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him, Bocchus with an army composed of Romans in the interest of Octavius, who passed over from Spain into Africa, and his own subjects, possessed himself of Mauritania Tingitana. Bogud fled to Antony; and Octavius, after the conclusion of the war, honored the inhabitants of Tingi with all the privileges of Roman citizens. He likewise confirmed Bocchus king of Mauritania Cæsariensis, or the country of the Masæsyli, in the possession of Tingitania, which he had conquered, as a reward for his important services. In this he imitated the example of Julius

Cæsar, who divided some of the fruitful plains of Numidia among the soldiers of P. Sittius, who had conquered great part of that country, and appointed Sittius himself sovereign of that district. Sittius merited this reward, having taken Cirta, killed Sabura, Juba's general, entirely dispersed his forces, and either cut off or taken prisoners most of the Pompeian fugitives that escaped from the battle of Thapsus. After Bocchus's death, Mauritania and the Masæsylian Numidia were in all respects considered as Roman provinces.

NUMIS MATOLOG Y.

NUMISMATOLOGY, from Greek vouspa money, and λoyos a discourse, is the name given to the science which treats of coins and medals, whether ancient or modern. The application of this term has, however, generally been confined to the consideration of coins rather as objects of historical or antiquarian research, than as media of commerce or tests of value; and the coinage, like the history of the passing day, is too universally understood to be a fit subject for study. As an auxiliary to history, numismatology certainly appears in its most important character, and affords documents too durable and too widely diffused to be utterly destroyed, and at the same time too valuable and too numerous to be easily falsified. Gold, the only metal on which the finger of time leaves no impression, was in ancient times comparatively common, and the coinage of the Roman emperors may be seen in the cabinets of the curious in as perfect a state as when first issued from the imperial mint. In modern times official papers and public records verify the statements of the historian; but in the earlier and more barbarous ages of the world such annals were seldom compiled, and when they were, in the wars and tumults of succeeding times, they were constantly liable to be destroyed. Before the introduction of printing but few copies of the most important records could be obtained, and an incursion of the enemy or an accidental conflagration would leave a people dependent for their history on tradition (attested by this art) alone. The more civilised nations, it is true, erected public buildings and monuments upon which they inscribed important transactions and occurrences; but these, few in number, were confined in their utility to the country where they were erected, and were not near so durable as the small gold medals commonly struck in honor of their erection.

Ancient writers frequently omit in the course of their narratives the dates of particular transactions, and, were it not for these metallic documents, we should often be at a loss to discover even the order in which they occurred. Vaillant in his learned history of the kings of Syria, published at Paris 1681, set the first important example of fixing the dates and arranging the order of events in ancient historians by means of these infallible vouchers. By them alone he was enabled to ascertain in a very great degree the chronology of important events in three of the most celebrated

kingdoms of the ancient world: viz. those of Egypt, Syria, and Parthia. In the Roman medals, in particular, we most commonly have, with the portrait of the prince and date of the consulship or tribunitian power, the representation or poetical symbol of some great event on the reverse. The reigns of Nerva and Trajan, for instance, are much better illustrated by coins than by historians; for Suetonius ends with Domitian, and the Historiæ Augustæ Scriptores begin with Hadrian. Capitolinus, in his life of Maximinus Junior, is in doubt whether Maximus and Pupienus were two emperors, or two names for the same emperor; had he met with one of the coins inscribed M. Cl. Pupienus Maximus Avg. he would have decided that Maximus was only another name for Pupienus. Medals also by supplying portraits of the great men of antiquity create in the mind a peculiar interest in their history, and we study their actions as in a theatre with the actors before us. We see with delight the—

Black-eyed Cæsar, with

The eagle's beak between those eyes which ne'er Beheld a conqueror or looked along The land he made not Rome's; and recognise, in the savage features of a Nero, the imperial matricide and incendiary.

But it is not to history alone that numismatology confines her assistance: the knowledge of ancient geography may be greatly increased by an attentive study of ancient medals. On many Greek coins the situation of the town where they were struck is inscribed, and particularly if near Thus we have some noted river or mountain. on a Magnesian coin ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ ΣΙΠΥΛΟΥ proving Magnesia to be by mount Sipylus; and an Ephesian medal is inscribed EEZION, with ΚΑΙΣΤΡΟΣ on the exergue, showing Ephesus to have stood on the river Cayster. Many similar instances might be given on this head. The beautiful symbols on the Roman coins also merit the attention of the poet and the painter. Happiness is here represented (as on a gold coin of Severus) with heads of poppy, to express that large portion of our bliss which lies in the oblivion of misfortune; Hope is depicted as a young virgin walking quickly and looking intently forward; with her left hand holding up her garments that they may not impede her progress, and with her right presenting the bud of a

flower. Abundance is symbolised by a sedate matron with a cornucopia in her hands of which she scatters the fruit over the ground; not holding up the mouth of it as many painters make her do, as if to keep its contents entirely to herself. Security stands leaning on a pillar and the posture itself corresponds to her name. National prosperity is figured by a ship sailing before a favorable breeze; and the different countries of the then known world are delineated in all their interesting and striking peculiarities.

To a Briton it affords peculiar satisfaction to see his native island represented on imperial coins as a female sitting on a globe with the labarum, the symbol of power, in her hand, and the ocean rolling under her feet. Countries and rivers are also admirably personified on coins. On a colonial middle brass of rude execution, inscribed to Augustus and Agrippa, the conquest of Egypt is represented by the apposite symbol of the crocodile, esteemed at that period peculiar to that country, chained to a palm-tree, the emblem of triumph and a native symbol of Egypt. The emperor Titus having occasion to import a large supply of corn during a scarcity at Rome, that supply or annona is finely represented on one of his coins as a sedate matron, with a well filled cornucopia in her left hand, which she holds upright, to indicate that she cannot scatter it as Abundance may have right to do, but distributes it only as equity points out. This last particular is signified by her holding in her right hand a little image of justice, with her scales and hasta pura or pointless spear, over a basket filled with wheat. Behind the female figure is the prow of a ship decked with flowers, to imply that the com was brought by sea (from Africa), and that the vessels had had a prosperous passage. No poet could present a finer train of imagery, no painter could convey more ideas in so small a com.pass.

not exceeded by the larger efforts of the Greciar. chisel. But in every respect the Roman coins are superior to those of the eastern nations, and, if any era were to be assigned as more eminent for workmanship than another, that from Augustus to Hadrian must have the preference.

SECT. I.-HISTORY OF NUMISMATOLOGY. This study does not appear to be of an ancient date, and no mention is made of a medallic collection by classic writers. Suetonius, indeed, informs us that Augustus used on solemn occasions to present his friends with medals of foreign states and princes; and we know that individuals must have formed complete collections, for a complete set of silver coins was lately found in our own island containing all the emperors down to Carausius, and similar collections have before been discovered in other parts of Europe. Such collections, however, were seldom made, as they were not esteemed valuable. A set of the coins indeed struck by the innumerable petty states using the Greek characters and language, could, at first, scarcely have been regarded as any acquisition; as they would have to a Greek the air of a domestic coinage, and be regarded with but little curiosity, however beautiful their impressions. Among the Romans, however, it was different. Banduri in his preface quotes Ulpian to show that certain coins were specially preserved among them, and it appears from the Justinian code that ancient gold and silver were used pro gemmis, for gems. From the decline of the empire the history of this science, with that of most others, is enveloped in darkness, till the revival of literature: or rather until the fall of Constantinople compelled the Greeks, the earliest children of science, to carry their learning into foreign lands.

Of modern authors, the first who attended systematically to the study of medals was Petrarch, The Roman medals likewise give us an excel- who, being desired by the emperor Charles IV. lent picture of the dress and arms of the times, to form a biography of illustrious men and place and the shape of the toga may be as accurately him on the list, with noble pride answered, that learned from those of Hadrian as from any of the he would wait till the emperor's life and actions ancient statues. Their utility to natural history should deserve it. Taking occasion from this, chiefly arises from the coins struck at the cele- he sent him a collection of medals in gold and bration of the secular games, on which the silver with the following address:- Ecce, Cæsar, figures of various animals are preserved. On quibus successisti. Ecce quos imitari studeas, many of the Greek medals also lively represen- et mirari: ad quorum formulam et imaginem te tations of uncommon plants and animals may be componas: quos præter te unum, daturus nulli seen: as the tortoise on the drachmas of Ægina, homini sum, tua`me movit auctoritas. Licet the most ancient silver coin of Greece; and on enim horum mores et nomina, horum ego res most of the medals of Cyrene the celebrated gestas novim, tuum est, non modùm nosse, sed plant called sylphium; as, on those of Tyre, the sequi: tibi itaque debentur.'-' Behold, Cæsar, shell fish from which the famous Tyrian purple whom thou hast succeeded. Behold whom you was procured. By means of medals also the should study to imitate and admire, upon whose exact delineations of many noble edifices are pre- model and image you should mould yourself: served, while not a vestige of their ruins even is these I should have given to no one but yourin existence: so that the uses of them to the ar- self, they were due to your situation of authochitect are very considerable. The skill dis- rity. I can only know the manners, names, and played in the Greek sculpture has always been great deeds of these men; it is in thy power not an object of admiration to the world, while their only to know but to imitate them: and it is coins, equally worthy of attention, have been therefore thy duty.' greatly neglected. Considered as mere works of art, they greatly excel those of Rome, even those of her best times; and the perfect beauty and tenderness of the female portraits, and the strength and expression of the male, are certainly

A collection of coins was made in the next century by Alphonso king of Arragon; but, although this monarch collected all that could be found throughout Italy, 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 of St. Mark, nephew to Eugene IV., who was pope in 1431; and soon after the grand museum at Florence was begun by Cosmo de Medicis, where a collection of ancient coins and medals had a place among other curiosities. Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, about the same time, formed a noble collection of coins, along with ancient MSS. and other valuable relics of antiquity.

Mr. Pinkerton considers Agnolo Poliziano, or 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 1490. By means of a cabinet of medals collected by Maximilian I. emperor of Germany, John Huttichius 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 Andrew Fulvius, printed in 1517, in which most of the portraits seem to be from medals. About 1512 also, William Bude, a French author, had written his treatise De Asse, though it was not printed till many years afterwards. M. Grollier, treasurer of the French armies in Italy, during part of the sixteenth century, had a great collection of coins in different kinds of metals. After his death his brass medals were sent to Provence, and were to have been sent into Italy; but the king of France, having received information of the transaction, gave orders to stop them, and purchased the whole at a very high price for his own cabinet of antiquities. M. Grollier 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 the abbé de Bothelin; and was known to have been that of Grollier, from some slips of paper, on which was his usual inscription for his books, Johannis Grollerii et ami

corum.

Contemporary with Grollier was William 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 Netherlands, we know, from the letters of Erasmus, that the study of medals was attended to about the beginning of the sixteenth century. About the middle of that century Hubert Goltzius, a printer and engraver, travelled over most countries in Europe, searching for coins and medals, to publish books concerning them. From one of these works it appears that there were then in the Netherlands 200 cabinets of medals; 175 in Germany; upwards of 380 in Italy; and 200 in France. 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. Camden seems to have been one of the first British authors who published medals in his works, and probably had a small collection.

In the seventeenth century Sheed's Chronicle was illustrated with coins from Sir Robert Cotton's cabinet. Henry, prince of Wales, the eldest son of James I., bought the collection of Gorlæus, amounting to 30,000 coins and medals, and left it to his brother Charles. Archbishop Laud bought a collection of 5500 coins, which he presented to the Bodleian library. Thomas, earl of Arundel and Surrey, earl marshal of England, had in his collection of antiquities a rich cabinet of medals, gathered by Daniel Nelsum. The dukes of Buckingham and Hamilton, Sir William Paston, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Thomas Hanmer, Ralph Sheldon, Mr. Selden, and many more, are enumerated by Mr. Evelyn, as having collections. To this number we may add, the earl of Clarendon, the historian, and Charles I. The fine cabinet of this unhappy monarch was dissipated and lost in the civil commotions. Oliver Cromwell had also a small collection; and that of Charles II. is mentioned by Vaillant. Since the time of Mr. Evelyn many noble cabinets have been formed in this country, which our limits will not permit us to enumerate. The British Museum, lately enriched by some of those above mentioned, and the universities, have also collections; also the lawyers' library, and one or two colleges in Scotland; to which might be added private collections both there and in Ireland. But that of the late Dr. Hunter, bequeathed by him to the University of Glasgow, deserves notice, as one of the most considerable, if not the largest, in Europe. From the middle of the seventeenth century down to these times almost every year has produced some new work, or new discovery, in the science of medals.

Of writers on this science the following are the most worthy of notice :-Eneas Vico, who published in 1548 his Discourses on the Coins and Seals of the Ancients. His example was imitated in France by Antoine le Pois, who, in 1579, published a work on the medals of ancient Greece and Rome. In 1665 Charles Patin published his History of Medals, the last edition of which appeared in 1695. In 1692 Pere Jobert, or Joubert, presented to the public his Science des Medailles, the best edition of which is that of baron Bimard de la Bastie, 1759. Of those published by the father himself the first is undoubtedly the best; that of 1715, in 2 vols., being swelled only by the reveries of Pere Hardouin, whom Joubert wished to flatter. His own knowledge of coins was very limited, and he makes assertions at random without the slightest foundation. He asserts, for instance, that a sow on medals denotes Judea preserved by Vespasian, whereas it occurs on consular brass before the Romans had any connexion with Judea. In these it refers to the ancient method of ratifying treaties mentioned by Livy; as on the imperial coins it is meant to represent the sow with young found by Æneas the supposed founder of the Roman empire. Indeed, almost all the va

luable notes of De la Bastie's edition are occupied with refutations of the errors of the author; so that what the reader imagines he has learned from the text, he finds, with perpetual chagrin, he has to unlearn in the notes. Had the baron given an entirely new work it would have been much more valuable. In the year in which Joubert published his treatise a work somewhat similar appeared in the English language, entitled The Greek and Roman History illustrated by Medals and Coins representing their religion, rites, &c., by O. W. (Obadiah Walker), London, 1692. In 1695 a translation of Joubert's work appeared, under the title of the Knowledge of Medals, also ascribed to Walker. The Nomismata, or Discourse on Medals, ancient and modern, by Mr. Evelyn, was printed in 1697, fol. but most of his observations are taken from Joubert, Vico, Le Pois, or Patin. In 1720 Nicolas Haym, an Italian musician, published in London his Tesoro Britannico, or British Treasury, in Italian and English. If but a letter appears on a coin, says Mr. Pinkerton, Haym can tell to what name that letter belongs; if but a nose, he will find a face to it; and, even if the coin is quite bare, to divine its ancient form costs him but a moment's thought. With the belp of Diogenes Laertius he would find all the sages of Greece on old coins. He pretends to mark the rarity of several series of coins, but his statements cannot be relied on..

We have, in modern times, no work in which the writer has fully availed himself of the excellent public and private collections of this country: such a work is a desideratum which we hope to see shortly supplied; in the interim, those who wish to study this interesting science at greater length cannot do better than procure Mr. Pinkerton's Essay on Medals, 2 vols. 8vo.; after which they may turn to Froelich's Notitia Numismatum Urbium Liberum, Regum et Principum ac personarum illustrium; to Vico's work already mentioned; and to Patin. The study of the Greek coins may be commenced with the Historia Siciliæ Græciæ ex antiquis Numismatibus, fol. of Goltzius, published at Antwerp in 1644. Gesner's Thesaurus Numismatum, Tiguri 1738, 2 vols. fol. may then follow. Dr. Combe's work on Dr. Hunter's Coins of Greek Cities, London, 1782, 4to., is one of the best of the kind; and of the Greek monarchic coins Gesner's will be found the most ample collection. The Roman consular coins are also fully described by Gesner; and descriptions may be found in Vaillant's Nummi Antiqui Familiarum Romanarum, Amsterdam, 1703, 2 vols. fol., or the Thesaurus Morellianus, Amsterdam, 1734, 2 vols. fol., a later and still better work. Gesner may also be referred to for the Roman imperial coins, with whom, for the rare coins, should be read Vaillant's Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum, published by Baldini at Rome, 1743, 3 vols. 4to.; Khell's Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum, Vindobona, 1767, 4to.; Banduri's Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum, a Trajano Decio usque ad Palæologos, Lutetiæ, 1718, 2 vols. fol.; and Occo's Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum, of which the best edition is the second of Occo himself.

We shall add in this place a brief account of the most celebrated public numismatical collections in Europe, of which that belonging to the king of France is by far the largest and most complete. The considerable treasures formerly collected by Boze, the marechal d' Etrées, Seguin, Patin, and in more modern times by Pellerin, are all incorporated with that valuable collection. Its basis was formed by Louis I. at Fontainebleau: Henry II., Louis XIII., and particularly Louis XIV. increased its treasures with royal munificence; and the last of the just mentioned monarchs caused the large medals of this cabinet to be engraved by de la Bossière. Besides the above mentioned collections, this cabinet acquired, in 1793, the Cabinet de St. Geneviève at Paris. An idea of the value of the present collection may be formed by the valuation made of it above half a century ago, which amounted to no less than 6,000,000 of livres. The Cabinet of St. Geneviève, which, having been threatened by robbers in 1793, was removed to the national library, and incorporated with the great collection, has been described by Claude du Molinet in 1692. The Hunterian collection, now in the possession of the university of Glasgow, is one of the most celebrated in Europe. The foundation of this collection was laid in the year 1770, from those of the Rev. Mr. Dawes and Thomas Sadler, Esq. The next year added much to the stock from various cabinets, particularly that of Isaac Jamineau, his majesty's consul at Naples. Mr. Sainthill, surgeon, in 1772; the prince of Peralta, and Mr. West, in 1773, continued to enrich Dr. Hunter's cabinet. In 1776 the Egyptian coins were much increased from the collections of Mr. Bruce and Lindegreene a Swede,, who had resided in Egypt. Mr. Dorana added his collection to Dr. Hunter's in the same year, and it contained the accumulated treasures of many eminent scholars and antiquarians. At the same time Mr. White supplied, from his museum, those coins which were wanting in Dr. Hunter's; and, as if this year was to be distinguished by the value of the acquisitions and the characters. of the benefactors, Dr. Russel supplied those deficiencies which his ample collection enabled him to discover. The year 1777 furnished still additional stores from Dr. Combe, a foreign nobleman, Mr. Swinton, Mr. I. Smith, the Rev. Dr.. Eyre, and Mr. Samuel of Lincoln, and from numerous other benefactors. In the year 1782 Dr. Combe published his Nummorum Veterum Populorum et Urbium qui in Museo Gulielmi Hunter Asservantur Descriptio; a highly useful work, in which the Greek and Roman coins are arranged according to the different cities in which they were struck.

The very rich collection of coins and medals. in the British Museum was formed from the cabinets of Sir Hans Sloane and Sir Robert Cotton, and has been from time to time enlarged by many valuable purchases and donations, but principally by the munificent bequest of the Rev. C. M. Cracherode. It is comprehended under the three following heads-1. Ancient coins; 2. Modern coins; 3., Medals. The first of these heads consists of Greek and Roman coins. The Greek coins are arranged in geographical order,

and include all those which are struck with Greek characters, in Greece, or elsewhere, by kings, states, or cities, which were independent of the Romans. With this class are placed, likewise, the coins of free states and cities, which made use of either the Etruscan, Roman, Punic, Spanish, or other characters. The Roman coins are placed, as far as it can be ascertained, in chronological order. They consist of the As in its divisions; family or consular coins; imperial coins struck in Rome; imperial coins struck in Egypt; imperial coins struck in the Roman colonies; imperial coins struck with Punic characters; contorniates. The second head, comprising modern coins, consists of Anglo-Saxon, English, Anglo-Gallic, Scotch, and Irish coins, and likewise the coins of foreign nations. This class is arranged according to the respective countries to which the coins belong, those of each country being kept separate.

The third head, which comprises a class considerably more modern than either of those which precede it, consists of medals struck in our own country, and of those which have been struck abroad. These are arranged in the same manner as the modern coins. The celebrated imperial collection of coins at Vienna, if we except that of Paris, stands unrivalled among the cabinets of the continent. It was begun by the emperor Ferdinand I., and soon considerably increased by the accession of other collections, such as that formed by the archduke Albert, under the direction of the Chiflets; and the most valuable collection formed by the archduke Ferdinand at Ombras in Tyrol. It was afterwards considerably added to by the collections of the learned monarchs Maximilian I. and Rudolph II.; but particularly by the zeal of the emperor Charles VI., who was himself a great lover of numismatology, and who purchased the cabinets of the Carthusians at Rome, together with that of count Parr.. In the reign of Maria Theresa it was farther increased by the purchase of the Granelli collection. Several years ago the number of coins and medals of this collection amounted to upwards of 40,000, of which about 22,000 were antique. We possess a masterly catalogue of the Vienna collection by the celebrated Joseph Eckhel, published as early as 1779, and therefore far from giving a correct idea of the present state of that highly valuable repository.

The Prussian cabinet of medals is considered the greatest in Germany, next to the Imperial collection of Vienna. The celebrated Laurent Beger published a catalogue of this collection, in 3 vols. folio, entitled Thesaurus Brandenburgicus Selectus, Coloniæ Marchicæ, 1696, 1699, and 1701. Though king Frederick William I. took out a number of large gold coins (among which was the very large one, eight pounds, or 500 ducats in weight, bearing the portraits of Frederic William the Great, and his queen), which were converted into small current money, yet the collection is still richly furnished: the number of its antique treasures having been increased by 6000 coins from the cabinet of the late margrave of Anspach.

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Next in importance among the numismatological collections of Germany is that of Gotha, the

basis of which was formed by Ernest the Pious.
It was materially increased by the excellent Arn-
stadt cabinet of medals, which was formed by
Antony Gunther, prince of Schwarzburg, assisted
by several celebrated antiquaries and historians,
such as Andreas Morellus, Christian Schlegel,
Olearius, &c. This latter collection was pur-
chased, in 1713, by John Frederick, duke of Saxe-
Gotha, for the sum of 100,000 dollars. It is
preserved in small cabinets, each of which is
placed on a table, furnished below with a shelf
for books relative to the coins above. This cele-
brated collection has been at different times con-
siderably increased by others, such as those of
Schachman and Sultzer, that of Mr. Gerning,
rich in scarce Greek coins, that of baron Secken-
dorf, &c. The coins in the Gotha collection are
still arranged after the old way, by the sizes and
metals, and the same mode is adopted in the
catalogue, seven volumes of which comprise the
antique coins as follows: gold coins, kings; coins
of cities and free states; coins of families; im-
perial silver; coins of first size; coins of second
and third size.

SECT. II.-MANUFACTURE OF ANCIENT COINS
AND MEDALS, WITH A GENERAL DESCRIP-

TION OF THEM.

The ancient methods of coining appear, from the coins themselves, and from the instruments sometimes represented on their reverses, to have been extremely simple. Of the Grecian mint we know comparatively nothing; but from the extreme beauty of the workmanship of its coins, and the purity of metal they exhibit, we may conclude that no small share of attention was devoted to their manufacture. Among the Romans we know the mint was regarded as one of the most important offices of the state, and was therefore placed under the direction of the questor, who also had the control of the treasury. About B. C. 266, when silver was first coined in Rome, the triumviri monetales appear to have been first appointed, and their office continued till the time of Caracalla. They were originally chosen from the senatorial order, but in the time of Augustus they were taken also from the equestrian, and we find them noticed on one of the coins of that emperor as III VIR. A. A. A. F. F. Triumviri, Auro, Argento, re, Flando, Feriundo, triumviri, for melting and striking gold silver and brass. Under Aurelian there appears to have been but one master of the mint, called the rationalis, who was soon after styled procurator monetæ. In the colonies the direction of the coinage appears to have been entrusted to duumviri, whose names often occur in colonial pieces, and who were chosen annually like the consuls at Rome. The other officers of the Roman mints were the assayers, spectatores, or nummularii; the engravers of the die, cœlatores; the refiners, cenarii; the melters, fusarii, or flaturarii; the equatores monetarum, who adjusted the weight; the suppostores, who placed the pieces in the die; and the malleatores, who struck it. A prunicerius was at the head of each office, and there was a kind of foreman. called optio et exactor.

Gold and silver in their unmixed state were

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