potestate, octavum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patrie.) The laureated profile of Domitian, without the amulet. This medal is only in secondary preservation, though sound, and was presented to me by the Rev. Mr. Hall, chaplain to the Factory at Leghorn, in 1823, on my shewing him the former.

Reverse. COS. XIIII. LVD. SAEC. FEC. (Consul decimum quartum, Ludos Sæculares fecit.) On the exergum, S. C. Domitian, in his robes, standing before a temple of four fluted columns or rather a sacellum, for I am persuaded, though the coin is lightly rubbed towards the upper verge, that there are only rafters extending across, and leaving the roof open. The Emperor displays his right arm, with an air of imperious majesty, towards three figures kneeling on the plinth, with their hands raised in acknowledgement of his divinity. He may only be addressing them in his office of Pontifex Maximus, but the attitude also recalls the arrogance of his own assumed worship. The "timorous monster," as Pliny calls him, had so many sacrifices made to him, that the common roads were too narrow for the herds which were driven into the capital; while every street, every ascent, every corner of the temple was defiled with gold and silver statues of him. The same excellent writer describes the delight of the Romans at seeing this legion of images rudely battered down, and made a sacrifice to public exultation. CII.

Obverse. IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM, P. M. TR. P. VIII. CENS. PER. P. P. (Imperator Cæsar Domitianus, Augustus, Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia potestate, octavum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patriæ.) The laureated head of Domitian, with a naked neck, and the hair highly dressed. This coin is but in secondary conservation, yet such is the interest of its reverse, that I willingly gave a numismatic friend three fine silver ones of the same emperor, in exchange for it.

Reverse. COS. XIIII. LVD. SAEC. FEC. (Consul decimum quartum, Ludos Sæculares fecit.) On the exergum. S. C. Here we have the Emperor with a scroll in his hand, and an officer, both togated, following a procession indicated by three robed youths bearing palm branches; this was a custom borrowed from the Athenian festivals Pyanepsia and Thargelia, and it has been continued to the present times. The ceremonies opened in nearly the same form as we still see practised in Italy, with a procession, in which the priests of each college assisted in a body, and men of all orders joined, dressed in white, crowned with flowers, and carrying palm branches in their hands. As they chaunted through the streets, the images of the gods were every where exposed on stately beds, the lectisternia deorum. There were two choirs, one of 27 youths, and the other of 27 virgins, for each of the divinities, and on the last day they sang the admirable secular hymn, which has justly been esteemed as the master-piece of Horace. Great care was taken, agreeably to the oracle, that the parents of the children should be living, as the sight of an orphan, amidst the rejoicings, might have occasioned melancholy recollections; and the full exertion of the girls was ensured by the belief of its leading to a happy marriage,

"Nupta jam dices; ego Dis amicum,

Seculo festas referente luces,

Reddidi carmen, docilis modorum
Vatis Horati."
CIII.

Obverse, IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P. M. TR. P. VIII. CENS. PER. P. P. (Imperator Cæsar Domitianus, Augustus, Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia potestate, octavum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patriæ.) The profile of the Emperor, laureated, and bearing a Medusa's head on the neck, a medal in fair condition, though but slightly patinated: it was purchased of a knicknack aterian, at Naples, in 1817.

Reverse. COS. XIIII. LVD. SAEC. FEC. (Consul decimum quartum, Ludos Sæculares fecit.) On the exergum, S. C. The togated Emperor is standing at an altar, with a patera in his hand, in the act of sacrificing, while one of the by-standers plays upon two tibiæ, or flutes, at once, and another on the cithara. On the right side of the altar is the popa, whose business

it was to kill the victim, which in this instance is a large hog. At the Emperor's feet is a reclining female with a cornucopiæ; on the other sacrifices of this series, the Tiber is represented in her place, in allusion to the rites being celebrated on its banks. This female is probably Tellus, to whom the hog was thought appropriate because he always looked towards the earth the Sibyl said

-Inde feraci

Telluri porcus mactator, cum sue nigrâ.

During the three days and nights which were occupied in these sacrifices, music resounded from every altar; all the theatres, circi, and other public places of amusement were thrown open; and what with races, wrestling, hunting, matches, combats with wild beasts, naumachiæ, and dramatic entertainments, the people divided their whole time between mirth and devotion. At the close of day, all the streets of Rome were illuminated with bonfires and numberless lights; "lumina cum rogis accenduntur.”

CIV.

Obverse. IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P. M. TR. P. VIII. CENS. PER. P. P. (Imperator Cæsar Domitianus, Augustus, Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia potestate octavum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patriæ.) A fine head of Domitian, with the laurel over hair attentively dressed, without an amulet on the neck. This beautiful medal is in perfect condition, being entirely covered with an olive green patina; it was purchased with No. XCIX. Reverse. COS. XIIII. LVD. SAEC. A POP. (Consul decimumquartum, Ludos Sæculares, a populo.) On a substruction appears FRVG. AC. which joined to the legend reads A populo fruges acceptæ. The Emperor is here seated as on No. XCIX, and apparently near the same temple, but there are three vases on the tribunal. He is distributing the offerings to togated citizens; thus illustrating what we learn from history, that a portion was returned to the people, who received the presents as objects of veneration. This ceremony closed the solemnity of the Secular Games.

CV.

Obverse. IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. COS. XV. CENS. PER. P. P. (Imperator Cæsar Domitianus, Augustus, Germanicus, Consul decimum quintum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patriæ.) A very animated portrait of the Emperor, without his amulet; and the head dressed with such evident care as to recall him whose reading was limited to the Commentaries of Tiberius, and whose authorship was confined to a treatise on the nourishment of hair. This medal is in a high state of preservation, though only thinly varnished by a brown patina; it was minted A. D. 90, and was presented to me by Consul General Salt, in Egypt. Reverse. IOVI VICTORI. On the exergum, S. C. A majestic sedent Jupiter with the wand of divinity supporting his left hand, and his right holding a winged victory with a garland. The body is naked to the waist, except that a robe descends from the left shoulder, down the back, and is gracefully folded over the thighs and legs: the feet rest on a suppedaneum. This has been thought to commemorate the destruction of the rebels under L. Antonius, which happened two years before; but it was more probably in honour of the peace which he begged from Decebalus, after his own signal defeat by the Marcommanni, a defeat for which he nevertheless triumphed. Domitian affected great gratitude to Jupiter as his preserver; he built a chapel to him in Vespasian's time, and a magnificent temple after his accession. He was, at all times, profusely sumptuous in his public buildings, and not only restored many of the edifices destroyed by fire, but also spent 12,000 talents in merely gilding the capitol.

CVI.

Obverse. IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. COS. XVI. CENS. PER. P. P. (Imperator Cæsar Domitianus, Augustus, Germanicus, Consul decimum sextum, Censor perpetuus, Pater Patria.) The laurelled profile of the Emperor, without the usual amulet. In the field is the

little silver eagle, which was formerly the stamp of the Modena collection. This medal is in very fair conservation, of a pale unpatinated yellow brass, and was purchased at the Hon. R. E. Digby's sale, in 1825.

Reverse. S. C. (Senatus Consulto,) on the exergum. Victory is crowning the Emperor, who stands majestically with a thunderbolt in his hand, as in No. XCVIII., but from the consular date this coin is seen to have been struck A. D. 92, or four years afterwards. It is equally uncertain whether this was on occasion of some advantage over the Dacians, or one of those counterfeit victories for which every street and corner of Rome was then decorated with trophies and triumphal arches. The only remarkable event of the 16th consulate was, the decree which, as wine was very plentiful and corn very scarce,-ordered half the vines to be rooted up, and no more to be planted.

DOMITIA.

Domitia Longina, daughter of the illustrious Cn. Domitius Corbulo, was first married to Lucius Lamia, a senator, who was murdered by Domitian, in order that he might retain undisturbed possession of the widow, after an adulterous intercourse with her. She was kept sometime as a concubine, and then solemnly married to the Emperor, A. D. 70; but the dignity of her station did not check her licentiousness. Scandal was rife in attributing the anguish of the last moments of Titus, to his remorse for having had criminal intercourse with his brother's wife; but Suetonius clears him from the aspersion, upon the solemn protestation of Domitia herself, who, had the charge been true, would rather have gloried in it, as in all her other crimes, than denied it. She was supposed to have died under the reign of Trajan; but from a curious inscription found amongst the ruins of Gabii, and published by Visconti in his Museo Pio-Clementino, it would seem that she attained extreme old age, and died about A. D. 140.

Domitia affords a lamentable instance that, descent from one of the greatest men that Rome ever produced, and engaging beauty of person, were insufficient barriers against depravity, where virtue was wanting. Lucius Lamia is said to have possessed all the merit that was possible for a man to have, whence it has been alleged that pride and ambition wrought her fall. But she was vile to the core, for under the base pretence of avenging herself of the Emperor's neglecting her for Julia, she abandoned herself publickly to libertinism with the vilest and most contemptible of mankind. This was continued with singular impunity for some time, till her shameless attachment to Paris, a player, aroused the despot, who assassinated the man, and banished the woman. The love of Domitian, however, had but slumbered, and no sooner was Julia dead, than he revoked the divorce, and declared in an edict that he recalled her in pulvinar suum, assuming that his couch was sacred;-nay more, the reconciliation was recorded by a gold medal, with a peacock, inscribed

Concordia Augusta, as though she were another Juno, for the emblem was usually a special allusion to the consecration of deceased Empresses. This exposed the Emperor to the shafts of satire; he was, however, delighted to hear the populace at large exclaim, Domino et Domina, feliciter, on her return; but the union was an unhallowed one, and while Domitian was compassing his wife's death, she became an accomplice with the conspirators who despatched him. The alarm was first given to her by a paper which a boy, playing in the Emperor's room, had taken from under his pillow, while the despot was sleeping. In caressing this boy, Domitia quickly spied the scroll, and as quickly seized and read it; when, with surprise and horror, she beheld her own name bowing the list of those who had but a day to live! The time was brief-the peril extreme-she revealed the fact to her companions in danger, and the tyrant was despatched.

This depraved woman has met with such lenity from historians, that some of them have barely mentioned the part she took in this tragedy; and Procopius records an anecdote, which, if true, would invalidate the act, and entitle her to unqualified praise. He relates, that she, never having approved of her husband's tyrannical conduct, was much esteemed by the senators, who offered all that she should demand of that wicked prince's possessions. She only desired leave to bury him, and to erect a statue to his memory; which being granted, she caused all the dispersed and mangled parts of his body to be sought for, and joined them as well as she could. The body thus patched up was the model of the statue she erected to her husband, with the aim of preserving a monument of the barbarity of his murderers. Tristan certainly has great reason to marvel that so extraordinary a thing, if worthy of the slightest credit, should be omitted by the numerous authors who have mentioned her. Josephus has also extolled Domitia as a virtuous and amiable princess; but however honest that historian may be in other respects, he has, on this subject, merely exchanged fulsome compliment for the substantial patronage which he received at her hands.

Latin medals of Domitia are of great rarity, and those of large-brass singularly so; it is therefore usual to substitute for them Greek Imperial coins, which, though scarce, are more easily obtained, especially where perfect preservation is not an object. All those which I have seen bear a young and beautiful countenance, so that this female Nestor lived long enough to see her own coins prized as antiques. One of the most interesting was struck both in gold and silver; it bore her effigy, with her deified son sitting naked upon a globe, in the midst of seven stars, on the Reverse he was born about A. D. 82, and his sister two years afterwards,they both died young.

L

CVII.

Obverse. DOMITIA AVG. IMP. CAES. DIVI. F. DOMITIAN. AVG. (Domitia Augusta, Imperatoris Cæsaris divi filii Domitiani Augusti.) The head and part of the bust of Domitia, with a countenance decidedly beautiful, but blended with assurance. The hair is very carefully dressed, with a profusion of curls in front, and twisted into a loop hanging behind. In saying that this rare medal is in perfect condition, I cannot entirely omit my doubts as to its being really genuine. Indeed, I may say with Eckhel, that it has not the look of antiquity,-a vexatious Patavinity interferes with its apparent purity of legend, edge, and other usual tests, and recalls to mind the fraudulent brothers who headed the falsarii of the XVI. century. It is unquestionably a fine and correct likeness of the Empress, but from the objection advanced, it was "knocked down" for only five guineas, at Mr. Henderson's sale, in 1830. It is singular that the head-dress of this specimen and that of Vaillant's are identical, while those in the Cabinet of Queen Christina and the British Museum have the hair braided round the head,-the legends and reverses being alike in all the four. The legitimacy of the last was long under question, although Ennery had bought a whole collection to secure it; but my friend Mr. Hawkins, in whose charge it is, informed me that the erudite Steinbüchel, of Vienna, after repeated examinations, pronounced it to be a genuine medal. Reverse. DIVI CAESARIS MATER. On the exergum S. C. Domitia, attired in becoming robes, and holding the wand of divinity, is seated on a curule chair, with an air of majestic elegance. Before her stands a youth habited in the pretexta, who is presenting an olive branch; it is supposed to represent the deified son of the Empress,-the Domitian Junior of numis. matists-to whom medals were struck on his apotheosis being decreed by the senate.

1

NERVA.

Marcus Cocceius Nerva born A.D. 32, at Narnia in Umbria, was the son of M. C. Nerva, a man of consular dignity, and Plautilla, a lady of respectable descent. He was early distinguished by civil dignities, and became a favourite with Nero, who conferred triumphal honours upon him, A. D. 65. After having served as prætor, and twice as consul, he was, on the death of Domitian, with one voice declared Emperor; and, after a judicious reign of 16 months and 9 days, died of a fever, in the beginning of A. D. 98.

Nerva was humane, wise, and generous; and though said to have been constitutionally timid, and somewhat enervated by age and infirmity, he acted with great personal fortitude in the compliance forced upon him by the mutinous prætorians. He was very eloquent, and one of the best poets of his day: Pliny speaks of his epigrams with commendation; and Martial says,-"Quanta quies placidi, tanta est facundia Nervæ." The first acts which graced his assumption of the purple were the liberation of state prisoners, the enactment of poor laws,† the punish

This popular act was commemorated by a medal, inscribed Exules Romæ red. S. P. Q. R.

† A medal inscribed Tutela Italia, was struck when the edict was promulgated, which ordered the cities of Italy to feed their orphans, and poor children, at the public cost.