102 



EECREATIVE SCIENCE. 



more appropriate in connection with, tlie con- 

 secration of an empress than tlie eagle, whicli 

 was strictly awarded 

 to Jupiter, and con- 

 sequently more in its 

 place in tlie apotheo- 

 ses of new divinities 

 ,„„ ,._^^^^_p_ of the other sex. 

 ^I'^^MBBr The legend, or in- 

 scription, is simply 

 CONSECEATIO (the 



consecration) and S. C. On the obverse of 

 the coia is the portrait of the empress, with 

 the inscription diva . favstina . pia. 



The peacock is made to play a rather dif- 

 ferent, but less conspicuous part on another 

 of the consecration coins of Faustina, with 

 the same motto, conseceatio ; the device 

 being formed of a richly decorated couch or 

 throne, having a sceptre lying on the place to 

 be occupied by the new divinity, and in 

 front stands a peacock, denoting that the 

 throne prepared for the reception of Faustina 

 is equal to that of Jxmo. On another coin, with 

 the motto aeteenitas, the empress is seen 

 seated on a throne, borne towards heaven by 

 two winged female figures resembling the 

 angels found in the mediseval pictures of the 

 great Italian masters. Some learned numis- 

 matists have described these figures as the 

 Hours, or asJSTymphs of the air; but Tristan 

 considers them as representing the female 

 relations of Faustina, who had died before 

 her, and whose spirits return to bear her to 

 the realms they have already known. On 

 another type the new divinity is borne aloft 

 by a female figure bearing a torch, emblema- 

 tical, perhaps, of the kindling of a new life. 



The next coin I have selected for descrip- 

 tion, on account of its bearing a distinct kind 

 of type from those described, though at a 

 certain epoch a very general one, is also found 

 on a coin of Faustina's. The device repre- 

 sented within the legend, conseceatio, is 

 that of a Kogus, or funeral pyre. Temporary 

 structures of this kind, only erected to be con- 



sumed, were often made of the richest mate- 

 rials, and surrounded with niches, containing 



statues of ivory, and other costly decorations, 

 and often a number of objects, known to 

 have been valued by the deceased. In the 

 more costly pyres, the figure of the deceased, 

 modelled in wax, was placed on the top of 

 the pile, with the couch on which it had 

 been carried, while the real remains were 

 enclosed in a chamber near the centre of the 

 structure, which was fiUed with perfumes. 

 The nearest relative, with his face averted, 

 set fire to the structiire, while others cast 

 into the flames cups of perfumed oU, orna- 

 ments, dishes of food, richly-woven clothes, 

 and other things supposed to be agreeable 

 to the deceased. On the apex of the pUe, 

 in the device under description, is a female 

 figure in a biga, or car, drawn by two 

 horses, doubtless a waxen effigy of the 

 empress in her character of mother of the 

 camps, mater castrorum, which she had 

 assumed in order to acquire favour with the 

 troops. It was customary on these occasions, 

 just at the moment that the waxen figure 

 melted into the flames, to release an eagle, 

 which, taking a lofty flight, represented the 

 escaping spirit of the material form that had 

 just been consumed. 



At a later period, when the brilliant period 

 of the empire was past, and the arts had 

 sunk to a very low ebb, other devices of a 

 more simple character were adopted, as being 

 easier to execute. These, however, if less 

 fanciful, were, perhaps, equally poetical in 

 their conception, and, if less picturesque. 



