10. King Theodoric to Boetius[223], Vir Illustris and Patrician.

Frauds of the moneyers.

The Horse and Foot Guards[224] seem to have complained that after their severe labours they were not paid in solidi of full weight by the 'Arcarius Praefectorum.'

Cassiodorus gives—

(1) Some sublime reflections in the true Cassiodorian vein on the nature of Arithmetic, by which earth and the heavens are ruled.

(2) Some excellent practical remarks on the wickedness of clipping and depreciating the currency.

The most interesting but most puzzling sentence in this letter is that in which he says that 'the ancients wished that the solidus should consist of 6,000 denarii, in order that the golden coin like a golden sun might represent the 6,000 years which are the appointed age of the world.' But how can we reconcile this with any known solidus or any known denarius? The solidus of Constantine (72 to the lb.) was worth about twelve shillings. The reduced denarius of Diocletian was probably worth one penny. At the very lowest (and most improbable) computation it was worth at least a farthing, and even thus one would only get 576 to a solidus. The earlier denarius, worth about eightpence, clearly will not do; and the matter is made more difficult by the fact that Cassiodorus is talking about the ancients (veteres), whereas the solidus was a comparatively modern coin. It seems that either Cassiodorus has some entirely wrong information as to the early currency of Rome, or else that we have not yet got the clue to his meaning.

This passage is quoted by Finlay ('Greece under the Romans,' p. 536, ed. 1857), but the difficulty is not removed by his remarks.