Historical-Political Dissertation on Coins, Both Functional and Commemorative

from the previous page: but Servius is considered by some to be the first inventor of the coin, according to the things already stated, § 1. On the other hand, as Pliny narrates (Book 33, ch. 3, and Book 18, ch. 3), Servius Tullius, the sixth King of Rome, first stamped copper, with the mark of a beast impressed upon the metal, from which it was called pecunia money, whereas the Romans had previously used it in a crude state, and indeed, around the year 200 from the founding of the city original: A.V.C.. Silver coins, however, were first struck—as the same Pliny hands down—finally in the year 484 from the founding of the city (according to others, 485, 483, or 480), by the Consul Q. Fabius, specifically five (or according to others, six) years before the First Punic War. And 62 years later, according to the same Pliny, that is, in the year 546 (or according to others, 547 or 542) from the founding of the city, gold coins were also struck. See Wagenfeil, p. 37 and 49; Selden, Book of Coins, p. 3, 4; Jobert, loco citato in the place cited; Polydore Vergil, loco citato; Knich, p. 1240. Wagenfeil, on page 21, attempts to reconcile learnedly this disagreement among writers as to who first struck currency in Rome. As for the discrepancy of years discovered among the same authors, let chronologists inquire if they wish. Compare the Plinian edition of Harduin, and the explanation of the passage cited in the Book of Ancient Coins of Peoples and Cities, p. 539. There, he writes that he has corrected the words concerning stamped silver from the Royal Codex and the more accurate Festus in such a way that it should be read: Silver was stamped in the year of the city 485, under the Consuls Q. Ogulnius and C. (not Q.) Fabius. Nor can the fifth year before the first Punic war be any other than the one he mentioned, namely the year 485. But let those things also be weighed, if one wishes, which Claudius Chifletius, in his posthumous book on ancient coinage, chapters 8 and 9, contends to prove: that even before Servius Tullius, the Roman people used stamped copper, not merely crude copper, and that they used stamped silver, albeit foreign, from the beginning, though it seems to have been stamped in Rome much earlier than Livy, Pliny, and others intended.

§. VIII.

§. 8. The successive introduction of coins.

Whatever, however, may ultimately be the case regarding the uncertain origin and primeval antiquity of coins, this at least is certain, as Mr. Wag. original: Dn. Wag. [continues from Mir. p. 13. quest. 12.] also holds: that they, although probably first invented in the aforementioned manner and place, were not immediately introduced indiscriminately among all nations. Rather, they spread gradually—first to neighbors, and then, in the course of time, to more remote peoples as well, just as the arts did, once their utility and advantages were properly perceived. And it is no wonder, since even now