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THE TWELVE CAESAES (JULIUS TO DOMITIAN) ILLUSTRATED BY READINGS OF 217 OF THEIR COINS AND MEDALS

Twelve Caesars – CALIGULA COINS

[Of the twelve Caesars who exercised imperial authority at Rome from B.C. 47 to a.d. 96, Caligula, a.d. 37-11. was the fourth. The three who preceded him under this title were Julius Caesar, e.g. 47-44; Augustus, b.c. 31-a.d. 14, and Tibekius, 14-37. The eight who succeeded him, Claudius, 41-54; Nero, 54-68; Galea, 68-69; Otho, 69; Vitellius. 09: Vespasian, 69-79; Titus, 79-81, and Domitian, 81-96.]

Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (commonly styled Caligula), fourth of the Caesars, Emperor of Rome, a.d. 37 to 41, was born at Antium. ten miles south of Rome, August 31, a.d. 12. The reigning Emperor was Augustus. Caligula was the youngest son of Germanicus Caesar, nephew of the Emperor Tiberius, the same who restored the prestige of Rome lost iu the destruction of Varus and his three legions by the Germans, a.d. 9.

His mother, Agrippina, granddaughter of Augustus Caesar, was oue of the victims of the cruelty of the Emperor Tiberius. Nero, afterward Emperor, was the son of the second Agrippina, sister of Caligula, and the Emperor Claudius was her father’s brother. The nickname (rumieu joculare) of Caligula (which he himself always refused to bear, deeming it an insult) is derived from caliga, the form of boot, heavy and studded with nails, worn by common soldiers. A private soldier was termed, from this object, miles caligidalvs. The word is allied to calceus, from calx, the heel; and by metonymy, caliga represents military service.

The Emperor Caligula, born under sound of trumpet, spent his early years in the camps with his father. He became the idol of the soldiers. At the age of sixteen, upon the death of his mother, he took up his abode with his great-grandmother, Livia Augusta, the wife of the Emperor Augustus, and at her death delivered her funeral oration from the Rostra, wearing the praetexta. From this he removed to the dwelling of his grandmother, Antonia, the wife of Drusus, brother of Tiberius, where he remained until his twentieth year (a.d. 32), when the Emperor Tiberius summoned him to Misenum, in Campania, the place of the royal residence.

A resident at the voluptuous court of Tiberius, Caligula concealed his indignation at the treatment his family had received from that monarch, and so saved his own life; but his savage and voluptuous character was understood by the Emperor. He married (a.d. 35) Junia Claudilla (Claudia), who lived but a year after. Soon after her death he obtained the questorship, and then the augurate. having been created pontifex maximus two years before.

The death of Tiberius, which occurred at Misenum, March, a.d. 37, in the manner of an assassination, has been charged upon Caligula, who, in fact, boasted that he administered poison to the old voluptuary with his own hands. Yet he attended the funeral in the dress of a mourner, hair and beard unshaved and untrimmed, clothed in black, all ornaments being laid aside. It was not altogether the purpose of Tiberius that Caligula should be his successor. In his will he had appointed Tiberius Gemellus, his grandson, to be co-heir with Caligula; but the Senate and the people gave the sovereign power to Caligula alone in honor of his father, Grrmanicu6, who had been the idol of the nation, and he set out upon his brief career as ruler without an opponent.

At first he seems to have tried to perform a worthy part. He paid to the people and the soldiers the legacies left them by the late Emperor, pardoned all who had joined in the oppressions endured by his family, and publicly burnt the condemnatory papers. He released from prison and from exile all political prisoners, and restored to the magistrates that full power of jurisdiction of which they had been deprived. To foreign princes, stripped of their patrimony by his predecessor, he behaved with generosity. Among these, Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, of Judea, who had been put in chains by Tiberius, was pardoned and his kingdom restored to him. July 1, a.d. 37, Caligula, in conjunction with his uncle Claudius, afterward Emperor, entered upon his first Consulate.

Soon after this he was seized with a serious illness, in consequence of his irregular mode of living, and from that time became an altered man. All that was good in him evaporated. The justice and moderation evinced during the first months of his reign disappeared. From that time he acted more like a diabolical monster than a human being. His conduct was that of a madman. Perhaps his illness destroyed his mental balance and thus let loose all the veiled passions of his soul. The hand of the executioner fell heavily upon the ancient families of Rome. Only the obscure were safe. He put to death Tiberius Gemellus, whom he had formerly made Princeps Juventutis. He compelled many of his relatives, amongst them his grandmother, Antonia, and his wife, Ennia Naevia, to commit suicide, lie was ever haunted by the black spectres of gloom and ennui.

At the circus, when the number of criminals failed for the bloody sports, he seized upon bystanders, ordered their tongues cut out, and made them substitutes in the horrid games. At his meals he ordered men tortured to death before his eyes as zest to his flagging appetite. Once, during a horse-race, when he found the people more humane than himself, he expressed the wish that ” all men had but one neck, and he would decollate the race at a blow.” Cursed with the grossest sensuality, he had a keen enjoyment of low and profligate society. Ilis favorite pleasure was sensual excitement.

Mystery, intrigue and suspicion hung over his court, and to all time his memory dwells in 6uch contempt as well as detestation that few can even recollect his real name (Caius Caesar), but call him ” Caligula,” as one would say “the Tom, Dick and Harry of Roman Emperors.” In his madness Caligula conceived himBelf to be a god. He appeared publicly as Bucchus, Apollo, Jupiter, Diana and others, representing either sex, as the fancy moved him. He would stand in the temple of Castor and Pollux, between the statues of those divinities, and require the people to worship him in their stead.

He even built a temple to himself under the name of Jupiter Latiaris (“the Jove of the Latins”), and erected his statue of gold as presiding god there. He even raised his horse Incitatus to the consulship as his own colleague! In reading these coius we may recall this wretched story to mind. A.D. 40, Caligula led his army into Gaul, and to the shore opposite Britain. But four months alter his return (viz. January 24, 41) he was murdered at the theatre, together with hi6 wife and child. It may be said of him, as of many subsequent tyrants, “he had shed with impunity the noblest blood of Rome; he perished as 60on as he was dreaded by his own domestics.” After his death the Senate, changing the fear under which they had cowered before him into wrath, solemnly execrated his memory.

His statues were ordered to be thrown down, inscriptions erased, coins gathered in and melted! This same “act of oblivion” was performed nearly fifty years afterward to the dishonor of Domitian, and, so far as statues and inscriptions are concerned, with success. Not bo with coins! They had been distributed through too many hands, by too many methods, to be gathered up again. Millions upon millions of them were scattered from one confine of the great Empire to another, and the Senate may as well have ordered the dust gathered that had been blown from the seven hills of Rome, as to recover the dispersed coinage of this infamous ruler that had passed from under the hammer in their great mint in the temple of Juuo Moneta. The abundance of ancient coins is an appropriate subject here.

They bring back the life of buried populations because they were struck so numerously and distributed so systematically. With them all the products of the earth were purchased which made Rome the emporium of the earth. They were placed under termini, the boundaries of towns, fields and roads, as to-day the United States surveyors place handfuls of charcoal under the termini which tliey set up. Coins were placed between the lips of the departed to serve him for ferriage as he passed the dark river (Styx), and if we compute the number thus interred in a thousand years we can form some estimate of how many remained iu circulation.

The engineers hid them in the angles of their camps as we to-day place them under corner-stones of public edifices. From the coins of Janus, some of which weighed 4.000 grains, down to minute bits of bronze, they were thus committed to the guardianship of mother earth. So the life of a Roman Emperor, good or bad, honored or disgraced, impressed upon imperishable metal, and thus disseminated, could never be consigned to oblivion. The subject is not exhausted.

The plow-share, the engineer’s spade, the upheavals of earthquakes, the gulleying out of hillsides by rains, the drying up and drainage of marshes, the cleansing of old pools and spring heads, the breaking up of ancient wrecks upon rocky coasts, excavations for foundations in all Roman cities, dredging of rivers; these and other processes, natural and human, have brought to light, are bringing to light, will yet bring to light, immense numbers of the coinage of Rome struck during its twenty centuries of existence. Here is a list of “finds” recorded within a few years: Near Rheims, Prance, 1829, 2,000 Roman coins in a Roman vase, of which 1.500 in billon of Postunius.

Another collection near by had 4,000, all email bronze except one. On the Jersey Coast, England, a d. 1630, 982 Roman coins. In 1836, 700 Roman coins discovered in a vase at Lawal, on the Marne in France. These were all denarii, in fine preservation. They were of Tiberius, 200; Augustus, 165, etc. At Exeter, England, in some parts of the city, a person can scarcely dig a cellar without seeing half a dozen coin portraits staring him in the face. One hundred aud eighty-two came out together, representing Claudius, Nero and Vespasian. In October. 1876, 55,000 near Verona, Italy, etc.

These genuine materials of numismatic study lie so thickly under London that the excavations of the underground railway there, a few years since, brought to light thousands of them. Near Chimay, France, a “find” some thirty years since contained 26,000 Roman coins, in bronze and billon. These ran from Valerian to Aureliau. Of Gallienus there were 2,200. in eighty-three varieties; of Tetricus, father and son, 18,500, in twenty-two varieties. August 10, 1836, there were found, in a bronze basket, near Thorngrafton, eleven miles from Hexham, England, three gold and sixty silver Roman pieces. The reverses were all different.

They ran from Claudius to Hadrian. October 2, 1836, a ” find” near Maidenhead, England, filling two rude vases, contained between 400 and 500 Roman coins, from Otho to Antoninus Pius. About the same time there were found near Rush Green, Lewisham, England, two earthen pots with 420 aurei (gold coins). In 1839, at Stroud, in Kent, several hundred Roman coins from Antoninus to Gratianus. In excavating for the Great Western Railway, England, some 250 denarii came to light, of Valens, Gratianus and Magnus Maximus.

A boy in England, stooping for a stone, picked up an aureus of Trajan. The Obverse, a laureate head of that emperor; Reverse, a genius bestowing gifts upon two children. In the exergue were the letters ALIM ITAL. The legend was: COS V PP SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI. Near Gravesend, England, 552 Saxon coins were discovered, of the period ad. 814, mostly fresh and sharp, as if just fallen from the mint. There was one of Alfred in the heap. In 1838, at Swansea, Englaud, 166 coins, English and Scotch snver, were found in a vase. Near Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, in an urn, were found nearly 2,000 Roman small bronze — eighty-four of Philip, and from that to Probus. This list might be extended to many pages. It is chiefly valuable as proving the richness of the upper alluvial of Europe, Asia and Africa in these metallic monuments of Roman history.

WHAT THE COINS TEACH CONCERNING CALIGULA

Of seventeen coins, gold, silver and bronze, of the Emperor Caligula, from the illustrations on the fourth page. [The student will observe in these Readings:

First, that the size of a Coin does not always agree with the size of the picture.

Second, that the metal is distinguished by an abbreviation,—AV (aurum) standing for gold, AR (aiyeitii/m) lor silver, AE (aen) for copper, bronze or brass, words indiscriminately used in Numismatics.

Third, that there are few punctuation points on Coins, though sometimes introduced by engravers to facilitate Readings.

Fourth, that we do not reproduce the old forms of Greek letters here, but substitute modern type; and

Fifth, that these Readings are prepared as well for the use of Learners as experts.]

No. 1, AE. Obverse. The laureate head of Caligula to the left; beardless; bust undraped. Inscription (abbreviated): C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT; (supplied)—Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Poutifex MaxiinuB Tribunitia Potestate,—” Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; High Priest; exercising the Tribunitiau Power.” Reverse. A group of the three sisters of Caligula,— Agrippina, Drusilla and Julia,—in the characters of Piety, Constancy and Good Fortune. The one to the left represents Fortune; her right arm is supported by a short column, aud thus supports the cornncopiae. The central figure, as Piety, holds the sacred patera in her right hand, and on her left arm the cornncopiae. Julia, representing Fortune, holds a rudder in her right band; on her left arm, the cornucopiae. The history of these three vile women, their horrible commerce with their own brother, and their deserved fate, is too shocking for our pages. What sneers of scorn these coins excited as they passed from hand to hand throughout the great Empire one may easily conceive. S. C. is read Senatus Consulto,—” By Decree of the Senate.”

No. 2, AE. A medallion struck at Caesarea Augusta. Obyerse. Laureate head of Caligula to the left. The pose of the prince is arrogant and superb. Beardless; bust not draped. Inscription (abbreviated): C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS IMP; i6upplied)- Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator. Reverse. Three standards, upright and parallel. The central one is the legionary eagle, usually made of silver. The others are the standards of the maniples, or company flags, viz., a human hand, fingers erect, palm outward. Legend: LICINIANO ET GERMANO II VIE,-” The mintmasters, Licinianus and Germanus;” C. C. A., Colonia Caesarea Augusta. See coin No. 1, series of Augustus, for this. The two men named were chiefs of the mint at that place. The custom of inserting the names of mint-masters in coin legends, so common with Julius Caesar, disappears a little later on.

No. 3, AE. The Obverse has the head of Caligula, with Inscription: “Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Emperor; High Priest; exercising Tribunitiau Power; Consul.”‘ Reverse. The head of Salus, deity of Health (Prosperity, Salutation), represented as a female, to the right; hair dressed; bust draped. Legend (abbreviated): CN ATEL FLAC CN POM FLAC II VIR (F) C, SAL AVG; (supplied)—Cneus Atellins Flaccus (et) Cneus Pomponius Duumviri Fieri Curaverunt Salutis Augusti.—” The mint-masters, Cneus Atellius Flaccus and Cneus Pomponius, caused (this coin) to be struck to the health of Augustus.” We are not informed of what city these men were the moneyers.

No. 4, AE. Reverse. There is no type. Inscription: LICINIANO ET GERMANO II VIR C. C. A.—”The Colony Caesarea Augusta; Licinianus and Germanus being the mint-masters.”

No. 5, AE. Reverse. A colonist driving a yoke of oxen and plow, to the right. His right hand holds the diminutive plow in use to this day in oriental countries; his left flourishes a whip. The condition of the cattle bespeaks good pasturage and care. Legend the same as No. 4, save that the letters C. C. A. are omitted.

No. 6, AE. Reversb. Nero and Drusus. nephews of Tiberius, on horseback, galloping to the right. Their cloaks and the tails of their horses indicate speed. The attitude of the horses is fine. Legend: Nero et Drusus Caesares—”The Caesars Nero and Drusus.” It is probable there are other words which are lost in this specimen. In looking at these figures the reader will bear in mind that both met with premature death at the hand of Tiberius, their imperial uncle.

No. 7, AE. Obverse. Unlaureate head of Caligula to the left; beardless; bust undraped. Inscription (abbreviated): C. Caesar Aug Germanicus Pou M Tr Pot; (supplied) — Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Pontifex Maximus Tribunitia Potestate—” The High Priest; exercising the Tribunitian Power.” The nickname of Caligula is never found upon coins; it would have been as much as a moneyer’s life was worth to stamp upon the metal a name so distasteful to the Emperor.

No. 8, AE. The Obverse has the head of Caligula, with the same inscription as that of No. 7. Reverse. The three daughters of Germanicus by Agrippina, Agrippina the Second, Drusilla and Julia. These sisters of the Emperor Caligula form a strange group upon this coin, as on the Reverse of No. 1, where a brief account of them is given.

No. 9, AE. The Obverse has the head of Caligula, with the usual inscription. Reverse. An elegant laurel wreath inclosing the letters II Vir. Inscription (abbreviated): MV AVG BILBIL C CORN REFEC M IIELV FRONT II VIR; (supplied) —Municipium Augusta Bilbilis Caio Cornelio Refecto (et) Marco Helvio Frontone Duum-viris —”The Free-city Augusta Bilbilis; Caius Cornelius Refectus and Marcus Helvius Fronto being mint-masters. The free city of Bilbilis, in Tarracon, Spain, struck numerous coins in honor of the Emperors, who successively favored them.

No. 10, AE. A Greek Imperial The Obverse has the head of Caligula with the usual inscription. See No. 21 of the series of Tiberius. Reverse. The god of music, Apollo, as a player upon the lyre. The deity is nude; head bound with laurel. The pose is graceful; the anatomy of the figure worthy of study. Legend: A1AYMEY2 MIAH2IQN” — ” Apollo of the Miletans.” Didymus (or ” the twin ” ) was a cognomen of Apollo. Because the sun illuminates the moon, or because he was born at one birth with Diana, therefore the Greeks termed them Didymi (twins), as they did Jupiter and Apollo. Suetonius says that in honor of this. Caligula determined to complete the Temple of the Twin, at Miletus, which had fallen through age.

No. 11, AE. The Obverse has the head of Caligula, with the usual inscription. Reverse. The laureate head of Germnnicus, father of Caligula, to the right. Legend (abbreviated): GERM CAESAR PVLCHRO III VARIO II VIR—” Gcrmanicus Caesar; Pulcher being triumvir and Varius the duumvir.” It is doubtful from what city this coin emanated. This Pulcher was a member of the great Claudia Gens, of which there are numerous coins extant; Varius was also the name of a Gens (ancient cluu) of whom we have coins struck at Osca, Spain.

No. 12, AE. The Obverse 16 the same as No. 11 Reverse. This is a duplicate of No. 11, save that Dosscnus takes the place of Varius in the Legend. But we cannot indicate the name of the city.

No. 13, AR. Obverse. Laureate head of Caligula to the right. Inscription (supplied): Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus — ” The High Priest; exercising Tribunitian Power.” Reverse. Radiate head of the Emperor Augustus (deceased a.d. 14) to the right. Legend: Divus Augustus, Pater Patriae —”The deified Augustus; the Father of the Country.” This beautiful denarius deserves more than ordinary study. We borrow the cut from Smith’s “Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,” voce Caligula.

No. 14, AE. A Greek Imperial, 6truck at Cos, and much damaged by time. Reverse. The serpent, sacred to the people of Cos. He lies in voluminous folds, with head erect, as in the act of striking. The position is natural, and proves the artist. The Legend is much obliterated: KQIQX –‘ Of the people of Cos.”

No. 15, AE. Reverse. Pegasus to the left, a most artistic personification. The Legend is much obliterated: COR is for Corinth. See Nos. 7 and 8 of the series of Julius Caesar. The names of the moneyers are abraded,- – LO II VIR alone remaining.

No. 16, AE. A Greek Imperial, struck at Ilion, in Asia Minor. Obverse. The unlaureate heads of Augustus and Caligula, facing each other. Each bust rests upon a cippus. Inscription: TAI02 KAI2AF ®E02 AYTOKPATfiP 5EBA2T0I —” Caius Caesar; the deified Emperor; the Augustuses.” Reverse. The goddess Pallas (Minerva) standing to the front, between the personifications of Rome and the Senate, facing each other. The head of Rome is turreted. Legend: EA POMH IEPA 2YNKAHT02 —”Goddess Rome; Holy Senate.” IYI is for Iliensium— ” Of the people of Troy.” This coin, in auggestivenes of locality, goddess, etc., is exceedingly rich.

No. 17, AV. Obverse. A very beautiful gold coin (aureus). The laureate head of Caligula to the right; beardless; bust undraped. Inscription (abbreviated): C CAESAR AVG PONT MAX TR POT III COS III—”Caius Caesar Augustus, High Priest; exercising Tribunitian Power the third time; Consul the third time. Reverse. The civic wreath of oak leaves and acorns presented to a person who had saved the life of a Roman citizen. The wreath incloses the Legend, S P Q R P P OB CS — Senatus Populusque Romanus Patri Patriae- ob Cives Servatos —” The Senate and Roman People to the Father of the Country for Saving Citizens.” Besides the seventeen coins figured and described, we present readings of a number of denarii and aurei, many of them extremely beautiful and rare.

All of this sort of coinage was stamped by special order of the Emperor., and not of the Senate, and therefore represents self-praise. It was the ” Imperial money,” as the bronze coinage, made under special decrees of the Senate, was the “people’s money.” This is to be kept in mind by the coin-student. Whatever compliments to a prince or his family we see upon gold or silver coins were put there by command of Emperor himself, while that which we find upon bronze money was commanded by the Senate. One of these coins exhibits the civic crown with the lettering S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS — Senatus Populusque Romanus Patri Patriae ob Cives Servatos —”The Senate and Roman People to the Father of the Country for Saving the Lives of Citizens.” See our No. 17. The allusion is to the recall of certain exiles and other acts of clemency performed by Caligula at the commencement of his reign.

We have an Allocution coin of Caligula in bronze which is interesting. The Emperor stands to the left in a suggestum; behind him is a curule chair. His right hand is raised to address five soldiers who bear four legionary eagles. This represents his harangue to the Praetorian and other forces at his accession. A bronze coin of Caligula is extant with veiled female figure to the left, representing Vesta, seated on a square, high-backed seat, ornamented in every part. In her right hand is a patera; in her left, the hasta pura. S C, for Senatus Consulto, is seen, viz. ” By Decree of the Senate,” in the field.

A coin of Pietas, struck to Caligula, is much like this. In the Obverse is a figure veiled; the right hand holding the patera, the left elbow resting upon the head of a robed female (small) standing on a base at the side of the chair, with one hand on th^ bosom, the other at the side. This statue is designed as an ornamental support for the left arm, but does not appear to be a part of the chair. The word PIETAS is in the Exergue. Upon the Reverse is a fine square temple of six columns (hexastyle), decorated with garland:) suspended among the columns. The pediment and tympanum are much ornamented with statues. In front of the temple is an altar, at which the Emperor, dressed in pontifical robes, is standing. In his right, hand is a patera to catch the blood from an ox held for sacrifice by the victimarius. There is an attendant behind the Emperor. (Imagine Caligula as a Priest!) The Legend is DIVO AVG — Divo Augusto—”To the deified Augustus,”— referring to the temple erected in honor of Augustus. This temple, a century later, was repaired by Antoninus Pius, and a coin struck, with the Legend, ” The Temple of the deified Augustus restored.” A coin found in both metals has the head of Agrippina, and commemorates the filial conduct of Caligula, who. upon his accession, repaired to the island of Pandataria, and collected in an urn the remains of his mother.

Agrippina, who, banished by Tiberius, had died of starvation four years before. Bringing these to Rome, he established, in her memory, Circensian games. Her remains, borne in a carpentum, were carried with pomp, and her reputation restored by coins. The Legend is: Agrippina Mater Caii Caesaris Augusti Germanici —”Agrippina, the mother of Caius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.” There is a gold coin presenting his sister Agrippina crowned with a diadem, and his sister Julia. See No. 1 of this series. A gold coin struck by Caligula in honor of Augustus, the second Emperor, has the radiated head of Augustus and the Legend (Anglice), “The deified Augustus, Father of the Country.” Caligula took special pains to. honor his ancestor Augustus, omitting, as far as possible, the memory of Tiberius, who had destroyed the dearest members of his family— father, mother, etc.— in his jealous cruelty. The coin last named was struck on the occasion of his dedicating the temple begun by Tiberius. At the celebration he rode dressed in a triumphal habit, with immense display. Coins were struck by Caligula in honor both of his father and grandfather.

 Few princes, in fact, gave so much attention to printing genealogy upon imperishable metal. The memory of these two was particularly dear to the people, and at first they honored Caligula for the sake of the dead. Coins were struck with the sympulum and lituus, emblems of the Augurate. The Legend is IMPERATOR PONT MAX.AVG TR POT — ” The Emperor, High Priest, Augur, holding the Tribunitian Power.” Several victory-coins of Caligula exist in gold and silver. One has Victory seated on a Globe; in her right hand a branch of laurel. Another has laurel in both hands. These are small differences to note, but they show that they were struck from different dies. This Victory refers to the visits of Caligula to Britain and Germany. The Legend, TR POT IIII, gives the year a.d. 40. The story goes that as the spoils of victory were too scanty for building a trophy, he required the Praetorian Guards to cut trees and construct one from the productions of the forest. Other evidences of his respect for Augustus are seen in coins having the radiate head of that prince; another with a star upon each side of the head, and another with seven stars surrounding the head.

Radiation denotes deification and the two 6tars indicate Drusus and Germanicus, father and grandfather of Caligula. In the group of seven, five denote the five brothers of Caligula. Another of this class of coins (a quinarius) exhibits a scepter laid transversely across the neck. . One writer suggests that these stars refer to Arcturus, the tail of the Great Bear. An elegant silver coin, very large, has the figure of Augustus, togated, sitting in a chariot drawn by four elephants, with drivers sitting on the neck, in Oriental mode, and seven stars surrounding the prince. The smaller cuts, placed below the coins on the sheet of engravings (fourth page), are explanatory of different numbers of this series of “The Twelve Caesars.” Commencing at the left hand, they are named: 1, Curule Chair; “2, Obsidional Crown; 3, Civic Crown; A, Sacrificial Knife; 5, Roman Ring; 6, Roman Altar; 7, Arch of Titus, at Rome; 8, Sacrificial Axe; 9, Fasces with Hatchet; 10, Ovalis Crown; 11, Naval Crown; 12, Sacrificial Knife; IS, Roman Lady’s Ear-ring; tt, Mural Crown; 15, Triumphal Crown; 16, Vallaris Crown; 17, Roman Ring. All the coins figured in this series are extant, but not in this country. The collection in the United States Mint, at Philadelphia, is rich in them, but as a whole the inquirer is directed to the immense collections in Paris, France, embracing more than one hundred thousand specimens.

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CONTENTS