Note 163 I might implicitly acquiesce in the sense and learning of the three books of G. Noodt, de foenore et usuris. (Opp. tom. i. p. 175 - 268.) The interpretation of the asses or centesimae usurae at twelve, the unciariae at one per cent., is maintained by the best critics and civilians: Noodt, (l. ii. c. 2, p. 207,) Gravina, (Opp. p. 205, &c., 210,) Heineccius, (Antiquitat. ad Institut. l. iii. tit. xv.,) Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxii. c. 22, tom. ii. p. 36. Defense de l'Esprit des Loix, tom. iii. p. 478, &c.,) and above all, John Frederic Gronovius (de Pecunia Veteri, l. iii. c. 13, p. 213 - 227, and his three Antexegeses, p. 455 - 655), the founder, or at least the champion, of this probable opinion; which is, however, perplexed with some difficulties.

---

The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire —Fall In The East —Chapter 44