Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

26s FENUS. FENUS.
The rate of interest would of course vary with age of Cicero. This high rate does not appear to
the risks and duration of the voyage, and therefore have been caused by any scarcity of money, for the
we cannot expect to find that it was at all fixed. rent of land and houses in Athens and its neigh.
Xenophon (de Vectig. iii. 7-14) speaks of the fifth bourhood was not at all proportional to it. Thus
and third parts of the capital lent as being com- Isaeus (de Hagn. Hered. p. 88) says that a house
monly given in bottomry, referring of course to at Thriae was let for only 8 per cent. of its value,
voyages out and home. The interest of an eighth and some houses at Melite and Eleusis for a fracor 12- per cent., mentioned by Demosthenes (c. tion more. We should therefore rather refer it to
Polyc. p. 12] 2), was for money lent on a trireme, a low state of credit, occasioned by a variety of
during a passage from Sestos to Athens, but upon causes, such as the division of Greece into a number
condition that she should first go to Hierum to of petty states, and the constitution and regulation
convoy vessels laden with corn; the principal and of the courts of law, which do not seem to have been
interest were to be paid at Athens on her arrival at all favourable to money-lenders in enforcing their
there. rights. Bickh assigns as an additional cause" the
The best illustration of the facts mentioned want of moral principles." (Bickh, Ibid. pp. 123
above, is found in a vautrcKI OTvyTypapi1, given in -139, 2nd ed.)
the speech of Demosthenes against Lacritus. It 2. ROMAN. The Latin word for interest, fenes
contains the following statement and conditions. or.fbenus, originally meant any increase, and was
Two Athenians lent two Phaselitans 3000 thence applied, like the Greek iT6cos, to denote tile
drachmae upon a cargo of 3000 casks of Mendean interest or increase of money. " Fenlus," says
vine, on which the latter were not to owe anything Varro (aczed Gell. xvi. 12), " dictum a fetu et quasi
else, or raise any additional loan (ove' rerLeaveGoov- a fetura quadam pecuniae parientis atqnle incres-at). They were to sail from Athens to Mende or centis." The sanme root is found in fecundus.
Scione, where the wine was to be shipped, and Fenus was also used for the principal as well as the
thence to the Bosporus, with liberty, if they pre- interest. (Tacit. Ann. vi. 17, xiv. 53.) Another
ferred it, to continue their voyage on the left side term for interest was ussurae, generally found in
of the Black Sea as far as the Borysthenes, and the plural, and also iscpendi2m, on which Varro
then to return to Athens; the rate of interest (de Ling. Lat. v. 183, ]Iiiller) remarks, "a quo
being fixed at 025 drachmae in 1000, or 25 per (pondere) usura quod in sorte accedebat, imupencent. for the whole time of absence. If, however, dium appellatum."
they did not return to Hierum, a port in Bithynia Towards the close of the republic, the interest
close to the Thracian Bosporus (VWolf, ad Lept. p. of money became due on the first of every month:
259), before the early rising of Arcturus, i. e. be- hence the phrases tristes or celeres calendae and
fore the 20th of September or thereabouts, when caletcariumb., the latter meaning a debt-book or book
navigation began to be dangerous, they had to pay of accounts. The rate of interest was expressed in
a higher rate of 30 per cent. on account of the ad- the time of Cicero, and afterwards by means of the
ditional risk. The agreement further specified as and its divisions, according to the following
that there should be no change of vessel for the table:return cargo, and that if it arrived safe at Athens, Asses usura, or one as per hontl
the loan was to be repaid within twenty days fr t rse of one hudrd per cent
afterwards, without any deductions except for loss Deunces sure 11
by payments made to enemies, and for jettisons Deues sure......
Dextantes,.10.,
(im'EXXts 7rAiv iEcgoAXjr. io. r. A.) made with the Dodrantes,,.....
consent of all on board (or o-n7rAor); that till the ranes......
money was repaid, the goods pledged (T& Vttro- eo.......,,
KCe.ueVa) should be under the control of the Semisses,,,
lenders, and be sold by them, if payment was not,,
Quincunces,,.5
mnade within the appointed time; that if the sale Trientes,
of the goods did not realise the required amount, Quadrantes,..
the lender might raise the remainder by making aes,.
levy (rp.pa~ts) upon the property of both or either Uncie, 1
of the traders, just as if they had been cast in a. "
suit, and became bi7recpiEpol, i. e. had not complied Instead of the phrase asses usuesae, a synonyme
with a judgment given against thenl within the was used, viz. centesimae 2esurce, inasmuch as at
time appointed. Another clause in the agreement this rate of interest there was paid in a hundred
provides for the contingency of their not entering months a sum equal to the whole principal. I-ence
the Pontus; in that case they were to remain in binae centesimae = 24 per cent., and quaterce
the Hellespont, at the end of July, for ten days centesinzae = 48 per cent. So also in the line ot
after the early rising of the dog-star (erl mKtY,), Horace (Sat. i. 2. 14), " Quinas hic capiti mercedes
discharge their cargo (ieAes0Oai) in somle place exsecat," we must understand quinas centesilenas,
where the Athenians had no right of reprisals or 60 per cent., as the sum taken from the capital.
(g7rov, v a1 aexal ait -cot'AOeqvalots), (which Niebuhr (Elist. of Rom. vol. iii. p. 57) is of opinion
might be executed unfairly, and would lead to that the monthly rate of the centesimae was of
retaliations,) and then, on their return to Athens, foreign origin, and first adopted at Rome in the
they were to pay the lower rate of interest, or 25 time of Sulla. The old yearly rate established by
per cent. Lastly, if the vessel were to be wrecked, the Twelve Tables (B. c. 450) was the snciariuzn
the cargo was, if possible, to be saved; and the fenus. This has been variously interpreted to
agreement was to be conclusive on all points. mean, (1) one-twelfth of the centesima paid
From the preceding investigation, it appears that monthly, i. e. one per cent. per annum; and (2)
the rate of interest amongst the ancient Greeks was one-twelfth of the principal paid monthly, or a
higher than in modern Europe, and at Rome in the hundred per cent. per annum. Niebuhr (1. c.) re