associated with _aes formatum_ the “bun-shaped” pieces have perhaps not quite so good a claim as those to which Haeberlin[1140] gives the name tortenförmig (something like the flat round weights with a flange that are made to fit into one another), since these latter appear from the full data that Haeberlin has collected to be characteristic of S. Etruria: they have been found mainly at Caere, Tarquinii, and Castelnuovo di Porto (between Rome and Falerii), _i.e._ in great part at places with which Rome had particularly close connexions. But neither the “kuchenförmig” nor the “tortenförmig” _aes formatum_ suits the literary evidence so well as Willers’ “bars with various patterns.” These appear to constitute the most primitive form of _aes signatum_. Pliny’s precise account[1141] of Servius’ innovation is that he introduced _aes signatum_ in place of the earlier _aes rude_. Pliny indeed goes on to say that Servius’ money “signatum est nota pecudum[1142].” Among extant pieces this description is applicable only to certain fully developed examples of the quadrilateral _aes signatum_[1143], that, as remarked already, have to be assigned to a later date: but whereas Pliny’s statement about Servius and _aes signatum_ is based on Timaeus (Sicily, third century B.C.), it is quite uncertain whether the remark about “nota pecudum” is to be referred to the same respectable authority. Pliny’s own words are: “Seruius rex primus signauit aes. antea rudi usos Romae Timaeus tradit. signatum est nota pecudum.” [Illustration: Fig. 32. _Aes signatum._] Assume a historical basis for the accounts of Servius’ connexion with the Roman currency[1144], and the motive for his activity in this direction is not far to seek. Just about the period to which his reign is dated Greek coins began to penetrate Etruria. They belong mainly to Phocaea and the Phocaean colonies[1145]. Now “in the days of King Tarquinius,” so Justin[1146] tells us, “Phocaeans from Asia put in at the mouth of the Tiber and formed a friendship with the Romans.” The Phocaean coinage may well have led to some reform or regulation of the home currency, though the statement of Aurelius Victor[1147] that “he (_i.e._ Servius) established weights and measures” may perhaps come nearer to the truth than the more detailed assertions about striking a coinage that have been already quoted. Even if this was all that Servius did it is enough to make him stand out as a commercially minded statesman since he is represented as the first ruler in Rome to regulate units of exchange[1148].