l)-*79.] U5 [Phillips. 



earn), and sometimes the incused figure of the ohverse. The legends were 

 of the simplest character, being only the names of cities or magistrates, 

 sometimes from left to right, sometimes in the contrary direction, and 

 sometimes returning in the manner known as Boustrephodon. 



The artists who produced these coins did so without models or the ac- 

 cessories of a later age, and arrived, nature led, at a style both sublime and 

 true. A remarkable difference exists between ancient and modern coins, 

 the former being of extremely bold execution and high relief, while the 

 latter are comparatively flat and low, the haul relief preserving the types 

 of the coins longer after entering into circulation. 



Second. From the death of Alexander the First to the time of Philip the 

 Second, the father of Alexander the Great, B. C. 359. 



It was during this period that the arts attained a very high perfection in 

 Greece, and it has been believed that the fine engraving upon coins was ex- 

 ecuted by the hands of artists skilled in the working of precious stones. 

 Copper coinage, but in small quantities, now began to be used as currency, 

 being first struck (in Macedonia), by Amyntas Second (307 B. C), and is 

 referred to in a passage in "The Frogs" of Aristophanes as having been 

 but lately introduced into Athens. Simplicity was still preserved in art, 

 leading to the grandest results. 



Third. From the accession of Philip the Second to the subversion of the 

 Roman Empire by Augustus Csesar (B. C. 30). 



Now the arts had reached their apogee, and coin after coin may be cited 

 as chef d'muvres of the skill of the ancients. The inscriptions became more 

 complex, embracing titles of magistrates, divinities, dates, monograms and 

 similar indications. Regularity and exactness are now more characteristic of 

 the coinage, and the art of striking reached a greater degree of precision 

 than ever before. The mechanical means employed were still simple, and 

 remained so for many centuries ; the remarkable results obtained from such 

 slender appliances are the more noteworthy from that fact. 



Fourth. From Augustus to Hadrian (A. D. 117). The decadence of art 

 and the diminution of the importance and prerogatives of the Grecian na- 

 tions began now more sensibly to make themselves perceptible. The 

 moneys struck by independent cities lessened in number and excellence, 

 and many nations lost their former right of coinage. Copper began to usurp 

 the place of other metals, being issued in much larger quantities than 

 formerly, and the art of coinage commenced to exhibit symptoms of decay, 

 although faint suggestions of former grandeur occasionally occur. 



Fifth. From Hadrian to Gallienus (A. D. 260). Great and rapid was the 

 decline of art in this period, full of troubles of all kinds for the empire, sur- 

 rounded by barbarians, and torn by intestine dissensions. 



Sixth. From Gallienus to the fall of tlie Eastern Empire (1453). The arts 

 fell completely into barbarism during this long interval. There is but little 

 to attract in the coinage of either the Eastern or Western Empires, and 

 much to repel. The coins became harsh and hard, and finally lost all traces 

 of any pretensions to the name of art. The imperial Greek, the Colonial 



