Note 13 — BOOK XI.

This description of a centumpondium which weighed either 1331/3 librae, or 1463/4 librae, adds confusion to an already much mixed subject (see Appendix C.). Assuming the German pfundt to weigh 7,219 troy grains, and the Roman libra 4,946 grains, then a centner would weigh 145.95 librae, which checks up fairly well with the second case; but under what circumstances a centner can weigh 1331/3 librae we are unable to record. At first sight it might appear from this statement that where Agricola uses the word centumpondium he means the German centner. On the other hand, in the previous five or six pages the expressions one-third, five-sixths, ten-twelfths of a libra are used, which are even divisions of the Roman 12 unciae to one libra, and are used where they manifestly mean divisions of 12 units. If Agricola had in mind the German scale, and were using the libra for a pfundt of 16 untzen, these divisions would amount to fractions, and would not total the sicilicus and drachma quantities given, nor would they total any of the possibly synonymous divisions of the German untzen (see also page 254).