treat of wars and laws rather than the customs 

 and home life of the community, yet when we come 

 to examine the mpagre particulars of neighbouring 

 states we find that the Grecian and even the 

 Macedonian kingdoms were very far advanced 

 over the Romans in the art of coinage, so far 

 indeed that we lose the history of their ancient 

 coins in tradition and surmise, whereas that of 

 Rome is so clearly written that all may read it. 

 It is then to the Grecian States and their offstts, 

 and those of the monarchies of the Western 

 Asian Provinces, we must look for our oldest 

 examples of true coins of negociable value not too 

 heavy to be carried on the person. These were 

 formed in a very simple way ; a more or less 

 sphericU lump of metal, of ascertained weitrht, 

 either of gold or of mixed gold and silver, known 

 as ele::trum, was placed upon a die, upon the face 

 of which the device had already been sunk, and 

 the lump was forced into every part of the pattern 

 by a heavy blow from a hammer upon a punch 

 thit was held above. The coin was then complete ; 

 all the an.-ient ex-imples have been thus 

 executed, as the reverses only show the mirk 

 made by the impact of the instrument thus 

 forced down upon the lump of metal. 

 From the tim« the Greeks took the lead in coinage 

 of miney they adopted a figure or portrait in high 

 • relief upon one side of the piece, whilst the other 

 side more slriwly developed in its turn. The 

 metal dump or dis?, even fr >m the oldest dates 

 known, was always struck cold, never ca^t. This 

 is very significant and it was probably done by 

 design, necessitating as it did more manual 

 labour. Counterfeits on the contrary for more 

 than 2,000 years have been either plated or for 

 the most part cast ia moulds, and thus are easily 

 detected by anyone with the slightest knowledge. 

 The Patrician families of Rome issued their own 

 coins, and these consisted for the most part of 

 denarii, silver or plated pieces about the size of a 

 sixpence, but of twice its substance, upon one 

 side was a helmeted head, either that of Pallas or 

 Koma, and up*"tn the other a cornucopia, or sacri- 

 ficial emblems or instruments, an altar, or temple 

 portico, figure attribute of war, piety, charity, 

 good fortune, chastity, oi what not, bird, stag, or 

 other animal. Almost if not quite so early as the 

 ox and lion, the figure of a horse appears upon 

 coins, even before the face of man, which seems to 

 have been eschewed until a much later period, 

 probably because of the difficulty of making an 

 actual portrait of the ruler. First a horse 

 standing, then a horse galloping, or a hoise with 

 its owner by its side, next a horseman on a 

 galloping horfae. Two horsemen on horses repre- 

 senting the dioscuri, and so on until we arrive 

 at the war chariot drawn by four or more horses. 

 The Romans having succeeded in establishing a 

 coinage of their own quickly recognized their in- 

 feriority and induced Grecian artificers to super- 

 intend the Roman mint by doubtless large 

 promises, and greater emoluments and privileges 

 than they allowed even their own citizens. The 

 results of this were immediate and lasting, for not 

 only did the Romans' coins increase in beauty, but 

 their homes and architectural art also received a 

 vast impetus ; and when the nation dominated the 



greater part of the civilized world this infiuence 

 spread wide and wider. The greatest cf the celebra- 

 ted Julia family — Caius Julius —like other original 

 men, was applauded, detested, and worshipped in 

 turn by his contemporaries, who decried his reform- 

 ing statutes as only passed by the Senate to curry 

 favour with the masses of the people, while they 

 equally denounced his presence with the army as 

 only desirous of obtainiug its servility. He war a 

 man hated in his lifetime but praised after death, 

 insomuch that his surname given in disdain 

 became a title of honor eagerly sought by Em- 

 perors. Like our Duke of Wellington, he had 

 every honour that the people could give bestowed 

 upon him, for instance it was decreed that he 

 should on all public occasions wear the triumphal 

 robe of state, that he should receive the title of 

 Parens patrix, that statues of him should be placed 

 in all the temples, that the fifth month should be 

 called Julius, that his portrait should be copied 

 upon the national money of Rome (a new departure 

 altogether), that he should be Perpetual Dictator, 

 and finally upon the death of the Chief Pontiff 

 should occupy supreme power. This then may be 

 said to be the first of the national series where 

 portraits come in. His coins show him as a long 

 necked man with great firmness of character and 

 determination, as evinced by his heavy jaw. The 

 reverse bears various emblems of peace, indicating, 

 like the symbols upon an Indian's grave- 

 stone, the non-necessity of lettering. The 

 hands clasped show his reconciliation with the 

 Senate, the fasces with axe detached the emblem 

 of peace, and the caduceus of Jlercury and 

 the globe that this peace was univei sal 

 But you might guess many times before you hit 

 upon the person who first described himself as 

 bmperor upon the Romans' coins — it was indeed 

 no other than Brutus. He whose pious soul was 

 so filled with indignation.at Ccesar's rise to absolute 

 power, that he joined in conspiracy against his 

 former friend. That he was proud too of his 

 treacherous action there is no doubt, for otherwise 

 he would not have adopted as a reverse the cap 

 of liberty and daggers with the date of his crime. 

 Speaking of the Christain Symbols on old coins, 

 the lecturer dealt with the coins of Constantine 

 and his successors. Coming to the reign of 

 Justinian he remarked : His coins are lettered 

 partly in Greek and partly in Latin characters. 

 Finding the laws of the empire in great confusion 

 he engai^ed Trebonius, an eminent lawyer, to 

 prepare a compUatiun of them, the result being 

 the celebrated codes and institutes, which form 

 the great body of civil jurisprudence to this day. 

 He was of a religious turn of mind without 

 ostentition.aud invented the so-called Greek cross, 

 wherein he attempted to show the three crosses 

 on Calvary; the creation is not happy and reminds 

 one of the bamboo work of a fiie screen. Justinian 

 II. ascended the eastern throne in GSo : he was a 

 man of cruel and implacable temper, and having 

 been taken prisoner by Leontius had his nose cut 

 off. During a storm at sea his confessor urgei 

 him to prayer and to forgive all his enemies. His 

 prayer was " May I now perish if I spare one of 

 them " — and it must be added that upon re-ascend- 

 ing his thrune he kept his word. Yet he affected 



