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LECTURES 


ON 


THE   COINAGE 


OF 


THE    GREEKS   AND    ROMANS; 


DELIVERED   IN  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD 


■         ^     v     \ 
'-    .« 

•;  ■>x. 

EDWARD  CARD  WELL,  D.D. 

PRINCIPAL.  OF  8T.  ALBAN's    HALL,    AND    CAMDEN    PROFESSOR 
OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY. 


/ 


OXFORD, 

PRINTED  BY  S.  COLLINGWOOD,  PRINTER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY, 

FOR  JOHN  MURRAY, 

ALBEMARLE  STREET,  LONDON. 

M-DCCCXXXII. 


€ 


TO  THE 


LORD  GRENVILLE, 


CHANCELLOR  OF   THE   UNIVERSITY   OF    OXFORD, 


^c.  ^c.  S[c.  ^c. 


THIS  VOLUME    IS    INSCRIBED 


WITH  SENTIMENTS  OF   THE  UTMOST  RESPECT 


AND  GRATITUDE. 


PREFACE. 


A  AM  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  any 
book  in  our  language  which  treats  of  an- 
cient coins  in  the  manner  and  with  the 
object  proposed  in  the  following  Lectures. 
The  few  English  treatises  which  have  been 
written  upon  the  subject,  like  many  of 
those  which  have  appeared  in  other  lan- 
guages, have  been  composed  for  the  sole 
benefit  of  the  collector,  and  without  any 
design  of  illustrating  the  literature  and 
history  of  the  ancients.  The  Essay  of  Pin- 
kerton,  for  instance,  in  addition  to  the  po- 
sitive faults  arising  from  the  peculiar  tem- 
per of  the  writer,  affords  little  information 
on  points  connected  with  the  learning  of 
Greece  or  Rome,  and  is  of  no  value  what- 
ever in  questions  of  that  kind,  so  far  as 
they  appear  to  depend  upon  his  authority. 
Even  the  Essay  of  Addison,  which  might 

A  3 


vi  PREFACE. 

reasonably  be  expected  to  display  the  scho- 
laishij)  as  well  as  the  gracefulness  of  its 
writer,  is  confined  to  the  poetical  part  of 
the  subject,  being  occupied  with  the  de- 
vices of  Roman  coins,  and  more  particu- 
larly with  the  im])ersonations  impressed 
upon  them,  and  omitting  altogether  the 
more  important  knowledge  contained  in 
their  inscriptions'*. 

This  then  is  the  principal  reason  which 
has  induced  me  to  connnit  the  followino' 
Lectures  to  the  press.  But  it  is  not  the 
only  one.  Treatises  u])on  ancient  coins 
may  have  been  rendered  useless  by  the  re- 
sults of  more  recent  investigations.  The 
subject  itself,  though  confined  in  its  nature 
to  the  examination  of  the  past,  })artakes  of 
the  progressive  character  of  general  know- 

'1  "  Non  parlcro  qui  doi  Miisei  Ano-licani  ai  quali  si 
'  puo  dir  mors  et  crit  mors;  cioe,  Vita  e  tomba  f'u  il 
'principio;  s])arizione  cd  avollo  la  fine.  Cosi  spiogar 
'  deesi  una  tal  f'atalc  sentcnza  ;  cho  dopo  THaym  An- 
'  glo-Romano  ct  Wise,  non  abbiamo  veduto  so  non 
'  schc'lclri,  o  dir  vogliamo  puri  ct  semplici  cataloghi 
'  d'lm  prezzo  csorbitanto."  Sestini,  Degli  Stat.  Ant. 
p.  1)9. 


PREFACE.  vii 

ledge,  as  fresh  materials  are  continually 
presenting  themselves,  and  the  labours  of 
learned  men  are  not  only  directed  into 
new  fields  of  inquiry,  but  are  also  enabled 
to  define  more  accurately,  and  in  many 
cases  to  reverse,  the  information  which  had 
been  previously  acquired.  And  so  com- 
pletely is  this  the  case,  that  whatever  may 
have  been  the  advantages  of  older  writers, 
the  value  of  their  works  has  been  continu- 
ally impaired  by  the  more  extensive  ob- 
servation of  their  successors.  Even  the 
Doctrina  Numorum  of  Eckhel  —  for  the 
composition  of  which  the  writer  combined 
the  rare  endowments  of  native  sagacity, 
unwearied  patience,  and  considerable  sclio- 
larshij),  with  the  command  of  an  excellent 
library,  and  one  of  the  richest  of  all  mo- 
dern cabinets — is  gradually  losing  its  esti- 
mation as  a  perfect  work,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  more  recent  discoveries.  All  writers 
indeed  of  an  earlier  date  may  still  be  con- 
sidered as  of  doubtful  authority,  unless 
they  are  su])ported  by  the  a])probatioii  of 
L^ckhel ;   but  even  Eckhel  himself  is  sub- 

A  4 


viii  PREFACE. 

ject  to  the  law  of  literary  mortality,  and  a 
reputation  which  at  one  time  appeared  to 
be  beyond  the  reach  of  hazard,  is  now  be- 
ginning to  shew  some  symptoms  of  decay''. 
To    that  work,   however,    the    following 
Lectures    are    under    the    greatest    obliga- 
tions; and  wherever  I  have  adopted  opin- 
ions in  opposition  to  it,  I  have  not  failed 
to  support  myself  by  the  testimony  of  an- 
cient   authors,  or    the  knowledge    derived 
from  more   recent  collectors.     Even,  then, 
if  it  were    too    presumptuous    to   suppose 
that  some  improvements  might  possibly  be 
made   upon   the  works  of  Eckhel,  it  may 
still  have  been  a  laudable  undertaking  to 
extract  such  materials  from  them  as  may 
be  of  the  greatest  interest,  to  throw  them 
into  a  more  attractive  form,  and  to  place 

b  A  remarkable  instance  may  be  seen  in  his  opinions 
respecting  the  gold  staters  of  Phocsea  and  Cyzicus,  (vol.  I. 
p.  xli.  and  vol.  II.  p.  536.)  which  he  maintained  to  be  a 
mere  money  of  account.  These  opinions  were  opposed 
to  the  direct  evidence  of  ancient  writers,  (see  Lecture  V.) 
and  are  now  universally  rejected,  as  staters  of  both  kinds 
have  been  procured  in  the  east  by  M.  Cousinery.  See 
Sestini,  Degli  Stat.  Ant.  pp.  22,  50,  103. 


PREFACE.  ix 

them  easily  within  the  reach  of  the  Eng- 
lish student. 

But  this  also  would  have  been  superflu- 
ous, were  there,  in  any  of  the  modern  lan- 
guages which  are  now  generally  read,  and 
the  study  of  which  ought  still  further  to 
be  encouraged,  any  recent  numismatic  work 
of  the  limited  extent  and  complete  author- 
ity of  which  I  have  been  speaking.  The 
writers  of  Germany  are  seldom  satisfied, 
unless  they  can  place  before  their  readers 
all  the  possible  knowledge,  whether  useful 
or  otherwise,  connected  with  their  subject ; 
as  is  shewn,  in  the  present  instance,  by  the 
Lexicon  of  Rasche,  a  work  which  exhausted 
so  completely  the  existing  sources  of  in- 
formation, that  it  carefully  preserved  all 
their  impurities.  The  Italian  writers,  as  is 
exemplified  in  Sestini  and  Lanzi,  are  too 
desultory  in  their  studies,  and  too  much 
addicted  to  the  style  of  composition  be- 
longing to  letters  and  dissertations,  to  be 
qualified  for  a  task,  the  first  principles  of 
which  are  precision  and  compactness ;  and 
the  French  manual  of  M.  Millin,  and  the 


X  PREFACE. 

more  recent  production,  in  the  same  lan- 
guage, of  M.  Hennin,  though  the  latter  is 
far  superior  to  the  former,  are  equally  des- 
titute of  that  intimate  acquaintance  with 
antiquity,  without  which  a  treatise  on  an- 
cient coins  is  little  better  than  an  auction- 
eer's advertisement.  The  work  indeed  of 
M.  Mionnet,  the  most  valuable  which  has 
hitherto  appeared  in  that  language,  was 
written  for  the  express  purpose  of  enabling 
the  collector  to  complete  his  cabinet  at  the 
least  possible  expense ;  and,  although  the 
scale  of  prices  has  since  undergone  great 
alterations,  may  still  be  employed  with  ad- 
vantage, as  a  general  catalogue  of  coins. 
This  work  faithfully  accomplished  the  ob- 
ject that  was  proposed  by  it ;  but  the  pre- 
vailing fault  of  French  numismatic  writers 
— a  fault  which  is  not  confined  to  that 
branch  of  their  literature — is,  the  substi- 
tution of  ingenuity  in  the  place  of  know- 
ledge, and  an  utter  contempt  for  references 
and  quotations.  It  is  not  unusual  to  meet 
with  French  works,  on  history  or  antiqui- 
ties, in  which  so  few  traces  are  to  be  found 


PREFACE.  xi 

of  original  authorities,  that  the  writers  of 
them  might  appear  to  be  relating  events 
which  had  fallen  under  their  own  observa- 
tion, and  in  many  of  which  their  own  per- 
sonal interests  had  been  concerned. 

The  Lectures  have  been  committed  to 
the  press  in  the  same  words  in  which  they 
were  delivered.  The  subject  would  not 
have  been  treated  more  systematically  by 
being  thrown  into  a  different  form ;  and 
any  peculiarities  of  style  will  be  likely  to 
meet  with  indulgence,  if  they  can  be  sup- 
posed to  have  had  their  use  in  the  way  of 
oral  teaching. 

It  only  remains  that  I  should  mention 
the  works  which  I  have  found  most  useful 
to  me.  In  so  doing,  I  shall  also  furnish 
the  student  with  a  list  of  authors,  from 
whom  he  may  derive  the  greatest  advan- 
tage in  the  prosecution  of  his  numismatic 
studies. 

Vaillant.  Nuniismata  Imperat.  Amstelod.  1700.  1  vol,  fol. 
Spanheini.  Dissertationes  de  praest.  et  usu  numism.  Am- 
stelod. Wetstenii,  1717.  2  vols.  fol. 
Froelich.  Quatiior  tentamina.  Viennae,  1737.  1  vol.  4to. 


xii  PREFACE. 

Froelich.    Notitia   elementaris  numism.    Viennae,  1758. 

1  vol.  4to. 
Wesselino-.    Thesaurus    Morellianus.     Amstelod.    1752, 

3  vols.  fol. 
Pellerin.  Recueil  de  medailles.  Paris,  1762—1778.  4to. 
Beauvais.  Histoire  des  empereurs.  1767. 
Dutens.    Explication  de   quelques   medailles.    Londres, 

1776.  1  vol.  4to. 
Neumann.  Popul.  et  reg.  numi  veteres.  Vindob.  1779, 

1783.  2  vols.  4to. 
Rasche.  Lexicon  universae  rei  numariae.   Lipsiae,  1785 — 

1804.  8  vols.  8vo. 
Eckhel.    Doctrina  numorinii  veterum.    Vindob.  1792 — 

1798.  8  vols.  4to. 
^ —  Kurtzo-efasste   anfangsgrunde   zur  alten  numis- 

matik.  Vien.  1807.  1  vol.  8vo. 
Mionnet.  Description  de  medailles.  Paris,  1806 — 1819- 

9  vols.  8vo. 
Letronne.    Considerations  sur  revaluation  des  monnaies. 

Paris,  1817.  1  vol.  4to. 
Sestini.  Lettere  et  dissertazioni  numismatiche.  9  vols.  4to. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

Analogy  between  money  and  language — Changefulness 
of  money,  and  causes  thereof — Purpose  for  which  money  was 
invented — Maxims  to  be  observed  in  constructing  a  monetary 
system — Practice  of  the  ancients  in  respect  to  them — The 
mint  at  Athens — Conducted  by  the  government — Purity  of 
Athenian  coinage — Compared  mth  that  of  England — Mass- 
iveness  of  Athenian  coins — Their  uniformity  in  weight — 
Confinement  to  one  single  species — Minuteness  of  their  sub- 
division— Freedom  of  exportation — Illustration  derived  from 
the  coarseness  of  their  workmanship — Similar  practice  of 
other  Grecian  states — INIoney  of  commerce  at  Athens  — 
Banks  of  deposit — Exchequer  bills — Art  of  writing — Its 
importance  in  modern  commerce — Compared  with  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Athenians — General  remarks  on  the  same  com- 
parison— Course  of  investigation p.  1 

LECTURE   II. 

Difficulties  of  the  subject — Capriciousness  of  the  evi- 
dence derived  from  coins — Illustrated  from  Corinth,  Elis, 
and  Olynthus,  on  the  one  side ;  from  Thasus  and  Dyrrachium 
on  the  other — Inconsistencies  of  ancient  authors — Confusion 
arising  from  the  records  of  private  families — Illustrated  from 
a  Macedonian  coin — From  political  views — Illustrated  from 
the  coins  of  Gelo  and  Hiero — From  the  difficulty  of  decy- 
phering — Illustrated  from  a  coin  of  Carausius — From  the 
mistakes  made  at  the  mint — Illustrated  from  a  coin  of  Titus 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

— From  the  practice  of  restamping — Illustrated  from  a  coin 
of  Trajan — From  ancient  forgeries — Illustrated  from  coins  of 
Verus  and  Caracalla — Recapitulation      .     .     .     ,     .     p.  27- 

LECTURE  III. 

Farther  difficulties  of  the  subject — IModern  forgers — 
Forgers  of  the  sixteenth  century — More  recent  forgers — Dif- 
ferent methods  of  fabrication — By  changing  the  inscription — 
By  giving  a  new  impression  to  one  side — By  interchanging 
two  reverses — By  cutting  new  dies  after  ancient  models — By 
contriving  improbable  accidents — Greek  coin  of  Cicero — Pro- 
per use  of  coins  as  evidence — The  object  and  extent  of  it — 
Examples  from  the  coins  of  Thurium — From  Roman  coins 
bearing  the  letters  S*C — From  a  coin  of  Larissa,  referring  to 
a  passage  of  the  Iliad — From  a  coin  of  Agathocles — From  a 
coin  of  Himera       .     , p.  53 

LECTURE  IV. 

A  SCALE  of  criteria  attempted  by  Barthelemy — Periods 
usually  adopted — Period  of  excellence — Perfection  of  work- 
manship— Arrangement  of  Pellerin  and  Eckhel — Advantages 
of  that  arrangement — Medals  and  coins  distinguished — Har- 
douin — Barthelemy — Medallions — Examples  of  them — Con- 
torniati — Tesserae — Countermarks  on  medals — Different  ma- 
terials of  money — Iron,  tin,  and  lead — Gold — Its  purity — 
Electrum — Where  used — Silver  —  Early  adulterations  in 
Greece — Later  adulterations  at  Rome — Copper — Brass — Co- 
rinthian brass — Minting  by  the  hammer — Practice  of  Greece 
— Practice  at  Rome — Ancient  dies — Count  Caylus — Plaster 
moulds — Classification  of  devices — Smaller  emblems — Proper 
names  of  coins        p-  7^^ 

LECTURE  V. 

Grecian  coinage — Fabulous  history  of  it — Phido  the  Ar- 
rive— Alexander  the  First  of  Macedon — Athenian  coins — 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Money  of  account — Athenian  gold — Dispute  respecting  it — 
Aristophanes — Thucydides — Lysias — Demosthenes — ^schi- 
nes — Athenian  inscriptions — Darics,  Cyzicenes — Athenian 
silver — Its  purity — Tetradrachma — Didrachma,  &c. — Their 
legends  and  devices — The  owl  of  Athens — The  diota — Coin 
of  the  time  of  JMithridates — Athenian  brass — Wood  and  Dio- 
nysius — Dean  Swift  and  Aristophanes — Salmasius — Recal  of 
base  money — Brass  coins  very  numerous — Tavo  specimens  of 
them — Coins  of  Sparta — Two  specimens  of  them — Coins 
of  Bceotia — Orchomenus — Thebes — Passage  of  Xenophon 
amended — Coins  of  Elis — Mistaken  for  the  Falisci — Ex- 
plained by  Payne  Knight         p.  107 

LECTURE  VI. 

Roman  coinage — Pliny's  account  of  it — Inconsistency  of 
that  account — Extreme  variations  of  standard  at  Rome — 
Pecunia — Supposed  meaning  of  the  word — Disputed — Real 
meaning — Illustrated  from  the  coins  of  other  countries — Par- 
ticularly of  ancient  Gaul — First  known  devices  of  Roman 
coins — Variety  of  brass  coins — Tokens  of  their  current  values 
—  Silver  coins — When  first  minted — Their  current  values 
how  distinguished — Gold  coins — Pliny's  account  of  them — 
Disputed — Livy  and  Polybius — Restituti  of  Trajan — Opinion 
of  Eckhel — Triumviri  monetales — Triumviri  mensarii — Ci- 
cero's letter  to  Trebatius — Anecdote  of  Julius  Caesar — Coins 
of  Roman  families — Likenesses  on  coins — The  head  of  Roma 
— Explained — Restituti — Serrati p.  135 

LECTURE  VII. 

Roman  coins  considered  in  detail — Coins  of  Families — 
Accoleius' Lariscolus — M.  Lepidus — M.  Lepidus.  Pont.  IMax. 
— Truth  of  inscription  disputed — Marcellinus — Spinther — 
Supposed  origin  of  the  name — Disputed — Real  origin  con- 
jectured— Mamilius  Limetanus — A  passage  of  the  Odyssey — 
Thorius  Balbus — Bos  irruens  explained — Two  quinarii   of 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

Marc  Antony — Foundation  of  Lyons — Heraldic  badge  of 
Antony — Dissertation  on  beards — Antony  represented  as 
Bacchus — His  entry  into  Athens — Flattery  and  ^v^t  of  the 
Athenians        p.  161 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Roman  coins  of  the  empire — Two  coins  of  Augustus — 
Great  roads  of  Italy — Tiberius — Twelve  cities  of  Asia  de- 
stroyed— Tacitus — Phlegon — Marble  discovered  at  Pozzuoli 
— Germanicus  and  Agrippina — Lesbos — Caligula — His  po- 
pularity— Claudius — Britain — Nero — The  closing  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Janus — Tacitus  and  Suetonius  —  Galba,  Otho,  and 
Vitellius — Brasses  of  Otho p-  187 

LECTURE  IX. 

Coins  of  the  empire  continued — Vespasian — Rebuilding 
of  the  Capitol — Jewish  tribute — Titus — The  Colosseum — 
Imperator  explained — Domitian — Device  of  Pallas  adopted 
by  him — Flattery  of  Quinctilian,  and  hatred  of  Tacitus — 
Nerva — Method  of  travelling — Gregory  Nazianzen — System 
adopted  by  Augustus — Improved  by  Nerva — Extended  by 
Hadrian — Trajan — Charitable  institutions — Brass  plate  found 
near  Piacenza — Hadrian — Circenses — The  Parilia — Disserta- 
tion on  the  Tribunicia  potestas p.  209 


LECTURE   I. 


Analogy  betAveen  money  and   language — Changefulness 
of  money,  and  causes  thereof — Purpose  for  which  money  was 
invented — Maxims  to  be  observed  in  constructing  a  monetary 
system — Practice  of  the  ancients  in  respect  to  them — The 
mint  at  Athens — Conducted  by  the  government — Purity  of 
Athenian  coinage — Compared  with  that  of  England — IMass- 
iveness   of  Athenian   coins — Their  uniformity   in   weight — 
Confinement  to  one  single  species — Minuteness  of  their  sub- 
division— Freedom  of  exportation — Illustration  derived  from 
the  coarseness  of  their   workmanship — Similar  practice   of 
other    Grecian    states — Money    of   commerce    at   Athens — 
Banks   of   deposit — Exchequer   bills — Art    of  writing — Its 
importance  in  modern  commerce — Compared  with  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Athenians — General  remarks  on  the  same  com- 
parison— Course  of  investigation. 


i  HERE  is  a  strong  resemblance  between  money 
as  the  representative  of  value,  and  language  as  the 
expression  of  thought ;  and  though  it  would  be 
idle  to  run  a  parallel  between  them  in  all  the 
particulars  in  which  the  resemblance  might  be 
traced,  it  may  be  well  for  me  to  employ  the  com- 
parison as  an  introduction  to  my  subject,  illus- 
trating by  means  of  it  some  of  those  elementary 
princij)les  of  exchange  to  which  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to.  ad  vert.  Pieces  of  money,  then,  may  be 
compared  with  words ;  and  the  comparison  must 
be  made,  not  with  proper  names,  which  are  fixed, 
and  confined  to  separate  individuals,  nor  yet  with 
common  nouns  denoting  classes  of  real  and  substan- 
tial objects,  but  with  the  more  copious  words  of  a 
language,  which  represent  no  sensible  objects  what- 
ever, but  only  the  conceptions  of  a  man's  mind. 
For  a  piece  of  money  is  not  designed  to  mark  any 
one  individual  object  to  be  exchanged  with  it,  or 
even  to  denote  any  separate  class  of  objects,  with 
some  one  or  more  of  which  it  might  be  held  to  be 
equivalent;  but  represents  more  truly  a  mental 
fiction,  inasmuch  as  it  measures  a  certain  quantity 
of  value.  And  that  quantity  of  value  too,  like 
the  idea  expressed  by  an  abstract  noun,  is   not 

B  2 


4  LECTURE    I. 

confined  to  any  class  of  objects  whatever,  but  ex- 
ists equally  in  things  the  most  incongruous,  and, 
wherever  it  does  exist,  depends  as  much  on  the 
mind  of  the  valuer,  as  on  the  intrinsic  qualities  of 
the  object  that  he  prizes.  Let  a  man  examine 
any  one  of  the  phrases  that  are  used  by  him  as 
familiarly  as  household  words,  let  him  try  to 
mark  out  its  exact  import  on  the  several  occa- 
sions on  which  he  has  employed  it,  and  he  will 
find,  that  it  has  perpetually  been  changing  its  affi- 
nities, according  to  the  different  relations  in  which 
it  was  placed,  and  even  to  the  different  states  of 
mind  in  which  he  had  himself  employed  it.  The 
phrase,  therefore,  even  in  his  own  separate  use  of 
it,  would  seem  to  admit  of  no  precise  or  constant 
demarcation  of  its  meaning,  but  rather  to  resem- 
ble a  tract  of  land  which  is  continually  under- 
going some  change  of  surface  and  of  outline  from 
the  inroads  of  mountain  torrents.  But  if,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  own  practice,  he  examine  the  same 
phrase  as  it  has  been  employed  by  others,  and 
observe  the  many  new  shades  of  meaning  which, 
in  this  extended  application  of  it,  it  is  alternately 
imbibing  and  discharging,  he  finds,  that  though 
the  word  remains  the  same,  there  is  no  assignable 
limit  to  the  changes  and  fluctuations  of  the  idea 
that  is  expressed  by  it. 

And  this  may  in  part  illustrate   the  constant 
changefulness  of   a  piece  of  money  as    a    repre- 


LECTURE    I.  5 

sentative  of  value.  But  this  is  only  a  partial 
illustration  of  the  case.  The  changes  hitherto 
noticed  are  derived  exclusively  from  the  opera- 
tion of  external  causes  ;  from  the  influence,  I 
mean,  of  any  other  values  by  which  the  worth 
of  a  given  commodity  would  be  altered,  and  the 
wants  and  sentiments  of  the  individuals  connected 
with  the  transfer.  But,  besides  the  office  which 
a  piece  of  money  fills  as  a  representative  of  value, 
it  is  also  itself  a  manufacture,  and  is  subject  of 
necessity  to  the  further  variations  of  price  by 
which  all  manufactures  are  affected.  Its  own 
value  will  be  enhanced  in  proportion  to  its  rare- 
ness, and  to  the  workmanship  employed  upon  it 
in  converting  it  into  coin.  And  thus  are  intro- 
duced other  elements  of  disorder,  from  which,  in 
combination  with  the  rest,  it  would  appear  hope- 
less that  money  could  ever  become  a  fixed  me- 
dium of  exchange,  or  enable  a  man  to  calculate 
the  quantity  he  could  command,  beyond  the  pre- 
sent moment,  of  the  comforts  and  the  necessaries 
of  life. 

And  yet  this  is  the  very  purpose  which  money 
was  designed  to  answer,  being  intended  at  once 
as  a  measure  of  present  value,  and  a  surety  for 
the  future  command  of  value  to  the  same  amount. 
And  this  is  so  plainly  the  first  principle  on  which 
all  monetary  systems  must  be  constructed,  that 
we  may  ascertain  by  its  means  the  degree  of  wis- 

B  3 


6  LECTURE    I. 

dom  which  any  government  has  shewn  in  the 
management  of  its  money,  and  the  extent  to  which 
in  this  important  particular  it  has  advanced  the 
interests  of  its  people. 

It  would  seem  then,  that,  in  connexion  with 
this  subject,  the  following  are  among  the  practical 
maxims  which  are  most  deserving  of  attention. 

1.  That,  as  a  basis  or  origin  for  the  scale  of 
money,  a  unit  should  be  contrived  of  such  a  na- 
ture, as  might  in  the  least  possible  degree  be  af- 
fected by  the  varying  circumstances  of  the  values 
it  was  designed  to  measure ;  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple on  which,  if  we  wished  to  know  the  expan- 
sive power  of  a  given  piece  of  metal,  we  should 
not  employ  a  rod  of  the  same  kind  of  metal  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  it. 

2.  That  if  that  money-unit  is  to  be  made  an 
actual  medium  of  exchange,  we  should  employ  for 
the  purpose  some  material  which  is  as  little  as 
possible  liable  to  perish,  or  subject  to  fluctuations 
in  its  intrinsic  worth. 

3.  That  such  material  being  once  adopted  as  a 
legal  currency,  the  adoption  of  a  second  material, 
whether  it  be  more  or  less  precious  than  the  first, 
may  be  convenient  for  the  purpose  of  adding  fresh 
gradations  to  the  scale  of  money,  but  is  in  a  much 
greater  degree  detrimental,  as  increasing  the  dis- 
turbances which  attach,  even  in  the  simplest  sys- 
tem, to  a   measurement  of  value.     It    is  always 


LECTURE    I.  7 

easier  to  calculate  on  an  equation  than  on  a  set  of 
ratios. 

4.  That  the  standard  being  thus  adjusted,  and 
the  precious  metal  employed  in  it  having  now 
become  a  local  measure,  it  would  be  convenient 
to  confine  it  within  the  country  which  has  thus 
adopted  it ;  but  the  same  metal  being  also  an 
article  of  commerce,  and  retaining  its  own  in- 
trinsic value,  it  would  be  idle  to  attempt  the  con- 
finement of  it,  and  absurd  to  legislate  on  the  sup- 
position that  it  was  effectually  confined. 

5.  That  on  the  foregoing  principles  a  currency 
is  then  the  most  wisely  regulated,  when  it  limits 
the  legal  sanction  to  one  single  species,  when  it 
preserves  inviolably  its  original  standard  both 
in  weight  and  fineness,  when  it  measures  all 
other  metals,  and  all  commodities  whatever,  not 
by  some  fixed  scale,  but  by  their  existing  prices ; 
and  when  it  is  itself  measured  and  kept  in  equi- 
poise by  entering  freely  into  the  transactions  of 
foreign  commerce. 

I  might  illustrate  the  importance  of  these 
maxims,  by  shewing  from  the  history  of  modern 
Europe,  and  more  especially  from  the  proceedings 
of  the  court  of  France,  the  j)ractical  evils  that 
have  ensued  from  the  violation  of  them  ;  but  it 
will  be  svifficient  to  confirm  what  I  have  stated 
respecting  the  preservation  of  the  standard,  and 
the  extreme  caution  to  be  observed  in  the  manage- 

D  4 


8  LECTURE    I. 

ment  of  the  coinage,  by  quoting  the  words  of  an 
able,  though  now  neglected,  writer  *.  "  The  ope- 
"  rations  of  trade,"  says  Steuart,  "  surpass  in 
"  nicety  the  conceptions  of  any  man  but  a  mer- 
"  chant ;  and  as  a  proof  of  this,  it  may  be  affirmed 
"  with  truth,  that  one  shilling  can  hardly  lose  a 
"  grain  of  its  weight,  either  by  fraud  or  circula- 
"  tion,  without  contributing,  by  that  circumstance, 
"  towards  the  diminvition  of  the  standard  value 
"  of  the  money-unit,  or  pound  sterling,  over  all 
"  England." 

But  it  is  time  for  me  to  consider  how  far  these 
principles  were  observed  in  the  currency  of  the 
ancients  ;  and  as  the  Romans  rarely  shewed  any 
thing  of  a  scientific  character  in  any  department 
of  their  government,  and  as  the  other  states  of 
Greece  are  all  inferior  to  Athens,  both  in  their 
degree  of  refinement,  and  in  the  knowledge  we 
possess  respecting  them,  I  shall  confine  myself  to 
the  practice  of  the  Athenians,  and  to  the  period 
extending  from  the  time  of  the  Persian  war  to  the 
death  of  Demosthenes. 

Respecting  the  right  of  coinage  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  mint  at  Athens,  we  have  no 
precise  information  either  from  Grecian  authors, 
or  from  any  ancient  inscriptions  hitherto  disco- 
vered. But  this  utter  silence  on  a  subject  of  so 
much  interest  affords  a  strong  presumption  that 

a  Sir  J.  Steuart,  Pol.  (Econ.  vol.  II.  j).  2J)0. 


LECTURE    I.  9 

the  right  was  always  confined  to  the  state,  and 
was  exercised  with  as  much  secrecy  as  was  prac- 
ticable under  a  republican  form  of  government. 
And  indeed  our  own  reflections  upon  the  nature 
of  the  case,  confirmed  also  by  the  conditions  re- 
quired in  an  advanced  state  of  civilization,  might 
convince  us,  that  an  instrument  so  important,  as 
money  is,  to  the  intercourse  and  the  welfare  of  a 
connnunity,  could  not  be  left  to  the  management 
of  individuals,  or  be  severed  for  any  length  of 
time  from  the  first  and  most  responsible  duties  of 
the  government.  And  that  such  v/as  actually  the 
case  at  Athens,  and  that  the  public  mint  was  con- 
ducted upon  a  better  system  than  most  of  the 
other  branches  of  the  executive,  will  be  positively 
shewn  hereafter,  in  treating  of  the  practical  wis- 
dom exhibited  in  the  purity,  the  uniformity,  and 
other  important  properties  of  the  coins  themselves. 
At  present  I  need  only  refer  to  the  evidence 
afforded  by  their  inscriptions  and  devices,  which 
in  all  cases  present  the  full  or  abbreviated  title  of 
the  Athenian  people,  together  with  their  well 
known  national  insignia,  or  emblems  of  public 
prosperity ;  introducing  only  casually,  and  as  the 
surface  of  the  coin  would  admit  of  it,  the  names 
of  men  in  office,  or  tokens  of  some  separate  branch 
of  commerce. 

But  the  most  important  property  of  the  Athe- 
nian coinage  was  its  purity,  carried  to  so  great  an 


10  LECTURE    I. 

extent,  that  no  baser  metal  appears  to  have  been 
united  with  it  as  an   alloy.     It  may  readily   be 
supposed  that  the  lead  ^,  which  was  found  toge- 
ther with  the  silver  in  the  mines  of  Lauriuin,  was 
not  always  perfectly  separated  from  it  by  the  an- 
cient process  of  refining  :  but  the  quantity  of  that 
metal  which  has  hitherto  been  discovered  in  the 
silver  coin  of  Athens  is  not  likely  to  have  been 
added  designedly  ;  and  copper,  which  would  have 
been  more  suitable  for  the  purpose,  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  used  at  any  period  as  an  alloy,  much 
less  in  the  way  of  adulteration  '=.     This  fact  is  the 
more  remarkable  when  we  compare  it  with  the 
practice  of  modern  states,  and  even  with  that  of 
our  own  country  '^     In  the  reigns  of  Henry  the 
Eighth  and  his  son  Edward,  the  silver  coin  was 
adulterated  in  four  successive  instances  by  a  pro- 
gressive increase  of  the  quantity  of  alloy ;  till  the 
standard  was  at  last  reduced  from  11  oz.  2  dwts. 
fine,  and  18  dwts.  alloy,  to  the  inverted  ratio  of 
3  oz.  fine,  and  9  oz.  alloy.     The  gold  coin  was 
also  debased  at  the  same  period ;  but  as  the  ratio 
of  their  respective  values  was  not  in  any  degree 
observed,  the  comparison  between  the  two  metals 
only  augmented  the  general  confusion.    All  traffick 
was  nearly  at  an  end.    Proclamations  were  issued, 

b  Walpole's  Collection,  vol.  I.  p.  426. 

c  See  the  case  stated  at  length  in  Lecture  V. 

d  See  Lord  Liverpool  on  the  Coins  of  the  Realm,  p.  06. 


LECTURE    I.  11 

and  laws  were  enacted,  with  the  severest  penal- 
ties, for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  legal  ten*- 
der ;  but  the  consequence  was  then,  as  it  always 
has  been  in  cases  of  oppressive  legislation,  that 
evasion  ran  parallel  with  enactment,  and  perma- 
nent suffering  followed  upon  temporary  relief. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  an  attempt  was  made  at 
Athens  %  during  a  time  of  great  public  difficulty,  to 
degrade  the  coinage  by  a  considerable  admixture 
of  copper ;  but  it  is  also  true,  that  the  attempt 
met  with  general  reprobation,  and  was  sjieedily 
followed  by  a  return  to  the  ancient  standard. 
The  specimens  accordingly  of  Athenian  silver  now 
remaining,  and  which  may  fairly  be  considered  as 
extending  over  all  the  valuable  portion  of  Athe- 
nian history,  though  they  cannot  be  assigned  ac- 
curately to  their  respective  dates,  are  of  the  highest 
degree  of  purity. 

"  The  business  of  money,"  says  Locke  f,  "  as  in 
"  all  times,  even  in  this  our  quicksighted  age, 
"  hath  been  thought  a  mystery ;  those  employed 
"  in  the  mint  must  from  their  places  be  supi)osed 
"  to  penetrate  the  deepest  into  it.  It  is  no  im- 
"  possible  thing  to  imagine  that  it  was  not  hard, 
"  in  the  ignorance  of  past  ages,  when  money  was 
"  little,  and  skill  in  the  turns  of  trade  less,  for 

*  See  Lecture  V. 

f  Locke's  Further  Considerations,  &c.  Works,  vol.  II. 
p.  122.  4to. 


12  LECTURE    I. 

"  those  versed  in  the  business  and  policy  of  the 
*'  mint  to  persuade  a  prince,  especially  if  money 
"  were  scarce,  that  the  fault  was  in  the  standard 
"  of  the  mint,  and  that  the  way  to  increase  the 
"  plenty  of  money  was  to  raise  (a  well-sounding 
"  word)  the  value  of  the  coin."  The  practice, 
thus  accounted  for  by  Locke,  has  been  adopted  at 
intervals  by  all  governments,  modern  as  well  as 
ancient,  until  they  have  been  prevented  by  the  in- 
fluence of  commerce.  The  Athenians  appear  to 
have  discovered  the  danger  of  the  practice,  even 
before  their  commercial  habits  would  otherwise 
have  compelled  them  to  abandon  it. 

Connected  with  this  superiority,  and  with  the 
rude  method  of  minting  which  prevailed  in  former 
times,  was  the  further  advantage  possessed  by  the 
Athenian  coin  of  being  less  exposed  to  wear  from 
constant  use,  than  is  the  case  with  the  thinner 
lamina  and  the  larger  surface  of  a  modern  coin. 
Whether  it  were  owing  to  the  smaller  degree  of 
hardness  in  the  metal  they  employed,  or  to  their 
want  of  mechanical  contrivances,  or  to  their  know- 
ledge that  a  compact  and  globular  body  is  least 
liable  to  loss  from  friction,  the  Athenian  coin  was 
minted  in  a  form  more  massive  than  our  own,  and 
much  less  convenient  for  tale  or  transfer,  but 
better  calculated  to  maintain  its  value  unimpaired 
by  the  wear  of  constant  circulation.  And  this 
advantage,  whether  foreseen  by  the  Athenians  or 


LECTURE    I.  13 

not,  and  however  exposed  to  countervailing  in- 
convenience, may  fairly  be  considered  as  one  of 
the  properties  of  a  perfect  coinage  ^. 

But  it  is  of  importance  to  ascertain  how  far  the 
Athenians  adhered  to  their  original  standard  in 
weight ;  as  in  this  particular  if  they  abstained 
from  degrading  their  coin,  it  could  not  be  owing 
to  any  want  of  skill  in  the  management  of  metals, 
but  solely  to  their  adoption  of  just  principles  of 
exchange.  And  with  this  view  it  must  be  taken 
into  our  account,  that  however  exact  in  weight 
the  coins  were  intended  to  be  on  their  first  issuing 
from  the  mint,  some  inequalities  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  avoided.  "  I  found,"  says  Matthew 
Raper  ^,  "  the  heaviest  of  twenty  new  guineas  of 
"  the  year  1768,  fresh  from  the  mint,  to  outweigh 
"  the  lightest  11  grains."  If  this  then  were  the 
case  at  a  modern  mint,  conducted  with  the  greatest 
mechanical  exactness,  and  in  conformity  with 
scientific  principles,  we  may  reasonably  allow 
greater  inequalities  to  have  existed  in  ancient 
times  without  any  impeachment  of  their  general 

S  A  further  advantage  may  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the 
gold  coin  of  the  ancients,  which  was  also  of  the  utmost  de- 
gree of  purity.  "  It  is  well  known  now,  and  seems  to  have 
"  been  ascertained  at  an  early  period,  that  the  purer  the  gold 
"  is,  the  less  consumption  of  it  from  friction  arises  in  use." 
Jacob  on  Free.  Met.  vol.  I.  p.  147- 

1»  Phil.  Trans.  1771-  p- 466. 


14  LECTURE    I. 

system.  It  must  be  remembered  too,  that  our  ex- 
periments are  to  be  made  upon  coins  which  have 
undergone  different  degrees  of  use,  and  in  which 
we  might  naturally  expect  that  whilst  some  of 
them  had  but  slightly  deviated  from  the  original 
standard,  others  would  have  suffered  severely 
during  a  long  and  constant  service.  And  yet  of 
the  12  drachms  described  in  the  Hunterian  Cata- 
logue, and  belonging  apparently  to  very  different 
periods,  only  one  weighs  less  than  60  grains,  the 
heaviest  being  66i.  In  the  tetradrachms,  the 
jjroper  weight  of  which  was  probably  266  grains, 
and  which  would  naturally  undergo  a  greater  loss 
from  friction,  the  whole  number  described  is  102  ; 
and  70  of  these,  belonging  apparently  to  periods 
remote  from  each  other,  range  over  a  difference 
of  not  more  than  10  grains  from  the  primitive 
standards  Such  then  was  the  high  degree  of 
exactness  and  uniformity  observed  at  the  Athe- 
nian mint  in  the  weight  and  fineness  of  their 
coins  ^, 

i  M.  Letronne  is  of  opinion  that  the  silver  coin  of  Athens, 
was  reduced  in  weight  during  the  third  century  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  that  the  tetradrachm  contained  afterwards 
only  308  Paris  grains,  instead  of  the  ancient  quantity  of  328. 
Siir  revaluation  des  Mo?inaies,  pp.  99,  128.  It  may  readily 
be  admitted  that  this  alteration  was  made,  as  soon  as  Romaii 
money  became  current  in  Greece,  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
the  drachma  on  the  same  level  with  the  denarius. 

^  This  exactness  was  not  confined  to  Athens.     "  The  di- 


LECTURE    I.  15 

But  it  is  a  more  remarkable  property  of  their 
currency,  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  small 
copper  coinage,  which  was  also  too  unimportant 
to  affect  the  general  princii)le,  they  confined  them- 
selves to  one  single  species  as  a  legal  issue.  Sil- 
ver coins,  descending  from  the  tetradrachm  to 
the  quarter  obol,  were  the  only  legal  currency  at 
Athens.  The  gold  coins  of  foreign  countries, 
being  much  emjiloyed  in  the  operations  of  their 
commerce ',  were  also  received  freely  in  payments 
at  the  treasury,  and  in  the  larger  dealings  of  their 
home-trade™;  but  they  appear  to  have  circulated 
according  to  their  intrinsic  value,  their  money- 
price  being  determined  by  some  commercial  regu- 
lation, and  expressed  in  Athenian  currency.  If  it 
be  said  that  this  practice  would  seem  to  imply  a 
greater  advancement  in  the  arts  of  government, 
than  we  can  reasonably  suppose  to  have  existed 
at  so  remote  a  period,  we  must  reply,  that  there 
is  not  only  the  evidence  of  facts  in  its  favour,  but 

"  drachmal  gold  of  Philip  and  Alexander  is  about  four  grains 
"  heavier  than  our  guinea ;  and  I  never  found  the  difference 
"  between  any  two  of  them,  that  appeared  to  be  perfect 
"and  unworn,  amount  to  two  grains."  Phil.  Trans.  1771- 
p.  466. 

1  See  Lecture  V. 

™  In  the  Plutus  of  Aristophanes,  (v.  816.)  these  foreign 
staters  are  represented  as  becoming  so  plentiful,  that   the 
slaves  used  them  for  their  common  pastimes : 
(TTor^pcrt  S'  ol  depcnrovres  aprid^ofieu 
Xpva-ois. 


16  LECTURE  I. 

also  that  commerce  was  carried  on  in  those  times 
to  an  extent  sufficient  to  account  for  the  existence 
of  still  more  enlightened  practices,  and  that  the  con- 
fusion of  prices  occasioned  by  the  use  of  a  second 
species  was  clearly  understood  and  predicted  by 
their  writers.  "  If  any  one  should  tell  me,"  says 
Xenophon",  in  speaking  of  the  advantage  of  a 
silver  currency,  "  if  any  one  should  tell  me,  that 
"  gold  is  no  less  serviceable  than  silver,  so  far  I 
"  do  not  contradict  him ;  but  this  I  know,  that  if 
"  gold  coin  becomes  abundant,  it  sinks  in  its  own 
"  value,  and  raises  the  value  of  the  silver." 

I  need  not  enlarge  on  the  care  that  was  taken 
to  carry  the  money-scale  to  the  lowest  degree  of 
subdivision,  and  to  furnish  coins  for  the  smallest 
dealings  of  the  people.  The  provision*^  indeed  is 
of  great  importance,  not  merely  to  the  comforts 
of  the  labouring  classes,  and  through  them  to  the 
community  at  large,  but  also  to  the  interests  of 
trade  in  general,  as  furnishing  means  for  keeping 
the  first  elements  of  all  prices  at  their  proper 
level.  Such  a  provision,  however,  is  rarely  want- 
ing, and  need  not  call  for  any  peculiar  commenda- 
tion. 

A  more  unusual  characteristic  was  the  perfect 
freedom  allowed  by  the  Athenians  as  to  the  ex- 
portation of  their  coin.     Xenophon  says,  in  the 

"  Xen.  Trepi  TTpocTob.  IV.  10. 

o  Sir  J.  Steuart,  Pol.  CEcon.  vol.  III.  p.  94. 


LECTURE    I.  17 

same  treatise!',  from  which  I  have  ah'eady  quoted, 
"  In  most  other  countries  merchants  are  obliged 
"  to  take  goods  in  payment,  for  their  money  will 
"  not  pass  current  elsewhere :  but  at  Athens  they 
"  may  have  every  sort  of  lading,  and  if  they  wish 
"  to  take  our  coin,  they  are  sure  to  be  the  gainers 
"  by  it."  We  meet  also  in  Plato  "^  and  Poly  bins' 
with  mention  of  a  money  circulating  generally  in 
Greece;  and  from  many  consjiiring  circumstances, 
and  more  especially  from  an  anecdote  recorded  by 
Plutarch^  in  his  Life  of  Lysander,  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  this  common  money  was  the  silver 
coinage  of  the  Athenians*. 

And  this  leads  to  a  question  of  much  interest 
in  connexion  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Athenian 
mint.  We  might  believe,  from  what  has  been  al- 
ready stated,  that  much  attention  was  paid  to  the 
true  principles  of  a  currency,  and  we  know  from 
universal  testimony  that  the  fine  arts  were  culti- 
vated in  Athens  to  a  degree  of  refinement  beyond 
the  reach  of  other  nations.  To  what  cause  then 
was  it  owing  that  the  coins  of  Athens"  should 

P  Hepi  Trpoo-.  III.  2.  4  Plat.  De  Leg.  lib.  V.  p.  742. 

r  Polyb.  lib.  VI.  c.  49.  s  Lys.  c.  16. 

t  The  two  points  on  which  I  have  been  insisting,  that  sil- 
ver was  the  only  legal  issue,  and  yet  was  allowed  to  be  ex- 
ported, seem  to  be  implied  at  once  in  the  following  line  of 
the  Agamemnon :   (959.) 

^BeipcvTU  liKovTov  dj)yvpo)vi]Tovi  6"  vcjius. 

"  Eckhel  D.N.  v.  II.  p.  211. 

C 


18  LECTURE    I. 

have  been  executed  throughout  in  a  style  of  in- 
elegance and  coarseness,  at  a  time  too  when  the 
coins  of  other  districts,  far  inferior  in  science  and 
reputation  to  Athens,  were  finished  in  the  most 
perfect  workmanship  ?  The  fact  is  certainly  re- 
markable ;  and  the  only  explanation  that  has  hi- 
therto been  given  of  it  may  tend  to  illustrate  still 
further  the  beneficial  effects  of  commerce  in  its 
influence  upon  the  Athenian  minf^.  The  ancient 
coinage,  says  Eckhel,  had  recommended  itself  so 
strongly  by  its  purity,  and  had  become  so  uni- 
versally known  among  Greeks  and  Barbarians  by 
its  primitive  emblems,  that  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  made  any  considerable  change 
in  the  form  or  workmanship  of  the  coin,  without 
creating  a  great  degree  of  suspicion  against  it, 
and  eventually  contracting  its  circulation.     If  this 

X  This  explanation  is  repeated  by  lord  Aberdeen  in  a  paper 
contained  in  Walpole's  Collection  (vol.  1.  p.  433),  where  the 
following  case  is  given  in  confirmation  of  it :  "A  similar  pro- 
"  ceeding  in  the  state  of  Venice  throws  the  strongest  light 
"  on  the  practice  of  the  Athenians.  The  Venetian  sechin  is 
"  perhaps  the  most  unseemly  of  the  coins  of  modern  Europe; 
"  it  has  long,  however,  been  the  current  gold  of  the  Turkish 
"  empire,  in  which  its  purity  is  universally  and  justly  esteem- 
"  ed ;  any  change  in  its  appearance  on  the  part  of  the  Vene- 
"  tian  government  Avould  have  tended  to  create  distrust." 
Any  traveller  who  visited  the  mint  at  Milan  in  the  year  1818 
will  remember  that  the  government  was  then  minting  the 
rude  crowns  of  Maria  Theresa,  because  they  still  continued 
the  medium  for  the  trade  of  the  Levant. 


LECTURE    I.  19 

were  actually  so,  the  Athenians  not  only  adhered 
to  the  true  principles  of  a  currency,  but  even  sa- 
crificed in  their  favour  some  of  the  strongest  par- 
tialities they  possessed. 

The  observations  hitherto  made  have  referred 
exclusively  to  the  coinage  of  Athens,  but  they  are 
also  applicable,  in  their  degree  and  proportion,  to 
the  smaller  states  of  Greece,  which  cultivated 
habits  of  intercourse  and  commerce  with  their 
neighbours.  The  extensive  trade,  for  instance, 
carried  on  between  Sicily  and  Greece,  and  the 
many  important  places  connected  with  the  transit 
of  it,  might  lead  us  to  expect  that  we  should  find 
some  traces  of  their  intercourse  in  the  structure  or 
devices  of  their  coins.  And  so  strikingly  is  this 
the  case,  that  didrachmsy  are  met  with  in  great 
abundance  bearing  the  ancient  Koph,  or  the 
Pegasus,  of  Corinth,  but  uniting  with  it  the 
devices  or  legends  of  Syracuse  and  other  trading 
towns  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  corresi^onding 
so  exactly  with  each  other,  that  they  are  supposed 
to  have  been  minted  at  Syracuse  for  the  use  of 
herself  and  all  her  sister  and  daughter  colonies. 
And  to  so  great  an  extent  was  this  communica- 
tion carried,  that  the  emblems  of  Corinth  and  Sy- 
racuse are  combined  in  many  cases  with  those  of 
the  Epizephyrian  Locri,  of  the  Amphilochian  Ar- 
gos,  of  Tauroinenium,  and  of  other  towns,  which 

y  Eck.  D.  N.  V.  II.  ]).  246. 
c  2 


20  LECTURE    I. 

had  no  original  connexion  whatever  with  them, 
being  merely  attracted  by  the  common  interest 
of  trade. 

Here  then  the  inquiry  into  the  regulations  ob- 
served at  the  Athenian  mint  mav  terminate.  But 
the  subject  acquires  a  greater  interest,  when  it 
embraces  the  new  forms  of  money  created  by  the 
operations  of  commerce,  and  representing  j)ublic 
or  private  credit.  And  though  these  further  con- 
siderations do  not  necessarily  form  a  part  of  my 
inquiry,  belonging  more  properly  to  a  treatise  on 
commerce,  than  to  a  description  of  Athenian  cur- 
rency, they  are  at  once  too  nearly  allied  to  the 
subject,  and  too  important  in  their  nature,  to  be 
overlooked. 

The  system  of  banking  pursued  at  Athens  gave 
occasion  to  a  new  kind  of  money,  constructed 
upon  the  credit  of  individuals  or  of  companies, 
and  acting  as  a  substitute  for  the  legal  currency. 
In  the  time  of  Demosthenes^,  and  even  at  an  ear- 
lier period,  bankers  appear  to  have  been  nume- 
rous, not  only  in  Piraeus,  but  also  in  the  ujiper 
city ;  and  it  was  principally  by  their  means  that 
capital,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  unem- 
ployed, was  distributed  and  made  productive. 
Athenian  bankers  ^  were,  in  many  instances,  ma- 

z  Dem.  V.  II.  p.  1236.  ed.  Reiske. 

^  Lysias  Kara  ^loyeiT.  Xeii.  de  Rep.  Ath.  II.  8.  Demosth. 
vnep  ^opfi. 


LECTURE    I.  21 

nufacturers,  or  speculators  in  land,  conducting  the 
different  branches  of  their  business  by  means  of 
partners  or  confidential  servants,  and  acquiring  a 
sufficient  profit  to  remunerate  themselves,  and  to 
pay  a  small  rate  of  interest  for  the  caj^ital  in- 
trusted to  them.  But  this  w^as  not  the  only  be- 
nefit they  imparted  to  the  operations  of  commerce. 
Their  ledgers  were  books  of  transfer,  and  the  en- 
tries made  in  them,  although  they  cannot  pro- 
perly be  called  a  part  of  the  circulation,  acted  in 
all  other  respects  as  bills  of  exchange.  In  this 
particular  their  banks  bore  a  strong  resemblance 
to  modern  banks  of  deposit.  A  depositor  desired 
his  banker'^  to  transfer  to  some  other  name  a  por- 
tion of  the  credit  assigned  to  him  in  the  books  of 
the  bank ;  and  by  this  method,  aided,  as  it  pro- 
bably was,  by  a  general  understanding  among  the 
bankers,  (or,  in  the  modern  phrase,  a  clearing 
house,)  credit  was  easily  and  constantly  converted 
into  money  in  ancient  Athens.  "  If  you  do  not 
"  know,"  says  Demosthenes'^,  "  that  credit  is  the 
"  readiest  capital  for  acquiring  wealth,  you  know 
"  positively  nothing." 

The  spirit  of  refinement  may  be  traced  one  step 
further.  Orders  were  certainly  issued  by  the  go- 
vernment in  anticipation  of  future  receipts,  and 

^   Demosth.  np6s  KaXXiTr.  v.  II.  j).  1236. 
c  Demosth.  vnip  <l>op/x.  v.  II.  p.  958. 

c  3 


22  LECTURE    I. 

may  fairly  be  considered  as  having  had  the  force 
and  operation  of  exchequer  bills.  They  were 
known  by  the  name  of  avo}j.oXoyriiJ.ara.  We  learn, 
for  instance,  from  the  inscription  of  the  Choiseul 
Marble '\  written  near  the  close  of  the  Peloponne- 
sian  war,  that  bills  of  this  description  were  drawn 
at  that  time  by  the  government  of  Athens  on  the 
receiver-general  at  Samos,  and  made  payable,  in 
One  instance,  to  the  paymaster  at  Athens,  in  an- 
other, to  the  general  of  division  at  Samos.  These 
bills  were  doubtless  employed  as  money  on  the 
credit  of  the  in-coming  taxes,  and  entered  pro- 
bably, together  with  others  of  the  same  kind,  into 
the  circulation  of  the  period. 

As  the  conclusion  of  this  subject,  I  may  now 
mention  one  remarkable  characteristic  of  ancient 
manners,  which  will  bring  them  strongly  into 
contrast  with  the  practice  of  our  own  times,  and 
shew  that,  whatever  might  be  the  cause,  the  an- 
cients did  in  fact  deprive  themselves  of  many 
means  of  advancing  their  condition.  No  acquire- 
ment is  more  indispensable  in  modern  times  than 
the  art  of  writing.  It  has  opened  the  most  copi- 
ous sources  of  social  enjoyment,  and  created  new 
kinds  of  labour  for  the  proper  distribution  of 
them.  It  has  facilitated,  and  therefore  multiplied, 
the  operations  of  commerce.     It  has  introduced  a 

d  Boeckh.  Corp.  Ins.  v.  I.  p.  219. 


LECTURE    I.  2S 

new  description  of  enactments  into  the  penal  code 
of  nations.  It  has  been  made  an  auxiliary,  and 
even  a  substitute,  for  the  memory,  in  every  de- 
partment of  life.  Let  us  take,  by  way  of  instance, 
one  single  point  in  the  relation  in  which  it  stands 
to  commerce  ;  not  its  facilities  for  expressing 
wants,  and  communicating  with  distant  countries ; 
not  its  necessity  for  the  registry  and  continuation 
of  transactions — purposes  for  which  it  certainly 
was  employed  in  ancient  times  ; — but  that  inven- 
tion of  modern  practice  and  legislation,  by  which 
a  man's  writing  is  made  equally  authentic  with 
his  actual  presence,  and  his  signature  is  become 
the  expression  of  personal  identity  ;  an  invention 
by  which  a  merchant  or  common  dealer  can  invest 
a  piece  of  writing  with  any  portion  of  the  actual 
or  contingent  value  of  his  property,  can  legally 
convey  to  it  the  inviolability  belonging  to  his  own 
person,  and  can  create  for  himself  a  kind  of  mer- 
cantile ubiquity.  Now  this  invention,  though  un- 
derstood in  theory,  and  carried  occasionally  into 
practice,  was  totally  unknown  in  the  common 
dealings  of  the  ancient  world. 

Nevertheless,  the  facts  which  have  now  been 
stated  with  respect  to  this  imj)ortant  branch  of 
I)ublic  economy  would  appear  to  suggest  a  reflec- 
tion on  the  comparative  advancement  of  the  an- 
cients and  the  moderns,  which  may,  I  think,  be 
extended  with  equal  truth  to  many  of  the  other 

c  4 


24  LECTURE    I. 

departments  of  political  science.  The  moderns 
have  undoubtedly  carried  the  science  into  practi- 
cal expedients  and  subdivisions  of  labour  totally 
unknown  in  ancient  times :  but  before  we  decide 
upon  the  wisdom  of  doing  so,  and  much  more  be- 
fore we  commend  modern  statesmen  at  the  ex- 
pense of  their  predecessors,  we  must  be  satisfied 
that  our  expedients  have  not  been  forced  upon  us, 
as  mere  remedies  for  evils  which  were  formerly 
unknown,  and  that  our  greater  skill  in  the  distri- 
bution of  capital  and  of  labour  has  not  grown  out 
of  circumstances  which  were  studiously  and  pro- 
phetically averted  by  the  ancients.  It  will  pro- 
bably be  found,  the  further  we  proceed  in  the 
comparison,  that  the  whole  question  resolves  itself 
into  a  balance  of  advantages,  and  that,  the  first 
elements  of  their  character  continuing  the  same, 
the  ancients  could  not  possibly  have  adopted  our 
greater  political  refinements  ;  or  if  it  were  possi- 
ble, would  have  been  guilty  of  the  greatest  folly 
in  attempting  it. 

It  now  remains  that  I  should  state  to  you 
briefly  the  course  of  investigation  to  be  pursued 
in  the  following  Lectures.  It  will  first  be  neces- 
sary to  consider  at  some  length  the  diflficulties 
thrown  in  our  way  by  the  nature  and  properties 
of  coins  themselves,  by  the  length  of  time  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  periods  when  the  coins  under 
consideration  were  issued,  and  by  the  frauds  to 


LECTURE    I.  25 

which  during  the  whole  of  that  interval  they  seem 
to  have  been  exposed.  These  difficulties  will  ap- 
pear to  be  so  great,  that  it  will  then  be  necessary 
to  illustrate,  from  actual  cases,  the  advantages  to 
be  derived  from  numismatic  testimony,  and  to 
limit,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  proper  extent  and  ap- 
plication of  it.  This  portion  of  the  subject  will 
be  included  within  two  Lectures.  Having  after- 
wards treated  of  ancient  coinage  in  general,  I 
shall  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  Grecian  coins, 
and  more  expressly  of  those  of  Athens.  This  will 
be  followed  by  a  general  description  of  the  Roman 
mint,  and  by  a  detailed  examination  of  such  me- 
dals, whether  of  the  republic  or  the  empire,  as 
may  seem  the  best  calculated  to  promote  the  ob- 
ject of  these  Lectures — the  illustration  of  history 
and  literature. 


LECTURE    II. 


Difficulties  of  the  subject — Capriciousness  of  the  evi- 
dence cleriA'ed  from  coins — Illustrated  from  Corinth,  Elis, 
and  Olynthus,  on  the  one  side;  from  Thasus  and  Dyrrachium 
on  the  other — Inconsistencies  of  ancient  authors — Confusion 
arising  from  the  records  of  private  families — Illustrated  from 
a  Macedonian  coin — From  political  views — Illustrated  from 
the  coins  of  Gelo  and  Hiero — From  the  diificulty  of  decy- 
phering — Illustrated  from  a  coin  of  Carausius — From  the 
mistakes  made  at  the  mint — Illustrated  from  a  coin  of  Titus 
— From  the  practice  of  restamping — Illustrated  from  a  coin 
of  Trajan — From  ancient  forgeries — Illustrated  from  coins  of 
Varus  and  Caracalla — Recapitulation. 


*r«-- 


NuNQUAM  ita  quisquam  bene  subclucta  ratione  ad  vitam  fuat. 
Quill  res,  aetas,  usus  semper  aliquid  adportet  iiovi, 
Aliquid  moiieat,  ut  ilia,  quae  te  scire  credas,  nescias, 
Et  quae  tibi  putaris  prima,  in  experiundo  ut  repudies  a. 

i\S  applied  to  the  interests  of  human  life,  the 
sentiment  which  I  have  expressed  in  the  words 
of  Terence  is  so  constantly  exemplified  in  prac- 
tice, that  some  apology  would  seem  to  be  re- 
quired for  attempting  any  further  illustration  of 
it.  But  however  essential  in  reference  to  ques- 
tions of  present  and  future  interest,  the  senti- 
ment is  applicable  in  part  only,  and  by  accident, 
to  the  investigation  of  the  past.  We  have  seen 
historians  indeed,  who  seem  to  consider  the 
knowledge  of  past  events  as  still  oj^en  to  every 
variety  of  change,  adopting  the  evidence  which 
had  been  rejected  by  their  predecessors,  and  esti- 
mating the  value  of  a  witness,  not  by  the  openness 
of  his  character,  and  his  agreement  with  other 
testimony,  but  by  the  difficulty  of  discovering  him, 
and  the  confusion  created  by  his  appearance.  But 
such  attempts  must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
be  unsuccessful.  They  may  be  sufficient  to  throw 
a  doubt  upon   the   system   they  opjjose,  but  the 

a  Ter.  Ad.  V.  4,  1. 


30  LECTURE    11. 

evidence  adduced  by  them  is  so  far  from  being 
the  main  strength  and  business  of  the  argument, 
that  it  seems  to  hang  upon  the  skirts  of  it,  as  if 
the  only  object  were  to  embarrass  its  operations, 
and  to  claim  for  itself  the  merit  of  a  victory  which 
it  had  not  contributed  to  win. 

Nevertheless,  sure  and  unexceptionable  as  are 
the  grounds  of  history  in  general,  in  that  depart- 
ment of  it  with  which  we  are  at  present  con- 
cerned, the  greatest  uncertainty  has  constantly 
prevailed,  and  is  likely  to  continue.  The  evidence 
presented  by  ancient  coins  is  open  to  every  kind 
of  objection,  carried  too,  in  some  instances,  to  the 
greatest  possible  extent,  to  which  any  kind  of 
testimony  is  exposed.  It  is  most  capricious  in  its 
application,  being  abundant  in  regard  to  some 
places  which  are  almost  totally  unknown  in  com- 
mon history,  and  most  sparing  in  regard  to  others 
of  general  notoriety ;  and  yet  coins  may  still  be 
discovered  in  great  quantities,  and  even  in  remote 
districts,  which  may  change  that  inequality  in  any 
conceivable  manner  and  degree.  It  labours  under 
the  disadvantages  of  fabulous  devices,  and  forgot- 
ten languages,  and  evanescent  figures ;  and  when 
all  these  difficulties  are  overcome,  it  repays  your 
search  after  it  by  giving  you  a  remote  conjecture. 
It  wraps  itself  up  in  the  associations  of  distant 
times,  and  requires  that  you  should  be  provided 
with  the  aids  of  ancient  learning  to  explain  them  ; 


LECTURE    II.  31 

and  at  last  perhaps,  when  you  think  you  have 
discovered  its  meaning  and  its  vahie,  it  comes 
forth  an  imdisputed  forgery.  But  as  the  credibi- 
lity of  ancient  coins  is  an  inquiry  of  some  im- 
portance, and  will  admit,  in  the  course  of  it,  of 
much  and  useful  illustration,  I  shall  treat  it  at 
considerable  length  in  this  and  the  following  Lec- 
ture, at  some  times  confining  myself  to  examples, 
and  at  others  entering  into  a  more  extended  nar- 
rative, as  the  importance  of  the  subject  may  seem 
to  require.  This  only  I  will  state  by  anticipation, 
that  the  study  of  ancient  coins  will  not  add  many 
new  facts,  or  lead  to  many  new  conclusions  in  the 
history  of  past  times,  but  may  still  impart  clear- 
ness and  identity  to  what  we  have  already  learnt. 
It  will  not  afford  us  any  fresh  information  on 
secret  plans  of  policy,  or  the  rise  and  progress  of 
public  opinion ;  but  it  may  certainly  enable  us  to 
define  and  circumscribe  what  tradition  has  stated 
loosely,  and  to  speak  of  individuals  where  history 
has  made  men  act  in  masses.  The  difference  is 
something  like  the  case  of  an  army  of  modern 
times,  moving  in  enormous  bodies,  guided  by  some 
master  impulse,  and  accomplishing  one  conmion 
purpose,  but  frequently  involving  its  operations 
in  mist  and  darkness,  compared  with  the  simpli- 
city of  Homer's  warfare,  with  Acliilles  fighting 
for  the  dead  Patroclus,  and  Ajax  bidding  defiance 
to  the  gods. 


32  LECTURE    II. 

You  will  remember  mention  made  in  the  first 
book  of  Thucyclides  of  Corinthian  drachms,  where 
any  one  who  was  not  able  to  go  in  person,  was 
allowed  to  partake  in  the  advantages  of  the  settlers 
dejjarting  to  Epidamnus,  TievTYjKovTa  ^pa'x^fxag  Kara- 
Oevra  Kopivdiag^\  and  you  wovild  naturally  exjiect, 
from  the  ancient  fame  of  Corinth,  and  the  rank  it 
always  held  among  the  states  of  Greece,  that  the 
coins  of  that  city,  still  remaining,  would  be  nu- 
merous. The  same  expectation  might  naturally 
be  formed  respecting  Elis,  which  had  actually  ob- 
tained an  important  place  in  the  history  of  Grecian 
sculpture ;  and  also  respecting  Olynthus,  a  sea- 
port of  the  utmost  consequence  to  Athenian  com- 
merce, and  whose  name  has  had  the  good  fortune 
to  attach  itself  to  the  eloquence  of  Demosthenes. 
Of  these  towns,  and  some  others  equally  import- 
ant, it  has  been  generally  supposed  that  there  are 
but  few  coins  extant^;  whilst  the  coins  of  Thasus 
and  Dyrrachium,  of  the  smaller  states  of  Magna 
Grsecia,  and  of  places  in  Asia  Minor  scarcely  re- 
cognised in  history,  are  known  to  be  very  abun- 
dant ;  and  Sestini'^  mentions  a  rich  collection, 
which  consisted  entirely  of  the  coins  of  Parium  in 
Mysia.     To  add  to  the  capriciousness  of  such  dis- 

b  Thuc.  I.  27. 

c  Whether  this  supposition  is  correct  witli  regard  to  Elis 
iiuiy  be  seen  in  the  fifth  Lecture. 

'1  Lettere  et  Dissert.  Contin.  t.  II.  p.  55. 


LECTURE    II.  33 

coveries,  they  have,  in  many  instances,  been  made 
in  places  most  unsuitable  for  them ;  coins  of  Tha- 
sus,  for  instance,  having  been  found  in  great  num- 
bers in  Transylvania ;  and  gold  coins  of  Trajan, 
Hadrian,  and  Faustina,  in  the  most  beautiful  state 
of  preservation,  having  been  turned  up  by  the 
plough,  on  the  site  of  a  Hindu  temple,  about  a 
hundred  miles  distant  from  Madras^. 

The  notices  moreover  that  we  have  obtained 
from  ancient  writers  respecting  the  state  of  the 
coinage  before  their  own  times,  have,  for  the  most 
part,  been  either  so  scanty  as  to  be  of  little  value 
to  us,  or  so  inconsistent  with  fact,  or  with  other 
authorities,  as  to  throw  a  suspicion  upon  the  little 
information  that  remained.  Pliny  the  elder  has 
given  us  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  early  coinage  of 
Rome,  which  I  shall  have  to  consider  hereafter, 
and  which  is  totally  incapable  of  explanation  on 
any  known  principles  of  currency :  and  the  same 
writer f  has  told  us  that  Marius  Gratidianus,  a 
contemporary  and  friend  of  Cicero,  was  the  first 
person  who  invented  the  art  of  assaying  money ; 
♦although  we  learn  from  Livy^  that  the  Quaestors 
long  before  that  time  had  tried  Carthaginian  sil- 
ver, and  found  it  wanting. 

But  the  same  Livy  suggests  to  us  another  cause 
of  confusion,  which,  originating  in  pride  of  birth, 

e  Asiatic  Res.  vol.  II.  §.  19. 

f  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  XXXIII.  C.40.  s  Lib.  XXXII.  c.  2. 

D 


34  LECTURE    II. 

and  introducing  spurious  honours  into  the  records 
of  private  families,  made  its  way  into  public  offices, 
and  through  them  into  the  medals  and  monuments 
of  the  state.  "Vitiatam  memoriam,"  says  Livy^, 
"  funebribus  laudibus  reor,  falsisque  imaginum  ti- 
"  tulis,  dum  familia  ad  se  quaeque  famam  rerum 
"  gestarum  honorumque  fallente  mendacio  tra- 
"  hunt.  Inde  certe  et  singulorvim  gesta  et  publica 
"  monumenta  rerum  confusa."  Or  as  Cicero  has 
expressed  it  more  pointedly  in  the  Brutus',  "  his 
"  laudationibus  historia  rerum  nostrarum  facta 
"  est  mendosior.  Multa  enim  scripta  sunt  in  iis 
"  quae  facta  non  sunt,  falsi  triumphi,  plures  con- 
"  sulatus,  genera  etiam  falsa."  This  pride  of  birth 
then,  with  the  legendary  tales  suggested  by  it, 
was  not  confined  to  the  single  occasion  of  a  fu- 
neral, or  to  the  inscriptions  which  were  exhibited 
in  the  halls  of  private  families,  but  might  also  be 
displayed  in  the  titles  and  devices  of  the  public 
money,  whenever  a  proconsul  was  allowed  to  issue 
a  new  coinage  for  the  use  of  his  province,  or  the 
triumviri  monetales  sent  forth  their  own  insignia 
from  the  mint  of  Rome.  I  shall  mention  several 
instances  of  the  kind  hereafter,  in  connection  with 
anecdotes  recorded  by  ancient  writers ;  but  I  select 
one  for  the  present  occasion,  which  is  sufficiently 
marked,  as  a  specimen  of  the  whole  class,  to  shew 

h  Liv.  1.  ^^III.  c,  40.  i  C.  16. 


LECTURE    11.  35 

the  danger  we  incur  of  falling  into  great  mistakes, 
and  yet  possesses  other  tokens,  so  distinct  and  in- 
telligible, as  to  leave  no  doubt  remaining  in  its 
own  particular  case'^.  We  have  coins  bearing  on 
the  obverse  the  head  of  Alexander  the  Great,  en- 
circled with  a  diadem,  together  with  the  inscrip- 
tion AAEEANAPOT,  and  on  the  reverse  a  warrior 
on  horseback, with  the  inscription  KOINON  MAKE- 
AONON.  Now,  were  this  the  whole  account  that 
the  coins  in  question  afford  us  of  themselves,  we 
should  probably  have  assigned  them  to  some  pe- 
riod in  the  history  of  Macedon  connected  with 
that  illustrious  conqueror.  We  might  indeed  con- 
ceive that  the  coins  of  Alexander  would  extend 
themselves  as  far  as  his  conquests,  and  that,  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  talents  and  of  their  ad- 
miration, his  successors  would  still  retain  his 
name  and  impress  long  after  he  was  dead.  We 
find  too,  even  on  a  slight  acquaintance  with  nu- 
mismatic antiquities,  that  many  cities  of  Greece 
and  Asia  did  in  fact  adopt  the  badges  chosen  by 
him  for  the  coins  of  Macedon,  and  that  they  con- 
tinued to  be  in  use  to  an  advanced  period  of  the 
Roman  empire.  Still  if  the  coins,  that  I  am  con- 
sidering, had  given  us  no  further  tokens  of  their 
date,  we  should  probaljly  have  assigned  them  to 
Macedon,  without  fixing  upon  any  precise  time  in 

k   Sestini.  Contin.  torn.  III.   ]).  36. 
D  2 


36  LECTURE    11. 

Grecian  history  as  the  exact  period  they  belonged 
to.  Fortunately  we  find,  after  the  word  MAKE- 
AONON,  other  letters,  which  convey  a  reference  to 
Roman  history  of  the  time  of  the  empire,  and  be- 
neath the  figure  of  the  horse  the  three  Greek  nu- 
merals EOC,  expressing  the  date  275.  Now,  re- 
ferring this  date  back  to  the  battle  of  Actium,  the 
epoch  commonly  adopted  during  the  time  of  the 
empire,  we  are  brought  down  to  the  year  of  Rome 
998,  corresponding  with  the  year  245  of  the 
Christian  era,  the  precise  period  at  which  Philip 
the  elder,  who  then  occupied  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars,  was  celebrating  his  recent  victories  in  the 
east,  and  connecting  them,  as  we  may  suppose, 
with  the  ancient  fame  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
To  complete  the  proof,  if  confirmation  be  want- 
ing, we  meet  with  a  medal  having  the  same  re- 
verse in  all  its  particulars  of  inscription,  device, 
and  date,  but  bearing  on  the  obverse  the  titles  of 
this  very  Philip,  with  the  head  of  a  Roman  em- 
peror. So  then  these  coins,  which,  from  most  of 
their  tokens,  might  at  first  sight  have  been  as- 
signed to  a  much  earlier  period,  were  minted  for 
the  use  of  Macedon,  about  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  after  Christ,  in  obedience  to  the  mandate 
of  the  emperor  Philip,  and  displaying  some  al- 
leged connexion  between  that  emperor  and  the 
ancient  conqueror  of  the  east. 

Connected  with  the  difficulty  already  noticed. 


LECTURE    II.  37 

but  arising  probably  from  different  causes,  was 
the  practice  which  prevailed  not  only  at  Rome, 
but  also  in  other  places,  of  reissuing  the  coins  or 
restoring  the  badges  of  antecedent  monarchs.  It 
appears  ^  that  Titus,  Domitian,  and  Nerva  made 
it  a  maxim  of  their  policy  to  restore  the  monu- 
ments of  their  predecessors,  and  to  reissue  their 
coins  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  reputation  for 
themselves.  They  made  the  monarchy  more  ac- 
cejjtable  to  their  subjects  by  presenting  perpetually 
to  them  tokens  of  the  great  services  which  had 
been  done  to  their  country,  whether  in  arts  or  in 
arms,  by  their  former  sovereigns.  Trajan  adopted 
the  same  maxim,  but  carried  it  still  farther.  Re- 
lying on  the  acknowledged  wisdom  and  equity  of 
his  government,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  remind  his 
subjects  of  the  greatest  names  and  the  proudest 
jjeriods  of  the  republic,  exhibiting  on  his  coins  the 
inscriptions  and  badges  of  the  iEmilii,  the  Horatii, 
the  Mamilii,  the  Marcelli,  and  other  consular  fa- 
milies of  Rome,  and  contented  to  inscribe  his  own 
imperial  titles  round  them.  In  these  indeed  and 
other  instances  of  Roman  restitutio  whenever  the 
inscription  is  perfect,  there  is  no  difficulty  created 
by  them,  as  the  word  restituit  is  a  sufficient  ex- 
planation of  their  origin.  It  is  only  when  the 
inscriptions  of  the  two  sides  are  partially  obliter- 

'  See  M.  le  Beau  in  the  IVIemoirs  of  the  French  Academy, 
torn.  XXIV.  p.  203. 

D  3 


38  LECTURE    II. 

ated,  and  the  one  is  considered  as  a  continuation 
of  the  other,  that  these  coins  would  lead  us  into 
important  mistakes.  But  there  are  other  instances 
where  we  have  great  reason  to  suppose  that  many 
and  serious  errors  have  been  committed.     Span- 
heim  was  the  first  to  suggest  that  the  coins  bear- 
ing the  impress  of  Gelo,  of  Hiero,  and  of  Thero, 
who  lived   about  480  years  before  Christ,  were 
really  of  a  much  later  period ;  and  Eckhel,  in  a 
dissertation  on  the  subject"\  has  left  us  to  infer 
that  they  are  actually  of  Roman  origin,  minted 
for  the  use  of  Sicily  after  the  invasion  of  the  Ro- 
mans, and  intended  to  recommend  the  Roman  go- 
vernment to  its   new  subjects,  by  professing  to 
hold  forth  the  example  of  their  ancient  sovereigns. 
If  this  be  the  case,  what  becomes  of  the  statement 
made  by  Dutens"  on  the  authority  of  these  coins, 
that  the  fine  arts  flourished  in  Sicily  more  than 
two   centuries   before   they  attained  eminence  in 
Greece  ? 

But  suppose  the  coin  to  be  actually  before  us, 
and  to  be  free,  for  aught  we  know  or  can  conjec- 
ture, from  any  antecedent  difficulties ;  we  may  yet 
meet  with  insuperable  obstacles  in  our  endeavours 
to  decypher  it.  It  cannot  be  sujjposed  that  a  piece 
of  metal  (I  speak  especially  of  brass)  can  have  re- 
mained for  some  centuries  in  the  earth,  exposed, 

m   Vol.  I.    p.  251. 

n   ExpHc.  de  quelques  Mddailles^  pref.  p.  2. 


LECTURE    11.  39 

as  has  been  the  fate  of  a  great  number  of  ancient 
coins,  to  the  influence  of  many  corrosive  agents, 
without  presenting,  when  it  comes  to  light,  a  va- 
riety of  points  and  lines  and  colours,  which  had 
no  place  in  the  original  fabric.  However  carefully 
then  the  incrustation  may  be  removed,  how  can 
the  anxious  inquirer  hope  that  the  natural  che- 
mistry of  so  many  ages  will  have  left  any  traces 
of  ancient  workmanship?  or  if  there  are  still  some 
faint  lines  of  the  Grecian  or  the  Roman  die  to  be 
discovered,  how  can  he  convince  himself  that  a 
greater  number  of  them  has  not  entirely  perished? 
I  need  not  dwell  on  the  loss  which  might  ensue 
from  the  omission  of  a  single  letter,  or  the  porten- 
tous discovery  that  might  be  made  from  the  in- 
troduction of  any  other  in  the  place  of  it,  especially 
in  inscriptions  where  a  single  letter  is  made  to  re- 
present a  whole  word.  You  will  naturally  be  re- 
minded of  well-known  instances,  in  which  the  sci- 
ence of  the  antiquary  has  been  lampooned  by  in- 
genious men,  constructing  monstrous  speculations 
on  the  most  unpretending  facts  of  common  life  ; 
but  I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  an  example 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  Britain,  which, 
if  it  is  not  an  illustration  of  the  case  I  have  been 
considering,  will  certainly  belong  to  another  cause 
of  error  that  I  shall  shortly  lay  before  you. 

A  silver  coin  of  Carausius,  who  reigned  in  Bri- 
tain, and  was  colleague  with  Diocletian  and  Max- 

D  4 


40  LECTURE    II. 

imian  in  the  empire,  was  found  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago  at  Silchester ;  and  after  being  for  some 
time  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Meade,  was  presented 
by  him  to  the  cabinet  of  the  king  of  France".  On 
the  obverse  of  this  coin  we  have  the  name  and 
the  head  of  the  emperor  Carausius  ;  on  the  re- 
verse, a  female  head  in  profile,  within  a  garland ; 
inscription  ORIVNA  AVG.  Now,  from  the  con- 
nexion which  might  naturally  be  supposed  to  exist 
between  the  female  head  and  the  inscription  round 
it,  Dr.  Stukeley  and  others  have  satisfied  them- 
selves that  this  word  ORIVNA  was  the  name  of 
a  female  of  those  times,  and  that  such  female  was 
the  wife  of  Carausius.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
name  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  whole 
compass  of  ancient  history,  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence whatever  from  which  we  can  certainly  know 
that  Carausius  had  an  empress.  To  obviate  the 
difficulty,  Dr.  Stukeley  supposes  the  lady  in  ques- 
tion to  have  been  of  British  origin,  and  therefore 
unknown  to  Roman  annalists  ;  and  finds  out  a 
word  in  Welsh  somewhat  similar  in  sound,  and 
denoting  "  whiteness,"  or  "  fairness,"  which,  he 
thinks,  might  easily  have  become  the  name  of  a 
British  female.  Another  writer,  whose  gravity  I 
should  suppose  to  be  assumed,  had  I  not  found 
that  his  paper  was  thought  deserving  of  a  grave 

o   Dr.  Stukeley,  Palae.  Brit. 


LECTURE    II.  41 

refutation,  fancied  that  ORIVNA  was  an  ancient 
goddess,  of  the  same  nature  with  the  constellation 
Orion,  but  of  the  other  sex ;  and  displayed  some 
learning  in  his  endeavours  to  connect  the  influence 
of  the  stars  with  the  history  of  Carausius.  But  it 
is  probable,  after  all,  that  this  ORIVNA  is  simply 
a  mistake  for  the  word  FORTVNA ;  and  the 
more  so,  as  we  actually  find  the  inscription  FOR- 
TVNA AVGVSTI  on  other  medals  of  Carausius. 
Of  this  Dr.  Stukeley  was  well  aware,  and  meets  it 
by  observing,  that  the  female  head  in  question  did 
not  appear  to  him  to  bear  about  it  any  of  the 
known  characteristics  of  Fortune.  But  Dr.  Stuke- 
ley, in  a  much  greater  degree  than  his  brethren, 
had  a  passion  for  the  marvellous,  and  a  habit  of 
attaching  himself  to  opinions,  which  were  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  proof. 

Connected  with  the  case  I  have  mentioned,  is 
another  cause  of  confusion,  arising  from  the  errors 
and  omissions  that  were  made  at  the  ancient 
mints.  It  is  not  surprising,  for  the  coins  of  modern 
nations  will  furnish  us  with  many  parallel  cases, 
that  the  same  word  should  be  written  differently, 
even  at  the  same  period,  especially  as  the  die 
would  constantly  require  to  be  renewed  ;  but  if 
this  were  all,  no  person  of  common  experience 
would  be  likely  to  be  misled  by  it.  There  could 
be  no  mistake  respecting  Egypt,  even  though  the 
Greek  word  were  sometimes  written  AIFinTOS; 


42  LECTURE    II. 

or  ill  the  word  FIDES,  even  though  the  first 
vowel  were  sometimes  written  E  ;  or  in  OPITI- 
MVS,  written  incorrectly  for  OPTIMVS.  But 
this  is  not  all.  There  are  instances  of  inscriptions 
utterly  unconnected  with  the  devices  they  accom- 
pany, and  of  others  again  that  admit  of  no  expla- 
nation for  the  strange  collection  of  letters  they 
present  to  us,  unless  we  suppose  that  the  graver 
was  negligent  in  his  work,  and  joined  together,  and 
perhaps  on  the  occurrence  of  some  common  word, 
fragments  of  two  different  inscriptions.  The  case 
is  certainly  conceivable,  and  I  will  mention  one 
example  of  it,  without  dwelling  on  any  of  the 
other  varieties  of  error,  which  might  be  traced 
gradually  downward  from  tlie  blending  of  two 
different  inscriptions  to  the  misspelling  of  a  single 
word.  To  any  one  desirous  of  further  materials 
on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  a  dissertation  of 
Froelich,  in  his  Quatuor  Tentamina,  will  supply 
abundant  information.  We  have  a  brass  of  Titus, 
which  bears  on  its  reverse  the  words  AERES 
AVGVSTI,  with  the  figure  of  a  female  holding  a 
balance  in  her  right  hand.  M.  de  Peyresc,  as  we 
learn  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Academy  p, 
supposed  the  word  AERES  to  be  a  mistake  for 
the  word  CERES,  which  is  certainly  to  be  found 
on  other  coins  of  the  same  emperor ;  forgetting 

p  Tom.  XII.  p.  304. 


LECTURE    II.  43 

that  the  female  figure  that  accompanies  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  goddess  of  Plenty,  but  of  Justice. 
M.  de  Boze,  however,  persuaded  himself  that  (sres 
was  at  one  time  used  for  ces,  as  plehes  was  for 
jilehs,  confirming  his  opinion  by  several  ingenious 
observations,  and  supposing  the  obsolete  word  to 
be  retained  only  to  denote  an  imaginary  being, 
the  goddess  of  the  mint,  such  as  might  well  be 
represented  by  the  figure  with  the  balance.  Now 
it  happens  that  in  the  same  year  in  which  this 
coin  was  struck,  were  minted  two  sets  of  coins  of 
the  same  emperor,  the  one  bearing  AEQVITAS 
AVGVST  with  a  figure  of  Justice,  the  other 
CERES  AVGVST  with  a  figure  of  Plenty.  The 
graver,  therefore,  says  Eckhel,  had  cut  the  word 
AEQVITAS  as  far  as  its  second  letter,  and  then 
unwittingly  going  on  from  the  same  letter  in  the 
word  CERES,  blended  together  the  two  inscrip- 
tions. 

After  the  same  manner  it  is  not  unusual  to 
meet  with  coins  occupying  the  same  place  among 
coins  in  general,  which  is  held  by  codices  palimp- 
sesti,  or  rescripti,  among  ancient  MSS.  You  are 
well  aware  that  MSS.  are  often  found,  in  which  a 
monkish  legend,  for  instance,  has  been  written  on 
some  half-obliterated  classic,  so  that  sentences  of 
Cicero  might  discover  themselves  in  the  midst  of 
the  wonders  of  martyrology,  like  granite  cropping 
out  in  a  stratum  of  chalk,  or  like  iEneas  astonish- 


44  LECTURE    II. 

ing  Deiphobus   by   his   appearance   amongst   the 
shades  : 

qu«  te  fortuna  fatigat 

Ut  tristes  sine  sole  domos,  loca  turbida^  adires  ? 

In  the  same  manner  there  are  coins,  where  the 
impressions  of  different  periods,  and  even  remote 
countries,  are  blended  together,  so  as  to  embarrass 
the  inquirer  with  strange  devices  and  incongruous 
titles.  In  all  the  mints  of  antiquity,  where  the 
impression  was  made  by  the  hammer,  and  might 
require  rej^eated  blows  to  give  it  sufficient  promi- 
nence, cases  would  occur  where  the  flan,  or  piece 
of  metal,  might  be  shaken  from  its  proper  place 
during  the  operation,  and  so  receive  repeated 
and  confused  impressions  from  its  die.  Instances 
of  this  kind  are  not  uncommon ;  but  they  are 
likely  to  be  useless,  rather  than  perplexing.  The 
case  I  am  now  concerned  with  is  different  both  in 
its  origin  and  in  its  importance.  As  in  the  mo- 
dern world  there  are  reasons  for  melting  coin 
back  into  bullion,  and  making  it  a  mere  article  of 
merchandise,  so  also  there  were  reasons  in  an- 
cient times  for  effacing  the  original  impressions 
of  the  coins,  and  giving  them  new  inscriptions 
and  devices.  More  especially  at  those  periods 
when  there  was  a  rapid  succession  to  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars,  and  each  emperor  obtained  posses- 
sion of  it  by  the  overthrow  of  an  unpopular  pre- 
decessor, their  coins  also  partook  in  the  confusion 


LECTURE    II.  45 

created  by  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  the  times. 
AVhen  a  general  was  ambitious  of  the  purple,  and 
before  he  had  obtained  possession  of  it,  it  would 
be  necessary  for  him  to  have  large  sums  of  money 
at  his  disposal,  and  his  bold  designs  would  seem 
likely  to  be  promoted  if  he  stamped  them  with  his 
own  effigy.  This  was  done,  as  we  learn  from  Taci- 
tus^, by  Vespasian  at  Antioch,  among  the  first 
preparations  that  he  made  for  gaining  possession 
of  the  throne ;  and  we  may  hereafter  see  reason 
for  understanding  why,  as  Tacitus  also  informs 
us,  the  issue  consisted  entirely  of  gold  and  silver. 
In  such  cases,  together  with  metal  which  had 
never  yet  been  under  the  die,  coins  of  earlier  date, 
and  of  all  descriptions,  were  brought  to  the  mint, 
and  whenever  the  size  and  other  circumstances 
would  admit  of  it,  were  i)laced  without  alteration 
beneath  the  hammer,  and  reissued  with  their  new 
impression.  I  might  occupy  you  with  many  ex- 
amples of  this  case  ;  but  the  mention  of  Antioch 
and  the  recollections  of  Judaea  remind  me  of  a 
singular  one,  which  has  been  well  illustrated  by 
Barthelemy  and  Eckhel'",  and  is  a  remarkable  in- 
stance of  the  practice  I  am  noticing.  It  was  ori- 
ginally a  silver  coin  of  Trajan,  and  traces  are  still 
perceptible  of  the   head  of  that  emperor  on  the 

4  Hist.  II.  82. 

«•  Ac.  Insc.  torn.  III.  p.  1H4.    Eekh.  vol.  II.  p.  471. 


46  LECTURE    II. 

one  side,  and  of  some  of  his  titles  on  the  other  ; 
but  it  was  afterwards  stamped  with  Hebrew  de- 
vices and  Hebrew  letters,  and  is  believed  to  have 
been  reissued  by  Simeon  Barchocebas,  when  the 
Jews  endeavoured  to  re-establish  themselves  as  an 
independent  state,  in  the  days  of  Hadrian.  The 
history  of  this  coin,  if  we  were  at  all  able  to  fol- 
low it,  would  lead  us  among  subjects  of  the  deep- 
est interest,  and  through  a  most  eventful  period. 

The  only  remaining  cause  of  confusion  which  I 
shall  mention  in  my  present  Lecture,  arises  from 
the  fabrications  of  ancient  forgers.  The  punish- 
ment of  death  was  denounced  by  the  laws  of  Solon 
against  the  crime  of  forgery,  and  Demosthenes  % 
from  whom  we  obtain  our  knowledge  of  the  fact, 
informs  us  that  the  same  punishment  was  inflicted 
in  his  own  times.  The  crime  of  forgery  was  vi- 
sited by  the  same  punishment  among  the  Romans; 
and  in  order  to  increase  to  their  utmost  extent  the 
dangers  of  the  offence,  such  temptations  were  of- 
fered for  the  detection  of  the  offender,  that,  in  the 
later  periods  of  the  empire,  slaves  were  invited  to 
inform  against  their  masters^  with  a  promise  of 
the  Roman  franchise.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to 
adduce  further  evidence  of  such  a  practice.     We 

s  Demosth.  con.  Timoc.  ad  fin.  p.  ^65  ;  et  iid  Lept.  ad  fin. 
p.  508. 

t  Cod.  Theod.  lil).  IX.  tit.  21.  §.  2. 


LECTURE    II.  47 

need  only  admit  the  existence  of  falsehood  at  all 
periods  of  the  world,  and  we  cannot  question  the 
coexistence  of  that  especial  form  of  it,  which  is 
calculated  to  relieve  the  most  pressing  wants,  and 
is  suggested  by  the  most  evident  temptations.  A 
more  important  consideration  for  us  is,  how  far 
such  forgeries  can  be  supposed  likely  to  embarrass 
the  study  of  antiquities  ?  We  might  meet  with 
spurious  coins  in  considerable  numbers,  and  we 
might  immediately  be  led  to  reflect  on  the  per- 
plexities they  occasioned  in  the  currency  of  an- 
cient times.  But  if  from  the  quantity  of  them 
they  should  appear  to  have  issued,  not  from  the 
retreats  of  private  Jcdsarii,  but  from  the  public 
mint  of  a  fraudulent  government,  what  reason 
could  there  be  for  sup^iosing  that  such  a  currency 
would  be  less  accurate  in  its  dates  and  incidents, 
and  less  available  for  the  purposes  of  history,  than 
other  contemporaneous  coin,  however  genuine  ? 
Or  again,  if  we  suppose  them  to  be  the  issue  of 
private  forgery,  why,  even  then,  should  Ave  expect 
them  to  be  inaccurate  in  those  intelligible  matters 
of  inscription  and  device,  where  every  one  could 
be  a  judge  of  the  mistake,  and  mistake  nnght  so 
easily  be  avoided  ?  To  these  inquiries  we  might 
answer  sufficiently  with  the  admitted  fact,  that 
whenever  a  denarius"  has   been   opposed  to  our 

"   Kck.  vol.  I.   ]).  117.    Prol. 


48  LECTURE    II. 

common  authorities  in  history,  chronology,  or  ge- 
neral literature,  it  has,  in  most  instances,  been 
found  to  contain  a  heart  of  copper  under  an  ex- 
ternal covering  of  silver.  Of  the  vast  quantity  of 
spurious  coins  issued  in  the  times  of  the  Flavian 
emperors,  numbers  of  which  may  be  seen  in  every 
extensive  cabinet,  Eckhel^  observes,  "  Hujus  in- 
"  genii  numos  qui  volet  in  scribenda  historia  cri- 
"  tica  vades  adhibere,  etsi  certae  sint  antiquitatis, 
"  is  profecto  historiam  veram  consarcinabit,  sed 
"  talem,  qualem  Lucianus  per  jocum  commentus 
"  est."  And,  indeed,  if  we  confine  ourselves  for 
the  moment  to  the  case  of  the  Roman  empire,  we 
shall  find  in  it  circumstances  sufficient  to  give  rise 
to  extensive  forgeries,  and  to  make  it  probable 
that  great  mistakes  would  be  committed  by  them. 
From  an  early  period,  apparently  before  the  com- 
mencement of  the  empire,  the  right  of  coinage, 
which  had  previously  been  exercised  by  many 
towns  of  Italy,  was  restricted  to  the  capital ;  and 
in  the  time  of  Tiberius  it  seems  to  have  been 
taken  away  in  like  manner  from  all  the  western 
provinces.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  then  that  either 
rapacious  officers  or  private  individuals  might  pre- 
pare a  spurious  currency  for  their  distant  settle- 
ments ;  and,  if  so,  that  they  would  be  less  skilful 
in  the  general  execution  of  the  coin,  and  less  ac- 

^  Eck.  vol.  VI.  p.  396. 


LECTURE    II.  49 

curate  in  those  successions  of  consul,  tribune,  em- 
peror, which  form,  for  the  same  piece  of  money, 
so  many  different  attestations  of  its  date.  Jerome 
makes  mention  of  a  cave  in  Upper  Egypt  with 
the  implements  of  coining  discovered  in  it,  which 
was  believed  to  have  been  the  resort  of  Roman 
forgers  in  the  times  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra y. 
It  is  a  fact  recorded  by  Dio  Cassius  ^,  that  Cara- 
calla  issued  a  spurious  coinage  for  the  use  of 
Rome,  but  was  compelled  to  mint  genuine  pieces 
for  the  Barbarians,  who  were  pensioned  by  him. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  those  same  Barbarians, 
who  were  so  skilful  in  detecting  forgery,  sent  the 
Roman  denarii  back  again  in  exchange  for  what 
they  wanted,  but  in  a  new  and  adulterated  form. 
We  have  reason  to  know  that  the  Dacians  had  at 
a  much  earlier  period  been  practised  in  the  art  of 
forging,  and  we  may  confidently  ascribe  to  them 
many  of  the  spurious  coins  that  we  meet  with  of 
Philip  of  Macedon. 

But  it  is  time  for  me  to  shew,  by  an  example, 
that  difficulties  have  actually  been  created  by  the 
frauds  of  ancient  Jcilsar/L  Froelich  has  noticed  a 
coin  of  Lucius  Verus,  the  colleague  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  bearing  the  name  and  profile  of  Verus 
on  the  obverse,  but  assigning  to  him  on  the  other 


y  See  Eckhel,  vol.  I.   Proleg.  p.  114. 
z  Hist.  LXXVII.  14. 


50  LECTURE    II. 

side  titles  and  teniis  of  office  which,  we  have  rea- 
son to  know,  never  belonged  to  him.  He  is  styled, 
for  instance,  Pontifex  Maximus,  a  title  which,  at 
that  time,  was  given  only  to  Aurelius ;  and  Pater 
Patriae,  which  even  Aurelius  did  not  assume  till 
after  the  death  of  Verus.  On  closer  examination, 
and  comparison  with  other  coins,  we  find  that  the 
reverse  is  in  fact  an  exact  copy  of  the  titles  and 
honours  of  Com  modus,  as  he  held  them  eighteen 
years  after  the  death  of  Verus,  and  that  the  forgery 
has  brought  together  the  inscriptions  of  two  dif- 
ferent emperors.  Another  instance,  noticed  by  the 
same  writer,  is  of  a  coin  of  Caracalla,  where  he  is 
styled  Britannicus  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  is  given  the  date  of  a  year,  at  which  Cara- 
calla had  not  yet  departed  for  Britain,  and  had 
no  claim  to  the  title  of  Britannicus.  The  mistake 
in  this  instance  is  of  the  same  nature  with  the 
last,  and  both  the  coins  are  found,  on  examina- 
tion, to  be  of  copper,  overlaid  with  a  covering  of 
silver. 

The  causes  of  confusion,  then,  which  I  have 
already  noticed  as  belonging  to  the  study  of  an- 
cient coins,  are,  the  great  but  capricious  variety 
of  them,  the  perplexed  and  inconsistent  accounts 
of  them  received  from  ancient  authors,  the  ana- 
chronisms introduced  upon  them  by  the  vanity  or 
the  policy  of  those  who  minted  them,  the  extreme 
difficulty  in  many  cases  of  deciphering  them,  the 


LECTURE    II.  51 

mistakes  committed  by  the  ancient  monetarii,  the 
practice  of  stamping  coins  with  a  new  die  without 
effacing  the  old  impression,  and  lastly,  the  great 
extent  to  which  the  ancients  carried  the  crime  of 
forgery. 


E  2 


LECTURE  III. 


Farther  difficulties  of  the  subject — IModern  forgers — 
Forgers  of  the  sixteenth  century — More  recent  forgers — Dif- 
ferent methods  of  fabrication — By  changing  the  inscription — 
By  giving  a  new  impression  to  one  side — By  interchanging 
two  reverses — By  cutting  new  dies  after  ancient  models — By 
contriving  improbable  accidents — Greek  coin  of  Cicero — Pro- 
per use  of  coins  as  evidence — The  object  and  extent  of  it — 
Examples  from  the  coins  of  Thurium — From  Roman  coins 
bearing  the  letters  S-C — From  a  coin  of  Larissa,  referring  to 
a  passage  of  the  Iliad — From  a  coin  of  Agathocles — From  a 
coin  of  Himera. 


A  HE  difficulties  I  have  already  noticed,  as  em- 
barrassing the  study  of  ancient  coins,  and  dimi- 
nishing their  value  in  the  elucidation  of  ancient 
history,  might  appear  sufficient  to  deter  us  from 
any  lengthened  prosecution  of  the  subject.  But 
the  most  formidable  difficulty  still  remains,  and  is 
of  a  nature  calculated,  beyond  any  that  I  have 
mentioned,  to  throw  suspicion  upon  all  numis- 
matic testimony.  The  falsarii  of  ancient  times 
have  been  followed  and  surpassed  by  modern 
forgers.  There  certainly  was  inducement  enough 
to  coin  a  spurious  drachma  or  denarius,  when  it 
was  still  to  be  used  as  common  money ;  even 
though  the  profit  on  each  separate  piece  was 
small,  and  the  danger  was  considerable.  But 
when  it  ceased  to  be  the  money  of  common  circu- 
lation, and  was  purchased  for  the  cabinets  of  the 
curious ;  when  it  became  an  article  of  costly  lux- 
ury, and  all  legal  penalties  were  at  an  end  re- 
specting it ;  the  inducement  to  fabricate  it  was  in- 
creased in  an  enormous  degree.  We  find  accord- 
ingly that,  independently  of  those  common  frauds 
whose  existence  may  be  traced  at  all  periods,  there 
are  certain  times  and  names  of  forging  which  are 
peculiarly  distinguished  in  the  modern  history  of 
ancient  coins.     Omitting,  then,  all  mention  of  the 

E  4 


56  LECTURE  III. 

common  impostures  practised  equally  in  all  the 
countries  of  Europe,  and  in  many  parts  of  Asia, 
wherever  collections  of  ancient  coins  are  made,  or 
travellers  are  to  be  found  inquiring  for  them,  I 
will  merely  notice  a  few  of  the  most  notorious 
among  modern  Jrilsarii,  and  then  pass  on  to  de- 
scribe the  degree  of  excellence  attained  by  them. 
Fortunately  for  me,  the  subject  has  been  fully 
treated,  though  with  different  degrees  of  skilful- 
ness,  by  Rinck,  Beauvais,  Eckhel,  Sestini,  and  se- 
veral others,  and  my  only  employment  will  be  to 
select  and  abridge. 

The  two  artists,  known  under  the  name  of  the 
two  Paduans%  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  forged  many  coins,  espe- 
cially of  the  twelve  first  emperors,  which  are  as 
well  known  among  ancient  medals,  as  Livy  was 
among  ancient  authors,  for  the  Patavinity  of  their 
style.  At  subsequent  periods,  Dervieux  at  Flo- 
rence, Carteron  in  Holland,  and  Cogornier  at  Ly- 
ons, enjoyed  the  same  fraudulent  preeminence. 
Ennery  mentions  a  person  of  the  name  of  La 
Roche*',  who  lived  at  an  obscure  village  in  the 
south  of  France,  and  forged  some  of  the  most  re- 
markable   medals   of  a   well-known   French   col- 

^  Vico  mentions  seven  other  artists  living  at  the  same  time, 
who  were  skilful  in  the  imitation  of  ancient  medals.  Among 
them  was  Benvenuto  Cellini. — Delle  Medaglie,  ]).  67- 

b  See  Eckh.  vol.  I.  p.  119.  Prol.  note. 


LECTURE  III.  57 

lector ;  and  in  more  modern  times  we  have  had 
Weber  at  Florence,  Galli  at  Rome^,  Becker  on 
the  Rhine,  Caprara  at  Smyrna,  and  several  others, 
who  seem  to  have  acquired  more  reputation  by 
their  skill  than  they  have  lost  by  their  dishonesty, 
and  have  obtained  for  a  work  of  imposture  the 
name  of  an  ingenious  and  elegant  invention. 

The  first  method  was  to  retouch  an  ancient 
coin  by  the  aid  of  the  graver.  This  was  done,  not 
merely  to  give  a  greater  degree  of  precision  or 
prominence  to  the  actual  lines  and  letters  of  an 
ancient  coin,  but  to  obtain  for  it  a  value  to  which 
it  had  no  claim  whatever,  by  changing  the  inscrip- 
tion altogether,  and  transferring  it  from  a  name, 
the  medals  of  which  were  abundant,  to  one,  of 
which  they  were  hitherto  unknown,  or  at  least 
uncommon.  It  has  been  found  to  be  most  easily 
practised  upon  the  brasses  of  the  Roman  em- 
perors, particularly  those  which  were  minted  in 
the  eastern  jjrovinces ;  and  cases  accordingly  have 
occurred  in  which  a  Claudius  has  been  found  con- 
verted into  an  Otho,  a  Domna  into  a  Didia  Clara, 
and  a  Macrinus  into  a  Pescennius'^  To  make,  for 
instance,  a  coin  of  Pertinax :  choose  out  a  well- 
conditioned  Marcus  Aurelius,  particularly  one 
where  the  reverse  bears  a  cotisecratio,  a  ceremony 

'^  See  Henniii.  El^/mens,  vol.  I.  p.  27H. 
d  Eck.  vol.  I.   p.  124.  Pn.l. 


58  LECTURE   III. 

which  both  those  emperors  had  the  fortune  to 
undergo ;  then  apply  your  graver  to  the  obverse, 
make  the  beard  and  nose  of  Aurelius  a  little  more 
decided,  alter  his  inscription  according  to  your 
wants,  conceal  the  traces  of  your  graver  by  a  false 
verdigris  or  varnish, — the  transformation  is  com- 
plete, and  a  worthless  Aurelius  becomes  an  in- 
valuable Pertinax. 

There  are,  however,  difficulties  belonging  to 
this  kind  of  fraud,  which  the  artist  cannot  reason- 
ably expect  to  overcome.  Supposing  that  the  ac- 
tual lines  and  figures  of  the  coin  have  been  such 
as  to  allow  of  the  intended  change,  without  ex- 
posing the  contrivance  of  it  on  the  first  examina- 
tion ;  still  the  contrast  between  the  native  charac- 
ters of  the  coin,  and  the  lines  of  the  trim  and  stiff 
imposture  is  much  too  great  to  escape  detection. 
This  method,  therefore,  which  was  at  one  time 
the  favourite  practice  of  the  Italians,  appears  now 
to  have  fallen  into  disuse. 

It  requires,  however,  a  touch  of  extreme  preci- 
sion, and  an  eye  of  exquisite  discernment,  to  judge 
rightly  in  all  cases  of  this  kind,  and  more  parti- 
cularly to  distinguish  between  the  genuine  rust  of 
antiquity  and  the  modern  varnish. 

Another  method  of  augmenting  the  value  of  an 
ancient  coin  is,  to  retain  one  of  its  impressions  in 
its  original  state,  but  to  submit  the  other  face  to 
a  new  die,  and  so  to  obtain  for  the  coin  the  ap- 


LECTURE   III.  59 

pearance  of  being  at  once  genuine  and^  unique. 
Thus  a  Julius  Caesar  has  had  its  reverse  impressed 
with  the  well-known  tidings,  Veni,  vicli,  vici;  and 
a  Hadrian,  in  like  manner,  with  the  help  of  a 
modern  die,  has  borne  the  legend,  Exj^editio  Ju- 
claica :  but  here  again  there  is  a  striking  contrast 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  coin,  in  all  those  nice 
distinctions,  by  means  of  which  a  practised  eye 
can  identify  the  characters  of  any  given  time  or 
country. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  increase  still  farther  the 
difficulty  of  distinguishing  between  a  genuine  and 
a  spurious  coin,  the  contrivance  has  been  adopted 
of  cutting  two  genuine  coins  asunder,  and  inter- 
changing their  reverses.  It  is  plain,  that  in  this 
instance,  by  effecting  a  new  combination  of  titles 
and  devices,  the  value  of  the  coin  would  be  greatly 
enhanced  in  the  estimation  of  the  collector,  and 
all  his  common  criteria,  connected  with  the  metal 
and  the  workmanship,  might  be  dexterously 
eluded.  And,  lest  it  should  not  be  possible  to  join 
the  two  portions  together  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
evade  the  vigilance  of  his  eye,  whilst  it  was  cau- 
tiously exploring  the  edge  of  the  coin,  the  strata- 
gem has  been  tried  of  setting  the  one  portion 
within  the  other,  and  so  presenting  the  line  of 
junction,  not  at  the  edge,  but  upon  the  surface. 
Coins  of  undoubted  antiquity  are  frequently  found 
with  such  a  circle  or  rim  upon  them,  and  this  fact 


60  LECTURE   III. 

increases  in  a  great  degree  the  difficulty  of  detect- 
ing the  kind  of  fabrication  we  are  now  consider- 
ing. It  is  only  the  keen  and  practised  eye  of  an 
adept,  searching  the  suspected  outline  with  a  fine- 
ly-pointed instrument,  comparing  the  two  surfaces 
with  each  other,  and  aided  by  an  extensive  ac- 
quaintance with  ancient  literature,  that  can  be 
suflficient  to  detect  a  fraud  presenting  so  many  of 
the  tokens  of  truth.  The  two  surfaces  may  seem 
to  be  precisely  of  the  same  ancient  metal ;  they 
may  have  been  united  together  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  appear  to  be  inseparable ;  and  if  the  artist 
have  been  prudent  in  his  choice,  some  new  fact 
may  be  alleged,  which  cannot  easily  be  refuted, 
because  all  history  is  silent  respecting  it.  The 
spurious  coin  may  be  considered  as  a  genuine 
relic  of  antiquity,  some  learned  dissertation  may 
be  written,  with  much  collateral  evidence,  on  the 
important  fact  disclosed  by  it,  and  some  time  may 
finally  elapse  before  the  imposture  is  exposed. 

Other  artists,  however,  more  adventurous,  and 
possessing  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
practices  and  the  literature  of  the  ancients,  have 
ventured  to  make  new  dies  and  to  issue  new  coins 
for  the  admiration  of  the  curious.  The  methods 
previously  mentioned  were  practised  generally  on 
brasses,  as  affording  a  greater  variety  for  such 
changes,  and  admitting  of  the  disguise  of  varnish  to 
imitate  the  rust  of  antiquity;  but  the  method  now 


LECTURE    III.  61 

considered  has  been  adopted  in  the  case  of  gold 
and  silver,  where  the  number  was  comparatively- 
small,  and  a  false  varnish  could  not  be  employed. 
And  in  order  to  elude  discovery,  the  artist  in 
many  instances  exercised  the  greatest  discernment 
in  the  coins  that  he  took,  whether  as  models  or 
only  as  guides,  for  the  formation  of  his  own  die, 
in  the  preparation  of  the  metal,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  hammer,  and  in  bringing  about  the 
accidents,  such  as  clefts  or  other  imperfections, 
which  frequently  occurred  in  ancient  times  during 
the  process  of  minting.  Many  of  the  fabrications 
indeed  made  in  this  manner  have  been  so  coarse 
and  unskilful,  that  they  have  never  obtained  a 
place  in  any  distinguished  cabinet ;  but  there  are 
others,  on  the  contrary,  so  ably  executed,  that 
they  have  perpetually  been  subjects  of  debate,  and 
have  given  rise  to  a  large  body  of  evidence,  not 
to  be  found  in  all  other  branches  of  knowledge, 
under  the  name  of  disputed  testimony.  By  the 
aid  of  dealers,  coins  of  this  and  other  doubtful 
characters  have  been  taken  to  places,  which  ap_ 
peared  to  be  the  most  remote  from  all  means  of 
fabrication ;  and  some  convenient  adventure  has 
been  contrived  for  the  discovery  of  them.  M.  Hen- 
nin  became  acquainted  with  a  jeweller  in  Italy, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  a  man  of  considerable  in- 
formation, although  he  readily  purchased  many  of 
the  coins  discarded  by  Hennin  himself  as  worth- 


62  LECTURE    III. 

less.  This  jeweller  had  in  fact  established  him- 
self at  Tunis,  and  gave  a  new  value  to  the  dis- 
carded coins,  by  burying  them  among  the  ruins  of 
Carthage,  and  then  by  dexterous  surmises  en- 
abling some  unwary  traveller  to  discover  them. 
Imagine  some  lettered  Englishman  seated,  as  he 
fancies,  on  the  same  stone  on  which  Marius  sat, 
gazing,  as  he  believes,  on  coins  which,  till  he  had 
the  good  fortune  to  disinter  them,  had  never  seen 
the  light  since  the  days  of  Scipio,  and  then  re- 
turning homeward  to  discover  that  fraud  is  often 
skilful,  and  honesty  as  often  credulous. 

I  have  mentioned  some  of  the  principal  me- 
thods by  which  modern  falsarii  have  embarrassed 
the  study  of  ancient  coins,  selecting  those  me- 
thods especially  which  would  impair  the  value  of 
them  in  their  connection  with  ancient  history. 
And  perhaps  it  would  appear  from  the  whole  sur- 
vey, that  in  a  subject,  where  so  much  is  avowedly 
imposture,  no  one  portion  can  escape  without  in- 
jury to  its  reputation.  And  this  too  the  rather, 
because  to  common  enquirers  the  coin  itself  is  in- 
accessible, and  their  knowledge  of  it  must  be  ob- 
tained through  the  medium  of  writers,  who  might 
on  their  part  be  inaccurate,  or  even  be  deter- 
mined to  practise  deception  upon  their  readers. 
We  have,  for  instance,  explanations  afforded  to  us 
in  the  works  of  Hardouin,  which  seem  to  depend 
entirely  on  the  most  improbable  conjectures,  and 


LECTURE    III.  63 

coins  recorded  and  described  by  Goltz,  of  which  it 
is  now  commonly  believed  that  they  never  had 
existence. 

But  before  I  quit  the  subject  I  will  notice,  by 
way  of  example,  a  coin  which  might  naturally  be 
expected  to  create  much  interest,  and  has  been 
held  by  many  numismatic  writers  to  be  invalu- 
able ;  but  which  is  to  many  others  an  object  of 
the  greatest  suspicion.  It  is  a  Greek  coin  of 
Cicero,  bearing  the  reputed  head  of  the  orator 
himself,  and  purporting  to  be  minted  at  Magnesia. 
The  history  of  this  coin  has  been  given  by  Paci- 
audi  in  his  Animadversiones  Philologicae^;  from 
which  we  learn  that  in  the  year  1598  it  was  of- 
fered to  Orsini,  more  commonly  known  as  Fulvius 
Ursinus,  by  a  dealer  at  Bologna,  and  was  pur- 
chased by  him  at  a  high  price,  after  much  and 
anxious  negociation.  It  passed  afterwards,  on  the 
death  of  Ursinus,  into  the  Farnese  collection,  but 
without  appearing  to  have  been  acknowledged 
as  genuine  by  its  former  owner.  A  head  of  Ci- 
cero, taken  from  this  coin,  was  prefixed  to  several 
learned  works,  and  more  especially  to  the  edition 
of  Cicero  published  at  Leyden  by  Gronovius  *. 
Since  the  time  of  Paciaudi  another  coin  of  the 
same  die  has  been  noticed  by  Winkelman,  and  a 
third  has  come  into  the  possession  of  Cousinery,  a 

e  P.  52.  f  See  Eck.  vol.  V.  p.  32H. 


64  LECTURE    III. 

celebrated  French  collector.  Other  coins  bearing 
the  head  of  Cicero,  but  from  different  dies,  are  ad- 
mitted on  all  sides  to  be  forgeries,  and  the  three 
coins  in  question,  in  addition  to  other  indications 
of  fraud,  labour  under  the  suspicious  fact  of  their 
having  all  come  to  light  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Rome,  though  purporting  to  be  minted  in  Asia 
Minor. 

Nevertheless,  great  and  perplexing  as  are  the 
difficulties  that  beset  us  in  the  application  of  an- 
cient coins  to  the  purposes  of  history,  we  must  re- 
member that  the  assistance  to  be  expected  from 
them  vt^as  confined,  in  limine,  within  very  narrow 
limits,  and  that  whatever  skill  and  knowledge 
may  have  been  employed  in  forging  them,  the 
same  degree  of  skill,  and  probably  a  greater  de- 
gree of  knowledge,  have  been  exerted  in  ascertain- 
ing their  real  value.  I  have  already  stated  that 
ancient  coins  cannot  prudently  be  used  to  add  new 
facts  or  conclusions  to  our  knowledge,  but  only  to 
confirm,  or  to  particularize,  what  history  has  al- 
ready taught  us;  and,  confined  within  these  limits, 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  them  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  clear  and  substantial  vision, 
which  a  well-adjusted  lens  conveys  to  an  imper- 
fect sight.  The  distant  objects  of  history,  which 
hitherto  had  passed  before  us  as  shadows  or  chi- 
mseras,  become  clear  and  intelligible  facts ;  and 
the   events   of  more  recent  times,   however  con- 


LECTURE    III.  65 

fused  they  were  as  parts  of  a  general  narrative, 
stand  forth  distinct  and  identical,  like  friends  re- 
cognized after  a  long  absence.  We  must  remem- 
ber too,  that  the  very  knowledge  of  these  difficul- 
ties presupposes  the  power  of  disentangling  them  ; 
that  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  fraud  have  been 
followed  step  by  step  through  all  their  windings, 
and  wherever  they  have  given  birth  to  new  de- 
vices, have  as  readily  suggested  some  fresh  cau- 
tion or  contrivance  for  exposing  them.  Even 
when  all  the  arts  of  fraud  have  been  exhausted, 
and  mechanism  has  been  assisted  by  learning  in 
the  business  of  delusion,  there  still  remains  on 
the  other  side  that  eye,  at  once  keen  and  cau- 
tious, which  seems  to  have  converted  a  long  ex- 
perience into  a  quick  perception.  As  in  works 
of  music  a  fine  and  practised  ear  can  discern  by 
tokens  imperceptible  to  common  organs  the  differ- 
ence between  a  genuine  master  and  the  most  able 
imitator,  so  too  an  antiquary  of  native  talent, 
grown  prudent  from  long  use,  and  enlightened  by 
various  knowledge,  has  acquired  for  his  pursuits 
a  power  of  intuition,  wliich  fraud  cannot  easily 
elude,  and  ignorance  cannot  possibly  comprehend. 
But  the  best  demonstration  I  can  lay  before 
you  of  the  usefulness  of  these  studies,  and  the  ex- 
tent to  which  they  can  reasonal)ly  be  carried  in 
the  investigation  of  ancient  history  will  be  the  ex- 
amples which  I  shall  have  to  adduce  in  every  ])art 

F 


66  LECTURE    III. 

of  my  inquiry.     For  the  present  they  will  be  se- 
lected  without   any  other   view   to   arrangement 
than  merely  to  afford  relief  and  variety  to  each 
other.  They  will  most  of  them  moreover  be  taken 
from  those  less  frequented  parts  of  history  which 
will  not  come  under  our  especial  review  hereafter  ; 
and  on  that  account  perhaps  they  will  appear  to 
be  less  satisfactory  than  the  rest.     But  it  will,  I 
think,  be  sufficiently  shewn  at  present,  and  it  will 
be  amply  shewn  hereafter,  that  ancient  coins  may 
clear  up  the  dark  expressions  of  ancient  authors  ; 
may  mark  out  epochs  at  which  events  actually  oc- 
curred ;  may  authenticate  ancient  records,  on  which 
much  doubt  had  been   expressed ;  may  establish 
the   proper  order  of  confused  occurrences ;   may 
suggest  explanations  in  cases  of  acknowledged  dif- 
ficulty; and  may  act  as  valid  and  conclusive  tes- 
timony where  history  has  compelled  us  to  remain 
in  doubt.     These  are  among  the  peculiar  services 
which  the  study  of  ancient  coins  will  be  fovmd  by 
example  to  have  imparted  to  us ;  its  general  pro- 
vince will  be  to  go  on  concurrently  with  ancient  his- 
tory, in  some  instances  giving  clearness  and  preci- 
sion to  the  statements  of  its  companion,  in  others 
obtaining  strength  and  substance  for  its  own  con- 
jectures. 

The  interest  imparted  to  the  history  of  Thu- 
rium  by  the  settlers  who  removed  thither  from 
Athens,  carrying  among  them  two  such   adven- 


LECTURE    III.  67 

turers  as  Herodotus  and  Lysias,  will  be  my  rea- 
son for  selecting  it  as  the  first  subject  of  illustra- 
tion. Some  of  its  minuter  circumstances  have 
been  drawn  out  in  the  well-known  Dissertation  on 
Phalaris ;  but  the  brief  outline  necessary  for  our 
present  purpose  is  obtained  exclusively  from  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus.  The  people  of  Sybaris,  on  the  bay 
of  Tarentum,  were  conquered,  and  their  city  was 
overthrown,  by  the  Crotoniats  about  the  year  500 
B.  C.^  About  fifty-eight  years  afterwards  a  body 
of  Sybarites  endeavoured  to  rebuild  the  city,  and 
after  six  years  of  dubious  possession  were  again 
expelled  by  their  ancient  enemy.  The  exiles  call- 
ed in  the  aid  of  settlers  from  Athens  and  the  Pe- 
loponnese,  and  in  the  year  444  B.  C.  laid  the 
foundations  of  Thurium,  near  the  site  of  the  an- 
cient Sybaris,  taking  the  name  of  their  new  city 
from  a  fountain  in  its  neighbourhood.  The  dis- 
cordant members  of  this  new  community  did  not 
long  continue  to  act  in  ccmcert.  The  foreign 
settlers  being  superior  in  numbers,  and  being- 
treated  with  indignity  by  the  native  Sybarites,  con- 
spired against  them,  and  having  put  them  to  the 
sword,  formed  a  new  constitution  for  their  adopt- 
ed country.  Such  are  the  brief  annals  of  the 
place,  as  they  are  derived  from  Diodorus,  and 
confirmed  in  their  general  outline  by  other  histo- 
rians. 

^  Diod.  1.  XI.  C.90,  &c. 
F  2 


68  LECTURE    III. 

What  then  is  its  numismatic  history  ?  We 
have  several  coins  of  Sybaris,  bearing  in  the  form 
of  their  brief  inscrijjtion  and  in  their  workman- 
ship the  strongest  evidence  of  high  antiquity ;  so 
that  we  may  fairly  assign  them  to  a  period  at 
least  five  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
constant  device  of  these  coins,  appearing  in  some 
instances  on  both  their  faces,  and  in  all  shewing 
that  it  was  the  acknowledged  cognizance  of  Syba- 
ris, is  Bos  stans  et  respiciens.  The  next  coins  to 
be  noticed,  as  belonging  to  the  place,  are  more 
recent,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  form  of  their 
letters,  and  their  highly  finished  style  of  work- 
manship ;  and,  taken  on  the  analogy  of  coins  in 
general,  they  might  be  assigned  to  a  period  not 
much  anterior  to  the  time  of  Philip  and  Alex- 
ander. But  from  these  we  find  that  the  devices 
of  the  place  have  undergone  an  important  change. 
The  ancient  cognizance  of  Sybaris  is  now  of  se- 
condary consequence,  and  has  given  way  on  one 
face  of  the  coin  to  the  Caput  Palladis  the  well- 
known  badge  of  Athens.  The  inscription  too  is, 
in  one  instance,  the  abbreviated  word  Sybaris,  in 
another  a  similar  abbreviation  of  the  newly  con- 
tracted name  Thurium.  So  then  these  coins 
strictly  mark  the  period  when  the  natives  and  the 
foreigners  were  living  together  in  compact,  en- 
deavouring to  conciliate  each  other  by  mutual 
concessions,  and  each  party  preserving  tokens  of 


LECTURE    III.  69 

its  hereditary  attachments.  The  next  set  of  coins 
is  distinguished  by  a  minuteness  of  ornament, 
which  marks  them  decidedly  as  the  most  recent 
of  the  three ;  and  these  coins,  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  our  narrative,  bear  no  memorials  of  the 
ancient  Sybaris.  The  inscription  in  every  instance 
is  of  Thurium,  the  Caput  Palladis  is  predomi- 
nant, and  the  ancient  cognizance  of  the  bull  is 
no  longer  stans  et  respiciens,  but  irruens  et  cor- 
nupeta.  Doubtless,  on  the  change  of  constitu- 
tion made  by  the  final  expulsion  of  the  natives, 
the  heralds  were  directed  to  provide  a  difference 
for  the  bearings  of  the  republic ;  and,  after  the 
punning  manner  of  their  brethren,  they  found  in 
the  meaning  of  the  word  Bovpm,  a  reason  for  the 
difference  they  adopted,  "  a  bull  running  and  but- 
"  ting." 

But  the  parallel  does  not  terminate  here.  It 
cannot  be  supposed  that  a  colony  consisting  of 
adventurers  from  every  part  of  Greece  would  long 
continue  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Athens. 
We  learn,  in  fact,  from  Diodorus  ^\  that  after  the 
government  was  settled,  the  republic  flourished, 
owing  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  care  that 
was  taken  to  treat  all  emigrants  alike ;  and  that 
afterwards,  when  Athens  and  other  powers  of 
Greece   began   to    claim   them   as   a  dependency, 

ii  L.  XII.  capp.  1 1  ct  35. 
F  3 


70  LECTURE    III. 

they  boldly  refused  to  acknowledge  any  other 
founder  or  patron  than  the  deity  of  Delphi.  And 
what  say  the  coins?  Some  of  them,  which  seem 
to  have  been  minted  when  the  republic  was  yet 
scarcely  free  from  its  ancient  habits,  retain  the 
badge  of  Athens,  but  some  also  bear  the  emblems 
of  Ceres,  the  tokens  of  agricultural  prosperity,  and 
others  are  impressed  with  the  head  and  insignia  of 
Apollo. 

My  next  example  is  taken  from  the  coinage  of 
Rome  \  It  has  been  the  prevailing  opinion  of 
antiquaries,  that  when  Augustus  became  emperor, 
he  reserved  for  himself  and  his  successors  the  right 
of  coining  gold  and  silver,  and  left  the  brass  money 
under  the  direction  of  the  senate.  That  such  an 
arrangement  was  actually  adopted  seems  to  be  im- 
plied in  the  following  inscription  found  at  Rome: 
"  Officinatores  monetae  aurarise  argentarise  Caesa- 
"  ris  ^"  from  which  we  may  infer  that  the  two 
more  precious  metals,  and  those  two  only,  were 
minted  by  the  emjieror.  The  same  inference  may 
also  be  derived  from  a  passage  of  Dio,  which 
states  that  the  senate,  from  the  hatred  they  bore 
to  the  memory  of  Caligula,  ordered  all  the  brass 
money  stamped  with  his  image  to  be  recoined  ^ ; 
for  we  can  have  no  doubt  that  they  would  have 

i  Eck.  D.  Num.  vol.  I.  p.  73.  Prol. 

k  See  Grut.  vol.  I.  p.  70.  Ins.  1.  '  Dio,  1.  LX.  c.  22. 


LECTURE    HI.  71 

included  gold  and  silver  money  in  their  edict,  if 
they  had  possessed  any  authority  over  it.  I  have 
already  mentioned  from  Tacitus,  that  Vespasian 
minted  gold  and  silver  before  he  was  acknow- 
ledged at  Rome  as  emperor ;  and  we  can  easily 
discover  his  reason  for  abstaining  from  minting 
brass  money,  if  the  right  of  doing  so  belonged 
exclusively  to  the  senate.  Strong  however  as 
this  testimony  appears  to  be,  it  has  been  main- 
tained by  several  writers,  and  more  especially  by 
Morcelli  ™,  an  avithority  of  the  highest  order  in 
the  science  of  antiqviities,  that  the  senate  alone 
possessed  the  right  of  minting  money  in  all  the 
several  metals.  Let  us  see  then  what  assistance 
can  be  obtained  from  the  evidence  of  coins.  Now 
it  is  the  most  remarkable  fact  connected  with  the 
coins  of  Rome,  from  the  days  of  Augvistus  to  those 
of  Galiienus,  that  the  brasses,  with  few  exceptions, 
bear  the  letters  S*C  upon  them  ;  the  gold  and  sil- 
ver, with  as  few  exceptions,  and  those  few  readily 
explained,  are  without  them.  It  is  moreover  the 
universal  opinion  that  the  two  letters  denote  the 
words  senatus  consulto;  and  though  several  other 
methods  have  been  tried  of  explaining  those  words 
in  their  reference  to  the  Roman  mint,  no  one  ap- 
pears to  be  so  satisfactory  as  the  distinction  which 
assigns  all  brass  coins  to  the  edict  of  the  senate, 

'"   ])e  Stylo,  1.  I.  J).  223. 


72  LECTURE    III. 

and  leaves  the  gold  and  silver  to  the  prerogative  of 
the  emperor.  It  is  also  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one 
which  would  imply  the  existence  of  divided  rights 
in  the  Roman  coinage,  that  we  sometimes  meet 
with  gold  and  silver  coins  of  an  emperor  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  when  the  brasses  of  the  same 
emperor  are  extremely  rare.  Taking,  for  instance, 
the  short  and  turbulent  reign  of  Otho,  it  is  natu- 
ral to  suppose  that  the  three  metals  would  be 
issued  in  their  usual  proportion ;  or  if  there  were 
any  difference,  that  the  more  precious  metals 
would  be  in  smaller  quantities.  The  fact,  how- 
ever, is,  that  we  have  many  gold  and  silver  coins 
of  this  reign,  but  not  a  single  genuine  brass  of  it, 
issued  from  the  Roman  mint,  has  hitherto  been 
found.  But  I  will  mention  another  fact  of  mi- 
nute coincidence,  and  more  remarkable  than  the 
last.  Albinus,  we  know,  was  acknowledged  and 
proclaimed  as  Caesar  by  the  emperor  Severus,  but 
was  afterwards,  on  proclaiming  himself  Augustus, 
defeated  by  him  and  put  to  death.  Now  we  meet 
with  gold,  silver,  and  brass  coins  indiscriminately 
of  Albinus  described  as  Caesar,  and  we  might  also 
expect  all  these  coins  to  be  minted  with  such  a 
title  on  them,  as  it  was  acknowledged  equally  in 
his  own  province  and  by  the  authorities  at  Rome  : 
again,  we  frequently  meet  with  gold  and  silver 
coins  of  the  same  Albinus  described  as  Augustus, 
but  in  no  instance  with  a  coin  of  brass,  giving 


LECTURE   III.  73 

that  title  to  him  ;  and  this  too  might  be  expected, 
if  we  merely  suppose  that  he  exercised  the  privi- 
lege belonging  to  the  office  he  had  usurped,  and 
cautiously  left  to  the  senate,  for  the  purpose  of 
conciliating  them,  a  i)rivilege  which  was  exclu- 
sively their  own.  And  these  facts  will,  I  think, 
be  sufficient  to  shew  the  value  of  numismatic  tes- 
timony in  a  point  of  disputed  history. 

My  next  instance"  is  in  illustration  of  some 
lines  of  Homer.  You  will  remember  the  fond 
language  addressed  by  Hector  to  Andromache"  : 

Kai  Kfv  ev'Apyei  iovcra,  npos  aWrjs  Icrrov  v(f)aivoii, 
Kui  K€v  vStop  (popeOLS  Meo"(T7^t6os  r]  'Ynepeirji, 
TToXX'  dfKa^opevt). 

Now  it  has  been  a  common  ojiinion,  even  among 
older  writers,  that  Homer  is  speaking  here  of 
Argos  in  the  Peloponnese,  and  endeavours  have 
been  made  to  discover  in  that  neighbourhood  the 
two  fountains,  by  whose  waters  Andromache  was 
doomed  to  weep  in  her  captivity.  ,  But  these  en- 
deavours have  been  unsuccessful.  It  is  well  known 
too,  from  Pindar P  and  other  authors,  that  the 
fountain  of  Hyperia  was  in  the  town  of  Pherae  in 
Thessaly;  and  we  can  have  little  doubt  that  Ho- 
mer in  this  passage,  as  elsewhere,  is  referring  to 

n  Eck.  vol.  II.  p.  14H.  «  Iliad.  VI.  456. 

P  Pvth.  IV.  122. 


74  LECTURE    III. 

the  Pelasgian  Argos,  which,  according  to  Strabo^^, 
was  the  district  at  the  foot  of  Pindus,  containing, 
among  other  j^laces,  the  towns  of  Pherae  and  La- 
rissai*. 

As,  then,  we  are  fully  justified  in  believing  that 
Homer  is  speaking  of  Thessaly,  and  that  the  Hy- 
peria  mentioned  by  him  is  the  well-known  foun- 
tain of  Pherae,  so  too  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
Messeis  was  a  fountain  of  equal  value  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Larissa. 

Now,  among  the  coins  of  Pherae,  we  have  one 
bearing  on  its  reverse,  Fons  ex  leonis  rictu  pro- 
manans,  and  thereby  shewing  the  great  import- 
ance attached  by  the  Pheraeans  to  their  fountain 
Hyperia,  Again,  among  the  coins  of  Larissa  we 
have  a  similar  one,  bearing  31uUer  sfolata,  am- 
jyhoram  genui  impositam  tenens,  revertitur  a 
Jbnte,  qui  ex  leonis  Jcmcihus  profiuit.  It  is 
clear,  then,  that  Larissa  possessed  a  valuable  foun- 
tain as  well  as  Pherae :  it  has  even  been  surmised 
that  Larissa,  after  the  manner  of  all  antiquity, 
was  proud  of  the  notice  taken  of  its  fountain  in 
these  lines  of  Homer^,  and  intended  to  represent 

q  Lib.  IX.  p.  660. 

»■  So  also  Lucan,  (VI.  355.) 

Atque  olim  Larissa  potens^  ubi  nubile  quondam 

Nunc  super  Argos  arant. 
s  Aristotle,  in  his  Rhet.  I.  16.  3.  refers  to  a  Avell-known 
instance  of  the  value  attached,  in  ancient  times,  to  the  au- 


LECTURE    III.  75 

on  this  very  coin  the  case  which  was  painfully 
imagined  by  Hector,  of  Andromache,  a  captive, 
bearing  back  water  from  Messeis.  It  may  tend  to 
confirm  this  opinion  to  observe,  that  the  name 
and  head  of  Homer,  and  even  the  word  lAIAS, 
may  be  seen  on  coins  of  Chios,  and  other  places 
of  the  Mgean ;  and  that  the  device  of  a  Roman 
coin,  which  will  be  noticed  hereafter,  is  evident- 
ly constructed  on  a  well-known  passage  of  the 
Odyssey. 

My  next  instance  is  taken  from  the  History  of 
Agathocles,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  whilst  he  was 
waging  war  in  Africa  against  the  Carthaginians. 
Diodorus*  says  of  him,  that,  finding  his  troops  dis- 
spirited  at  the  superior  strength  of  the  enemy,  he 
secretly  let  out  a  number  of  owls  among  them, 
which,  perching  upon  their  shields  and  helmets, 
were  hailed  as  a  sure  token  of  the  favour  of  Mi- 
nerva, and  occasioned  the  splendid  victory  that 
followed.  Now  we  are  well  aware  that  the  casual 
appearance  of  an  owl"  was  actually  made  an  omen 
of  the  great  victory  which  was  won  by  the  Athe- 

thority  of  Homer  ;  and  the  case  is  fully  explained  by  Clarke 
in  his  note  on  Iliad.  II.  55H.  A  parallel  may  be  found  in  a 
German  author  that  I  have  met  with,  who  describes  the  uni- 
versity of  Wittenberg  as  the  place  where  Luther  preached, 
and  where  Shakspeare  records  that  Hamlet  studied. 

t  Diod.  XX.  11. 

"  See  Wesselinff  on  the  passage  of  Diodorus. 


76  LECTURE   III. 

nians  at  Salamis ;  and  it  was  in  allusion  to  that 
fact  that  Aristophanes''  says  in  the  YcpYjKe^, 

yXav^  yap  rjfiav  npiv  ij.dxfcr6ai,  tov  crrpaTov  SteVrero. 

Yet,  admitting  the  full  force  of  such  a  popular 
superstition,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  in  [the  con- 
trivance imputed  to  Agathocles,  until  we  find  that 
one  of  his  coins,  which,  from  bearing  the  emblems 
of  an  elephant,  nuist  be  assigned  to  Africa,  bears 
also  this  significant  device,  Pallas  instar  F^icforice 
alata  d.  liastam  vibrat,  s.  clypeum,  pro  pecUhus 
nociua. 

My  last  instance  shall  be  introduced  by  a  quo- 
tation from  the  Spectator,  and  a  reference  to  our 
own  neighbourhood,  '•  A  rebus,"  says  the  Spec- 
tator >',  "  has  lately  been  hewn  out  in  freestone, 
"  and  erected  over  two  of  the  portals  of  Blenheim 
"  House,  being  the  figure  of  a  monstrous  lion  tear- 
"  ing  to  pieces  a  little  cock.  For  the  better  under- 
"  standing  of  which  device,  I  must  acquaint  my 
"  English  reader,  that  a  cock  has  the  misfortune 
"  to  be  called  in  Latin  by  the  same  word  that  sig- 
"  nifies  a  Frenchman,  as  a  lion  is  the  emblem  of 
"  the  English  nation." 

Now  I  will  not  attempt  to  justify  the  sculptor 
for  constructing  his  device  upon  the  armorial  em- 
blems of  the  two  nations,  nor  yet  will  I  quote 

X  Vesp.  V.  108(1  y  Spect.  No.  .59. 


LECTURE   III.  77 

Guilliiii  ill  his  Display  of  Heraldry,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  proving  that  the  quadruped  is  of  right  the 
king  of  beasts,  as  the  biped  is  the  knight  of  birds; 
my  only  object,  at  present,  being  to  shew,  that, 
whatever  degree  of  solemn  trifling  has  been  em- 
ployed in  these  matters  by  the  moderns,  it  had 
been  invented  long  before  by  the  ancients.     The 
bravery  of  the  lion  has  been  acknowledged  at  all 
periods  of  history,  and  the  gallantry  of  the  cock 
has  been  set  forth   as  eloquently  by  the  ancient 
Plutarch '^  as  by  the  modern  Guillim.     But  they 
were  both  of  them  favourite  emblems  of  ancient 
heraldry.    We  find,  from  the  coins  of  Sicily,  that 
the  beast  was  adopted  by  the  Leontines,  from  the 
connexion,  doubtless,  which  he  bore  to  their  name ; 
and  that  the  bird  was  the  emblem  of  Himera.     It 
is  not  so  apparent  in  the  latter  case  to  what  good 
fortune   it   was  owing  that  the  cock  obtained  a 
place  upon  the  ancient  coins  of  Himera  ;  but  it  is 
strongly  suspected  that  the  name  of  the  town,  ori- 
ginally the  same  with  vjfxepa,  suggested  the  notion 
of  the  daybreak  ;  and  the  daybreak  as  naturally 
gave  occasion  to  the  cock-crowing.     I  cannot  pro- 
duce a  piece  of  ancient  sculpture  to  denote  the 
former   triumphs   of  either  animal,   and    to  take 
away  the  merit  of  novelty  from  the  Blenheim  re- 

z  Plut.   vol.  VI.  pp.   725,  et  8.37,  et  }U{7.    Vol.  VIII.    p. 
782,  Sec. 


78  LECTURE   III. 

bus ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  it,  I  will  quote  a  jjro- 
verb,  preserved  by  Plutarch,  which  speaks  of  the 
hatred  subsisting  between  the  lion  and  the  cock, 
and  is  much  less  likely  to  have  arisen  from  the 
actual  conflicts  of  the  animals  themselves,  than 
from  some  similar  conceit  of  ancient  heraldry,  el- 
Kog  oe  Kai  tco  Xeovri  irpog  rov  aXeKxpvova  ^juaog  ia')(vpov 
yeyevv/jKevai  rov  (f)oj3ov\ 

But  I  will  not  leave  it  to  be  supposed  that  this 
was  the  only  method  by  which  the  people  of  Hi- 
mera  were  able  to  provide  devices  for  their  coins. 
We  have  a  brass  of  Himera,  bearing  on  its  reverse 
Fir  senilis  stans,  iiwolutus  2^^mo  et  scipione 
nixus,  volumen  expUcatum  mami  tenet.  Doubt- 
less this  figure  was  intended  to  represent  some 
distinguished  citizen  of  theirs,  or  perhaps  some 
celebrated  statue  erected  by  them  to  his  memory. 
You  will  be  reminded  accordingly  of  those  splen- 
did works  of  art  which  were  restored  to  Himera 
by  Scipio,  when  he  had  taken  Carthage,  and  were 
afterwards  carried  off  by  the  rapacity  of  Verres. 
Among  them,  says  Cicero  ^  "  erat  etiam  Stesichori 
"  poetae  statua  senilis,  incurva,  cum  libro,  summo, 
"  ut  putant,  artificio  facta ;  qui  fuit  Himerse." 

a  Pint,  de  Inv.  et  Oil.  vol.  VIII.  p.  12fi.    See  also  vol.  X. 
p.  84. 

J'  In  Verr.  lib.  II.  c.  .'i;"). 


LECTURE  IV, 


A  SCALE  of  criteria  attempted  by  Barthelemy — Periods 
usually  adopted — Period  of  excellence — Perfection  of  work- 
manship— Arrangement  of  Pellerin  and  Eckhel — Advantages 
of  that  arrangement — IMedals  and  coins  distinguished — Har- 
douin — Barthelemy — Medallions — Examples  of  them — Con- 
torniati — Tesserae — Countermarks  on  medals — Different  ma- 
terials of  money — Iron,  tin,  and  lead — Gold — Its  purity — 
Electrum — Where  used — Silver  —  Early  adulterations  in 
Greece — Later  adulterations  at  Rome — Copper — Brass — Co- 
rinthian brass — Minting  by  the  hammer — Practice  of  Greece 
— Practice  at  Rome — Ancient  dies — Count  Caylus — Plaster 
moulds — Classification  of  devices — Smaller  emblems — Proper 
names  of  coins. 


An  attempt  was  made  by  the  learned  Bartlie- 
lemy,  in  some  papers  communicated  by  him  to 
the  French  Academy,  to  establish  certain  general 
criteria,  from  which  any  given  coin  might  be  as- 
signed, with  a  fair  degree  of  probability,  to  its 
proper  period  of  time.  He  hoped  that  by  noticing 
in  their  order  all  the  characteristics  of  coins, 
which  were  known  from  recorded  facts  or  dates 
to  belong  to  exact  periods,  a  scale  of  circum- 
stances might  be  arranged,  agreeing  sufficiently 
among  themselves,  and  corresponding  with  the 
general  knowledge  we  possess  of  the  progress 
made  by  the  ancients  in  literature  and  the  arts. 
By  means  of  such  a  scale,  an  ancient  coin,  possess- 
ing any  characteristics  whatsoever,  might,  it  was 
hoped,  be  assigned  to  a  definite  time  ;  and  if,  as 
was  probable,  its  inscription  gave  any  evidence  of 
the  place  where  it  was  minted,  it  would  then  be- 
come valuable  for  purposes  of  history.  The  plan 
was  well  imagined,  but  seems  to  have  failed  en- 
tirely of  success.  The  first  paper  was  read  in  tlie 
year  1750  ;  the  next  did  not  appear  till  upwards 
of  thirty  years  afterwards  ;  and  the  most  valu- 
able, because  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  under- 
taking, appears  to  have  been  abandoned  by  him 
as  impracticable. 

G 


82  LECTURE   IV. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  great  numbers  of  coins, 
which,  partly  from  the  words  they  actually  bear, 
and  partly  from  other  distinctions,  can  easily  be 
arranged  within  definite  periods  of  time  ;  and 
when  new  coins  are  found  corresponding  with  the 
tokens  of  any  of  those  periods,  and  minted  at  the 
same  places  to  which  the  other  specimens  belong, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  some  far- 
ther light  will  be  thrown  upon  their  history.  It 
has  been  the  practice,  therefore,  of  numismatic 
writers,  to  arrange  ancient  coins  under  five  dis- 
tinct periods.  1.  From  the  commencement  of 
coinage  to  about  the  year  460  before  Christ. 
2.  From  that  date  to  the  reign  of  Philip,  the  son 
of  Amyntas,  comprising  one  hundred  years.  3. 
From  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Philip 
to  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  republic.  4. 
From  the  overthrow  of  the  republic  to  the  time 
of  Hadrian.  And,  5.  From  Hadrian  to  Galli- 
enus. 

Of  the  two  earliest  of  these  periods,  comprising 
the  history  of  coins  from  its  commencement  to 
about  the  year  360  B.C.,  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
treat.  It  will  be  evident,  from  the  details  already 
laid  before  you,  and  from  the  natural  progress  of 
the  arts,  that  the  specimens  supposed  to  belong  to 
these  early  periods  are  either  too  uncertain  as  to 
their  origin,  or  too  rude  in  their  structure,  to 
throw  any  light  upon  ancient  history.     It  is  true, 


LECTURE   IV.  83 

that  they  are  vahiable  in  the  eyes  of  the  collector, 
not  merely  becanse  their  liigh  antiquity  gives 
them  a  greater  degree  of  rareness,  but  also  for 
these  better  reasons,  that  they  tend  to  illustrate, 
though  but  remotely,  the  progress  of  ancient  art, 
and  are  themselves  illustrated  by  the  narratives 
of  ancient  authors.  But  these  reasons  cannot  have 
much  connexion  with  our  present  purpose.  The 
progress  of  ancient  art,  if  it  came  within  our  pro- 
vince, would  require  means  of  elucidation,  at  once 
more  copious  and  more  exact,  than  can  be  obtained 
from  coins ;  and  to  borrow  illustration  from  an- 
cient authors,  for  the  purpose  of  making  coins  in- 
telligible, is  to  invert  the  natural  uses  of  them 
both.  I  may  add  also,  that  any  explanation  con- 
nected with  the  peculiar  forms  of  the  letters  im- 
pressed upon  them,  is  properly  left  to  a  course  of 
lectures  on  palaeography,  for  which  we  have  much 
better  materials  in  the  inscriptions  that  are  to  be 
obtained  from  ancient  marbles,  and  are  known  to 
belong  to  those  early  periods. 

But  after  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
Philip,  and  during  the  three  centuries  which 
elapsed  before  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  re- 
public, (that  important  interval  which  constitutes 
the  third  period,)  we  are  brought  fully  within  the 
golden  age  of  ancient  art.  Brass,  as  well  as  the 
two  more  precious  metals,  was  then  in  general 
use;  the  inscriptions  then  began  to  add  the  names 

Vt     f^ 


84  LECTURE   IV. 

of  individuals ;  and  the  execution  was  so  highly 
wrought,  that  the  devices  of  the  time  may  be  con- 
sidered as  approaching  nearly  to  the  truth  of  his- 
torical painting.  There  is  nothing  in  either  an- 
cient or  modern  workmanship  which  can  surpass 
the  gold  coins  of  Philip  and  his  son  Alexander, 
and  many  also  of  the  coins  of  Sicily  and  Magna 
Graecia,  which  are  generally  attributed  to  the 
same  period.  But  their  excellence  is  too  well 
known  to  require  any  farther  notice  from  me.  It 
is,  however,  worthy  of  observation,  that  this  high 
condition  of  workmanship  was  not  confined  to  the 
more  distinguished  states  of  Greece,  but  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  coins  of  inconsiderable  towns,  car- 
ried too  to  its  utmost  perfection,  and  appearing 
alike  on  every  specimen.  And  yet,  says  Eckhel% 
no  one  can  persuade  himself  that  mere  money, 
destined  for  common  use,  and  exposed  to  constant 
injury,  can,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  have 
had  the  same  labour  and  expense  bestowed  upon 
it,  as  gems  or  statues,  which  were  preserved  with 
the  utmost  care,  being  treated  as  if  they  M^ere  ob- 
jects of  religious  worship.  The  plain  conclusion 
is,  that  the  fine  arts,  in  all  departments,  were  too 
far  advanced,  and  the  public  taste  too  highly 
cultivated,  to  admit,  even  in  their  coinage,  of  an 
exception  from   the  universal  display  of  highly- 

a  Eck.  vol.  I.   p.  138.  Prol. 


LECTURE   IV.  85 

finished  workmanship,  unless  some  important  rea- 
son, like  the  one  already  mentioned  in  the  case  of 
Athens,  should  require  it.     "  When  we  compare," 
says  Payne  Knight '\  "  the  smallness  and  insigni- 
"  ficance  of  many  of  these  states,  scarcely  known 
"  to  the  historian  or  geographer,  with  the  exqui- 
"  site  beauty,  elegance,  and  costly  refinement  dis- 
"  played  in  their  money,  the  common  drudge  of 
"  retail  traffic  in  the  lowest  stages  of  society,  we 
"  must  admit  that   there   is   scarcely  any  thing 
"  more  wonderful  in  the  history  of  man."     There 
are  innumerable  coins  of  this  period,  which  are  as 
creditable  to  the  makers  of  them  as  the  most  ex- 
quisite gems  of  Greece  or  Rome.     In  the  latter 
case  we  are  made  acquainted  with  the  names  of 
Dioscorides,  and  other  eminent  artists  ;  but  in  the 
former  there  is  no  coin,  hitherto  discovered,  that 
bears  the  name  of  its  minter,  with  the  solitary  ex- 
ception  of  one   belonging  to  Cydonia   in  Crete ; 
there  is  only  one  ancient  inscription  from  which 
we  can  learn  the  name  of  any  individual  employed 
in  cutting  dies  at  the  Roman  minf;    and  even 
in  the  long  list  of  artists  preserved  by  the  elder 
Pliny,  there  is  no  mention  whatever  of  any  coin- 
engraver. 

It  will,  I  conceive,  be  evident,  without  entering 

1'  Archccol.  vol.  XIX.  p.  3()l). 

c  See  Marini,  Inscriz.  Albiin.  p.  109.   quoted  by  Hennin, 
J).  Gfi.  vol.  I. 

G  3 


86  LECTURE   IV. 

into  detail,  that  a  classification  of  coins,  construct- 
ed solely  upon  their  reputed  ages,  would  be  of 
little  benefit  to  us,  even  granting  that  it  were 
practicable.  There  are  but  few  coins,  the  dates  of 
which  can  be  exactly  ascertained  ;  and  even  if 
there  were  many,  we  should  still  be  subject  to  the 
inconvenience  of  associating  specimens  together, 
brought  from  the  most  distant  countries,  and 
bearing  no  relation  to  each  other.  Different  me- 
thods have  been  adopted  by  different  writers,  dis- 
tinguishing by  the  metal,  the  size,  the  device,  or 
the  inscription,  according  to  the  object  respec- 
tively proposed  by  them  ;  but  the  arrangement 
introduced  by  Pellerin,  and  improved  by  Eckhel, 
and  founded  on  the  combined  relations  of  time 
and  place,  is  now  the  most  frequently  followed. 
According  to  this  arrangement,  all  coins  are  di- 
vided into  two  classes ;  the  first  containing  those 
of  different  people,  cities,  and  kings,  (in  other 
words,  all  coins  not  strictly  Roman) ;  the  second 
containing  those  only  which  are  of  Roman  coin- 
age. Again,  the  first  class  is  subdivided  geogra- 
I)hically  into  provinces,  their  ancient  limits  being- 
observed,  and  the  provinces  themselves  succeeding 
each  other  in  their  order  from  west  to  east,  but 
the  several  states  within  them  being  taken  alpha- 
betically. In  cases,  moreover,  where  there  have 
been  sovereigns,  their  coins  are  placed  chronolo- 
gically, after  the  consideration  of  each  respective 


LECTURE   IV.  -  87 

state.     The  second  class,  again,  is  subdivided  into 
three  parts:  the  first  containing  all  consular  coins, 
and  including  the  most  ancient  form  of  coinage  ; 
the    second,  all  coins   bearing  names  of  Roman 
families  ;  the  third,  all  coins  of  emperors,  Caesars, 
and  their  kindred ;  the  coins  of  Roman  families 
being  placed,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  alpha- 
betically ;  those  of  the  emperors  being  ranged,  as 
far  as  is  practicable,  in  chronological  succession. 
It  is  plain  that  this  classification,  when  considered 
theoretically,  is  clumsy  and  inartificial ;  it  is  plain 
too,  that  specimens,  minted  in  remote  provinces, 
will  still  be  placed  under  the  head  of  Roman  coin- 
age, if  they  happen,  for  instance,  to  bear  the  name 
of  an  emperor :   thus  the   coins  of  the   emperor 
Carausius   will   fall   within    the  last   variety,   al- 
though they  would  seem  to  belong  to  the  class  of 
provinces,  being  all  of  them  probably  minted  in 
Britain.     It  is  also  plain  that  such  a  classification 
is  not  the  best  suited  for  display,  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  a  cabinet :  nevertheless  it  is,  in  fact,  the 
best  which  has  hitherto  been  suggested.     It  ac- 
commodates itself,  so  far  as  its  materials  permit, 
to  the  promotion   of  real   knowledge ;    it   places 
those  medals  side  by  side,  which,  from  their  prox- 
imity in  time,  or  place,  or  both,  have  some  assign- 
able connexion  with  each  other  ;   it  sacrifices  the 
uniformity  of  arranging  all  coins  by  their  metal 
or   size,   however   perfect    such    an    arrangement 

G  4 


88  LECTURE   IV. 

might  be  in  technical  exactness,  for  the  real  use- 
fulness of  making  them  throw  light  historically 
upon  each  other,  even  though  the  only  method 
that  can  be  employed  in  doing  so,  is  inartificial 
and  inaccurate. 

And  this  is  the  arrangement,  which,  with  some 
occasional  variations,  is  now  generally  adopted. 
Other  distinctions,  however,  must  be  noticed, 
founded  upon  physical  or  accidental  differences, 
for  the  double  purpose  of  explaining  the  technical 
terms  belonging  to  this  branch  of  study,  and  of 
introducing  so  much  of  narrative,  as  it  may  be 
necessary  to  lay  before  you  respecting  coinage  in 
general. 

You  will  have  observed  that  the  words  "  coins" 
and  "  medals"  have  hitherto  been  used  indiscri- 
minatelv,  as  if  it  were  not  intended  to  acknow- 
ledge  that  any  important  distinction  exists  be- 
tween them.  The  distinction,  in  point  of  fact, 
has  not  been  generally  observed  ;  and  the  neglect 
of  it  is  probably  owing  to  the  impossibility  of 
separating  those  specimens  which  were  intended 
to  be  used  as  money,  from  specimens  designed  for 
other  purposes.  There  are,  indeed,  some  among 
them  of  so  large  a  size,  and  so  peculiar  in  other 
respects,  that  they  cannot  be  confounded  with 
common  currency.  But  for  these  I  reserve  the 
term  inedaUion,  intending  to  use  the  term  medals 
as    denoting   all   minted    pieces   whatsoever,   and 


LECTURE   IV.  89 

corns   to    distinguish    those    among   them    which 
were  designed  as  money. 

It  was  an  opinion,  however,  maintained  by 
Hardouin,  and  before  him  by  Erizzo,  that  none 
of  the  various  specimens  we  possess  were  issued 
as  money,  but  were  all  of  them  originally  bestow- 
ed as  tokens  or  memorials.  But  the  opinions  of 
Hardouin,  as  Barthelemy'^  well  observes,  have  no 
longer  any  claim  to  be  refuted ;  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  are  so  directly  opposed  to  this 
opinion  of  his,  that  we  now  endeavour  to  ascer- 
tain what  medals  are  tokens  or  memorials,  by  ex- 
amining whether  they  possess  the  known  charac- 
teristics of  coins. 

Those  characteristics  may  be  thus  briefly  stated. 
Wherever  any  class  of  specimens  preserves  the 
same  specific  character,  though  minted  in  different 
years,  or  even  reigns,  or  even,  as  in  some  cases, 
in  different  centuries  ;  wherever  they  present  a 
uniformity  of  weight,  or  device,  or  general  style 
of  workmanshij),  allowing  only  for  the  changes 
required  by  the  varying  condition  of  the  arts ; 
wherever  they  have  been  found  in  innnense  num- 
bers ;  wherever  they  bear  in  their  inscription  ei- 
ther the  name  or  the  denoted  value  of  a  coin ;  in 
those  cases  we  may  infer  that  they  were  issued  as 
common  money.     We  have,  for  instance,  a  series 

'I  B.  L.  vol.  XXXII.  p.  (172. 


90  LECTURE    IV. 

of  gold  and  silver  coins  of  Philip  and  Alexander, 
preserving  a  strict  correspondence  vi^ith  each 
other,  and  being  specimens,  doubtless,  of  the  mo- 
ney so  often  mentioned  by  ancient  authors  under 
the  names  of  those  illustrious  sovereigns.  We 
have  also  a  long  series  of  Athenian  tetradrachms, 
varying  somewhat,  as  we  might  naturally  expect, 
in  their  actual  weight,  but  maintaining  a  constant 
resemblance  to  each  other,  and  extending  appa- 
rently from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the  Chris- 
tian era. 

On  the  contrary,  when  medals  are  of  much 
greater  bulk  than  the  common  coins  of  the  same 
country  ;  when  they  are  few  in  number,  and  yet 
varying  among  themselves  ;  when,  in  addition  to 
these  circumstances,  they  are  highly  finished  in 
their  workmanship  ;  we  cannot  reasonably  consi- 
der them  as  money,  and  must  include  them  in  the 
class  of  medallions.  We  have  examples  in  each 
of  the  three  metals.  Some  of  the  gold  pieces  of 
Lysimachus,  king  of  Thrace,  weigh  as  much  as 
four,  or  six,  or  even  ten,  of  our  sovereigns ;  though 
I  must  not  omit  to  notice,  that  Mionnet^  considers 
the  larger  specimens  to  be  forgeries ;  and  from 
the  time  of  Hadrian,  if  not  at  earlier  periods  of 
the  empire,  we  meet  with  large  brasses,  which, 
for  many  conspiring  reasons,  must  also  be  treated 

0 

e  Vol.  I.  p.  438,  note. 


LECTURE   IV.  91 

as  medallions.  It  is  remarkable  that  they  do  not 
bear  the  letters  S"C,  which  I  have  already  men- 
tioned as  appearing  on  the  brass  money  of  the 
empire;  and  we  may  infer  from  that  circumstance 
that  they  were  not  issued  by  the  senate,  and 
therefore  could  not  form  a  part  of  the  common 
currency.  We  find  also  large  medals  of  Antinous^ 
minted  in  different  cities  of  Greece,  and  remark- 
able for  their  flattering  inscriptions  ;  though  it 
does  not  appear  that  any  medals  of  Antinous  were 
minted  at  Rome,  or  that  those  cities  themselves 
ever  minted  any  other  medals  of  similar  descrip- 
tion. In  the  same  class  may  also  be  included 
medals  bearing  the  word  aveOyjKev,  and  intended  as 
votive  offerings,  together  with  any  others  designed 
for  honorary  purposes,  such  as  those  large  and 
beautiful  silver  pieces  of  Syracuse^,  which  have 
the  word  dSkoc,  accompanied  by  military  trophies, 
and  appear  to  have  been  intended  as  rewards  for 
public  services. 

But  the  most  peculiar  class  of  medallions  is  of 
brass,  and  known  by  the  modern  name  coiitorni- 
ati,  which  was  given  to  them,  probably,  from  the 
hollow  circle  impressed  upon  the  face  of  then). 
These  medallions  are  generally  of  little  thickness, 

f  Eck.  vol.  VI.  p.  530. 

P  Payne  Knight  suppo-ses  these,  as  well  as  all  other  medals 
of  ancient  states,  whether  republican  or  monarchical,  to  have 
been  issued  as  money- — Archieol.  vol.  XIX.  p.  3(59. 


92  LECTURE   IV. 

of  very  low  relief  in  their  devices,  presenting  on 
the  one  side  the  figure  of  some  illustrious  charac- 
ter of  Greece  or  Rome,  and  on  the  other  some 
subject  connected  with  their  mythology  or  public 
festivals.  Taken  in  all  their  circumstances,  they 
are  totally  different  from  the  common  medals  of 
antiquity,  and  bear  so  strong  a  correspondence 
among  themselves,  that  they  cannot  reasonably  be 
assigned  to  distinct  periods.  Many  different  opin- 
ions, none  of  them,  however,  being  very  satisfac- 
tory, have  been  formed  respecting  the  time  and 
purpose  of  their  fabrication  ;  but  the  most  pro- 
bable opinion  is,  that  they  were  minted  at  Con- 
stantinople between  the  times  of  Constantine  and 
Valentinian'',  and  were  used  as  tesserae  in  public 
exhibitions. 

Nevertheless,  besides  those  which,  from  their 
size  and  singularity,  may  fairly  be  considered  as 
medallions,  there  are  doubtless  many  others  ap- 
proaching much  more  nearly  to  the  character  of 
coins,  which  yet  were  not  issued  originally  as 
money.  I  need  not  enter  into  jiarticulars  respect- 
ing the  many  purposes  for  which  tesserae  were 
wanted  at  the  public  festivals  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  or  the  various  methods  by  which  the  Ro- 
mans of  the  empire  amused  themselves  in  sending 
tokens  of  remembrance  to  their  friends,  and  re- 

1>  Eck.  vol.  VIII.  p.  3]\. 


LECTURE   IV.  93 

quiring  similar  tokens  in  return  ;  but  it  is  worthy 
of  notice,  that,  from  the  ostentatious  period  of 
Hadrian  and  the  Antonines,  we  find  the  devices 
of  their  medals  much  more  commonly  borrowed 
from  ceremonies  and  jDublic  spectacles,  indicating 
thereby  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  proba- 
bly employed.  As  they  are  discovered,  however, 
in  immense  numbers,  and  would  seem  on  that  ac- 
count to  belong'  to  the  description  of  coins,  I  will 
quote  a  passage  from  Suetonius,  which  describes 
a  largess  of  the  emperor  Nero,  and  shews  that 
tesserae  would  sometimes  be  required  in  enormous 
quantities.  "  Sparsa  et  populo  missilia  omnium 
"  rerum  per  omnes  dies ;  singula  quotidie  millia 
"  avium  cuj usque  generis,  multiplex  penus,  tes- 
"  serse  frumentariae,  vestis,  aurum,  argentum, 
"  gemmae,  raargaritae,  tabulae  pictae,  mancij)ia, 
"  jumenta  atque  etiam  mansuetae  ferae  ;  novissime 
*'  naves,  insulae,  agri'." 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  persons  that  these  tes- 
serae, though  not  originally  so  intended,  were  af- 
terwards used  as  money ;  and  the  countermarks, 
which  are  in  many  instances  found  upon  ancient 
coins,  both  silver  and  brass,  are  supposed  to  be 
the  public  stamps,  by  which  they  were  acknow- 
ledged as  a  legal  tender. 

I  have  now  to  describe  the  different  materials 
of  which  ancient  coins  are  composed. 

i  Suet.  Nero.  p.  97.     See  also  Xiphil.  LXI.  18. 


94  LECTURE    IV. 

We  are  informed,  on  such  authority  as  that  of 
Suidas^S  that  money  of  leather  and  of  shells  was 
once  used  by  the  Romans ;  and  by  Cedrenus,  that 
wood  was  also  employed  by  them  for  the  same 
purpose.  Aristides^  says,  that  leather  money  was 
once  current  at  Carthage  ;  and  Seneca™  makes 
the  same  remark  of  Sparta.  But  with  respect  to 
all  these  cases  alike  we  may  answer,  that  no  such 
money  is  now  known  to  exist;  that  the  authorities 
quoted  are  in  no  instance  comjietent  evidence  re- 
specting times  so  far  remote  from  them ;  and  that  if 
such  money  ever  had  existed,  and  could  have  been 
preserved  to  the  present  day,  it  would  be  as  ut- 
terly destitute  of  historical  usefulness  to  us,  as  of 
intrinsic  value  in  itself.  We  are  told,  on  authority 
somewhat  more  considerable,  that  iron  was  used 
in  the  same  manner  at  Sparta,  at  Clazomense,  at 
Byzantium,  and  at  Rome  ;  and  tin  also,  by  Dio- 
nysius  of  Syracuse.  No  ancient  si^ecimen  in  either 
of  these  metals  has  ever  been  discovered  ;  but  we 
may  admit  that  such  coins  have  actually  existed, 
and  may  account  for  their  total  disappearance  by 
the  extreme  remoteness  of  the  time  when  they 
were  made,  and  the  great  probability  that  they 
would  long  since  have  been  decomposed.  Lead 
has  also  been  mentioned  by  ancient  authors  as 
formerly  used  in  coinage ;  and  Ficoroni  has  pub- 

k   In  'Ao-cTfi/Ka.  •  Orat.  II.  Platon. 

•n  De  Benef.  lib.  Y.  c.  14. 


LECTURE    IV.  9.5 

lished  a  dissertation  on  the  subject,  which  he  il- 
lustrates from  a  collection  made  by  himself,  con- 
taining upwards  of  a  thousand  specimens  in  this 
metal,  some  of  which  purport  to  have  been  mint- 
ed as  early  as  the  times  of  the  Antonines,  but 
the  greater  number  are  of  much  more  recent  pe- 
riods. Some  of  these  specimens  may  fairly  be 
considered  as  weights,  others  as  tesserae,  and  even 
the  few  which  seem  entitled  to  be  ranked  as  coins, 
may  be  left  without  farther  notice.  We  come  then 
to  the  three  important  metals,  gold,  silver,  and 
copper,  with  their  several  varieties. 

The  gold  employed  by  the  ancients  for  their 
coin,  if  not  obtained  at  first  in  a  sufficiently  pure 
state,  was  improved,  as  far  as  their  means  would 
admit  of  it,  by  grinding  and  roasting.  They  were 
not  al)le  to  separate  the  baser  admixture  by  any 
chemical  process,  but  they  could  expel  it  by  the 
action  of  fire,  leaving  the  gold  itself  uninjured  ". 
It  is  in  this  way  that  we  understand  the  words 
')(j3vaiov  a-ntfpQov  used  by  Thucydides '',   which   the 

"  See  Diod.  Sic.  1.  III.  c.  14.  for  an  account  of  the  me- 
thod of  smelting  adopted  in  Ethiopia.  For  a  general  history 
of  Grecian  mining,  see  Jacob  on  Prec.  Met.  vol.  I.  p.  (57;  and 
for  an  account  of  the  mines  in  Attica,  see  Boeckh.  Staats- 
haushaltung  dor  Athener.  book  III;  or  his  Dissertation  on 
the  Silver  Mines  of  Laurion,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Berlin 
Academy  for  the  years  1814  and  IBl.'i. 

"  Time.  II.  l.S. 


96  LECTURE    IV. 

scholiast  interprets  noXXaKig  i\pi^6evTog,  waxf  ytveafiai 
oPpvi^ov,  and  the  wortl  ohrussam  occurs  in  Pliny 
and  Suetonius,  denoting  gold  so  purified.  But 
simple  as  the  operation  was,  it  seems  to  have 
been  completely  successful.  The  Darics  of  Persia 
appear  to  have  contained  only  one  -^^  part  of  al- 
loy; the  gold  coins  of  Philip  and  Alexander  reach 
a  much  higher  degree  of  fineness  ;  and  from  some 
experiments  made  at  Paris  on  a  gold  coin  of  Ves- 
pasian, it  appears  that  in  that  instance  the  alloy 
was  only  in  the  ratio  of  one  to  788.  In  our  own 
gold  coin  the  alloy  consists  of  one  part  in  twelve. 
Some  alloy  (but  a  very  small  quantity  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  purpose)  is  desirable  to  make  the 
gold  hard  and  durable  for  common  use.  The  al- 
loys generally  used  are  copper  and  silver ;  and 
when  the  latter  is  mixed  with  the  gold  in  any 
considerable  quantity,  it  then  forms  the  com- 
pound known  in  ancient  times  by  the  term  elec- 
trum,  and  so  called,  probably,  from  its  resemblance 
to  pale  amber.  According  to  Pliny  p  the  propor- 
tions were  four  parts  of  gold  to  one  of  silver  ;  but 
other  writers  mention  a  greater  quantity  of  the 
less  precious  metal,  and  the  specimens  that  have 
been  actually  examined,  vary  from  the  standard 
recorded  by  Pliny,  down  to  a  much  lower  degree 
of  purity^. 

It  is  stated  by  Lampridius,  in  his  life  of  Alex- 
P  Lib.  XXXIII.  c.  23.  m  Heniiin,  vol.  I.  p.  122. 


LECTURE    IV.  97 

ander  Severus  ^  that  coins  of  electrum  were  mint- 
ed by  that  emperor ;  but  no  such  coins  have 
hitherto  been  discovered,  and  Lampridius  is  a 
vrriter  of  so  little  authority,  that  the  evidence 
thus  afforded  against  him,  although  it  merely 
amounts  to  a  want  of  testimony  in  his  favour,  is 
thought  by  many  persons  a  sufficient  proof  that 
his  statement  is  inaccurate.  So  true  is  it  that  we 
often  reject  a  reputed  fact,  and  are  incautiously 
led  to  assume  the  opposite  opinion,  not  because 
we  have  some  positive  testimony  on  our  side,  but 
because  the  writer  who  records  the  fact  has  be- 
come for  some  other  reason  an  object  of  suspicion 
to  us.  But  however  this  may  be  in  the  present 
instance,  there  are  coins  of  this  metal  still  in  ex- 
istence, minted,  in  some  instances,  by  kings  of  the 
Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  and  in  others  attributed 
to  different  towns  of  Sicily.  I  have  mentioned 
these  cases  rather  than  some  others  which  might 
have  been  noticed,  because  they  may  enable  us  to 
decide  on  the  much  disputed  question,  whether 
this  kind  of  coinage  was  adopted  by  the  ancients, 
because  they  wished  to  lower  the  standard,  or 
because  they  were  actually  unable  to  separate  the 
gold  from  the  less  precious  metal.  It  may  rea- 
dily be  granted  that  the  metal  used  by  barbarian 
princes  was  minted  in  the  condition  in  which  it 
was  actually  found,  but  it  is  plainly  shewn  by  the 

"•  Eck.  vol.  V.  ji.  24.  Prol. 
II 


98  LECTURE    IV. 

gold  coins  still  existing,  that  no  civilized  state 
could  have  laboured  under  any  difficulty  in  ob- 
taining metal  sufficiently  pure. 

It  appears,  on  an  examination  of  silver  coins, 
that  this  metal  was  preserved  in  a  high  degree  of 
purity  throughout  the  early  and  the  middle  pe- 
riods of  ancient  coinage.  Demosthenes^  indeed 
has  recorded,  in  his  speech  against  Timocrates, 
that  Solon  accused  many  states  of  his  time  of 
adulterating  their  silver  coin  by  the  admixture  of 
copper  or  lead.  But  as  the  orator  was  not  de- 
bating the  history  of  coinage,  and  used  these  re- 
puted words  of  Solon  only  in  the  way  of  illustra- 
tion, as,  moreover,  no  silver  coin  of  those  early 
times  has  yet  been  examined,  which  does  not 
reach  a  high  degree  of  purity,  we  may  be  at  li- 
berty to  wait  till  we  meet  with  more  direct  testi- 
mony on  the  subject.  Perhaps,  however,  the  best 
solution  is  the  following ;  that  though  the  orator 
uses  the  words  apyvpiw  irpog  yaXKOv  Kai  fioXi/Sdov  KiKpa- 
fxevx,  and  would  therefore  seem  to  be  speaking  of 
adulterated  metal,  he  is  in  fact  referring  to  those 
plated  coins,  which  are  believed  to  have  been 
minted  not  only  in  his  oAvn  times,  but  also  as 
early  as  the  days  of  Solon,  and  which  are  the  coun- 
terfeits so  often  referred  to  in  the  metaphors  of  an- 
cient poets.     In  later  periods,  and  more  especially 

s  P.  8.55.  ed.  Cliireiid.  p.  765.  ed.  Reiske. 


LECTURE    IV.  99 

from  the  time  of  Caracalla,  the  standard  of  silver 
underwent  different  degrees  of  degradation,  till  in 
some  instances  the  copper  united  with  it  amount- 
ed to  the  proportion  of  4  to  1  *.  Adulteration 
could  not  well  be  carried  farther,  and  in  the  basest 
periods  of  the  empire,  between  the  times  of  Gal- 
lienus  and  Diocletian,  recourse  was  had  to  the 
ancient  fraud  of  plating,  and  what  was  hitherto 
held  to  be  the  work  of  felons,  was  permanently 
adopted  and  legalized  by  the  successors  of  the 
Caesars. 

The  brasses  of  the  ancients  contain  for  the 
most  part  a  quantity  of  tin  united  with  the  native 
copper.  As  the  mines  which  are  known  to  have 
been  worked  by  them,  do  not  appear  to  have 
given  them  these  two  metals  in  combination,  we 
may  infer  that  tin  was  made  use  of  designedly, 
and  from  their  knowing  the  unfitness  of  mere 
copper  for  the  purposes  of  money.  The  advan- 
tage, however,  of  the  combination  is  shewn  more 
clearly  in  its  reference  to  numismatic  studies.  Dis- 
inter some  Roman  brasses,  containing  but  little 
admixture  of  other  metal  with  their  native  copper, 
and  you  have  to  mourn  over  a  work  of  destruc- 
tion, like  the  havoc  made  by  some  confluent 
disease  upon  a  beautiful  countenance  ;  but  if  the 
alloy  have  been  properly  united  with  it,  the  speci- 

^  These  varieties  are  known,  in  numismatic  writers,  though 
not  very  distinctly,  by  the  French  words  pntiii  nnd  hi/Io//. 

H  2 


100  LECTURE    IV. 

men  has  become  much  more  attractive  during  its 
conceahnent  by  that  soft  shadowing  of  green  and 
brown,  which  has  spread  itself  over  it,  olov  to7$ 
aKfxaioig  rj  copa^,  and  which,  more  than  any  other 
property,  baffles  the  ingenuity  of  modern  forgers. 

Of  Corinthian  brass  I  need  not  say  any  thing ; 
because,  whatever  the  compound  was,  it  is  not 
believed  to  have  been  ever  used  for  coinage.  It 
is  stated  by  Pliny  ^j  and  repeated  at  greater  length 
by  Florus  y,  and  by  others  after  him,  that  this 
compound  was  owing  to  the  accidental  mixture  of 
gold  and  silver  and  copper  in  a  state  of  fusion  at 
the  burning  of  Corinth  :  but  even  Pliny  himself 
has  noticed  the  employment  of  this  metal  for 
works  of  art  at  a  much  earlier  period  than  the 
time  of  that  conflagration  ;  and  we  may  perhaps 
assign  the  reputation  it  possessed  at  any  period, 
as  much  to  the  skill  of  Corinthian  workmanship, 
as  to  the  peculiar  excellence  of  the  compound.  It 
was  on  a  principle  somewhat  similar,  that  when 
Antipho  was  asked  by  the  tyrant  Dionysius,  what 
was  the  best  kind  of  brass,  he  answered,  That 
which  composes  the  statues  of  Harmodius  and 
Aristogeiton  ^. 

I  have  already  intimated  that  the  medals  of  the 
ancients  were  produced   by  the  hammer,   rather 

"  Eth.  Nic.  X.  4.  8.  X  Lib.  XXXIV.  c.  3. 

y  Lib.  II.  c.  10. 

z  Plut.  De  Adul.  vol.  VI.  p.  249.  Reiske. 


LECTURE    IV.  101 

than  by  melting.  It  appears,  indeed,  that  the 
flan,  or  piece  of  unstamped  metal,  was  commonly 
prepared  for  the  die  by  melting,  but  afterwards 
the  impression  was  given  to  it  by  the  hammer. 
It  is  not  known  why  this  more  laborious  process 
was  adopted  by  them,  though  it  may  fairly  be 
presumed  that  the  higher  degree  of  finish  which 
may  thereby  be  given  to  medals,  would  be  a  suffi- 
cient reason  for  retaining  it  at  the  more  advanced 
periods  of  their  history,  and  for  cases  which  re- 
quired a  better  style  of  execution.  It  may  also  be 
a  matter  of  surprise,  that,  with  their  imperfect  com- 
mand over  metals,  they  should  still  have  recourse 
to  the  hammer  for  common  purposes  ;  as  they 
would  be  compelled,  from  want  of  a  well-tempered 
material,  to  be  constantly  making  new  dies,  after 
a  small  number  of  impressions  had  been  taken. 
But  this  difficulty  only  furnishes  us  with  a  new 
evidence  in  favour  of  what  has  been  stated  as  to 
the  general  practice.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in 
very  few  instances  ^  have  any  two  ancient  coins 
been  found  which  evidently  proceeded  from  the 
same  die.  The  prince  Torre-Muzza,  for  instance, 
who  was  for  many  years  a  collector  of  Sicilian 
medals  ^,  could  not  find  in  his  extensive  cabinet 

»  One  instance,  and  that  a  peculiar  one,  is  noticed  by 
Payne  Kniglit  as  a  "  rare  occurrence,  even  in  pieces  the  most 
"  common."  Archaeol.  vol.  XIX.  j).  375- 

t>  This  collection  was  purchased  by  lord  Northwick. 

H  3 


102  LECTURE    IV. 

any  two  that  corresponded  in  all  particulars  with 
each  other. 

Such  then  was  the  practice  of  Greece,  until 
tliat  country  sunk  in  the  universal  degeneracy 
of  Europe ;  and  such  also  was  the  jiractice  of 
Rome,  with  the  exception  of  the  earliest  period, 
when  brass  alone  was  current,  and  the  times 
that  followed  the  reign  of  Septimius  Severus, 
when  the  fine  arts  and  the  public  honour  were 
equally  degraded.  Other  exceptions  indeed  in  fa- 
vour of  melting  appear  occasionally  to  have  oc- 
curred ;  but  after  the  times  of  Severus  it  seems  to 
have  become  the  established  practice  of  Rome, 
having  already  been  adopted  in  the  distant  pro- 
vinces of  the  empire. 

Many  ancient  dies  of  different  periods  have  ac- 
tually been  found,  and  are  still  preserved  :  but  I 
shall  confine  myself  to  two,  belonging  to  the  time 
of  Augustus,  which  were  discovered  among  the 
ruins  of  Nismes.  One  of  them,  soon  after  it  was 
found,  was  placed  under  the  machine,  then  used 
for  minting,  in  order  to  obtain  an  impression  from 
it ;  but  was  broken  into  pieces  by  the  force  of  the 
impact.  The  other  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  count  Caylus  ^,  and  is  stated  by  him  to  have 
consisted  of  copper,  zinc,  tin,  and  lead  in  equal 
quantities.  This  then  was  the  metal  supposed,  in 
the  time  of  Augustus,  to  possess  the  greatest  de- 
c  Rec.  d'Aiitiij.  vol.  I.  p.  285. 


LECTURE    IV.  103 

gree  of  hardness.  In  after-times  a  kind  of  steel 
was  used  for  the  same  purpose,  and  dies  of  that 
metal  are  still  in  existence. 

But   the   most   remarkable   discovery  in    this 
branch  of  the  subject  is   of  plaster  moulds,  in- 
tended evidently  for  casting  coins.     A  mould  of 
this  description,  purporting  to  be  of  the  times  of 
Severus,  was  found  at  Lyons,  and  is  minutely  de- 
scribed by  the  same  count  Caylus,  in  his  work  on 
antiquities^.  By  him  these  moulds  are  supposed  to 
have  been  used  at  the  public  mints  ;  but  Mahudel  '^ 
has  maintained,  in  the   Memoirs  of  the  French 
Academy,  and  Eckhel  has  since  confirmed  the  023in- 
ion,  that  they  were  the  contrivances  employed  by 
ancient  forgers.     We  admit,  indeed,  that  melting 
must  have  been  part  of  that  occupation  of  the  pub- 
lic moneyers,  which  was  commonly  described  by 
the  words  auro  argento  ceri  fiando  feriimdo ;  but 
it  seems  probable  that,  at  the  best  periods  of  the  Ro- 
man coinage,  the  melting  was  confined  to  the  pre- 
paring of  the  plate  of  metal  for  the  reception  of 
the  die.     The  rest  of  the  operation  was  the  busi- 
ness of  the  hammer,  and  is  fitly  denoted  by  a  sil- 
ver coin  of  the  republic,  bearing  on  the  face  of  it 
the  head  of  a  female,  with  the  inscription  Moneta, 
and  on  tiie  reverse,  the  pincers,  the  hanmier,  the 
anvil,  and  the  cap  of  Vulcan. 

d  Rec.  d'Aiit.  vol.  I.  p.  28t).  ^  Tom.  III.  y.  221. 

H  4 


104  LECTURE    IV. 

The  classification  of  ancient  devices  is  an  un- 
dertaking of  the  greatest  interest,  but  much  too 
intricate  and  extensive  for  a  course  of  public  lec- 
tures. Call  to  your  recollection,  however,  all  the 
ingenuity,  real  and  fictitious,  that  has  been  exerted 
in  contriving  emblems  for  modern  heraldry,  and 
you  will  only  have  a  duplicate  of  the  skill  em- 
ployed upon  the  devices  of  ancient  coins.  Some 
of  them  commemorated  early  legends,  others  the 
worship  of  a  guardian  deity;  some  the  real  sources 
of  public  wealth,  others  the  natural  objects  in  the 
neighbourhood ;  some  the  encouragement  given 
to  the  arts,  others  the  services  of  illustrious  men ; 
Cyrene  adopted  the  silphium,  which  it  cultivated 
for  foreign  commerce;  Selinus,  the  sprig  of  parsley, 
corresponding  with  its  name;  Sicily  was  distin- 
guished by  the  Triquetra,  or  three  legs  united; 
and  Rhodes  obtained  from  the  word  polov  its  fa- 
vourite bearing  of  a  rose  ^. 

But  besides  these  general  devices,  there  fre- 
quently appear  on  coins  smaller  emblems  of  in- 
finite variety,  which  are  supposed  by  some  to  de- 

'  This  seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  ancient  com- 
mentators; as  it  clearly  Avas  of  Enstathius;  (see  his  note  on 
the  Odyss.  lib.  V.  p.  1527.  1-  58.)  but  Spanheim  and  others 
maintain  that  the  flower  represented  on  the  coins  of  Rhodes 
is  that  of  the  pomegranate,  Avhich  was  used  in  dying,  and  be- 
came in  consequence  an  article  of  commerce.  Spanh.  vol.  I. 
p.  317,  &c. 


LECTURE    IV.  105 

note  the  different  niinting-places,  and  by  others 
the  sigla  of  the  different  inoneyers.  That  one  or 
other  was  the  object  of  them  appears  to  be  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  they  are  not  to  be  found 
on  any  of  the  medals  of  the  emperors,  believed  to 
have  been  minted  at  Rome. 

I  need  scarcely  add,  that,  besides  those  common 
appellations  obtained  from  the  jDersons  or  the 
places  that  minted  them,  such  as  Darics  and  Cy- 
zicenes,  there  are  other  names  of  coins,  occurring 
in  classical  authors,  which  were  derived  entirely 
from  their  devices.  Such  names  are  the  yXav^ 
and  the  Kopa  of  Athens,  the  ir^hXog  or  Pegasus  of 
Corinth,  the  To^oT^g  of  Persia,  and  the  Bigati  or 
Victoriati  of  Rome,  derived  from  their  car,  or 
their  figure  of  Victory. 


LECTURE  V. 


Grecian  coinage — Fabulous  history  of  it — Phido  the  Ar- 
give — Alexander  the  First  of  Macedon — Athenian  coins — 
Money  of  account — Athenian  gold — Dispute  respecting  it — 
Aristophanes — Thucydides — Lysias — Demosthenes — ^schi- 
nes — Athenian  inscriptions — Darics,  Cyzicenes — Athenian 
silver — Its  purity — Tetradrachma — Didrachma^  &c. — Their 
legends  and  devices — The  owl  of  Athens — The  diota — Coin 
of  the  time  of  Mithridates — Athenian  brass — Wood  and  DIo- 
nysius — Dean  Swift  and  Aristophanes — Salmasius — Recal  of 
base  money — Brass  coins  very  numerous — Two  specimens  of 
them — Coins  of  Sparta — Two  specimens  of  them — Coins 
of  Bceotia — Orchomenus — Thebes — Passage  of  Xenophon 
amended — Coins  of  Elis — Mistaken  for  the  Falisci — Ex- 
plained by  Payne  Knight. 


I  CANNOT  better  introduce  the  subject  of  Gre- 
cian coinage,  than  by  quoting  some  eloquent  ob- 
servations of  Eckhel%  well  deserving  of  the  theme 
on  which  he  wrote  them.  After  noticing  the  uni- 
versal prevalence  of  good  taste  and  delicate  execu- 
tion, not  merely  in  the  coinage  of  other  states, 
but  even  in  the  less  favoured  regions  of  Boeotia 
and  Arcadia,  he  adds ;  "  Quod  vero  mirandum  est 
"  maxime,  quuni  coloni  Griecia  profecti  in  medio 
"  gentium  barbararum  maximeque  dissitarum  se- 
"  des  sibi  quaererent,  tantum  abfuit  ut  patriae  suae 
"  artes  pulcrique  amorem  dediscerent,  ut  vicinos 
"  barbaros  magis  ad  artium  praecepta  instituerent 
'*  quam  ab  his  corrumperentur.  Tam  altas  in 
"  animo  mirabilis  hujus  populi  radices  fixit  ar- 
"  tium  ac  philosophiae  amor,  ut,  quod  patria  Grae- 
"  cia  dictavit,  quocunque  sub  coelo  repraesentaret, 
"  neque  antea  a  veteribus  institutis  degeneraret, 
"  quam  ipsa  mater,  a  qua  etsi  longe  disjunctus 
"  alimenta  semper  petivit,  avitum  cultum  atque 
"  instituta  sensim  abjiceret."  So  that  the  total 
decay  of  literature  and  the  arts  in  the  colonies 
of  Greece,  which  followed  on  the  debasement  of 
Greece  itself,  may  be  likened  to  that  reputed  sym- 
pathy of  plants,  by  which  the  grafted  progeny, 

a  Vol.  I.   p.  13».  Prol. 


110  LECTURE    V. 

however   distant   they  may  be   from   the   parent 
stem,  decay  and  perish  as  it  perishes. 

On  the  fabulous   part   of  history  I  shall  not, 
either  in  this  instance  or  in  any  other,  waste  your 
time  by  saying  a  single  word.    Whoever  may  feel 
a  curiosity  of  this  nature  may  trace  the  history  of 
coinage  through  the  times  of  the   Patriarchs  to 
the  days  of  Tubalcain,  by  consulting  the  works  of 
Rinck^  and  other  authors.     I  shall  content  myself 
with  referring  to   an  early  notice  in  the  Arun- 
delian  marbles,  which  is  the  more  entitled  to  con- 
sideration, because  it  is  thought  by  several  writers 
to  have  been  confirmed  in  its  statement  bv  an  an- 
cient  coin.     The  words  of  the  marble  appear  to 
be  4>e/^a)v  h   A^yehg  vofxicrfxa  apyvpcuv  Iv  Aiyivvj  (iroiyjaev, 
and  the  date  given  to  the  fact  corresjionds  with 
the  year  894  B.  C.     Mgina,  moreover,  is  known 
to  have  coined  money  at  an  early  period,  the  de- 
nominations of  which  have  also  been  noticed  in 
the  works  of  classical  authors;  and  this  Phido'' 
the  Argive  seems  to  have  been  considered  by  the 
ancients  as  the  inventor  of  weights  and  measures, 
and    the   first  stamper   of  Grecian  coins.      Now 
there   is   a  coin   in   the    Brandenburg  collection, 
described  by  Beger,  which  bears  on  the  one  side 
a  diota,  with  the  inscription  ^lAO ;   and  on  the 
other  a  Boeotian  shield.     The  objection  urged  by 

b  Vet.  Num.  Pot.  p.  9. 

<^  See  Herod.  VI.  127.   Straho,  Mil. 


LECTURE  V.  Ill 

Barthelemy  '^,  that  the  word  $IAO  is  written  in 
the  marble  with  a  diphthong,  and  that  the  E  is 
wanting  in  the  coin,  is  of  no  weight  whatever; 
but  it  may  certainly  be  maintained,  that  the 
known  device  of  Mgiim  is,  almost  without  an 
exception,  a  tortoise,  and  that  the  shield  pour- 
trayed  upon  the  coin  is  as  exclusively  a  badge  of 
Boeotia,  and  is  too  highly  executed  for  so  remote 
a  period.  It  appears  also  that  it  was  the  common 
practice  in  Boeotia  to  inscribe  the  name  of  some 
magistrate  upon  their  coins.  Upon  the  whole 
therefore  we  must  assign  the  present  specimen, 
not  to  ^gina,  but  to  Boeotia,  a  district  much  less 
celebrated  for  its  cultivation  of  the  arts. 

The  oldest  Grecian  coins  now  extant,  and  capa- 
ble of  being  assigned,  without  much  hesitation,  to 
their  proper  date,  are  the  silver  medals  of  Alex- 
ander the  First  of  Macedon,  minted  about  the 
year  of  the  battle  of  Marathon.  But  though  the 
coins  of  this  country  are  preeminent  in  any  well- 
stored  cabinet,  and  its  history  excites  a  peculiar 
interest  whenever  it  interposes  itself  in  the  affairs 
of  Greece,  I  am  prevented  from  examining  it  in 
detail,  from  the  total  want  of  records  connected 
with  it.  It  would  not  indeed  be  difficult  to  col- 
lect conjectures,  or  even  to  invent  them,  which 
might  be  confirmed,  more  or  less  remotely,  by  the 

d  B.  L.  tom.  XXVI.  p.  54.S. 


112  LECTURE   V. 

devices  of  existing  coins  ;  but  such  conjectures 
would  for  the  most  part  have  little  of  history  to 
support  them,  and  the  devices  themselves  are  so 
simple  in  their  nature,  that  they  could  not  furnish 
us  with  any  specific  information.  We  pass  on 
therefore  to  consider  the  most  interesting  of  all 
ancient  money,  the  coins  of  Athens. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  mina  and  the  talent, 
which  we  meet  with  so  commonly  in  Athenian 
calculations,  were  not  coins,  but  merely  money  of 
account ;  and  the  different  names  of  coins,  which 
actually  circulated,  I  mean  the  drachms  and  obols, 
with  their  multiples  and  parts,  are  so  familiar  to 
you,  that  I  will  treat  the  subject,  not  in  reference 
to  those  distinctions,  but  under  the  three  general 
heads  of  gold,  silver,  and  brass. 

Winkelman*^  says,  that  he  saw  in  the  Farnese 
collection  at  Naples  a  gold  coin  of  Athens,  of  sin- 
gular beauty,  which  he  calls  a  quinarius,  but  does 
not  describe  more  precisely.  Mionnet  however, 
in  his  excellent  catalogue  of  coins,  takes  no  notice 
of  it,  and  EckheH  is  persuaded  that  in  this,  as  in 
many  other  instances,  his  brother  antiquary  was 
mistaken.  But  there  is  another  specimen,  which 
was  presented  by  King  George  the  Third  to  the 
well-known  William  Hunter,  and  was  bequeathed 
by  him  to   the   college  of  Glasgow.     It   weighs 

e  Storia  delle  Arti,  tom.  II.  p.  184. 

f  Vol.  II.  p.  2on. 


LECTURE    V.  113 

132f  English  grains,  and  is  described  in  Combe's 
catalogue  as  bearing  on  the  obverse,  Caput  Mi- 
nervcE  galeatum  ad  d. ;  on  the  reverse,  Noctua 
stans  ad  d.  pone,  oUvcb  ratntis  et  luna  crescens ; 
ante,  quiddam  ignotum ;  with  the  inscription 
AQE.  The  quiddam  ignotum  is  a  cylindrical  fi- 
gure, similar  to  what  is  known  in  a  moulding  by 
the  term  billet.  Now  this  is  the  only  gold  coin 
of  Athens  actually  producible^;  and  it  is  on  that 
account  an  object  of  great  interest,  and  still  greater 
suspicion.  Let  us  see  what  information  can  be  ob- 
tained from  ancient  authors.     The  passage  which 

g  Waljiole  says,  (Collections,  vol.  I.  p.  445,  note,)  that 
there  is  a  genuine  Attic  stater  in  lord  Elgin's  possession ; 
but  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  further  information 
respecting  it.  Sestini  also,  in  his  Dissertation  "  Degli  Sta- 
'^  teri  Antichi,"  p.  109,  after  mentioning  the  stater  of  the 
Hunterian  collection,  says,  "  Altri  n'  esistono  nel  Tesoro  Bri- 
"  tannico  ed  in  Musei  privati,"  &c.  But  here  Sestini  is 
strangely  inaccurate.  Combe's  Catalogue  of  the  Medals  in  the 
British  JMuseum  does  not  notice  any  Attic  stater ;  and  the 
Catalogue  itself,  although  it  had  been  published  three  years 
previously,  does  not  appear  at  that  time  to  have  been  ever 
consulted  by  Sestini.  It  is  true  that  some  Athenian  colonies, 
as  for  instance  Phoca^a,  had  gold  coins ;  and  Sestini  consi- 
ders this  fact  as  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  same  kind  of 
coins  at  an  earlier  period  in  the  mother  country.  The  argu- 
ment scarcely  deserves  to  be  refuted.  It  would  be  as  reason- 
able to  maintain,  that  the  English  were  accustomed  to  calcu- 
late in  dollars,  because  it  is  now  the  practice  to  do  so  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

I 


114  LECTURE    V. 

bears  most  directly  on  the  subject,  and  has  been 
quoted,  but  with  very  different  interpretations,  by 
different  writers,  is  from  the  Barpaj^&i  of  Aristo- 
phanes ^ : 

TToiXKaKis  y   fjixiv  edo^ev  i)  noXis  TvenovOevai 
TOVTOV  fs  T€  t5)v  TTokiTcov  Tovs  KoXovs  Ts  Kayadovs 
es  Te  Tapxaiov  v6fxi(rjj.a  koI  to  Kaivov  ^^pvcrtoi'. 

The  whole  course  of  the  comparison  shews  that 
the  poet  is  commending  the  ancient  coinage  as 
pure,  and  universally  approved ;  but  condemns 
the  recently  minted  coins,  as  departing  from  the 
original  standard.  In  the  words  Tapyaiov  vofxia-fxa, 
therefore,  he  refers  to  their  ancient  silver  coins, 
which  had  long  been  celebrated  for  their  fineness ; 
and  the  Kaivov  y^va-iov  must  denote  sbme  baser  issue 
sent  recently  into  circulation.  The  difficulty  is, 
that  the  word  y^pvalov  should  have  been  used,  rather 
than  any  other  word  connected  with  coinage,  to 
denote  this  baser  issue ;  and  it  is  so  strong  a  diffi- 
culty, as  to  induce  Corsini'  and  others  to  suppose 
that  gold  coins  were  actually  minted  at  this  pe- 
riod, and  were  the  degraded  issue  that  Aristopha- 
nes complains  of.  But  the  supposition  will  not 
bear  a  moment's  consideration.  The  poet  could 
not  have  used  such  language  to  complain  of  the 
introduction    of   a   more   costly  metal ;    and    the 

h  Ver.  731. 

i  F.  A.  vol.  II.  p.  224.     See  also  Boeckh,  Staatshaushal- 
tung,  b.  I.  and  Walpole,  vol.  I.  p.  444. 


LECTURE    V.  115 

statesmen  of  the  time  (it  was,  as  you  know,  the 
last  year  but  one  of  the  Peloponnesian  war)  were 
totally  unable  to  supply  gold  for  such  a  purjiose, 
when  their  resources  were  utterly  exhausted,  their 
last  sacred  deposit  of  a  thousand  talents  had  been 
expended ^S  and  even  their  silver  mines  were  no 
longer  in  their  possession  ^  I  need  not  dwell  on 
the  mistake  of  the  Scholiast,  who  speaks  of  gold 
as  actually  issued  at  this  time,  and  says,  in  an- 
other place'",  that  the  Athenians  obtained  their 
gold  from  the  mines  of  Laurium  ;  as  we  well 
know  that  they  were  mines  of  silver,  and  were 
moreover  at  that  time  in  the  possession  of  the 
Lacedaemonians.  But  Aristojihanes  himself  may 
put  an  end  to  the  dispute;  for  he  continues  to 
speak  of  the  same  baser  issue,  and,  instead  of  the 
word  xpvaiov,  he  afterwards  describes  it  by  the 
more  appropriate  title : 

TOVToii  Toli  Tvovrjpois  xoXk'iois 

The  only  question  then  remaining  is  not,  whether 
gold  was  issued  at  this  period,  but  what  reason 
the  poet  could  have  had  for  using  the  word  j^pv- 
aiov,  when  he  was  speaking  of  a  coinage  consisting 
principally  of  copper ;  and  that  question  may  be 
answered  by  supposing  either  that  he  was  speak- 
ing in  derision,  on  account  of  the  yellow  colour 

k  Thuc.  VIII.  15.  1  Ibid.  VI.  91. 

'n  Aristoph.  Equit.  v.  1091. 

I  2 


116  LECTURE    V. 

conveyed  by  the  baser  metal ;  or  that  y^valov  had 
become,  from  their  familiar  acquaintance  wnth  the 
gold  coins  of  Persia  and  other  countries,  a  com- 
mon term  for  money  ". 

That  the  Athenians  had  not  minted  any  gold 
coin  at  the  commencement  of  the  Peloponnesian 
war  is  evident  from  the  account  given  by  Peri- 
cles °  of  the  state  of  their  finances ;  in  which  he 
mentions  6000  talents  of  minted  silver,  and  bul- 
lion in  both  metals,  but  makes  no  mention  what- 
ever of  minted  gold.  It  is  also  evident  that  Athe- 
nian gold  was  not  current  in  the  time  of  Lysias ; 
for  in  mentioning  the  money  which  was  carried 
off  by  Piso  P,  he  describes  the  silver  generally  as 
T^'ia  ToiXavTa,  but  specifies  the  gold  as  so  many  se- 
parate pieces  of  money,  and  all  of  them  foreign 
coin,  TdrpaKoa-iovg  Kv'H^tKYjvovg,  Kai  eKarov  ^apeiKovg.  But 
it  is  of  more  importance  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
what  was  the  case  in  the  time  of  Demosthenes 
and  jEschines.  Now  the  former  of  them  appears 
always  to  use  the  word  apyvpiov  to  signify  money, 
whenever  the  passage  can  have  any  reference  to 

"1  To  shew  how  easily  a  word  may  move  on  from  its  natu- 
ral acceptation^  till  at  last  it  is  united  with  its  own  opposite, 
I  will  mention  the  word  dpyvpls,  which  originally  signified  a 
cup  of  silver ;  afterwards  a  cup  of  peculiar  sliape^  without 
reference  to  its  material ;  and  lastly,  is  combined,  as  in  a 
fragment  of  Anaxilaus,  with  the  word  XP^'^^^  '•  "  nt'i/eu/  e| 
"^  dpyvpidcov  ;^pvcrcoi/."     (Athen.  lib.  II.  c.  26.) 

o  Thuc.  II.  13.  P  Cont.  Erat.  p.  391. 


LECTURE   V.  117 

the  number  of  pieces,  or  to  the  material  of  the 
coin ;  and  never  employs  the  word  y^pv(jiov,  except 
with  reference  to  ornaments  or  household  plate. 
j$lschines*i  too,  though  he  does  use  the  word  '/jiv- 
aiov  as  money,  always  shews,  either  by  uniting 
with  it   the   epithet   (BaaiXiKov,  or  by  some  other 
method,  that  he  is  speaking  in  those  instances  of 
foreign  coin.     It  is  also  clear  from  an  ancient  in- 
scription %  that  gold  was  received,  as  well  as  sil- 
ver, at  the  Athenian  treasury  ;  but  we  may  infer 
from  a  passage  of  Demosthenes ^  that  there  was  a 
fixed  rate   at  which  Cyzicenes  were   allowed   to 
circulate  in  Athens ;  we  know  that  the  value  of 
Darics  was  ascertained  in  Athenian  money*;  and 
the  two  staters  which  are  mentioned  in  another 
inscription",  as  among  the  offerings  of  the  Acro- 
polis, are  exjDressly  called  Phocaic,  and  not  Athe- 
nian.   There  is,  in  short,  no  method  of  accounting 
for  the  total  silence  of  classical  antiquity  resjiect- 
ing  Athenian  gold  coins,  and  the  constant  mention 
of  Darics,  Cyzicenes,  and  other  foreign  staters,  if 
gold  were  actually  minted  at  Athens  during  that 
period  ^. 

q  JE^ch.  c.  Ctes.  78.  19.  et  88.  1. 

r  Rose,  Inscrip.  Gr.  p.  117-  ^  !„  Phorm.  p.  914. 

t  Time.  VIII.  29,  &c.         "  Boeckh.  Ins.  vol.  I.  p.  23(). 
X  This  opinion  is  remarkably  confirmed  from  two  passages 
of  Aristophanes.     In  the  'Ittttjjs,  (v.  472.)  the  poet  says, 
ovT   iipyvpiov  ovTf  xpv(xlov 
tidovs :  and 

I  3 


118  LECTURE    V. 

But  the  inetal  of  the  greatest  importance  to 
Athens  was  silver.  It  had  been  employed  by 
them  for  their  coinage  from  the  earliest  periods 
of  their  history ;  it  was  obtained  in  considerable 
quantity  from  their  own  neighbourhood  ;  and  it 
formed  an  important  item  in  their  national  re- 
venue. The  high  commendation  given  to  this 
coinage  by  Aristophanes,  in  the  passage  already 
noticed,  was  in  reference,  not  to  the  delicacy  of 
the  workmanship,  but  to  the  extreme  purity  of 
the  metal ;  and  the  same  cause,  according  to  the 
explanation  formerly  given  by  me^,  seems  to  have 
deterred  the  Athenians  from  excelling  in  the  exe- 
cution of  their  coins,  which  induced  them  to  pre- 
serve the  greatest  purity  in  the  standard.  The 
specimens  accordingly  of  Athenian  silver  are  very 
numerous,  and,  though  evidently  minted  at  pe- 
riods very  different  from  each  other,  retain  so 
great  a  degree  of  correspondence,  as  implies  either 
much  political  wisdom  on  the  part  of  Athens,  or 
at  least  a  willing  acquiescence  in  the  authority  of 
public  opinion.    They  range  from  a  date  probably 

iiud  we  may  thence  infer,  that  gokl  coins  were  current  at 
Athens.     But  in  the  'EkkXj^ct.  (v.  601.)  he  says, 

apyvpLOV  Se 
Kcii  bapeiKovs  : 
from  which  we  learn,  that  the  gold  coins  in  common  circula- 
tion were  Persian  Darics. 
y  See  Lecture  I. 


LECTURE    V.  119 

coeval  with  the  Persian  war  clown  to  the  latest 
times  of  ancient  history,  and  consist  principally 
of  tetradrachnias,  varying  from  265}^  grains  in 
weight  to  255,  but  descending  in  some  few  in- 
stances as  low  as  250  grains.  The  single  cabinet 
of  William  Hunter  contained  more  than  one  hun- 
dred specimens  of  this  coin.  The  next  is  the 
didrachma  of  130  grains,  a  coin  of  which  there  is 
only  one  specimen  in  the  same  valuable  collection. 
The  drachma  of  about  65  grains  is  followed  by 
the  tetrobolus  of  44,  the  triobolus  of  33,  the  dio- 
bolus  of  22,  the  obolus  of  11,  and  the  several  parts 
of  the  obolus,  till  you  reach  the  quarter  obolus, 
weighing  2f-  grains  ;  and  express  your  surprise, 
not  merely  that  so  small  a  coin  should  ever  have 
been  minted,  but  still  more,  that  it  should  be  ex- 
tant at  the  present  day. 

M.Cousinery^has  assigned  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  silver  coins  to  Athens,  which,  if  properly 
so  assigned,  must  belong  to  a  very  early  period  of 
its  coinage.  The  workmanship  is  rude ;  the  re- 
verse possesses,  in  several  instances,  the  squares 
or  crosses  of  the  most  simple  style  of  minting ; 
there  is  no  inscription  whatever  ;  and  the  device 
,  is,  not  the  customary  owl  or  head  of  Pallas,  but 
connnonly  a  horse  or  a  mask.  In  short,  the  only 
reason  for  assigning  these  coins  to  Athens  is,  that 

2   See  Mioiuiet,  vol.  II.  p.  112. 

I  4 


120  LECTURE   V. 

they  were  found  upon  the  spot,  and  in  the  com- 
pany of  others,  which  are  certainly  of  Athenian 
origin ;  but  this  reason,  though  of  some  import- 
ance in  itself,  is  overborne  in  the  present  instance 
by  the  total  want  of  correspondence  in  the  other 
circumstances  of  the  coins. 

I  may  observe,  that  in  none  of  these  specimens, 
nor  yet  in  any  known  coin  of  Athens  hitherto 
discovered,  is  there  that  impress  of  a  bull,  which 
is  said  by  Plutarch^  to  have  been  the  device 
adopted  by  the  Athenians  as  early  as  the  days  of 
Theseus,  and  is  commonly  supposed  to  have  given 
occasion  to  the  proverb  !3ovg  em  yXwa-ay;, 

The  silver  coins  of  Athens  are  distinguished, 
not  merely  by  the  inscrijjtion  A0E,  but  by  the  de- 
vices of  the  head  of  Pallas  and  the  owl,  retained 
apparently  at  all  periods,  and  under  all  circum- 
stances. It  is  from  the  growing  accompaniments 
of  these  devices  that  the  respective  dates  of  Athe- 
nian medals  are  attempted  to  be  ascertained.  At 
the  earliest  period,  which  we  assume  to  be  before 
the  time  of  Pericles,  the  helmet  on  the  head  of 
Pallas  is  of  the  simplest  form ;  in  the  next  period 
it  is  decorated  by  a  sphinx  and  two  griffins,  which 
were  copied  probably  from  the  well-known  statue 
in  the  Acropolis,  so  described  by  Pausanias  ^. 
And  this  decoration  seems  to  have  continued,  va- 

a  i>i„t.  iu  Thes.  c.  25.  ^  Lib.  I.  c.  24. 


LECTURE    V.  121 

rying  only  in  its  degree  of  finish,  or  the  increase 
of  its  smaller  ornaments,  from  the  days  of  Pericles 
down  to  the  latest  times.     In  the  same  manner, 
in  the  first  instances,  the  owl  is  accompanied  only 
by  an  olive  branch  and  a  small  crescent ;  but  in 
process  of  time  we  have  her  surrounded  by  a 
wreath  of  laurel,  standing  upon  a  diota,  accompa- 
nied by  strange  emblems  of  all  times  and  coun- 
tries, and  crowded  by  the  names  of  public  officers. 
It  is  amusing  to  trace  the  progress  of  that  uni- 
versal  citizenship  which   the   owl   of  Athens   at 
once  imparted  and  obtained.     We  find  her  associ- 
ating with  herself  on  the  coins  of  Athens  the  vari- 
ous devices  of  countries,  near  and  distant,  to  which 
she  was  carried  by  the  spread  of  Athenian  com- 
merce ;  we  find,  for  instance,  among  many  others 
less  intelligible,  the  corn-ear  of  Sicily,  the  elephant 
of  Africa,  the  Pegasus  of  Corinth,  the  sphinx  of 
Egypt,  the  lion  of  Leontium,  and  the  flower  of 
Rhodes.     In  like  manner  the  owl  or  the  head  of 
Pallas  was  received  upon  the  coins  of  other  na- 
tions, travelling  through  many  states  of  Asia  as 
well  as  Europe,  and  in  many  instances  suj^plant- 
ing  the  ancient  emblem  ;  till  it  obtained  a  perma- 
nent establishment   at  the  Roman  mint,  and  at 
last  was  admitted  upon  the  coins  of  Sparta.    And 
so  the  genius  of  Athens,  now  conquered  and  de- 
graded, had  not  only  left  traces  of  her  fame  on 
the  national  habits  of  her  modern  conquerors,  but 


122  LECTURE    V. 

also  had  been  adopted  and  exalted  by  her  ancient 
and  most  inveterate  enemy. 

The  reasons  for  introducing  these  two  devices 
originally  may  be  found  in  any  writer  on  Athe- 
nian antiquities,  or  may  be  conjectured  without 
having  recourse  to  their  assistance ;  but  the  case 
of  the  diota,  which  is  commonly  placed  horizon- 
tally under  the  feet  of  the  owl,  requires  a  separate 
explanation.  Corsini*^  says,  in  a  dissertation  of  his 
Fasti  Attici,  that  it  is  supposed  by  some  to  refer 
to  the  amphora  of  oil,  which  was  presented  to  the 
conquerors  at  the  Panathenaea ;  but  is  himself  of 
opinion,  that  it  was  intended  to  denote  the  manu- 
facture of  vessels  in  terra  cotta,  for  which  the 
Athenians  were  celebrated.  AVe  certainly  know 
that  they  prided  themselves  on  this  manufacture ; 
and  we  have  a  fragment  preserved  by  Athenaeus  •*, 
in  which  the  poet  Critias  appears  to  think  them 
as  much  deserving  of  fame  for  the  invention  of 
the  potter's-wheel,  as  for  the  trophy  they  erected 
on  the  plain  of  Marathon.  But  I  am  inclined  to 
think  with  Eckhel,  that,  as  the  diota  was  placed 
on  the  coins  of  Thasos,  Chios,  and  Corcyra,  in  re- 
ference to  the  wines  exported  from  those  islands  ; 
so  too  the  diota  of  Athens  was  an  emblem  of  her 
olive  grounds,  and  the  rich  products  they  provided 
for  her  foreign  trade. 

c  Vol.  II.  p.  230.  <i  Lil>.  I.  c.  r)0. 


LECTURE    V.  123 

The  only  silver  coin,  which  I  intend  to  notice 
more  particularly,  is  of  the  year  88  B.C.,  and  re- 
tains, even  at  so  late  a  period,  the  two  ancient 
devices.  It  belongs  to  the  Hunterian  collection, 
and  bears  on  the  obverse  Caput  PaUadis ;  on  the 
other  side,  A0E  BASIAE  MIGPAAATHI ;  and  un- 
derneath, APISTION  Noctua  diotoi  insisteris,  in 
area  astra  solis  et  liincB.  Now  we  learn  from 
Athenseus^  that  Aristio  was  originally  a  sophist, 
with  a  different  name  ;  but  that  when  the  power 
of  Mithridates  had  prevailed  against  the  Roman 
influence  in  Athens,  he  ingratiated  himself  with 
the  Cappadocian,  and  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  government  as  his  representative.  Such  also 
is  the  information  to  be  collected  from  the  coin  : 
and  Aristio  was  in  some  haste  to  leave  behind 
him  such  memorials  of  himself;  for  it  also  appears 
that  Athens  was  taken  by  Sylla^,  and  Aristio  was 
deposed  and  put  to  death,  within  a  year  from  the 
time  of  his  elevation. 

I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  Athenian 
brass.  In  the  reign  of  George  I.  a  person  of  the 
name  of  Wood  obtained  a  patent,  empowering 
him  to  prepare  a  large  coinage  of  copper  for  the 
use  of  Ireland.  Dean  Swift  attacked  him  in  his 
celebrated  Draper's  Letters,  and  having  completely 

e  Lib.  V.  c.  48. 

f  Pint,  in  Syll.  c.  14.     Vol.  III.  p.  105.  Reiske. 


124  LECTURE    V. 

defeated  the  scheme,  wrote  a  farther  pamphlet, 
styling  his  opponent "  esquire  and  hardware-man," 
and  representing  him  as  going  "  in  solemn  pro- 
"  cession  to  the  gallows."  The  title  of  Hardware- 
man  continued  with  him  for  his  life.  Now  the 
whole  of  this  transaction  had  been  exhibited  2000 
years  before  at  Athens.  In  the  age  of  Aristides 
and  Themistocles,  a  person  of  the  name  of  Dio- 
nysius  strongly  urged  the  Athenians  to  issue  brass 
money  on  account  of  the  distresses  of  the  times. 
His  project  was  defeated,  and  some  one  of  the 
wits  of  the  day  gave  Dionysius  the  epithet  of 
0  yaXKovg,  by  which  he  has  ever  since  been  dis- 
tinguished. You  will  remember  that  Aristotle  ^ 
speaks  of  him  in  his  Rhetoric  as  an  indifferent 
poet,  and  calls  him  o  yakKovq :  Plutarch  enables  us 
to  assign  him  to  his  proper  period  of  history,  and 
still  calls  him  h  yakmlc, :  Atheneeus  mentions  the 
same  epithet,  and  gives  us  the  anecdote  which  ex- 
plains the  origin  of  it ;  and  as  far  as  I  know,  with 
the  exception  of  Dr.  Lempriere,  who,  if  he  has 
taken  any  notice  at  all  of  him,  has  compassion- 
ately called  him  a  native  of  Chalcis,  Dionysius 
has  been  known,  from  the  time  of  Aristides  down 
to  the  present  day,  by  the  title  of  the  "  Man  of 
"  brass." 

g  Rhet.   lib.  III.  c.  2.   §.  3.     Pint,   in  Nic.   c.  5.  p.  34.5. 
Athen.  lib.  XV.  c.  9. 


LECTURE    V.  125 

Salmasius  seems  to  have  supposed  that  the  ad- 
vice of  Dionysius  was  adopted;  for  he  says'*  that 
brass  was  minted  by  the  Athenians  in  the  archon- 
ship  of  Callias,  in  the  81st  Olympiad :  but  the 
words  of  Athenaeus  are,  '^ta  to  o-vix/SovXevaai  'A$vjvai- 
oig  yjxXK'2  vofxia-fxaTi  yj^r^aaa^ai ;  and  the  existence  of 
the  epithet  is  a  plain  indication  that  the  advice  of 
Dionysius  was  not  accej)table  to  his  countrymen. 

We  have,  however,  in  the  passage  already 
quoted  from  the  Bar^aj^o;  of  Aristophanes,  a  suffi- 
cient notice,  both  that  the  experiment,  of  adulter- 
ating the  coin  by  means  of  cojiper,  was  actually 
made  in  the  time  of  that  poet,  and  that  a  more 
powerful  satirist  even  than  the  dean  of  St.  Pa- 
trick's had  proclaimed  war  against  it.  It  appears 
also  from  the  'E/cArA>;cr/a^6uo-a/S  which  was  exhibited 
thirteen  years  afterwards,  that  the  crier  had  re- 
cently given  notice  of  the  issue  of  a  new  silver 
coinage,  and  the  total  suppression  of  the  baser 
currency. 

So  that,  as  we  may  fairly  collect,  the  Athenians 
determined  upon  restoring  their  currency  to  its 
ancient  and  salutary  condition,  as  soon  as  they 
had  recovered,  even  in  a  slight  degree,  from  the 
disasters  of  the  Peloponnesian  war.  They  accord- 
ingly coined  the  minute  silver  pieces,  already  no- 
ticed ;  which  are  also  most  easily  accounted  for, 

•i  De  usur.  p.  .'iOD.  »  Ver.  81(). 


126  LECTURE   V. 

on  the  supposition  that  they  were  intended  to 
supply  the  places  of  coins  previously  minted  from 
a  less  precious  metal.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  small  brass  money,  equal  to  i  of  an  obol, 
was  still  retained.  In  later  times,  money  was 
again  minted  of  this  metal,  and  established  itself 
permanently  in  the  circulation  of  Athens.  Ari- 
stotle^^ records  an  equivoque,  which  shews  that  it 
was  then  in  common  use  as  small  coin ;  and  De- 
mosthenes^ employs  the  word  -xakKovg  in  such  a 
manner,  as  to  prove  that  in  his  time  it  was  the 
constant  medium  of  smaller  traffic. 

Brass  coins  of  Athens  are  very  numerous,  and 
the  number  has,  in  many  cases,  been  much  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  others,  which  belong 
either  to  her  dependencies,  or  to  places  united 
with  her  by  connnercial  treaties,  and  adopting  her 
devices.  There  are  several  medals,  for  instance, 
bearing  the  usual  Athenian  emblems,  and  in- 
scribed with  the  words  A0HNAS  NIKH4>0P0T, 
but  possessing  little  accordance  in  metal  and  exe- 
cution with  the  acknowledged  coins  of  Athens. 
Now  it  would  not  be  difficult,  and  Eckhel  has  in 
fact  accomplished  it,  to  bring  together  much  vari- 
ous learning,  for  the  purpose  of  shewing  that  Pal- 
las and  Victory  were  often  identified  in  the  cere- 

k  Rhet.  III.  9.  4. 

1    npqs  *nii/.    p.  1045.      Kara  Aiovixr.    p.   1283. 


LECTURE    V.  127 

monies  and  the  language  of  the  Athenians.  But, 
in  this  instance,  it  would  be  to  little  purpose  ;  for 
the  coins  have  been  discovered,  not  in  Attica,  but 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Pergamus ;  and  on  some 
of  them  there  is  the  monogram  of  Pergamus'", 
together  with  the  rest  of  the  inscription,  clearly 
proving  that  they  are  not  of  Athenian  origin. 

But  numerous  as  the  brasses  are,  it  is  not  easv 
to  assign  any  of  them  to  a  precise  date.  The  in- 
scription, as  far  as  I  know,  confines  itself  to  the 
letters,  in  full  or  in  part,  of  the  word  A0HNAI11N; 
and  though  the  devices  are  very  various,  referring 
too  in  many  instances  to  the  history  or  topogra- 
phy of  Athens,  they  do  not  enable  us  to  assign 
any  precise  date  for  their  being  minted.  There 
have  been  writers,  indeed,  who  have  discovered 
on  these  medals  the  likenesses  of  Themistocles  " 
and  other  illustrious  men,  but  without  any  evi- 
dence sufficient  to  satisfy  a  reasonable  mind,  and 
with  the  strongest  probabilities  against  them.  I 
shall  therefore  content  myself  Math  describing  two 
coins,  the  first  belonging  to  the  collection  of  M. 
Pellerin  *',  the  second  noticed  by  Heeren  i\  1st,  Ca- 
put Pcdladis )-(  A0HN  Rwpes^  super  qua  tem- 

m  See  Sestini,  torn.  I.  lett.  20.  p.  135.  andMionnet,  vol.  II. 
p.  130. 

"  See  Haym,  torn.  I.  and  Corsini's  Answer^  vol.  II.  p.  249. 
"  Eck.  vol.  II.  p.  210.     See  Col.  Leake's  Attica. 
P  Bibl.  der  alten  Lit.  IX.  4H.    Eck.  vol.  II.  p.  217. 


128  LECTURE    V. 

plum,  juxta  statua  Palladis  et  porta,  ad  quam 
gradiis  per  rupem  diicunt.  2nd,  Caput  Palladis 
)-(  A0HNAI11N,  Vir  midus  toto  nisu  pr<Bgran- 
dem  lapidem  erigit.  The  former  bears  a  beauti- 
ful representation  of  the  Acropolis  ;  the  latter  re- 
fers to  the  fable  of  Theseus  removing  the  stone 
which  covered  the  sword  and  sandals  of  his  father 

jEgeus. 

From  the  well-known  policy  of  Lacedsemon  it 
will  not  be   expected    that   I   should    enter   into 
much  detail  respecting  the  currency  of  that  coun- 
try.    Nevertheless  we  learn  from  Thucydides  and 
Xenophon  that  the  Lacedaemonians  became  well 
acquainted  with   the  necessity  and   the  value  of 
money  before  the  close  of  the  Peloponnesian  war ; 
from  Plato  ^i,  that  they  possessed  a  greater  quan- 
tity of  gold   and   silver  than  any  other  Grecian 
state;   and  from  Pausanias  %  that  they  were  al- 
ways notorious  for  assailing  their  enemy  by  means 
of  bribes.   We  have  moreover  many  coins  in  silver 
and  brass  which  have  been  ascribed  to  Lacedae- 
mon,  some  probably  from  possessing  the  Dioscuri, 
the  favourite  emblem  of  that  country,  others  from 
the  stronger  evidence  of  the  inscription  A  A.  Many 
of  them  bear  the  names  of  ephori  and  other  public 
officers  ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  two,  both  of 
them  silver,  they  may  all  be  left  without  farther 

q  Alcib.  I.  vol.  V.  p.  44.  Bip.  '  Lib.  IV.  c.  17- 


LECTURE    V.  129 

notice,  as  either  devoid  of  historical  interest,  or 
belonging  to  periods  comparatively  recent.  The 
first  is  described  by  Dutens  ^  as  bearing  Caput 
Pallaclis  )-(  A  A  Hercules  niidus  petra^  leon'is 
exuviis  coopertcB  insidens.  d.  clavam.  The  coin 
is  of  high  workmanship,  and  is  assigned  by  Du- 
tens himself,  but  without  any  authority,  to  so 
early  a  period  as  the  reign  of  Agesilaus.  It  ap- 
pears to  me  that  we  are  still  in  want  of  accurate 
information  respecting  it.  The  other  coin  bears 
Caput  HercuUs  imberhe  leonis  exuviis  tectum 
)-(BASIAEQS  APEOS  Jupiter  sedcfis,  d.  aqui- 
lam  s.  liastam.  This  king  Areus  is  supposed  by 
Froelich^  who  wrote  a  long  dissertation  on  the 
coin,  to  be  the  Spartan  Areus,  who  died  in  the 
year  ^^5  B.  C.  having,  according  to  the  first  book 
of  Maccabees ",  addressed  a  letter  to  Onias  the 
Jewish  high-priest,  and  stated  that  the  "  Lacedae- 
"  monians  as  well  as  the  Jews  were  of  the  stock 
"  of  Abraham."  However  that  may  be,  the  coin 
in  question  is  for  many  reasons  an  object  of  great 
suspicion. 

The  coins  of  Boeotia  are  known  partly  by  their 
inscriptions,  and  partly  by  the  presence  of  the 
Boeotian  shield,  which  has  not  yet  been  discovered 
on  any  coin  belonging  to  a  different  district.     It 


s  Explic.  de  Med.  p.  27-  *  Access,  ad  num.  Reg.  p.  ], 

'I  1  Mac.  xii.21. 

K 


130  LECTURE    V. 

is  well  known  that  the  Boeotians  had  a  kind  of 
national  pride  in  retaining  their  ancient  style  of 
armour,  and  this  feeling  was  so  much  respected 
in  other  parts  of  Greece,  that,  as  we  learn  from 
Demosthenes  %  the  great  painting  in  the  YIoikiX-^ 
of  Athens,  which  represented  the  Platseans  in  the 
act  of  bringing  up  their  reinforcements  at  the 
battle  of  Marathon,  exhibited  them  in  their  Boeo- 
tian helmets.  A  coin  has  been  noticed  by  Froe- 
lich,  which  he  describes  as  follows  :  Clypeus  Soeo~ 
ticus  )-(  EPX  intra  coronam  spiceam.  Now,  in 
despite  of  the  Boeotian  shield,  Froelich  assigns 
this  coin  to  the  hamlet  of  Erchia  in  Attica,  be- 
cause he  was  unable  to  find  any  town  in  Boeotia 
corresponding  with  the  letters  of  the  inscription : 
Eckhel  y  objects,  by  alleging  the  presence  of  the 
Boeotian  shield,  and  confirms  his  objection  by 
mentioning  another  coin  in  the  Hunterian  mu- 
seum, which  reads  EPXO  in  its  inscription,  and 
proves,  by  the  additional  letter  O,  that  it  cannot  be 
assigned  to  Erchia.  But  this  eminent  antiquary 
was  himself  in  error  in  supposing  that  the  in- 
scription has  no  reference  to  place,  but,  after  the 
manner  of  other  coins  of  Boeotia,  is  the  abbreviat- 
ed name  of  some  public  oflScer.  It  is  in  truth  the 
ancient  method  of  writing  the  word  Orchomenus^, 

X  Kara  Neat.  p.  1377-  Y  Vol.  II.  p.  196. 

z  See  Rose,  Inscr.  Grsec.  p.  271.   und  Osann.  Inscr.  Fasc. 
IV.  p.  1»6. 


LECTURE    V.  131 

a  well-known  town  of  Boeotia ;  and  this  fact  is 
established  by  a  marble  found  near  the  spot,  and 
containing  a  decree  of  the  Orchomenians,  which 
has  been  described  by  me  in  my  lectures  on  Greek 
inscriptions. 

Another  coin  of  the  same  country,  and  belong- 
ing to  the  same  valuable  museum,  possesses  a  still 
greater  interest,  from  the  light  it  throws  upon  a 
perjDlexing  jDassage  of  Xenophon.  In  his  Grecian 
History^  he  states  that  a  body  of  Arcadians  join- 
ed Epaminondas  against  the  Lacedaemonians,  and 
expresses  himself,  according  to  our  best  editions, 
after  the  following  manner:  eireypoicfiovTo  Te  koi  twv 
'ApKo^cov  OTrXhai  poiraXa  'lyovreg,  cog  Sy]l3aToi  cvreg.  These 
words  are  translated  by  Leunclavius,  "  Nonnulli 
"  etiam  Arcades  gravis  armatura^  pedites  nomina 
"  dabant  gestantes  clavas,  perinde  ac  si  Thebani 
"  essent."  Now  this  translation  involves  two  in- 
superable difficulties.  The  word  eVeypa^ovro  can- 
not mean  nom'ma  daha7it,  for  hiypacpYi,  though 
very  similar  in  sound,  is  extremely  remote  in 
meaning  from  a7roypacf)Yj :  and  it  is  moreover  mon- 
strous to  suppose  that  the  Arcadians,  and  much 
more  so  that  the  Thebans,  in  the  highly  ad- 
vanced condition  of  Grecian  tactics,  should  imi- 
tate the  Hercules  of  the  fable,  and  carry  no  other 
weapon  than  a  club.     The  real  meaning  of  lueypa- 

a  Lib.  VII.  c.  5.  §.20. 
K  2 


132  LECTURE    V. 

(f)ovTo  is  bore  a  device,  as  we  also  observe  in  a  si- 
milar expression  of  the  'Ayapvfn  : 

Kai  yap  (rii  jxeyaKrjV  e7reypd(pov  rrjv  Topyova^. 

But  a  difficulty  still  continues.  If  we  read  the 
passage  with  all  past  editors,  lit^ypacpovTo  poiraXa 
eyjjVTeg,  we  must  understand  that  the  soldiers  had 
the  device  of  Arcadians  armed  with  clubs  on  their 
shields,  like  the  bearer  of  the  firebrand  on  the 
shield  of  Capaneus  in  the  Septem  Thebani  ^ :  but 
if,  on  the  authority  of  some  good  MSS.,  and  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  expression  of  Aristo- 
phanes, we  omit  the  word  tyovTtg,  we  obtain  the 
following  translation  ;  "  The  Arcadian  Hoplitae 
"  had  clubs  as  devices  upon  their  shields,  after  the 
"  manner  of  the  Thebans."  The  proposed  change 
of  reading  is  singularly  confirmed  by  the  follow- 
ing coin  of  Thebes,  0E  Caput  imherhe  Herculis 
)-(  Clypeus  Bceoticus,  ciii  inserta  clava. 

Elis  is  the  only  remaining  state  of  Greece, 
whose  coins  I  intend  to  notice.  And  till  a  late 
period  Elis  has  been  treated  with  singular  injus- 
tice. It  could  scarcely  be  supposed  that  a  country 
which  stood  so  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  an- 
cient world,  should  have  been  entirely  destitute  of 
coins,  and  it  was  thought  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able anomalies  of  this  branch  of  knowledge  that  no 

b  Ver.  1094.  c  ,^.sch.  8.  T.  434. 


LECTURE    V.  133 

such  specimens  had  been  found.  But  what  was  in 
reality  the  case  ?  A  number  of  coins,  bearing  the 
inscription  FAAEION,  had  been  known  to  the 
older  numismatic  writers,  and  from  their  igno- 
rance of  the  digamma,  and  their  neglect  of  the 
Doric  dialect,  had  been  strangely  assigned  to  the 
Falisci  in  Etruria.  Misled  by  the  opinion  of  their 
predecessors,  but  too  wise  to  adopt  all  the  ab- 
surdities connected  with  it,  Eckhel  and  some  of 
his  contemporaries  still  endeavoured  to  find  out 
reasons  for  sui)posing  these  coins  to  have  been 
minted  by  the  ancient  Tuscans.  Sestini  was  the 
first  to  throw  off  the  long-established  error,  be- 
ing convinced  from  their  being  uniformly  found 
in  Greece,  that  they  could  not  have  been  minted 
by  so  distant  a  people  as  the  Falisci ;  but  he  was 
unfortunate  enough  to  fall  into  as  great  a  mistake 
as  the  one  from  which  he  had  escaped  '^  He  ven- 
tured to  suggest,  as  Froelich  seems  also  to  have 
done,  that  they  came  originally  from  Phalerum, 
the  harbour  of  Athens.  After  much  uncertainty 
Payne  Knight^  explained  to  them  that  the  first 
letter  was  the  ancient  Greek  digamma,  that  the 
second  was  the  Doric  H,  and  that  the  whole  word 
FAAEIOIS  is  to  be  seen,  without  the  slightest  dif- 
ference, in  the  well-known  inscription  that  was 

d  Sestini,  torn.  II.  p.  10. 

c  Payne  Knight,  Class.  Jour.  13.  See  also  Rose,  Insc.  Gra'c. 
p.  29.  and  Boeckh.  Corj).  Ipse.  vol.  I.  p.  20. 

K  3 


134  LECTURE   V. 

found  at  Elis.  All  subsequent  writers  have  joined 
with  Eckhel  and  Sestini  ^  in  holding  forth  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  ancient  error,  and  the  certainty  of 
the  modern  interpretation. 

f  Eck.  vol.  II.  p.  265.  Sestini,  tom.  V.  p.  44. 


LECTURE  VI 


K  4 


Roman  coinage — Pliny's  account  of  it — Inconsistency  of 
that  account — Extreme  variations  of  standard  at  Rome — 
Pecunia — Supposed  meaning  of  the  word — Disputed — Real 
meaning — Illustrated  from  the  coins  of  other  countries — Par- 
ticularly of  ancient  Gaul — First  known  devices  of  Roman 
coins — Variety  of  brass  coins — Tokens  of  their  current  values 
—  Silver  coins — When  first  minted — Their  current  values 
how  distinguished — Gold  coins — Pliny's  account  of  them — 
Disputed — Livy  and  Polybius — Restituti  of  Trajan — Opinion 
of  Eckhel — Triumviri  monetales — Triumviri  mensarii — Ci- 
cero's letter  to  Trebatius — Anecdote  of  Julius  Caesar — Coins 
of  Roman  families — Likenesses  on  coins — The  head  of  Roma 
— Explained — Restituti — Serrati. 


X  HE  early  history  of  the  Roman  coinage  is 
given  by  Pliny'*  in  his  Natural  History  at  consi- 
derable length,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to  create 
no  little  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  it.  It  may 
be  comprised,  with  a  view  to  the  distinct  consi- 
deration of  it,  under  the  following  heads. 

Roman  money  was  first  stamped  in  the  time  of 
Servius  ;  it  was  of  brass,  and  was  called  pecunia, 
from  the  figure  of  a  pecus  impressed  upon  it. 

Its  earliest  form  was  the  as  libralis,  or  piece  of 
twelve  ounces ;  and  so  continued  till  the  time  of 
the  first  Punic  war.  The  denarius  of  silver  was 
introduced  about  the  year  259  B.C.,  five  years 
before  the  commencement  of  that  war ;  and,  as 
the  word  itself  implies,  was  equivalent  to  ten 
asses. 

The  as  was  reduced  to  a  sextantarius,  or  piece 
of  two  ounces,  at  some  time  during  the  first  Punic 
war  ;  and  so  continued  till  a  further  change  was 
made  by  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  about  the  year  216 
B.C. 

In  the  time  of  Fabius  the  as  became  uncialis, 
or  piece  of  one  ounce ;   and  the  denarius,  which 

a  Lib.  XXXIII.  §.  1.3.  See  also  Letronne  sur  rEval.  des 
INIon.  p.  17. 


138  LECTURE   VI. 

had  hitherto  been   equivalent  to   ten   asses,  was 
now  made  equal  to  sixteen. 

In  a  short  time  afterwards,  on  the  passing  of 
the  Papirian  law,  the  date  of  which  is  not  pre- 
cisely known,  the  as  became  semuncialis,  or  piece 
of  half  an  ounce  in  weight. 

Now  my  first  observation   upon   this   reputed 
history  regards  the  extreme  greatness   and  sud- 
denness of  the  reductions  made  in  the  intrinsic 
value   of  the  coin.     Confining  ourselves  for  the 
moment  to  the  change  effected  during  the  first 
Punic  war,  and  making  all  due  allowance  for  the 
difference  between  the  simple  habits  of  exchange 
existing  at  that  period,  and  the  highly  artificial 
notions  contracted  by  ourselves,  we  still  find  that 
the  measure  recorded  by  Pliny  must  have  been 
too  generally  disastrous  to  the  wealthier  orders,  to 
have  been  attempted  by  the  government  success- 
fully and  at  once.     Its  tendency  would  certainly 
be  to  reduce  all  property,  entrusted  to  other  per- 
sons  and  payable  in  money,  to  one-sixth   of  its 
former  value.     The  relative  prices  of  commodities 
in   general    would    either   remain    stationary,   or 
would  soon  recover  from  the  first  disturbance;  but 
all  the  engagements,  whether  of  debt,  of  bargain, 
or  of  service,  that  had  been  previously  contracted, 
would  be  fulfilled,  to  the  inevitable  ruin  of  the 
one  party,  and  without  any  necessary  profit  to 
the  other.     Suppose  a  senator  to  have  lent  6000 


LECTURE   VI.  139 

asses,  on  the  condition  that  he  should  receive  the 
same  sum  on  repayment,  and  the  customary  in- 
terest during  the  interval;  and  suppose  the  change 
in  the  currency  to  take  place  a  few  days  after- 
wards ;  the  borrower  converts  1000  of  these  asses 
into  coin  of  the  new  denomination,  and  finds  them 
sufficient  to  pay  off  the  whole  of  his  debt.  But 
suppose  that  more  than  a  few  days  have  elapsed, 
and  that  the  borrower  has  no  longer  any  of  the 
ancient  and  heavier  coin  in  his  possession  ;  the  re- 
adjustment of  prices  has  taken  place,  the  lender 
suffers  in  the  same  ratio  in  which  the  prices  are 
advanced,  and  the  borrower  continues  exactly  as 
he  was  before.  But  the  mention  of  the  denarius 
in  silver,  which  is  stated  to  have  been  issued  some 
few  years  i^reviously  to  the  change,  adds  greatly 
to  the  difficulty.  The  denarius  seems  still  to  have 
been  equivalent  to  only  ten  asses,  and  could  not 
possibly  continue  in  circulation,  when  it  would 
purchase  six  times  the  quantity  of  asses,  by  being- 
converted  into  bullion.  At  a  subsequent  period, 
indeed,  this  inconvenience  appears  to  have  been 
felt ;  but  how  was  it  obviated  ?  The  as,  in  the 
time  of  Fabius,  was  reduced  in  weight  of  brass  to 
an  ounce ;  and  the  denarius,  to  go  on  concurrently 
with  the  alteration,  was  declared  equal  to  sixteen 
asses.  And  yet,  in  point  of  fact,  and  in  despite  of 
this  supposed  adjustment,  the  inequality  was  still 
greater  than  before ;  for  the  denarius,  which  was 


140  LECTURE   VI. 

intrinsically  worth  120  ounces  of  brass,  was,  as 
current  money,  worth  only  sixteen  ;  and  so,  by 
the  operation  of  minting,  was  reduced  to  f  of  its 
real  value.  In  this  argument  I  have  only  as- 
sumed, what  I  am  fully  justified  in  doing,  that 
the  ratio  established  between  the  two  kinds  of 
coin,  when  silver  was  originally  minted,  was  the 
ratio  of  their  real  value ;  and  that  the  denarius, 
no  information  being  given  us  to  the  contrary, 
and  strong  presumptions  existing  in  favour  of 
the  supposition,  continued  of  the  same  standard 
throughout  the  whole  period.  But  the  strongest 
objection  against  the  statement  of  Pliny  still  re- 
mains. If  his  account  were  correct,  no  as  could 
ever  have  been  minted  of  a  weight  between  the 
libralis  of  the  earliest  period,  and  the  sextantarius 
of  the  Punic  war  ;  nor  in  like  manner  any  semis- 
sis  between  the  full  weight  of  six  ounces,  and  the 
reduction  to  one  single  ounce ;  whereas  the  fact 
is,  that  we  meet  with  both  these  coins  in  all  the 
several  stages  of  degradation,  proving  incontest- 
ably  that  the  change  was  gradual.  That  such 
changes  were  actually  made,  and  that  the  common 
currency  of  Rome  underwent  repeated,  and  at  last 
extreme  variations  in  its  standard,  is  a  fact  that 
might  certainly  be  anticipated  from  the  unscien- 
tific character  of  the  times,  from  the  demands  of 
a  constant  state  of  warfare,  and  even  from  the 
universal  prevalence  of  debt ;  but  this  fact  is  fully 


LECTURE   VI.  141 

established,  as  to  the  mode  and  extent  of  its  ope- 
ration, not  by  what  we  gather  from  history,  but 
by  what  is  clearly  laid  before  us  in  a  series  of 
coins. 

There  is  still  another  point  in  the  narrative  of 
Pliny,  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  advert.  He 
says  that  money  was  called  pecunia  from  the  pe- 
cus  that  was  impressed  upon  it ;  and  the  con- 
struction put  upon  this  is,  that  originally  the  coin 
was  intended  to  be  a  substitute  for  the  pecus  re- 
presented on  it,  in  the  business  of  exchange  '\ 
Now,  as  the  fact  of  stamping  a  piece  of  metal,  in 
order  to  make  it  a  legal  tender,  implies  a  certain 
degree  of  advancement  in  the  science  of  money ; 
and  as  before  that  time  it  must  have  been  clearly 
seen  that  no  one  piece  of  money  whatever  can 
constantly  purchase  the  animal  impressed  upon  it, 
it  is  probable  that  wherever  such  impressions  ap- 
pear on  early  coins,  they  were  introduced  with 
some  other  reference  than  to  point  out  an  object 
that  was  equivalent  to  them.  It  is  probable  also, 
from  the  known  habits  of  infant  communities,  and 
still  more  so  when  those  communities  were  pre- 
datory tribes,  that  the  devices  first  adopted  by 
them  were  borrowed  either  from  the  fables  of 
their  country,  or  from  their  own  military  exploits. 
Those  fables,  moreover,  might  already  have  af- 

''  Such  is  the  construction  given  by  Sperlino;  and  others. 


142  LECTURE   VI. 

forded  them  objects  of  religious  worship,  and  their 
military  exploits  might  also  have  been  depicted  in 
some  rude  decoration  upon  their  arms  ;  and  thus 
a  favourite  emblem  would  already  be  in  existence, 
and,  if  so,  would  have  an  irresistible  claim  to  be 
impressed  u^Jon  their  coinage.  As  the  readiest 
discovery  made  by  individuals  is  of  their  own 
virtues,  so  too  the  first  step  taken  by  an  infant 
community  is  to  deify  some  rude  quality  that  they 
are  proud  of.  That  they  are  quick  in  discovering 
such  a  quality,  is  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  feeling, 
inseparable  from  their  nature,  that  they  were 
made  for  themselves ;  that  they  deify  that  quality, 
is  owing  to  another  feeling,  which  is,  if  possible, 
still  more  inseparable  from  them,  that  they  were 
not  their  own  makers. 

I  must  not  refer  you,  in  illustration  of  these 
opinions,  to  the  emblems  which  I  have  already 
spoken  of  as  belonging  to  civilized  periods ;  al- 
though, in  some  instances,  they  may  be  traced 
back  to  the  first  origin  of  their  respective  commu- 
nities, and  cannot,  I  think,  in  any  of  those  instances, 
have  any  possible  reference  to  the  theory  of  ex- 
change. I  need  not  ask  whether  the  lion  of  Leon- 
tium,  or  the  cock  of  Himera,  the  bull  with  a  hu- 
man head  of  Campania,  or  the  flying  horse  of 
Corinth,  would  be  a  badge,  adopted  for  the  first 
time,  at  a  civilized  period ;  or  if  otherwise,  could 
possibly,  when  represented  on  a  coin,  denote  an 


LECTURE   VI.  143 

object  to  be  purchased  by  it.  But  I  will  dwell  for 
a  moment  on  the  early  coins  of  Gaul,  as  furnish- 
ing us  with  the  best  specimens  we  possess  of  a 
rude  period  and  a  primitive  money.  The  usual 
devices  on  these  coins  are  horses  and  boars'^ ;  and 
that  they  had  no  connexion  with  traffick,  but  de- 
noted either  the  fierceness  of  the  Gauls  in  combat, 
or,  at  the  lowest,  the  most  valuable  kind  of  pro- 
perty they  possessed,  may  be  seen  by  reference  to 
their  history.  Strabo^^  says  of  them,  "  They  are 
"  all  warlike  by  nature,  but  they  are  still  more 
"  serviceable  as  horsemen  than  as  foot-soldiers." 
Pliny ^  says,  that  in  the  Roman  army  boars  were 
carried  as  insignia  before  the  lines;  and  Tacitus*^ 
in  speaking  of  the  tribes  bordering  on  the  Baltic, 
is  a  most  valuable  witness  as  to  the  meaning  of 
the  emblem;  "  insigne  superstitionis,  fornias  apro- 
"  rum  gestant.  Id  pro  armis  omnique  tutela  ;  se- 
"  curum  Dese  cultorem  etiam  inter  hostes  prse- 
"  state 

c  The  usual  devices  of  the  coins  of  Gaul  are  horses  and 
boars ;  but  there  are  many  which  bear  a  naked  head  on  the 
one  side,  and  a  figure  in  a  biga  on  the  other.  These  are 
thought  to  have  been  stamped  in  imitation  of  Macedonian 
coins,  brought  back  about  280  B.  C.  by  the  troops  of  Bren- 
nus,  which  had  been  serving  in  Macedon  and  Greece.  See 
Eck.  vol.  I.  p.  03. 

'1  Lib.  IV.  p.  273.  Ed.  Ox.  e  Lib.  X.  §.  5. 

f  De  mor.  Ger.  c.  45. 

P"  A  boar  was  the  well-known  cognizance  of  the  20th  le- 


144  LECTURE    VI. 

But  returning  from  this  digression  to  the  early 
coinage  of  Rome,  we  may  observe,  that  if  a 
"  pecus"  were  the  first  device  impressed  upon  it, 
there  is  no  known  specimen  of  it  in  existence. 
The  earliest  and  the  prevailing  devices^,  so  far  as 
examples  will  carry  us,  are  the  head  of  Janus  on 
the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  prow  of  a  ship; 
and  it  is  to  these  devices,  as  being  of  the  earliest 
period,  that  we  find  the  strongest  testimony  borne 
by  a  constant  pastime  of  the  Romans,  which  was 
no  bad  indication  of  a  primitive  custom,  and  con- 
tinued to  exist  long  after  the  custom  itself  was 
abandoned.  "  Ita  fuisse  signatum,"  says  Macro- 
bius ',  in  speaking  of  the  devices  I  have  mentioned, 
"  hodieque  intelligitur  in  alise  lusu,  quum  pueri 
"  denarios  in  sublime  jactantes  '  capita  ant  iiavia' 
"  exclamant." 

As  the  weight  of  the  coin  was  diminished,  it 

gion,  and  was  also  a  device  of  Spain ;  in  which  country  the 
legion  appears  to  have  been  originally  levied.  Horseley,  in 
his  Brit.  Rom.  p.  194,  in  explaining  the  figure  of  a  boar, 
which  he  found  inscribed  upon  an  ancient  monument  of  the 
20th  legion,  has  forgotten  that  it  was  the  cognizance  of  the 
troops  by  which  the  monument  was  erected,  and  has  supposed 
it  to  represent  the  native  Caledonians. 

h  There  is  an  as  described  by  Eckhel  (vol.  V.  p.  10.)  bear- 
ins  the  head  of  Pallas  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  a 
bull  ;  but  the  presence  of  the  head  of  Pallas  she\vs  that  this 
coin  is  of  a  more  recent  period. 

i  Saturn,  lib.  I.  c.  7- 


LECTURE   VI.  145 

would  naturally  make  room  for  the  introduction 
of  other  coins  of  a  higher  denomination  than  any 
previously  minted,  but  containing  a  smaller  quan- 
tity of  the  same  metal  than  would  have  accorded 
with  the  original  standard.  It  is  probable  indeed, 
however  gradvial  might  be  the  change,  that  the 
great  alterations  made  in  the  weight  of  the  as, 
whilst  the  denarius  continued  stationary,  would 
in  time  occasion  the  silver  to  disajDjDear  from  the 
circulation  ;  and  the  inconvenience  that  would 
thus  be  gradually  coming  on,  would  give  rise  to 
the  issuing  of  other  brass  coins  of  a  higher  deno- 
mination than  the  as,  and  preserving  a  constant 
and  real  relation  to  it.  Of  this  description  are  the 
dupondius,  the  tripondius  or  tressis,  the  decussis, 
and  other  multiples,  the  remaining  specimens  of 
which,  as  far  as  I  have  seen,  bear  the  Caput  Pal- 
ladis,  or  some  other  device  more  recent  than  the 
time  of  the  denarius,  and  intimate  thereby  that 
they  were  designed  for  some  purpose  which  the 
denarius  was  no  longer  able  to  fulfil. 

The  variations  in  the  value  of  the  coin  would 
also  give  rise  to  a  peculiarity  which  we  had  no 
occasion  to  notice  in  the  coins  of  Greece.  There 
was  nothing  by  which  its  conventional  value  could 
be  known,  unless  some  token  were  impressed  upon 
it  for  that  especial  purpose.  To  apply  the  words 
of  Cicero,  "  Jactabatur  temporibus  illis  numus,  sic 
"  ut  nemo  posset  scire,  quid  haberet^\"  It  had 
k  Cic.  de  OtF.  III.  20. 
L 


146  LECTURE   VI. 

not  adhered  to  past  and  well-known  jirecedent ; 
and  though  the  head  upon  the  obverse  appears  to 
have  varied  according  to  a  constant  law^,  that 
would  scarcely  be  a  sufficient  indication  of  the 
value  that  was  given  to  it.  Like  those  ancient 
paintings  therefore,  in  which  figures,  coarsely  ex- 
ecuted, are  compelled  to  tell  their  history  by  labels 
issuing  from  their  mouths,  the  coins  of  this  fluc- 
tuating currency  had  numbers,  or  other  tokens, 
impressed  upon  them  to  denote  their  legal  values. 
The  as  being  always  the  unit,  the  several  multi- 
ples were  stamped  with  their  corresponding  num- 
bers ;  the  semissis  bore  the  letter  S,  the  quincunx 
the  letter  Q,  the  triens,  the  quadrans,  and  other 
smaller  portions  of  the  as,  bore  round  balls  agree- 
ing in  number  with  the  ounces  respectively  repre- 
sented by  them.  And  as  in  the  present  instance, 
so  too  in  many  others,  this  addition  to  the  bear- 
ings of  a  coin  may  be  considered  as  evidence,  not 
so  much  of  attention  to  public  convenience,  as  of 
previous  disorder  and  bad  government. 

Silver  money,  as  we  learn  from  the  testimony 
of  Pliny'"  and  others,  was  first  minted  at  Rome 
about  the  year  269  B.  C,  five  years  before  the 

1  The  as  bore  the  head  of  Janus^,  the  semissis  that  of  Ju- 
piter, the  triens  that  of  Pallas^  the  quadrans  that  of  Hercules, 
the  sextans  that  of  Mercury,  the  uncia  that  of  Pallas ;  and 
all  bore  on  the  reverse  the  prow  of  a  ship. — Eck.  vol.  V. 
p.  II. 

m  Plin.  lib.  XXXIII.  §.  13.    Liv.  Epit.  lib.  XV. 


LECTURE    VI.  147 

commencement  of  the  first  Punic  war.     The  time 
clearly  points  out  the  circumstances  which  gave 
occasion  to  it,  in  the  conquest  which  had  recently 
taken  place  of  the  south  of  Italy,  and  the  spoils 
obtained  by  the  Romans  from  provinces  long  cele- 
brated for  their  skill  in  the  fine  arts,  and  their 
commercial  enterprise.     The  Roman  coins  of  this 
metal  were  the  denarius,  (approaching  so  near  to 
the  Attic  drachma",  as  to  bear  to  it  the  ratio  of  8 
to  9,)  the  quinarius,  and  the  sestertius.     The  li- 
bella,  or  piece  of  a  single  as,  is  noticed  by  Plautus, 
Cicero  o,  and  other  authors  ;  but,  probably  on  ac- 
count of  its  smallness,  and  the  abundance  of  cop- 
per money,  it  was  not  in  general  circulation ;  and 
I  am  not  aware  that  any  specimen  of  it  has  hi- 
therto been  found.     It  appears  that  all  the  silver 
coins    had   originally  the    same    impression,   and 
their  values  were  distinguished  by  figures  after 
the  manner  of  the  brasses ;  but  distinct  devices 
appear    to    have    been    adopted    in    later    times. 
LivyP,  we  know,  in  speaking  of  denarii,  uses  the 
term  higati  to  denote  them  ;  and  Ciceroni,  in  like 
manner,   the   word   victor'iati,   as   the    customary 
name  for  quinarii. 

I  will  not  speak  of  the  method  of  computing 
by  the  sestertius,  as  the  subject  does  not  properly 

n  Eck    vol.  V.  p.  1«.  o  Cic.  ill  Ver.  lib.  II.  c.  10. 

P   Lib.  XXXIII.   c.  28.  q    Pro  Font.   c.  t^. 

\.  2 


148  LECTURE    VI. 

belong  to  my  inquiry ;  and  is,  moreover,  too  fa- 
miliar to  you  to  need  any  explanation. 

Pliny  again  is  our  authority  for  supposing  a 
gold  coin  to  have  been  minted  at  Rome  during 
the  progress  of  the  war  with  Hannibal,  and  about 
the  year  207  B.  C.  He  calls  it  a  denarius,  not 
because  it  corresponded  with  the  silver  denarius 
in  weight,  but  merely  from  its  size.  And  there 
are,  in  fact,  some  few  gold  coins  extant  of  an  age 
anterior  to  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  com- 
monly alleged  in  justification  of  Pliny's  narrative. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  extreme  paucity  of 
these  coins,  especially  when  taken  in  reference  to 
the  magnitude  of  the  republic,  may  naturally  give 
rise  to  some  degree  of  suspicion.  It  is  certainly 
surprising  that,  in  the  course  of  150  years,  there 
should  not  have  been  coins  sufficient  to  yield  an 
abundant  harvest  to  modern  collectors,  if  gold 
were  actually  issued  at  the  beginning  of  that  pe- 
riod. It  is  possible,  no  doubt,  that  such  coins  may 
have  been  minted  in  abundance,  and  may  either 
have  totally  perished,  or  may  some  of  them  be 
discovered  hereafter;  and  the  anomaly  is  certainly 
not  greater  than  others  which  have  already  been 
acknowledged.  But  there  is  still  no  assignable 
reason  why  we  should  have  so  copious  a  supply 
of  gold  coins  from  Macedon,  from  Sicily,  from 
Magna  Graecia,  and  even  from  Cyrene,  and  many 
of  them  of  a  higher  date,  when  we  are  destitute 


LECTURE  VI.  149 

of  Roman  gold  for  so  long  an  interval,  and  so  ex- 
tensive a  dominion.  I  say  there  is  no  assignable 
reason,  and  till  some  reason  be  discovered,  the 
fact  establishes  a  presumption  against  the  correct- 
ness of  Pliny's  narrative.  This  presumption  again 
is  greatly  increased  by  the  total  silence  of  Livy, 
who  wrote  exf)ressly  of  the  period  at  which  this 
gold  is  said  to  have  been  minted,  and  yet  makes 
no  mention  whatever  of  it ;  and  on  a  subsequent'" 
occasion,  when  he  mentions  the  terms  imposed 
upon  the  iEtolians,  and  says,  "  Dum  pro  argenteis 
"  decem  aureus  unus  valeret,"  appearing  to  state 
that  gold  coins  were  then  actually  current,  he 
probably  would  have  been  more  accurate,  had  he 
described  the  ratio  by  weight,  and  not  by  tale, 
after  the  manner  of  Polybivis'^,  t&Jv  '^Ua  [xvwv  apyv- 
piov  %/3i;'<7cy  [xvav  '^I'^ovreg.  A  farther  evidence  may 
be  found  in  the  case  of  the  coins  already  noticed 
under  the  name  of  restituti.  Trajan  seems  to 
have  had  a  great  pleasure  in  restoring  coins,  not 
only  of  the  emi)erors,  his  predecessors,  but  also  of 
the  republic,  stamjiing  them  in  every  instance 
with  his  own  "  restituit."  We  know  that  he  re- 
stored gold  coins  of  the  empire,  as  well  as  silver  ; 
but  when  we  come  to  his  restituti  of  the  repub- 
lic ^  we  meet  with  sjDecimens  in  the  latter  metal 
only,  and  none  whatever  in  the  former. 

r  Lib.  XXXVIII.  c.  11.  s  Hist.  lib.  XXII.  c.  1.5. 

t  M6m.  de  I'Acad.  torn.  XXIV.  p.  205. 

L  3 


150  LECTURE    VI. 

Ill  this  argument  I  have  been  following  the 
steps  of  Eckhel,  and  am  disposed  to  think,  with 
that  eminent  antiquary,  that  gold  did  not  make 
part  of  the  common  circulation  of  the  Romans 
till  about  the  time  of  the  first  triumvirate;  always 
admitting  that  the  coins  of  Macedon  and  other 
foreign  states  were  current  among  them,  and  that 
Philippe!  are  often  mentioned  by  Plautus,  as  if 
they  were  common  money  in  his  time. 

And  this  leads  me  naturally  to  consider  at  what 
time  and  with  what  powers  the  triumviri  moneta- 
les  were  appointed,  the  title  of  whose  office  con- 
nects itself  with  the  minting  of  gold  :  "  auro  ar- 
"  gento  ceri  flando  feriundo ;"  for  if  these  officers, 
with  the  title  commonly  given  to  them,  were  in 
existence  at  the  early  period  at  which  some  writers 
have  supposed,  it  will  also  be  evident  that  gold 
coin  was  minted  by  them  long  before  the  time  of 
the  first  Triumvirate. 

Pomponius  "  states  expressly  that  the  triumviri 
monetales  were  appointed  at  the  same  time  with 
the  triumviri  capitales ;  and  this  latter  office,  we 
have  reason  ^  lo  believe,  is  of  a  date  as  early  as 
the  year  288  B.  C,  and  therefore  twenty  years 
earlier  than  the  first  introduction  of  silver  into 
the  currency  of  Rome.  And  yet  Pomponius  calls 
these  officers  a^7'ifi  argcnti  aurl  Jiatores,  speaking 
of  them  at  a  time  when  it  is  admitted  that   nei- 

»  De  Orig.  Jur.  leg.  2.  x  Liv.  lib.  II.  Ei)it. 


LECTURE    VI.  151 

ther  silver  nor  gold  was  iniiited  by  them.  I  will 
not  attempt  to  apologize  for  him  by  alleging  the 
more  remarkable  anachronism  of  Laetantius>',  who 
mentions  300  Philippei  as  the  price  demanded  by 
the  Sibyl  from  Tarqninius  Priscus ;  but,  rejecting 
the  statement  of  Pomponius  as  of  no  authority,  I 
will  endeavour  to  obtain  more  satisfactory  in- 
formation from  some  other  quarter.  We  know 
that  in  the  earliest  periods  of  the  Roman  history 
all  the  business  of  the  revenue  was  transacted  by 
the  quaestors  ;  but  we  find  from  Livy^,  that  in 
the  year  215  B.C.,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Canna?, 
Triumviri  mensarii  were  appointed  "  propter  pe- 
"  nuriam  argenti."  It  is  probable  that  the  new 
duties  of  providing  bullion,  (duties  which  had 
grown  up  with  the  increasing  difficulties  of  the 
times,)  had  required  that  the  exchequer  or  bank- 
ing department  should  be  taken  away  from  the 
quaestors,  and  entrusted  to  a  new  and  separate 
board.  At  this  period,  therefore,  the  Triumviri 
mensarii,  although  themselves  a  newly-severed 
branch  of  the  executive  government,  united  the 
two  distinct  offices  of  the  public  moneyers  and  the 
public  accountants.  And  this  view  of  the  case 
not  only  accords  with  that  distribution  of  em- 
ployment which  we  know  is  gradually  going  on, 
as  the  wants  and  resources  of  a  country  are  gra- 

y  De  Fills.  Rel.  c.  6. 

z  Lib.  XXIII.  c.  21.    See  also  Solin.  de  Usuris,  ji.  .510. 

L  4 


152  LECTURE    VI. 

dually  increasing,  but  it  is  also  strongly  confirmed 
by  a  subsequent  passage  of  Livy%  in  which  the 
consul  Lsevinus  exhorts  the  senate  to  carry  the 
rest  of  their  gold  and  silver,  and  all  the  brass  that 
they  had  in  money,  to  the  Triumviri  mensarii ; 
the  gold,  apparently,  that  it  might  be  employed 
by  them  in  barter,  the  silver  that  it  might  be 
minted  by  them,  and  the  brass  that  it  might  be 
issued  for  their  immediate  wants.  But  however 
this  may  be,  the  first  authentic  notice  that  we 
meet  with  of  triumviri  monetales,  as  a  separate 
board,  discharging  the  simple  office  of  moneyers, 
is  in  a  letter  of  Cicero  ^  addressed  to  Trebatius, 
then  near  Treviri  in  Gaul ;  who  says  to  him, 
playing  on  the  name  of  the  town,  "  audio  capita- 
"  les  esse,  mallem  auro  sere  argento  essent."  The 
inscriptions  indeed  on  some  of  the  coins  them- 
selves in  which  these  officers  are  denoted  by  the 
letters  AAAFF,  or  others  of  like  imjDort,  are  pro- 
bably of  older  date  than  the  epistle  to  Trebatius  ; 
but  that  is  the  earliest  instance  to  which  a  date 
can  be  assigned,  and  that  is  not  earlier  than  about 
the  year  53  B.  C. 

The  number  of  these  officers  appears  to  have 

f*  "  Ceterum  omne  aurum,  argentum,  ees  signatum,  ad  tri- 
*•  umviros  mensarios  extemplo  deferamus."  Liv.  lib.  XXVI. 
C.36. 

fe  Epist.  ad  Fam.  lib,  VII.  c.  J 3.  See  also  de  Leg.  lib.  III. 
C.3. 


LECTURE    VI.  153 

been  increased  to  four  by  Julius  Caesar ;  and  if 
his  historian  is  to  be  credited,  he  gave  them  at 
the  same  time  a  novel  occupation.  Suetonius  ^  in- 
forms us  that  he  took  three  thousand  pounds  of 
gold  privately  from  the  capitol,  and  replaced  the 
sum  with  the  same  quantity  of  gilded  brass.  The 
ancient  number  was  restored  by  Augustus,  and 
they  appear  at  that  time  to  be  merely  the  ma- 
nagers of  the  mint,  and  to  be  employed  alike  for 
all  kinds  of  money,  whether  issued  by  the  em- 
peror or  by  the  senate. 

But  their  title,  though  it  does  occasionally  oc- 
cur, is  not  found  so  frequently  as  we  might  ex- 
pect to  find  it,  on  the  money  that  they  issued ; 
and  it  appears  that  when  sums  of  money  were 
voted  for  distinct  services,  the  senate  granted  the 
corresponding  weight  of  bullion,  and  the  coin  was 
issued  from  the  mint  with  the  titles  and  the  em- 
blems of  the  public  officer,  whether  praetor,  or 
aedile,  or  quaestor,  or  proconsul,  to  whom  the  ser- 
vice was  entrusted.  It  is  to  this  arrangement 
that  we  owe  the  coins  of  Roman  families,  a  class 
of  siDecimens  belonging  to  the  most  valuable  and 
the  most  intricate  periods  of  Roman  history,  and 
impressed  with  its  most  illustrious  names ;  but 
which,  nevertheless,  from  its  total  want  of  dates, 
is  calculated  to  gratify  the  inquirer  rather  by  re- 

c  Jul.  cap.  54. 


154  LECTURE    VI. 

ceiving  illustration  from  the  facts  of  contempo- 
rary history,  than  by  imparting  it. 

And  this  leads  me  to  consider  the  devices  that 
appear  upon  this  class  of  coins ;  and  in  so  doing, 
I  shall  be  concerned  with  silver  pieces  only,  as 
the  brasses  adhered  to  their  ancient  insignia,  and 
the  gold  coins  are  too  few  or  too  doubtful  to  be 
noticed. 

It  has  already  been  observed,  that  a  biga  was 
so  common  an  emblem  on  the  denarius,  and  a 
figure  of  Victory  on  the  quinarius,  as  to  give  cor- 
responding appellations  to  them ;  and  yet,  in  this 
latter  instance,  there  have  been  writers  who  have 
endeavoured  to  find  some  historical  meaning  for 
the  emblem,  and  to  assign  every  quinarius  that 
they  meet  with,  to  some  real  victory.  But  be- 
sides these  customary  emblems,  the  obverse  pre- 
sents heads  of  deities,  of  genii,  and  of  ancient 
worthies,  in  all  possible  variety,  connected,  no 
doubt,  by  real  or  by  fanciful  relation,  with  the  fa- 
mily of  the  public  officer,  for  whose  service  they 
were  minted.  Without  an  accompanying  inscrip- 
tion it  is  not  always  easy  to  identify  the  em- 
blem ;  but  with  such  assistance  we  can  clearly 
make  out  the  resemblances  of  Honor,  Triumpus, 
Moneta,  Leibertas,  Pietas,  Fides,  Concordia,  and 
other  unreal  personages,  and  we  have  as  certainly 
the  countenances  of  Quirinus,  Numa,  Anciis,  and 
the  earlier  Brutus,  as  they  presented  themselves 


LECTURE    VI.  155 

to  the  imaginations  of  their  remote  descendants. 
Caesar  seems  to  have  been  the  first  whose  head 
appeared  upon  the  public  money  during  his  own 
lifetime ;  and  for  this  act  of  sovereignty  even  Cae- 
sar was  contented  to  obtain  the  authoritv  of  the 
senate.  The  examj^le  was  followed,  but,  as  far  as 
we  know,  without  the  same  authority,  by  An- 
tony and  Lepidus  and  Octavianus,  and  even  by 
the  liberator  Brutus. 

But  the  head  which  appeared  in  the  first  in- 
stance upon  the  Roman  silver  of  every  denomina- 
tion, and  for  a  long  time  had  undisputed  possession 
of  it,  is  Caput  muliehre  galeaium  alatum.  For  a 
considerable  length  of  time  this  was  taken  without 
inquiry  as  representing  the  genius  of  Rome,  and 
the  word  ROMA,  which  frequently  accompanied 
it,  was  supposed  to  be  conclusive  as  to  its  iden- 
tity. But  it  is  observed  in  answer,  that  the  word 
ROMA  is  also  found  united  with  Apollo,  or  Her- 
cules, or  Saturn,  and  must  therefore  be  admitted 
to  have  no  necessary  connexion  with  the  figure 
that  it  accompanies.  We  see  moreover  that  in 
any  ancient  monument  which  is  known  to  bear 
the  form  of  Roma,  the  wings,  which  are  in  reality 
the  characteristic  token,  are  wanting.  Eckhel 
supposes  the  head  to  be  Pallas,  but  is  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  some  questionable  evidence  to 
account  for  the  wings.  It  appears  to  me  that  the 
whole  may  be  explained  in  the  following  manner. 


156  LECTURE    VI. 

By   the    conquest   of   the   southern   provinces   of 
Italy  the   Romans  obtained  at  once  a  taste  for 
new  refinements,  and  the  means  of  gratifying  it. 
Silver,  indeed,  had  long  been  employed  by  them 
for  useful  as  well  as  ornamental  purposes  in  their 
households,  and  also  as  a  medium  of  exchange  by 
weight  in  dealings  of  considerable  amount.     But 
being  now  imported  into  Rome  in  immense  quan- 
tities, it  sunk  greatly  and  rapidly  in  value,  com- 
pared with  all  other  commodities,  and  began  to 
be    used    more    generally   as    a    medium    of   ex- 
change, and  in  much  smaller  dealings.     The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  therefore  created  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  silver  currency;   and  the   coin  ob- 
tained from  the  southern  provinces  was  already 
in  the  treasury,  and  well-fitted,  if  not  to  constitute 
the  issue  that  was  wanted,  at  least  to  furnish  a 
model  for  it.     Now  the  coins  of  Athens  had  long- 
been  known  throughout  the  Mediterranean  as  the 
best  medium  of  traffick,  and  in  many  of  the  towns 
upon  its  coasts  had  supplanted  the  native  money, 
even  in  the  common  dealings  of  the  inhabitants. 
And  so  remarkably  was  this  the  case  in  the  towns 
of  Magna  Grsecia,  that  there  are  few  of  them  on 
whose  coins  we   do  not  find,  at  some  period  or 
other,  one  at  least,  and  in  some  instances  both,  of 
the  well-known  emblems  of  Athens.     The  coins 
of  Athens    in  short  were  like  her  citizens,  ex- 
tending themselves  by  their  enterprise  into  every 


LECTURE    VI.  157 

part  of  the  civilized  world,  and  obtaining,  where- 
ever  they  settled,  the  highest  places  of  rank  and 
opulence-    Tarentum,  for  example,  which  afforded 
to  the  Romans  the  proudest  and  the  most  costly 
triumph  of  the  whole  period,  admitted  upon  its  coins 
the  Caput  Palladis  on  one  side  and  the  Noctua  of 
Athens  on  the  other,  inscribing  its  proper  name 
TAPAS  to  accompany  them,  but  contented  to  aban- 
don its  own  ancient  emblems  in  order  to  receive 
them.     And  yet  Tarentum  was  connected  politi- 
cally with  Lacedsemon  rather  than  with  Athens, 
and  is  therefore  a  proof,  so  much  the  more  forci- 
ble,  of   the    ascendency  of   Athenian    commerce. 
Now  suppose  these  coins  to  have  been  received  in 
considerable  quantity  at  Rome,  and   suppose   the 
Romans  anxious  to  retain  the  badge  of  the  con- 
qviered  provinces,  or,  if  you  will,  the  insigne  of 
Grecian  commerce,  and  to  place  it  in  conjunction 
with  their  own  national  devices;  it  was  a  thought 
well  calculated  at  once  to  gratify  the  liberality  of 
science,  and  to  flatter  the  pride  of  victory.     To 
make  the  reference  therefore  as  pointed  as  was  pos- 
sible, the  wings  are  taken  from  the  noctua  of  the 
one  side  to  be  added  to  the  helmet  of  the  other, 
the  two  Athenian  emblems  are  combined  in  one 
Roman  troj)hy,  and  being  received  at  first  as  a 
new  bearing,  become  in  a  short  time  the  distin- 
guishing device  of  the  Roman  coinage. 

Of  special  devices  and  inscriptions  I  shall  speak 


158  LECTURE    VI. 

at  considerable  length  hereafter,  when  I  treat  of 
coins  of  families  and  of  emperors  in  detail. 

A  class  of  coins  has  already  been  mentioned  in 
connexion  with  questions  of  some  importance, 
and  distinguished  by  the  name  of  restituti.  They 
are  found  in  all  the  three  metals,  and,  as  far  as 
we  have  yet  discovered,  the  gold  and  silver  were 
minted  in  almost  every  instance  by  Trajan,  gene- 
rally in  exact  accordance,  but  sometimes,  as  it 
would  seem,  slightly  differing  from  some  earlier 
coin  either  of  a  preceding  emperor,  or  of  the  time 
of  the  republic.  In  addition  to  their  earlier  im- 
press they  bear  a  circular  legend  of  Trajan  and 
his  various  titles,  terminating  with  the  four  first 
letters  of  the  word  RESTITVIT.  In  some  in- 
stances possibly  he  impressed  this  legend  on  coins 
already  in  existence  ;  in  others  he  employed  the 
ancient  coin  as  a  model  for  the  formation  of  a  new 
die,  and  with  so  much  exactness,  as  to  retain  the 
private  stamp  of  the  older  coinage,  or  some  anti- 
quated mode  of  spelling,  or  even  some  deformity 
in  the  ancient  workmanship  :  but  there  are  also 
cases  in  which  new  dies  appear  to  have  been  cut 
with  deviations  from  the  older  pattern.  The  brass 
restituti  were  minted  by  his  predecessors  in  the 
empire,  Titus,  Domitian,  and  Nerva ;  and  there 
is  a  peculiarity  belonging  to  them,  which  has  al- 
ready been  noticed  as  belonging  to  the  gold  restitu- 
ti, but  which  in  this  instance  has  certainly  arisen 


LECTURE    VI.  159 

from  some  different  cause.  There  are  no  rest'itut'i 
of  brass  coins  of  the  republic  ;  and  this  may  be 
explained,  without  affecting  the  argument  con- 
structed on  the  like  absence  of  all  gold  restituti  of 
the  same  period,  by  observing  that  the  brass  coins 
of  a  remote  date  would,  in  all  probability,  have 
changed  their  original  value,  or  even  have  totally 
lost  it,  and  could  not  be  restored  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  their  ancient  place  in  a  modern  cur- 
rency ''. 

The  serrati  are  another  description  of  coins, 
and  may  be  introduced  by  a  quotation  from  Taci- 
tus'^. Speaking  of  the  ancient  Germans,  he  says, 
"  Pecuniam  probant  veterem  et  diu  notam,  serra- 
"  tos  bigatosqvie."  And  this  would  seem  to  be  an- 
other instance,  and  at  an  earlier  period,  of  the 
suspicion  entertained  by  the  barbarians  of  Roman 
dishonesty,  and  of  the  caution  exercised  by  them 
in  avoiding  it.  The  Germans  clearly  preferred 
the  ancient  denarii,  on  account  of  their  intrinsic 
value  and  their  long  established  reputation.  They 
probaWy  had  learnt  to  notch  the  money,  after  the 

•^1  Eckliel  has  ingeniously  applied  this  chiss  of  restituti,  as 
a  method  of  trying  the  good  faith  of  Goltz.  Of  the  many 
impressions  of  coins  given  by  that  writer,  and  depending  on 
his  sole  authority,  it  might  be  expected  that  some  one  would 
be  the  only  archetype  remaining  of  a  subsequent  re.stitiitiis. 
But  that  is  not  the  case. 

•^  De  Mor.  Ger.  c.  .5. 


LECTURE   VI. 

manner  of  a  saw,  in  order  to  satisfy  themselves  that 
it  was  not  jjlated ;  and  so  in  process  of  time  the 
Romans  were  induced  to  mint  denarii  in  that 
manner  for  their  use.  However  that  may  be,  the 
contrivance  was  certainly  adopted  at  the  Roman 
mint,  and  was,  as  far  as  we  know,  confined  ex- 
clusively to  silver  denarii  ^ ;  and  having  been 
introduced  apparently  about  eighty  years  after 
the  first  issuing  of  silver,  was  discontinued  before 
the  time  of  the  empire.  Cautious  as  the  Germans 
were,  they  found,  in  course  of  time,  that  they  were 
deceived  by  the  reliance  they  had  placed  on  their 
favourite  and  rude  criterion.  The  Roman  forgers 
supplied  them  with  denarii  of  plated  copper  pro- 
vided with  the  proper  indentations,  and  serrati 
of  this  description  are  still  remaining,  as  evidence 
at  once  of  the  cunning  of  our  barbarian  fore- 
fathers, and  the  united  cunning  and  dishonesty  of 
their  civilized  masters. 

f  Even  in  the  time  of  Tacitus  the  Germans  continued  to 
prefer  sih'-er  to  gold,  "  argentum  quoque  magis  quam  aurum 
"  sequuntur/'  (De  Mor.  Ger.  c.  5.)  and  this  perhaps  may  be 
considered  a  sufficient  token  that  gold  was  not  issued  at  so 
early  a  period  as  is  supposed  by  Pliny. 


LECTURE  VII. 


M 


Roman  coins  considered  in  detail — Coins  of  Families — 
Accoleius  Lariscolus — M.  Lepidus — M.  Lepidus.  Pont.  INIax. 
— Truth  of  inscription  disjouted — Marcellinus — Spinther — 
Supposed  origin  of  the  name — Disputed — Real  origin  con- 
jectured— Mamilius  Limetanus — A  passage  of  the  Odyssey — 
Thorius  Balbus  —  Bos  irruens  explained — Two  quinarii  of 
Marc  Antony — Foundation  of  Lyons — Heraldic  badge  of 
Antony — Dissertation  on  beards — Antony  represented  as 
Bacchus — His  entry  into  Athens — Flattery  and  wit  of  the 
Athenians. 


I 


1  COME  now  to  a  detailed  consideration  of  Ro- 
man coins,  selecting  my  specimens  as  they  may 
seem  calculated  either  to  throw  light  upon  ques- 
tions of  history  and  literature,  or  to  diversify  the 
general  sameness  of  my  subject.  The  coins  of  fa- 
milies must  be  taken  without  any  reference  to 
the  order  of  time,  from  the  total  want  of  mate- 
rials for  assigning  dates  to  them ;  but  the  coins 
of  the  empire  will  be  considered  in  chronological 
succession. 

P-ACCOLEIVSLARISCOLVS  Ccqmt  mulle- 
hre  )-(  Tres  virg'tnes  adversa'  stantes  in 
arhores  mutantur.  Arg. 

Now  the  gens  Accoleia  is,  as  far  as  I  have  yet 
discovered,  unknown  to  history,  excepting  through 
the  medium  of  this  denarius,  and  one  ancient  in- 
scrijition  in  the  collection  of  Gruter;  and  in  pro- 
portion therefore  as  there  seems  little  to  be  learnt, 
so  is  the  antiquary  the  more  anxious  to  investi- 
gate. It  appears  to  me  not  improbable  that  Ac- 
coleius  was  of  the  colony  of  Aquileia,  which,  as 
we  learn  from  Livy\  was  founded  on  the  Adriatic 
in  the  year  181  B.  C,  and  afterwards  became  a 
place  of  considerable  importance.  The  name  of  the 
family  implies  of  itself  some  probable  connexion 

a  Liv.  XXXIX.  54.  and  XL.  34.  and  XLIII.  I7.   See  also 
Sil.  Ital.  VIII.  604. 

M  2 


164  LECTURE    VII. 

with  it;  but  the  supposition  is  much  strengthened 
by  the  cognomen  Lariscohis,  and  the  device  which 
accompanies  and  elucidates  it.  The  three  females 
evidently  refer  to  the  fable  of  the  three  sisters  of 
Phaeton  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Po,  and 
the  word  Lariscolus,  a  laricibus  colencUs,  shews 
still  farther  the  connexion  of  the  family  with  that 
neighbourhood,  and  with  the  shores  of  the  Adri- 
atic. Vitruvius  ^  says  of  the  larix,  "  Non  est  no- 
"  tus,  nisi  his  municipibus  qui  sunt  circa  ripam  flu- 
"  minis  Padi  et  maris  Adriatici  litora."  He  also  '^ 
states  that  the  wood  is  not  easily  ignited  ;  so  that 
we  may  doubt  whether  the  word,  which  we  com- 
monly translate  larch^  does  not  really  include  a 
species  of  poplar.  This  we  certainly  may  believe  ; 
that  the  ancients  were  not  quite  agreed  as  to  the 
kind  of  tree  which  grew  out  of  the  transforma- 
tion, Virgil  ^  himself  in  one  passage  declaring  it 
to  have  been  a  poplar,  and  in  another  an  alder. 

Gens  iEmilia. 

Caput  muliehre  )-(  MLEPIDVSANXV'PR- 
H'O'C'S  Eques  lento  g?'essu  s.  tropeeum  ges- 
tat.  Arg. 

It  is  not  known  to  which  of  the  many  members 
of  the  illustrious  family  of  Lepidus  this  denarius 

b  Lib.  II.  c.  9. 

*:  Lib.  II.  c.  9.    See  also  Pliny,  lib.  XVI.  c.  10. 

^  Mn.  X.  1!MI.  Eck.  VI.  03. 


LECTURE    VII.  165 

is  to  be  assigned ;  but  the  inscription  is  evidently 
to  be  completed  in  the  following*  manner :  Marcus 
LEPIDVS  ANnorum  XV.  PRaetextatus  Hostem 
Occidit  Civem  Servavit.  If  this  interpretation  rest- 
ed on  conjecture  only,  it  would  still  have  much  pro- 
bability in  its  favour  ;  but  it  is  fully  established 
by  the  following  passage  of  Valerius  Maximus  ^ : 
"  JCmilius  Lepidus  puer  etiam  turn  progressus  in 
"  aciem  hostem  interemit,  civem  servavit.  Cujus 
"  tam  memorabilis  operis  index  est  in  capitolio 
"  statua  bullata  et  incincta  praetexta,  S  C  posita." 

ALEXANDREA  Caput  muUehre  turritmn  )-( 
MLEPIDVSPONTMAX- TVTORREG- 
S*C  L,epidiis  togatus  stems  regi  fogato  acl- 
stcinti  et  d.  hastam  tenenti  diadema  imponif. 
Arg. 

It  seems  evident  from  this  denarius,  that  a  Lepidus 
was  commissioned  by  the  Roman  senate  to  act  as 
guardian  to  a  king  of  Egypt.  Tacitus  ^  also  men- 
tions the  fact  as  having  occurred  long  before  his 
time ;  "  majores  M.  Lepidum  Ptolemsei  liberis  tu- 
"  torem  in  ^gyptum  miserant."  But  Valerius 
Maximus  s  and  Justin  describe  it  with  more  pre- 
cision :  the  words  of  the  former  are,  "  quum  Pto- 
"  lemaeus  rex  tutorem  populum  R.  filio  reliquis- 
"  set,  senatus  M.  iEmilium  Lepidum  Pont.  Max. 
"  bis  consulem  ad  pueri  tutelam  gerendam  Alex- 

'■  Lil).  III.  c.  1 .  n.  1 .        f  An.  II.  67.  g  Lib.  VI.  c.  (>.  a.  I . 

M  3 


166  LECTURE   VII. 

"  andriam  misit."  Exact  as  this  description  is,  it 
is  yet  a  matter  of  some  dovibt  which  of  the  many 
Ptolemies  was  the  one,  whose  son  was  placed  un- 
der the  guardianship  of  Rome ;  but  the  opinion 
adopted  by  Usher  has  the  strongest  evidence  in  its 
favour,  that  Ptolemy  the  Fourth,  surnamed  Phi- 
lopator,  was  the  father,  and  Ptolemy  the  Fifth, 
surnamed  Epiphanes,  was  the  young  king  con- 
fided to  the  care  of  the  Romans.  Now  Philopator 
died  in  the  year  203  B.  C,  and  Lepidus  therefore 
must  have  been  sent  to  Alexandria  soon  after- 
wards. 

But  on  the  other  hand  Livy*^  informs  us  that  two 
years  afterwards,  innnediately  after  the  close  of  the 
second  Punic  war,  M.  ^milius  Lepidus  and  two 
others  were  sent  to  the  king  of  Egypt,  to  an- 
nounce the  success  of  the  Romans,  and  to  offer 
their  thanks  for  the  continued  attachment  of  the 
king  under  circumstances  so  full  of  danger  to 
them.  It  appears '  also  that  iEmilius  was  the 
youngest  of  the  three  commissioners,  and  more- 
over that  Licinius'^  was  Pontifex  Maximus  at 
that  time.  We  find  also,  from  a  fragment  of  Po- 
lybius ',  that  upwards  of  thirty  years  afterwards, 
when  the  son  of  Epiphanes  sent  commissioners  to 
Rome,  and  complained  of  the  loss  of  territory, 
which  his  crown  had  suffered  during  the  minority 

h  Lib.  XXXI.  c.  2.  i  Liv.  lib.  XXXI.  c.  18. 

k  Liv.  lib.  XXXI.  c.  9.  1  Lib.  XXVIII.  e.  1. 


LECTURE    VII.  167 

of  his  father,  M.  iEiiiilius  was  the  person  under 
whose  advice  they  acted.  Upon  the  whole,  if 
Livy  and  Polybius  are  to  be  heard,  it  is  probable 
that  iEmilius  was  not  appointed  guardian  to  Epi- 
phanes,  although  he  might  be  present  as  the  re- 
presentative of  Rome  at  his  coronation  ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  at  that  period  he  was  not,  as  Valerius 
calls  him,  bis  consul,  for  his  first  consulship  was 
not  till  sixteen  years  afterwards ;  much  less  was 
he,  as  both  Valerius  and  the  coin  describe  him, 
Pontifex  Maximus.  The  difficulties  of  the  case 
have  increased  till  it  would  appear  that  there  was 
no  jiossible  method  of  escaping  from  them  ;  and  I 
certainly  know  no  method  of  doing  so,  unless  I 
may  suppose  it  to  be  an  example  of  what  I  have 
already  stated  in  the  words  of  Cicero  "%  "  lauda- 
"  tionibus  historia  rerum  nostrarum  facta  est  men- 
'*  dosior."  I  suppose  then  that  iEmilius  was  sent 
to  Egypt  to  congratulate  the  young  king  on  his 
taking  the  government  into  his  own  hands,  and 
that  this  office  was  a  little  magnified  in  the  records 
of  the  iEmilian  family,  under  the  description  of 
tutor  regis.  I  suppose  too  this  denarius  was 
minted  by  some  one  of  his  descendants,  who  was 
desirous  of  recalling  the  memory  of  his  illustrious 
ancestor,  either  merely  from  the  feeling  of  family 
importance,  ov  with  a  view  to  promote  some  am- 

m  Brut.  c.  16.    See  Lect.  II, 
M  4 


168  LECTURE   VII. 

bitioiis  project  of  his  own.  And  a  most  favour- 
able occasion  of  this  latter  kind  did  actually  occur 
in  the  year  43  B.  C,  when  Lepidus"  the  triumvir 
was  ambitious  of  becoming  Pontifex  Maximus, 
and  Antony  was  compelled  to  have  recourse  to 
artifice,  in  order  to  obtain  his  appointment  to  the 
office.  Under  such  circumstances,  what  would  be 
more  probable,  than  that  Lepidus  would  join  in 
the  deception,  and  prepare  the  minds  of  his  coun- 
trymen for  his  appointment  to  the  disputed  office, 
by  exhibiting  to  them  the  former  services  and  ho- 
nours of  his  family?  These  suppositions  are  ut- 
terly at  variance  with  the  questionable  narratives 
of  Valerius  and  Justin,  and  the  direct  authority 
of  Tacitus ;  but  they  accord  with  the  information, 
such  as  can  be  obtained,  from  Polybius  and  Livy, 
and  the  coin  itself,  being  capable  of  a  reasonable 
explanation  in  either  case,  may  fairly  be  consi- 
dered neutral. 

Gens  Claudia. 

MARCELLINVS  Caput  virile  imherbe  nu- 
dum ;  pone  triquetra  )-(  MARCELLVS- 
COSQUINQ  Templum  quatuor  columna- 
rum,  ad  quod  vir  velatus  et  togatus  accedit 
tropceum  gestans.  Arg. 

This   medal  will   shew  more  clearly  than  the 
n  Liv.  Epit.  lib.  CXVII.  c.  8.    See  also  lib.  CXXIX.  c.  HO. 


LECTURE   VII.  169 

preceding  one,  that  it  was  a  practice  of  the  Roman 
nobles  to  recall  the  memory  of  their  forefathers  in 
the  devices  of  their  own  coins.  Its  reverse  clearly 
refers  us  to  the  illustrious  Marcellus,  who,  during 
his  first  consulship,  obtained  the  spolia  opima  in 
Gaul,  and  offered  them  up  in  the  temple  of  Jupi- 
ter, (the  third  instance  of  the  kind  since  the  days 
of  Romulus,)  and  in  his  fifth  consulship  died  in 
battle,  being  deceived  by  the  stratagems  of  Han- 
nibal. But  the  best  commentary  upon  the  device 
is  in  the  words  of  Virgil "  : 

Aspice,  ut  insignis  spoliis  Marcellus  opiniis 
Ingreditur,  victorque  viros  supereminet  omnes. 
Hie  rem  Romanam  magno  turbante  tumultu 
Sistet  eques,  sternet  Pcenos,  Gallunique  rebellem, 
Tertiaque  arma  patri  suspendet  capta  Quirino. 

That  the  obverse  is  a  continuation  of  the  same 
subject,  we  may  infer  from  the  triquetra,  or  three 
legs  united,  which  clearly  alludes  to  some  im- 
portant transaction  in  Sicily,  and  may  best  be  ex- 
plained by  the  celebrated  conquest  of  Syracuse 
obtained  by  the  same  Marcellus.  We  may  rea- 
sonably suppose,  therefore,  that  the  head  on  the 
obverse  was  a  likeness  of  this  distinguished  war- 
rior, taken,  it  may  be,  from  a  statue  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  family,  and  impressed  upon  the  pub- 
lic money  by  some  one  of  his  descendants.     This 

o  ^11.  VI.  ver.  869. 


170  LECTURE    VII. 

person  was  evidently  the  Marcellinus  of  the  ob- 
verse; and  the  name  implies  some  one  of  the  Mar- 
celli,  who  had  been  adopted  into  another  family, 
and  had,  according  to  the  Roman  custom,  added 
the  proper  termination  to  his  former  name.  It 
ai)pears,  from  a  passage  of  Cicero  p,  that  such  an 
adoption  was  made  into  the  gens  Cornelia  and  the 
family  of  Lentulus  ;  and  we  also  find  that  a  Cor- 
nelius Lentulus  Marcellinus  was  consul  in  the 
year  56  B.C.,  and  another  of  the  same  name  forty 
years  afterwards.  To  one  of  these  the  medal  now 
before  us  may  fairly  be  assigned. 

And  this  leads  me  to  the  mention  of  another 
member  of  the  same  gens  Cornelia. 

Caput  nudum  harhatum  ;  pone  OSCA  )-( 
PLENTPF-SPINT  Vir  harhatus  velatus 
semhiudus  sedens  in  sella  curuli  d.  cornu 
copiie  6\  hastam,  et  d.  pede  gloho  insistens 
coronatur  ah  advolante  Victoria.  Arg. 

It  cannot  be  uninteresting  to  inquire  into  the 
history  of  a  Lentulus  who  was  an  important  actor 
at  the  most  critical  period  of  the  falling  republic, 
and  of  whose  services  to  himself  Ciceroni  could 
speak  in  the  following  emphatic  language :  "  P. 
"  Lentulus  consul,  parens,  deus  salutis  nostra?, 
"  vitae,  fortunae,  memorial,  nominis,  simul  ac  de 

P  III  Brut.  c.  36.  fl  Ad  Quir.  Post.  Red.  e.  5. 


LECTURE    VII.  171 

"  soleniii  religione  retulit,  nihil  hiunanarum  rerum 
"  sibi  prius  quam  de  me  agendum  judicavit." 

The  devices  are  not  calculated  to  give  us  much 
assistance,  but  the  inscription  on  the  reverse 
clearly  denotes  Publius  Lentulus  Publii  Filius 
Spinther,  at  a  time  when  he  does  not  yet  appear 
to  have  been  consul ;  and  the  word  Osca,  the  an- 
cient name  of  a  city  in  Spain,  would  imply  that 
the  coin  was  minted  whilst  Lentulus  was  acting 
as  pro-praetor,  or  other  public  officer,  in  that  pro- 
vince. Now  we  know  that  he  was  pro-praetor  in 
Spain  in  the  year  58  B.  C,  and  we  find  him,  on  a 
subsequent  occasion'"  endeavouring  to  conciliate 
Caesar,  as  Thetis^  conciliated  Jupiter,  by  enume- 
rating the  many  favours  which  Caesar  had  be- 
stowed upon  him,  mentioning  especially  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  Spanish  province,  and  afterwards 
the  assistance  afforded  him  in  his  canvass  for  the 
consulship.  It  appears,  therefore,  from  these  no- 
tices combined,  that  Lentulus  had  the  name  of 
Spinther  before  the  year  of  his  consulship,  the 
memorable  year  in  which  he  obtained  the  recall  of 
Cicero  from  his  banishment. 

I  mention  this  fact,  in  order  to  introduce  an 
anecdote  which  is  to  be  found,  more  or  less  largely 
told,  by  Valerius  MaximusS  Pliny,  and  Quiucti- 

'■  Caesar.  B.  C.  1.  22.  «  Arist.  Etli.  Nic.  4.  3.  25. 

t  Val.  Max.  IX.  13.   Pliny,  VII.  10.  Quinct.  vol.  I.  p.  377- 


172  LECTURE    VII. 

lian ;  and  which,  like  many  other  anecdotes,  ap- 
pears to  have  owed  its  credit  rather  to  its  point 
than  to  its  authenticity.  According  to  Valerius, 
(and  all  of  them  seem  to  have  derived  their  infor- 
mation from  the  same  authority),  in  the  year 
when  Lentulus  and  Metellus  were  consuls,  there 
were  two  actors  on  the  Roman  stage,  to  whom 
they  bore  so  strong  a  resemblance,  that  Lentulus 
was  ever  after  called  Spinther  from  the  one,  and 
Metellus  would  also  have  been  called  Pamphilus 
from  the  other,  had  not  his  extravagant  habits 
already  obtained  for  him  the  more  appropriate 
epithet  of  Nepos.  Now  this  anecdote,  although  it 
appears  to  have  been  credited  at  Rome,  is  open  to 
every  possible  objection.  It  is  known  that  Nepos 
was  already  a  family  name  of  the  Metelli,  and 
therefore  was  not  given  to  this  consul  on  account 
of  his  own  habits :  it  is  clear  also  from  the  coin, 
that  Lentulus  had  the  name  of  Spinther  before 
the  year  of  his  consulship ;  and  it  is  incredible, 
however  unanimous  the  populace  might  be  in 
giving  him  the  appellation,  that  Lentulus,  an  am- 
bitious man,  and  of  the  gens  Cornelia,  would  have 
been  proud  of  his  resemblance  to  a  stage-perform- 
er, and  have  willingly  adopted  a  new  name  as  a 
memorial  of  it.  The  converse  is  more  likely  to 
have  been  the  case,  and  the  actor  might  more  rea- 
sonably be  supposed  to  have  contracted  the  well- 
known  name  of  the  consul.     There  are  instances, 


LECTURE    VII.  173 

indeed,  of  Roman  emperors,  such  as  Caligula  and 
Caracalla,  who  are  better  known  to  us  by  popular 
appellations  than  by  their  own  names ;  but  there 
are  no  instances  in  which  they  themselves  adopted 
the  spurious  honour,  or  inscribed  it  on  their  coins 
in  preference  to  their  own  patrician  titles. 

Having,  I  think,  shewn  that  there  is  much  rea- 
son for  doubting  the  correctness  of  the  anecdote, 
which  seems  to  have  been  received  without  suspi- 
cion by  Valerius,  Pliny,  and  Quinctilian,  I  may 
perhaps  be  expected  to  supply  its  place  with  some 
more  probable  account  of  the  first  introduction  of 
the  name  of  Spinther  into  the  family  of  the  Len- 
tuli.  The  word  itself  signifies  an  armlet  or  collar, 
and  being  so  used  by  Plautus,  was  doubtless  a 
word  commonly  employed  in  his  days.  I  might 
suppose,  then,  some  accident  to  have  occurred  in 
the  patrician  circles  of  Rome,  somewhat  similar 
to  the  case  which  is  said  to  have  given  rise  to  the 
English  order  of  the  Garter ;  and  I  might  leave 
the  rest  to  be  supplied  by  the  imagination  of  my 
hearers.  But  something  more  may  be  said  upon 
the  subject.  The  name  of  Torquatus  had  long 
been  known  among  the  proudest  titles  of  Rome, 
and,  under  the  influence  of  modern  refinement, 
conveyed  associations  as  remote  from  its  original 
meaning,  as  the  manners  of  the  times  of  Cicero 
were  different  from  those  of  the  first  Torquatus. 
The  progress  of  the  arts  might  easily  have  sub- 


174  LECTURE    VII. 

stituted  a  costly  decoration  for  the  rude  badge  of 
the  torqiiis,  and  public  opinion  going  on  concur- 
rently with  the  change,  and  forgetting  the  warlike 
qualities  implied  in  the  ancient  title,  would  con- 
nect the  honours  of  the  family  with  the  appear- 
ance of  the  modern  decoration.  Any  Roman  am- 
bitious of  the  same  distinction,  but  prevented  from 
taking  the  title  of  Torquatus,  might  be  supposed 
likely  to  assume  another  name  (such  as  Spinther) 
in  the  place  of  it,  which  had  the  same  kind  of 
sjjlendid  ornament  connected  with  it,  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  interpretation  of  modern  manners,  con- 
veyed much  of  the  same  actual  importance.  That 
the  title  itself  was  an  object  of  general  ambition 
may  be  shewn  from  Suetonius",  who  states  that 
Augustus  bestowed  it,  together  with  a  gold  tor- 
quis,  upon  a  person  who  had  been  injured,  as  a 
compensation  for  what  he  had  suffered ;  and  it 
appears  from  Dio^,  that  the  very  Lentulus  of 
whom  we  are  speaking,  was  so  partial  to  the  title, 
that,  though  unable  to  assume  it  himself,  he  shew- 
ed that  he  preferred  it  to  any  of  the  celebrated 
names  of  Rome.  Wishing  to  obtain  admission  for 
his  son  into  the  college  of  augurs,  but  being  pre- 
vented by  the  law,  which  prohibited  any  two  per- 
sons of  the  same  gens  from  being  members  of  that 
body  at  the  same  time,  his  best  method  was  to 
have  his  son  adopted  into  a  different  family,  and 
u  Suet.  vol.  I.  p.  284.  c.  43.  x  Lib.  XXXIX.  c.  I7. 


LECTURE   VII.  175 

he  selected  the  family  of  Maiiliiis  Torquatus  for 
his  purpose. 

I  may  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  an- 
other coin. 

Gens  Mamilia. 

Protomc  Mercurii ;  po?ie  litera  Alphahefi  )-( 
CMAMILLIMETAN.  Vir  ciirfo  hahifii, 
tectiis  p'deo  rotundo,  s.  sdjylonem  habcns 
graditur ;  el  adhlanditur  cams.  Arg. 

The  appearance  expressed  in  the  words  curto  ha- 
bitu  suggests  the  notions  of  poverty  and  hardship  ; 
the  ^;i/^o  rotundo  might  remind  us  of  Mercury, 
or  some  one  of  his  descendants  ;  the  sclpionem 
hahens  imi^lies  fatigue  and  wandering;  the  (td- 
hlanditur  cams — whom  can  all  these  circum- 
stances represent,  but  the  Ulysses  of  the  Odyssey, 
the  reputed  offspring  of  Mercury,  returning  to  his 
ancient  home>'? 

■nT(i>-)(a  XeuyaXew  evaKiyKios  rjBe  yipovTi, 
(TKTjTTToixevoi'    TO.  8e  Xvypa  rrepl  xpoi  e'lfiara  earo. 

And  again : 

av  8e  Kvoiv  KfcfyaXrjv  re  koi  ovara  Kelfj.€voi  €cr)(ev 
"Apyoy  'OSvo-o-Jjos  Ta\(iari({)povos,  ov  pa  nor   avros 
dpi'^e  p.iv  ov8'  aTTovriTO. 

So  then,  even  at  this  period,  the  study  of  Homer 
was  so  popular  at  Rome,  that  his  poetry  had  ap- 
peared   on    the    escutcheons    of   private   families. 

y  Odvss.  XVII.  337.  and  XVII.  29. 


176  LECTURE   VII. 

But  though  in  this  instance  the  picture  drawn  by 
Homer  was  probably  adopted  by  some  one  of  the 
Mamilii  possessing  a  more  refined  taste  than  the 
rest  of  his  kindred,  we  have  reason  to  know  that 
the  whole  family  were  proud  of  their  descent  from 
Telegonus  and  Ulysses.  A  native  of  Tvisculum, 
the  "  Telegoni  ^  juga  parricidae,"  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  its  citizens,  Lucius  Mami- 
lius,  migrated  to  Rome  in  the  dictatorship  of 
Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  and  became  the  founder  of 
several  consular  families.  That  they  continued 
to  keep  up  the  tradition  of  their  heroic  origin  is 
evident  from  the  notice  taken  of  it  by  Livy% 
where  he  mentions  the  Mamilius,  the  son-in-law 
and  friend  of  the  younger  Tarquin :  "  Is  longe 
"  princeps  Latini  nominis  erat,  si  famse  credimus, 
"  ab  Ulixe  deaque  Circe  oriundus." 

The  first  of  the  family^  who  bore  the  name  of 
Limetanus  was  tribune  of  the  people  in  the  year 
164'  B.C.,  and  carried  a  new  law,  '*  de  limitibus 
"  gerendis,"  which  seems  to  have  given  occasion 
to  the  name. 

Gens  Thoria. 

I-S-M-R  Caput  Ju?ionis  Sispitce  )-(  LTHO- 
RIVS'BALBVS  Bos  irrnens ;  superne  va- 
rians  Alphaheti  litera.  Arg. 

z  Hor.  Od.  III.  29.  a  Liv.  lib.  I.  c.  49. 

b  See  Pighii  Ann.  vol.  II.  i)p.  .S92  and  490. 


LECTURE    VII.  177 

It  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  commenting  upon  this 
denarius,  that  Cicero*^  has  left  us  an  admirable 
description  of  the  character  and  fortunes  of  Bal- 
bus.  "  L.  Thorius  Balbus  fuit,  Lanuvinus  ;  quem 
"  meminisse  tu  non  potes :  is  ita  vivebat,  ut  nulla 
"  tam  exquisita  posset  inveniri  voluptas,  qua  non 
"  abundaret :  erat  et  cupidus  voluptatum,  et  cu- 
"  jus  vis  generis  ejus  intelligens,  et  copiosus  :  ita 
"  non  superstitiosus,  ut  ilia  plurima  in  sua  patria 
"  sacrificia  et  fana  contemneret ;  ita  non  timidus 
"  ad  mortem,  ut  in  acie  sit  ob  rem2)ub]icam  in- 

"  terfectus. Color  egregius,  Integra  valetudo, 

"  summa  gratia,  vita  denique  conferta  voluptatum 
"  omnium  varietate."  The  letters  on  the  obverse 
are  the  initials  of  Juno  Sispita  Magna  Regina; 
and  the  attachment  of  Balbus  to  the  worship  of 
that  goddess,  or,  to  sjieak  more  correctly,  his 
adoption  of  such  a  bearing  for  his  coins,  was 
clearly  owing  to  his  connexion  with  Lanuvium  ^, 
a  place  celebrated  for  the  worship  of  Juno.  Even 
in  later  times,  Antoninus  Pius  and  Commodus, 
who  were  born  at  Lanuvium,  shewed  the  same 
respect  for  the  goddess  of  their  native  place,  by 
preserving  her  image  on  their  coins  ^.  But  the 
JSos  irruens,  on  the  other  face  of  the  medal,  is 

c  Cic.  De  Fin.  lib.  II.  c.  20. 

^  See  .Elian  de  Nat.  An.  lib.  XI.  c.  16.  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor. 
lib.  I.  c.  29. 

c  See  Eck.  vol.  VII.  pp.  14  and  IO7. 

N 


178  LECTURE    VII. 

not  so  easy  of  explanation.  Some  writers  suppose 
it  to  have  a  reference  to  the  Agrarian  law,  which 
was  carried  by  Balbus,  when  he  was  tribune,  in 
the  year  106  B.  C. :  but  as  ir7'uens  is  not  properly 
descriptive  of  the  quiet  employments  of  agricul- 
ture, and  is  not  the  form  usually  taken  for  that 
purpose,  I  am  disposed  to  adopt  the  suggestion  of 
Eckhel,  who  thinks  that  the  Hos  Irruens  is  a 
punning  allusion  to  the  praenomen  Thorius,  or 
%rjv^ioq^  in  the  same  manner  in  which  I  have  al- 
ready explained  the  similar  bearings  of  the  town 
of  Thurium. 

I  have  now  to  consider  two  quinarii  of  Marc 
Antony. 

Protome  Vktorice  alata  )-(  LVGVDVNI'A-XL 

Leo  gradiens.  Arg. 
IIIVIRRPC  Protome  Victorice  alata  )-(  AN- 

TONI  •  IMP  -A-  XLI  Leo  gradiens.  Arg. 

It  is  evident  from  the  coins  themselves  that  they 
were  minted  at  Lyons ;  and  we  learn  from  an  in- 
scription found  at  Gaeta^,  on  the  tomb  of  Muna- 
tius  Plancus,  and  from  the  more  precise  narrative 
of  Dio^,  that  Lei:)idus  and  Plancus  were  employed 
by  the  senate  in  founding  the  colony  of  Lugudu- 
num,  in  the  vear  43  B.  C.  This  was  a  little  more 
than  a  year  after  the  assassination  of  Julius  Cae- 

f  Gruter,  ]).  43i).  a.  8.  &  Dio  C.  lib.  XLVI.  c.  TiO. 


LECTURE    VII.  179 

sar;  and,  in  a  few  months  from  this  time,  An- 
tony, who  had  previously  sought  refuge  with  Le- 
pidus  in  Gaul,  entered  into  the  well-known  trium- 
virate against  Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  obtained 
the  greater  part  of  Gaul,  including  Lyons,  as  his 
province.  We  may  readily  admit,  therefore,  that 
these  quinarii  were  among  the  first  productions 
of  a  mint,  which  is  noticed  by  Strabo^,  within 
fifty  years  afterwards,  as  issuing  both  gold  and 
silver,  on  account  of  the  extensive  commerce  of 
the  neighbourhood.  We  may  be  confident  that 
they  were  issued  within  three  years  from  the 
foundation  of  Lyons ;  as,  after  that  period,  An- 
tony was  constantly  occupied  in  the  east,  and 
Octavianus  had  succeeded  him  in  the  province  of 
Gaul. 

And  this  degree  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  time 
will  still  continue  to  attach  to  them,  until  we  are 
able  to  assign  the  date,  which  actually  appears 
upon  them,  to  some  known  and  certain  epoch. 
At  a  subsequent  period,  as  I  have  already  stated, 
the  battle  of  Actium  was  often  taken  as  the  fixed 
point  for  the  chronology  of  the  empire  ;  but  we 
know  of  no  similar  epoch  that  was  received  by 
the  Romans  at  an  earlier  jieriod.  In  the  present 
instance,  moreover,  we  can  find  no  event  in  the 
history  of  the  republic  which  would  at  once  cor- 

h  Lib.  IV.  ii.2(if). 

N  2 


180  LECTURE   VII. 

respond  with  this  date,  and  be  important  enough 
to  stand  forth,  from  the  confusions  of  the  time,  to 
be  commemorated  at  any  subsequent  period.  So 
that  we  are  compelled  to  look  to  some  aera  con- 
nected with  the  local  history  of  Lugudunum,  and 
in  so  doing  we  naturally  lose  much  of  the  interest 
belonging  to  the  subject  as  a  question  of  general 
chronology. 

But  here  again  we  meet,  at  the  very  outset, 
with  an  insuperable  difficulty.  It  appears  that, 
before  the  establishment  of  the  colony  by  Plancus, 
there  was  no  town  existing  upon  the  spot,  nor 
any  thing  which  could  have  given  a  history  or 
an  epoch  to  the  neighbourhood.  In  the  absence 
therefore  of  all  other  explanation,  it  has  been  sup- 
posed that  the  date  refers  to  some  event  in  the 
life  of  Antony  himself;  and,  in  defence  of  this 
opinion,  the  number  is  calculated,  according  to 
the  narrative  of  Plutarch  \  to  coincide  exactly 
with  the  years  of  his  age.  It  was  certainly  a 
greater  refinement  in  adulation,  which,  some  few 
years  afterwards '%  induced  several  towns  of  Italy 
to  date  the  commencement  of  their  year  from  the 
day  on  which  Augustus  first  visited  them.  The 
supposition  would  have  been  more  probable,  had 
the  name  of  Antony  appeared  upon  the  first  of 
the  two  coins,  and  so  connected  the  date  by  ex- 

i  Ant.  c.  80.  k  See  Suet.  Octav.  c.  .59, 


LECTURE    VII.  181 

press  reference  with  his  history  :  but  it  is  also 
possible,  and  it  is  consistent  with  the  many  tokens 
we  have  met  with  of  the  prevalence  of  heraldry 
in  ancient  times,  that  the  Leo  gracUens  was  com- 
monly known  as  the  badge  of  Antony,  and  pointed 
him  out  as  intelligibly  as  the  actual  letters  of  his 
name.  He  certainly  did  claim  to  be  descended 
from  Hercules,  and  might  therefore  be  expected 
to  take  a  lion  as  his  bearing ;  it  was  only  five 
years  previously^,  on  his  return  from  the  battle 
of  Pharsalia,  that  he  entered  the  city  with  lions 
yoked  to  his  chariot ;  and  you  will  remember  the 
words  of  Cicero  to  Atticus '",  "  Tu  Antonii  leones 
*'  pertimescas  cave,"  where  he  speaks  of  lions  as  if 
they  always  suggested  the  recollection  of  Antony, 
and  leads  us  to  connect  them  with  his  well-known 
love  of  parade  and  ostentation. 

The  words  Triummr  KeipuhliccE  ConstituendcB 
require  no  explanation  ;  Imperator  will  be  ex- 
plained hereafter ;  and  whatever  opinion  may  be 
formed  of  the  interpretation  given  to  the  date,  it 
seems  generally  admitted  that  the  heraldic  bear- 
ings and  the  present  name  of  the  modern  city  are 
both  of  them  derived  from  the  lion  of  Antony, 
impressed  by  him  upon  his  coins,  and  upon  other 
public  memorials  of  his  government. 

"  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  VIII.  c.  21.  and  Plut.  Vit.  Ant, 
m  Epist.  ad  Att.  X.  l.S. 

N  3 


182  LECTURE    VII. 

I  might  now  entertain  you  with  a  dissertation 
on  beards,  and  shew  you,  from  the  coins  of  An- 
tony, Pompey,  Brutus,  Octavianus,  and  others, 
how  common  it  was  to  wear  long  beards  at  this 
period.  In  many  instances  it  seems  intended  to 
denote  sorrow  for  the  troubles  of  the  republic  ;  in 
others,  as  in  the  cases  of  Julius  Caesar  and  An- 
tony, it  was  the  token  of  some  particular  vow,  wait- 
ing for  its  fulfilment.  But  I  will  conclude  the  Lec- 
ture with  noticing  another  coin  of  Antony,  which 
was  minted  after  he  had  contracted  Asiatic  tastes, 
and  places  him  before  us  in  a  new  character. 

MANTONIVSIMPCOSDESIGITERET- 
TERT  Caput  Antonii  hedera  redimitum;  in- 
fra  lituus;  omnia  intra  coronam  liederaceam 
)-(  IIIVIRRP-C  Cista  Bacchi  inter  duos 
serpentes,  cut  immitiet  caput  muUebre  nu- 
dum. Arg. 

So  then  the  natural  disposition  of  Antony,  which 
Cicero  has  described  as  partaking  more  of  the 
love  of  ease  and  indulgence  than  of  warlike  quali- 
ties, had  been  fully  developed  in  the  luxuries  of 
the  east,  and,  like  the  well-known  character  in 
the  Frogs  of  Aristophanes,  had  thrown  off  the 
emblems  of  Hercules,  and  ajipeared  in  the  more 
appropriate  attributes  of  Bacchus.  But  before  I 
make  any  further  observation  upon  this  change,  I 
must  notice  the  words  Consid  Designatus  Iterum 


LECTURE    VII.  183 

et  Tertio.  They  plainly  shew  tliat  the  ancient 
practice  of  appointing  consuls  for  the  coming  year, 
and  for  that  year  only,  had  been  abandoned,  and 
some  other  method  had  been  adopted,  which  dis- 
posed of  public  office  for  several  years  in  advance. 
We  can  easily  conceive  that  in  those  times  of 
peril  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  cooperation 
of  powerful  and  ambitious  partisans.  We  can 
also  conceive  the  dangers  of  the  times  to  be  so 
great,  and  the  strife  of  party  to  be  so  ready  to 
exaggerate  them,  that,  conscious  only  of  their 
present  peril,  the  leaders  of  the  day  might  be 
totally  indifferent  to  the  ultimate  inexpediency  of 
their  measures.  Their  present  resources  being 
exhausted,  they  anticipated  the  future  strength  of 
the  rejjublic.  They  mortgaged  the  honours  of  the 
state,  as  modern  governments  have  mortgaged 
their  incomes ;  and  they  would  no  doubt  have 
been  as  lavish  of  the  incomes,  as  they  were  of  the 
honours,  of  their  descendants,  if  commercial  credit 
had  been  a  thing  intelligible  at  Rome. 

We  find  accordingly,  that  in  the  year  38  B.  C, 
when  the  triumvirate  still  existed,  but  the  govern- 
ment was  evidently  in  great  want  of  support,  con- 
suls were  appointed  at  once  for  the  eight  following 
years,  and  that  the  years  34  and  31  B.  C.  were 
assigned  to  Antony.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  this 
coin  was  minted  between  the  year  38  B.  C,  when 
this  appointment  was  made,  and  the  year  34,  when 

N  4 


181  LECTURE   VIL 

» 

he  would  HO  longer  be  elect,  but  actually  in  office, 

for  the  second  time.  It  is  admitted  also,  from  its 
emblems  of  Bacchus,  which  seem  to  have  been 
peculiar  to  the  east,  that  it  was  minted  in  Asia. 
Perhaps  no  date  is  more  reasonable  than  the  year 
38  B.C.,  in  which  farther  triumphs  were  obtained 
by  his  troops  over  the  Parthians,  and  Herod  the 
Great  was  established  by  him  on  the  throne  of 
Judaea.  It  was  in  the  preceding  winter  that  he 
resided  at  Athens ;  and,  on  his  arrival  there,  the 
circumstances  occurred,  which  are  noticed  by  Se- 
neca" in  the  following  manner :  "  Quum  Antonius 
"  vellet  se  Liberum  patrem  dici,  et  hoc  nomen 
*'  statuis  subscribi  juberet,  habitu  quoque  et  comi- 
"  tatu  Liberum  imitaretur,  occurrerunt  venienti 
•*  ei  Athenienses  cum  conjugibus  et  liberis,  et  A/o- 
"  vvaov  salutaverunt.  Bene  illis  cesserat,  si  nasus 
"  Atticus  ibi  substitisset.  Dixerunt  despondere 
•'  ipsi  in  matrimonium  Minervam  suam,  et  roga- 
"  verunt  ut  duceret.  Ac  Antonius  ait  ducturum, 
"  sed  dotis  nomine  imperare  se  illis  mille  talenta. 
"  Turn  ex  Graeculis  quidam  ait  Kvpte,  6  Zevi  t^v  />t>j- 
*'  Tepa  aov  Se/xeATjv  airpoiKov  e/p^e."  "  Sir,  your  father 
"  Jupiter  got  no  fortune,  when  he  married  your 
"  mother  Semele." 

^  Sen.  Suasor.  lib.  I.  p.  5. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


Roman  coins  of  the  empire — Two  coins  of  Augustus — 
Great  roads  of  Italy — Tiberius — Twelve  cities  of  Asia  de- 
stroyed— Tacitus — Phlegon — IMarble  discovered  at  Pozzuoli 
— Germanicus  and  Agrippina — Lesbos — Caligula — -His  po- 
pularity— Claudius — Britain — Nero — The  closing  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Janus — Tacitus  and  Suetonius  —  Galba^,  Otho,  and 
Vitellius — Brasses  of  Otho. 


In  treating  of  imperial  coins,  I  shall  begin  with 
a  gold  coin  of  Augustus,  minted  in  the  year  27 
B.  C.     This  was  four  years  after  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tium,  and  two  years  after  the  closing  of  the  temple 
of  Janus,  and  at  a  time  when,  foreign  hostilities 
and  civil  discord  being  at  an  end,  all  men  were 
looking  forward  to  the  establishment  of  some  last- 
ing form  of  government.    It  was  at  the  beginning 
of  this  year  therefore  that  Octavianus  prudently 
abandoned   the  intention  of  taking  the  name  of 
Romulus,  and  obtained,  with  the  approbation  of 
the  senate  and  the  people,  the  new  and  solemn 
title  of  Augustus.     Dio  furnishes  us  with  a  long 
oration  which,   he  says,   Augustus    read    to  the 
senate,  on  the  occasion  when  they  conferred  the 
sovereign  power  upon  him,  and  describes  the  dif- 
ferent feelings  which  actuated  his  hearers,  making 
them  all  concur  in  commending  his  moderation 
and  submitting   to  his  government.     Studiously 
avoiding  any  title  which  might  create  suspicion 
or  bring   back  painful  recollections,  he  accepted 
the  sovereign  power  conferred  upon  him,  and  pro- 
mised to  resign  it  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years, 
or  even  at  an  earlier  period,  if  good  order  should 
have  previously  been  established  throughout  the 
empire.      The   gratitude   of   the   senate   was   de- 


188  LECTURE    VIII. 

dared,  as  we  learn  from  the  same  historian  *,  by- 
decreeing  that  laurels  should  be  placed  before  his 
house  in  the  Palatine,  and  an  oaken  garland 
suspended  from  it,  in  token  at  once  of  the  con- 
quest obtained  over  his  enemies,  and  the  benefits 
conferred  upon  his  countrymen.  It  is  to  this  de- 
cree that  Ovid  refers^,  when  he  addresses  the 
laurel  in  the  following  words : 

Postibus  Augustis  eadem  fidissima  custos 
Ante  fores  stabis.  mediamque  tuebere  quercum ; 

and  it  is  to  the  same  decree,  and  with  the  same 
distinctness,  that  reference  is  made,  in  the  medal 
which  I  now  describe  to  you. 

CAESAR  •  COS  •  VII  •  CI  VIB  VS  •  SERVATEIS 
Caput  wwf/zm)-(AVGVSTVSS-C  Aqiiila 
expansis  alls  cor  once  quernce  insistens;  pone 
duo  lauri  rami.  Aur. 

My  next  coin  is  a  denarius  of  the  same  reign, 
but  minted  eleven  years  afterwards,  and  within  a 
year  after  the  celebration  of  the  Ludi  Sseculares. 
We  might  expect  it  therefore  to  contain  some 
notice  of  the  title  of  authority  permanently  adopt- 
ed by  the  emperor,  and  of  the  municipal  improve- 
ments which  he  had  already  been  able  to  accom- 
plish. 

Ji  Dio,  lib.  LIII.  c.  Ki.  ''  Ovid.  ]\Ictam.  I.  562. 


LECTURE    VIII.  189 

AVGVSTVSTRPOTVIII  Caput  nudum  )-{ 
Cq)pus,  cut  inscrij)tum  SPQRIMPCAE- 
QVODVMSEXEAPQISADADE;m 
orhem  LVINICIVSLFIIIVIR.  Arg. 
This  is  the  first  mention  we  have  met  with  of 
the  TRibunicia  POTestas,  the  title  of  authority 
adopted  eight  years  previously  by  Augustus,  and 
which  had  evidently  been  selected  by  him  for  the 
purpose  of  conciliating  the  popular  party  in  the 
state.     The  title  itself  is  of  so  much  importance 
in  the  chronology  of  the  empire,  that  I  shall  re- 
serve it  for  a  distinct  consideration.     But  the  cip- 
pus  impressed  on  the  reverse  would  seem  likely  at 
first  sight  to  defeat  all  the  endeavours  we  might 
make  to  interpret  it ;   and  certainly  were  we  to 
take  a  casual  sentence  from  Cicero  or  Tacitus,  re- 
taining only  the  initials  of  the  several  words,  it 
would  form    a   problem   which   none  but  skilful 
men  could  investigate,  and  even  the  skilful  them- 
selves  would   work   out   into   different   solutions. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  remember  that  an 
inscription  of  such  a  nature,  if  it  were  inexjili- 
cable  to   a   modern   reader,   would   also  offer   no 
small  difficulties  to  a  common  Roman  ;  and  that 
no  person,  whose  object  it  was  to  be  understood, 
would  purposely  take  the  surest  method  of  making 
himself  unintelligible.     So   that  we  may  assume 
the  existence  of  other  circumstances,  known   so 
familiarly   in    the    days   of  Augustus,   that   they 


190  LECTURE    VIII. 

would  be  present  to  the  mind  of  every  Roman, 
and  assist  him  in  the  interpretation  of  this  and 
similar  inscriptions. 

And  this  opinion  is  confirmed  on  the  first  ex- 
amination of  the  inscription  itself.  It  is  clearly 
a  decree  of  the  senate  and  people,  which  was  in- 
scribed in  brief  on  the  base  of  some  statue  or 
other  monument  erected  in  honour  of  the  em- 
peror, and  had  doubtless  been  made  known  in  the 
usual  public  manner  as  a  law  of  the  empire.  But 
it  had  still  stronger  claims  than  these  on  general 
notoriety.  It  was  a  vote  of  approbation,  similar 
to  many  others  which  had  been  passed  before, 
and  probably  expressed  in  a  customary  form  of 
words.  To  judge  therefore,  as  easily  as  a  Roman 
might,  of  the  meaning  of  such  abbreviations,  we 
must  be  as  well  acquainted  as  he  was,  with  en- 
comiums and  honorary  tablets,  and  with  the  pub- 
lic services  which  commonly  obtained  such  tokens 
of  remembrance.  To  a  Roman  the  letters  V'M'S 
would  clearly  denote  Viae  Munitse  Sunt,  and  that 
the  rest  of  the  inscription  was  also  familiar  to 
him,  may  be  shewn  from  the  very  words  of  a  Se- 
natus-consultum,  quoted  by  Livy  as  having  pass- 
ed in  the  second  Punic  war,  and  expressed,  no 
doubt,  according  to  the  established  usage ;  "  refe- 
"  rente  *^  P.  Scipione,   senatus   consultum   factum 

•^  Liv.  lib.  XX^^III.  c.  38.    See  also  lib.  XXXVII.  c.  r>7- 


LECTURE    VIII.  191 

"  est,  ut  quos  liidos  inter  seditionem  inilitarem  in 
"  Hispania  vovisset,  ex  ea  pecunia  quam  ipse  in 
"  ferarium  detulisset,  faceret."  The  whole  inscrip- 
.tion,  therefore,  is  as  follows'^ :  Senatus  Populus 
Que  Romanns  IMPeratori  CAEsari  QVOD  Vise 
Munitse  Sunt  EX  EA  Pecunia  Quam  IS  AD 
Aerarium  DEtulisset.  The  legend  running  round 
it  is  of  the  IIIVIR  monetalis,  who,  during  that 
year  was,  together  with  his  colleagues,  the  master 
of  the  mint.  But  the  word  imjjerator  is  now  used 
in  a  new  manner,  not  having,  in  this  instance,  the 
signification  of  commander,  as  before,  or  referring 
to  the  number  of  times  that  he  was  saluted  under 
that  title  by  his  troops,  but  conveying  the  new 
notions  of  civil  government  expressed  by  the  word 
emperor. 

And  what  could  be  a  more  favourable  occasion 
for  inscriptions  than  the  formation  or  re-establish- 
ment of  a  military  road  ?  Running  through  several 
important  cities,  provided  with  bridges  over  the 
streams,  and  buildings  at  stated  intervals  for  the 
reception  of  travellers,  and  decorated  in  many  in- 
stances with  works  of  sculpture  and  triumphal 
arches,  they  presented  to  the  Romans  of  all  pe- 
riods, from  the  time  of  Appius  to  the  latest  years 

d  It  is  even  possible  that  Livy,  who  was  writing  his  his- 
tory at  the  time  when  this  coin  was  minted,  may  have  filled 
up  the  senatus-consultum  of  the  time  of  P.  Scipio  with  words 
taken  from  the  pulilic  proceedings  of  his  own  time. 


192  LECTURE    VIII. 

of  the  empire,  the  most  tempting  opportunities 
for  recording  their  names  and  public  services.  In 
the  present  instance,  the  Flaminian  way  had  been 
restored  by  Augustus  ;  and,  as  Dio'^  informs  us, 
triumphal  arches,  surmounted  with  the  statue  of 
the  emperor,  were  placed  at  its  two  extremities. 
The  cljDpiis  on  the  coin  is  probably  copied  from 
the  tablet  of  the  arch  which  stood  upon  the  bridge 
of  the  Tiber ;  and  the  coin  itself  may  have  been 
minted  from  one  of  the  silver  statues,  which,  the 
same  historian  tells  us,  were  presented  on  the  oc- 
casion to  the  emperor,  and  by  him  converted  into 
coin. 

My  next  specimen  is  a  brass  of  Tiberius^. 

TICAESARDIVIAVGF-AVGVSTPM- 
TR-POTXXIIII  in  medio  SC  )-(  CIVI- 
TATIBVSASIAE-RESTITVTIS  Impera- 
tor  togatns  capite  laureato  sedens  pedihus 
scabeUo  fultis  d.  paferam  s.  hastam.  Mu. 

The  28th  year  of  the  fr'ibunicia  jiofestas  of  Ti- 
berius began  in  the  22nd  year  of  the  Christian 
aera  ;  and  the  event  commemorated  on  this  medal 
receives  so  much  illustration  from  the  writers  of 
the  time,  and  from  surviving  monuments,  that  no 

e  Dio.  lib.  LIII.  c.  22. 

f  The  inscription,  written  at  length,  is,  Tiberius  Caesar  Divi 
August!  Filius  Augustus  Pontifex  Maximus  Tribunicise  Po- 
testatis  2-i. 


LECTURE    VIII.  19fi 

doubt  or  difficulty  attaches  to  it.  It  has  been  ex- 
l)lained  by  Gronovius,  in  his  Thesaurus^ ;  by 
Schlegel,  in  Morell's  Thesaurus'' ;  by  the  Abbe 
Belley,  and  M.  Le  Beau,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
French  Academy';  by  Eckhel,  and  by  ahnost 
every  other  writer  on  the  coins  of  the  empire. 

You  will  remember  a  remarkable  passage  of 
Tacitus^,  where  mention  is  made  of  an  earth- 
quake which  destroyed  in  one  night  twelve  cities 
of  Asia.  "  Eodem  anno  duodecim  celebres  Asiae 
"  urbes  conlapsae,  nocturno  motu  terrae ;  quo  im- 
"  provisior  graviorque  pestis  fuit :  neque  solitum 
"  in  tali  casu  effugium  subveniebat  in  aperta  pro- 
"  rumpendi,  quia  diductis  terris  hauriebantur. 
*'  Sedisse  immensos  montes,  visa  in  arduo  quae 
"  plana  fuerint,  effulsisse  inter  ruinam  ignes,  me- 
"  morant."  He  then  proceeds  to  mention  the  cities 
which  had  suffered,  and  the  bounty  bestowed  upon 
them  by  the  emperor.  This  event  took  place  in 
the  17th  year  of  the  Christian  sera,  and  we  must 
inquire  therefore  to  what  cause  it  was  owing  that 
the  medal,  which  was  clearly  intended  to  comme- 
morate the  nmnificence  of  the  emperor,  was  not 
minted  till  five  years  afterwards :  and  the  more 
so,  as  we  have  another  medal  of  similar  inscrip- 
tion^, which  was  minted  only  two  years  after  the 

g  Vol.  VII.  p.  446.  1'  Vol.  I.  p.  578. 

i  Vol.  XXIV.  pp.  130  et  152.  ^  Tac.  Ann.  II.  47. 

1  See  Ac.  Inscr.  vol.  XXIV.  p.  129. 

O 


194  LECTURE    VIII. 

disaster  had  occurred,  and    when  the  bounty  of 
Tiberius  was  fresh  in  every  one's  memory. 

Now  it  might  be  a  sufficient  answer  to  observe, 
that  some  few  years  must  necessarily  have  elapsed, 
before  these  towns  could  be  again  inhabited ;  and 
that  five  years,  as  we  learn  from  Tacitus,  was  the 
term  actually  allowed,  in  the  cases  in  which  the 
emperor  granted  a  remission  of  their  taxes.  We 
may  also  observe,  that,  in  addition  to  the  cities  al- 
ready noticed,  Ephesus"'  ajipears  to  have  suffered 
severely  in  the  following  year,  and  that  the  conti- 
nuance of  the  danger  would  naturally  retard  the 
work  of  restoration.  But  this  is  not  all.  Phlegon, 
who  lived  probably  in  the  days  of  Hadrian,  men- 
tions in  his  book  Trep;  Bavfxaaiav  the  destruction  of 
the  Asiatic  cities,  and  informs  us  that  a  colossal 
statue  of  Tiberius  was  erected  in  the  Forum  Cae- 
saris",  with  the  figures  of  the  several  cities  as  an 
accompaniment  to  it,  in  honour  of  his  munificence. 
Now  what  can  be  more  reasonable,  than  that  on 
the  erection  of  this  statue,  an  event  which  could 

™  And  this  fact  will  explain  the  apparent  inconsistency 
between  Tacitus  and  Pliny  on  the  one  hand,  who  say  that 
twelve  cities  were  destroyed ;  and  Eusebius  and  other  more 
modern  writers  on  the  other^  who  mention  thirteen.  See 
Morell's  Thes.  Numism.  Wessel.  vol.  I.  p.  579.  The  account 
of  Nicephorus,  who  states  the  number  to  have  been  fourteen, 
will  be  explained  in  the  sequel. 

n  See  M.  Le  Bean,  Ac.  Ins.  vol.  XXIV.  p.  158. 


LECTURE    VIII.  195 

not  well  take  place  till  some  few  years  after  the 
disaster,  a  new  coin  was  struck  by  the  senate,  in 
token  of  their  admiration  ?     Meursius  °  indeed   is 
of  opinion  that  no  such  statue  was  ever  erected 
at  Rome,  no  one  having  been  mentioned  by  any 
of  the  various  older  writers   who  have  recorded 
the   ravages   of  the   earthquake.     But   Meursius 
was  not  acquainted  with  some  farther  testimony 
on  the  subject,  which  has  been  brought  to  light 
more  recently.      In  the  year  1693  a  piece  of  mar- 
ble was  discovered  at  Pozzuoli,  which  had  evi- 
dently been  the  base  of  a  colossal  statue,  and  was 
inscribed  to  the  emperor  Tiberius.     Round  it,  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  words  of  Phlegon,  are 
figures  representing  the  several  Asiatic  cities,  and 
described  by  their  respective  names  ;  but  in  addi- 
tion to  the  thirteen  already  noticed,  we  find  an- 
other, representing  the  town  of  Cibyra  in  Phrygia. 
And  in  explanation  of  this,  we  learn  from  Taci- 
tus p,  that  in  the  year  23  after  Christ,  Tiberius 
granted  relief  to  Cibyra,  which  had  recently  suf- 
fered from  an  earthquake  ;   and  the  marble  itself 
shews,  according  to  the   date  inscribed  upon  it, 
that  it  was  not  erected  till  the  year  30.     So  that 
all  these  circumstances  being  taken  in  combina- 
tion, it  appears  that,  within  two  years  after  the 
great  earthquake,  the  senate  had  determined  to 
erect  a  statue  to  Tiberius,  and  had  issued  a  new 

"  See  his  note  on  Phlegon,  p.  ](U.  P  Ann.  W.  13. 

C)  2 


196  LECTURE    VIII. 

coinage,  as  a  memorial  of  his  bounty;  that, within 
five  years  after  the  same  event,  the  statue  was 
completed,  and  a  new  die  was  cut,  from  which 
the  medal  we  have  been  considering  was  minted ; 
and  that  finally,  in  the  year  30,  when  Tiberius 
had  withdrawn  himself  from  Rome,  and  was  liv- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  of  Puteoli,  the  inha- 
bitants of  that  town  erected  another  statue,  after 
the  model  already  exhibited  at  Rome;  thereby  ex- 
pressing their  sorrow  for  a  calamity,  for  which 
their  own  volcanic  country  would  teach  them  to 
feel  compassion,  and  honouring  at  the  same  time 
the  emperor's  repeated  acts  of  generosity.  We 
may  infer,  that  the  seated  figure  on  the  reverse 
of  the  medal  was  intended  to  resemble  that  colos- 
sal statue  of  Tiberius,  which  we  have  traced  from 
the  time,  when  the  plan  of  it  was  first  adopted  by 
the  senate,  to  the  time  when  it  was  finally  erected 
at  Puteoli. 

And  this  is  a  favourable   opportunity  for  no- 
ticing a  Greek  coin  of  Germanicus. 

©EONTEPM MTTI  Caput  Germamci  nu- 
dum )-(  GEAN-AIOAIN-ArPinniNAN-MTTI 
Caput  AgrippincB.  Mxi. 

It  is  clear  that  this  brass  was  minted  at  Mytilene 
in  Lesbos,  and  equally  clear  that  it  commemorates 
two  persons,  whose  names  create  as  great  an  in- 
terest as  any  names  connected  with  the  history  of 


LECTURE   VUL  197 

the  empire.  M.  Pellerin'i,  who  was  the  first  to 
describe  the  coin,  was  of  opinion  that  the  word 
AIOAIN  was  a  mistake  of  the  graver  for  lOTAIAN; 
and  maintained,  but  without  quoting  any  au- 
thority in  his  favour,  that  Agrippina,  the  wife  of 
Germanicus,  had  the  prsenomen  of  Julia.  But 
here  M.  Pellerin  has  asserted  what  he  is  utterly 
unable  to  prove.  He  acknowledges  that  he  can 
find  no  coin  to  support  him ;  and  when  he  says 
that  Agrippina  is  known  in  history  with  the  ad- 
ditional name  of  Julia,  he  probably  confounds  her 
with  her  daughter  Agrippina,  the  wife  of  Clau- 
dius, who  was  certainly  admitted  into  the  gens 
Julia. 

But  groundless  as  is  the  argument  in  favour  of 
the  word  lOTAIAN,  it  is  not  more  so  than  the 
objection  that  was  felt  against  the  real  reading, 
AIOAIN.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  Lesbi- 
ans, who  minted  the  coin,  might  also  have  en- 
rolled Agrippina  among  their  countrywomen,  and 
so  have  styled  her  an  ^olian  ;  and  the  more  so, 
as  she  resided  for  some  time  in  the  island,  and 
had  the  strongest  reasons  for  being  attached  to  it. 
But  the  whole  question  is  determined  by  an  in- 
scription, which  Eckhel  has  adduced  from  the 
Thesaurus'"  of  Muratori,  representing  Nero,  the 
ill-fated  son  of   an  illustrious  father,  as  FIAIAA 

q  Rec.  de  M^cl.  tie  Pcup.  vol.  III.  p.  220. 
r  Nov.  Thes.  vol.  I.  p.  228. 

()  .'J 


198  LECTURE   VIII. 

BEOT  TEPMANIKOT  KAI  OEAS  AIOAIAO^  KAP- 
ri04>0P0T  AFPinnEINAS. 

The  other  epithet**  here  given  to  Agrippina 
may  have  some  reference  to  the  event  which  oc- 
casioned her  to  reside  at  Lesbos,  and  gave  rise  to 
the  attachment  ah^eady  noticed.  It  was  in  the 
year  which  preceded  the  death  of  GermanicusS 
and  when  he  was  on  his  progress  into  the  east, 
that  he  employed  himself  for  some  time  in  ex- 
ploring the  Adriatic  and  the  jEgean,  and  in  visit- 
ing places  upon  their  coasts,  distinguished  in  the 
history  of  his  own  or  of  other  nations.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Agrippina,  and  after  surveying 
the  scene  of  the  battle  of  Actium,  and  receiving 
the  homage  of  the  Athenians,  they  repaired  to 
Lesbos,  where  Julia  Livilla  was  born  to  them,  the 
last  addition  to  a  family,  which  seems  to  have 
combined  more  sjjlendour  and  degradation  than 
any  other  family  of  Roman  history.  It  was  pro- 
bably this  event  which  caused  a  permanent  con- 
nexion to  subsist  between  Germanicus  and  the 
Lesbians,  and  gave  occasion  to  the  coin  in  honour 
of  himself  and  Agrijopina,  which  was  issued  from 
the  mint  of  Mytilene. 

The  next  is  a  brass  of  Caligula,  minted  by  the 
senate  in  the  year  39  after  Christ. 

s  See  the  same  epithet  given  to  Julia^  the  mother  of  Tibe- 
rius.—Eckh.  voh  VI.  p.  168. 
t  Tac.  Ann.  II.  53,  &c. 


LECTURE   VIII.  199 

CCAESARDIVIAVGPRONAVGSCP/- 
leus  Ubertatis  )-(  COS-DESIII'PON-M-TR- 
PIIIPP;  in  medio  RCC'  Mn. 
The  titles  which  Augustus  received  rehictantly 
and  by  degrees,  and  some  of  which  Tiberius  ob- 
stinately refused,  were  all  greedily  accepted  by 
Caligula;  and  the  epithet  of  Germanicus,  the  only 
epithet  which  conferred  real  honour  upon  him, 
and  which  he  had  hitherto  constantly  retained, 
was  in  this  year  finally  abandoned  by  him.  In 
this  year  also,  finding  that  his  treasury  was  ex- 
hausted, and  wearied  with  his  residence  at  Rome, 
he  proceeded  into  Gaul,  on  that  memorable  expe- 
dition which  terminated  in  his  descent  upon  the 
Northern  ocean,  and  his  conveyance  to  Rome  of 
shells  and  pebbles  to  be  the  spoils  and  trophies  of 
his  conquest. 

The  ^Jtleus  Ubertatis,  an  emblem  of  the  popu- 
larity enjoyed  at  one  period  by  Caligula,  may  pos- 
sibly refer  to  the  hopes  which  he  created  of  the 
revival  of  the  ancient  Comitia  ^,  and  the  readiness 
with  which  the  Romans  were  led  to  expect  that 
their  former  liberties  would  be  restored  to  them. 
A  less  favourable  interpretation  is,  that  the  Ro- 
mans, having  lost  the  knowledge  of  real  freedom, 

u  Caius  Caesar  Divi  Augusti  Pronepos  Augustus  Senatus- 
cousulto.  Consul  designatus  3.  Pontifex  IMaximus  Tribu- 
niciae  Potestatis  3.    Pater  Patrise.    Remissa  Ducentesima. 

"  See  Suet.  Calig.  c.  If). 

()  4 


200  LECTURE    VIII. 

Avere  already  contented  to  substitute  in  the  place 
of  it  that  love  of  shows  and  spectacles,  which  the 
emperor  had  been  gratifying  beyond  all  former 
example.  But  however  this  may  be,  the  act  which 
appears  immediately  to  have  given  birth  to  this 
sense  of  freedom,  is  expressed  in  the  letters  RCC 
which  appear  on  the  reverse.  They  denote  the 
words  "  Remissa  ducentesimay,"  and  refer  to  the 
tax  on  all  transfers  of  property,  which,  having 
been  originally  established  at  the  rate  of  one  per 
cent,  by  Augustus,  had  afterwards  been  reduced  to 
a  ducentesima,  and  was  now  abolished  by  Caligula. 
The  words  of  Suetonius  are  '*'  ducentesimam  auc- 
"  tionum  Italiae  remisit ;"  and  to  shew  that  the 
abbreviated  form  of  expression  was  intelligible  at 
Rome,  coins  of  Galba  ^  may  also  be  produced, 
bearing  a  similar  abbreviation,  and  known  to  re- 
fer to  a  similar  remission. 

In  illustrating  the  reign  of  Claudius,  it  is  na- 
tural to  select  a  coin  connected  with  his  victo- 
ries in  Britain. 

TI  CLAVD- CAESAR  AVGPM- TRP- VI- 
IMPXI  Caput  laureahmi )-( DEBRITANN 
mscriptum  urcui  triumphaU,  supra  qnem  sta- 
tua  equestris  inter  duo  tropceu.   Aur.  Arg. 

It  is  evident  from   the   date  given  to  the  Trib. 

y  See  Suet.  Cal.  c.  l(i.  with  the  note  of  BaumgJirten. 
7-  See  Eckhel,  vol.  \I.  p.  2!H).  col.  2. 


LECTURE    VIII.  201 

Pot.  that  this  coin  was  not  minted  before  the 
middle  of  the  year  46  after  Christ,  the  sixth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Claudius,  although  we  know  from 
Dio  that  a  triumph  for  his  victories  in  Britain 
had  been  decreed  by  the  senate  three  years  pre- 
viously, and  had  actually  been  celebrated  in  the 
year  44.  The  coins  however  which  bear  our  in- 
scription are  in  gold  and  silver,  and  were  there- 
fore minted  by  the  emperor ;  they  were  minted 
too,  as  appears  from  the  reverse,  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  triumphal  arch  erected  by  the  senate  % 
and  therefore  could  not  well  be  issued  till  some 
time  had  elapsed  after  his  return  from  Britain. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  although  Claudius 
was  partial  to  the  title  of  imperator,  and  even  on 
some  of  his  coins  is  styled  IMP'XXVII,  he  uses  it 
in  no  instance  as  a  praenomen;  confirming  there- 
by the  words  of  Suetonius^,  who  says  expressly, 
"  Praenomine  imperatoris  abstinuit,"  but  at  the 
same  time  leading  to  the  permanent  abuse  of  the 
title,  as  a  token  of  victory,  by  the  frequency  and 
absurdity  of  the  occasions  on  which  he  adopted  it. 

IMPNEROCLAVDCAESARAVGGER- 
PMTRPPP  Caput Imireaf If m)-{  PACE- 
PRTERRAMARIQ-  PARTA  •  lANVM- 
CLVSIT  Temjilum  Jani  chiums  forihus. 
Aur.  iEn. 

The  coins  of  Nero,  bearing  testimony  to  the  clos- 
'1  Dio,  lib.  LX.  c.  22.  i'  Sucl.  C'laucl.  c.  12. 


202  LECTURE    VIII. 

ing  of  the  temple  of  Janus,  are  many  in  number, 
are  in  both  gold  and  brass,  and  evidently  proceed 
from  several  diiferent  dies.  The  inscriptions  are 
not  sufficiently  precise  to  admit  of  our  assigning 
them  with  certainty  to  their  proper  dates,  but 
their  number  and  variety  would  seem  to  justify 
the  opinion  that  they  were  minted  at  different  pe- 
riods. It  might  naturally  be  inferred  therefore 
that  the  temple  of  Janus  had  either  been  closed 
on  several  different  occasions,  or  at  least  had  con- 
tinued closed  for  several  successive  years,  during 
the  reign  of  Nero. 

But  this  opinion,  though  the  testimony  of  coins 
is  strongly  in  its  favour,  is  exposed  to  consider- 
able objections  from  other  quarters.  In  a  frag- 
ment of  Tacitus,  preserved  by  Orosius  ^,  and  quot- 
ed by  him  as  evidence  of  the  fact,  it  is  stated  that 
the  temple  of  Janus  was  opened  in  the  old  age  of 
Augustus,  and  continued  open  till  the  reign  of 
Vespasian.  It  is  possible  indeed  that  the  histo- 
rian may  purposely  have  omitted  the  several  oc- 
casions, on  which  the  ceremony  of  closing  the  tem- 
ple M'as  performed  by  Nero,  considering  them  as 
undeserving  of  historical  record,  because  they 
were  inconsistent  with  historical  truth.  And  it 
must  be  admitted  that  no  narrative, which  derived 
the  history  of  those  times  from  the  proceedings  or 
the  proclamations  of  the  emperor,  could  justly  be 

<•  Oros.  lib.  VII.  f.  2.  See  also  Just.  Lips.  Ant.  Lect.  II.  H. 


LECTURE    VIII.  203 

considered  as  a  representation  of  real  occurrences. 
Nevertheless,  whatever  opinion  may  be  formed  of 
the  meaning  of  Tacitus,  the  existence  of  these 
coins  will  oblige  us  to  admit  that  the  temple  of 
Janus  was  actually  closed  by  Nero,  and  will  also 
give  us  reason  to  suspect  that  the  ceremony  was 
performed  by  him  frequently,  and  without  suffi- 
cient warrant  in  the  circumstances  of  the  times. 

But  another  important  testimony  is  still  to  be 
produced.  Suetonius  ^  says  of  Nero,  "  Janum  ge- 
"  minum  clausit  tam  nullo  quam  residuo  hello," 
asserting  that  the  temple  was  closed  equally,  whe- 
ther there  was  or  was  not  a  reason  for  closing  it. 
And  this  statement  would  seem  to  be  in  exact  ac- 
cordance with  the  opinion  conveyed  by  the  coins. 
The  passage  indeed  is  not  without  its  difficulties ; 
but  when  taken  in  connexion  with  the  negative 
support  of  Tacitus,  and  with  the  number  and  va- 
riety of  the  coins,  it  is  so  far  confirmed  by  them, 
that  there  seems  to  be  no  sufficient  reason  for  adopt- 
ing the  ingenious  but  unauthorized  emendation  of 
Lipsius,  who,  instead  of  "  tam  nullo  quam  residuo 
"  bello,"  reads  "  tanquam  nullo  residuo  hello." 
According  to  the  amended  reading,  it  would  be 
admitted  that  there  was  one,  and  that  an  im- 
portant, occasion,  viz.  during  the  ceremonies  con- 
nected with  the  arrival  at  Rome  of  Tiridates  king 

<•  .Suet,  ill  Ner.  c.  \'.\.  cum  uotis  Burm.  et  Biium<i. 


204  LECTURE    VIII. 

of  Parthia,  that  the  temple  was  closed  by  Nero; 
but  this  supposition  is  founded  upon  a  conjectural 
reading,  is  insufficient  to  account  for  the  facts 
established  by  the  coins,  and  is  irreconcileable 
with  the  words  of  Tacitus :  in  all  these  respects 
the  ancient  reading,  though  not  free  from  difficul- 
ties, has  decidedly  the  advantage,  and  therefore 
ought  not  to  have  been  discarded,  as  is  the  case 
in  some  modern  editions  %  from  the  text  of  Sueto- 
nius. 

The  reigns  of  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius,  were 
so  short,  and  full  of  tumult,  that  I  shall  confine 
myself  to  a  few  general  remarks  upon  their  coin- 
age, and  terminate  the  Lecture  with  some  notice 
of  the  controversy  that  has  subsisted  respecting 
the  brasses  of  Otho. 

Short  and  tumultuous,  however,  as  these  reigns 
were — so  short,  that,  when  united,  they  did  not 
amount  to  seventeen  months  ;  so  tumultuous,  that, 
during  their  continuance,  the  empire  seemed  to  be 
totally  destitute  of  civil  government — there  was  no 
period  more  prolific  of  coins,  or  more  boastful,  in 
the  inscriptions  borne  by  them,  of  its  liberties  and 
public  virtues.  "  Securitas  et  libertas"  appear  to 
have  been  the  favourite  inscriptions  of  a  period 
when  every  thing  was  known  to  be  in  danger ; 
"  honos  et  virtus,"  when  such  qualities  were  sel- 


^'  .Seo>  the  edition  of  J)auini>artx'ii. 


LECTURE    VIII.  205 

dom  cultivated,  and  often  derided  ;  and  even  "sa- 
"  lus  generis  humani"  was  then  proudly  asserted 
of  one  of  the  darkest  aeras  of  the  human  race. 
But  this  was  the  natural  consequence  of  disorder, 
which  always  endeavours  to  suj^ply  the  want  of 
actual  strength  by  the  largeness  of  its  promises, 
and  always  finds  its  hopes  frustrated,  by  the  very 
measures  it  has  taken  for  their  accomplishment. 
That  the   coins   should    be   in    great  abundance, 
especially   those  which  were  minted  by  the  em- 
perors, might  be  expected,  not  only  from  the  ne- 
cessity that  existed  in  such  times  of  warfare  for 
large  supplies  of  money,  but  also  from  the  conve- 
nience they  afforded  of  proclaiming  the  commence- 
ment of  a  new  reign,  and  conciliating  the  favour 
of  the  empire.     The  coins  of  Galba  are  common 
in  all  the  metals ;  and   his  titles  are  written  so 
variously,  as  to  prove  the   existence  of  at  least 
twenty-nine  different  dies,  and  all  of  them  pro- 
bably employed  at  the   Roman   mint :    the   gold 
and  silver  of  Otho  and  Vitellius  are  not  uncom- 
mon :  but  the  difference  as  to  the  brasses  of  the 
three  reigns  is  most  remarkable.     In  the  case  of 
Galba  they  are  so  abundant  as  to  be  almost  worth- 
less ;  in  the  case  of  Vitellius,  who  reigned  a  little 
longer  than  Galba,  they  are  extremely  rare ;  and 
in  the  case  of  Otho  no  single  brass  of  Roman*" 

f  The  a;enuine  brasses  hitherto  discovered  were  evidently 
minted  in  Syria,  (see  Eck.  vol.  VI.  p.  804.)  bnt  many  spn- 


206  LECTURE    VIII. 

coinage  lias  hitherto  been  found.  There  is  indeed 
a  brass  restitutus  of  the  emperor  Titus  ^,  which 
professes  to  be  a  re-issue  of  an  Otho,  and  would 
accordingly  seem  to  prove  the  issue  of  a  brass 
coinage  during  that  short  and  turbulent  reign. 
But  the  coin  is  too  far  open  to  suspicion  to  be 
employed  as  testimony,  where  in  its  own  nature 
it  is  questionable,  and  where,  even  with  the  most 
favourable  construction,  it  must  stand  alone. 

And  this  fact,  of  the  total  want  of  Roman  brasses 
belonging  to  the  reign  of  Otho,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  facts  of  numismatic  antiquities.  It  is 
usual  indeed  to  look  to  the  discord  of  the  times, 
and  to  allege  the  hostility  and  the  dejection  of  the 
senate,  as  reasons  sufficient  to  account  for  their 
unwillingness  to  issue  any  coinage,  which  would 
acknowledge  their  submission  to  Otho.  It  has 
also  been  urged,  that  the  fact  may  in  some  degree 
be  explained  by  the  short  duration  of  Otho's  reign. 
But  this  explanation  is  inadequate.  The  gold  and 
silver  coins  of  the  same  short  period  are  nume- 
rous, and  even  brasses  are  not  uncommon  of  the 
still  shorter  and  more  distracted  reign  of  Perti- 
nax  ^\  And  why  should  their  dislike  of  Otho  in- 
duce the  senate  to  withhold  the  coin  wanted  for 

rious  brasses  were  coined  by  the  lta\mi\  falsarii  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

g  Eck.  vol.  VI.  p.  306.    IMionnet,  vol.  I.  p.  145. 

''  IMionnet,  vol.  I.   p.  2(59. 


LECTURE    VIII.  207 

the  coninioii  circulation  of  Rome?  They  regretted 
the  death  of  Galba ;  but  they  were  actually  under 
the  power  and  at  the  mercy  of  his  successor. 
They  dreaded  the  consequences  of  a  military 
usurpation  ;  but  those  consequences  were  met  and 
averted  by  the  interposition  of  the  usurper  ^  We 
are  expressly  told  by  Tacitus  ^,  that  when  Otho 
was  proclaimed,  the  senate  instantly  assembled, 
and  voted  him  the  Tribunicia  potestas,  and  the 
title  of  Augustus,  and  all  the  usual  honours  of 
the  purple ;  and  we  must  not  suppose  that  they 
would  withhold  the  smaller  acknowledgments  of 
the  coinage,  when,  in  order  to  do  so,  they  must  at 
the  same  time  be  provoking  the  restless  population 
of  Rome  to  tumult  and  rebellion.  It  is  possible  that 
the  senate  may  never  have  issued  any  brass  coin 
with  the  insignia  of  Otho,  and  may  have  supplied 
the  wants  of  Rome  by  continuing  to  use  the  dies 
of  his  predecessor  ;  but  it  is  a  more  reasonable 
solution,  that  such  coins  were  actually  minted, 
and  may  hereafter  be  brought  to  light  by  some 
fortunate  discovery. 

i  Tac.  Hist.  I.  Hi.  k  Mist.  I.  47. 


LECTURE  IX. 


Coins  of  the  empire  continued — Vespasian — Rebuilding 
of  the  Capitol — Jewish  tribute — Titus — The  Colosseum — 
Imperator  explained — Domitiau — Device  of  Pallas  adopted 
by  him — Flattery  of  Quinctilian,  and  hatred  of  Tacitus — 
Nerva — Method  of  travelling — Gregory  Nazianzen — System 
adopted  by  Augustus — Improved  by  Nerva — Extended  by 
Hadrian — Trajan — Charitable  institutions — Brass  plate  found 
near  Piacenza — Hadrian — Circenses — The  Parilia — Disserta- 
tion on  the  Tribunicia  potestas. 


IMPCAESVESPASIANAVGPMTRPP- 
P-COS-III  Caput  laureatum  )-(  S'C  Tem- 
plum  perelegans  sex  colunmarum,  statuis 
super  lie  atque  utrbique  exoi'natum,  in  cvjus 
medio  signum  Jovis  sedentis,  cui  ad  dextram 
adstat  Pallas,  ad  sinistram  Juno.  Nsa. 

A  HE  third  consulship  of  VesjDasian  corresponds 
with  the  year  71  after  Christ,  a  year  distinguished 
in  the  annals  of  Rome  for  the  establishment  of 
peace  abroad  and  the  restoration  of  tranquillity  at 
home.  In  this  year  was  celebrated  the  triumph 
decreed  to  the  emperor  and  his  son  Titus  for  the 
conquest  of  Judaea,  the  temple  of  Janus  was  so- 
lemnly closed,  and  the  city  was  rising-  with  in- 
creased lustre  from  the  ruin  and  destruction  of  a 
state  of  anarchy.  The  temple  represented  on  the 
coin,  and  connected  with  the  honours  offered  by 
the  senate  to  Vespasian,  is  clearly  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Capitolinus,  which  was  at  this  time  build- 
ing, in  the  place  of  the  more  ancient  temple  de- 
stroyed by  fire  during  the  recent  tumults. 

But  the  subject  is  involved  in  some  difficulty, 
owing  to  a  difference  that  subsists  between  the 
historians  of  the  time  ;  and  though  the  question 
itself  is  of  minor  importance,  and  the  evidence  of 
the  coin   is  not   decisive,  yet  as  the  accuracy  of 

p  2 


^12  LECl^URE   IX. 

Tacitus  is  at  stake,  and  several  great  events  were 
passing  at  the  period,  it  may  be  well  to  state  the 
point  at  issue,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  elucidate  it. 

Tacitus  ^  informs  us  that  the  foundations  of 
this  temple  were  laid  with  the  greatest  solemnity 
on  the  11th  of  the  calends  of  July  in  the  year  70; 
but  states  that  Vespasian  himself  was  absent,  and 
had  appointed  Vestinus  to  represent  him.  Sueto- 
nius ^  on  the  contrary,  who  is  supported  by  the 
Abridgment  of  Dio'^,  states  that  Vespasian  was 
jH'esent  in  person,  mentioning  even  the  part  that  he 
took  in  preparing  the  ground  for  laying  the  foun- 
dation. The  coin  might  appear  at  first  sight  to 
confirm  the  statement  of  Suetonius  and  Dio,  as  it 
might  seem  to  connect  the  rebuilding  of  the  tem- 
ple with  the  presence  of  Vespasian  ;  it  being  pre- 
sumed, that  the  senate  would  not  have  selected 
that  temple  as  an  ornament  for  his  coin,  if  he  had 
not  taken  a  personal  interest  in  restoring  it. 

But  what  were  the  facts  of  the  case  ?  It  had 
been  determined  b}''  the  senate ''  in  the  preceding 
year  to  rebuild  the  Capitol,  but  delay  having  ari- 
sen owing  to  the  want  of  money,  the  matter  ap- 
pears to  have  been  referred  to  Vespasian  then  ab- 
sent. Doubtless  he  encouraged  the  undertaking; 
and  this  may  be  inferred  not  only  from  the  j^opu- 
larity  of  such  a  measure,  and  the  commission  ac- 

a  Hist.  IV.  53.  1'  Suet.  Vesp.  c.  8. 

c  Dio,  LXVI.  10.  d  Tac.  Hist.  IV.  4.  and  IV.  9. 


LECTURE    IX.  213 

tually  given  by  hiin  to  cany  it  into  effect,  but  also 
from  an  order  issued  by  him  soon  after  the  return 
of  Titus,  and  recorded  by  Josephus  <^,  requiring 
that  the  didrachm,  which  the  Jews  had  been 
accustomed  to  pay  for  the  service  of  their  temple, 
should  for  the  future  be  paid  by  them  for  the  use 
of  the  Cai)itol.  It  appears  moreover  from  the 
course  of  events,  that  Vespasian  returned  to  Rome 
within  a  few  months  after  the  foundations  of  the 
temple  were  laid,  and  that  the  brass,  which  we 
are  treating  of,  was  minted  in  the  following  year; 
at  the  time  probably,  when  Vespasian  was  issuing 
his  order  for  the  addition  of  the  Jewish  tribute  to 
the  treasures  of  the  Capitol. 

Upon  the  whole,  then,  the  coin  cannot  be  al- 
leged as  evidence  in  favour  of  Suetonius,  because 
it  was  not  minted  for  more  than  twelve  months 
after  the  foundations  were  laid  ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  tends  to  establish,  what  Tacitus  has  stated,  that 
Vespasian  was  not  present  at  the  ceremony;  in- 
asmuch as  it  was  not  minted  at  the  time  when 
the  ceremony  took  place,  and  was  actually  minted 
at  a  subsequent  period,  at  which  we  learn,  for  the 
first  time  and  from  another  writer,  that  the  tem- 
ple was  enriched  by  the  edict  of  the  emperor. 

The  three  deities  represented  on  the  coin  are 
the  same  to  whom,  according  to  Tacitus  ^,  the 
building  was  consecrated. 

e  De  Bell.  Jud.  VII.  6.  6.  *"  Hist.  IV.  53. 

r  3 


214  LECTURE   IX. 

IMP-TITVSCAESVESPASIANAVGPM 
Cajmt  hmreatum  )-(  TR  •  P  •  IX'IMP-XV* 
COSVIIIP-P  Elephas  loricatus.  Aur.  Arg. 
The  ninth  Tribunicia  Potestas  of  the  emperor 
Titus  began  in  the  middle  of  the  year  80,  the 
year  preceding  his  death.  It  was  the  year  imme- 
diately following  the  completion  of  the  enormous 
amphitheatre,  now  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Colosseum ;  and  when  accordingly  we  may  ex- 
pect to  meet  with  constant  traces  of  the  spectacles 
exhibited  to  the  populace  of  Rome.  And  an  oc- 
casion of  this  kind  is  clearly  denoted  on  the  coin 
by  the  elej)hcis  loricatus  ^,  an  animal  which  it 
had  been  the  practice  from  the  time  of  the  re- 
public to  introduce  into  the  contests  of  the  arena: 
and  four  elephants  are  expressly  mentioned  in  the 
Abridgment  of  Dio^,  as  among  the  9000  animals 
slaughtered  in  the  wild  and  horrible  destruction 
which  took  place  on  the  opening  of  the  Colosseum. 
The  number  is  stated  more  sparingly  by  Sueto- 
nius ' ;  "  Amphitheatro  dedicato,  thermisque  juxta 
"  celeriter  exstructis,  munus  edidit  apparatissi- 
"  mum  largissimumque.  Dedit  et  navale  prselium 
"  in  veteri  naumachia ;  ibidem  et  gladiatores :  at- 
"  que  uno  die  quinque  millia  omne  genus  fera- 
"  rum." 

This  coin,  like  many  others,  affords  us  an  in- 

g  See  Plin.  H.  N.  lib.  VIII.  c.  4.         h  Xiphil.  LXVI.  25. 
i  Suet.  Tit.  Vit.  c.  7- 


LECTURE    IX.  215 

stance  of  the  two  meanings  of  the  word  imperator, 
presented  at  the  same  time ;  the  one  referring  to 
the  highest  office  in  the  state,  the  other  denoting 
the  number  of  times  on  which  Titus  had  been  sa- 
luted by  his  troops  as  conqueror.  The  first  time  ^ 
was  after  the  memorable  capture  of  Jerusalem ; 
the  fifteenth,  as  is  stated  in  the  transactions  of 
this  year  by  the  abbreviator  of  Dio  ^  was  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  victories  obtained  by  Agri- 
cola  in  Britain — victories  which  might  speedily 
have  led  to  the  total  subjugation  of  the  island, 
but  were  in  reality  followed  by  the  disgrace  and 
retirement  of  the  commander  who  achieved  them. 

IMPCAES-DOMITIANAVGGERMANI- 

CVS   Caput  laureatum  )-(  PM-TR-POT* 

IIMMP-V'COS-X-PP  Pallas  stans.  Aur. 

Arg. 

The  emperor  Titus  having  died  in  the  September 

of  the  year  81,  the  third  Tribunicia  Potestas  of 

Domitian  must  have  ended  in  the  same  month  of 

the  year   84.     In  this  year  too,  or  at  the  close 

of  the  preceding  one,  he  assumed  the  title  of  Ger- 

manicus,  on  account  of  his  successes  over  the  Catti ; 

retaining  it,  as  we  find  from  his  other  coins,  for 

the  rest  of  his  reign.     But  the  most  remarkable 

circumstance  connected  with  the  coin  is  the  intro- 


k  Suet.  c.  5.  Joseph.  B.  J.  VI.  ().  1. 

Agri 

p  4 


1   Lil).  LXVI.  c.  20.    Tuc.  Agric.  XL.  3. 


216  LECTURE   IX. 

duction  of  a  new  device  in  the  figure  of  Pallas  ;  a 
device  too  which  occupies  the  place  generally  as- 
signed to  the  more  agreeable  office  of  recording 
the  personal  merits  of  the  emperor.  By  the  aid 
of  history  this  device  is  easily  explained,  and  re- 
flects in  its  turn  some  little  confirmation  on  the  his- 
tory that  explains  it.  We  learn  from  Suetonius  ™ 
that  Domitian  was  peculiarly  devoted  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Pallas  ;  but  had  we  learnt  nothing  further, 
it  would  scarcely  have  been  considered  a  sufficient 
reason  for  the  constant  appearance  of  the  head  of 
Pallas  on  the  medals  of  his  reign.  The  doubt 
however  is  completely  removed  by  a  passage  of 
Philostratus  ",  which  might  itself  have  otherwise 
fallen  under  some  suspicion,  in  stating  that  Do- 
mitian publicly  declared  himself  to  be  the  son  of 
Pallas,  and  required  accordingly  that  divine  ho- 
nours should  be  paid  to  him. 

It  was  with  reference  to  this  devotedness  of  the 
emperor,  that  Quinctilian  °  thus  addresses  him,  in 
a  passage  full  of  the  basest  adulation  :  "  Quis  ca- 
"  neret  bella  melius  quam  qui  sic  gerit?  Quern 
"  praesidentes  studiis  Deae  propius  audirent  ?  Cui 
"  magis  suas  artes  aperiret  familiare  numen  Mi- 
"  nervae  ?  Dicent  haec  plenius  futura  saecula." 
The  future  generations  to  whom  Quinctilian  was 

m  Domit.  c.  15. 

n  Vit.  Apollon.  1.  VII.  c.  24.    Plin.  Paneg.  XXXIII.  4. 

o   Inst.  Or.  lib.  X.  c.  1. 


LECTURE    IX.  L>17 

willing  to  refer  for  a  confirmation  of  his  flattery, 
have,  on  the  contrary,  adopted  the  stern  and  just 
execration  of  Tacitus  p:  "  Dedimus  profecto  grande 
"  patientiae  documentum  ;  et  sicut  vetus  aetas  vidit, 
"  quid  ultimum  in  libertate  esset,  ita  nos,  quid  in 
"  servitute,  adempto  per  inquisitiones  et  loquendi 
"  audiendique  comrnercio.  Menioriain  quoque  ip- 
"  sam  cum  voce  perdidissemus,  si  tam  in  nostra 
"  potestate  esset  oblivisci  quam  tacere." 

IMP •  NERVA-  C AES  •  AVG  P  M  •  TR  •  P  •  COS- 
IIIP-P  Ccqmt  laurcatum  )-(  VEHICVLA- 
TIONEITALIAEREMISSA-  SC  Buce 
mulcB  pascentes ;  pone  veMculum.   M,w. 

The  Vehiadatio,  or  "Munus  vehicularium,"  was 
the  office  of  jiroviding  conveyances  along  the  great 
roads  of  the  empire,  for  persons  travelling  on  pub- 
lic business.  At  a  later  period,  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  afterwards  raised  to  the  see  of  Constantino- 
ple, describes  the  village  of  Cappadocia,  where  he 
first  discharged  his  pastoral  duties,  and  complains, 
in  language  which  may  remind  us  of  more  recent 
grievances  %  of  the  tumults  occasioned  in  the  place 

P  Agric.  Vit.  c.  2. 

q  A  living  prelate,  who  is  not  surpassed  by  Gregory  in  the 
three  points  in  Avhich  he  was  preeminent,  his  scholarship, 
his  manliness,  and  his  piety,  has  made  similar  complaints  of 
the  tumults  created  in  the  scene  of  his  earlier  labours  by  the 
presence  of  a  posting-house.  See  Bishop  Blomfield's  Letter 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  p.  19. 


218  LECTURE    IX. 

by  its  being  the  station  of  a  Roman  post-house, 
and  the  strange  mixture  of  travellers  and  vagrants 
that  formed  a  considerable  portion  of  his  flock  : 

Kovis  TO.  Ttdvra,  Ka\  i^o^oi  crvv  apfiacri, 
Bprjvoi,  arevayfioi,  npaKTOpes,  <TTpej3\ai,  Tre'Sat" 
Xaos  S'  ocTot  ^evoi  re  /cat  Tikavmpevoi. 
avrrj  '^aaifiav  tcov  ipcbv  eKKkrjiria ''. 

Now  although  this  account  was  written  nearly 
two  centuries  after  the  time  of  Nerva,  yet,  as  it 
refers  to  a  remote  province  of  the  empire,  it  may 
be  taken  as  descriptive  of  the  activity  which  pre- 
vailed at  a  much  earlier  period  on  the  great  roads 
of  Italy. 

Before  the  time  of  Augustus  no  plan  had  been 
adopted  systematically  for  the  service  of  the  Ro- 
man roads.  At  an  early  period,  indeed,  envoys, 
travelling  on  urgent  business,  were  authorized  to 
demand  beasts  of  burden  from  the  towns  upon 
their  route ;  but  all  other  public  officers,  whose 
business  did  not  require  despatch,  were  provided 
before  their  departure  with  the  outfit  requisite  for 
their  journey,  and  had  recourse  to  the  hospitality 
of  friends  or  acquaintance,  which  they  rej)aid  by 
similar  attentions  on  their  return  to  Rome.  This 
distinction,  however,  was  easily  evaded  ;  and,  as 
early  as  the  year  173  B.  C.%  we  find  a  consul 
issuing  orders  to  the  magistrates  of  Prseneste,  to 

>•  De  vitii  sua,  §.  32.  ^  Liv.  XLII.  1. 


LECTURE    IX.  219 

prepare  suitable  apartments  for  his  reception,  and 
horses  to  convey  him  on  his  journey.  And  in  this 
manner,  imposing  great  hardship  upon  the  pro- 
vinces, and  giving  occasion  to  constant  complaints, 
the  service  of  the  roads  was  conducted  till  the  time 
of  Augustus. 

This  skilful  monarch  S  anxious  to  have  early 
and  accurate  intelligence  from  the  j^rovinces,  sta- 
tioned messengers  at  moderate  intervals  upon  the 
public  roads,  and  provided  carriages  for  their  use; 
but  his  plan  does  not  appear  to  have  extended  be- 
yond the  arrangements  necessary  for  couriers  and 
confidential  agents  of  the  government.  It  laid  the 
foundation  indeed  for  the  general  system  of  posts 
established  afterwards,  but  it  appears  still  to  have 
been  accompanied  with  those  powers  of  impress- 
ment, in  all  other  cases,  which  had  previously 
supplied  the  only  means  of  public  communication. 
It  is  evident  from  our  coin  that  Nerva  introduced 
an  important  change  in  the  ancient  practice,  by 
relieving  the  towns  of  Italy  from  the  oppressive 
service.  And  this  testimony  is  the  more  valuable, 
because  not  only  have  the  biographers  of  Nerva 
made  no  mention  of  the  fact,  but  also  subsequent 
writers  have  spoken  in  general  terms  of  the 
changes  made  by  Hadrian  and  Antoninus  Pius, 
as  though  the  ancient  practice  had  continued  in 


t  Suet.  Aug.  c.  49. 


220  LECTURE    IX. 

all  its  rigour  until  their  time.  The  Augustan 
historian''  says  of  the  former  monarch,  "  Statim 
"  cursum  fiscalem  instituit,  ne  magistratus  hoc 
"  onere  gravarentur."  The  probability  is,  that 
Nerva  had  already  established  posts  upon  the  pub- 
lic roads  of  Italy,  and  made  the  service  charge- 
able upon  his  own  exchequer ;  and  that  Hadrian, 
perceiving  the  advantage  of  the  improvement,  ex- 
tended it  to  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire. 

IMP  •  CAES  •  NERVAE  •  TRAIANO  •  AVG  • 
GERDACPMTRPCOSVPP    Caput 
laureatum  )-(  ALIMITALSC  Imperator 
sedens  dextram  extendit  versus  midierem  ad- 
stantem  cum  hinis  infantihus,  quorum  unum 
in  ulnis  gestat,  adsfante  altero.   ^n. 
The  medal  bearing  this  inscription,  and  clearly 
referring  to  the  foundling-hospitals  and  other  cha- 
ritable institutions  of  Trajan,  is  a  token  of  the 
gratitude  of  the  senate,  and  might  fitly  be  their 
answer  to  the  panegyric  of  the  younger  Pliny  ^ 
delivered  before  them  in  honour  of  the  same  em- 
peror.    The  encomiast  does  not  fail  to  dwell  on 
the  munificence  of  his  sovereign.     "  Paullo  minus, 
"  patres  conscripti,  quinque  millia  ingenuorum  fu- 
"  erunt,  quae  liberalitas  principis  nostri  conquisi- 
"  vit,  invenit,  adscivit ;    hi  subsidium   belloruin, 

"  Hadrian.  Vit.  c.  7-   Aiitoniii.  c.  12.  '^  Paueg.  c.  28. 


LECTURE   IX.  221 

"  ornaineiitiiin  pacis,  publicis  siunptibus  aluiitur ; 
"  patriamque  iioii  lit  patriam  tantiim  veriiiii  lit 
"  altricem  amare  condiscimt.  Ex  his  castra,  ex 
"  his  tribiis  replebiintur,  ex  his  quandoque  iias- 
"  centur,  qiiibiis  alimentis  opus  non  sit." 

The  medal  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  precise 
date,  as  the  expression  COS'V,  the  only  part  of 
the  inscription  which  might  seem  to  intimate  the 
exact  year,  is  applicable  to  any  part  of  the  reign 
of  Trajan,  from  the  year  104  to  the  year  111  in- 
clusive. But  it  is  not  necessary  to  attempt  a  more 
precise  account  of  it ;  for  it  may  readily  be  sup- 
posed, that  the  liberality  of  the  emperor,  which 
had  in  the  first  instance  been  employed  in  sup- 
porting five  thousand  children  in  the  capital,  would 
gradually  be  obtained  for  other  places  of  large  and 
needy  population,  and  eventually  be  extended  to 
the  smaller  towns  of  Italy.  So  rapid  and  exten- 
sive would  be  the  progress  of  a  measure,  which 
released  parents  from  the  support  of  their  chil- 
dren y,  and  created  by  its  own  ojieration  new  and 
endless  claims  upon  its  bounty. 

But  this  case  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  an  in- 

y  And  so  Pliny  clearly  foresaw:  (Paneg.  c.  28.)  "  Quanto 
"  majorem  infantium  turbam  iteruni  atque  iterum  videbis 
"  incidi  (augetur  enim  quotidie  et  crescit,  non  quia  cariores 
"  parentibus  liberi,  sed  quia  principi  cives)  dabis  congiaria  si 
"  voles,  praestabis  alimenta  si  voles,  illi  tamen  propter  te 
"  nascuntur." 


222  LECTURE    IX. 

scriptioii,  as  remarkable  as  any  one  that  has  ever 
fallen  under  the  notice  of  antiquaries.  In  the 
year  1747  a  brass  plate,  10 J  Italian  feet  wide, 
and  5^  in  height,  and  covered  with  an  inscription 
in  several  columns,  was  dug  up  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Piacenza,  and  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  Via  Emilia.  The  inscription  has  been  ex- 
plained by  Muratori  ^,  Maffei  %  and  others ;  but 
the  only  notice  which  can  here  be  given  of  it  is, 
that  it  belongs  to  the  same  date  with  the  medal ; 
that  it  records  the  bounty  conferred  by  Trajan 
upon  the  obscure  town  of  Veleia,  a  town  almost 
unknown  in  ancient  history ;  that  it  specifies  the 
monthly  allowance  granted  to  281  children  be- 
longing to  this  town  ;  and  describes,  with  the 
greatest  exactness,  the  proprietors  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, with  the  reports  made  by  them  of  the 
value  of  their  property,  and  the  sums  which  they 
received  on  mortgage ;  binding  themselves  in  re- 
turn to  pay  the  moderate  interest  of  five  per  cent, 
for  the  support  of  the  institution. 

The  last  specimen  which  I  shall  notice  is  a 
gold  coin  of  Hadrian,  bearing  inscriptions  and 
devices,  which  are  also  to  be  found  on  a  large 
brass  of  the  senate,  minted  at  the  same  jjeriod. 
It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  refer  to  some 

z  Sposizione  fatta  da  L.  A.  IMuratori,  in  the  Symb.  Litt.  of 
Gorius.    Flor.  1748.  vol.  V. 

'^  IMusenm  Veronense.   Veroii.  1  749.  p.  399. 


LECTURE    IX.  223 

gracious  act,  calculated  equally  to  call  forth  the 
ostentation  of  the  emperor  and  the  gratitude  of 
the  senate. 

IMP  •  CAES  •  H ADRIAN VS  •  AVG  •  COS  •  III 

Caput  laureatum  )-(  ANN-DCCCLXXIIII- 

NATVRBPCIRCON  Mulier  hmni  se- 

dens  d.  rotam  s.  ires  obellscos  seu  conos  com- 

plexa.   Aur.  Mn. 

The  device  on  the  reverse  of  this  coin  would 
sufficiently  shew,  without  the  aid  of  the  inscrijj- 
tion,  the  kind  of  occasion  on  which  it  was  struck. 
It  evidently  denotes  some  addition  made  by  the 
emperor  to  the  exhibitions  of  the  circus ;  the 
wheel  referring  to  the  chariot-race,  and  the  three 
cones  to  the  obelisks  placed  at  each  extremity  of 
the  barrier,  by  which  the  circus  was  divided.  But 
the  exact  occasion  is  not  so  easily  ascertained. 
Hadrian  obtained  the  title  of  COS'III  in  the  year 
after  the  death  of  his  predecessor ;  and,  as  he  did 
not  accept  the  office  at  any  subsequent  period, 
continued  to  use  the  same  title  during  the  whole 
of  his  reign.  The  date  also  of  DCCCLXXIIII. 
which  clearly  commences  from  the  foundation  of 
the  city,  might  be  sujij^osed  likely  to  furnish  us 
with  the  exact  year.  But  this  is  almost  the  only 
instance  of  the  Roman  aera  appearing  upon  a 
coin ;  and  though  it  is  on  that  account  the  more 
curious,  it  is  for  the  same  reason  the  less  valuable 


224  LECTURE   IX. 

for  historical  purposes,  as  there  are  no  means  of 
discovering,  which  of  the  methods  of  computing 
the  foundation  of  Rome  has  been  followed  by  it^. 
The  inscription  itself  is  an  instance  of  the  per- 
plexity, that  has  been  inflicted  upon  modern  anti- 
quaries by  the  abbreviations  of  ancient  writing ; 
different  interpretations  having  been  given  to  it 
according  to  the  different  meanings  assigned  to 
the  letter  P.  It  is  clear  that  it  must  be  the  re- 
presentative of  some  word  of  general  occurrence 
in  Roman  inscriptions,  the  meaning  of  which 
could  easily  have  been  supplied  by  the  common 
reader.  And  such,  thought  Vaillant,  would  be 
the  word  poijulus ;  and  he  accordingly  completed 
the  inscription  in  the  following  manner :  "  Anno 
"  874  natali  urbis  populo  Circenses  concessi."  But 
this  conjecture  is  opposed  by  the  well-known  fact, 
that  the  games  of  the  Circus  had  long  been  fami- 
liar to  the  Romans,  and  could  not,  without  ex- 
treme absurdity,  be  said  to  have  been  established 
by  Hadrian.  Another  attempt  was  made  to  ex- 
plain the  enigma  by  supposing  the  letter  to  denote 
pleheii,  and  to  mean  that  games  were  exhibited 
for  the  amusement  of  the  lower  classes  of  the 
people.  But  this  again  is  inconsistent  with  the 
fact  that  the  Circus  had  always  been  open  for  all 
orders  alike,  and  that  such  mixed  and  more  splen- 
ic Petavius,  Doct.  Temp.  vol.  II.  p.  67-  fol. 


LECTURE    IX.  225 

did  exhibitions  would  naturally  have  the  greatest 
attractions  for  the  populace.  A  more  plausible 
interpretation  is  by  the  word  pr'imum,  the  inscrip- 
tion being  made  to  signify,  that  on  the  874th  an- 
niversary of  the  foundation  of  Rome,  the  day  on 
which  the  festival  of  Parilia  was  held,  games  of 
the  circus  were  added,  for  the  first  time,  by  the 
emperor  Hadrian,  to  give  greater  splendour  to  the 
festival.  To  me,  however,  it  appears  the  best 
method  to  retain  the  word  po})ulo,  as  suggested 
by  Vaillant ;  a  word  which  is  constantly  denoted 
on  coins  by  the  single  letter  P ;  and  to  make  the 
inscription  refer,  in  the  same  restricted  manner, 
to  the  circenses  granted  to  the  people,  for  the 
first  time,  on  that  occasion  of  holding  the  Parilia. 
And  certainly  we  may  infer,  from  the  description 
of  the  festival  given  by  Ovid^  and  Propertius, 
that  in  their  times  it  was  celebrated  with  great 
simplicity,  and  in  a  manner  calculated  to  remind 
the  Romans  of  its  origin,  but  little  likely  to  satisfy 
the  taste  of  a  luxurious  people.  And  that  Hadrian 
did  actually  make  some  addition  to  this  festival, 
and  changed  its  name  to  Feriae  Romanae,  honour- 
ing it  at  the  same  time  by  a  temple,  consecrated 
to  the  genius  of  Rome,  is  evident  from  a  passage 
of  Athenaeus  *^,  from  which  we  learn  that  the  con- 

<^  Fast.  IV.  721.  El.  IV.  4.     See  also  Pint.  Rom.  c.  12, 
fl  Athen.  lib.  VIII.  c.  63. 

Q 


226  LECTURE    IX. 

versation  of  his  deipnosophists  was  interrupted  by 
the  loud  sounds  of  mirth  and  music,  occasioned 
by  the  festival,  as  it  was  then  celebrated  by  the 
whole  population  of  Rome,  in  the  reign  of  the 
best  and  most  classical  of  monarchs. 

I  have  now  to  conclude  with  a  brief  disqui- 
sition on  the  tribunicia  potestas,  the  materials 
for  which  are  derived,  as  has  been  the  case  in 
many  other  instances,  from  the  elaborate  work  of 
Eckhel. 

I  have  already  stated  that  this  title  was  adopted 
by  Augustus  as  the  least  likely  to  create  a  feeling 
of  jealousy  or  suspicion  against  his  government. 
This  is  the  reason  assigned  by  Tacitus  %  "  Id 
"  summi  fastigii  vocabulum  Augustus  reperit,  ne 
"  regis  aut  dictatoris  nomen  adsumeret,  ac  tamen 
"  adpellatione  aliqua  cetera  imperia  prsemineret." 
And,  in  order  to  deviate  as  little  as  possible  from 
the  practice  of  the  republic,  and  to  preserve  the 
ancient  rights  of  the  tribuneship  unimpaired,  the 
emperor  was  not  appointed  to  the  office  of  tribune, 
but  merely  invested  with  its  privileges.  Being  a 
patrician,  he  was  ineligible  to  the  office  ;  and  this 
distinction  was  so  anxiously  maintained,  that  tri- 
bunes of  the  people  were  appointed  during  the 
time  of  the  empire,  as  they  had  previously  been ; 

e  Ann.  lib.  III.   c.  56. 


LECTURE    IX.  227 

and  though  their  authority  fell  gradually  into  de- 
cay, the  regular  appointment  of  them  is  supposed 
to  have  continued  to  so  late  a  period  as  the  reign 
of  Constantine. 

But  the  popular  title  thus  assumed  by  the  em- 
peror conveyed,  in  reality,  much  greater  powers 
than  belonged  to  the  actual  office  of  the  tribune. 
In  the  latter  case  the  office  was  conferred  for  a 
single  year,  was  incapable  of  being  held  together 
with  any  other  appointment,  and  was  confined,  as 
to  the  exercise  of  it,  within  the  precincts  of  the 
city.  The  tribunicia  potestas,  on  the  contrary, 
was  conferred  on  the  emperor  for  a  term  of  years, 
or  more  commonly  for  life,  created  no  disqualifi- 
cation for  the  holding  of  other  offices,  and  was  of 
equal  authority  in  all  parts  of  the  empire.  The 
tribunes,  moreover,  were  appointed  annually  in 
the  month  of  December,  when  the  state  officers  in 
general  were  appointed ;  but  the  potestas  was  con- 
ferred at  any  period,  whenever  an  emperor  was 
admitted,  either  solely  or  conjointly,  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  imperial  functions. 

And  this  leads  to  an  inquiry  of  much  import- 
ance with  reference  to  the  chronology  of  this  pe- 
riod, viz.  from  what  time  the  commencement  of 
the  second  year  of  holding  the  tribunicia  potestas 
was  calculated ;  whether  from  the  return  of  the 
day  on  which  the  title  was  conferred,  or,  accord- 
ing to  the  practice  of  other  offices,  from  the  end 

Q  2 


228  LECTURE   IX. 

of  the  month  of  December.  It  is  evident  that 
great  confusion  might  arise  in  the  adjustment  of 
dates,  if  this  point  were  not  previously  considered 
and  ascertained.  Nero,  for  instance,  was  pro- 
claimed emperor,  and  invested  with  tribunician 
powers  in  the  month  of  October,  in  the  year  54  : 
it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  with  a  view  to  accu- 
racy, not  only  in  this,  but  in  every  other  year  of 
his  reign,  it  must  be  known  whether  the  first  year 
of  the  potestas  contained  only  the  two  months 
still  remaining  in  the  year  54,  or  included  also 
the  ten  other  months  extending  to  the  October  of 
the  following  year.  If  this  point  be  not  ascer- 
tained, all  the  events  which  occurred  in  any  year 
of  Nero's  reign,  between  January  and  October, 
may  be  assigned  by  different  persons,  calculating 
alike  on  the  tribunicia  potestas,  to  different  years. 
The  testimony  to  be  obtained  from  coins  depends 
peculiarly  upon  this  description  of  date,  and  makes 
it  the  more  important  that  the  question  should  be 
accurately  solved. 

It  has  been  the  opinion,  then,  of  some  of  the 
most  eminent  writers  on  Roman  chronology,  whose 
authority  might  be  deemed  sufficient  in  itself  to 
terminate  the  dispute,  that  the  tribunician  powers 
were  dated  every  year  from  the  return  of  the  day 
on  which  they  were  originally  conferred.  It  is 
natural  that  the  day  of  a  sovereign's  accession 
should  be  made  an  epoch  for  all  the  transactions 


LECTURE    IX.  229 

of  his  reign.  It  might  even  be  expected,  that, 
where  there  is  no  fixed  system  of  chronology,  the 
former  methods  of  computing  time  would  be  made 
to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  new  aera ;  and 
that  all  subordinate  offices  would  date  their  com- 
mencement from  the  accession  of  the  reigning  so- 
vereign. And  this  opinion  seems  to  be  confirmed 
by  a  passage  of  Dio^,  in  which  the  years  of  each 
reign  are  said  to  be  comjjuted  from  the  time  of 
obtaining  the  tribunician  j)owers  ;  but  a  stronger 
proof  is  afforded  by  many  inscriptions  on  coins, 
which  shew  plainly  that  the  tribunician  years 
were  not  calculated  from  the  customary  day  of 
electing  state  officers,  but  from  some  distinct  epoch 
of  their  own.  We  find,  for  instance,  in  the  case 
of  Caligula,  two  coins  bearing  alike  the  inscrip- 
tion COS  III,  but  differing  as  to  the  tribunician 
date  ;  the  one  of  them^  being  inscribed  TR'POT" 
III;  the  other,  TR-P-IIII.  Now  Caligula  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  in  the  calends  of  April  of  the 
year  37  ;  so  that,  according  to  the  present  suppo- 
sition, the  third  year  of  the  trib.  pot.  would  ter- 
minate, and  the  fourth  would  begin,  in  the  same 
calends  of  the  year  40,  the  current  year  of  his 
third  consulship.  And  this  is  exactly  the  suppo- 
sition which  the  coins  would  appear  to  verify. 
From  these  and  similar  considerations,  it  might 

f  Lib.  LIII.  c.  17.  g  Eckh.  vol.  VI.  p.  225. 

Q  3 


230  LECTURE    IX. 

be  admitted  that  the  tribunicia  potestas  was  com- 
puted in  perfect  calendar  years  from  the  accession 
of  each  emperor  respectively.     And  this  appears, 
on  examination,  to  have  been  the  case  in  all  the 
earlier  reigns  of  the  empire,  and  whilst  the  title 
was  considered  as  the  real  conveyance  of  author- 
ity.   But  we  must  not  hastily  infer  that  the  prac- 
tice continued  to  be  the  same  at  all  periods.     It 
would  not  be  surprising  if,  at  a  subsequent  time, 
when  the  emperor  had  thrown  off  all  respect  for 
the  senate,  and  the  names  of  office  assumed  by 
him  were  equally  unmeaning,  the  tribunicia  po- 
testas should  be  found  to  date,  like  the  rest  of  his 
titles,  from  the  commencement  of  the  civil  year. 
And,  on  examination,  we  have  reason  to  believe 
that  this  had  already  begun  to  be  the  case  in  the 
reign  of  Elagabalus.     This  emperor  did  not  reign 
four  complete  years ;  and  as  we  meet  with  the  ex- 
pression TR'P'V  upon  several  of  his  coins,  we  are 
thereby  compelled  to  suppose  that  the  portion  of 
the  year,  which  still  remained  after  his  accession, 
was  calculated  as  a  perfect  year  of  office.     He  be- 
came emperor  in  the  middle  of  the  year  218  ;  the 
second  year  of  his  trib.  pot.  began  with  the  com- 
mencement of  219  ;  and  by  this  method  of  calcu- 
lation, his  fifth  year  of  the  same  title  began  with 
the  commencement  of  222,  and  terminated  with 
his  death  in  the  March  following. 

Other  cases  of  the  same  kind  might  easily  be 


LECTURE    IX.  231 

adduced  ;  and  the  facts  being  admitted,  it  will 
follow,  that  at  some  time  previously  to  the  reign 
of  Elagabalus  a  change  had  taken  place  in  the 
ancient  practice,  and  the  trib.  pot.  had  been  made 
to  date,  in  every  instance,  from  the  end  of  the 
month  of  December.  Eckhel  has  traced  the 
change,  after  a  close  examination  of  successive 
coins,  to  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius;  and  thinks 
that  he  is  able  to  assign  it,  by  still  more  exact 
testimony,  to  the  precise  year  in  which  it  was  in- 
troduced. He  produces  a  coin  of  Aurelius,  minted 
when  he  was  Caesar,  and  therefore  in  the  reign  of 
Antoninus  Pius ;  which  bears  on  the  reverse,  in 
close  juxtaposition,  the  two  conflicting  dates,  TR* 
POTVII-TRPOT-VIII.  In  what  method  can 
this  contradiction  be  explained,  unless  you  sup- 
pose that  the  coin  was  minted  at  the  very  period 
when  the  change  was  made,  and  in  one  of  those 
dubious  months  at  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
year,  which,  according  to  the  ancient  practice,  be- 
longed to  the  seventh  year  of  the  tribunician  title, 
but,  according  to  the  new  style,  was  reckoned  in 
the  eighth  ? 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
conclude  that  it  was  the  original  practice  of  the 
Romans  to  calculate  the  tribunicia  potestas  by 
perfect  years,  from  the  first  assumption  of  the 
title  by  each  emperor  respectively ;  and  that  an 

Q  4 


232  LECTURE    IX. 

alteration  was  made  in  the  time  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  by  which  this  title  of  authority,  like  all  the 
rest,  was  made  to  date  from  the  commencement  of 
the  civil  year. 


■^GRECIAN  COINS, 

REFERRED  TO  IN  LECTURE  V. 


[.EGINA.] 
<i>TAO  Diota  )-(  Clypetis  Boeotkus.  Arg. 

ATHENS. 

Caimt  Palladis  )-(  A0E  Noctiia  starts;  pone,  oli- 
vcB  ramus  et  luna  crescens;  ante,  qukldam  ig- 
notum.  Aur. 

Caput  Palladis  )-(  A0E  BASIAE  MIOPAAATHS 
Noctua  diot(B  insistens ;  in  area  astra  solis  et 
lunce.  Arg. 

Caput  Palladis  )-(  A6HN  Rupes  super  qua  tern- 
plum  ;  juxta  statua  Palladis  et  porta  ad  quam 
gTadus  jjer  rupem  ducunt.  Mn. 

Caput  Palladis  )-(  A0HNAinN  Vir  nudus  toto 
nisu  prcegrandem  lapidem  erigit.  Mn. 

LACED^MON. 

Caput  Palladis  )-(  AA  Hercules  nudus  petrce 
leonis  exuviis  coopertce  insidens.  d.  clavam. 
Arg. 


234  COINS. 

Caput  Herculis  imherhe  leonis  exuviis  tectum 
)-(  BASIAEaS  APEOS  Jupiter  sedens  cl  aqui- 
lam  s.  hastam.  Arg. 

BCEOTIA. 

Clypeus  Boeoticus  )-(  EPX  intra  coronam  spi- 
ceam.  Arg. 

0E  Caput  imherhe  Herculis  )-(  Clijpeus  Bceoti- 
cus  cui  inserta  clava.  Arg. 

ELIS. 

Caput  Jovis  laureatum )-(  FAAEION  intra  lau- 
ream.  NjW. 


ROMAN  COINS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC, 

REFERRED  TO  IN  LECTURE  VII. 

P  •  ACCOLEI VS  •  L ARISCOL VS  Caput  muliehre 
)-(  Tres  virgines  admrsce  stantes  in  arhores 
mutantur.  Arg. 

Caput  muliehre  )-(  MLEPIDVS  ANXVPRH- 
OC-S  Eques  lento  gressu  s.  tropceum  gestat. 
Arg. 


COINS.  235 

ALEXANDREA  Caput  muliebre  turritum )-( 
M  •  LEPIDVSPONTMAX  •  TVTOR  •  REG. 
S'C  Ltepidus  togatus  stems  regi  togato  adstanti 
et  d.  liastam  tenenti  diadema  imponit.  Arg. 

MARCELLINVS  Caput  virile  imherhe  nudum  ; 

pone  triquetra )-( MARCELLVSCOS-QUINQ 

Templum  quatuor  columnai^um^  ad  quod  vir  ve- 

latiis  et  togatus  accedit  tropceum  gestans.  Arg. 

Caput  nudum  harhatum  ;  pone  OSCA  )-(  P* 
LENT-P-F-SPINT  Vir  barhatus  velatus  semi- 
nudus  sedens  in  sella  curuli  d.  cornu  copice  s. 
hastam,  et  d.  pede  gloho  insistens  coronatur 
ah  advolante  Victoria.  Arg. 

Protome  Mercurii ;  jjone  litera  Alphaheti )-(  C* 
MAMIL-LIMETAN  Vir  curto  hahitu,  tectus 
pileo  rotundo,  s.  scipionem  hahens  gradifur;  ei 
adhlanditur  canis.  Arg. 

I-S-M-R  Caput  Junonis  Sispit(B )-(  LTHORIVS" 
BALBVS  ^os  irruens ;  superne  varians  Al- 
phaheti litera.  Arg. 

Protome  Victoria  alata  )-(  LVGVDVNI'AXL 
Leo  gradiens.  Arg. 

IIIVIRRP-C  Protome  Victories  alata  )-(  AN- 
TONIIMP-A-XLI  Leo  gradiens.  Arg. 


236  COINS. 

MANTONIVSIMPCOSDESIGITERET- 
TERT  Caput  Antonii  hedera  redimitumi  in- 
fra lituusi  omnia  intra  coronam  hederaceam 
)-(  IIIVIR'RP'C  Cista  Baccki  inter  duos  ser- 
pentes,  cui  imminet  caput  midiebre  nudum. 
Arg. 


ROMAN    COINS    OF    THE    EMPIRE, 

REFERRED  TO  IX  LECTURES  VIII.  AND  IX. 

CAESARCOSVirCIVIBVSSERVATEISC«- 
put  nudum )-(  AVGVST^^SS'C  Aquila  expan- 
sis  alis  cor  once  quernce  insistens;  pone  duo  lauri 
rami.  Aur. 

AVGVSTVS  TR  •  POT  •  VIII  Caput  nudum  )-( 
Cippus,  cui  inscriptum  SP-QRTMPCAE' 
QVODVMSEXEAPQISADADE ;  in 
orhem  L-VINICIVSLFIIIVIR.  Arg. 

TI  •  CAESAR  •  DI VI- AVG  F  AVGVSTPMTR- 
POTXXIIII  in  medio  SC)-(CIVITATIBVS- 
ASIAERESTITVTIS  Imperator  togatus  ca- 
pite  laureato  sedens  pedihus  scahello  fultis  d. 
pateram  s.  hastam.  Mn. 


COINS.  237 

0EONTEPM MTTl  Caput  Germanici  nudum 

)-{  eEAN-AIOAINArPinniNAN-MTTI    Caput 
Agrippitice.  Mn. 

C-CAESARDIVIAVGPRONAVGSC  Pileus 
libertatis )-(  COSDESIIIPONMTRPIII- 
P-P;  in  medio  RCC.    Mu, 

TICLAVDCAESARAVGPMTRPVIIMP- 
XI  Caput  laureatum  )-(  DEBRITANN  in- 
scriptum  arcui  triumpliali^  supra  quem  statua 
equestris  inter  duo  tropcea.   Aiir.  Arg. 

IMPNEROCLAVDCAESARAVGGERP- 
MTRPPP  Caput  laureatum  )-(  PACEPR- 
TERRAMARIQPARTAIANVMCLVSIT 
Templum  Jani  clausis  forihus.  Aur.  iEn. 

IMPCAESVESPASIANAVGPMTRPPP- 
COS 'III  Caput  laureatum  )-(  S"C  Templum 
pei'elegans  sex  columnarum,  statuis  superne 
atque  utrinque  exornatum,  in  cujus  medio  sig- 
num  Jovis  sedentis,  cui  ad  dextram  adstat  Pal- 
las, ad  sinistram  Juno.  Mn. 

IMPTITVS •  CAES -VESPASIAN- AVGP  M 
Caput  laureatum  )-(  TR  •  P- IX  •  IMP- XV- 
COS -VIII -P-P  Elephas  loricatus.  Am-. 
Arg. 


238  COINS. 

IMP  •  C  AESDOMITI  AN- A  VGGERM  ANIC  VS 
Caput  laureatum )-( PM-TRPOT-IIIIMP-V- 
COS-X-P-P  Pallas  stans.  Aur.  Arg. 

IMPNERVACAESAVGPMTRPCOSIII- 
P-P  Caput  laureatum )-( VEHICVLATIONE- 
ITALIAEREMISSA-  S'C  Du^b  mulce  pas- 
centes ;  pone  vehiculum.  Mn. 

IMP  •  CAES  •  NERVAETRAI ANOAVG  •  GER- 
DACPMTRPCOSVPP  Caput  laureatum 
)-(  ALIM'ITAL'S'C  Imperator  sedens  dex- 
tram  extendit  versus  midierem  adstantem  cum 
hinis  injantibus,  quorum  unum  in  ulnis  gestat, 
adstante  altero.   iEn. 

IMPCAESHADRIANVSAVGCOSIII  Captit 
laureatum  )-(  ANN  •  DCCCLXXIIII  •  NAT  • 
VRB"P"CIR*CON  Mulier  humi  sedens  d.  rotam 
s.  tres  oheliscos  seu  conos  complexa.    Aur.  Mu. 

AVR^lAY^CAESKRAYG'VllYCaputnudum 
)-(  TRPOTVIITRPOTVIIISC  Mulier 
galeata  sedens  d.  hastam ;  humi  clypeus. 


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