678 PHILOSOl'HICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO IJOq. 



tremfely probable, that the word safinim, on the reverse of Papius Mutilus'» 

 medal, cannot be equivalent to sabini, the sabines, or samnites, the sam- 

 NiTES, as some of the most celebrated Etruscan antiquaries of the present age 

 have not scrupled to assert ; but must be taken, agreeably to the nature and 

 genius of such coins, for the name of one of the Italian generals, who distin- 

 guished himself in the social war. This seems extremely probable, not only 

 from the nature and genius of the coin itself, but likewise from the similarity 

 and analogy it bears to other coins, with the names of Italian captains most evi- 

 dently on them, attended by the same symbol that occurs on the medal which is 

 the object of attention here. But the truth of what is here advanced will, as 

 Mr. S. apprehends, even to demonstration^ appear, if we consider, with proper 

 attention, the legend on the reverse of a Roman denarius of the Servilian fa- 

 mily, in conjunction with that on the reverse of a Samnite coin of Papius Mu- 

 tilus. The first two of these medals are so perfectly similar, that were not the 

 characters with which they are adorned different, and the caps or helmets worn 

 by two Castors visible only on one of them, they might absolutely be consi- 

 dered as duplicates of the same coin. Now the Roman denarius has preserved 

 the legend serveilim on the reverse, and the Samnite one here elucidated the 

 inscription sab'inim likewise on the reverse, in. Samnite, or Samnite-Etruscan 

 letters. As therefore serveilim is apparently equivalent to serveili m., ser- 

 VEiLivs MARCi, Or, in the Roman style, serveilivs marci pilivs ; the legend 

 SAFINIM may be considered as equivalent to safini m., or safinivs marci, 

 which, in the Samnite mode of expression, answers to the Latin, or Roman, 

 safini m. f. that is safinivs marci filivs. Hence it undoubtedly pointed at 

 one of the Italian heroes, famous for his conduct and bravery in the war carried 

 on, towards the decline of the seventh century of Rome, by the confederated 

 Italian states, against the Romans. With regard to the Safinian family, Mr. S. 

 observes, that it was a family of pretty considerable note. We are told by Sig. 

 Olivieri, that C. Safinius had a hand in the seditions of L. Apuleius, which so 

 much disturbed the repose of the republic, about the middle of the 7th century 

 of Rome. The names of several members of this family occur in some of the 

 Latin, or Rom.in, inscriptions, published by Gruter and Muratori, to omit 

 what has been said on the same subject by other writers. 



2. In M. Pellerin's third Supplement, published in the year 1767, there is a 

 denarius attributed by that gentleman to the city of Corfinium, the capital of 

 the Peligni, where the deputies assembled, to regulate the operations of the war 

 entered on against the Romans, by the confederated Italian states, towards the 

 decline of the 7th century of Rome. This notion he founds on the appearance 

 of the letter c on the reverse ; which he takes, with great reason, to be the 

 initial letter of the word Corfinium, the name of that town. The coin of 



