About the Tarquins as large employers of free labour we shall find more precise and significant statements when the story of Superbus comes to be discussed. But in the accounts of Priscus there is one further statement that associates him closely with the trade of Rome. “The same king,” says Livy[1129], speaking of Priscus, “apportioned sites round the forum for private individuals to build on, and erected arcades and shops.” So Dionysius[1130]: “he adorned the forum by surrounding it with workshops and arcades (ἐργαστηρίοις καὶ παστάσι).” It is surely somewhat remarkable that King Tarquin should be thus associated with the building of shops. [Sidenote: Priscus is succeeded by Servius Tullius, who is said to have been the first at Rome to strike coins.] Between the first and the last of the Tarquins our accounts are unanimous in inserting Servius Tullius. Livy and Dionysius[1131] make him the son-in-law of Priscus. Servius, who is thus assigned to both the period and the family of the Tarquins, is stated by several authors to have been the first to issue coins at Rome. Varro[1132] for instance informs us that “they say that silver coinage was first struck (flatum) by Servius Tullius.” So Pliny[1133]: “King Servius was the first to stamp (signauit) bronze”; and again Cassiodorus[1134]: “King Servius is said to have been the first to strike a coinage (impressisse monetam) in bronze.” [Sidenote: Possible historical basis for this statement.] These statements cannot be accepted just as they stand. Silver coins were first struck in Rome in 268 B.C., and the first round copper coins, the large _aes graue_ with a Janus head on one side and a ship’s prow on the other, are now unanimously assigned to the middle of the fourth century[1135]. There is however nothing to preclude the possibility of important monetary innovations or reforms by a sixth century king of Rome. Copper has been found in Central Italy in various forms that point to a copper currency prior to the introduction of the round _aes graue_. There are the rough pieces known as _aes rude_, the objects of various simple shapes but entirely devoid of decoration known as _aes formatum_, and the pieces rectangular in shape and marked with a type known as _aes signatum_[1136]. Though the extant examples of _aes signatum_ are plainly on stylistic grounds to be assigned to long after the regal period, and though the objects discovered along with finds of _aes rude_ do not point to a very early date[1137], it would be rash to say that either _aes rude_ or _aes signatum_ or for that matter _aes formatum_ was not as early in origin as the sixth century[1138]. Willers[1139] dates the use of _aes rude_ from 1000 B.C. to the fourth century, and supposes some developments during the period, one of which, _e.g._ the kuchenförmig (bun-shaped) variety of _aes formatum_ or the “bars with various patterns,” may possibly be due to Servius. If Servius is to be