THE VALUE OF COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES,

USED AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS;

AND

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

BY J. LEMPRIERE, D. D.

Fifth American Edition,

CORRECTED AND IMPROVED

BY CHARLES ANTHON.

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES AND ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY IN
COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW-YORK.

PUBLISHED BY EVERT DUYCKINCK, GEORGE LONG, W. B. GILĻEY, COLLINS & CO., AND

COLLINS & HANNAY.

W. E. Dean, Printer, S6 Stone Street.

Southern District of New-York.ss.

Be it remembered, that on the 14th day of March, A. D. 1825, in the 49th year of the Independence of the United States of America, W. E. Dean, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"A Classical Dictionary, containing a copious account of all the Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors, with the value of Coins, Weights, and Measures used among the Greeks and Romans; and a Chronological Table; by J. Lempriere, D. D. Fifth American Edition, corrected and improved by Charles Anthon, Adjunct Professor of Languages and Ancient Geography in Columbia College, New-York.

-Ne desinat unquam

Tecum Graia loqui, tecum Romana vetustas.

Claudian."

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled, An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by ecuring the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.” JAMES DILL,

Clerk of the Southern District of New-York,

To

JOHN ANTHON, ESQ.

DEAR BROTHER.

If the present dedication be not in strict unison with the regulations of literary etiquette, my apology is, that in affixing to these pages the name of my best adviser and friend, I am giving utterance to feelings too sacred in their nature to be trammeled by the mere customs of the day. Nor, indeed, apart even from every consideration of duty and attachment, do I see any good reason to abandon the course which I am pursuing, or to doubt for a moment of its propriety. I might, it is true, have selected some more titled individual, and have sent forth my humble labours under more imposing auspices; but where could I have found one more ardently attached to the splendid exertions of departed intellect, or, (if a brother be allowed to express the opinion,) one better qualified to appreciate the genius and the taste of antiquity?

Allow me to occupy your attention for a few moments, in relation to the work which is here presented, and the improvements, if they deserve to be so termed, which have been made in it. To the student who is desirous of an acquaintance with the general features of ancient times, the Classical Dictionary of Lempriere has always been recommended as a safe and sure guide, and so high a reputation has the work obtained, as to have passed through more than twelve editions in England and four in our own country. That it is in many respects worthy of great commendation few will deny, since, from the direct bearing which it has upon the studies of the young scholar, it cannot but prove to him a valuable auxiliary, while the man of general reading will be enabled to glean from its pages sufficient information on almost any point he may wish to investigate. That it is worthy, however, of the blind admiration which many seem to entertain for it, or can be considered as accurate in many of its details, no one who has bestowed upon it the same patient examination which I have done, will be disposed to affirm. Having had frequent occasion to refer the young student to the pages of Lempriere, I was often startled by the strange answers which a perusal of the work led him to give to questions that had been proposed, and having my atten tion thus drawn to a closer examination of the volume, I soon became convinced that it was a strange medley of valuable materials and miserable trash, of correct information and careless conjecture, and, what was far worse, that the precept of the Roman Satyrist, which no instructor of youth should for a moment lose sight of, was violated on almost every page. There seemed, indeed, to be a strange pruriency on the part of the author, and one totally irreconcileable with his sacred profession, to bring forward on many occasions what should have remained covered with the mantle of oblivion. Often, in place of stating important particulars respecting an individual or a nation, some disgusting trait of moral deformity was alone mentioned, and it was thought fit information for the youthful student, to call his attention to things which could have no other tendency than to initiate him in the mysteries of heathen iniquity. I trust that I shall not be thought to have used too unsparing a hand in removing what was thus offensive; my only regret, indeed is, that I have allowed any portion of it to remain. Worse than idle are all the efforts of the scholar, if moral purity be a stranger to his breast, and vainly may he toil in the rich mine of antiquity, if every step exposes him to some fatal damp, which may prostrate for ever both his principles and his happiness.