TO BUKOREST. 233 
sketch of his history, in order to account chap. 
for the remarkable fact of such a coinage, ^ ^-' / 
under Rhescuporis, as that which we have 
now to describe ; for this medal is of 
Electrum, a compound of gold and silver; known Eiectrum. 
to the Antients in a very early age, whereof 
antient specimens are very uncommon. It 
might have been after the death of Cotys, when 
the auriferous mines of Macedonia fell into the 
hands of Rhescuporis* y that Electrum was thus 
employed; for as this mixed metal is known 
to exist in a natural state, it is more probable 
that the medals of Rhescuporis were struck in 
the natural compoundy than that any such amal- 
gamation was chemically prepared in the 
beginning of the Jlrst century, and in such a 
barbarous country, for the purpose of coining. 
Having possession of the Macedonian mines, 
Rhescuporis might have employed for this 
purpose the amalgamation of gold and sil- 
ver, obtained, by a simple process, from 
(4) Ibid. For the manner in which Rhescuporis afterwards fell 
into the hands of Tiberius, see Suetonius in Tiber. Paterculus, &c. 
He was conducted to Rome ; and being convicted in the Senate of 
the death of his nephew, and the violent usurpation of his dominions, 
was sentenced to a perpetual imprisonment, and banished to 
Alexandria in Egypt; where, for his subsequent conduct, he was 
put to death. 
