132 



We have the authority of Buxtorf and ctliers, that the letter 

 Aleph lias been fTe(iuently used alone, to represent each of these 

 words ; and the same Hebrew scholars inform us, that it also stands 

 for the word ]Ti>.f, Dominus. Tiiis, therefore, is the construction 

 which Wagenseil* and Morlnus give to it, as placed upon this 

 medal ; which also the Vice Provost is rather inclined to prefer : 

 it is, indeed, in my mind the most likely to be correct. -f- 



Tlie inscription upon the reverse side is as follows : 



Of the eighth letter there was once some doubt, because of its being 

 somewhat indistinct : but a closer examination, and the analogy 

 of all similar medals, determine it to be a Beth. The antepenulti- 

 mate letter is also indistinct ; it may either be a Hajin, or a 

 Jod with a Vau : I am inclined to agree with Dr. Barrett in 

 thinking it the latter, admitting thus a construction less forced, and 

 more analogous to other specimens. The following is perhaps the 

 proper translation of the above — " Messias Rex vcnit in pace, et 

 " lux * de homiue facta est vita." In the first part of this transla- 



• V. Wag. Sota. V. 1, p. 576, &c. 



fit may be worthy of remark, that the letter [»j was, as Waserus informs us, always stamped 

 upon the Hebrew sheckles, as a mark which " justum ipsorum atque legitimum pondus 

 " docet:" and also that " a square, whereon is figured the monogram of the name of Christ, 

 " was Constantine the Great's ensign, after he had embraced Christianity. It has an " Alpha 

 " and Omega" on the sides, signifying the Divinity of Jesus, wlio says of himself, in the 

 " Revelations, " Ego sum Alpha a»d Omega." (Anon, work, from the French, on the 

 " Knowledge of Medals," p. 97.) " It was common among the Greek Emperors to put his 

 "image upon their medals." Same author. 



J Thus Waserus, Leusden, Alstedius, &c. translate it : it seems to allude to the text of 

 St. John I. 4. " x«l i l^m n» to <fS<; tJ. avS^Jarnv." " And the life was the light of men." It 

 may also be " lux ex homine factus est vivens." 



