opitulati sunt_. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for
diminishing the rate of interest.

[168] Silver--was paid with brass--_Agentum aere solutum est_.
Thus a _sestertius_, which was of silver, and was worth four _asses_,
was paid with one _as_, which was of brass; or _the fourth part only
of the debt was paid_. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius
Paterculus, ii. 23; who says, _quadrantem solvi_, that _a quarter_ of
their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus,
when he became consul on the death of Marius.

[169] Often--have the commonalty--seceded, etc.--"This happened
three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2.
To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of
Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on
account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." _Bernouf_.

[170] XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.--_Ea,
mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populumque Romanum, semper
fuisse._ "That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I
have deserted the Latin for the English idiom.

[171] XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different
editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: _Egregiatua fides, re cognita,
grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae
tribuit._ Cortius corrected it as follows: _Egregia tua fides, re
cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meae
tribuit._ Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and
most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text.
That Cortius's is the better; few will deny; for it can hardly be