EDALS.

MEDAL denotes 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 methalia; a sort of coin with a human head upon it. But the opinion of Vossius is generally received; viz. that it comes from metallium, "metal;" of which substance medals are commonly made.

Sect. I. Utility of Medals in History, and various other Sciences.

There are few studies of more importance to history than that of medals; the sole evidence we can have of the veracity of a historian being only such collateral documents as are evident to every body, and cannot be falsified. In modern times, these are found in public memoirs, instructions to ambassadors, and state papers of various kinds. Such memorials, however, are subject to various accidents, and besides commonly remain in the countries where they are first published, and cannot therefore give to the world at large that perfect and entire satisfaction which ought to be derived from genuine history; so that more durable and widely diffused monuments are still to be wished for. Such are public buildings, inscriptions, and statues; but these, excepting a few instances of the two last, are always confined to particular countries; so that medals alone remain as infallible documents of truth, capable of being diffused over all countries in the world, and of remaining through the latest ages.

The first who showed the importance of medals in ascertaining the dates, and arranging the order of events, in ancient history, by means of medals, was Vaillant, in his History of the Kings of Syria, printed at Paris in 1681. By medals alone, he has been enabled to fix the chronology and important events of history, in the three most ancient kingdoms of the world, viz. Egypt, Syria, and Parthia. Many coins have been discovered since his time, which confirm the accounts he has given. He was followed in this method by Father Hardouin, though with less success. Hardouin's best work is his Herodiades, or Series of Successors to Herod king of Judæa. The same plan was pursued by Noris, in his learned Treatise on the Syro-Macedonian princes, and by Bayer in his History of Osrhoene, as well as by Freulich, in the work entitled Annales Regum et Rerum Syrie, Vien. 1754, and another named Kevenhullers Regum veterum Numismata Anecdota, anet. Perrara, Vien. 1752, 4to, of which Freulich was properly the author. Corsini and Cary likewise published works of a similar nature; the former in 1744, De Minnifari, aliorumque Armeniae Regum, Nummis, &c.; the latter in 1752, Histoire des Rois de Thrace, et du Bosphore Cimmerien, eclaircie par les Medailles.

The study of the Greek coins does not show the dates of events, though it illustrates the chronology of reigns. This defect, however, is abundantly supplied by those of Rome, which commonly mark the date of the prince's consulship, the year of his tribunician power; giving also, upon the reverse, the representation or poetical symbol of some grand event. The year of the tribunician power is sometimes imagined by antiquaries to be synonymous with that of the emperor's reign: but this is not the case; and Mr Pinkerton is at some pains to set them right in this respect. He finds fault with Julius Caesar, when he assumed the sovereign authority, for taking upon him the title of Perpetual Dictator, as being synonymous with that of king or absolute governor, which the Romans abhorred. "He ought (says our author), under the disguise of some supreme magistrate of annual election, to have lulled the people with a dream, that they might terminate his power when they pleased; or that he himself would resign it, when the necessities of state which had required his temporary elevation had subsided." To this error Mr Pinkerton ascribes the assassination of the dictator, and commends the policy of Augustus, who, with far inferior abilities, continued in possession of the most absolute authority as long as he lived. The tribuneship was an office of annual election; and if put into the hands of any others than plebeians, must have been the supreme power of the state, as it belonged to that office to put a negative upon every public measure whatever. Augustus, being of senatorial rank, could not assume this office; but he invested himself with the tribunician power, which had the advantages of appearing to be only a temporary supremacy, though in truth it was continued during his whole lifetime. Towards the end of his reign, he frequently assumed his destined successor, Tiberius, for his colleague, though in the beginning he had enjoyed it alone. This, with his artifice of resigning his power every ten years, and reassuming it at the desire, as was pretended, of the senate, secured his sovereignty as long as he lived.—His example was followed by his successors; so that most of them have the inscription Tribunicia Potestate upon their medals, with the date affixed to it thus, Tr. Pot. VII. Yet though this date generally implies the year of the emperor's reign, it sometimes happens that the emperor, by special favour from a former prince, had been endowed with this title before he came to the throne, as being the successor to that prince, of which we have already given an instance in Tiberius. Besides the tribunician power, the emperors very frequently enjoyed that of the consuls; and the date of their consulship is frequently expressed in their coins.

The office of Pontifex Maximus was likewise assumed by the Roman emperors, in order to secure themselves in their authority; which, Mr Pinkerton observes, was one of the most efficacious artifices they could have fallen upon. "In the Greek heroic times..." (says he), king and priest were carefully united in one person; and when sovereigns arose in Denmark and Sweden, the same plan was followed, as appears from Snorro, and other writers. Nothing could lend more security to the person of the monarch than an office of supreme sanctity, which also confirmed his power by all the terrors of superstition. Even the Christian system was afterwards debased by a mock alliance with government; though it be clear from the whole New Testament, that such an alliance is subversive of its genuine institution, and the greatest of all its corruptions. But the Roman Catholic clergy, in the dark ages, were the authors of 'no church no king,' for their own interest; while the Roman emperors only sought to strengthen their power by the dark awe of superstition. The title of Pontifex Maximus was so important, that it was retained even by the Christian emperors till the time of Gratian. Its influence in the state was, indeed, prodigious. Cicero observes, that to this office were subject, temples, altars, penates, gods, houses, wealth, and fortune of the people.—That of augur is also borne by many emperors; and its authority was such, that by the law of the twelve tables no public business could be transacted without a declaration from the augur concerning its event.—The proconsular power was also given to Augustus and the other emperors. It conferred a direct authority over all the provinces, and implied the emperor to be chief proconsul, or governor of each, and of all. Another special power assigned to the emperors, but not occurring on coins, was the Jus Relationis Tertiae, Quarta, &c. or the right of making three or four motions in the senate on the same day, while the senators could only propose one.

Hence our author infers, that medals afford the most authentic documents of the Roman history, in particular, that could have been invented by man.—The histories of Nerva and Trajan are much better elucidated by medals than by authors; for the history of Suetonius ends with Domitian, and the Historia Augustae Scriptores begin with Adrian: so that the reigns of the two emperors just mentioned are almost unknown; and Mr Pinkerton is surprised that none of the learned have attempted to supply the defect.—"Capitolinus (says he), in his life of Maximinus Junior is quite puzzled to know if Maximus and Pupienus were two emperors, or two names for the same. Had it happened on any of those coins which bear M. C. Pupienus Maximus Aug. he would have seen at once that Maximus was only another name for Pupienus."

Medals are useful in other sciences besides history. In geography, we find the situation of towns determined by their vicinity to some noted river, mountain, &c. Thus, \(\text{ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ ΣΙΠΥΛΟΙ}\) shows that Magnesia was situated under Mount Sipylus. In like manner, it is shown from a medal, that Ephesus stood on the river Cayster; and there is extant a medal, bearing an inscription, which signifies Alexandria on the Scamander; a name given to Troy by Alexander the Great. The reverse has upon it the famous Apollo Smintheus of Homer. In natural history also, medals are useful chiefly from the coins struck on the celebration of the secular games, in which the figures of various animals are preserved; and thus it may very often be determined whether any animal be known to the ancients or not. On many of the Greek medals are several uncommon plants and animals. Thus, on most of the medals of Cyrene is the figure of the celebrated Sylphium; and on those of Tyre, the shell-fish from which the famous Tyrian purple was procured.

By means of medals, also, the exact delineations of many noble edifices are preserved, though not even a vestige of their ruins be now existing; so that the uses of them to the architect are very considerable. To the fine connoisseur they are absolutely necessary; because by them alone he is enabled to ascribe ancient busts and statues to their proper persons, with multitudes of other points of knowledge which cannot be otherwise determined. The elucidations of obscure passages in ancient authors by means of medals are so numerous and well known, that it is needless to insist upon them.

Mr Addison has treated the connexion betwixt medals and poetry at considerable length; but Mr Pinkerton finds fault with him for preferring the Latin to the Greek poets. He observes also, that the knowledge of Greek medals is most necessary for a sculptor, and perhaps an architect: but an acquaintance with Latin ones is preferable for a poet, or perhaps a painter. The reason of this difference is, that the former generally have on the obverse the head of some king, god, or goddess, of exquisite relief and workmanship; but the reverse seldom affords much fancy of symbol in the early Greek coins; and in the imperial Greek coins, is chiefly impressed with the temples of their deities. To a person of poetical imagination, however, the Roman coins afford the greatest entertainment, from the fine personifications and symbols to be found on their reverses; of which our author gives the following instances:

"Happiness has sometimes the caduceus, or wand of Mercury, which Cicero, i. Offic. tells us was thought to procure every wish. She has, in a gold coin of Severus, heads of poppy, to express that our prime bliss lies in oblivion of misfortune.

Hope is represented as a sprightly girl, walking quickly, and looking straight forward. With her left hand she holds up her garments, that they may not impede the rapidity of her pace; while in her right hand she holds forth the bud of a flower; an emblem infinitely more fine than the trite one of an anchor, which is the symbol of Patience, and not of Hope. This personification, with some others, must have been very familiar to the ancients; for often in this, and in a few more instances, no name, as Spes Aug. or the like, is inserted in the legend.

Abundance is imagined as a sedate matron, with a cornucopie in her hands, of which she scatters the fruits, and does not hold up her cornucopie and keep the contents to herself, as many modern poets and painters make her do.

The emperor Titus, having cause to import a great supply of corn during a scarcity at Rome, that supply, or the Annona, is finely represented as a sedate lady, with a filled cornucopie in her left hand, which she holds upright, to indicate that she does not, however, mean to scatter it, as Abundance has a title to do, but to give it to Equity to deal out. This last particular is shown by her holding a little image of Equity, Utility of Equity, known by her scales, and hasta pura, or point-them in Hi-less spear, in her right hand, over a basket filled with wheat. Behind the Annona is the prow of a ship decked with flowers, to imply that the corn was brought by sea (from Africa), and that the ships had had a prosperous voyage. The best poet in the world would not have given us a finer train of imagery; the best painter would have been puzzled to express so much matter in so small a compass.

"Security stands leaning upon a pillar, indicative of her being free from all designs and pursuits; and the posture itself corresponds to her name. Horace, in describing the wise man, mentions his being teres atque rotundus; round and polished, against all the rules of chance: an idea seemingly derived from the column upon which this ideal lady reclines.

"The emblems of Piety, Modesty, and the like, are equally apposite and poetical.

"The happiness of the state is pictured by a ship sailing before a prosperous breeze: an image than which the superlative genius of Gray could find none more exquisite; and he has accordingly used it in his most capital production "The Bard," with due success.

"The different countries of the then known world are also delineated with great poetical imagery. It affords patriotic satisfaction in particular to a Briton, to see his native island often represented upon the earliest imperial coins, sitting on a globe, with a symbol of military power, the labarum, in her hand, and the ocean rolling under her feet. An emblem almost prophetic of the vast power which her dominion over the sea will always give her, provided she exerts her element of empire with due vigour and perseverance.

"Coins also present us with Achaia, Africa, Alamannia, Alexandria, Arabia, Armenia, Asia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Dacia, Dardania, Egypt, Gallia, Hispania, Italia, Judea, Macedon, Mauritania, Pannonia, Parthia, Phrygia, Sarmatia, Sicily, Scythia, Syria, and the rivers Danube, Nile, Rhine, Tiber. This personification of provinces seems to have arisen from the figures of provinces carried in triumphs; as the personification of our old poets sprung from the ideal persons actually represented in the mystical plays.

"There is one colonial medal of rude execution of Augustus and Agrippa, which has a high claim to merit in displaying the ancient poetical imagery. It is inscribed IMP. and DIVI. F. and on the reverse, the conquest of Egypt is represented by the metaphor of a crocodile, an animal almost peculiar to that country, and at that period esteemed altogether so: which is chained to a palm tree, at once a native of the country, and symbolic of victory.

"As the reverses are so useful for knowledge of personification, symbols of countries and actions, and the like; so the portraits to be seen on old coins are no less important to a painter; the high merit of a great number of them, in every character, justly entitling them to be regarded as the best studies in the world. Not to mention, that, to an historic painter, the science of ancient medals is absolutely necessary, that he may delineate his personages with the features they really bore while in existence. This can only be attained in this way, or from statues and busts; any one of which will cost as much as hundreds of medals; Entertains indeed a collection of such is only attainable by men of study; princes.

The same things which render the study of medals important to a painter, do still more so to a sculptor; and, in this particular, the study of the Greek coins is To a so remarkably useful. The skill of the Greeks in the art of sculpture has always been admired throughout the world; and on their coins the heads of several deities are represented in the most exquisite alto relievo. Our author, therefore, thinks it strange, that the Grecian coins should have hitherto been so little attended to by men of learning and taste. They may have been looked upon, he supposes, as belonging only to the province of the antiquary; but he assures us, that the Greek medals will afford satisfaction to the persons who value them only as pieces of workmanship. In most respects, they greatly excel those of Rome even in its best times; which our author supposes to have been from the days of Augustus to Adrian. "In the days of Adrian," in particular (says he), the Roman mint seems to have been the very seat of art and genius; witness the vast number of exquisite personifications, engraven with equal workmanship, which swarm on the medals of that prince. Yet from his time down to Posthumus, coins of admirable workmanship are to be found. Those of the Faustinas and Lucilla deserve particular mention. There is one, and not an uncommon one, of the latter, in great brass, which yields to nothing of the kind. The reverse is a Venus with the name around her. The portrait of the obverse seems to spring from the field of the coin; it looks and breathes, nay talks, if you trust your eyes. The coins of Tarsus are extremely remarkable for a kind of perspective in the figures, as Froelich observes. On others are found triumphal arches, temples, fountains, aqueducts, amphitheatres, circi, hippodromes, palaces, basilicas, columns and obelisks, baths, sea-ports, pharoses, and the like. These furnish much pleasure and instruction to the architect, and serve to form his taste to the ancient manner; that manner which unites perfect simplicity with sublimity and grace; that manner which every age admires, in proportion as it has genius to imitate."

Sect. II. Entertainment arising from the Study of Medals.

Besides the purposes which the study of medals answers in the useful arts, a great variety of sources of entertainment are to be found in it. Mr Pinkerton observes, that the most barbarous nations are more pleased with the rudest efforts of art, than with the most admirable works of nature; and that in proportion as the powers of the mind are large and various, such are also the pleasures which it receives from those superlative productions of art, which can only be the offspring of vast genius. Hence works of art are agreeable both to the enlightened and to the ignorant. The chief amusement, therefore, which attends the study of medals, originates from the strength and spirit, the finish and beauty, which the engraver has displayed in the execution of them. It besides gives a kind of personal acquaintance with the persons of whom they are the representations. Portraits have always been The study of medals is not of very ancient date: None of the classic writers give any account of collections of them; though indeed many little particulars are passed without notice by them. In the times of the Greeks, a collection of such coins as then existed must have been but little regarded, as consisting only of those struck by the numerous little states which at that time used the Greek characters and language. Hence they would have had an air of domestic coinage, and no attention would have been paid to them, however exquisite their workmanship might have been. The little intercourse at that time carried on betwixt the different provinces also, greatly impeded any communication of knowledge to those who wrote histories; so that it is no wonder to find any small collections that might then have existed altogether unnoticed by them.

Almost as soon as any communication was opened between the Greeks and Romans, the latter treated the arts of the Greeks with all due respect and applause. Their coins were imitated by the Romans, and preserved in cabinets by the senators among their choicest treasures. Suetonius informs us, that on solemn occasions Augustus was accustomed to present his friends with medals of foreign states and princes, along with other valuable testimonies of his friendship. In a more advanced period of the Roman empire, however, individuals would undoubtedly form collections of coins peculiar to their own state; for Dr Stukeley, in his Medallie History of Carausius, informs us, that a complete series of silver coins was lately found in Britain, containing all the emperors down to Carausius inclusively. From Banduri we also know, that certain Greek coins were specially preserved by the Romans; and it appears from their code, that ancient gold and silver coins were made use of instead of gems; to which distinction those of Sicily were particularly entitled. From the decline of the Roman empire till towards the end of the fifth century, almost all branches of literature were involved in darkness, and the medallie science among the rest. While the Christian dominion of Constantinople lasted, indeed, almost all the arts and sciences may be said to have been kept within its own boundaries; though the Arabs and eastern nations had some arts and sciences of their own: but after the destruction of the imperial city by the Turks, the Greeks were once more compelled to become fathers to the European science. Even before this time, indeed, some vestiges of a revival of literature had appeared in Italy; and so intimate and necessary a connexion (says Mr Pinkerton), has now the study of medals with that of ancient erudition, that on the earliest appearance of a revival of the latter, the former was also disclosed."

The first among the moderns who began to study the medallie science was Petrarch. Being desired by the emperor Charles IV. to compose a book containing the lives of eminent men, and to place him in the list, he replied, that he would do so whenever the emperor's life and conduct deserved it. In consequence of this conversation, he afterwards sent the emperor a collection of gold and silver coins bearing the representations sentations of eminent men, with an address suitable to his former declaration. A collection of coins was made in the next age by Alphonso king of Arragon; but though this monarch collected all that could be found throughout Italy, we know that there could not have been very many, as the whole were contained in an ivory cabinet, and carried always about with him.

A very considerable collection was made by Anthony Cardinal St Mark, nephew to Eugene IV, who ascended the pontifical chair in 1431; and soon after the grand museum at Florence was begun by Cosmo de Medici, where a collection of ancient coins and medals had a place among other curiosities. Corvinus king of Hungary about the same time formed a noble collection of coins along with ancient manuscripts and other valuable relics of antiquity.

Mr Pinkerton considers Agnolo Poliziano, more commonly known by the name of Angelus Politianus, as the first writer who adduced medals as vouchers of ancient orthography and customs. He cites different coins of the Medicean collection in his Miscellanea written about the year 1490. By means of a cabinet of medals collected by Maximilian I, emperor of Germany, Joannes Hutichins was enabled to publish a book of the lives of the emperors, enriched with their portraits, delineated from ancient coins. It is generally supposed that this book, which appeared in 1525, was the first work of the kind; but Labbe, in his Bibliotheca Nummaria, mentions another named Illustrium Imagines, by one Andreas Fulvius, printed in 1517, in which most of the portraits seem to be from medals. About the year 1512 also, Guillaume Bude, a French author, had written his treatise De Asse, though it was not printed till many years afterwards.

M. Grolier, treasurer of the French armies in Italy, during part of the 16th century, had a great collection of coins of different kinds of metals. After his death, his brass medals were sent to Provence, and were about to be sent into Italy; when the king of France, having got information of the transaction, gave orders to stop them, and purchase the whole at a very high price for his own cabinet of antiquities. M. Grolier had an assortment of gold and silver as well as of brass medals; the cabinet in which they were contained fell two centuries afterwards into the hands of M. l'Abbe de Bothelin; and was known to have been that of Grolier from some slips of paper, on which was his usual inscription for his books, Joannis Grolierii, et amicorum.

Contemporary with Grolier was Guillaume de Choul, who was likewise a man of rank and fortune. He had a good collection of medals, and published many in his Treatise on the Religion of the ancient Romans in 1557. In the Low Countries we know, from the letters of Erasmus, that the study of medals was begun about the beginning of the 16th century. About the middle of that century, Hubertus Goltzius, a printer and engraver, travelled over most countries in Europe searching for coins and medals, in order to publish books concerning them. From one of these works it appears, that there were then in the Low Countries 200 cabinets of medals; 175 in Germany, upwards of 380 in Italy, and 200 in France. It is probable, however, that there are now four times as many in these countries, besides 500 in Britain; but we are not to imagine that all these were grand collections, for of such there are not above a dozen even in Italy: most of those just mentioned were of the class named caskets of medals, containing from 100 to 1000 or 2000.

There are few countries, Italy excepted, in which a greater number of coins have been found than in Britain; though we are by no means well acquainted with the time when the study of them commenced. Mr Pinkerton suspects that Camden was one of the first, if not the very first British author, who produced medals in his works, and who must have had a small collection. Speed's Chronicle, published in the 17th century, was illustrated with coins from Sir Robert Cotton's cabinet. Gorlitz's collection was purchased by Henry prince of Wales, brother to Charles I, to whom he left it at his death. According to Joseph Scaliger, it consisted of 30,000 coins and medals. A collection of 5500 coins was purchased by Archbishop Laud for 600l. and given to the Bodleian library. Thomas earl of Arundel, earl-marshal of England, well known from the Arundelian tables and other antiquities which he imported from Greece and Italy into Britain, had a rich cabinet of medals collected by Daniel Nisum. The dukes of Buckingham and Hamilton, Sir William Paston, Sir Thomas Fanshaw of Ware-Park, Sir Thomas Hamner, Ralph Sheldon, Esq. Mr Selden, &c. are enumerated by Evelyn as collectors of medals. Charles I, as well as his historian the earl of Clarendon, were also collectors. The king had a very fine cabinet; which, however, was dissipated and lost during the civil commotions. Oliver Cromwell had a small collection; and the cabinet of Charles II, is mentioned by Vaillant in the preface to his treatise entitled "Nummi in Coloniiis," &c. This branch of magnificence has not been much attended to by succeeding British monarchs; though his present majesty has a very good collection of ancient gold coins.

A great number of fine cabinets have been formed in Britain since the time of Evelyn. About the year 1720, Haym makes mention of those of the duke of Devonshire, the earls of Pembroke and Winchelsea, Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Andrew Fontaine, Mr Sadler, Mr Abdy, Mr Wren, Mr Chicheley, and Mr Kemp. At present there are many remarkable collections; but that of the late Dr William Hunter is deservedly esteemed the most remarkable in Europe, excepting that of the late French king. Is was not only formed at a great expense, but with much care and ability; many foreign medals offered to it having been rejected (a). The other remarkable collections are those of the duke of Devonshire, the earl of Pembroke, Earl Fitzwilliam, formerly the marquis of Rockingham's, the honourable Horace Walpole, the reverend Mr Crachrode, the reverend Mr Southgate, Mr Townley, Mr R. P.

(a) This collection, as well as the rest of Dr Hunter's Museum, is now in the possession of the university of Glasgow, to which it was bequeathed by the doctor's will. MEDALS

R. P. Knight, Mr Edward Knight, Mr Tyson, Mr Barker, Mr Brown, and several others. The British museum and universities in England have also collections; as well as the Advocates library, the Antiquarian Society, and the universities in Scotland.

Sect. IV. Materials of which Medals are constructed.

Medals are formed of gold, silver, and the various modifications of copper. The gold usually made use of in coinage is about the fineness of 22 carats; and as the art of purifying this metal was very much unknown in former times, the most ancient medals are for this reason much more impure than the modern coins. Gold is never found in its native state above 22 carats fine; and the very ancient medals are much under that standard. Many of them are composed of a mixture of gold and silver, called by the ancients electrum. The gold medals were made of much finer metal after Philip of Macedon became possessed of the gold mines of Philippi in Thrace, and the medals of his son Alexander the Great are equally fine; as well as those of some other princes of that age. Those of the Egyptian Ptolemies are of the fineness of 23 carats three grains, with only one grain of alloy. The Roman coins are very pure even from the earliest times; the art of refining gold being well known before any was coined at Rome. Some authors are of opinion, that the Roman coins begin to fall short of their purity after the time of Titus; but Mr Pinkerton denies that any thing of this kind takes place till the time of the emperor Severus; and even then only in a very few instances. Most of the Roman gold was brought from Dalmatia and Dacia, where that metal is still to be met with. A very remarkable circumstance is observed in the eastern part of Hungary, which belonged to the ancient Dacia. It germinates in the vines of Tokay, and is found in their stems; as it is elsewhere in the straw of corn.

Pliny informs us, and indeed it is generally known, that gold and silver are found mixed together in the earth. Where the silver amounted to one-fifth part of the gold, the metal was called electrum; but sometimes the quantity of silver was added artificially. The gold was in those days as well as at present refined by means of mercury; and the ancient artists had certainly attained to great perfection in this branch of metallurgy; as Bodin tells us, that the goldsmiths of Paris upon melting one of Vespasian's gold coins found only 1/8th part of alloy.

Most of the ancient silver, particularly that of Greece, is less pure than that of succeeding times; even the Roman silver is rather inferior to the present standard, and that from the very beginning; but in the time of Severus, the silver appears very bad, and continues so until the time of Dioclesian. Many writers upon this subject have mistaken the denarii ærei, "coins of brass washed with silver," for silver currency. Silver coins are extremely scarce from the time of Claudius Gothicus to that of Dioclesian, or from the year 270 to 284: in which short space no fewer than eight emperors reigned. Silver at that time was found mostly in Spain; and the commerce with that country was disturbed by the usurpers who arose in Gaul; and such were the troubles of the times, that not only the silver but also the gold coins of those eight emperors, are extremely scarce. There is still, however, some silver extant of these eight emperors; and it is certain, that copper washed was never used as silver currency, but was entirely a distinct coinage. Occasional deprivations of silver had taken place long before; as Pliny tells us, that Mark Antony mixed iron with his silver denarii; and Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he had seen a denarius of Antony, which was attracted by a magnet.

The ancient brass coins consist of two kinds: the Ancient red or Cyprian, which indeed is no other than copper; and the common yellow brass. Our author observes, that in the Roman coinage brass was of double the value of copper, and he is of opinion, that it was the same among the Greeks; and the latter is the metal most commonly made use of in the Greek coinage. The Roman sesterii was always of brass: the middling-sized kind are partly copper and partly brass; the former being double the value of the latter, which are the asses.

Mr Pinkerton next proceeds to give an account of the mixed metals used among the Romans. In Britain all kinds of coins made of mixed metal are without hesitation alleged to be forgeries; although it is certain that the variety of mixed metals used in coinage was very considerable. The most valuable mixture was that of gold and silver, already mentioned, named electrum; the silver commonly amounting to one-fifth part of the gold made use of, or perhaps more. Of this mixture are many of the early coins of Lydia, and some other Asiatic states; also those of the kings of the Bosphorus Cimmerius, during the imperial ages of Rome. Next to the electrum were the coins of Corinthian brass: but Mr Pinkerton informs us, that not a single coin was ever struck of this metal by the ancients; it having been constantly employed only in the fabrication of vases or toys. It was in use at any rate only for a very short time; being altogether unknown in the days of Pliny the Elder. Our author therefore ridicules those who pretend not only to find out imperial coins of this metal, but to discover three kinds of it; viz. one in which the gold predominates, another in which the silver prevails, and a third where the brass is most conspicuous. He gives Æneas Vico, one of the most ancient writers on medals, as the author of this idea; but whose opinions were confuted by one Savot, a writer in the 17th century. Vico mentions a coin of this kind struck under Augustus, another of Livia, and a third of Claudius. The mistake, he is of opinion, arose from the circumstance of the first propagator not being able to account for the various mixtures and modifications of brass observable in ancient coins of the large size; and which in so common a metal appear very odd to the moderns. Besides the authority of Pliny and other antiquaries of a more modern date, who all declare that they never saw a single medal of Corinthian brass, or of that metal mixed with silver and gold, our author adduces another evidence which he looks upon to be superior to either; viz. that those who have given into this supposition, imagine, that the large pieces called sestertii, and others called dupondiarii, worth about twopence or a penny, are said to have been composed of this precious metal. It is unreasonable to think, that any proportion of gold gold or silver could have been made use of in these. The coins said to have been struck upon Corinthian brass are only done upon a modification of common brass; of which we know, that in proportion to the quantity of zinc made use of in conjunction with the copper, the metal assumes a variety of hues. On the authority of Pliny he informs us, that the coins mistaken for Corinthian brass were no other than prince's metal.

The Egyptian silver coins struck under the Roman emperors are at first of tolerably pure silver; but afterwards degenerate into a mixture of copper and tin with a little silver. They are very thick, but many of them are elegantly struck, with uncommon reverses. There are likewise three sets of brass coins belonging to this country from the earliest times of the Roman emperors there. Some of these are of bell-metal or pot-metal; and after the time of Gallienus and Valerian, the coinage of brass with a small addition of silver, becomes authorised by the state; the coins struck upon it, being called denarii aurei. Those of lead or copper plated with silver have been fabricated by Roman forgers. Some coins of lead, however, have been met with of undoubted antiquity: and an ancient writer informs us, that tin money was coined by Dionysius; but none has been found. The lead coins of Tigranes king of Armenia, mentioned as genuine by Jobert, are accounted forgeries by Mr Pinkerton and other modern medallists. Plautus, however, makes mention of leaden coins, and several of them have been found; but our author looks upon them to have been chiefly essay pieces, struck in order to let the artist judge of the progress of the die. Others are the plated kind already mentioned, fabricated by ancient forgers, but having the plating worn off. A great number of leaden coins are mentioned by Fracorini in a work entitled Piombi Antichi, in which he supposes them to have served as tickets for guests; and coins of the same kind are also mentioned by Passeri. In the work entitled Notitia Imperii Romani, there is mention of coins made of leather, but none of them have ever been found.

Sect. V. Of Ancient Money.

In considering the different sizes, values, &c. of the Greek and Roman coins, our author treats of the medals as money; a knowledge of which, he says, is essentially necessary to every reader of the classics; insomuch that it may almost dispute the preference with the studies of ancient geography and chronology. Notwithstanding all that has been written upon the subject, however, our author is of opinion, that the science is still in its infancy, in as far as it relates to the real money of the ancients. "The ideal (says he), which is indeed the most important province of discussion, has been pretty clearly ascertained; and we are almost as well acquainted with the Attic mina or mina, and the perplexing progress of the Roman sestertia, as with our own pounds. But with the actual coin of the ancients the case is different; and the ignorance even of the learned in this point is wonderful."

Our author now goes on, with great asperity of language, to particularize the ignorant manner in which modern authors have treated the subject of medals. "Arbuthnot and Clarke (says he), are, if possible, more ignorant of medals than Budaeus the very first. The latter professes his love of medals, but quotes a consular coin with the head of Cicero; and looks upon one of the 30 pieces of silver, the reward of the treachery of Judas, and which was said to be preserved among some relics at Paris, to be worthy of reference, and commemoration. Arbuthnot, if we may judge from his book, had never seen any ancient coins; and Clarke, it is well known, was quite ignorant of them. The latter, with all his labour, seems even to have known nothing of the theoretic part of the real ancient money. Indeed Dr Mead's catalogue seems to have been almost the only book on medals which had undergone his perusal. On the other hand, the ignorance of medallists on this score is no less profound. To this day they look upon the didrachms of Eginus, so celebrated in antiquity, as tridrachms of Eginus; and upon the early obolus as a brass coin. In the Roman class the large brass is esteemed the as, while it shall be proved that it is the sestertius, and worth four asses. The denarius is reckoned at ten asses even in the imperial times; whereas it only went at that rate for the first 90 years after the coinage of silver at Rome. The denarius aureus is taken for silver currency; with other mistakes, which evince that medallists are as ignorant of the theory, as the others are of the practice."

In his account of the ancient Greek money, Mr Pinkerton observes, that the light of science, like that of the sun, has proceeded from east to west. "It is most probable (says he), that the first invention of money arose like the other arts and sciences; and spread from thence into the western parts of the world. In its first shape it appeared as mere pieces of metal, without any stated form or impression; in lieu of rude which, it was regulated by weight. Even down to the Saxon government in England, large sums were regulated by weight; and in our own times every single piece is weighed in gold; though with regard to silver this nicety is not minded, nor indeed does it seem practicable. Among the ancients, whose commercial transactions were less important and extensive than those of the moderns, silver was weighed as well as gold; nay even brass in some cases.

In Greece, large sums were determined by mina or Greek mine; and the most capital sums by talents. In every country the mina is supposed to have contained 100 drachmae, or small silver coins, of that country, and the talent 60 minae. The mina is supposed to be a pound weight of the country to which it belonged. The Attic pound, according to Dr Arbuthnot, contained 16 ounces, equal to our avoirdupois pound; but Mr Pinkerton looks upon this as a very absurd opinion, and accuses the doctor of having adopted it merely that he may explain a passage in Livy. He is of opinion, that the Attic pound is very nearly the same with the pound Troy. The mina of Athens had at first 73 drachmas; but by Solon it was fixed at 100. The ancient drachm weighed the same which it does at present in medical weight, viz. the eighth part of an ounce. The mina or pound of 12 ounces had consequently 96 of these drachmas; but four of them were given to the round sum to supply defects in the alloy; and indeed (says our author), in consequence of a common practice in all ages and in all countries, of giving some addition to a large weight. Thus the pound in weight had but 96 drachmae in fact, while the pound in tale had 100; as the Roman libra in weight had but 84 denarii, in tale 108; and as our pound in tale, by an inverse progress, is not a third of our pound in common weight.

Notwithstanding the very severe criticism on Dr Arbuthnot just mentioned, however, we find our author adopting his account of the talents used in coinage in several countries. Thus, according to the doctor,

| The Syrian talent had | 15 Attic minae | |-----------------------|---------------| | Ptolemaic | 20 | | Antiochian | 60 | | Euboean | 60 | | Babylonian | 70 | | Larger Attic | 80 | | Tyrian | 80 | | Egyptian | 80 | | Aeginean | 100 | | Rhodian | 100 |

Notwithstanding the concession made here by Mr Pinkerton to the doctor, he tells us, that he very much questions this list of talents, and that many ancient writers are little to be relied upon. "Writers on this subject confess, that the numbers in all ancient manuscripts are the parts most subject to error, as being almost always contracted. They ought to allow that the authors themselves must often be liable to wrong information.

"Herodotus mentions, that King Darius ordered gold to be paid into his treasury by the Euboic talent, and silver by the Babylonian. The Euboic is esteemed the same with that called afterwards the Attic; and as we estimate gold by carats, so it is natural to suppose, that the most precious metal would be regulated by the most minute weight. But I confess I take the Babylonic talent to be the same with that of Aegina. Mr Raper has proved the first coins of Macedon to be upon the standard of Aegina. Now the early Persian coins are upon that very scale, the largest tetradrachms weighing from 430 to 440 grains. Hence it follows, that the Persian silver coins were of the Aeginean standard; and the payment was certainly to be made according to the standard of the money. The larger Attic talent was of 80 lesser minae; because the larger Attic mina was of 16 ounces. The Alexandrian talent, according to Festus, consisted of 12,000 denarii, being the same with that used by the Egyptian kings in their coins; and is shown by Mr Raper to have been the same with the talent of Aegina. Perhaps the whole of the ancient coins of Asia, Africa, Greece, Magna Graecia, and Sicily, are reducible to three talents or standards. 1. That of Aegina, used in most of the more ancient silver coinages; as would seem in even the later of Egypt, Carthage, Cyrene, &c. 2. The Attic (being the Asiatic gold standard, afterwards used by Phidon king of Argos in estimating gold, and called Euboic from Euboea, one of the quarters of the city of Argos), used in Athens and the greater part of the world as the standard both of gold and silver. 3. The Doric or Sicilian talent of 24 nummi, each worth an obolus and a half; whence the talent is estimated at six Attic drachms or three daries. These weights continued to be the standard of money after it began to be distinguished by impression; nay, to the fall of Greece and prevalence of the Roman empire."

Coinage, according to Herodotus, was first invented by the Lydians, from whom the Greeks quickly received it. The former could not have received it from the Persians, whose empire did not begin till 570 B.C., though our author supposes that it might have proceeded from the Syrians, who carried on commerce in very ancient times. The most ancient Greek coins of most ancient silver have an indented mark upon one side, and a tortoise upon the other; and those of the greatest antiquity have no letters upon them. Those of later date have AITI marked upon them, which medallists interpret of Aegium in Achaia; being led into that supposition by the tortoise, which they look upon as a sure mark of the Peloponnesus. But though our author agrees that the tortoise was so, he thinks that they are otherwise very far wrong in their conclusions. Aegium in Achaia was a place of no consequence till the times of Aratus and the Achaean league; but there are 11 of these coins in Dr Hunter's cabinet, which show that they must have been struck in times of the most remote antiquity, and that the place where they were struck was rich and flourishing at the time. The coins we speak of are not common; but those which have the name AITEION at full length, and which may perhaps belong to Aegium in Achaia, are extremely scarce; insomuch that in all Dr Hunter's vast collection there are not above one or two. They are likewise constructed upon a scale quite different from all other Grecian money; being of 8, 13, 15½, 90, and about 186 grains. The Grecian drachma at an average is 66 grains; and Mr Pinkerton thinks it would have been strange if pieces had been struck of eight-tenths of an obolus, of an obolus and a half, or of a drachma and a half. Aegium being originally an obscure village, could not be the first which coined money; so that Mr Pinkerton supposes the name AITI to have stood for Aegialus, the ancient name of Sicyon, a wealthy and powerful city; or rather Aegina, the mint of which was much celebrated, and perhaps the most ancient in Greece.

Other arguments in favour of these coins being derived from Aegina, are drawn from their weight as well as their workmanship, which are quite different from those bearing the name of Aegium at full length. The coinage of Aegina is known to have been different from that of the rest of Greece; insomuch that its drachma was worth 10 Attic oboli, while the Attic drachma was valued only at six. Hence the drachmas of Aegina were named by the Greeks παξιμα, or thick; a name very applicable to the coins in question. From these observations, our author is of opinion, that we may even distinguish the precise weight of the ancient coins of Aegina. According to the exact proportion, the drachma of this place should weigh exactly 100 grains; and one of them very much rubbed weighed above 90. The others of larger size, which seem to be didrachms of Aegina, weigh from 181 to 194 grains; but the latter being the only one he could meet with in good preservation, it was impossible to form any just medium. Even in those best preserved, he thinks that 10 grains may be allowed for a waste of the metal in so long a time, as 2400 years, which would bring the drachma of Ægina near its proper standard. The obolus of Ægina was in proportion to its drachma of six oboli. It is the piece of $15\frac{1}{2}$ grains, and 13 when very much rubbed. The hemiobolon is that of eight, but when rubbed it falls short of this weight.

The general denomination of the Greek money is the drachma, or eighth part of an ounce; which to this day is retained in the medical weights, the Grecian coins receiving the names they bore from their weights: though in some instances the weights received their appellations from the coins. The silver drachma, according to Mr Pinkerton, was about ninepence sterling; and he finds fault with those who make the drachma and denarius both equal to one another, the latter being no more than eightpence. The didrachm of silver, according to the same calculation, was worth 18d.; but the tridrachm occurs very rarely: and Mr Pinkerton is even of opinion, that medallists give this name to the didrachm of Ægina. The largest of all the Grecian coins is the tetradrachm, which on the Æginean standard is worth five shillings; but in those of the other states only four. There are, however, many subdivisions in the silver drachma; the highest being the tetrobolion or coin of four oboli; being in proportion to the drachma as our groat to a sixpence, weighing about 44 grains, and being in value about sixpence. The hemidrachm or triobolion comes next in value, weighing about 33 grains, and worth fourpence halfpenny. The silver diobolion, or third of the drachma, weighs about 22 grains, and is worth threepence. The obolus of silver weighs about 11 grains, and is worth only three halfpence. There is likewise a hemiobolion in silver, or half the obolus, of five grains and a half, value three farthings: and another called tetrobolion dichalcos or quarter obolus, which is the most minute coin yet met with; and by reason of its extreme smallness, weighing only two grains and a quarter, is now very scarce: but there is one in the cabinet of Dr Hunter, and some more have been lately brought from Athens by Mr Stuart. Some of them are likewise met with at Tarentum. It would appear, however, that there were some still smaller, and of value only three-fourths of a farthing. None of these have been met with; and the smallness of the size renders it improbable that any will ever be met with; as the peasants, who commonly discover coins, would probably either not observe them at all, or, if they did, would neglect them as things of no value.

Many different names have been imposed on the coins belonging to the different states of Greece: thus Καρπη, the maiden, was a name often applied to the tetradrachm, and which would seem to apply to those of Athens; though there are coins of other cities with the head of Proserpine, and the word Καρπη, to which it would appear more applicable in our author's opinion. Χίλιος, the shell, was the name of another coin, from its type. A Sicilian coin was named Διαμετρίου, from Gelon's wife. A tetradrachm was named Κρατηστήριον, and had eight σύλλικα or hemidrachms. The Τροιζηνιον, so called from its country Troizene, had Pallas on one side and a trident on the reverse.

The hemiobolion was the πελάγειον of Lacedaemon; and the καλλιόπης is supposed to have been equal to the Roman sesterius or quarter drachma. The cystophori were coins with the mystic chest or hamper of Bacchus upon them, out of which a serpent rises; and are much celebrated in antiquity. We are told by Livy, that Marcus Acilius, in his triumph over Antiochus and the Ætolians, carried off 248,000 of them; Cnecius Manlius Vulso in that over Gallo-Graecia had 250,000; and Lucius Emilius Regillus, in his naval triumph over the fleets of Antiochus, had 131,300. Cicero likewise mentions his being possessed of a vast sum in them. The most probable opinion concerning them seems to be, that they are all silver tetradrachms; such as belong to the cities of Apamea and Laodicea in Phrygia; Pergamus in Mysia; Sardis and Tralles in Lydia; and Ephesus; but it is a mistake to ascribe any to Crete. Mr Pinkerton thinks it absurd to imagine that Crete, a small island, should strike such vast numbers of coins; though Cicero mentions his being in possession of an immense treasure in them at the time he was governor of Asia Minor. "It is most likely (says Mr Pinkerton), that his wealth should be in the coin of the country to which he belonged. But what had these triumphs of Cicero's government to do with Cretan money? But indeed the coins themselves, as above noticed, establish the fact."

Another set of coins famous in antiquity were those of Cyzicus in Mysia, which were of gold; but they are now almost entirely vanished by being recoined in other forms. The Ἀρχαιοτάτων νομίσματα, or money of Aryandes, who was made governor of Egypt by Cambyses, is made mention of by Hesychius; but none of them, as far as is known, have reached our times. They must have been marked with Persian characters, if with any. The coin of Queen Philistis is mentioned by the same writer, and many of these pieces are still extant; but we know not where this queen reigned, nor does there seem to be any method of finding it out. Mr Pinkerton inclines to believe, that she presided over Sicily; and as a confirmation of that supposition, mentions some inscriptions of ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΣΣΑΣ ΦΙΛΙΣΤΙΔΟΣ on the Gradini of the theatre at Syracuse; but which appear not older than the Roman times. Some authors are of opinion, that she reigned in Cosara or Malta; which our author thinks much more improbable.

The most particular attention with regard to the Athenian names and standard of coins is due to those of Athens; and it is most remarkable, that most of them which have reached us are of a very late period, with the names of magistrates inscribed upon them. Some of these bear the name of Mithridates; and few are older than the era of that prince; who, it is well known, took the city of Athens in his war with the Romans. I suspect (says Mr Pinkerton), that no Athenian coins of silver are posterior to Sylla's infamous destruction of that city; an event the more remarkable, as Sallust tells us, that Sylla was learned in Greek. Indeed Caligula, Nero, and most of the pests of society, have been learned men, in spite of a noted axiom of Ovid,

Sed ingenuea didicisse feliciter artes Emollit mores, nec sint esse ferros.

It is still more remarkable, that the fabric of Athenian M E D A L S.

Ancient Greek coins is almost universally very rude; a singular circumstance, if we reflect how much the arts flourished there. It can only be accounted for from the excellence of their artists being such as to occasion all the good ones to be called into other countries, and none but the bad left at home. In like manner, the coins struck at Rome in the imperial times are excellent, as being done by the best Greek artists; while those of Greece, though famous at that time for producing miraculous artists, are during that period commonly of very mean execution. The opulence of Athens in her days of glory was very great; owing in an eminent degree to her rich commerce with the kingdoms on the Euxine sea, carried on chiefly from Delos, which belonged to Athens, and was the grand centre of that trade." Hence it has become matter of surprise to Neumann, that when there are so many coins of Mycene, an island even proverbially poor, there should be none of Delos. But Mr Pinkerton accounts for this from Mycene's being a free state, and Delos subject to Athens. "It may be well supposed (says he), that Athens had a mint at Delos; and such Athenian coins as have symbols of Apollo, Diana, or Latona, were struck in this island."

The copper money of the Greeks is next in antiquity to the silver. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that it was not used at Athens till the 26th year of the Peloponnesian war; about 404 years before Christ, and 300 after silver was first coined there. The first copper coins were those of Gelo of Syracuse, about 490 B.C.

The chalcos of brass, of which eight went to the silver obolus, seems to have been the first kind of Greek coin. At first it was looked upon as of so little consequence, that it became proverbial; and to say that a thing was not worth a chalcos, was equivalent to saying that it was worth nothing. As the Greeks became poor, however, even this diminutive coin was subdivided into two, four, nay eight λεπτα or small coins; but our author censures very severely those who have given an account of those divisions. "Pollux, and Suidas copying from him (says he), tell us, that there were seven lepta to one chalcos; a number the most unlikely that can be, from its indivisibility and incapacity of proportion.

"Pollux lived in the time of Commodus, so was too late to be of the smallest authority: Suidas is four or five centuries later, and out of the question. Pliny tells us, that there were ten chalci to the obolus; Diodorus and Cleopatra that there were six; Isidorus says there were four: and if such writers differ about the larger denomination, we may well imagine that the smaller equally varied in different states; an idea supported by these undeniable witnesses, the coins which remain. Most of the Greek copper coin which has reached our times consists of chalci; the lepta being so small as to be much more liable to be lost." In Dr Hunter's cabinet, however, there are several of the dilepta of Athens: and from being stamped with the representation of two owls, seem to be the same with the silver diobolus: "a circumstance (says Mr Pinkerton), of itself sufficient to confute Pollux; for a dilepton can form no part of seven; a number indeed which never appeared in any coinage of the same metals, and is contradictory to common sense. It may be observed, that the whole brass coins of Athens published by Dr Combe are reducible to four sizes, which may be the lepton, dilepton, tetraleeton or hemichalcos, and chalcos. The first is not above the size of one of King Lepton, James I.'s farthing tokens; the last about that of our dilepton, common farthing." The lepta was also called στεγεια, &c., as being change for the poor. The zidaδος; perhaps so called from the figure of a wolf upon it, was the coin of a particular state, and if of brass must have weighed three chalci. The other names of the copper coins of Greece are but little known. Lyceurgus ordered iron money to be coined at Sparta; but so perishable is this metal, that none of that kind of money has reached our times.

After the conquest of Greece by the Romans, most of the coins of that country diminished very much in their value, the gold coinage being totally discontinued: though some of the barbarous kings who used the Greek character were permitted to coin gold, but they used the Roman model; and the standard used by the few cities in Asia who spoke the Greek language in the times of the emperors is entirely unknown. Copper seems to have been the only metal coined at that time by the Greeks themselves; and that upon the Roman standard, then universal through the empire, that there might be no impediment to the circulation of currency. They retained, however, some of their own terms, using them along with those of the Romans. The assarion or assercion of Rome, the name of the diminished as, being 16 to the drachma or denarius, the obolus was so much diminished in value as to be struck in brass not much larger than the old chalcos, and valued at between two or three assaria; which was indeed its ancient rate as to the drachma. This appears from the copper coins of Chios, which have their names marked upon them. The brass obolus, at first equal in size to the Roman sestertius or large brass, lessens by degrees to about the size of a silver drachma. From the badness of the imperial coinage in Greece also, it appears that brass was very scarce in that country, as well as in all the cities using the Greek characters; being found mostly in the western countries of the Roman empire. The declension time of this declension in size of the Greek coins is of the age by Mr Pinkerton supposed to have been from Augustus down to Gallicenus. He is of opinion, however, that the copper obolus, at first above the size of large brass, was used in Greece about the time of its first subjection to Rome; and that the lepta ceasing, the chalci came in their room, with the dichalcus and the hemibolion of brass.

With respect to the gold coins of the Greeks, Mr Gold coins Pinkerton is of opinion that none of that metal was of Greece-coined before the time of Philip of Macedon, as none have reached our times prior to the reign of that monarch. From a passage in Thucydides our author concludes, that in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians had no gold coin. Mentioning the treasure in the Acropolis or citadel of Athens, at the commencement of that war, the historian mentions silver coin, and gold and silver in bullion; and had any of the gold been in coin, he would certainly have mentioned it. Philip began his reign about 68 years after the beginning of the Peloponnesian war; and we can scarce suppose that any city would have preceded ceeded the elegant and wealthy Athens in the coining of gold.

Notwithstanding, however, this deficiency of gold coin among the Greeks, it is certain that the coining of gold had taken place in Sicily long before; as we have gold coins of Gelo about 491 B.C. of Hiero I., 478, and of Dionysius I. in 404, all using the Greek characters; though not to be ranked among the gold coins of Greece, as Philip caused his to be. Gold coins of Syracuse even appear of the third class of antiquity, or with an indented square, and a small figure in one of its segments. Gold coins are used in the cities of Bruttium, Tarentum, and throughout Magna Graecia; also in Panticapaeum in Thrace, and likewise Cosa in that country; but not in Tuscany, as is commonly believed, though Neumann proves that they were struck by Brutus, and are unquestionably as ancient as the Greek coins. The Thebans and Athenians probably coined the first gold after Philip had set them the example, and when they were attempting to resist the projects of that enterprising monarch. The Aetolians probably coined their gold during the time of their greatest power, about a century after Philip, and when they were combating the power of Aratus and the Achaean league. "There is (says Mr Pinkerton) but one ἐπικήρυξ of Thebes, much worn, in Dr Hunter's cabinet, and weighing but 59 grains; and perhaps not above two or three ἐπικήρυξ or gold didrachms of Athens in the world; one of which is also in the collection of Dr Hunter, and weighs 13 2/3 grains. It appears to be more modern than the reign of Philip. That monarch having got possession of the mines of Philippi in Thrace, improved them so much, that they produced him annually above a thousand talents of gold, or 2,880,000l. of our money. From this gold the first coins named from the monarch, Philippi, were struck. They were marked with his portrait; and for many ages after were so numerous, that they were common in the Roman empire; whence the name Philippi became at length common to gold, silver, and at last even brass coins of their size. Even in the time of Philip gold was very scarce in Greece; but after the Phocians had plundered the temple of Delphos, this precious metal, which had been valued as gems, and consecrated only to the decoration of the temples of the gods, began to be known among the Greeks. The comparative value of gold and silver, however, seem to have been at that time very different from what they are now. Herodotus values gold at 13 times its weight in silver; Plato in his Hipparchus at 12; and even the low value of 10 to 1 seems to have been the stated value in Greece, though in Rome the plenty of silver from the Spanish mines made the value of gold to be much higher; and there is no reason to think that it was ever valued in that city at less than 12 times its weight in silver. The Philippus ἐπικήρυξ, gold piece, or stater, is a didrachm, and is the most common of all the ancient coins. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that it went for 20 silver drachms on its first appearance; but in latter times for 25 Greek drachmae or Roman denarii. There are proofs of the Philippi being didrachms, both from the writings of ancient authors and from numbers of the coins themselves, which remain to this day; and that the ἐπικήρυξ, or principal gold coin of Greece, was of the same weight, is also evident from ancient writings. It was anciently worth about 15s. but valuing gold now at the medium price of 4l. per ounce, it is worth about 20s. The ἐπικήρυξ, or half the former coin, scarcely occurs of the coining of Philip and Alexander, though it does of Hiero I. of Syracuse and of King Pyrrhus. It passed for ten silver drachmas, and was valued only at 7s. 6d. though now worth 10s. There was another division of this kind worth about 5s. There were besides some lesser divisions of gold coins, which could not be worth above two drachmas. These were coined in Cyrene; and there were besides several old gold coins of Asia Minor, the value of which is now unknown. Our author supposes that they were coined not with relation to their weight as parts of the drachma, but merely to make them correspond with so many silver pieces as was necessary. There are also larger coins than the ἐπικήρυξ, the ἐπικήρυξ of Alexander and Lysimachus being double its value. Some others are met with of Lysimachus, Antiochus III., and some of the Egyptian monarchs, weighing four times the ἐπικήρυξ, and now worth about 4l. sterling. Some weigh even more; but this our author supposes owing to a difference in the purity of the gold.

In Rome, as well as in Greece, the money was at first estimated by weight; and the first metal coined Money, by that people was copper, silver being long unknown in Rome; nor is it certainly known that any silver has ever been found in the Italian mines. In Rome the first valuation of money was by the libra gravis eris, or pound of heavy brass; and in the progress of their conquests, the little silver and gold that came in their way was regulated by the same standard, as appears from the story of Brennus. The weights made use of were the same with those which continue to this day. The pound consisted of 12 ounces of 458 grains each; but the pound by which the money was weighed appears to have consisted only of 420 grains to the ounce, or to have contained in all 5040 grains. This became the standard of copper; and when silver came to be coined, seven denarii went to the ounce as eight drachms did in Greece. Gold was regulated by the scriptulum or scrupulum, the third part of a denarius, and by the larger weights just mentioned. The number 10 was at first used by the Romans in counting their money; but finding afterwards that a smaller number was more convenient, they divided it into quarters; and as the quarter of 10 is 2½, they for this reason bestowed upon it the name of sestertius or "half the third;" to express that it was two of any weights, as, &c. measures, &c. and half a third; whence the sestertius came at last to be the grand estimate of Roman money. The as being at first the largest, and indeed the only Roman coin, the word sestertius means sestertius as, or "two ases and a half." On the first coining of silver, the denarius of ten ases was struck in the most common and convenient denary division of money, or that by tens; the sestertius being of course two ases and a half. But the denarius being afterwards estimated at 16 ases, the name sestertius was still applied to a quarter of the denarius, though it now contained four ases. The term sestertius was applied to all sums not exceeding 1000 sestertii, or 8l. 6s. 8d.; but for greater sums the mode of the sestertius was likewise altered, though not to exclude the former. Very large sums sums of money were estimated by the hundred weight of brass; for the Romans were at first unacquainted with the talent. The hundred weight, by way of eminence, was distinguished by the name of pondus, and sestertium pondus became a phrase for two hundred weight and a half. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that we may value the as libralis of ancient Rome at about eightpence English. Estimating the as therefore at a pound weight, the sestertium pondus was equal to 1000 sesterti, or 8l. 6s. 8d.; and by coincidence which our author supposes to have been the effect of design, as soon as the silver coinage appeared, the sestertium centum denariorum was always equal to 8l. 6s. 8d. also. The word sestertium itself, however, seems to have been unknown prior to the coinage of silver money at Rome: the pondera gravis eris being sufficient before that time for all the purposes of a state in which money was so scarce. But however this may be, the pondus or hundred weight of brass was precisely worth 100 denarii, or a pound of silver. As the greatest sestertium was always valued at 1000 of the smaller, or 8l. 6s. 8d., we never find one sestertium mentioned in authors, but two, three, or more; ten thousand of them being equal to 83,333l. 6s. 8d.

The states from which the Romans may be supposed first to have derived their coinage, were the Etruscans and the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily. Joseph Scaliger, Gronovius, &c. contend that it was from the Sicilians that the Romans first derived their knowledge of money; but Mr Pinkerton argues that it was from the Etruscans. In confirmation of his opinion, he appeals to the state of the Roman territories in the time of Servius Tullius, who is looked upon to have been the first who coined money at Rome. At that time the whole Roman dominion did not extend beyond ten miles round the city; and was entirely surrounded by the Etruscan and Latin states; Cumae being the next Greek colony to it that was of any consequence, and which was in the neighbourhood of Naples, at about the distance of 150 miles. Our author asks, Is it reasonable to think that the Romans received the use of money from the Etruscans and Latins who were their neighbours, or from the Greeks, who were at a distance, and at that time, as far as appears from their history, absolutely unknown to them? "If this argument (adds he), is strong with regard to the nearest Grecian colonies, what must it be with respect to Sicily, an island 300 miles distant from Rome, where it was not known, at that time, if a boat went by land or water?" Arguments, however, for this opinion have been derived from the similarity betwixt the Sicilian and Roman coins; which Mr Pinkerton now proceeds to examine. The Greek pound in Sicily was called λίρα, and consisted, like the Roman, of 12 ουράνια, or ounces; and Mr Pinkerton grants that the Roman libra was derived from the Greek λίρα, but denies that the as, or libra, a coin, was from Sicilian model. The Sicilians had indeed a coin named λίρα; but it was of silver, and of equal value to the Ἀγρινεῖαν standard, ten of which went to the Sicilian δεκάλιτρα. He differs from Gronovius, that the standard of Ἀγρινεῖα was used at Corinth, and of course at Syracuse; and it appears from Aristotle, that the Sicilians had a talent or standard of their own. The Sicilian obolus or λίρα contained all so 12 ounces or χαλκοί, so named at first because they weighed an ounce weight; but the χαλκοί of Hiero weigh more than a troy ounce; and the brass coins of Agrigentum are marked with cyphers as far as six: the largest weighing only 186 grains, or about one-third of the primitive ounce. Our author denies that even the Roman denarius took its rise from the Sicilian δεκάλιτρα, as many authors assert. Were this the case, it would have weighed 180 grains; whereas the Roman denarii are not above the third part of the quantity.

From all these considerations, our author is of opinion that the Sicilians borrowed the division of their λίρα from the Etruscans, or possibly from the Romans themselves; which our author thinks is more probable than that the Romans had it from Sicily. The strongest argument, however, against the Roman coinage being borrowed from the Sicilian is, that though great numbers of Sicilian coins are to be found in the cabinets of medalists, yet none of them resemble the as libralis of the Romans in any degree. In most cabinets also there are Etruscan coins upon the exact scale of the as libralis, and several of its divisions; from whence Mr Pinkerton concludes, that "these, and these alone, must have afforded a pattern to the primitive Roman coinage." The Etruscans were a colony from Lydia, to which country Herodotus ascribes the first invention of coinage. "Those colonists (says Mr Pinkerton), upon looking round their settlements, and finding that no silver was to be had, and much less gold," supplied the mercantile medium with copper; to which the case of Sweden is very similar, which, as late as the last century, had copper coins of such magnitude, that wheelbarrows were used to carry off a sum not very considerable.

Some coins are found which exceed the as libralis in weight; and these are supposed to be prior to the time of Servius Tullius. Some of them are met with of 34 coins, and of 53 Roman ounces; having upon one side the figure of a bull rudely impressed, and upon the other the bones of a fish. They are most commonly found at Tudder, or Tudertum, in Umbria; but they appear always broken at one end: so that Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that perhaps some might be struck of the decussis form, or weighing ten pounds. These pieces, in our author's opinion, make it evident, that the Romans derived their large brass coins from the Etruscans and the neighbouring states: they are all cast in moulds; and the greater part of them appear much more ancient than the Roman asces, even such as are of the greatest antiquity.

Mr Pinkerton agrees with Sir Isaac Newton as to the time that Servius Tullius reigned in Rome, which he supposes to be about 460 B.C. His coinage seems to have been confined to the as, or piece of brass having the impression of Janus on the one side, and the prow of a ship on the other; because Janus arrived in Italy by sea. Varro, however, informs us, that the very first coins of Tullius had the figure of a bull or other cattle upon them, like the Etruscan coins, of which they were imitations. Those with the figure of Janus and the prow of a ship upon them may be supposed first to have appeared about 400 B.C. but in a short time, various subdivisions of the as were coined. The Subdivisi semis, or half, is commonly stamped with the head of Jupiter. Jupiter laureated; the triens or third, having four cyphers, as being originally of four ounces weight, has the head of Minerva; the quadrans or quarter, marked with three cyphers, has the head of Hercules wrapt in the lion's skin; the sextans or sixth, having only two cyphers, is marked with the head of Mercury with a cap and wings; while the uncia having only one cypher, is marked with the head of Rome. All these coins appear to have been cast in moulds, by a considerable number at a time; and in the British museum there are four of them all united together as taken out of the mould in which perhaps dozens were cast together. In process of time, however, the smaller divisions were struck instead of being cast; but the larger still continued to be cast until the as fell to two ounces. Even after this time it was still called libra, and accounted a pound of copper; though there were now larger denominations of it coined, such as the bissus or double as; tressis and quadrussis of three and four asses; nay, as far as decussis or ten asses, marked X. Olivieri mentions one in his own cabinet weighing upwards of 25 ounces, and cast when the as was about three ounces weight. There is likewise in the Museum Etruseum a decussis of 40 Roman ounces, cast when the as was at four ounces. There was likewise a curious decussis in the Jesuits' library at Rome, for which an English medallist offered 20l.; but it was seized by the pope along with every other thing belonging to the society.

Mr Pinkerton contests the opinion of Pliny that the as continued of a pound weight till the end of the first Punic war. His opinion (he says), is confirmed by the coins which still remain; and it appears probable to him that the as decreased gradually in weight; and from one or two of the pieces which still exist, he seems to think that the decrease was slow, as from a pound to eleven ounces, then to ten, nine, &c.; but neither the as nor its parts were ever correctly sized. During the time of the second Punic war, when the Romans were sore pressed by Hannibal, the as was reduced to a single ounce. It is said to have taken place in the 215th year before our era, being about 30 years after the former change. This as libralis, with the faces of Janus upon it, is the form most commonly met with previous to its being reduced to two ounces. Our author supposes that the as libralis continued for at least a century and a half after this coining of Tullius down to 300 B.C., about the year of Rome 452, between which and the 502d year of Rome a gradual diminution of the as to two ounces must have taken place. The following table of the dates of the Roman coinage is given by Mr Pinkerton.

| As libralis with Janus and the prow of a ship | 400 | | As of ten ounces | 300 | | Eight | 290 | | Six | 280 | | Four | 270 | | Three | 260 | | Two, according to Pliny | 250 | | One, according to the same author | 214 |

About 175 B.C. also, we are informed by Pliny that the as was reduced to half an ounce by the Papyrian law, at which it continued till the time of Pliny himself, and long after.

After the Romans began to have an intercourse with Greece, a variety of elegant figures appear upon the parts of the as, though not on the as itself till after the time of Sylla. Towards the latter end of the republic also, dupondii, or double asses, were coined, together with the sestertii aerii, which came in place of the quadrusses, when the denarius began to be reckoned at 16 asses; probably at the time the latter was reduced to half an ounce. In some instances it is to be observed, that the Romans accommodated their coins to the country where their army was stationed; whence we have many coins marked as Roman, which have been coined in Magna Grecia and Sicily, and are evidently upon the Greek and not the Roman scale. In the latter part of the republican times, also, the types begin to vary; so that we have a brass coin supposed to be struck by Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, having upon it a double head of that warrior, representing a Janus. Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have been a dupondius; which indeed appears to be the case from the double head. This coin is of copper, and still weighs an ounce, notwithstanding its antiquity.

The largest imperial copper coin was the sestertius, of a piece worth about twopence of our money. Mr Pinkerton censures severely the opinion of other medallists, all of whom say that the sestertius was of silver. "In fact (says he), it would be as rational in any antiquary, a thousand years hence, to contend that the halfpenny and farthing are of silver, because they were so in the reign of Henry VIII." In confirmation of his own opinion, he quotes the following passage from Pliny: "The greatest glory of brass is now due to the Marian, called also that of Cordova. This, after the Livian, most absorbs the lapis calaminaris, and imitates the goodness of native orichalcum in our sestertii and dupondiarii, the asses being contented with their own copper." Gronovius confesses that he does not know what to make of this passage, and that it causes him hesitate in his opinion. The Livian mine mentioned here by Pliny, is supposed to have got its name from Livia the wife of Augustus; and it is probable that the pieces marked with her portraits, entitled Justitia, Salus, Virtus, &c. were dupondii from this very mine, the metal being exceedingly fine, and of the kind named Corinthian brass by the ancient medallists. "Perhaps (says Mr Pinkerton), the mine received its name from this very circumstance of her coins being struck in the metal taken from it."

No change took place in the Roman coinage from the time that the as fell to half an ounce to the days of Pliny: but Mr Pinkerton observes, that before the time of Julius Caesar yellow brass began to be used, and was always looked upon to be double the value of Cyprian or red copper. There are but few coins in large brass immediately before Julius Caesar, or even belonging to that emperor; but from the time of Augustus downward, the large coins are all found of brass, and not one of them copper. The largest of what are called the middle size are all of yellow brass; and the next size, which is the as, and weighs half an ounce, is universally copper. What the ancients na- med orichalcum, or what we call brass, was always looked upon to be greatly superior in value to the aes Cyprium. Procopius, speaking of a statue of Justinian, tells us, that brass inferior in colour to gold is almost equal in value to silver. The mines of native brass were very few in number, and were owing entirely to the singular combination of copper and lapis calaminaris in the bowels of the earth, which very seldom occurs; and the ancients were very far from being well acquainted with the method of combining these two bodies artificially; so that yellow brass was always esteemed at double the value of copper; and hence, in the ancient coinages, the brass and copper pieces were kept as distinct as those of gold and silver.

Mr Pinkerton challenges to himself the discovery that the imperial sestertius was of brass; and is at considerable pains to bring proofs of it. Besides the testimony of Pliny, which of itself would be decisive, this is supported by the strongest collateral evidence of other authors. From a passage in Julius Africanus, who wrote the Targinix, or Treatise on Medicine, it appears that the nummus, or sestertius, weighed an ounce, and of consequence that it could not be silver but brass; and all the large imperial Roman coins weigh an ounce. We know not the age in which Julius Africanus lived; and as he makes the denarius to contain 16 ases, he must have been before the age of Gallienus, when it had 60. Gronovius supposes him to have been the same mentioned by Eusebius. This author speaks of a Julius Africanus who lived in the time of Heliogabalus, and whom Mr Pinkerton supposes to have been the same with him above mentioned.

The sestertius underwent no change till the time of Alexander Severus, when it was diminished by one-third of its weight. Trajanus Decius was the first who coined double sestertii, or quinarii, of brass; but from the time of Trebonianus Gallus to that of Gallienus, when the first brass ceases, the sestertius does not weigh above the third part of an ounce; the larger coins are accounted double sestertii; and after the time of Gallienus it totally vanishes. In the times of Valerian and Gallienus we find a new kind of coinage, mentioned by the name of denarii æreis, or Philippri æreis. Two sizes of denarii began to be used in the time of Caracalla; the larger of six sestertii, or 24 assaria; the smaller of four sestertii, or 16 assaria as usual. In the time of Papinius, the latter was reduced to such a small size as not to weigh more than 36 grains; though in Caracalla's time it weighed 56. After the time of Gordian III. the smaller coin fell into disuse, as breeding confusion. The larger denarius of six sestertii, though diminished at last to the size of the early denarius, still retained its value of six sestertii, or 24 assaria. The Philippus æreus came at length in place of the sestertius. It was also called denarius; from which we may learn not only their size, but that they were in value ten assaria as the first denarius. In the reign of Dioclesian, the place of the sestertius was supplied by the follis, that emperor having restored the silver coin to its purity, and likewise given this form to the copper; but it would seem that this restoration of the coinage only took place towards the end of his reign; whence we have but few of his silver coins, and still fewer of the follis, though the denarii ærei continue quite common down to the time of Constantine. The follis of Dioclesian seems to have weighed above half an ounce; and Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that Dioclesian designed this coin to supply the place of the denarius æreus; which of course was worth ten assaria, and six of them went to the silver denarius. From this time the assarium diminishes to the size of 30 grains; and soon after the follis appeared, the denarius æreus was entirely dropped, the former having gradually supplied its place. Some mints appear to have retained the use of the denarius longer than others; and in some the change was preceded, and gradually brought in, by washing the follis with silver or tin, as the denarius had formerly been. Pieces of this kind occur in the times of Dioclesian, Maximian I. and II., and Constantius I.; that is, for about ten years after the follis made its appearance. Some countries, however, retained the denarius æreus; others the follis; and some had a medium betwixt the two, or the follis washed in imitation of the denarius.

Towards the end of the reign of Constantine I. a new coinage was introduced throughout the whole empire. The follis coined by this prince was of half an ounce weight; 24 of them going to the milliarensis, or larger silver coin. The word follis signifies also a purse, in which sense we sometimes find it mentioned in the Byzantine history. The common follis of silver, when it occurs by itself, means a purse of 250 milliarenses, as the sestertium was 250 denarii; and by a law of Constantine I. every man paid to the state a follis or purse according to his income. The method of counting by purses continues in Turkey to this day.

The dupondius was only half the value of the sester-Of the du-tius, or about one penny sterling; and before the pondius. yellow brass appeared it seems to have been struck upon copper, and double the size of the as. There are some of this coin, struck in the time of Julius Caesar, in yellow brass, weighing half an ounce, with a head of Venus Victrix upon one side; on the reverse, a female figure, with serpents at her feet: while others have a Victory on the reverse, with Q. Oppius Pr. After the time of Augustus, the dupondius was struck in yellow brass; which Pliny tells us was also the case in his time. The word dupondiarus seems to have been used by Pliny, and adopted, not to express that the coin was dupondius, but that it was of dupondiary value. Neither was the former word confined to signify double weight, but was used also for double length or measure, as in the instance of dupondius pes, or two feet, &c. In the imperial times, therefore, dupondius was used, not to signify a coin of double the weight of the as, but of double the value. It was one of the most common of the Roman coins; and seems to have been very common even in Constantinople. In the time of Justinian, it seems there was a custom of nicknaming young students of the law dupondii, against which the emperor made a law; but it is not known what gave rise to the name. The dupondins, though of the same size with the as, is commonly of finer workmanship, the metal being greatly superior in value. It continues to be of yellow brass, as well as the sestertius to the time of Gallienus; but the as is always in copper.

The imperial as, or assarium, was worth only a halfpenny. halfpenny. At first it weighed half an ounce, and was always of copper till the time of Gallienus, when it was made of brass, and weighed only the eighth part of an ounce. From the time of Gallienus to that of Diocletian, it continued to diminish still more, the size being then twenty to an ounce. This was the same with the lepta, or smallest coins but the *repuca*, which weighed only ten grains.

The parts of the as occur but seldom: which may, indeed, be well expected, considering the low value of it; though there still occur some of those called semis, triens, quadrans, sextans, and uncia, coined in the times of Nero and Domitian. There is no small brass from the time of Pertinax to that of Gallienus, excepting that of Trajanus Decius; but in the time of Gallienus it becomes extremely common; and the coins of small brass, as well as the larger, are always marked S. C. such as want it being universally accounted forgeries; and were plated with silver, though the plating be now worn off. The small pieces struck for slaves during the time of the saturnalia, must also be distinguished from the parts of the as. The S. C. upon these most probably signifies *Saturni Consulto*, and were struck in ridicule of the true coins, as the slaves on that occasion had every privilege of irony.

The sestertius diminishes from Pertinax to Gallienus so fast, that no parts of the as are struck, itself being so small. Trajanus Decius, indeed, coined some small pieces, which went for the semis of the time. The small brass coins under Gallienus were called assaria, sixty of which went to the silver denarius. They are about the size of the denarius, and some of them occur of the coinage of Gallus and his family, of half that size, which appear to have been struck during the latter part of his reign, when the assarium was diminished to a still smaller size. It is probable, however, that some of these very small coins had been struck in all ages of the empire, in order to scatter among the people on solemn occasions. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that they are the *missilia*, though most other medallists think that they are medallions. "But if so (says our author), they were certainly called *missilia* d'non mittendo; for it would be odd if fine medallions were scattered among the mob. It is a common custom just now to strike counters to scatter among the populace on such occasions, while medals are given to peers of the kingdom; and we may very justly reason from analogy on this occasion."

The *assarion* or *lepton* of the Constantinopolitan empire was, as we have already observed, one of the smallest coins known in antiquity, weighing no more than 20 grains; and the *nomia* were the very smallest which have reached our times, being only one half of the former. By reason of their extreme smallness, they are very scarce; but Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he has in his possession a fine one of Theodosius II., which has on it the emperor's head in profile. Theodosius P. F. AV.; on the reverse a wreath, having in the centre VOT. XX.: MUL.T. XXX.

The principal coin of the lower empire was the follis, which was divided into an half and quarter, named *hemi* and *tetra*; that latter of which is shown by Du Cange to have been a small brass coin, as the other is supposed to have been by Mr Pinkerton.—Besides these, the follis was divided into eight oboli, 16

Mr Pinkerton controverts an opinion, common among medallists, that the largest brass coin or follis of the lower empire had 40 small coins, expressed by the letter M upon it; the next had 30, expressed by the letter A; the half by the letter K; and the quarter marked I, which contained only 10. Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he has three coins of Anastasius, all marked M in large; one of them weighs more than half an ounce; the second 40 grains less; and the third of 160 grains, or one-third of an ounce; but the size is so very unequal, that the last, which is very thick, does not appear above half the size of the first. There are pieces of Justinian which weigh a whole ounce; but the size of copper was increased as the silver became scarcer; and the value of the coinage cannot be deduced from the weight of the coins, as it is plain that our own coinage is not of half the value with regard to the metal. A great number of medallions were struck by Constantius II., but there is no other copper larger than the half ounce, excepting that of Anastasius, when the follis began to be struck larger. All medallists allow the others to be medallions.

The metal employed in these very small coins, though at first of brass, was always a base and refuse kind; but copper is generally made use of in the parts of the as from the earliest times to the latest; and if brass be sometimes employed, it is never such as appears in the sesterti and dupondiarii, which is very fine and beautiful, but only the refuse. "Yellow brass of the right sort (says Mr Pinkerton), seems totally to have ceased in the Roman coinage with the sestertius, under Gallienus, though a few small coins of very bad metal appear under that hue as late as Julian II."

Silver was coined in Rome only as late as the 48th year of the city, or 266 B.C. Varro indeed speaks of silver having been coined by Servius Tullius, and the libella having been once in silver; but Pliny's authority must be accounted of more weight than that of this author, as he mistakes the *nurag* of Sicily for Roman coins, having been current at Rome during the time of the first Punic war. Even Pliny, according to our author, very frequently mistakes with regard to matters much antecedent to his own time; and among the moderns he criticises severely Erasmus and Hume. "Erasmus (says he), who had been in England for some time, talks of leaden money being used here." Not even a leaden token was struck in the reign of Henry VIII.; yet his authority has been followed with due deference to so great a name; for how could Erasmus, who must have seen the matter with his own eyes, assert a direct falsehood? To give a later instance in a writer of reputation, Mr Hume, in Vol. VI. of his history, has these words, in treating of the reign of James I., "It appears that copper halfpence and farthings began to be coined in this reign. Tradesmen had commonly carried on their retail business by leaden tokens. The small silver penny was soon lost; and at this time was nowhere to be found." Copper halfpence and farthings were not struck till Charles II., 1672; there were small tokens for for farthings struck in copper by James I. but not one for the halfpenny. The silver farthings had ceased with Edward VI., but the silver halpinece continued the sole coins till Edward II. It was by copper tokens that small business was carried on. The silver penny was much used till the end of the reign of George I.; and so far from being nowhere to be found, is superabundant of every reign since that period, not excepting even the present reign of George III. From these instances the reader may judge how strangely writers of all ages blunder, when treating of a subject of which they are entirely ignorant."

The first silver denarii coined at Rome, are supposed by our author to have been those which are impressed with the Roma; and he inclines to account those the most ancient that have a double female head on the one side, and on the reverse Jupiter in a car, with Victory holding the reins, and the word ROMA indented in a rude and singular manner. The double female head seems to denote Rome, in imitation of the Janus then upon the as. There are 15 of these in the cabinet of Dr Hunter; one of the largest weighs 98½ grains: and the rest, which seem to be of the greatest antiquity, are of various weights betwixt that and 84; the smaller and more modern weigh 58 or 59 grains; but Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that the large ones are of the very first Roman coinage, and struck during that interval of time betwixt the coinage of the first silver denarius and the as of two ounces. He takes the indentation of the word ROMA to be a mark of great antiquity; such a mode being scarcely known anywhere else, except in Caulonia, Crotona, and other towns of Italy; all of them allowed to be struck at least 400 B.C. As these coins are not double denarii, they must have been struck prior to the small ones; and Nennmann has given an account of one of them re-coined by Trajan, in which the indentation of ROMA is carefully preserved. The first denarius was in value 10 asses, when the as weighed three ounces; and allowing 90 grains at a medium for one of these large denarii, the proportion of copper to silver must have been as 1 to 165: but when the as fell to one ounce, the proportion was as 1 to 80: when it fell to half an ounce, so that 16 asses went to the denarius, the proportion was as 1 to 64, at which it remained. Copper with us, in coinage, is to silver as one to 40; but in actual value as 1 to 72.

At Rome the denarius was worth 8d.; the quinarius 4d.; and the sestertius, whether silver or brass, 2d. The denarius is the coin from which our penny is derived, and was the chief silver coin in Rome for 600 years. According to Celsus, seven denarii went to the Roman ounce, which in metals did not exceed 430 grains; but all the denarii hitherto met with weigh at a medium only 60 grains, this would seem to make the Roman ounce only 420 grains; though perhaps this deficiency may be accounted for from the unavoidable waste of metal even in the best preserved of these coins. According to this proportion the Roman pound contained 84 denarii; but in tale there was a very considerable excess; for no fewer than 100 denarii went to the Roman pound. The Greek ounce appears to have been considerably larger than that of Rome, containing about 528 grains; yet notwithstanding this apparently great odds, the difference in the coins was so small, that the Greek money went current in Rome, and the Roman in Greece. The Ancient denarius at first went for 10 asses, and was marked X: it was afterwards raised to 16; which Mr Pinkerton supposes to have been about 175 B.C. Some are met with bearing the number XVI. nay, with every number up to CCCCLXXVI. These large numbers are supposed to have been mint-marks of some kind or other. After being raised to 16 asses, it continued at the same value till the time of Gallienus; so that till that time we are to look upon its constituent parts to be 16 asses or assaria, eight dupondii, four brass sestertii, and two silver quinarii. Under the emperor Severus, however, or his successor Caracalla, denarii were struck of two sizes, one of them a third heavier than the common; which we must of consequence suppose to have borne a third more value. This large piece obtained the name of argenteus, and argenteus Philippus, or the "silver Philip;" the name of Philip having become common to almost every coin. The common denarii now began to be termed minutii and argenti,Philippii minutuli, &c. to express their being smaller than the rest. Some have imagined that the large denarii were of the same value with the small, only of worse metal; but Mr Pinkerton observes, that among the few which have any difference of metal, the smallest are always the worst. The first mention of the minutii is in the time of Alexander Severus, who reduced the price of pork from eight minutii at Rome to two and to one. The minutus argenteus of that age was about 40 grains; and from the badness of the metal was not worth above 4d. of our money. Thus the price of meat was by this prince reduced first to 8d. and then to 4d.

According to Zozimus and other writers, the pu-Restoration of the Roman coin was restored by Aurelian: of the pu-but Mr Pinkerton controverts this opinion; thinking rity of the it more probable, that he only made the attempt with- Roman out success; or that his reformation might be entirely coins. confined to gold, on which there is an evident change after the time of this emperor. His successor Tacitus is said to have allowed no brass to be mixed with silver upon any account; yet the few coins of this emperor are very much alloyed. We are certain, however, that the emperor Dioclesian restored the silver to its ancient purity; the denarius struck in his reign being very small indeed, but of as fine silver as the most ancient coins of the empire. After Gordian III. the small denarius entirely vanished, while the large one was so much diminished, that it resembled the minutus, or small one of Caracalla, in size. Gallienus introduced the denarii aurei instead of the sestertii. The argenteus, though reduced more than one-third in size, contained six denarii aurei, the old standard of sestertii. According to the writers of this period, and some time afterwards, the denarius or argenteus contained 60 assaria; whence it follows, that each denarius aureus had 10; and from this it probably had its name. The assaria are of the size of the argentei already mentioned; and show the copper to have retained nearly its old proportion of value to the silver, viz. 1 to 60.

A larger silver coin was introduced by Constantine I. who accommodated the new money to the pound of gold in such a manner, that 1000 of the former in tale were equal to the latter in value; so that this new piece from thence obtained the name of the milliarensis. milliarensis or "thousander." Its weight at a medium is 70 grains, or 70 to the pound of silver: but Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that it might have contained 72 grains, of which two have now perished by the softness of the silver; that the pound contained 72; or that two of the number might be allowed for coinage; while the alloy alone would pay for coining gold. The code says, that 60 went to the pound; but the numbers of this are quite corrupt. The milliarensis was worth about a shilling sterling. The argentei or denarii, however, were still the most common currency; and having been originally rated at 100 to the pound of silver in tale, they from thence began to be called centenariales, or "hundreders." Those of Constantine I. and II. Constans, and Constantius, weigh from 50 grains down to 40; those of Julian and Jovian, from 40 to 30; and of the succeeding emperors from that time to Justinian, from 30 to 20. Under Heraclius they ceased entirely; and from Justinian to their total abolition, had been brought down from 15 to 10 grains. A like decrease of weight took place in the milliarensis; those of Constantine and Constans being above 70 grains in weight; those of Arcadius not above 62; and the milliarensis of Justinian not more than 30 grains; but, from the weight of those in Dr Hunter's cabinet, Mr Pinkerton deduces the medium to have been exactly 70\(\frac{8}{9}\) grains. These coins were also called majorinae.

The smaller silver coins of Rome were, 1. The quinarius, at first called victoriatus, from the image of Victory on its reverse; and which it continued to bear from first to last. Its original value was five asses, but it was afterwards raised to eight, when the value of the denarius increased to 16. According to Pliny, it was first coined in consequence of the lex Clodia, about the 525th year of Rome. Some are of opinion, that it was called xestetos under the Constantinopolitan empire, because it was worth a xestetos of gold, 144 of which went to the ounce: but this is denied by Mr Pinkerton, because, at the time that the word xestetos first appears in history, the denarius did not weigh above 30 grains; and of consequence, as 25 must have gone to the gold solidus, of which there were six in the ounce, 130 denarii must have gone to the ounce of gold. He is therefore of opinion, that the word xestetos, was only another name for the denarius when much reduced in size; probably owing to the great scarcity of silver in Constantinople, though in the same city there was plenty of gold; and of consequence, the gold solidus was never diminished. "For Montesquieu (says our author) has well observed, that gold must be common where silver is rare. Hence gold was the common regulation of accounts in the Eastern empire." The xestetos met with in ancient authors, according to Mr Pinkerton, was merely an improper name for the milliarensis; when, on account of the scarcity of silver, the denarius was reduced, and no milliarenses coined: so that the current milliarensis of former reigns happened to be double to the denarius or centenariales. The quinarius diminishes in size along with the other coins; those of Augustus weighing 30 grams, of Severus 25, of Constantine I. 20, of Justinian 12, and of Heraclius only 5. A new silver coinage seems to have taken place after the days of this emperor; as the little we then meet with, which in the best cabinets scarce exceeds a dozen of ancient coins, consists entirely of large unshapely pieces of coarse metal.

2. The consular denarius had also four silver sesterces, till the as fell to half an ounce, when it was thought proper to coin the sestertius in brass, as it continued to be ever afterwards. "The very last silver sestertius (says Mr Pinkerton) which appears, is one with a head of Mercury, and H.S.; on the reverse a caduceus P. SEPVLLIVS; who appears to be the P. SEPVLLIVS MACER of the denarii of Julius Caesar. If so, as is most probable, the sestertius was coined in silver down to Augustus; and it is of course not to be expected that any of brass can appear till Augustus, under whom they are actually quite common. I have indeed seen no coin which could be a consular brass sestertius; and though we have certainly brass dupondii of Caesar, yet it is reasonable to infer, that the brass sestertius was first coined by Augustus. Not one silver sestertius appears during the whole imperial period, yet we know that the sestertius was the most common of all silver coins. The consular sesterces of silver, marked H. S. are not uncommon, nor the quinarii; but the latter are very scarce of all the emperors, if we except one instance, the ASIA RECEPTA of Augustus.

"The Roman gold coinage was still later than that Roman of silver. Pliny tells us, that "gold was coined 62 years after silver;" and the scruple went for 60 sesterces. It was afterwards thought proper to coin 40 pieces out of the pound of gold. And our princes have by degrees diminished their weight to 45 in the pound." This account is confirmed by the pieces which still remain; for we have that very coin weighing a scruple, which went for 20 sesterces. On one side is the head of Mars, and on the other an eagle; and it is marked xx. We have another coin of the same kind, but double, marked xxx; and its triple, marked \(4x\) or 60; the \(4\) being the old numeral character for 50. Mr Pinkerton, the discoverer of this, treats other medallists with great asperity. Savot and Hardouin are mentioned by name; the latter (he says) is "ignorant of common sense;" and neither he nor Savot could explain it but by reading backward; putting the \(4\) for the Roman V, and thus making it xv. Other readings have been given by various medallists, but none have hit upon the true one excepting our author, though the coin itself led to it; being just three times the weight of that marked xx. We have likewise half the largest coin, which is marked xxx, and which weighs 26 grams; the smallest is only 17\(\frac{1}{2}\); the xxxx weighs 34; and the lx or drachma 53. There is also the didrachm of this coinage, of 106 grams.

The aurei, or Roman gold coins, were at first 48 in the pound; but they were afterwards diminished in the number to 40, owing to an augmentation in the weight of each coin. In the time of Sylla, the aureus weighed no less than from 164 to 168 grams, and there were only 30 in the pound; but such confusion in the coining was introduced by that conqueror, that no person could know exactly what he was worth. Till this time the aureus seems to have continued of the value of 30 silver denarii, about one pound sterling; for about that time it was enlarged a whole third, that it might still be equivalent to the full number of denarii. But after Sylla had taken Athens, and the arts and manners of Greece became objects of imitation to the Romans, the aureus fell to 40 in the pound, probably when Sylla had abdicated his dictatorship. Thus, being reduced near to the scale of the Greek ἀργυρός, it passed for 25 denarii, as the latter did for as many drachmas, being in currency 13s. 4d. sterling. "This (says Mr Pinkerton) is the more probable, because we know from Suetonius, that the great Caesar brought from Gaul so much gold, that it sold for nine times its weight of silver: but the Gallic gold was of a very base sort."

In the time of Claudius, the aureus was valued at 100 sesterii, or 25 silver denarii, at which it continued till the time of Heliogabalus, when it fell to about 92 grains at a medium, or rose in number to 55 in the pound. In the reign of Philip, during which the city completed its thousandth year, the aureus was coined of two or three sizes. These are impressed with a head of Rome on one side, and various figures on the other; but the workmanship is so rude, that they are supposed to have been struck in some of the more uncivilized provinces of the empire. The practice of having different gold coins, however, continued under Valerian, Gallienus, and his successors. In the time of Gallienus, they were of 60, 65, and from 86 to 93 grains; the double aurei being from 172 to 183½ grains; but the aureus properly so called was from 86 to 93; those of 30 and 32 being the trientes aurei of the Historiae Augustae Scriptores; while the larger, from 62 to 65, are to be accounted double trientes, and were perhaps called minuti aurei. The value of these different sizes of aurei is not known.

That Aurelian made some alteration in the coin is certain; but Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have been only in the gold; because under him and his successor Probus, the common aureus was of 100 grains, a size confined to those emperors: there are likewise halves of about 50 grains; and double aurei, commonly, of very fine workmanship, of upwards of 200 grains. In the time of Gallienus, the precious metal was so common, that this emperor vied in magnificence with Nero and Heliogabalus. Aurelian, who plundered the rich city of Palmyra, and thus became master of the treasures of the east, obtained such a profusion of gold, that he looked upon it to be produced by nature in greater plenty than silver. It is remarkable that during this emperor's reign there was a rebellion among the money coiners, which could not be quelled but by the destruction of several thousands; which Mr Pinkerton ascribes to his having ordered the gold to be restored to its former size, but to go for no more silver than it formerly did. "So very little silver (says he) occurs of this period, that it is plain no alteration in the silver produced the war with the moneyers; and in the brass he made no change; or if he had, it were strange that such commotions should arise about so trifling a metal. But if, as appears from the coins, he ordered the aureus, which had fallen to 80 grams, to be raised to about 100, it is no wonder that the contractors should be in an uproar; for a whole quarter of their coinage, amounting as would seem, to all their profits, was lost. Aurelian judged, that when he found gold so common in the east, it was equally so in the west; and that the moneyers must have made a most exorbitant profit; but his ideas on this subject were partial and unjust: and after his short reign, which did not exceed five months after the alteration, the gold returned to its former course; though a few pieces occur of Aurelian's standard, struck, as would seem, in the commencement of the reign of Probus his successor.

From this time to that of Constantine I., the aureus weighed between 70 and 80 grains; but in his reign it was changed for the solidus, of which six went to the ounce of gold, which went for 14 milliarenses, and 25 denarii as before; the value of silver being now to gold as 14 to 1. This new coin continued of the same value to the final downfall of the Constantinopolitan empire; gold being always very plentiful in that city, though silver became more and more scarce. The solidus was worth 12s. sterling. Here again our author most severely criticises Mr Clarke and Mr Raper: the former (he says) with respect to the value of gold in the time of Constantine I. "has left all his senses behind him. In page 267, he absurdly asserts, that 20 denarii went to the solidus in the time of Theodosius I. and proceeds with this deplorable error to the end of his work. He then tells us, that only 14 denarii went to the solidus under Constantine I.," &c. To Mr Raper, however, he is a little more merciful, as he owns, that "though he (Mr Raper) has strangely confounded the milliarensis with the denarius, he has yet kept common sense for his guide." Mr Pinkerton, indeed, argues with great probability, "that had any change in the coinage taken place between the time of Constantine and Theodosius I., that is, in less than 50 years, the laws of that period, which are all in the Theodosian code, must have noticed it." To this and other arguments upon the subject, Mr Pinkerton adds the following observation upon the value of gold and silver: "As a state advances to its height, gold increases in value; and as a state declines, it decreases, providing the metals are kept on a par as to purity. Hence we may argue, that gold decreased in its relation to silver perhaps four or five centuries, furnished most European kingdoms with gold in coin, which otherwise would, from their want of arts and of intercourse with the east, then the grand seminary of that metal, have almost been ignorant of what gold was. These gold coins were called Byzants in Europe, because sent from Byzantium or Constantinople; and were solidi of the old scale, six to the ounce. In Byzantine writers, the solidus is also called nomisma, or "the coin;" crysinos, because of gold; hyperperos, from its being refined with fire, or from its being of bright gold flaming like fire. The solidi also, as the aurei formerly, received names from the princes whose portraits they bore; as Michelclati, Manuelclati. Solidus is a term used also for the aureus by Apuleius, who lived in the time of Antoninus the Philosopher; nay, as early as the praetorian edicts of the time of Trajan. It was then a distinction from the semissis or half." In the time of Valerian, when aurei of different sizes had been introduced, it became necessary to distinguish the particular aurei meant. Hence in the Imperial Rescripts, published by the Historiae Augustae Scriptores, Valerian uses the term Philippoeos nostri vultus, for the common aurei. Aurelian uses the same term aurei Philippei, for the aurei which he had restored to their size in some degree. Gallienus uses aurei Valeriani for his father's coins. Aurei Antoniniani are likewise put by Valerian for coins of the early Antonini, of superior standard to any then used.

In the first gold coinage at Rome the aureus was divided into four parts: the semissis of 60 sesterii; the tremissis or third, of 45; the fourth, the name of which is not mentioned, of 30; and the scrupulum of 20. But in a short time all of these fell into disuse, except the semissis or half, which is extremely scarce; so that it is probable that few have been struck. It is an erroneous opinion (according to Mr Pinkerton), that the semissis was called a denarius aureus. The aureus itself indeed had this name; but the name of quinarius is applied to the semissis with greater propriety than the former. Trientes, or tremisses of gold, are found of Valerian and his son Gallienus, and weigh about 30 grains. Those of Salonina the wife of Gallienus weigh 33 grains. Under the Constantinopolitan empire, tremisses again made their appearance; and from the time of Valentinian downwards, the thirds are the most common kinds of gold, being worth about 4s. sterling. The semissis is likewise mentioned, but none occur earlier than the time of Basiliscus. The gold tremissis was the pattern of the French and Spanish gold coins; as the silver denarius, in its diminished state, was of the Gothic and Saxon penny.

We shall close this account of the Roman money with some remarks concerning the mint, and method of coinage. This at first seems to have been under the direction of the quaestor. About the time that silver was first coined in Rome, viz. about 266 B.C., the triumviri monetales were created. They were at first of senatorial rank, but were by Augustus chosen from among the equestrian; and the title of triumviri was continued till after the time of Caracalla; but under Aurelian there was probably but one master of the mint, called rationalis; and Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that the change took place under Gallienus. He seems also to have permitted the provincial cities to coin gold and silver, as well as to have altered the form of the mints in the capital, and to have ordered them all to strike money with Latin legends, and of the same forms; as in his time we first meet with coins with mint marks of cities and offices. The violent insurrection which took place in his reign has already been mentioned, as well as its probable cause; and Mr Gibbon has shown, that the concealed enemies of Aurelian took such advantage of this insurrection, that it cost 7000 of his best troops before it could be quelled. About this time the procurator monetarum seems to have succeeded the rationalis as director of the mint. In the colonies, the direction of the mint seems to have been given to the decemviri, whose names frequently occur in colonial coins; "which (says Mr Pinkerton), though generally of rude invention, and ruder execution, are yet often interesting and important."

The engraving of the ancient dies used in coinage was a work of much genius and labour; and at Rome Greek artists were generally employed in it; but it has been thought a matter of great surprise, that scarce any two ancient coins are to be found exactly the same. Hence some antiquaries have imagined that only a single coin was thrown off from each die. M.

Beauvais informs us, that the only two Roman imperial coins of the first times which he had seen perfectly alike were those of the emperor Galba. It is, however, the opinion of the best judges, that a perfect similarity betwixt two medals is a very great reason for supposing one of them to be forged. "It must also be observed (says Mr Pinkerton), that the differences in coins, apparently from the same die, are often so minute as to escape an eye not used to microscopic observations of this sort. But it would be surprising if any two ancient coins were now found struck with the same die; for out of each million issued, not above one has reached us. Dies soon give way by the violence of the work, and the ancients had no puncheons nor matrices, but were forced to engrave many dies for the same coin. Even in our mint, upon sending for a shilling's worth of new halfpence, it will appear that three or four dies have been used. Sometimes the obverse of the die gives way, sometimes the reverse; but among us it is renewed by puncheons, though with variations in the lettering or other minute strokes; while the ancients were forced to recur to another die differently engraved. The engravers of the die were called caelatores; other officers employed in the mint were the spectatores, expectatores, or nummularii. The melters were styled fusarii, flatuarii, and flaturarii; those who adjusted the weight were called aquatores monetarum; those who put the pieces into the die suppositores, and those who struck them mallcatores. At the head of each office was an officer named primicerius, and the foreman was named optio et exactor."

In order to assist the high relief on the coins, the metal, after being melted and refined, was cast into bullets, as appears from the ancient coins not being cut or filed on the edges, but often cracked, and always rough and unequal. These bullets were then put into the die, and received the impression by repeated strokes of the hammer, though sometimes a machine appears to have been used for this purpose: for Boiterue informs us, that there was a picture of the Roman mintage in a grotto near Baiae, where a machine was represented holding up a large stone as if to let it fall suddenly, and strike the coin at once. None of the ancient money was cast in moulds, excepting the most ancient and very large Roman brass, commonly called weights, and other Italian pieces of that sort; all the rest being mere forgeries of ancient and modern times. Some Roman moulds which have been found are a proof of this; and from these some medallists have erroneously imagined that the ancients first cast their money in moulds, and then stamped it, in order to make the impression more clear and sharp.

The ancients had some knowledge of the method of crenating the edges of their coins, which they did by cutting out regular notches upon them; and of this kind we find some of the Syrian and ancient consular coins, with a few others. The former were cast in this shape, and then struck; but the latter were crenated by incision, to prevent forgery, by showing the inside of the metal: however, the ancient forgers also found out a method of imitating this; for Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he had a Roman consular coin, of which the incisions, like the rest, were plated with silver over the copper. Sect. VI. Of the Preservation of Medals.

We now come to consider what it is that distinguishes one medal from another, and why some are so highly prized more than others. This, in general, besides its genuineness, consists in the high degree of preservation in which it is. This, by Mr Pinkerton, is called the conservation of medals, and is by him regarded as good and as perfect. In this, he says that a true judge is so nice, that he will reject even the rarest coins if in the least defaced either in the figures or legend. Some, however, are obliged to content themselves with those which are a little rubbed, while those of superior taste and abilities have in their cabinets only such as are in the very state in which they came from the mint; and such, he says, are the cabinets of Sir Robert Austin, and Mr Walpole, of Roman silver, at Strawberryhill. It is absolutely necessary, however, that a coin be in what is called good preservation; which in the Greek or Roman emperors, and the colonial coins, is supposed to be when the legends can be read with some difficulty; but when the conservation is perfect, and the coin just as it came from the mint, even the most common coins are valuable.

The fine rust, like varnish, which covers the surface of brass and copper coins, is found to be the best preserver of them; and is brought on by lying in a certain kind of soil. Gold cannot be contaminated but by iron mold, which happens when the coin lies in a soil impregnated with iron; but silver is susceptible of various kinds of rust, principally green and red; both of which yield to vinegar. In gold and silver coins the rust must be removed, as being prejudicial; but in brass and copper it is preservative and ornamental; a circumstance taken notice of by the ancients. "This fine rust (says Mr Pinkerton), which is indeed a natural varnish not imitable by the art of man, is sometimes a delicate blue, like that of a turquoise; sometimes of a bronze brown, equal to that observable in ancient statues of bronze, and so highly prized; and sometimes of an exquisite green, a little on the azure hue, which last is the most beautiful of all. It is also found of a fine purple, of olive, and of a cream colour or pale yellow; which last is exquisite, and shows the impression to as much advantage as paper of cream colour, used in all great foreign presses, does copperplates and printing. The Neapolitan patina (the rust in question) is of a light green; and when free from excrescence or blemish is very beautiful. Sometimes the purple patina gleams through an upper coat of another colour, with as fine effect as a variegated silk or gem. In a few instances a rust of a deeper green is found; and it is sometimes spotted with the red or bronze shade, which gives it quite the appearance of the East Indian stone called the blood-stone. These rusts are all, when the real product of time, as hard as the metal itself, and preserve it much better than any artificial varnish could have done; concealing at the same time not the most minute particle of the impression of the coin."

The value of medals is lowered when any of the letters of the legend are misplaced; as a suspicion of forgery is thus induced. Such is the case with many of those of Claudius Gothicus. The same, or even greater, diminution in value takes place in such coins as have not been well fixed in the die, which has occasioned their slipping under the strokes of the hammer, and thus made a double or triple image. Many coins of this kind are found in which the one side is perfectly well formed, but the other blundered in the manner just mentioned. Another blemish, but of smaller moment, and which to some may be rather a recommendation, is when the workmen through inattention have put another coin into the die without taking out the former. Thus the coin is convex on one side, and concave on the other, having the same figure upon both its sides.

The medals said by the judges in this science to be countermarked are very rare, and highly valued. They marked have a small stamp impressed upon them, in some a head, in others a few letters, such as AUG : N. PROBUS, &c., which marks are supposed to imply an alteration in the value of the coin; as was the case with the countermarked coins of Henry VIII., and Queen Mary of Scotland. Some have a small hole through them; sometimes with a little ring fastened in it, having been used as ornaments; but this makes no alteration in their value. Neither is it any diminution in the value of a coin that it is split at the edges; for coins of undoubted antiquity have often been found in this state, the cause of which has been already explained. On the contrary, this cracking is generally considered as a great merit; but Mr Pinkerton suspects that one of these cracked coins has given rise to an error with respect to the wife of Carausius who reigned for some time in Britain. The inscription is read ORIUNA AUG : and there is a crack in the medal just before the O of oriuna. Without this crack Mr Pinkerton supposes that it would have been read FORTUNA AUG.

Some particular soils have the property of giving silver a yellow colour as if it had been gilt. It naturally acquires a black colour through time, which any tarnished sulphureous vapour will bring on in a few minutes. From its being so susceptible of injuries, it was always mixed by the ancients with much alloy, in order to harden it. Hence the impressions of the ancient silver coins remain perfect to this day, while those of modern coins are obliterated in a few years. On this account Mr Pinkerton expresses a wish that modern states would allow a much greater proportion of alloy in their silver coin than they usually do. As gold admits of no rust except that from iron above-mentioned, the coins of this metal are generally in perfect conservation, and fresh as from the mint.

To cleanse gold coins from this rust, it is best to steep them in aquafortis, which, though a very powerful solvent of other metals, has no effect upon gold. Silver may be cleansed by steeping for a day or two in vinegar, but more effectually by boiling in water with three parts of tartar and one of sea salt; on both these metals, however, the rust is always in spots, and never forms an entire incrustation as on brass or copper. The coins of these two metals must never be cleansed, as they would thus be rendered full of small holes eaten by the rust. Sometimes, however, they are found so totally obscured with rust, that nothing can be discovered upon them; in which case it is best to clear them with a graver; but it may also be done by boiling them for 24 hours in water with three How to distinguish true from counterfeits.

The high state of preservation in which ancient coins are usually found, is thus accounted for by Mr. Hancarville. He observes, that the chief reason is the custom of the ancients always to bury one or more coins with their dead, in order to pay for their passage over the river Styx. "From Phidon of Argos (says he) to Constantine I. are 36 generations: and from Magna Graecia to the Euphrates, from Cyrene to the Euxine sea, Grecian arts prevailed, and the inhabitants amounted to above 30,000,000. There died, therefore, in that time and region, not less than ten thousand millions of people, all of whom had coins of one sort or other buried with them. The tombs were sacred and untouched; and afterwards neglected, till modern curiosity or chance began to disclose them. The urn of Flavia Valentina, in Mr. Towlery's capital collection, contained seven brass coins of Antoninus Pius and Heliogabalu. Such are generally black, from being burnt with the dead. The best and freshest coins were used on these occasions from respect to the dead; and hence their fine conservation. At Syracuse a skeleton was found in a tomb, with a beautiful gold coin in its mouth; and innumerable other instances might be given, for hardly is a funeral urn found without coins. Other incidents also conspire to furnish us with numbers of ancient coins, though the above-recited circumstance be the chief cause of perfect conservation. In Sicily, the silver coins with the head of Proserpine were found in such numbers as to weigh 600 French livres or pounds. In the 16th century, 60,000 Roman coins were found at Modena, thought to be a military chest hid after the battle of Bedriacum, when Otho was defeated by Vitellius. Near Brest, in the year 1760, between 20 and 30,000 Roman coins were found. A treasure of gold coins of Lysimachus was found at Deva on the Marus; and Strabo, lib. vii. and Pausan. in Attic, tell that he was defeated by the Getæ; at which time this treasure seems to have fallen into their hands."

Thus Mr. Pinkerton, from the authority of Mr. Hancarville and others: but considering these vast numbers of coins found in various places, it seems surprising how so few should now remain in the cabinets of the curious, as the same author informs us that the whole of the different ancient coins known to us amount only to about 80,000, though he owns that the calculation cannot be esteemed accurate.

Sect. VII. How to distinguish true Medals from counterfeits.

The most difficult and the most important thing in the whole science of medals is the method of distinguishing the true from the counterfeit. The value put upon ancient coins made the forgery of them almost coeval with the science itself; and as no laws inflict a punishment upon such forgers, men of great genius and abilities have undertaken the trade: but whether to the real detriment of the science or not, is a matter of some doubt; for if only exact copies of genuine medals are sold for the originals, the imposition may be deemed trifling: but the case must be accounted very different, if people take it upon them to forge medals which never existed. At first the forgeries were extremely gross; and medals were forged of Priam, of Aristotle, Artemisia, Hannibal, and most of the other illustrious personages of antiquity. Most of these were done in such a manner, that the fraud could easily be discovered; but others have imposed even upon very learned men. Mr. Pinkerton mentions a remarkable medal of the emperor Heraclius, representing him in a chariot on the reverse, with Greek and Latin inscriptions, which Joseph Scaliger and Lipsius imagined to have been struck in his own time, but which was certainly issued in Italy in the 15th century. "Other learned men (says our author) have been strangely misled, when speaking of coins; for to be learned in one subject excludes not gross ignorance in others. Budaeus, de Asse, quotes a denarius of Cicero, m. tull. Erasmus, in one of his Epistles, tells us with great gravity, that the gold coin of Brutus struck in Thrace, ΚΟΣΩΝ, bears the patriarch Noah coming out of the ark with his two sons, and takes the Roman eagle for the dove with the olive branch. Winkelman, in his letters informs us, that the small brass piece with Virgil's head, reverse EPO, is undoubtedly ancient Roman; and adds, that no knowledge of coins can be had out of Rome: but Winkelman, so conversant in statues, knew nothing of coins. It is from other artists and other productions that any danger of deceit arises. And there is no wonder that even the skilful are misled by such artists as have used this trade; for among them appear the names of Victor Gambello, Giovanni del Cavino, Coins for called the Paduan, and his son Alessandro Bassiano, gèd by cel-likewise of Padua, Benvenuto Cellini, Alessandro celentano, Greco, Leo Artino, Jacopo da Frezzo, Federigo Bonzagna, and Giovani Jacopo, his brother; Sebastiano Plumbo, Valerio de Vizenza, Gorlaeus, a German, Carteron of Holland, and others, all or most of them of the 16th century; and Cavino the Paduan, who is the most famous, lived in the middle of that century. The forgeries of Cavino are held in no little esteem, being of wonderful execution. His and those of Carteron are the most numerous, many of the other artists here mentioned not having forged above two or three coins. Later forgers were Dervieu of Florence who confined himself to medallions, and Cogornier who gave coins of the 30 tyrants in small brass. The chief part of the forgeries of Greek medals which have come to my knowledge are of the first mentioned, and a very gross kind, representing persons who could never appear upon coin, such as Priam, Æneas, Plato, Alcibiades, Artemisia, and others. The real Greek coins were very little known or valued till the works of Goltzius appeared, which were happily posterior to the era of the grand forgers. Why later forgers have seldom thought of counterfeiting them cannot be easily accounted for, if it is not owing to the masterly workmanship of the originals, which set all imitation at defiance. Forgeries, however, of most ancient coins may be met with, and of the Greek among the rest.

"The forgeries are more conspicuous among the Roman medals than any other kind of coins; but we are not to look upon all these as the work of modern artists. On the contrary, we are assured that many of them were fabricated in the times of the Romans themselves, some of them being even held in more estimation than the genuine coins themselves, on account of of their being plated, and otherwise executed in a manner to which modern forgers could never attain. Even the ancients held some of these counterfeits in such estimation, that Pliny informs us there were frequently many true denarii given for one false one."—Caracalla is said to have coined money of copper and lead plated with silver; and plated coins, the work of ancient forgers, occur of many Greek cities and princes; nay, there are even forgeries of barbaric coins. "Some Roman coins (says Mr Pinkerton), are found of iron or lead plated with brass, perhaps trials of the skill of the forger. Iron is the most common; but one decursio of Nero is known of lead plated with copper. Neumann justly observes, that no historic faith can be put in plated coins, and that most faulty reverses, &c. arise from plated coins not being noticed as such. Even of the Roman consular coins not very many have ever been forged. The celebrated silver denarii of Brutus, with the cap of liberty and two daggers, is the chief instance of a consular coin of which a counterfeit is known. But it is easily rejected by this mark: in the true coin the cap of liberty is below the guard or hilt of the daggers; in the false, the top of it rises above that hilt."

The imperial series of medals is the grand object of modern metallic forgeries; and the deception was at first extended to the most eminent writers upon the subject. The counterfeits are by Mr Pinkerton divided into six classes.

I. Such as are known to be imitations, but valued on account of the artists by whom they are executed. In this class the medals of the Paduan rank highest; the others being so numerous, that a complete series of imperial medals of almost every kind, nay almost of every medallion, may be formed from among them. In France, particularly, by far the greater part of the cabinets are filled with counterfeits of this kind. They are distinguished from such as are genuine by the following marks: 1. The counterfeits are almost universally thinner. 2. They are never worn or damaged. 3. The letters are modern. 4. They are either destitute of varnish entirely, or have a false one, which is easily known by its being black, shining, and greasy, and very easily hurt by the touch of a needle, while the varnish of ancient medals is as hard as the metal itself. Instead of the greasy black varnish above mentioned, indeed, they have sometimes a light green one, spotted with a kind of iron marks, and is composed of sulphur, verdigrise, and vinegar. It may frequently be distinguished by the hairstrokes of the pencil with which it was laid on being visible upon it. 5. The sides are either filed or too much smoothed by art, or bear the marks of a small hammer. 6. The counterfeits are always exactly circular, which is not the case with ancient medals, especially after the time of Trajan.

The Paduan forgeries may be distinguished from those of inferior artists by the following marks: 1. The former are seldom thinner than the ancient. 2. They very seldom appear as worn or damaged, but the others very frequently, especially in the reverse, and legend of the reverse, which sometimes, as in forged Othos, appear as half consumed by time. 3. The letters in moulds taken from the antique coins have the rudeness of antiquity. 4. False varnish is commonly light green or black, and shines too much or too little. 5. The sides of forged coins are frequently quite smooth, and distinguishable from the ancient, though to accomplish this requires but little art. 6. Counterfeit medals are frequently as irregular in their form as the genuine; but the Paduan are generally circular, though false coins have often little pieces cut off, in perfect imitation of the genuine. 7. In cast coins, the letters do not go sharp down into the medal, and have no fixed outline; their minute angles, as well as those of the drapery, are commonly filled up, and have not the sharpness of the genuine kind. Where the letters or figures are faint, the coin is greatly to be suspected.

The letters form the great criterion of medals, the ancient being very rude, but the modern otherwise; principal the reason of which, according to Cellini, is, that the ancients engraved all their matrices with the graver or burin, while the modern forgers strike theirs with a punch.

According to Vico, the false patina is green, black, russet, brown, gray, and iron colour. The green is made from verdigrise, the black is the smoke of sulphur, the gray is made of chalk steeped in urine, the coin being left for some days in the mixture. The russet is next to the natural, by reason of its being a kind of froth which the fire forces from ancient coins; but when false, it shines too much. To make it they frequently took the large brass coins of the Ptolemies, which were often corroded, and made them red hot in the fire; put the coins upon them, and a fine patina adhered. Our author does not say in what manner the iron-coloured patina was made. "Sometimes (adds he) they take an old defaced coin, covered with real patina, and stamp it anew; but the patina is then too bright in the cavities, and too dull in the protuberances. The trial of brass coins with the tongue is not to be despised; for if modern the patina tastes bitter or pungent, while if ancient it is quite tasteless."

Mr Pinkerton informs us, that all medallions from Julius Caesar to Adrian are much to be suspected of forgery; the true medals of the first 14 emperors being exceedingly valuable, and to be found only in the cabinets of princes.

II. The second class of counterfeit medals contains those cast from moulds taken from the Paduan forgeries, and others done by eminent masters. These are sometimes more difficult to be discovered than the former, because in casting them they can give any degree of thickness they please; and, filling the small sand-holes with mastic, they retouch the letters with a graver, and cover the whole with varnish. The instructions already given for the former class, however, are also useful for those of the second, with this addition, that medals of this class are generally lighter than the genuine, because fire rarefies the metal in some degree, while that which is struck is rather condensed by the strokes. In gold and silver medals there cannot be any deception of this kind; because these metals admit not of patina, and consequently the varnish betrays the imposition. The marks of the file on the margin of those of the second class are a certain sign of forgery; though these do not always indicate the forgery to be of modern date, because the Romans often filed the edges of coins to accommodate them to the purposes of ornament, as quarter guineas are sometimes How to distinguish the bottom of punch ladles. It is common to imitate the holes of medals made by time by means of aquafortis; but this destroys the sides of a coin more effectually than if it had been eaten into naturally. The fraud, however, is not easily distinguished.