Henry Imler September 23rd, 2008

Tonight [1] I was reading Colin Wells’ The Roman Empire when I came across this passage:

Any attempt to relate ancient monetary units to modern ones is nugatory in an age of inflation… At one end of the scale, a cheap prostitute at Pompeii could be had for two asses; at the other, the Emperor Tiberius is said to have left 2,700 million sesterses. [2]

I gotta wonder why Wells went with the example of the cheap prostitute.  Perhaps fruit? A small measure of grain?  I have to wonder which of the following is the more likely scenario:

1. Wells lost a bet to his drinking buddy and had to include it.
2. Wells was drinking when he wrote it.
3. Wells did not write it, but has a 13 year old boy as an editor who made the change after Wells had turned in his final manuscript.
4. Wells’ editor lost a bet to his drinking buddy. or lastly
5. Well’s editor was drinking when he edited it.

1. toniggggght, tonight, tooonight, toniight, tonight – pumpkins anyone? [↩]
2. Colin Wells, The Roman Empire: Second Edition (Harvard University Press, 1995), 8 [↩]

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