33 
notices tlie preference of the Germans also for the nummi serrati , 
those with the indented edges (improperly called by ns “ milled ”), 
as being older than those with smooth edges, but this is not the 
fact; they are very rare till about a century b. c. It was no doubt 
the security against clipping which made the Germans prefer them. 
The silver of the republican denarii is very pure. Some choice 
specimens reach the weight of sixty grains, but generally they do 
not exceed fifty-two. 
In process of time both the obverse and the reverse varied greatly 
from the primitive simple types. Originally no name of mint- 
masters appeared on the silver coin, the people in the comitia tributa 
ordaining its issue ; but about the time when the Homan Govern¬ 
ment from republican became oligarchal, that is after the Punic 
wars, we find this function committed to officers whose title ran 
u Tresviri monetales auro argento cere flanclo feriundo .” As no gold had 
been coined at Pome at this time, it should seem to have been part 
of their duty to stamp bars of gold with some mark of their purity. 
The mintmasters soon began to place their own names, including 
that of their gens , upon the coins issued by their authority. Other 
heads took the place of the heimeted head on the obverse, and the 
reverse was occupied by devices allusive to legendary or historical 
events connected with the family of the mintmaster; but no one 
presumed, in Republican times, to place his own head on a public 
coin. The name of the consul of the year never appears on a 
denarius, that of the praetor very rarely. The issue of silver money 
seems to have been decreed by the assembly, that of brass by the 
senate. S. C. (senatus consulto) appears normally on the as and 
its parts; very rarely on the silver, and then it is probable from 
some special reason, leading the senate to intervene. The consular 
series came naturally to a close with the overthrow of the republic 
and the substitution of the imperial head and titles. The last of 
this series belongs to 38 b. c. (ij. c. 716). The purity of the silver 
and the weight of the coin remained unimpaired till the time of 
Nero, when it began to be alloyed. In the reign of Severus the 
silver coin had become completely debased, and so it continued till 
Diocletian brought it back to the standard of Nero’s reign. 
A remarkable discovery of coins of the Consular series has lately 
taken place in France, which well illustrates its relation to history. 
One of Caesar’s great battles with the Gauls was fought at Alesia, 
as related in the 7th book of his Commentaries. There had long 
been a dispute among the French antiquaries and geographers 
c 
