FĒNUS

or FOENUS ( τόκος ), interest of money.—(1) Greek. At Athens there was no restriction upon the rate of interest. A rate might be expre ed 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 expre ed 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 expre ed in the time of Cicero, and afterwards, by means of the as and its divisions, according to the following table:— | A es usurae, or one as per month for the use of one hundred | = 12 | per cent. | | Deunces usurae | 11 | ” | | Dextantes | ” | 10 | ” | | Dodrantes | ” | 9 | ” | | Be es | ” | 8 | ” | | Sept unces | ” | 7 | ” | | Semi es | ” | 6 | ” | | Quincunces | ” | 5 | ” | | Trientes | ” | 4 | ” | | Quadrantes | ” | 3 | ” | | Sextantes | ” | 2 | ” | | Unciae | ” | 1 | ” | Instead of the phrase a es 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 fen us . 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 fen us would be a natural expre ion 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 an atoc is mus ann i ver sari us , 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.