148

CONSUMPTION OF TIIE

CHAP. V.

number, all are worse than ours. The moreancient coins at some periods were far purer.Those of the successors of Alexander in Egyptcontain twenty-three carats three grains of goldand only one grain of alloy. Bodin, as quotedby Pinkerton \ informs us that the goldsmithsin Paris, in assaying some gold coins of Vespa-sian , found in them no more than a seven hun-dred and eighty-eighth part of alloy. Consider-ing then the purity of the metal and the shortduration and the limited circulation of gold, inthe form of coin, we cannot estimate the con-sumption of it by abrasion to have borne anygreat proportion to the whole quantity in exist-ence at the age of Augustus .

It does not appear that the same degree ofpurity was preserved in the silver coined by theancients. The silver coins of the Greeks areinferior to our standard. Those of the Romansof the earliest period are also inferior to ours,though very slightly so ; but from the reign ofSeverus very bad silver appears, and continuesto the time of Dioclesian. From ClaudiusGothicus to Dioclesian , that is, from 270 to284 1 a. d., during which eight emperors reigned,the silver coins are very scarce ; but they seemall to have degenerated gradually. Usurpersarose in Spain , from whence most of the silver

1 Pinkerton, vol. i.