Christian antiquities -- Italy -- Rome; Rome (Italy) -- Antiquities
As the _amphora_ was the standard measure of capacity for wine, the
_metreta_ for oil, the _modius_ for grain, so the _libra_ was the
standard measure of weight.[26] To insure honesty in trade they were
examined periodically by order of the ædiles; those found _iniquæ_
(short) were broken, and their owners sentenced to banishment in
remote islands. In A. D. 167, Junius Rusticus, prefect of the city,
ordered a general inspection to be made in Rome and in the provinces;
weights and measures found to be legal were marked or stamped with the
legend "[Verified] by the authority of Q. Junius Rusticus, prefect of
the city." These weights of Rusticus are discovered in hundreds in
Roman excavations.[27]
The original standards were kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the
Capitol, and used only on extraordinary occasions. Official duplicates
were deposited in other temples, like those of Castor and Pollux, Mars
Ultor, Ops, and others, and kept at the disposal of the public, whence
their name of _pondera publica_. Barracks and market-places were also
furnished with them. The most important discovery connected with this
branch of Roman administration was made at Tivoli in 1883, when three
_mensæ ponderariæ_, almost perfect, were found in the portico or
peribolos of the Temple of Hercules, adjoining the cathedral of S.
Lorenzo. This wing of the portico is divided into compartments by
means of projecting pilasters, and each recess is occupied by a marble
table resting on "trapezophoroi" richly ornamented with symbols of
Hercules and Bacchus, like the club and the thyrsus. Along the edge of
two of the tables runs the inscription, "Made at the expense of Marcus
Varenus Diphilus, president of the college of Hercules," while the
third was erected at the expense of his wife Varena. The tables are
perforated by holes of conical shape, varying in diameter from 200 to
380 millimetres. Brass measures of capacity were fastened into each
hole, for use by buyers and sellers. They were used in a very
ingenious way, both as dry and liquid measures. The person who had
bought, for instance, half a modius of beans, or twenty-four
_sextarii_ of wine, and wanted to ascertain whether he had been
cheated in his bargain, would fill the receptacle to the proper line,
then open the valve or spicket below, and transfer the tested contents
again to his sack or flask.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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