443 
of a contemporaneous period. In the few remarks which I 
have to make on these coins I have nothing new to offer—no- 
thing respecting them which is not familiar to most, ifnot all 
of my hearers: yet perhaps it may be desirable that I should 
call up in their recollections a few of the most characteristic 
features of their type, and one or two of the principal facts re- 
specting their history. 
‘«¢ From the ordinary works on Roman coins and Roman an- 
tiquities we learn that, as far as known, the as, zs, or piece of 
brass, which was originally of a pound weight, and hence called 
as libralis, is stamped or impressed with the two-faced head of 
Janus on one side, and, as a symbol of his arriving in Italy by 
sea, the prow of a ship on the other. The semis, semissis or 
half, is marked with the letter S, and has usually the head of 
Jupiter laureated. 
‘The triens or third has the head of Minerva, and is marked 
with four round knobs, as being originally of the weight of four 
ounces. 
‘<The quadrans or quarter has the head of Hercules wrapt 
in the lion’s skin; and has three knobs. 
‘«« The sextans or sixth has the head of Mercury with the 
cap and wings, and has two knobs or discs. 
‘“<T should perhaps add, that there was a still smaller division 
of the as, called unica; it bears the head of Rome, and is marked 
with asingle knob or disc: but of this no specimen was found, 
or at least preserved. In truth, a coin of this kind, if ofa 
contemporary age with those found, would be so small as to 
be unlikely to attract notice. 
‘¢T should further observe, that the as and its parts were, as 
in some, if not all, the specimens now brought under notice, 
originally all cast, not struck; but in time the smaller di- 
visions were struck, though the larger continued to be cast 
till the as fell to two ounces, or, as in the specimen before us, 
a single ounce; and they were all of copper, and usually 
marked with the word Roma. 
