sesterce
(ˈsɛstɜːs)
Pl. sesterces (ˈsɛstəsɪz, -ɜːsɪz). Also pl. 6–7 sestercies, 7 -ties; sing. 7 sestercie.
[ad. L. sestertius properly adj. (sc. nummus coin) = that is two and a half, f. sēmis half + tertius third; cf. sesqui-.]
A Roman coin, originally equivalent to 2½ asses, later to 4 asses; the fourth part of a denarius.
| pl. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. vi. iv. (1622) 127 Putting a hundred million sesterces in bancke. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv. 64 What does this gentleman owe thee, little Minos? Mino. Fourescore sesterties, sir. 1611 ― Catiline ii. i, He, tame Crow,.. would haue kept Both eyes, and beake seal'd vp, for sixe sesterces. 1624 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. iii. (ed. 2) 267 Rings on his fingers worth 20000 sestercies. 1702 Addison Dial. Medals i. Wks. 1766 III. 10 That..would rather choose to count out a Sum in Sesterces, than in pounds sterling. 1834 Lytton Pompeii i. i, An additional reason for supping with him while the sesterces last. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. 5 A robe covered with pearls and emeralds, which had cost forty million sesterces. 1885 R. Bridges Nero iii. ii, See, here I give you Two hundred sesterces. |
| sing. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. vii. 9 I'll sell 'hem my share for a sesterce. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Sesterce, Sestercie. 1771 Raper in Phil. Trans. LXI. 489 The As was reduced to one ounce, and the silver denarius made to pass for 16 Asses; the quinarius, for eight; and the sesterce, for four. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. lxi. (1865) VII. 338 Costly wars..had drained perhaps to the last sesterce the coffers of the empire. 1861 Sheppard Fall of Rome ii. 98 Destitute and degraded, without a sesterce and without a friend. |
¶ Misused for
sestertium.
| 1693 Dryden's Juvenal iv. (1697) 76 The lavish Slave Six thousand Pieces for a Barbel gave; A Sesterce for each Pound it weigh'd. 1819 Pantologia s.v., Some authors make two kinds of sesterces: the less, called sestertius..and the great one, called sestertium. |