60. The Franks, who probably used the mints of Treves,
Lyons, and Arles, imitated the coinage of the Roman
emperors, of seventy-two 'solidi', or pieces, to the pound
of gold. But as the Franks established only a decuple
proportion of gold and silver, ten shillings will be a
sufficient valuation of their solidus of gold. It was the
common standard of the barbaric fines, and contained forty
'denarii', or silver threepences. Twelve of these denarii
made a 'solidus', or shilling, the twentieth part of the
ponderal and numeral 'livre', or pound of silver, which has
been so strangely reduced in modern France. See Le Blanc,
Traite Historique des Monnoyes de France, p. 37-43, etc.