CHAP. II.
_____of the Romans, was the principal, if not the only instrument of commerce. It was a complaint worthy of the gravity of the senate, that in the purchase of female ornaments the wealth of the state was irrecoverably given away to foreign and hostile nations[1]. The annual loss is computed, by a writer of an inquisitive but censorious temper, at upwards of eight hundred thousand pounds sterling[2]. Such was the style of discontent, brooding over the dark prospect of approaching poverty. And yet, if we compare the proportion between gold and silver, as it stood in the time of Pliny, and as it was fixed in the reign of Constantine, we shall discover within that period a very considerable increase[3]. There is not the least reason to suppose that gold was become more scarce; it is therefore evident that silver was grown more common ; that whatever might be the amount of the Indian and Arabian exports, they were far from exhausting the wealth of the Roman world ; and that the produce of the mines abundantly supplied the demands of commerce.
- ↑ Tacit. Atinal. iii. 52. in a speech of Tiberius.
- ↑ Plin. Hist. Natur. xii. 18. In another place he computes half that sum, Quingenties H. S. for India, exclusive of Arabia.
- ↑ The proportion, which was one to ten, and twelve and one half, rose to fourteen and two fifths, the legal regulation of Constantine. See Arbutlinot's Tables of Ancient Coins, c. v.