Phillips.] Uy [Feb. 7, 



B. C, after having been captured by the Mamertines it received the name 

 of Mamerlina. 



Bhodus presents the radiated head of Apollo, and on the reverse a rose, 

 being a so-called speaking type. Spanheim,* however, considers this 

 flower not to be a rose, but the Punic apple (BalaustM), citing Isaac Vos- 

 sius as his authority. This plant was used for dying vestments, and is still 

 known to the modern Arabs. According to Theophrastus, its flower re- 

 sembled that of the rose, and Clement, of Alexandria, states that in the 

 Thesmophoric rites women were not allowed to make use of it. 



Upon the coins of Massilia (now Marseilles), we find a walking lion of 

 fine workmanship ; on Syracuse, the head of Proserpine in an incuse sur- 

 rounded by dolphins, on the reverse a figure in a chariot. In the coins and 

 medallions of Syracuse, ancient art reached its highest pinnacle of perfec- 

 tion ; they are beautiful of design, grand and graceful of execution, bold of 

 relief. 



There are coins of Alexander the Great of Macedon, and a fine Tetra- 

 drachm of his father, King Philip the Second, bears upon the obverse a 

 powerful head of Zeus, on the reverse, a horseman wearing the hat pecu- 

 liar to Macedonia, surrounded by the inscription (l> I A I II HOY, The ce- 

 lebrity of the Macedonian and Thracian horse probably led to its adoption 

 as a national type. 



An extremely rare and fine silver coin of Juba the Second, King of Nu- 

 midia, is noteworthy on account of its historical interest as well for its ar- 

 tistic merits. It bears on the obverse the head of that monarch with curly 

 hair and a conical cap ; on the reverse a temple. 



A didrachm of Velia, in Lucania, presents a fine head of Apollo, and on 

 the reverse a lion destroying a stag. 



Tetradrachms of Antiochus, and one of Lysimachus, of magnificent 

 workmanship and grand design, in the finest possible preservation, must 

 especially claim the attention of the student as examples of Grecian art in 

 its finest stage of development. 



These coins are two thousand years old, and are almost as fresh as the 

 day they left the die, while their entire genuineness and authenticity is be- 

 yond the faintest cavil or suspicion. 



Space will not permit that we should enter into a full description of all 

 the beautiful and artistic objects which this exhibition comprises, and we 

 must content ourselves with a rapid survey of the most salient features of 

 this display. 



There are also a number of fine copies of rare Grecian coins, and an es- 

 pecially noticeable selection of forged Roman first bronzes, executed by the 

 celebrated Paduaan forgers, Jean Cavino and Alessandro Bassiano, in the 

 sixteenth century. The w 7 ork of these artists has long been sought after on 

 account of its exceeding great merits of design and execution, worthy to 

 rank with the best workmen of antiquity. Many of these pieces arc pure 

 inventions of the forgers' brains, no originals ever having existed, while 



* De usu &c. numorum p. 374, et seq. 



