a piece of metal in the form of coin, such as was either current money among the ancients, or struck on any particular occasion, in order to preserve to posterity the portrait of some great person, or the memory of some illustrious action.

Scaliger derives the word medal from the Arabic medallia; a fort of coin with a human head upon it. But the opinion of Voissius is generally received; viz., that it comes from metallum, "metal;" of which substance medals are commonly made.—Some, indeed, apprehend that none of the ancient pieces we now style medals, were never current coin, but all struck on particular occasions; like those modern pieces which are called by that name, to distinguish them from common and current coin. Others are of a contrary opinion, as Monsieur Patin and Father Joubert, who endeavour to prove, that they had all a regular and fixed price in payment. But the much greater probability of the middle opinion hath obtained it the general vogue: according to which, medals are distinguished into two sorts. Of the first sort, some are supposed to have been originally intended, either for miliaria, which were scattered among the people on days of triumph, jubilees, and solemn processions, as is usual among us at the coronation: or for donativa, of which presents were made to princes, or their ambassadors, or to others in a way of honorary reward for some worthy action; as our Royal Society present every year a gold medal to one of its members who hath distinguished himself by some valuable discovery in natural philosophy. Others, which are of the most exquisite workmanship, are supposed to be testimonia probata monetæ; that is, essays of the workmanship of the mint-masters, which were presented to their princes and to persons of the highest quality.

The second sort, of which there is the greatest quantity, are taken to have been originally the current coin of their respective nations, but which through their scarcity are now laid up in the cabinets of the curious.

Ancient medals are often found in the ruins of great buildings, in Greece, Italy, and other countries; where they are picked up, chiefly after violent showers of rain, when being washed from the dirt, they are more easily discovered. They are often found in the earth, by ploughing or digging; sometimes singly, as having been dropped casually; sometimes in urns, which are filled with them. They are often also found in ancient Roman sepulchres; for instance, in the tumuli, or round mounts of earth, about 10 or 12 feet high, which are seen by the sides of public roads in some parts of England, particularly in Leicestershire. These tumuli are the sepulchres of Roman officers, who were buried there while their legions were in that country; and are generally found cupped at the top, by their having been dug for urns and medals. And for the most part wherever there have been towns or encampments of the Romans, many of their coins are discovered in the earth by ploughing or digging; particularly at Silchester in Hampshire, (the ancient Vindomis of the Romans, of which professor Ward has given an account in the Philosophical Transactions, no. 490.) great numbers have been found of all metals, and of all sizes. One gentleman in the neighbourhood is possessed of several hundreds collected from this Roman settlement, and many of them exceedingly well preserved. Nay, so extensive was the commerce of the Roman empire in its most flourishing state, that there is hardly a country in the world where its coins have not been discovered. Nor need we except even America, if we may depend on what Marinus Siculus relates in his history of Spain, cap. 19. viz., that a brass medal of the emperor Augustus was found in the gold mines of Brazil, and sent by the archbishop of the province to the pope.

As to the era of the invention of medals, or coins, see the articles Coins and Money.

The matter or substance of ancient medals is commonly one of the three metals signified by the three wise men, A's, which, on several coins, are placed after the name of the mint-master; namely, gold, silver, and copper or brass. Some medals, however, are said to have been found of iron. Yet it cannot be supposed, that, if there were such formerly, many of them can be now remaining; because that metal is so subject to decay with rust. There are many silver coins to be met with, debased below the proper standard. In the declension of the Roman empire, when there was a scarcity of the richer metals, this was sometimes done by authority, in order to raise money to pay the army; which at times occasioned seditions among them. For the like purpose, when our king James II. was distressed for money during the war in Ireland, he coined copper shillings and half-crowns. However, among the Romans, this was sometimes done clandestinely, by the knavery of the mint-masters or coiners; notwithstanding it was made a capital crime. Thus Pliny writes, that when M. Antoninus was triumvir, he mixed iron with the denarii, which should have been all silver. But the most common mixture in the base coin is that of copper or brass. We sometimes meet with old coins little better than lead; and some tell us, that Numa stamped money of leather; but no such coins are to be found at this day.

As for the æs, (the first and most common metal used in coinage,) it is distinguished into three sorts, viz., the red copper, the yellow or brass, and the pot-metal, which was copper mixed with tin or lead. Before Alex. Severus, most coins were of the two former sorts; but after him, almost all are of the last.

The second sort, or yellow, is also distinguished into the common brass, or kettle-metal; and the Corinthian brass, which is said by Pliny to be an accidental mixture of metal at the fack and burning of Corinth by Mummius the Roman, when the gold, silver, and brass statues, and all things made of metal, being melted and running together into low places, composed that mixed metal, which is of a much finer colour than common brass, and for its beauty hath been esteemed little inferior to gold. But some refiners, who have strictly examined this metal, can find no gold in it; and therefore justly look upon this account to be fabulous. Whether it was a mixed or simple metal, is not now known. If it was mixed, we have not been able to find so beautiful a composition; if simple, probably the mines that produced it have been long since exhausted.

There are also some medals composed of two different metals, not by melting them together, but either by plating over bras or iron with silver (a sort of false money that had its rise in the triumvirate of Augustus), or by laying a rim of a different metal round the edge of a medal. Medals of this sort, which are all of the larger size, are called by the antiquarians contorniati, from which is derived the French word contour, signifying the outline that determines and defines a figure. It cannot be supposed these were ever intended for common coin, because the workmanship of them would come to more than they would be worth in currency. Nor are they supposed to be very ancient: Father Hardouin allows them no higher antiquity than the 13th century; others date them from the fifth; and others make them as ancient as the time of Nero.

Secondly, The size of the ancient medals is from three inches to a quarter of an inch. Those of the larger size, or volume, as the medallists express it, some of which weigh two ounces and a half, are called medallions: of which sort scarcely any are to be met with in gold, few in silver, but many in copper. These are not supposed to have ever been current coin; but to be struck on such particular occasions, and for such purposes, as our modern medals are. As to the size of other medals, there is almost an endless variety between the greatest and the least. However, they are ranked in three classes, viz. large, middle, and small; though it is sometimes difficult to assign a particular medal to its proper class. The class of a medal is not so much determined by its breadth and thickness, as by the head that is stamped upon it. So that in case one of the first size for breadth and substance bears a head no bigger than one of the middle size, or bronze as they call it, it is to be ranked in the middle class.

Thirdly, The shape of medals is round, or rather roundish; for the ancients had not the way of making their money so perfectly round as ours. The two sides or tables of the medal are distinguished into the face and the reverse; the face bearing the chief figure, as the portrait of some emperor, or other illustrious person: the reverse, some emblem, inscription, or other device, of which we shall treat further on.

Medals may be distinguished, 1. By the metal of which they are made. 2. By their different sizes. 3. By the nation to which they belonged. 4. By the ages in which they were struck.

The two former distinctions have been already considered; and as to the third, we propose to treat only of the Greek and Roman medals, and chiefly of the latter. Here again it will be convenient to distinguish medals into two classes, viz. those of the state, and those of particular cities and colonies: for, besides the money coined by the state, it appears, that divers cities and colonies had the privilege of coining; where it is probable the chief magistrate was the mint-master. Father Hardouin has published a large catalogue of Grecian and Roman medals of this sort, in a quarto volume, intitled, Nummi antiqui populorum et urbis illustratis; which is a valuable work; but it would have been much more entertaining and useful, if he had explained the devices and inscriptions of all the medals in his catalogue, as he has done of some of them. However, this Mr. Vaillant has done in two volumes of the Latin colonies, in which he has also given us cuts of the medals themselves.

Among the Roman colonies, some had jus civitatis, that is, the right of Roman citizens; which consisted in a capacity of standing for all offices of state, and of enjoying all other privileges of the citizens of Rome. Such a colony was called municipium. Of this kind was Philippi: therefore the Philippians call themselves Romans, Acts xvi. 21.: While other colonies, according to Ulpian, had little more than the name; enjoying only what they call jus Italicum, or jus Latii; that is, they were free from the tributes and taxes paid by the provinces, and were capable of serving in the Roman legions. The former were more properly called colonies; the latter, only free cities.

The medals belonging to cities were so numerous, that above 200 may still be collected of the Greek cities only. Nay, not only had several cities, both among the Greeks and Romans, the privilege of coining money, but generals of armies frequently did it for the speedy payment of their troops. And it should seem by a passage of Suetonius, in his life of Tiberius, cap. 49. that this liberty was sometimes granted to private persons; for he there speaks of Vereites immunitates, et jus metallorum et vestigialium pluribus civitatibus et privatis adempta. But may it not admit of a query, whether the coins thus privately struck were intended as money for public use, or only for such purposes for which medals among us are often struck by private hands. And if the latter be the case, we can the better account for the vast variety of devices and mottoes we find upon medals of the same reign, and why so many of them appear without any of those marks of public authority which others have.

Fourthly, Medals are ranked in different classes according to the ages when they were struck, as the time of the kings, the consuls, and the emperors.

1. Of the first sort, viz. medals of the kings, we have a great many Greek ones; of which M. Vaillant has given us a catalogue, with cuts of above 120 of them. Those of the kings of Macedonia yield in nothing to the most exquisite workmanship of the Romans. There are also coins still extant, of the kings of Pontus, Capadocia, Bithynia, and many others. But we have no Roman medals struck in the time of their kings; though many with their portraits upon them. They were struck by their descendants in after-ages, in honour of their royal ancestors, and in order to eternalize the nobility of their own families. Thus we have a medal of Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, which was struck by L. Marcius Philippus, one of his descendants, who was consul U. C. 662, about 500 years after the death of Ancus.

2. Consular medals, or those that were struck during the government of the consuls, from the expulsion of Tarquin the last king, to the beginning of the empire under Julius Caesar, containing the space of 494 years.

The number of Roman medals still extant, supposed to have been struck in this interval, amount to about 1500; most of them silver, and of the smaller size: for of this class we do not find above 50 or 60 in gold, and hardly more than 250 in copper; of which metal there are indeed some of all the three sizes.

As the consular medals have transmitted to us the names of several Roman families, they are called family... Some have supposed these names to be those of the consuls, under whose respective government the medals are coined. But that does not seem to have been the case; for we have no medals that bear the name of the first consul for more than 200 years. And as for those which bear the name of such persons as we learn from the Fasti were consuls, yet they do not seem to have been struck in the time of their consulship; for we have often the letters Q or P after the name, signifying quæstor or praetor, (which was an office incompatible with the consulship,) and sometimes triumvir; these names therefore were more probably, either the names of the triumviri, who coined the pieces; or of their illustrious ancestors, many of whom had been consul, whose names and memory they endeavoured by this means to perpetuate.

The consular medals are reckoned to be the most ancient of the Roman coins now extant; and yet those of copper and silver are not supposed to be more ancient than the 484th year of Rome, nor those of gold than the year 546. Whatever medals, therefore, are produced of an older date, are looked upon as spurious.

2. Imperial medals, down from Julius Caesar, (who put an end, though not to the name, yet to the power of the consuls) to the end of the Roman greatness, are distinguished into those of the Higher and Lower empire: the Higher Empire being reckoned from Julius Caesar to the 30 tyrants inclusive, or at least to the end of the third century of the Christian era; the Lower Empire from thence to the end of the ninth century, none latter being accounted ancient. Nor are the classes of modern medals reckoned to begin till the 15th century. As for those that were struck in the intermediate ages betwixt the 9th and the 15th, they are so extremely rude and barbarous, that they deserve no regard. It was not till the 13th century that the curiosity of medals, either as to the making or study of them, began to revive; being first set on foot by certain painters, Pisani, Boldae, and others. Towards the middle of that age some medals were struck with considerable elegance both of design and relief; as one of Ferdinand king of Aragon, anno 1449; and another of John emperor of Constantinople, ten years before. But to return to the ancient medals.

The gradual declension of the Roman taste and politeness is in nothing more sensible than in its coins; which in the time of the Lower Empire, in comparison of what they had been formerly, grow to be very mean. The bulk and size is thin and small; the relief so flat and low, and without any thing of that elegance we so justly admire in the device and inscriptions of those which were struck in the time of the Roman greatness. So that after medals came to be regarded and studied by the moderns, few persons troubled themselves with collecting those of the Lower Empire; until, by being neglected, some of them are become scarce, and on that account valuable. The whole number of different imperial medals, still extant, is reckoned by F. Joubert to be about 1000 or 1200 of gold, about 3000 of silver, and 6000 or 7000 of copper and brass.

The two tables or faces of medals are distinguished into the face and reverse; each of which usually bears a figure and inscription; sometimes, indeed, you have a figure without any inscription; and sometimes an inscription without any figure.

The circular inscription near the edge of a medal is called the legend. That on the face commonly contains the names, titles, offices, &c. of the person whose head it bears: That on the reverse, either some motto, referring to the virtues of the person to whose honour it was struck, to some great action which he has performed, or to the benefits which the public had reaped by him; or else, the legend is the name of some virtue, or deity, represented by the figure; or of some province, or country, represented by some symbol or emblem. Yet this distinction betwixt the two legends does not hold universally; for sometimes we find the titles occupying both tables, and sometimes the motto. I have said the legend is the circular inscription near the edge of the medal; but this is to be understood only in the general: some legends being placed in a right line, either above or below the figure; or part above, and part below; or upon the figure itself; and in several other forms, according to the fancy of the workman. The Latin legends are all read from the left to the right; but the legends of some Greek medals are wrote the contrary way, from the right to the left. The letters on the circular legends are commonly placed with the bottoms inward; but sometimes with the bottoms toward the edge.

Besides the two legends, there is on many medals a short inscription under the figure on the reverse, called the exergue or exergue, as being ἐκ τῆς εργασίας, "out of the work," from which it is frequently separated by a line over it. This exergue contains sometimes the date of the coin, expressing in what consulship of the emperor it was struck, as C O S. III. upon the reverse of Antoninus. Sometimes it signifies the place where it was struck, and to which the coin properly belonged, as S. M. A. L. for Signata moneta Alexandriæ, upon the reverse of Licinius; sometimes the name of a province, the reduction of which the medal is designed to celebrate; as Judæa, in the reverse of Vespasian. Sometimes S. C. is put in the exergue; and sometimes other letters, which the modern medallists are not able to explain. Besides the legends and exergue, you often meet with other letters on the table, or field; as the S. C. on the Roman medals; L. on Greek medals, with some other letter or letters expressing the date. The Roman L being the ancient Greek Λ, is here said to stand for λοχαιμενός, a poetical word for anno.

Let us now attend to the figures we see on ancient coins.

1st. On the face, where we commonly have the portrait of some great and illustrious person; usually, if not always, in profile. The consular medals have commonly the heads of some of their gods; or of their ancient kings; or of Rome, which is a manly face wearing a helmet to express her warlike genius, and winged to denote her speedy and extensive conquests. The heads of the Roman kings are for the most part dressed with a diadem; which was nothing more than a fillet bound round the head, the ends of which, being tied in a knot behind, fell down upon the neck.—This was the proper badge and ornament of kings, and was never worn by any of the emperors till after Con- Constantine, when it was enriched with pearls and diamonds.

Julius Cæsar was the first among the Romans who struck his own head upon the coin, in which he was followed by all the succeeding emperors. The proper dress of the imperial head is a crown, for the most part of laurel; the right of wearing which was decreed to Julius Cæsar by the senate, and afterwards continued to his successors. Besides these, several other crowns, of different fashions, are found on medals; such as the rostral crown, composed of the prows of ships, which was given upon a naval victory; the mural crown, composed of towers; the reward of such as had taken cities, and also the ornament of their tutelar deities. Crowns of rays were bestowed on princes when they were deified, either before or after their death; as being properly the ornament of the gods: Some have supposed the Gentiles took the hint of these radiated crowns from some tradition of the shining of Moses's face, which is mentioned, Exod. liv. 29.; and this phenomenon they conceived of as occasioned by beams or rays of light darting from his head. Indeed this seems to have been likewise the notion of the Vulgate translator, who renders the word ἀκτίναι, cornuta; not, surely, imagining that Moses was really horned, but that he appeared with rays of light, like horns, emitted from his head.

The emperor Justinian was the first who used an arched crown, surmounted with a cross; such as is wore by Christian kings at this day. Some heads of emperors are wholly naked; there are such of Augustus, Nero, Galba, and some others: Though more commonly a naked head, struck in the imperial ages, is a sign that it is not the head of an emperor, but of one of his sons, or the presumptive heir of the empire.

The heads of the gods are distinguished by their proper crowns; as a crown of ears of corn is a symbol of Ceres; a crown of flowers denotes Flora; a crown of vine-leaves or ivy is the dress of Bacchus; the patera, or hat with two wings, belongs to Mercury; the hat without brims is the mark of Vulcan, &c.

Heads are not only distinguished by their dress, but sometimes by certain symbols attending them; as when we see the lictor, or augural staff, placed by the head; which is the symbol of the pontifex maximus. But such symbols are more commonly found on the reverse, which we shall treat of hereafter.

The ancient coins present us not only with the portraits of kings and emperors, and other great men; but also of queens, and other ladies of high rank, chiefly the wives of the emperors. This honour of having their heads stamped on the coin, was done them either in their lifetime, or after their death; as on occasion of their apotheosis, or consecration, signified by peacocks on the reverse. The face of some medals is charged with two heads, which are either set face to face, as on the medals of Severus and the empress Domna; or back to back, as on the medal of Julius Cæsar and Octavianus (afterwards called Augustus) his adopted son and successor; struck by the Colonia Nemausensis, in honour of Augustus, upon his defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra, whereby he subdued all Egypt to the Roman power, signified by the device of a crocodile chained to a palm-tree. Some are stamped with three heads, or more, on the face; but these are very uncommon.

We have observed before, that the titles are generally upon the face of the medal; and we now proceed to consider them more particularly.

The titular addition to the proper name of the person whose head the medal bears, usually consists partly, of mere titles of honour; such as Imperator, Cæsar, Augustus, given to all the Roman emperors after Octavianus. The title of Augustus was first decreed to him by the Roman senate, and was assumed by all his successors, as Augusta was by their wives. Cæsar was originally the cognomen of the first Roman emperor C. Julius Cæsar; which, by a decree of the senate, all succeeding emperors were to bear. But when the title Augustus was conferred upon his immediate successor, the title Cæsar was given to the second person of the empire, as to the presumptive heir of the crown; notwithstanding it still continued to be applied to the emperor himself. Hence we see the difference between Cæsar used simply, and Cæsar with the addition of Imperator Augustus.

Imperator was originally an appellation with which the soldiers complimented a victorious general; but it afterwards came to denote the supreme commander, or head of the empire. However, when we find a number added to Imperator, as IMP. III. or IIII., it signifies that he had acted as general in the army, and had been saluted Imperator by the soldiers, as many times as the number expresses.

In the lower empire, the title Dominus was first assumed by Aurelian, and used by his successors; on whose coins we often see the legend begin with D. N. for dominus noster. Other titles, affixed to proper names, are a sort of surnames, which the person's virtues are supposed to have gained him: as Pius, a title first given to Antoninus; which Commodus also assumed, and added Felix to it; for which a thousand abuses were passed upon him. Again, Pater Patriae was a title first bestowed on Cicero, for his discovering and defeating the conspiracy of Catiline; and was afterwards assumed by the emperors. Pescennius took upon him the surname of Justus; and Diocletian, those of Beatusimus and Felicissimus; Trajan had the titles Optimus and Clemens decreed him by the senate. Constantine called himself Maximus; and Victorinus affected the title of Invictus. Other titles, again, are the names of offices; as Consul, which, in the time of the emperors, was little, if anything more than a mere name; however, the people were fond of keeping it up, accounting it some remains or mementos of their ancient liberty; and therefore the emperors submitted to be chosen consuls by the people. The number which we often see added to COS. signifies how many times the person had been thus elected: yet it is plain this election was not always made annually, as in the time of the proper consuls; for the emperor Hadrian's medals have for several years together COS. III. upon them.

Another title of office is Tribunitia Potestas; which, in the time of the Roman commonwealth, was the highest authority; for the tribunes of the people had power to annul the decrees of the senate, and nothing could could be concluded without their consent: nay, they have sometimes called the consuls and dictators to account for their conduct before the people.—This power and title was first assumed by the emperor Augustus; and afterwards, generally, by his successors.

The year of the tribuneship is commonly expressed after the title, as TRIB. POT. X. or XVI. &c., which yet does not always denote the year of the emperor's reign: for sometimes, though rarely, this power was given to another besides the emperor; as to the presumptive heir of the empire. Hence it is that the year of the TRIB. POT. expressed in the title, is sometimes a much higher number than the year of the emperor's reign. Thus Vespasian gave the Tribunitia Potestas to his son Titus, two years after he was made emperor. We therefore see on the medals of Titus, TRIB. POT. X. or XV., though he reigned but three years after his father. Other examples of the same kind occur in Marcus Aurelius, Caracalla, Geta, &c. The office of Pontifex Maximus was also constantly assumed by the Roman emperors, and generally expressed among their titles, from Augustus down to Constantine, by whom it was refused. It was afterwards reassumed by Julian, but quite laid aside by Gratian; after whom no emperor has P. M. in his titles. Julius Caesar assumed the title of Didator Perpetuus. Claudius took upon him the office of Censor, and Domitian made himself Censor Perpetuus; as appears upon their coins.

It is to be observed, that these names and titles are expressed in different cases. Sometimes in the nominative cases, as Caesar Augustus. Sometimes in the genitive, as Divi Iulii; which case is chiefly used in the Greek medals, as Basileus Alexandros; as if Αλεξάνδρου was understood; that is, the image or coin of Alexander. Sometimes the name is put in the dative case; as IMP. Nervae, Trajanoe, Germanicoe, &c. It is rarely put in the accusative, in the Latin; though there is an instance of that sort in a medal of Gallienus, inscribed Gallienum Augustum; but it is more common in the Greek.

The titles are hardly ever wrote at length, but contractedly, by one or more of the initial letters of each word; as A U G. for Augustus; C A E S. for Caesar; C A E S S. for Caesaris; C O S S. for Consulis; P. P. for Pater Patriae; P. F. for Pius Felix, &c. Mr Patin, in his Historia Numismatum, hath given us a table of Roman abbreviations used on medals; which Mr Evelyn, in his Numismata, hath somewhat enlarged. You have also a table of a great number of these abbreviations at the end of Ainworth's and Littleton's Dictionaries.

Secondly, We proceed to take a view of the reverse of medals, in which the chief erudition of this science lies.

Of these there is such a vast variety, especially of the imperial medals, that one is at a loss which to single out for a specimen of the whole. As for the consular medals, which we shall treat of in the first place, the same reverse is common to many of them; as Caius and Pollux on horseback, which is said to be the reverse that was first in use; then of Victory, or one of the gods, or the person to whose honour the medal was struck, driving a chariot with two or four horses, whence the Denarii with these reverses were distinguished into bigalli and quadrigati. The ratis alfo, or ship, or perhaps the prow of the ship, as the emblem of the naval power, was no uncommon reverse on the consular coins; whence the pieces with this impression were called ratiis. Besides these, such consular medals as bore on the face the impress of their ancient kings, often preferred on the reverse the memory of some worthy action they had performed; as that of king Ancus has, on the reverse, the famous Aqueduct, with the equestrian statue upon it, by which the aqua martia was brought nine miles to Rome, and which was begun by this Ancus. Medals struck on the occasion of founding colonies, have sometimes, on the reverse, a priest following a yoke of oxen, and perhaps with a plough, signifying the manner in which the boundaries of the colonies were marked out; or some say the oxen are designed to intimate, that the colony was planted by the common people, whereas the trophies we sometimes see on the reverses of these medals signify they were planted by the veteran soldiers.

The reverses of imperial medals are so different and various, according to the humours or fancies of the princes or mint-masters by whose direction they were struck, that one knows not how to range them into any class or order. However, the chief of them may be reduced to three heads, viz. figures, or personages; public monuments, or buildings; and inscriptions.

1. The figures or personages, which we so commonly see on the reverses of medals, are sometimes of princes; sometimes the same in miniature, whose portrait is more at large on the face: as on the reverses of the emperors of the family of Constantine, one often sees the emperor standing with a labarum in his right hand, and a globe surmounted with a Victory in his left. The labarum was the imperial standard, embroidered and set with precious stones; which in the time of the Christian emperors, instead of an eagle formerly embroidered upon it, had the monogram of Jesus Christ; viz. the two first letters of the word χριστος, expressed in a cipher thus χ. Sometimes the emperor appears in the reverse, disguised under the figure of some god; as on the reverse of a Diocletian, who had assumed the name of Jovius, he appears in the figure of Jupiter sitting in a chair with a globe in his hand surmounted with a Victory: the legend, Jovi, H. U. CC. i.e. Hoc voluntur consules. Sometimes the figure on the reverse, is some relation of that on the face; as Augustus on the reverse of Julius, and Claudius on the reverse of his mother Antonia. We sometimes see on the reverse the figure of some god, either of him to whose worship the emperor was more especially devoted; or of him whose protection and blessing was in a peculiar manner supplicated for him: as Minerva on the reverse of a Domitian; and on the reverse of a Mar. Aurelius, the goddess Salus, with a patera in her hand, sacrificing to Aelius, who was worshipped in the form of a serpent. Again, the virtues for which the emperor was or desired to be celebrated, are not uncommonly expressed by the figures on reverses; as Virtue, or Courage, on the reverse of a Domitian, represented by a bold armed woman with a spear in her right hand and a parazonium in her left; the legend, Viri Augusti. Liberty on the reverse of Commodus, carrying in her right hand the cap of liberty, and in her left the wand called rudis vindicta, which was laid on the head of a slave when he was made free: Equity, on the reverse of a Vespasian, with a spear in her right hand and a balance in her left.

The virtues of the ladies are also celebrated on the reverses of their medals; as Piety on the reverse of a Faustina, in the habit of a vestal virgin, strewing frankincense on an altar; Fecunditas on the reverse of another medal of the same lady; Spes Reipublicae on the reverse of Maximiana Fausta, second wife of Constantine the Great; expressed by a female figure, with a helmet on to represent the Republic, and two children at her breasts. Mr Addison has given us a collection of these sorts of figures in his first Series.

Provinces are also represented by figures and personages; to signify either the emperor's conquests, or his care of them: as Judæa, on the reverse of a Vespasian, sitting in a melancholy posture at the bottom of a pillar adorned with trophies, to signify her captive state. Dacia, on the reverse of Hadrianus, sitting on a rock, holding an eagle in her right hand, and a branch in her left. Italia, on the reverse of Commodus, with a cornucopia in her right hand, to denote her fruitfulness; a crown of towers on her head, to figure out the many cities that stand upon her; a sceptre in her left hand, and sitting on a globe, to show she is sovereign of nations. See a collection of these sort of figures in Mr Addison's third Series.

Sometimes the figure is intended to immortalize some worthy action of the emperor. As his enriching the nation, or his care about the public coin, is signified, on the reverse of a Domitian, by the goddess Moneta, with a cornucopia in her left hand, and a balance in her right. On reverses we have not only a variety of single figures; but sometimes two, three, or more; as Honos and Virtud on the reverse of Galba, in Mr Addison's first Series, medal the second. And on a medal of Trajan's are seen three kings, and the emperor crowning them. On one of Hadrian's there are eight figures, but without any legend to explain them; and on one of Commodus there are ten.

Before we dismiss this head concerning the figures of medals, it will be proper to take notice of other animals, often met with on reverses, which have also their signification; as the eagle and the peacock denote the consecration of princes and princesses, when they are admitted into the number of the gods; the crocodile is the symbol of Egypt; a serpent, of Æsculapius; Arabia is marked by a camel; Spain by a rabbit, (a creature which abounds in that country); Mauritania is known by a horse and switch, signifying the swiftness of its coursers; elephants in trappings are to be seen on the reverse of an Antoninus Pius and a Severus, which imports that these emperors procured those creatures to entertain the people at the public shows. We have also fabulous animals and monsters; as the griffin on the reverse of a medal of Gallienus; a centaur on another of the same emperor; and a phoenix on some medals of Constantine and his sons; to denote, what it seems they hoped for and expected, the perpetuity of the Empire.

2. The second sort of reverses are public monuments and buildings; as the temple of Janus shut, on the reverse of a Nero, to signify the universal peace he gave to the empire; the macellum, (or a view of the shambles which he caused to be built for the convenience of the public), on another of the same emperor; the sumptuous bridge which Trajan built over the Tiber, adorns the reverse of one of his medals; the amphitheatre of Titus, and his naval column, are to be seen on his. The port, or gate of a city, which is found on the reverse of some medals, with the legend PROVIDENTIA AUGUSTI, or CÆSARIS, is a monument of the emperor's munificence and care in providing a magazine of corn for the people in a time of scarcity. If a star appears over the gate, it denotes Constantinople. Such a reverse we have on the emperor Constantinus junior, the legend PROVIDENTIÆ CÆS.

3. The third sort of reverses are inscriptions on the table or field of the medal. Of this sort there are several Latin and Greek imperial medals, which have nothing on the reverse but S. C. or Δ. E. for δημοσίεις τιμές, inclosed in a crown. Others set forth great occurrences, as VICTORIA GERMANICA, IMP. VI. COS. III. on the reverse of M. Aurelius. Others have titles of honour granted to the princes; as S. P. Q. R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI, on the reverse of a Trajan, and also of an Antoninus Pius. Other inscriptions have respect to public vows, which were made for the emperor every ten years; or (sometimes in the lower empire) every five years; which, according to Mr Du Cange, had their rise from Augustus's pretending to be delirious of quitting the empire; but, at the request of the senate, he twice consented to continue the government for ten years longer; upon which it became a custom at every ten years, to make public prayers, sacrifices, and games, for the preservation of the emperor. Hence we see on the reverse of a Constantius, VOTIS XXX, MULTIS XXXXX, importing (probably) not only that he might reign 30 years, or 10 years more, from the time when the vows were made; namely, when he had already reigned 20 years; but that they engaged to make new vows at the expiration of 30 years, that he might reign 40 years; for it cannot mean that he had reigned 30 years at the time when the vows were made, since he died in the 26th year of his reign. This custom lasted until Theodosius; after whom no such epocha is to be found.

Besides the reverses which we have ranged into these value and three classes, there are many others which cannot be reduced to any of them; such as Addison calls riddles. For instance, on the reverse of an Augustus, Mercury in the form of a Terminus, standing on a thunderbolt; which was probably intended for a rebus, to express the sense of that emperor's motto, Felix lente. The Terminus was a figure, without either arms, hands, or feet; signifying, says Polybius, that all quarrels and contests about the limits and boundaries were determined. Instruments of religion were symbols of the Pontifex Maximus, and signified the piety of the prince on whose coin they were borne: thus upon a reverse of Nerva, we see the lituus, the fulpulum, the aepertarium, &c. Two hands joining one another, holding two ears of corn, and a caduceus betwixt them, on the reverse of a Titus, import the good harmony and union between the prince and the public; the peace arising from such an union, and the plenty which is the fruit of such a peace. See a collection of this sort of reverses in Addison's second Series.

The value of medals, in common computation, is rated not by the metal, or size, nor merely by their antiquity, but by their rarity. The metal is of so little consideration, that a copper medal is sometimes valued at a much higher rate than a silver or a gold one: for instance, the copper Otio, of the larger size, called a singular medal, because there is supposed to be but one, or however very few of them in the world, is of almost incalculable value; while a gold one shall not sell for above two or three guineas more than its weight: and if a piece of king Numa's leather money could now be found, it would, no doubt, be valued above any gold one. Such a singular coin is a silver Greek medallion of Pescennius, which is in the French king's cabinet. Hence the medals of those emperors who reigned a shorter time, are generally more valued than those that reigned longer; because there were fewer of them struck, and they are therefore the rarer. Yet sometimes an uncommon reverse shall give a great value to a medal, whose head, with another reverse, is very common.

In collecting of medals great caution is to be used that we are not imposed upon by counterfeits; especially of such medals as are scarce and rare. For that purpose we must attend to the field, and observe whether it is smooth, and free from marks of the sand which may commonly be seen on cast medals: to the letters and figures, which are never so sharp and clean in cast medals as in stamped ones; to the edges, to observe whether there be any marks of the file, which has been used in a cast medal, especially in that part where the metal ran into the mould. We are to observe again, whether there be any cracks in the edges; for though the absence of them be no certain sign of a counterfeit; yet, when they are found, they are looked upon as pretty good indications of the medal's being genuine. But nothing is more to be regarded than the colour and varnish, especially of copper medals; many of which have a certain inimitable varnish and polish; some green, some blue, others of a reddish brown; which, whether it was given them by art, or has been contracted by age, is not absolutely determined: though the latter seems more probable, since all the art of the falsifiers, whether by sal ammoniac, vinegar, burning paper upon them, burying them in the earth, or any other way, has by no means equalled it. There is indeed a green varnish which is commonly used for this purpose, that is pretty enough; but it is too bright and glaring; so that a little experience will enable a person to distinguish it from the antique.

Secondly, As to the use of ancient medals, besides a thousand little imperfections, as Addison calls them, that are very gratifying to curiosity, such as the dress of the most celebrated ladies of antiquity, the flattering titles affected by this and the other emperors, and the honours he paid to his family and friends; they serve especially to represent, to us the features and lineaments of many illustrious personages. But besides these and many other like matters of mere, yet very entertaining curiosity, they are capable of several more substantial uses; concerning which the learned Spanheim has published a large volume, De Preflantia et usu Numismatum Antiquorum; for instance, they are of very considerable service in history; for besides, that many facts and events not recorded by any of the ancient historians may be collected from them, they throw great light on several obscure passages in those writers. And indeed there is hardly any considerable event in the Grecian or Roman history, to which some reference may not be found in the coins of those nations. So that a cabinet of medals may be considered as in a manner a body of history; being conversant with which will fix historical facts and circumstances upon the memory with more ease, as well as give a greater degree of certainty concerning them than books alone will ordinarily do.

Chronology receives not a little aid from medals, as they not only perpetuate the memory of illustrious actions, but often mark the year when they were performed.

Geography has been greatly beheld to this science, for ascertaining the names of ancient places; the founders of cities and colonies; and sometimes their situation, by their neighbourhood of some noted river, mountain, &c. expressed by some device on a medal.

By the help of medals we discover what honours and privileges certain cities were anciently possessed of. For instance, we learn from them what cities, beside Rome, had the privilege of Roman citizens. The honour of a city's being ἐπίσημος, is celebrated on many Grecian medals; which imports that it had a temple in it; where the solemn sacrifices of the whole province were performed for their prince, and public games were exhibited to his honour, as often as his permission could be obtained for that purpose. Hence we see on some medals ΔΙΚ, ΤΡΙΚ, ΤΕΤΤΑΡΙΚ, &c. ΝΕΑΚΟΡΩΝ, for though the word ἐπίσημος, derived from ἐπί, temple, and σῆμα, verbo, purgo, doubtless imported originally a mean office, namely, that of sacrificarii, or sextons; yet in time it came to be a term or title of honour, importing not only the celebration of the games (as we have laid before), but also the religious devotion of a city to some deity; which sense it is applied to the city of Ephesus, Acts xix. 35. said to be ἐπίσημος τῆς παναγίας ὁμός ἀγριατικής, and τῆς ἀγριατικῆς; and therefore more properly rendered in that place εὐλογεῖν in the vulgate, and εὐλογεῖν in our English translation, than εὐλογεῖν, as in Beza and in some others.

We learn also from medals, in many cases, which was the chief city or metropolis of a province; and in what sense a city is called ἐπίσημος when it was not the metropolis, as Philippi is said to be ἐπίσημος τῆς Μακεδονίας ὁμός, ἀγριατικής, Acts xvii. 12. That Philippi was a Roman colony, appears from a medal struck in the reign of Claudius, with this legend, COL. AUG. IVL. PHILIP. that is Colonia Augustia Julia Philippi, or Philippensis. And in what sense this city was ἐπίσημος πόλις, though Thessalonica was undoubtedly the metropolis or chief city of the province, may be gathered from the use of the word ἐπίσημος, as applied to several other cities on ancient coins: as in the pro-consular Asia, not only Ephesus which was the chief city, but Smyrna and Pergamus, have the title ἐπίσημος; and Medallion, in Bithynia, not only Nicomedia, which was the metropolis, but Nicaea is also called Σύρα. Now, Spainheim shews, that this title, when thus applied to inferior cities, refers to the games which several cities joined in supporting; and of which one was the πολιτεία. In this sense Philippi was the πολιτεία τῶν Ἀπόστωλος (not τῆς Ἀπόστολους, but τῆς Ἀπόστολους) of a particular district of Macedonia.

We have not yet mentioned all the arts and sciences which receive light and aid from medals. Sculpture and painting have revived, in later ages, along with this study; to which those arts are greatly indebted for noble hints and patterns. The same may be said of architecture, which now borrows its finest ornaments from the plans and models of ancient temples, ports, triumphal arches, and other public edifices, preferred on medals. Mr Addison has abundantly convinced us of their use to explain numerous passages in the classics. By their means the natural philosopher also acquaints himself with a great variety of foreign plants and animals. And the divine not only finds the usefulness of medals, for explaining and illustrating several texts of Scripture, as we have seen above; but hereby he informs himself of the ancient theology of the Greeks and Romans: here he sees the gods they worshipped, and their attributes expressed in significant emblems; here he sees their altars and adorations, and the instruments with which they performed their sacred rites. Upon the whole, therefore, though it cannot be denied that some persons have carried the study of medals to a ridiculous extravagance, yet it by no means deserves to be treated with the contempt it is by others, or to be wholly neglected.

Impression of Medals. See Casting.