FĒNUS or FOENUS (τόκος), interest of money.--(1) GREEK. At Athens
there was no restriction upon the rate of interest. A rate might be
expressed or represented in two different ways: (1.) by the number
of oboli or drachmae paid by the _month_ for every _mina_; (2) by
the part of the principal (τὸ ἀρχαῖον or κεφάλαιον) paid as interest
either annually or for the whole period of the loan. According to the
former method, which was generally used when money was lent upon real
security (τόκοι ἔγγυοι or ἔγγειοι), different rates were expressed as
follows:--10 per cent. by ἐπὶ πέντε ὀβολοῖς, _i.e._ 5 oboli per month
for every mina, or 60 oboli a year = 10 drachmae = 1/10 of a mina.
Similarly,
12 per cent. by ἐπὶ δραχμῇ per month.
16 per cent. ” ἐπ’ ὀκτὼ ὀβολοῖς ”
18 per cent. ” ἐπ’ ἐννέα ὀβολοῖς ”
24 per cent. ” ἐπὶ δυσὶ δραχμαῖς ”
36 per cent. ” ἐπὶ τρισὶ δρακμαῖς ”
5 per cent. ” ἐπὶ τρίτῳ ἡμιοβολίῳ, probably.
Another method was generally adopted in cases of bottomry (τὸ
ναυτικόν, τόκοι ναυτικοί, or ἔκδοσις), where money was lent upon
the ship’s cargo or freightage (ἐπὶ τῷ ναύλῳ), or the ship itself,
for a specified time, commonly that of the voyage. By this method
the following rates were thus represented:--10 per cent. by τόκοι
ἐπιδέκατοι, i.e. interest at the rate of a tenth; 12½, 16⅔, 20, 33⅓,
by τόκοι ἐπόγδοοι, ἔφεκτοι, ἐπίπεμπτοι, and ἐπίτριτοι, respectively.
The usual rates of interest at Athens about the time of Demosthenes
varied from 12 to 18 per cent.--(2) ROMAN. Towards the close of
the republic, and also under the emperors, 12 per cent. was the
legal rate of interest. The interest became due on the first of
every month: hence the phrases _tristes_ or _celeres calendae_ and
_calendarium_, the latter meaning a debt-book or book of accounts.
The rate of interest was expressed in the time of Cicero, and
afterwards, by means of the as and its divisions, according to the
following table:--
Asses usurae, or one as per
month for the use of one
hundred = 12 per cent.
Deunces usurae 11 ”
Dextantes ” 10 ”
Dodrantes ” 9 ”
Besses ” 8 ”
Septunces ” 7 ”
Semisses ” 6 ”
Quincunces ” 5 ”
Trientes ” 4 ”
Quadrantes ” 3 ”
Sextantes ” 2 ”
Unciae ” 1 ”
Instead of the phrase _asses usurae_, a synonyme was used, viz.
_centesimae usurae_, inasmuch as at this rate of interest there was
paid in a hundred months a sum equal to the whole principal. Hence
_binae centesimae_ = 24 per cent., and _quaternae centesimae_ = 48
per cent. The monthly rate of the centesimae was of foreign origin,
and first adopted at Rome in the time of Sulla. The old _yearly_
rate established by the Twelve Tables (B.C. 450) was the _unciarium
fenus_. The _uncia_ was the twelfth part of the as, and since the
full (12 oz.) copper coinage was still in use at Rome when the Twelve
Tables became law, the phrase _unciarium_ fenus would be a natural
expression for interest of one ounce in the pound; _i.e._ a twelfth
part of the sum borrowed, or 8⅓ per cent., not per month, but per
year. This rate, if calculated for the old Roman year of ten months,
would give 10 per cent. for the civil year of twelve months, which
was in common use in the time of the decemvirs. If a debtor could
not pay the principal and interest at the end of the year, he used
to borrow money from a fresh creditor, to pay off his old debt. This
proceeding was very frequent, and called a _versura_. It amounted
to little short of paying compound interest, or an _anatocismus
anniversarius_, another phrase for which was _usurae renovatae_;
_e.g._ _centesimae renovatae_ is 12 per cent. compound interest, to
which Cicero opposes _centesimae perpetuo fenore_ = 12 per cent.
simple interest. The following phrases are of common occurrence in
connection with borrowing and lending money at interest:--_Pecuniam
apud aliquem collocare_, to lend money at interest; _relegere_, to
call it in again; _cavere_, to give security for it; _opponere_
or _opponere pignori_, to give as a pledge or mortgage. The word
_nomen_ is also of extensive use in money transactions. Properly it
denoted the name of a debtor, registered in a banker’s or any other
account-book: hence it came to signify the articles of an account, a
debtor, or a debt itself. Thus we have _bonum nomen_, a good debt;
_nomina facere_, to lend monies, and also to borrow money.