Note 030 The poorest rank of soldiers possessed above forty pounds sterling (Dionys, Halicarn, iv. 17), a very high qualification, at a time when money was so scarce, that an ounce of silver was equivalent to seventy pound weight of brass. The populace, excluded by the ancient constitution, were indiscriminately admitted by Marius. Sallust. de Bell. Jugurth. c. 91.

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Note to Chapter 1 of DECLINE & FALL by Gibbon