MEDAL. 
sai'ves very justly, “ that the medallist much 
values those which have a number of figures, 
as the puell® faustinianae of Faustina, a 
gold coin no larger than a sixpence, which 
has twelve figures ; that of Trajan, regna 
adsignata, has four; the congiarinni of Ner- 
va, five ; the allocution of Trajan, seven ; of 
Hadrian, ten; of Probns, twelve.” There 
was a felicity of thought, and a happy mode 
of conveying a compliment, adopted by 
those who struck medals at the time now 
under notice, which was accomplished by 
giving the representation of a virtue, and 
calling it that of the person commemo- 
rated ; in this particular the Komans ditfer- 
ed greatly from the Greeks ; the latter peo- 
ple uniformly pointed out the effigies of 
their gods and genii by their generally re- 
ceived emblems ; but the former inscribed 
their names. It is entirely useless to par- 
ticularize the deities and their insignia ; but 
in order to facilitate the study of medals, it 
may be proper to mention some of the 
symbols which are not commonly known ; 
branches of plants issuing from vases, for 
instance, imply a reference to religious 
games ; the serpent springing from a coffer 
denotes the mystic lites of Bacchus; the 
anchor on medals infers that they are Se- 
leucian, and struck at Antioch ; the tripod 
was placed,- by the Syrian princes, covered 
and uncovered under the figures of their 
deities; to which may be added others, in 
the words of Mr. Pinkerton : “ the flowers 
of pomegranates, for Rhodes; owl, for 
Athens ; pegasus, for Corinth ; wolf’s head, 
for Argos; bull’s head, for Boeotia ; mino- 
taur’s head, and the labyrinth, for Crete,” 
&c. &c. Were we to pursue this part of 
the subject, it would lead to an incredible 
length of investigation, and it may be 
doubted whether many mistakes might not 
be created through the obvious obscurity 
involving it. 
The legends on coins and medals are of 
too much importance to require a recom- 
mendation of their study; tlie earliest coins 
of Grecian cities have either the initials, or 
their names at length; and those of the^ 
princes of that country, their names, initials, 
or monograms. The imperial medals of 
Greece and Rome are distinguished by me- 
thods far more explanatory, as they have 
words round the face, the reverse, and even 
in the centre of the . latter in some cases. 
Medallists have divided the inscriptions 
into three terms, suited to the place of the 
words ; when they encircle the margin they 
are called the legend ; when they occupy 
the centre of the medal they are called the 
inscription; and when they are separated 
from the figure by a line near the bottom, 
they are on the exergue. The varieties and 
abundance of legends, &c. precludes a pos- 
sibility of entering into their merits and pe- 
culiarities; some being merely explanatory, 
cannot be subject either to censure or criti- 
cism ; others impute virtues, and convey 
compliments well deserved ; but it may 
justly be doubted, whether the majority do 
not speak every language except that of 
truth. One specimen may serve to convince 
the most incredulous on this head : Julia, 
the consort of Severus, was termed hiat. 
AVGG. MAT. SENAT. MAT. PAT., Or, the pa- 
rent of Augustus, the senate, and of her 
country ; but Tiberius became blasphemous, 
as far as blasphemy could be said to exist 
in the heathen mythology, by calling him- 
self the dimfilius. However wanting these 
legends and inscriptions might be in verity, 
they must be allowed the merit of beauti- 
ful simplicity in their construction, and the 
most elegant compression. 
We have hitherto treated the subject of 
coins and medals conjointly, which was in 
a great degree unavoidable, through the si- 
milarity of each to the other; for though a 
coin may be said to be merely intended as 
a circulating medium, calculated to pre- 
vent the difficulties attending the bartering 
of commodities, yet it has been customary 
from time immemorial to impress figures on 
the pieces of metal used for this purpose, of 
equal import with those stamped on medals 
intended solely as historical records, or as 
adulatory offerings to supreme power. 
Medallions were made of dimensions far 
too large for circulation as money, which 
was necessary in order to give due effect to 
the design, and to render it intelligible at 
first view ; some were struck as patterns of 
proposed coins ; others were issued at the 
commencement of a new reign, and on re- 
markable occasions ; and in some instances 
they may have been the effects of caprice 
of men in high authority; and in a few 
cases, of gratitude. It is usual to consider 
as medals, all those Roman pieces which 
exceed the denarius aureus in size; those of 
silver, larger than the denarius ; and those 
of brass, which are of greater diameter than 
the sestertius ; but Mr. Pinkerton is of opi- 
nion, “ that the gold medallions, weighing 
two, three, or four aurei only, passed in 
currency, as the Greek gold didrachms, tri- 
drachms, or tetradrachras, according to 
their size. The like may be said of the sil- 
