Adam Smith：The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter V, Paragraph 98

The Romans are said to have had nothing but copper money till within five years before the first Punic war (Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 3), when they first began to coin silver. Copper, therefore, appears to have continued always the measure of value in that republic. At Rome all accounts appear to have been kept, and the value of all estates to have been computed, either in asses or in sestertii. The as was always the denomination of a copper coin. The word sestertius signifies two asses and a half. Though the sestertius, therefore, was originally a silver coin, its value was estimated in copper. At Rome, one who owed a great deal of money was said to have a great deal of other people’s copper.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Locator：Book I, Chapter V, paragraph 98 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Exact match

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