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Note 3. The characters for quantities are variously marked in different authors, and the same note has several values. There is one of this uncertainty in Celsus, that is Z, which we are told expresses the libra, the sescuncia, the sextans of a pound, the denarius and the sextans of a denarius[W]. Which of these different values it bears in any particular place must be determined by the connection. When it follows the mark of the denarius, it can mean no more than the sextans of a denarius.

Note 4. p. stands for pondo, which is an indeclinable word, and when joined with numbers, signifies libra or a pound; when with other weights, it stands for no more than pondus or weight in general.

For an example of the reduction of Celsus’s weights to ours, the following may serve.

Lib. v. cap. 19. no. 7. Philotas’s plaister contains,

Of Eretrian earth ℥ Ʒ ℈ gr. — chalcitis, each p. iv.*. == 1/2 : 0 : 0 : 8 viz. Ʒi. gr. ii. multiplied by 4 —and so all the rest. — myrrh — calcined copper, each p. x.*. == 1 : 2 : 1 : 0 — isinglass p. vi. *. == 0 : 6 : 0 : 12 — rasile verdigrease — round allum — crude misy — birthwort, of each p. viii.*. == 1 : 0 : 0 : 16 — copper scales p. xx.* == 21/2 : 0 : 2 : 0 — male frankincense, p. ii.*. == 0 : 2 : 0 : 4 — oil of roses — Bitter oil, of each three cyathi, or 1 quartarius = between 1/4 and 1/3 of an English pint. — vinegar, a sufficient quantity.