out the size of a silver Denarius,
and probably stamped in a similar manner. At first, forty Aurei were
made out of a pound of gold; but under the Emperors it was not so
intrinsically valuable, being mixed with alloy.

The value of the Aureus, which was also called _Solidus_, varied at
different times. According to Tacitus, it was valued and exchanged for
25 Denarii, which amounted to three dollars, fifty-eight cents and
seventy-five hundredths.

The abbreviations used by the Romans to express these various kinds of
money, were, for the As, L.--for the Sesterce, L. L. S. or H. S.--for
the Quinary, V. or {lambda}.--for the Denarius, X. or :!:

Sesterces were the kind of money in which the Romans usually made their
computations.--1,000 Sesterces made up a sum called _Sestertium_, the
value of which in our money, was thirty-five dollars and seventy cents.

The art of reckoning by Sesterces was regulated by these rules:

First--If a numeral adjective were joined to Sestertii, and agreed with
it in case, it signified just so many Sesterces; as _decem Sestertii_,
10 Sesterces--thirty-five cents and seven tenths.

Second--If a numeral adjective, of a different case, were joined to the
genitive plural of Sestertius, it signified so many thousand Sesterces;
as _decem Sestertium_, 10,000 Sesterces--$357.

Third--If a numeral adverb were placed by itself, or joined to
Sestertium, it signified so many hundred thousand Sesterces; as
_Decies_, or _decies Sestertium_, 1,000,000 _Sesterces_--$35,700.

Fourth--When the sums are expressed by letters, if the letters have a
line over them, they signify also so many hundred thousand Sesterces:
thus, H. S. {=[M.C.]}--denotes the sum of 1,100 times 100,000 Sesterces,
i.e. 110,000,000--nearly $4,000,000.

MYTHOLOGY.

CHAPTER I.

Celestial Gods.

JUPITER, the supreme god of the Pagans, though set forth by historians
as the wisest of princes, is described by his worshippers as infamous
for his vices. There were many who assumed the name of Jupiter; the most
considerable, however, and to whom the actions of the others are
ascribed, was the Jupiter of Crete, son to Saturn and Rhea, who is
differently said to have had his origin in Crete, at Thebes in Boeotia,
and among the Messenians.

His first warlike exploit, and, indeed, the most memorable of his
actions, was his expedition against the Titans, to deliver his parents,
who had been imprisoned by these princes, becau