Page 25 - Pompeii n. 12 - The world of money at Pompeii

English version

numerata habere

se dixsit M. Lucretius

Ler[us] ab L. Caecilio

Iucundo.

Act. Pompeis XI k. Febr.

Nerone Caesare

L. Antistio cos.

The sum of 38,079 sesterces was given in obligation to Lucius

Caecilius Iucundus for the auction of the property of Marcus

Lucretius Lero, which includes a 2% premium.

Marcus Lucretius Lero assented to have it collected by Lucius

Caecilius Iucundus. Deed signed in Pompeii on January 22 in the
consulship of Nero Caesar and Lucius Antistius (55 AD).

Comment

The parts shown above are pages two and three of a triptych consisting of
three tablets originally joined together, of which the other pages are either
unwritten (p. 1 and 6), or no longer legible (pp. 4-5). The tablets, which were
sealed with sealing wax after being signed by the parties and witnesses, were
documentary evidence and had a value similar to that of our notarial deeds.
Our Caecilius Iucundus, in whose house was found an archive containing
a large number of these documents, proves to be a kind of banker and
stockbroker. In this case, the tablets act as a receipt given by Marcus
Lucretius Lero to Lucius Caecilius Iucundus for the auction sale of his
possessions. The recorded sum, consisting of 37,332 sesterces, to which
must be added a premium equal to its fiftieth part, namely 746.64 (rounded
off to 747) sesterces, is the most significant sum among all the economic
transactions found in Caecilius Iucundus 's archive.

25