Page:Origin of metallic currency and weight standards.djvu/367

 obol or rod, and we have in turn discovered a very close resemblance between the divisions of the litra and that of the as. I now propose to examine into the original nature of this denomination, and the form of the object to which it was applied. This will have been effectually accomplished, if I can succeed in establishing the proposition ''that the as was primarily a rod or bar of copper, one foot in length, divided into 12 parts, called inches (unciae), thus coinciding with the Greek obol in form, as also in its duodecimal division''.

We must, as a preliminary, note carefully several most essential facts connected with the as: (1) The term as (as used in respect of metals) is never employed for either gold or silver, but is appropriated to bronze exclusively; (2) it is not the Roman unit of weight, for that is expressed by the general term libra, a word exactly corresponding to the Greek Talanton, since it means both the weight and the scales; (3) the as is not confined to weight, but is also employed as the unit of linear measure equal to the foot, and also as the unit of land measure equal to the jugerum or acre.

The following table exhibits the subdivisions of the as:

As (Pes, Jugerum) Deunx    =  11/12 Dextans     10/12 Dodrans     3/4 Bes         2/3 Septunx     7/12 Semis       1/2 Quincunx    5/12 Triens      1/3 Quadrans    1/4 Sextans     1/6 Uncia       1/12 Semuncia    1/24 Sicilicus   1/48 Sextula     1/72 Scriptulum  1/288

Now it has been hitherto assumed by all writers that the