MEDAL. 



aes ; this, with the triens, the quadrans, 

 and sextans, impressed with the form of a 

 vessel, were for a very long period the on- 

 }y medium ; but five years before the first 

 Punic war, circumstances had enabled 

 the Romans to use silver, which they coin- 

 ed into denarii, bearing the head of the 

 genius of Rome, with a helmet on one 

 side, and on the other chariots drawn by 

 two or four horses. The coin called vic- 

 toriati received the figures of Victory and 

 of Rome ; and the sestertii generally had 

 the protectress of the city, with Castor 

 and Pollux. 



The emperors usually ordered their 

 own busts to be placed on their coins, ex- 

 cept Augustus, who had Capricorn. Sixty- 

 two years elapsed between the introduc- 

 tion of silver and that of gold, which oc- 

 curred in the consulship of M. Livius Sa- 

 linator. The as, derived from aes, brass, 

 originally consisted of one pound weight, 

 but the difficulties experienced during 

 the first Punic war, compelled the public 

 to reduce the value of the as, and to con- 

 vert one into six ases. The success of 

 Hannibal in the second contest, under the 

 above term, produced still greater dis- 

 tress in the state, and another reduction 

 in their value took place, when the as be- 

 came but one ounce in weight ; this was 

 again reduced, by a law of Papyrius, to 

 half an ounce, in which state it afterwards 

 remained. The as, supposed by Rennet 

 to be equal in value to a farthing and a 

 half sterling, was the tenth part of the 

 denarius, and the semi-aes, or semissis, 

 was the half; the trieus, as the word im- 

 plies, was the third part of the as, and the 

 quadrens the fourth, which was some- 

 times called triuncis and teruncius, as 

 it weighed three ounces previous to 

 the diminution of its value. The sex- 

 tans, or sixth part, were not sufficiently 

 numerous, and other divisions were made 

 to answer the public convenience, such 

 as the uncia, or twelfth part of the pound, 

 the semi-uncia, and the sextula, or sixth 

 part of an ounce; besides these there were 

 the decussus, valued at ten ases, or one 

 denarius ; the vicessus, the value of two 

 denarii ; and the centussis was the largest 

 coin of this metal, which was worth ten 

 denarii, or one hundred ases, and may be 

 said to be equivalent to six shillings and 

 three-pence sterling. 



The ancient denarius seems to have de- 

 rived its name from the fact of its contain- 

 ing denos-eris or ases, or ten ases, though 

 the weight varied ; during the time of the 

 Commonwealth it was the seventh part 

 of an ounce. In that of Claudius the 



weight was precisely an attic-drachm; the 

 former equalled eight-pence of our mo- 

 ney, and the latter seven-pence, without 

 entering into fractions in either case. Bi- 

 gutiis and quadrigatus were terms appli- 

 ed to the denarius, alluding to the bigx 

 or chariot with two horses impressed tip- 

 on it, and the quadrigx or chariot with, 

 four horses. Clodius introduced the vic- 

 toriatus mentioned before, which was 

 equal in value to the half of a denarius ; 

 it also bore the name of quinarius, from 

 its containing the value of five ases. The 

 celebrated sestertius, so called from ses- 

 quitertius, as consisting of two ases and 

 a half, was half the victoriatus, and a 

 fourth part of the denarius; exclusive of 

 the above name, it was frequently calk-d 

 nummus and sestertius nummus, the va- 

 lue of which, in modern money, was ex- 

 tremely small, being little more than one 

 penny. The obulus, or the sixth part of 

 the denarius, was nearly of the same a- 

 mount. The libella, the tenth of the de- 

 narius, equalled the as, or the supposed 

 pound of copper or brass. The semi-H- 

 bella explains itself, and the teruncius, or 

 fortieth part of the denarius, was worth 

 three ounces of the metal just mentioned. 

 The most remarkable Roman coins of 

 gold were the aurei denarii, which were 

 thus termed probably from their resem- 

 blance in size, or the similarity of the 

 figures they bore on their surfaces to the 

 denarii. Those coined under the Com- 

 monwealth weighed two silver denarii, 

 and were worth seventeen shillings, one 

 penny, and something more than a far- 

 thing sterling ; the aureas, made after the 

 change in the government, weighed two 

 drachms, and was equal to no more than 

 fifteen shillings of our money : during the 

 time of the five first Cxsars they continu- 

 ed didrachmi ; but the avarice of suc- 

 ceeding emperors induced them to re- 

 duce their weight considerably, which 

 was restored by Domitian and Aurelian. 

 It was under Philip that aurei of several 

 sifces first appeared, those bear the bust 

 of the genius of Rome on one side, and 

 different objects on their reverses ; the in- 

 elegance of the workmanship induces a 

 supposition that they were made far from 

 the seat of the arts. Mr. Pinkerton is in- 

 clined to think, the only alteration made 

 in the Roman money by Aurelian was con- 

 fined to the gold. At the commencement 

 of the coinage of gold, the aureus was 

 divided into the semissis of sixty sestertii; 

 the tremissis, or third, of forty ; another 

 division of thirty ; and a sixth or scrupu- 

 lum of twenty; all of which werediscon- 



