coeval with it, though the earliest mention which we find of a deliberate interchange, is the four hundred shekels of silver, "current money," (probably weighed pieces,) which were paid by Abraham for a burial ground. The Romans appear to have borrowed their coinage from the Etruscans, and to have improved it from the Greeks. They began to stamp coins about 550, B. C. and their first money, according to the unsatisfactory summary of Pliny, was impressed with an ox, a ram, or a boar, and was therefore called pecunia. This was succeeded by the class Ratiti, which comprehended the as libralis and its divisions: the as itself usually bore the head of Janus, and weighed twelve ounces; the semis or half as, that of Jupiter; the triens or third of an as, that of Pallas; the quadrans or fourth of an as, that of Hercules; the sextans or sixth of an as, that of Mercury; the uncia or twelfth of an as, that of Roma; and all of them had varieties which bore the prow of a galley upon the reverse-whence the "capita aut navia" of the Roman boys. Of the compounds, the bissas, or old dupondius, was two ases; the tressis or tripondius, three; the quadrassis, four; and the decussis, ten: and when the as was reduced and termed libella, it seems that pieces of five ounces were struck, called quincunx. It was long however before the effigies of princes were placed upon money; and for some ages the consular coins bore only the head of Roma, with a Victory in a car drawn by two, or four horses, and were called Victoriati, Bigati, or Quadrigati, according to their device. Yet Isodorus asserts that money was called Nummus, because King Numa ordered his name and image to be put upon it. Erizzo, and he is followed by the visionary Hardouin, absurdly supposes that none of the medals now found were cash, because the Emperors and Empresses would have thought themselves dishonoured, by having their likenesses placed upon coins which were to be circulated among the people: but Aristotle might have taught him, that such a measure was of public utility, since it was the most solemn pledge that the specie was of due weight and proper alloy, thereby saving the trouble of weighing and measuring; and that no means were better adapted to restrain forgers, because it made the alteration of the money a personal insult to the sovereign. We learn from Dio, that the Senate ordered the head of Cæsar to be stamped upon the money, and he was the first living personage, who had the high honour of having his effigy placed on a Roman medal. Suetonius affirms that the current coin of Augustus had his head on one side, with a capricorn on the other; and the Evangelist, St. Matthew, distinctly says, that the tribute-money which the Jews paid to the Romans, bore the Emperor's "likeness." The mention of the "penny" or rather denarius, in the Gospel, and the numerous coins which bear counter marks, are sufficient evidence that these coins were current, at a value which was regulated or altered by authority of the government. From these considerations, and the difficulty of clearly distinguishing them, I have used the terms coin and medal as synonimous, in ancient Numismatics, according to the practice of the best judges; who agree that medallions only were not current, their magnitude and high relief rendering them unfit for use. The last opinion, however, though almost general, is not universally admitted; for although medallions are ponderous, far from uniform in weight, few in number, and without the S. C. of the other coins, many persons have considered them as likely to have been current money, as the cistophori, or medals stamped with the mystic basket of Bacchusand the tetradrachma of Greece. They may, indeed, have been struck as pied-forts, or proofs of skill, and for recording events of particular interest, similar to modern medals, and as such were given away or scattered, with the other missilia, at games, triumphs, and public ceremonies. Suetonius describes Augustus as presenting his favourites with "Nummus omnis note" in the Saturnalian festivals; and we cannot doubt but that medallions were the " nummi maximi" with which Lucius Verus pelted the drinking glasses in the "tabernæ." This promiscuous use of the terms coin and medal is not the only liberty which I have taken in regard to style: such words as sedent, alate, module, spread, numismatist, and tooling, may appear harsh to the general reader, but among medallists they have become familiar. It is not uncommon to call the legend, or "soul of the medal," a fascia, perhaps from the titles of prints having formerly been inscribed on ribands; and I have sometimes adopted the term although I dislike it. The words characteristic and portrait will be found somewhat improperly introduced, but nevertheless, consistently with very common usage; and some difficulty has arisen in rendering Latin proper names into English by apocope, custom having rendered familiar such as Tully, Pliny, Horace, Ovid, Virgil, Livy, Terencewhile Statius, Tacitus, Ausonius, Prudentius, and others, retain their original orthography. The epithets of symbol and device are often used indifferently in the following descriptions, although the former signifies, strictly speaking, a practical or figured metaphor-and the latter an allegory; the one simple, the other complex-whence it follows that figures on medals are devices-and hieroglyphics are symbols. The implements and various portions of dress may savour of parale, from being introduced in their own language; but we have no English terms that aptly correspond. "Blanket dress" is but a mean interpretation of the Roman toga; and a scholar will disdain to receive Obadiah Walker's "platter" for the patera, or his "water-pot" for the præfericulum. In some points I have ventured to depart from what may be considered as established usage, when it seemed to be grounded on error. Thus I have not rendered parazonium by truncheon, because, although a badge of command, it appears to have been a sceptral sword rather than that instrument. I cannot agree that the bird over the grotto, on No. CCXIII. is the one which is dedicated to Mars, under the name of Picus Martius; and though opposite opinions may obtain many suffrages, the idea of the fulmen possessing the triple power of piercing, melting, and burning, may be considered as borne out by ancient writers. Pinkerton insists that the thensa and carpentum are essentially different: now, although the former was used for cars which merely carried images, it was also called Carpentum Pompaticum, and either might be used without great impropriety. The same author is also astonished at a "fact" which "can never be explained by antiquarians," that of a sword never being seen upon Roman coins: yet several examples to the contrary may be referred to in the Index of this Catalogue. It may also seem that I have been too discursive-too partial to Latin quotations, and too prone to repetition: but the first arose from the interest of the study, and the conflicting tenour of the evidence that was examined; the second is assuredly allowable for the illustration of Latin medals; and the third is owing to the very nature of a Catalogue, where every medal is intended to be identified, and to serve as a reference independent of the others. One great object of this undertaking was to give such an outline of the reigns, which these medals illustrate, as to shew clearly how much the truth and accuracy of history is ascertained, by the aid of such collections. To come to a right conclusion, no labour was spared: almost every writer from Eneas Vico, in 1548, to Mr. Akerman in 1834, was consulted, and the pains bestowed upon the date assigned to each memorable event, were such as could not be imagined by those who have never been engaged in similar pursuits. The technical terms, many of which will be new to persons who are not conversant with numismatic works, may be referred to in the Index at the end of the book; but it may assist the general reader, to place those which relate to the several parts of a medal, in one view : Adversa, Ærugo nobilis, ..... Bruise, Area, Device, Engrailment, .... two heads facing each other. the fine rust or varnish. the perfection of patina. a break, or injury in the patina. the field or surface. the figure represented. ......... the ring of dots round the edge. Exergum, or Exergue, .... the lower part divided by a line from the area. The following hints respecting the Roman mint, as connected with the coins of the class here described, will not probably appear displaced, though it is far from the author's intention to enter largely on the subject of medals in general. The imperial coinage consisted of pieces struck in gold, silver, and various modifications of copper. Of these, the Sestertii, or large-brass, consist entirely of a fine yellow brass called orichalcum, the latten of former ages, which was valued at double the ratio of the "Es Cyprium," or copper of the dupondii, or second brass. The size of the second-brass. Sestertius allows a sufficient scope for the artist in the delineation of portraits and figures; and the intrinsic value of the series is greatly enhanced by the skill with which these coins are executed. From the reign of Augustus, to that of Nero, the style progressively improves, and from the time of Vespasian, to that of Hadrian and the Antonines, the devices are so excellent and simple that, compared with most modern medals, it is the difference between the touch of genius and the effort of labour-like what is seen on comparing the indignant Apollo of the Vatican, with the fall of the rebel angels, shewn at Padua, that fantastic pyramid of legs and other limbs, where exquisite skill is unable to redeem defective taste. From the death of Commodus-the last and unworthy descendant of the Antonines-art declines till the reigns of Alexander Severus and the Gordians, from which time, though with occasional gleams of revival, it falls rapidly into degradation; the artists of the Lower Empire having been more busied with embroidery, than with sculpture or medals. Although the Sestertii only are made of brass, it is usual to class the three sizes of Es into Large, Middle, and Small-Brass; the two last of which, though inferior to their "proud sister" in price and dignity, are numerous, valuable, and of great beauty, filling up many an hiatus with portraits that are found in no other series, and bringing History far down into the Lower Empire. Besides these, there are instances of "Two Coppers," in which medals are hooped round, as it were, with a different metal from that of which they are formed; and there are specimens of lead money, which, notwithstanding what is said by Plautus and Martial, are only classed as trial-pieces, and ancient forgeries-though Ficoroni in his "Piombi Antichi," pleads for their admission to higher notice. The Sestertius was in use from the reign of Augustus to that of Gallienus; though from the days of Caracalla, it was gradually diminished in weight, until it became little more than a third of its original size. Under the Thirty Tyrants it disappeared; but an attempt was made to supply its place in Diocletian's time, by a coin called follis, which, however, seems to have weighed but half an ounce, and was worth forty of the small pieces called Noumia. In the Augustan era, the Sestertius was about an ounce in weight, and was nearly equal in value to two-pence of our present money it was, in its subdivisions, equivalent to sixteen quadrantes, eight sembelli, or four dupondii ;-while a denarius was valued at four Sestertii, and an aureus at a hundred and twenty. The composition of the metal of the Roman brass medals, has excited much inquiry, both on account of its durability and the patina which it acquires; and several able chemists have submitted it to a severe analysis. By Professor Klaproth's experiments, the following results were obtained : No. 1. A large-brass of Vespasian, reverse, Roma...... 360 grains. Trajan, Vesta .................... 382 365 The Professor has here allowed nothing for loss, on which account the analysis of the late Mr. Parkes, may be preferable : |