Phillips.] ^'' I Feb. 7, 



(the letter X which so occurs upon them is the exponent of their value), 

 ami bear the galeated head of Minerva on one side, on the other the Dios- 

 curi ; sometimes on the reverse a biga or quadriga. 



Later the names of illustrious families appear on them, whence these 

 have often been termed family coins, as for example, the name of Cocles 

 on those of the Horatian gens ; sometimes emblems or types commemora- 

 ting heroic exploits or punning upon their own names, as upon the coins of 

 Publicius Malleolus we find a hammer, of Valerius Asciculus, a pickaxe ; 

 of Aquiliua Floras, a flower; of Lucretius Trio, the seven stars (Septem- 

 triones), &c. 



Upon certain of these coins we find deities appropriated, thus Juno S08- 

 pila on the families Oornuflcia, Mettia, Pappia, Roscia ; Ceres on Claudia 

 and Vibia ; Libertas crowned with laurel and veiled on Sestia ; crowned 

 with olive branches on Licinia ; crowned with laurel on Junia ; veiled on 

 .Emilia and Calpurnia. Sometimes Libertas appears as a female standing, 

 holding in her hand a liberty cap, in her left the rudis, or rod, whose 

 touch manumitted slaves. Upon the early copper coinage of the United 

 States we find the head of liberty accompanied by the cap and rod, being 

 in allusion to this Roman custom. 



Among the family coins in the exhibition, there is one of the gens Corne- 

 lia bearing on the obverse an archaic head of Minerva galeated, and the 

 inscription SULA ; one of the gens UostiUa, obverse a diademed head of 

 Venus, reverse, a victory walking, holding caduceus and palm branch, in- 

 scription Sasekn. L. IIostilius. Saserna was the cognomen of this noble 

 family which deduced its descent from King Tullus Hostilius. Some of 

 their denarii bear the head of Pallor or Pavor, to whom that monarch 

 vowed a temple upon the occasion of his battle with the Veientes. 



A denarius of Julius Ccesar bears an elephant trampling upon a snake 

 which is rearing its head ; reverse, the simpulum, adspergillum, apex and 

 securis victimaria, emblems of his pontificate. The elephant is said to' refer 

 to his victories over .Tuba, King of Numidia, and the subjugation of Africa 

 of which it was the symbol. Other authorities consider it as a speaking 

 type, asserting that the word Csesar, in the Punic tongue, signified an 

 elephant. One author has informed us that these sacred emblems (whose 

 use and meaning is so well known to us) were nothing but the weapons 

 with which the Romans were wont to fight again-t elephants in time of 

 battle. 



Upon a denarius of the gens Scribonia we find on the obverse a female 

 head with the inscription Lino. bon. event.; reverse a puteal (or well 

 stone) in the form of an altar with the ins ription Pcteal, above, Sctubo- 

 nia in the exergue. This is a very interesting coin referring to the initial 

 in the Comitium built on the spot where the events ot the story of King 

 Tarquin and the augur occurred, and where in later days the knife and 

 the whetstone were found buried. Here were oaths taken as an especially 

 sacred place. 



Many such puteals abound in Pompeii, in the form of circular altars, 



