636 Correction of note on M. Court's Roman coins. [Dec. 



are 12 varieties — but as I have no books for reference I shall be much 

 obliged if you will look over the coins of the families, and settle the 

 point. The style of the coin is exactly the same as those of the times 

 of the consuls, and very different from those of the age of Constantine. 

 The obverse is either a head of Roma or of Libertas, and the orna- 

 ments upon the helmet are peculiar to the early Roman coins. The 

 reverse is a common device upon the coins of families, and represents 

 two soldiers fighting, with one fallen between them, while victory 

 is hovering over their heads. You say of the two combatants that 

 one is clad as a Roman, and query whether the other as a German : 

 if the coin is of the age of Constantine, by what means has the Ger- 

 man got there ? My opinion is that the coin is one of Quintus Heren- 

 nius, with perhaps the cognomen Marcomannus, or some other name 

 obtained from the earlier enemies of Rome. At any rate the age of 

 the coin can be decided by this — If it is a coin of the families, it 

 must be pretty thick — if of the age of Constantine, thin. 



The remaining three silver coins, you say, are in too imperfect a 

 state to be identified : I agree with you that Figs. 24 and 25 are too 

 much worn to be identified — though they both appear to me to be of 

 the times of the consuls — No. 25 has the appearance of a Parthian 

 coin. No. 23 you say ' bears the final letters of the word 

 C^ESARIS' — but I think I can show that you are wrong. "What you 

 call the final letters of the word G&saris are the commencing letters of 

 the man's name who struck the coin. The word is LARISCOLUS, 

 which was the cognomen of Publius Accoleius. This coin is the only 

 known specimen of the Gens Accoleia, and the whole inscription should 

 be P. ACCOLEIUS LARISCOLUS— The reverse is a play upon his 

 cognomen of Lariscolus or the Larch Tree ; and although the coin is 

 much worn, yet the three sisters of Phaeton may still be seen just 

 commencing their metamorphoses into Larch trees.-— The story is 

 related by Ovid*. 



Of these seven coins found in the second tope at Manikyala, not one 

 can be proved to be of a later date than the birth of Christ. What is 

 the inference ? That the tope must have been constructed about the 

 commencement of the Christian era ; and the coins may have belonged 

 to the soldiers of the army which Antony led into Parthia, and it is 

 known from history that they lost most of their baggage on that 

 expedition. If, as you say, the tope is of the age of Constantine, 

 why were there no coins deposited in it of a later date than the birth 

 of Christ, when it is well known that Roman coins of the second and 



* See Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Art. Numismatology ; the plate contains a fac- 

 simile of this very coin. — Ed. 



