Talent, a weight, coin, or sum of money among the ancients, of variable value among different nations and at different periods; the Attic weight being equal to about 57 lbs. troy, and the money to £243, 15s.; among the Romans the great talent was worth £99, and the little worth £75.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Tale of a Tub * Talfourd, Sir Thomas Noon