Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A silver or bronze coin of ancient Rome equivalent to one fourth of a denarius.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Roman coin: same as
sestertius .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rom. Antiq.) A Roman coin or denomination of money, in value the fourth part of a denarius, and originally containing two asses and a half, afterward four asses, -- equal to about two pence sterling, or four cents.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun an ancient Roman
coin made ofbronze orsilver , equalling a quarter of adenarius
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Such a move would threaten Cicero with financial ruin, not least because he had yet to receive a single sesterce from Hybrida.
CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010
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And the fourth part of it, consisting of two asses and half of a third, they called "sesterce."
The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio
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[759] The sesterce being worth about two-pence half-penny of English money, the salary of a Roman senator was, in round numbers, five thousand pounds a year; and that of a professor, as stated in the succeeding chapter, one thousand pounds.
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 10: Vespasian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
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"You will never get a sesterce of Cornelia's dowry," he declared.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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[47] I.e. $2,400,000; a sesterce was about 4 cents.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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Here centred those busy equites, the capitalists, whose transactions ran out even beyond the lands covered by the eagles, so that while Gaul was yet unconquered, Cicero could boast, "not a sesterce in Gaul changes hands without being entered in a Roman ledger."
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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The marriage formula with Ahenobarbus once uttered, while Quintus lived, and by no possibility, save by an open spoliation that would have stirred even calloused Rome, could Lucius touch a sesterce of his intended victim's property.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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But since I have won every sesterce he owns I must needs pay for his board.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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Once let the mob overtake them, and the lives of all three were not worth a sesterce.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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A Sabine would use up a year to get in a sesterce from a frog pond.
Andivius Hedulio Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Edward Lucas White 1900
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