1832.] On the Ancient Roman Coins. 395 



duceus expresses peace or commerce ; the pontifical hat, the priesthood ; 

 military standards and warriors, glory and victory : a fort, or gateway, 

 security, &c. The eagle generally denotes the consecration of an 

 emperor, as the thensa or divine chariot is the emblem of that of an 

 empress. All, or the greater part, of the types on the reverse of the 

 coins of the emperors have reference therefore to some attribute or 

 event of their reign ; and when accompanied by the date of tribunate, 

 consulate, imperial or pontifical elevation, &c. are so many imperishable 

 testimonials of the truth of history. In not a few cases they have 

 served to fill up blanks or to rectify doubtful events ; and they have 

 brought down to our sight not only the record of facts, but the very 

 portraits of the monarchs, heroes, law-givers, and authors, whose deeds 

 and words form the delight of our studies from our youth up- 

 ward. It may be regretted, that the Roman coins did not directly 

 exhibit the calendric date, especially after the entire reformation of 

 the calendar under the first of the Cagsars ; but with this sole exception 

 what system of modern coinage, in the world, qan stand a competition 

 with the Roman or its prototype the Greek, the two earliest 

 supposed to have been introduced among mankind ? If as a contrast 

 we look but one moment at the system of coinage prevalent in the nine- 

 teenth century throughout the extensive provinces of India, what will 

 it impart of the history of our time to after-ages, when all other 

 records shall have perished, or shall want the confirmation of public 

 monuments, and the cherishing memory of a proud posterity ? It will 

 deceive them, as to the name and nation of the ruling power ; as to the 

 date, and as to the place of coinage ! It will afford neither information, 

 nor variety, nor beauty of design to gratify the curiosity of future anti- 

 quaries; the very excellence of its fabrication will be thought to have 

 been lavished on an object unworthy of a great and enlightened 

 nation ! But this also is a digression, only excusable as it serves to 

 enhance the value to us of the precious reliques of antiquity. 



As the contents of our cabinet are to be regarded in the light of 

 mere coin, a few remarks are necessary, to explain by what names 

 they went and what value they represented ; this part of the subject 

 is generally disregarded by writers on medals, properly so called, who 

 look to their numismatic value only as elucidatory of history and the 

 arts ; it has however received a very clear illustration in Pinkerton's 

 Essay on Medals, from which we collect the following facts. The 

 gold coin of Rome (aureus) varied gradually in weight from the 

 Augustan aera to the close of the empire, though in a less degree than 

 the coins of the other metals; it was, ujider the first emperors, 110 



