Money Changers

in the Gospels, were persons who exchanged native for foreign coin, to enable those who came to Jerusalem from distant countries to purchase the necessary sacrifices. In our Lord’s time they had established themselves in the court of the temple; a profanation which had probably grown up with the influence of Roman manners, which allowed the _argentarii_ [money-dealers] to establish their usurious _mensas_, tables, by the statues of the gods, even at the feet of Janus, in the most holy places, _in porticibus Basilicarum_, or in the temples, _pone ædem Castoris_.