes
[16]
Pliny, "Natural History," lib. xxxiii, art. 13.
[18]
They received ten ounces of copper for twenty.
[19]
They received sixteen ounces of copper for twenty.
