ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 



179 



stars, sun, and moon."* Doubtless the slow and solemn 

 elevation of the trunk toward the heavens was interpreted 

 as an act of worship when it was observed at certain times. 

 Two relatively modern medals show this type, one of Augus- 

 tus of Saxony and his brother George I bears the legend: 

 Time Deum et honor a regem, "Fear God and honour the 

 King," while the other, struck by order of Cardinal Za- 

 barella, bears the head of that pre- 

 late on its obverse, and on the 

 reverse an elephant with trunk up- 

 lifted toward the sky, where are seen 

 the sun, crescent moon, and several 

 stars, thus adequately illustrating 

 the passage in Pliny's Natural His- 



tory.f 



The coin of Antiochus XII with 

 the torch-bearing elephant on its re- 

 verse calls to mind the statement of 

 Suetonius that at Caesar's African 

 triumph forty torch-bearing ele- 

 phants preceded his chariot. f In- 

 deed, it has often been asserted, 

 although erroneously, that he him- 

 self was seated in a chariot drawn by elephants. It appears 

 that some elephants were specially trained to bear torches.** 

 An interesting "elephant coin" is the silver denarius 

 struck to celebrate Caesar's victory over Scipio and Juba 

 at Thapsus in 46 B. C, which represents an African elephant 

 crushing a serpent. § 



It might be noted here that after Caesar's assassination 

 his body was placed upon a funeral couch of ivory.ff 



Coin representing Nero and 

 his mother Agrippina in a chariot 

 drawn by four elephants. The 

 female figure bears the standard 

 of a Roman legion. 



— From Kuypert's "De ele- 

 phantis in nummis obviis," Hagae 

 Comitum, 1719. 



*PUnii, Hist. Nat., Lib. VIII, cap. 1. 

 JSuetonii, "Vita Julii Csesaris," cap. 37. 

 §Armandi, op. cit., frontispiece. Fig. 8. 



fCuperi, op. cit., col. 85. 

 **Armandi, op. cit., p. 278. 

 ttSentnii Vita Julei Csesaris, cap. 84. 



