Another Shakespeare Anachronism

"Suffer us to famish, and their storehouses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich, and provide more piercing statutes daily to chain up and restrain the poor." (I.i)

This lament is another example of a Shakespeare anachronism. The citizen cites usury as a noble crime against the plebeians. The word usury does not appear until the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. Why does Shakespeare implant this concept into the Roman world of his play? Perhaps we should make nothing of this; Shakespeare does this type of thing all the time for seemingly no reason. Yet by using the term "usury" in the setting of his Roman play, Shakespeare may be commenting not only on the circumstances of his drama, but also of his contemporary world.