Barbara Villiers: A History of Monetary Crimes

"The insidious crime of secretly or surreptitiously altering the monetary laws of a state - than which no more dastardly or fatal blow can be dealt at its liberties - is not a new one. There is a suggestion in the decree of B.C. 360, concerning the ancient iron money of Sparta, that Gylipus was not unfamiliar with this grave offence. In a later age, Pliny, who justly calls it 'a crime against mankind,' evidently refers to that alteration of the Roman mint code by which what remained of the ...