264
BOOK VII.
the 1st = 12 nummi = 1 bes.
„ 2nd = 6„ 3rd = 3
„ 4th = 2
„ 5th = 1 ,, =24 units of 4 siliquae each.
„ 6th =12 units of 4 siliquae each.
„ 7th = 6
„ 8th = 3
» 9 th ~~ 2 ,, ,,
,, xoth — x ,, ,,
And so with them, just as with our own people, the mark is divided intotwo hundred and eighty-eight grenlins, and by the people of Nuremberg it isdivided into two hundred and fifty-six pfennige. Lastly, the Venetians dividethe bes into eight unciae. The uncia into four sicilici, the sicilicus intothirty-six siliquae. They make twelve weights, which they use whenever the}wish to assay alloys of silver and copper. Of thesethe 1st = 8 unciae — 1 bes.
„ 2nd = 4 „
„ 3rd = 2
„ 4th - 1 „ or 4 sicilici.
„ 5th = 2 sicilici.
„ 6th — 1 sicilicus.
„ 7th = 18 siliquae.
„ 8th = 9
„ 9th = 6
„ 10th = 3
„ nth = 2
„ 12th = 1 „
Since the Venetians divide the bes into eleven hundred and fifty-two siliquae,or two hundred and eighty-eight units of 4 siliquae each, into which numberour people also divide the bes, they thus make the same number of siliquae,and both agree, even though the Venetians divide the bes into smallerdivisions.
This, then, is the system of weights, both of the greater and the lesser kinds,which metallurgists employ, and likewise the system of the lesser weightswhich coiners and merchants employ, when they are assaying metals andcoined money. The bes of the larger weight with which they provide them-selves when they weigh large masses of these things, I have explained in mywork De Mensuris et Ponderibus, and in another book, De Precio Metallorumet Monetis.
There are three small balances by which we weigh ore, metals, andfluxes. The first, by which we weigh lead and fluxes, is the largest among thesesmaller balances, and when eight unciae (of the greater weights) are placed inone of its pans, and the same number in the other, it sustains no damage.The second is more delicate, and by this we weigh the ore or the metal, whichis to be assayed ; this is well able to carry one centumpondium of the lesser