The history of the degradation of copper was seen better in Sicily, where we found the litra still weighing 990 grs., but it rapidly sank to only 200 grs., evidently in this case also being mere money of account. For as the silver litra was about 13½ grs., unless the 200 grain copper litra was a mere token, silver would have been to copper as 17:1, which is obviously absurd. In the case of the Italian _as_ the process is still clearer, for we have every stage of the _as_, from the bars which I have described through the _libral as_ (_aes grave_), the _sextantal as_, the uncial and half-uncial, down to the small coin of the empire commonly called “a third brass.” [Illustration: FIG. 51. As (half uncial standard).] [Illustration: FIG. 52. As, 3rd Cent. A.D. (“Third Brass”).] [Illustration: FIG. 53. Didrachm of Corinth.] _Gold and Silver._ Whilst in the infancy of coining the Sicilian silver litra was probably the same as the Aeginetic obol, that is about 16⅔ grs., the Aeginetic didrachm being probably treated as a _decalitron_ (ten-litra piece), nevertheless after no long time the common Euboic standard of 135 grs. was employed at Syracuse and elsewhere, and we have the authority of Aristotle for the statement that the _Corinthian stater_ was called a _decalitron_. Corinth, as we saw above, used the 135 grain unit for her famous Pegasi, commonly known as “Colts” (πῶλοι), and therefore the litra was by this time 13½ grs. Now, in Etruria we find about 400-350 B.C. a silver currency struck on this same 135 grs. standard. These coins bear marks of value, 𐌢 on coins of 131 grs., 𐌡 on those of 65 grs., 𐌠𐌠' on those of 32 grs., and 𐌠 on those of 14 and 13 grs. It is plain therefore that the stater of 135 grs. was considered to consist of 10 units of 13½ grs. each. In other words, whatever the Etruscans may have called their stater, it was exactly the same in weight and method of subdivision as the _decalitron_ of Syracuse. At a later period (350-268 B.C.) we find on coins of like weight the symbols 𐌢𐌢 instead of 𐌢, 𐌢 instead of 𐌡, 𐌡 instead of 𐌠𐌠'. The unit now is exactly half of what it was at an earlier stage, 6¾ grs. instead of 13½ grs. Not till 268 B.C., just on the eve of the First Punic War, did Rome first coin silver. This coin, called _denarius_, as its name implies, represented 10 _asses_. It was divided into four parts, each of which was called a _sestertius_ or 2½, and was marked with the symbol 𐆘 representing that number. [Illustration: FIG. 54. Sesterce of first Roman silver coinage.]