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4Now the value of a sheep was ten obols, and that of an ox, a hundred, for the Romans at that time did not use much coined money, but their wealth consisted in flocks and herds. Therefore to this day they call their substance “peculium,” from “pecus,” cattle; and their oldest coins are stamped with the figure of an ox, a sheep, or a hog. And they actually gave their own sons such surnames as Suillius, Bubulcus, Caprarius, and Porcius; the last two from “capra” and “porcus,” their words for goat and pig.[18]
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Notes
[18] The first two from forms of "sus," swine, and "bos," ox.