DIALOGUE I.

CYNTHIO, Eugenius and Philander had retired together from the town to a country village, that lies upon the Thames. Their deſign was to paſs away the heats of the Summer [...]mong the freſh breezes, that riſe from the river, [...]d the agreeable mixture of ſhades and fountains, [...] which the whole country naturally abounds, [...]hey were all three very well verſed in the po⯑ [...]er parts of learning, and had travelled into the [...]oſt refined nations of Europe: ſo that they [...]ere capable of entertaining themſelves on a [10] thouſand different ſubjects without running into the common topics of defaming publick parties, or particular perſons. As they were intimate friends they took the freedom to diſſent from one another in diſcourſe, or upon occaſion to ſpeak a Latin ſentence without fearing the imputation of pedantry or ill-breeding.

They were one evening taking a walk together in the fields when their diſcourſe accidentally fell upon ſeveral unprofitable parts of learning. It was Cynthio's humour to run down every thing that was rather for oſtentation than uſe. He was ſtill preferring good ſenſe to arts and ſciences, and often took a pleaſure to appear ignorant, that he might the better turn to ridicule thoſe that valued themſelves on their books and ſtudies, though at the ſame time one might very well ſee that he could not have attacked many parts of learning ſo ſucceſsfully, had not he borrowed his aſſiſtances from them. After having rally'd a ſet or two of Virtuoſo's, he fell upon the Me⯑dalliſts.

Theſe gentlemen, ſays he, value themſelves upon being critics in Ruſt, and will undertake to tell you the different ages of it, by its colour. They are poſſeſſed with a kind of learned avarice, and are for getting together hoards of ſuch mony only as was current among the Greeks and La⯑tins. There are ſeveral of them that are better acquainted with the faces of the Antonines, than of the Stuarts, and would rather chuſe to count out a Sum in Seſterces, than in pounds ſterling, I have heard of one in Italy that uſed to ſwear by the head of Otho. Nothing can be pleaſanter than to ſee a circle of theſe Virtuoſo's about a cabinet [11] of Medals, deſcanting upon the value, rarity and authenticalneſs of the ſeveral pieces that lie before them. One takes up a coin of gold, and after having well weighed the figures and inſcription, [...]ells you very gravely, if it were braſs, it would be invaluable. Another falls a ringing a Peſcen⯑ [...]ius Niger, and judiciouſly diſtinguiſhes the [...]ound of it to be modern. A third deſires you [...]o obſerve well the Toga on ſuch a reverſe, and asks you whether you can in conſcience believe the ſleeve of it to be of the true Roman cut.

I muſt confeſs, ſays Philander, the knowledge of Medals has moſt of thoſe diſadvantages that can [...]ender a ſcience ridiculous, to ſuch as are not well verſed in it. Nothing is more eaſy than to repreſent as impertinences any parts of learning that have no immediate relation to the happineſs or convenience of mankind. When a man ſpends his whole life among the Stars and Planets, or lays out a twelve-month on the ſpots in the Sun, however noble his ſpeculations may be, they are very apt to fall [...]nto burleſque. But it is ſtill more natural to [...]augh at ſuch ſtudies as are employed on low and vulgar objects. What curious obſervations have been made on Spiders, Lobſters, and Cockle⯑ [...]hells? yet the very naming of them is almoſt ſuf⯑ficient to turn them into raillery. It is no won⯑der therefore that the ſcience of Medals, which [...]s charged with ſo many unconcerning parts of knowledge, and built on ſuch mean materials, [...]hould appear ridiculous to thoſe that have not ta⯑ [...]en the pains to examine it.

Eugenius was very attentive to what Philander [...]aid on the ſubject of Medals. He was one that [...]ndeavoured rather to be agreeable than ſhining [12] in converſation, for which reaſon he was more beloved, though not ſo much admired as Cynthio. I muſt confeſs, ſays he, I find my ſelf very much inclined to ſpeak againſt a ſort of ſtudy that I know nothing of. I have however one ſtrong Prejudice in favour of it, that Philander has thought it worth his while to employ ſome time upon it. I am glad then, ſays Cynthio, that I have thrown him on a ſcience of which I have long wiſhed to hear the Uſefulneſs. There, ſays Philander, you muſt excuſe me. At preſent you do not know but it may have its uſefulneſs. But ſhould I endeavour to convince you of it, I might fail in my attempt, and ſo render my ſci⯑ence ſtill more contemptible. On the contrary, ſays Cynthio, we are already ſo perſuaded of the unprofitableneſs of your ſcience, that you can but leave us where you find us, but if you ſucceed you increaſe the number of your party. Well, ſays Philander, in hopes of making two ſuch conſiderable proſelytes, I am very well content to talk away an evening with you on the ſubject; but on this condition, that you will communicate your thoughts to me freely when you diſſent from me, or have any difficulties that you think me capable of removing. To make uſe of the li⯑berty you give us, ſays Eugenius, I muſt tell you what I believe ſurprizes all beginners as well as my ſelf. We are apt to think your Medalliſts a little fantaſtical in the different prices they ſet upon their coins, without any regard to the an⯑cient value or the metal of which they are com⯑poſed. A ſilver Medal, for example, ſhall be more eſteemed than a golden one, and a piece of braſs than either. To anſwer you, ſays Philander, it [13] [...]he language of a Medalliſt, you are not to look upon a cabinet of Medals as a treaſure of mony, but of knowledge, nor muſt you fancy any charms in gold, but in the figures and inſcriptions [...]at adorn it. The intrinſic value of an old coin does not conſiſt in its metal but its erudition. It is the Device that has raiſed the ſpecies, ſo that at preſent an As or an Obolus may carry a higher price than a Denarius or a Drachma; and a piece of mony that was not worth a peny fif⯑teen hundred years ago, may be now rated at fifty crowns, or perhaps a hundred guineas. I find, ſays Cynthio, that to have a reliſh for anci⯑ent coins it is neceſſary to have a contempt of the modern. But I am afraid you will never be able, with all your Medallic eloquence, to per⯑ſuade Eugenius and my ſelf that it is better to have a pocket full of Otho's and Gordians than of Jaco⯑ [...]us's or Louis d'ors. This however we ſhall be judges of, when you have let us know the ſeveral uſes of old coins.

The firſt and moſt obvious one, ſays Philan⯑ [...]r, is the ſhewing us the Faces of all the great perſons of antiquity. A cabinet of Medals is a collection of pictures in miniature. Juvenal calls them very humorouſly,

You here ſee the Alexanders, Caeſars, Pompeys, [...]rajans, and the whole catalogue of Heroes; [...]ho have many of them ſo diſtinguiſhed them⯑ [...]elves from the reſt of mankind that we almoſt [...]ook upon them as another ſpecies. It is an a⯑ [...]reeable amuſement to compare in our own [14] thoughts the face of a great Man with the chara⯑cter that authors have given us of him, and to try if we can find out in his looks and features either the haughty, cruel, or merciful temper that diſcovers it ſelf in the hiſtory of his actions. We find too on Medals the repreſentations of Ladies that have given occaſion to whole volumes on the account only of a face. We have here the pleaſure to ex⯑amine their looks and dreſſes, and to ſurvey at leiſure thoſe beauties that have ſometimes been the happineſs or miſery of whole kingdoms: Nor do you only meet the faces of ſuch as are famous in hiſtory, but of ſeveral whoſe names are not to be found any where except on Medals. Some of the Emperors, for example, have had Wives, and ſome of them Children, that no authors have mentioned. We are therefore obliged to the ſtudy of coins for having made new diſcoveries to the learned, and given them information of ſuch perſons as are to be met with on no other kind of records. You muſt give me leave, ſays Cynthio, to reject this laſt uſe of Medals. I do not think it worth while to trouble my ſelf with a perſon's name or face that receives all his repu⯑tation from the mint, and would never have been known in the world had there not been ſuch things as Medals. A man's memory finds ſuf⯑ficient employment on ſuch as have really ſigna⯑lized themſelves by their great actions, without charging it ſelf with the names of an inſignificant people whoſe whole hiſtory is written on the edges of an old coin.

If you are only for ſuch perſons as have made a noiſe in the world, ſays Philander, you have on Medals a long liſt of heathen Deities, diſtinguiſh⯑ [...]d [15] from each other by their proper titles and or⯑ [...]aments. You ſee the copies of ſeveral ſtatues that have had the politeſt nations of the world f [...]ll down before them. You have here too ſeve⯑ [...]l perſons of a more thin and ſhadowy nature, [...]s Hope, Conſtancy, Fidelity, Abundance, Ho⯑ [...]our, Virtue, Eternity, Juſtice, Moderation, Hap⯑ [...]ineſs, and in ſhort a whole creation of the like [...]maginary ſubſtances. To theſe you may add the Genies of nations, provinces, cities, high-ways, and the like Allegorical Beings. In devices of this nature one ſees a pretty poetical invention, and may often find as much thought on the re⯑verſe of a Medal as in a Canto of Spenſer. Not to interrupt you, ſays Eugenius, I fancy it is this uſe of Medals that has recommended them to ſe⯑veral hiſtory-painters, who perhaps without this aſſiſtance would have found it very difficult to have invented ſuch an airy ſpecies of beings, when they are obliged to put a moral virtue into co⯑lours, or to find out a proper dreſs for a paſſion. I [...] is doubtleſs for this reaſon, ſays Philander, that Painters have not a little contributed to bring the [...]udy of Medals in vogue. For not to mention ſeveral others, Caraccio is ſaid to have aſſiſted A⯑ [...]etine by deſigns that he took from the Spintriae of Tiberius. Raphael had thoroughly ſtudied the figures on old Coins. Patin tells us that Lo [...]run had done the ſame. And it is well known [...]at Rubens had a noble collection of Medals in his [...]wn poſſeſſion. But I muſt not quit this head [...]efore I tell you, that you ſee on Medals not on⯑ly the names and perſons of Emperors, Kings, conſuls, Pro-conſuls, Praetors, and the like cha⯑ [...]acters of importance, but of ſome of the Poets, [16] and of ſeveral who had won the prizes at the Olympic games. It was a noble time, ſays Cyn⯑thio, when Trips and Corniſh hugs could make a man immortal. How many Heroes would Moor-fields have furniſhed out in the days of old? A fellow that can now only win a hat or a belt, had he lived among the Greeks, might have had his face ſtampt upon their Coins. But theſe were the wiſe ancients, who had more eſteem for a Milo than a Homer, and heapt up greater Honours on Pindar's Jockies, than on the Poet himſelf. But by this time I ſuppoſe you have drawn up all your medallic people, and indeed they make a much more formidable body than I could have imagined. You have ſhewn us all conditions, ſexes and ages, emperors and empreſſes, men and children, gods and wreſtlers. Nay you have con⯑jured up perſons that exiſt no where elſe but on old Coins, and have made our Paſſions and Vir⯑tues and Vices viſible. I could never have thought that a cabinet of Medals had been ſo well peopled. But in the next place, ſays Phi⯑lander, as we ſee on coins the different Faces of perſons, we ſee on them too their different Ha⯑bits and Dreſſes, according to the mode that pre⯑vailed in the ſeveral ages when the Medals were ſtampt. This is another uſe, ſays Cynthio, that in my opinion contributes rather to make a man learned than wiſe, and is neither capable of plea⯑ſing the underſtanding or imagination. I know there are ſeveral ſupercilious Critics that will treat an author with the greateſt contempt imagi⯑nable, if he fancies the old Romans wore a girdle, and are amazed at a man's ignorance, who be⯑lieves the Toga had any Sleeves to it till the de⯑clenſion [17] of the Roman Empire. Now I would fain know the great importance of this kind of learning, and why it ſhould not be as noble a task to write upon a Bib and hanging-ſleeves, as on the Bulla and Praetexta. The reaſon is, that we are familiar with the names of the one, and meet with the other no where but in learned authors. An Antiquary will ſcorn to mention a pinner or a night-rail, a petticoat or a manteau; but will talk as gravely as a father of the church on the Vitta and Peplus, the Stola and Inſtita. How would an old Roman laugh, were it poſſible for him to ſee the ſolemn diſſertations that have been made on theſe weighty ſubjects! To ſet them in their natural light, let us fancy, if you pleaſe, that about a thouſand years hence, ſome profound author ſhall write a learned treatiſe on the Ha⯑bit [...] of the preſent age, diſtinguiſhed into the fol⯑lowing Titles and Chapters.

• Of the old Britiſh Trowſer.
• Of the Ruff and Collar-bana.
• The opinion of ſeveral learned me concerning the uſe of the Shoulder-knot.
• Such a one miſtaken in his account of the Sur⯑tout, &c.

I muſt confeſs, ſays Eugenius interrupting him, the knowledge of theſe affairs is in it ſelf very lit [...]e improving, but as it is impoſſible without it to underſtand ſeveral parts of your ancient au⯑thors, it certainly hath its uſe. It is pity indeed there is not a nearer way of coming at it. I have ſometimes fancied it would not be an imperti⯑nent deſign to make a kind of an old Roman [18] wardrobe, where you ſhould ſee Toga's and Tuni⯑ca's, the Chlamys and Trabea, and in ſhort all the different veſts and ornaments that are ſo often mentioned in the Greek and Roman authors. By this means a man would comprehend better and remember much longer the ſhape of an ancient garment, than he poſſibly can from the help of tedious quotations and deſcriptions. The deſign ſays Philander, might be very uſeful, but after what models would you work? Sigonius, for example, will tell you that the Veſtis Trabeat [...] was of ſuch a particular faſhion, Scaliger is fo [...] another, and Dacier thinks them both in the wrong. Theſe are, ſays Cynthio, I ſuppoſe the names of three Roman taylors: for is it poſſible men of learning can have any diſputes of this na⯑ture? May not we as well believe that hereafter the whole learned world will be divided upon the make of a modern pair of breeches? And yet, ſays Eugenius, the Critics have fallen as fou [...] upon each other for matters of the ſame moment But as to this point, where the Make of the gar⯑ment is controverted, let them, if they can find cloth enough, work after all the moſt probable faſhions. To enlarge the deſign, I would have another room for the old Roman inſtruments o [...] war, where you might ſee the Pilum and the ſhield, the eagles, enſigns, helmets, battering-rams and trophies, in a word, all the ancient military furniture in the ſame manner as it might have been in an Arſenal of old Rome. A third apart⯑ment ſhould be a kind of Sacriſtie for altars idols, ſacrificing inſtruments, and other religious utenſils. Not to be tedious, one might make a magazine for all ſorts of antiquities, that would [19] ſhow a man in an afternoon more than he could [...]earn out of books in a twelve-month. This would [...]ut ſhort the whole ſtudy of antiquities, and perhaps [...] much more uſeful to Univerſities than thoſe [...]ollections of Whale-bone and Crocodile-skins in [...]hich they commonly abound. You will find it very difficult, ſays Cynthio, to perſuade thoſe ſoci⯑eties of learned men to fall in with your project. They will tell you that things of this importance muſt not be taken on truſt; you ought to learn them among the Claſſic Authors and at the foun⯑tain-head. Pray conſider what a figure a man would make in the republick of letters, ſhould he appeal to your Univerſity-wardrobe, when they expect a ſentence out of the Re Veſtiaria? or how do you think a man that has read Vegetius will reliſh your Roman Arſenal? In the mean time, ſays Philander, you find on Medals every thing that you could meet with in your magazine of antiquities, and when you have built your arſe⯑nals, wardrobes, and ſacriſties, it is from Medals that you muſt fetch their furniture. It is here too that you ſee the figures of ſeveral inſtruments of muſick, mathematics and mechanics. One might make an entire gally out of the plans that are to be met with on the reverſes of ſeveral old coins. Nor are they only charged with Things but with many ancient Cuſtoms, as ſacrifices, tri⯑umphs, congiaries, allocutions, decurſions, lecti⯑ [...]erniums, and a thouſand other antiquated names [...]d ceremonies that we ſhould not have had ſo j [...]ſt a notion of, were they not ſtill preſerved on Coins. I might add under this head of antiqui⯑ties, that we find on Medals the manner of ſpel⯑ [...]ng in the old Roman inſcriptions. That is, ſays [20] Cynthio, we find that Felix is never written with an oe dipthongue, and that in Auguſtus's days Civis ſtood for Cives, with other ſecrets in Or⯑thography of the ſame importance.

To come then to a more weighty uſe, ſays Philander, it is certain that Medals give a very great light to hiſtory, in confirming ſuch paſſages as are true in old Authors, in ſettling ſuch as are told after different manners, and in recording ſuch as have been omitted. In this caſe a cabinet of Medals is a body of hiſtory. It was indeed the beſt way in the world to perpetuate the me⯑mory of great actions, thus to coin out the life of an Emperor, and to put every great exploit in⯑to the mint. It was a kind of Printing, before the art was invented. It is by this means that Mon⯑ſieur Vaillant has diſembroiled a hiſtory that was loſt to the world before his time, and out of a ſhort collection of Medals has given us a chroni⯑cle of the Kings of Syria. For this too is an ad⯑vantage Medals have over books, that they tell their ſtory much quicker, and ſum up a whole volume in twenty or thirty reverſes. They are indeed the beſt epitomes in the world, and let you ſee with one caſt of an eye the ſubſtance of above a hundred pages. Another uſe of Medals is, that they not only ſhew you the actions of an Emperor, but at the ſame time mark out the year in which they were performed. Every exploit has its date ſet to it. A ſeries of an Emperor's Coins is his life digeſted into annals. Hiſtorians ſeldom break their relation with a mixture of chronology, nor diſtribute the particulars of an Emperor's ſtory into the ſeveral years of his reign: or where they do it they often differ in their ſeve⯑ral [21] periods. Here therefore it is much ſafer to quote a Medal than an Author, for in this caſe [...]ou do not appeal to a Suetonius or a Lampri⯑ [...]ius, but to the Emperor himſelf, or to the whole [...]ody of a Roman Senate. Beſides that a Coin is in no danger of having its characters altered by copiers and tranſcribers. This I muſt confeſs, ſays Cynthio, may in ſome caſes be of great moment, but conſidering the ſubjects on which your chro⯑nologers are generally employed, I ſee but little uſe that riſes from it. For example, what ſigni⯑fies it to the world whether ſuch an Elephant ap⯑peared in the Amphi-theatre in the ſecond or the third year of Domitian? Or what am I the wiſer for knowing that Trajan was in the fifth year of his Tribuneſhip when he entertained the people with ſuch a Horſe-race or Bull-baiting? Yet it is the fixing of theſe great periods that gives a man the firſt rank in the republic of letters, and re⯑commends him to the world for a perſon of va⯑rious reading and profound erudition.

You muſt always give your men of great reading leave to ſhow their talents on the meaneſt ſubjects, ſays Eugenius; it is a kind of ſhooting at rovers: where a man lets fly his arrow without taking any aim, to ſhew his ſtrength. But there is one advantage, ſays he, turning to Philander, that ſeems to me very conſiderable, although your Medalliſts ſel⯑ [...]om throw it into the account, which is the great [...]lp to memory one finds in Medals: for my own part I am very much embarraſſed in the names and ranks of the ſeveral Roman Emperors, and find it difficult to recollect upon occaſion the different parts of their hiſtory: but your Medal⯑ [...]ſts upon the firſt naming of an Emperor will [22] immediately tell you his age, family and life. To remember where he enters in the ſucceſſion, they only conſider in what part of the cabinet he lies; and by runinng over in their thoughts ſuch a par⯑ticular drawer, will give you an account of all the remarkable parts of his reign.

I thank you, ſays Philander, for helping me to an uſe that perhaps I ſhould not have thought on. But there is another of which I am ſure you could not be but ſenſible when you were at Rome. I muſt own to you it ſurprized me to ſee my Ci⯑ceroni ſo well acquainted with the buſts and ſta⯑tues of all the great people of antiquity. There was not an Emperor or Empreſs but he knew by ſight, and as he was ſeldom without Medals in his pocket, he would often ſhew us the ſame face on an old Coin that we ſaw in the Statue. He would diſcover a Commodus through the diſguiſe of the club and lion's skin, and find out ſuch a one to be Livia that was dreſſed up like a Ceres. Let a buſt be never ſo diſfigured, they have a thouſand marks by which to decipher it. They will know a Zenobia by the ſitting of her Dia⯑dem, and will diſtinguiſh the Fauſtina's by their different way of tying up their hair. Oh! Sir, ſays Cynthio, they will go a great deal farther, they will give you the name and titles of a Sta⯑tue that has loſt his noſe and ears; or if there is but half a beard remaining, will tell you at firſt ſight who was the owner of it. Now I muſt con⯑feſs to you, I uſed to fancy they impoſed upon me an Emperor or Empreſs at pleaſure, rather than appear ignorant.

All this however is eaſily learnt from Medals, ſays Philander, where you may ſee likewiſe the [23] plans of many the moſt conſiderable buildings of Old Rome. There is an ingenious Gentleman of our own nation extremely well verſed in this ſtu⯑d [...], who has a deſign of publiſhing the whole hi⯑ſtory of Architecture, with its ſeveral improve⯑ments and decays as it is to be met with on an⯑cient Coins. He has aſſured me that he has ob⯑ſerved all the nicety of proportion in the figures of the different orders that compoſe the buildings on the beſt preſerved Medals. You here ſee the copies of ſuch Ports and triumphal Arches as there are not the leaſt traces of in the places where they once ſtood. You have here the models of ſeve⯑ral ancient Temples, though the Temples them⯑ſelves, and the Gods that were worſhipped in them, are periſhed many hundred years ago. Or if there are ſtill any foundations or ruines of for⯑mer edifices, you may learn from Coins what was their Architecture when they ſtood whole and entire. Theſe are buildings with the Goths and Vandals could not demoliſh, that are infinite⯑ly more durable than ſtone or marble, and will perhaps laſt as long as the earth it ſelf. They are in ſhort ſo many real monuments of Braſs.

This is a noble Panegyric on an old copper Coin, ſays Cynthio. But I am afraid a little ma⯑licious [24] ruſt would demoliſh one of your braze [...] edifices as effectually as a Goth or Vandal. Yo [...] would laugh at me, ſays Philander, ſhould I mak [...] you a learned diſſertation on the nature of Ruſts I ſhall only tell you there are two or three ſort of them which are extremely beautiful in the ey [...] of an Antiquary, and preſerve a Coin better tha [...] the beſt artificial varniſh. As for other kinds, skilful Medalliſt knows very well how to de [...] with them. He will recover you a Temple o [...] a triumphal Arch out of its rubbiſh, if I may [...] call it, and with a few reparations of the gravin [...] tool reſtore it to its firſt ſplendour and magnif [...] ⯑cence. I have known an Emperor quite hid u [...] ⯑der a cruſt of droſs, who after two or three day [...] cleanſing has appeared with all his Titles abo [...] him as freſh and beautiful as at his firſt comi [...] out of the Mint. I am ſorry, ſays Eugenius, did not know this laſt uſe of Medals when I w [...] at Rome. It might perhaps have given me a grea⯑ter taſte of its Antiquities, and have fixed in m [...] memory ſeveral of the ruins that I have now fo [...] ⯑gotten For my part, ſays Cynthio, I think the [...] are at Rome enow modern works of Architectu [...] to employ any reaſonable man. I never cou [...] have a taſte for old bricks and rubbiſh, nor wou [...] trouble my ſelf about the ruines of Auguſtus's P [...] ⯑lace ſo long as I could ſee the Vatican, t [...] Borgheſe, and the Farneſe as they now ſtand; muſt own to you at the ſame time this is talki [...] like an ignorant man. Were I in other comp [...] ⯑ny I would perhaps change my ſtyle, and t [...] them that I would rather ſee the fragments [...] Apollo's Temple than St. Peter's. I rememb [...] when our Antiquary at Rome had led us a who [...] [25] day together from one ruin to another, he at laſt brought us to the Rotunda, And this, ſays he, is the moſt valuable Antiquity in Italy, notwith⯑ſtanding it is ſo entire.

The ſame kind of fancy, ſays Philander, has formerly gained upon ſeveral of your Medalliſts, who were for hoording up ſuch pieces of money only as had been half conſumed by time or ruſt. There were no Coins pleaſed them more than thoſe which had paſſed through the hands of an old Roman Clipper. I have read an Author of this taſte that compares a ragged Coin to a tattered Colours. But to come again to our Subject. As we find on Medals the plans of ſeveral buildings that are now demoliſhed, we ſee on them too the Models of many ancient Statues that are now loſt. There are ſeveral Reverſes which are own⯑ed to be the repreſentations of antique figures, and I queſtion not but there are many others that were formed on the like Models, though at pre⯑ſent they lie under no ſuſpicion of it. The Her⯑c [...]les Farneſe, the Venus of Medicis, the Apollo in the Belvidera, and the famous Marcus Aurelius on horſe-back, which are perhaps the four moſt beautiful Statues extant, make their appearance all of them on ancient Medals, though the figures that repreſent them were never thought to be the [...]pies of ſtatues till the ſtatues themſelves were diſcovered. There is no queſtion, I think, but t [...] ſame reflexion may extend it ſelf to antique P [...]ctures: for I doubt not but in the deſigns of ſe⯑veral Greek Medals in particular, one might of⯑ten ſee the hand of an Apelles or Protogenes, were we as well acquainted with their works as [...]e are with Titian's or Vandike's. I might here [26] make a much greater ſhow of the Uſefulneſs of Medals, if I would take the method of others, and prove to you that all arts and ſciences receive a conſiderable illuſtration from this ſtudy. I muſt however tell you, that Medals and the Civil Law, as we are aſſured by thoſe who are well read in both, give a conſiderable light to each other, and that ſeveral old Coins are like ſo many maps for explaining of the ancient Geography. But beſides the more ſolid parts of learning, there are ſevera [...] little intimations to be met with on Medals tha [...] are very pleaſant to ſuch as are converſant in thi [...] kind of ſtudy. Should I tell you gravely, tha [...] without the help of Coins we ſhould never have known which was the firſt of the Emperors tha [...] wore a beard, or rode in ſtirrups, I might turt my ſcience into ridicule. Yet it is certai [...] there are a thouſand little impertinencies of this na⯑ture that are very gratifying to curioſity, tho' per⯑haps not very improving to the underſtanding To ſee the dreſs that ſuch an Empreſs delighte [...] to be drawn in, the titles that were moſt agreeabl [...] to ſuch an Emperor, the flatteries that he lay mo [...] open to, the honours that he paid to his chi [...] ⯑dren, wives, predeceſſors, friends or collegue with the like particularities only to be met with o [...] Medals, are certainly not a little pleaſing to th [...] inquiſitive temper which is ſo natural to the min [...] of man.

I declare to you, ſays Cynthio, you have aſt [...] ⯑niſhed me with the ſeveral parts of knowledg [...] that you have diſcovered on Medals. I cou [...] never fancy before this evening, that a Coin cou [...] have any nobler uſe in it than to pay a recko [...] ⯑ing.

[27]You have not heard all yet, ſays Philander, there is ſtill an advantage to be drawn from Me⯑dals, which I am ſure will heighten your eſteem for them. It is indeed an uſe that no body has hitherto dwelt upon. If any of the Antiquaries have touched upon it, they have immediately quitted it, without conſidering it in its full latitude, light and extent. Not to keep you in ſuſpence, I think there is a great affinity between Coins and Poetry, and that your Medalliſt and Critic are much nearer related than the world generally imagines. A reverſe often clears up the paſſage of an old poet, as the poet often ſerves to unrid⯑dle a reverſe. I could be longer on this head, but I fear I have already tired you. Nay, ſays Eugenius, ſince you have gone ſo far with us, we muſt beg you to finiſh your lecture, eſpecial⯑ly ſince you are on a ſubject, that I dare promiſe you will be very agreeable to Cynthio, who is ſo profeſſed an admirer of the ancient poets. I muſt only warn you, that you do not charge your Coins with more uſes than they can bear. It is generally the method of ſuch as are in love with any particular ſcience to diſcover all others in it. Who would imagine, for example, that archite⯑cture ſhould comprehend the knowledge of hiſto⯑ [...]y, ethics, muſic, aſtronomy, natural philoſophy, [...]hyſic and the civil law? Yet Vitruvius will give [...]ou his reaſons, ſuch as they are, why a good ar⯑chitect is maſter of theſe ſeveral arts and ſciences. Sure, ſays Cynthio, Martial had never read Vitru⯑vius when he threw the Cryer and the Architect into the ſame claſs.

But to give you an inſtance out of a very cele⯑brated diſcourſe on poetry, becauſe we are on that ſubject, of an author's finding out imaginary beauties in his own art. I have obſer⯑ved, Voſſius de viribus Rythmi. ſays he, (ſpeaking of the natura [...] propenſion that all men have to num⯑bers and harmony) that my barber ha [...] often combed my head in Dactyls an [...] Spondees, that is, with two ſhort ſtrokes and a lon [...] one, or with two long ones ſucceſſively. Nay, ſay he, I have known him ſometimes run even int [...] Pyrrhichius's and Anapoeſtus's. This you wil [...] think perhaps a very extravagant fancy, but I muſ [...] own I ſhould as ſoon expect to find the Proſodu [...] in a Comb as Poetry in a Medal. Before I en⯑deavour to convince you of it, ſays Philander, I muſ [...] confeſs to you that this ſcience has its viſionarie [...] as well as all others. There are ſeveral, for exam⯑ple, that will find a myſtery in every tooth o [...] Neptune's trident, and are amazed at the wiſdo [...] of the ancients that repreſented a thunder-bol [...] with three forks, ſince, they will tell you, no⯑thing could have better explained its triple quali⯑ty of piercing, burning and melting. I have ſee a long diſcourſe on the figure and nature of horn to ſhew it was impoſſible to have found out a fitte [...] emblem for plenty than the Cornu-copiae. Theſe a [...] a ſort of authors who ſcorn to take up with ap⯑pearances, and fancy an interpretation vulg [...] when it is natural. What could have been mor [...] proper to ſhew the beauty and friendſhip of th [...] three Graces, than to repreſent them naked an [...] [29] knitt together in a kind of dance? It is thus they always appear in ancient ſculpture, whether on Medals or in Marble, as I doubt not but Horace alludes to deſigns of this nature, when he de⯑ſcribes them after the ſame manner.

Several of your Medalliſts will be here again a⯑ſtoniſhed at the wiſdom of the ancients, that knew how to couch ſuch excellent Precepts of morality under viſible objects. The nature of Gratitude, they will tell you, is better illuſtrated by this ſingle device, than by Seneca's whole book d [...] Beneficiis. The three Graces teach us three things. I. To remark the doing of a cour⯑teſie. II. The return of it from the receiver. III. The obligation of the receiver to acknow⯑ledge it. The three Graces are always hand in hand, to ſhow us that theſe three duties ſhould be never ſeparated. They are naked, to admoniſh us that Gratitude ſhould be returned with a free and open heart; and dancing, to ſhew us that no virtue is more active than Gratitude. May not we here ſay with Lucretius?

It is an eaſy thing, ſays Eugenius, to find out deſigns that never entered into the thoughts of the [...]ulptor or the coiner. I dare ſay, the ſame [30] Gentlemen who have fixed this piece of morality on the three naked Siſters dancing hand in hand, would have found out as good a one for them, had there been four of them ſitting at a diſtance from each other, and covered from head to foot. It is here therefore, ſays Philander, that the old Poets ſtep in to the aſſiſtance of the Medalliſt, when they give us the ſame though in words as the maſters of the Roman min [...] have done in figures. A man may ſee a meta⯑phor or an allegory in picture, as well as rea [...] them in a deſcription. When therefore I con⯑front a Medal with a Verſe, I only ſhew yo [...] the ſame deſign executed by different hands, and appeal from one maſter to another of the ſam [...] age and taſte. This is certainly a much ſure way than to build on the interpretations of a [...] author who does not conſider how the ancient uſed to think, but will be ſtill inventing myſte⯑ries and applications out of his own fancy. T [...] make my ſelf more intelligible, I find a ſhield o [...] the reverſe of an Emperor's Coin, deſigned as [...] compliment to him from the ſenate of Rome. meet with the ſame metaphor in ancient poets t [...] expreſs protection or defence. I conclude there⯑fore that this Medal compliments the Emper [...] in the ſame ſenſe as the old Romans did the Dictator Fabius when they called him the Buc [...] ⯑ler of Rome. Put this reverſe now if you pleaſ [...] into the hands of a myſtical antiquary; He ſha [...] tell you that the uſe of the ſhield being to defen [...] the body from the weapons of an enemy, it ver [...] aptly ſhadows out to us the reſolution or co [...] ⯑tinence of the Emperor, which made him pro [...] to all the attacks, of fortune or of pleaſure. [...] [31] the next place, the figure of the ſhield being round it is an emblem of perfection, for Ariſtotle has ſaid the round figure is the moſt perfect. It may likewiſe ſignify the immortal reputation that the Emperor has acquired by his great actions, ro⯑tundity being an emblem of eternity that has nei⯑ther beginning nor end. After this I dare not an⯑ſwer for the ſhield's convexity that it does not co⯑ver a myſtery, nay there ſhall not be the leaſt wrinkle or flouriſh upon it which will not turn to ſome account. In this caſe therefore ^* Poe⯑try being in ſome reſpects an art of deſigning as well as Painting or Sculpture, they may ſerve as Comments on each other. I am very well ſatisfied, ſays Eugenius, by what you have ſaid on this ſubject, that the Poets may contribute to the explication of ſuch reverſes as are purely emblematical, or when the perſons are of that ſhadowy allegorical nature you have before men⯑tioned, but I ſuppoſe there are many other re⯑verſes that repreſent things and perſons of a more real exiſtence. In this caſe too, ſays Phi⯑lander, a Poet lets you into the knowledge of a device better than a Proſe-writer, as his de⯑ſcriptions are often more diffuſe, his ſtory more naturally circumſtanced, and his language en⯑riched with a greater variety of epithets: So that you often meet with little hints and ſuggeſtions in a Poet that give a great illuſtration to the cu⯑ſtoms, actions, ornaments, and all kinds of Antiqui⯑ties that are to be met with on ancient Coins. I fancy, ſays Cynthio, there is nothing more ridicu⯑lous than an Antiquary's reading the Greek or [32] Latin Poets. He never thinks of the beauty of the thought or language, but is for ſearching in⯑to what he calls the Erudition of the Author. He will turn you over all Virgil to find out the figure of an old Roſtrum, and has the greateſt eſteem imaginable for Homer, becauſe has given us the faſhion of a Greek ſcepter. It is indeed odd enough to conſider how all kinds of Readers find their account in the old Poets. Not only your men of the more refined or ſolid parts of Learning, but even your Alchymiſt and Fortune-teller will diſcover the ſecrets of their art in Ho⯑mer and Virgil. This, ſays Eugenius, is a pre⯑judice of a very ancient ſtanding. Read but Plu⯑tarch's diſcourſe on Homer, and you will ſee that the Iliad contains the whole circle of arts, and that Thales and Pythagoras ſtole all their philoſophy out of this Poet's works. One would be amazed to ſee what pains he takes to prove that Homer underſtood all the figures in Rhetoric, before they were invented. I do not queſtion, ſays Philander, were it poſſible for Homer to read his praiſes in this Author, but he would be as much ſurprized as ever Monſieur Jordain was when he had found he had talked Proſe all his life-time without ever knowing what it was. But to finiſh the task you have ſet me, we may obſerve that not only the Virtues, and the like imaginary perſons, but all the heathen Divinities appear generally in the ſame Dreſs among the Po⯑ets that they wear in Medals. I muſt confeſs, I believe both the one and the other took the Mode from the ancient Greek Statuaries. It will not perhaps be an improper tranſition to paſs from the heathen gods to the ſeveral monſters of antiquity, [33] as Chimaeras, Gorgons, Sphinxes, and many others that make the ſame figure in verſe as on coins. It often happens too, that the Poet and the Se⯑nate of Rome have both choſen the ſame Topic to flatter their Emperor upon, and have ſome⯑times fallen upon the ſame thought. It is cer⯑tain, they both of them lay upon the catch for a great action: It is no wonder therefore, that they were often engaged on one ſubject, the Medal and the Poem being nothing elſe but oc⯑caſional compliments to the Emperor. Nay, I queſtion not but you may ſometimes find certain paſſages among the Poets that relate to the par⯑cular device of a Medal.

I wonder, ſays Eugenius, that your Medalliſts have not been as diligent in ſearching the Poets as the Hiſtorians, ſince I find they are ſo capable of enlightning their art. I would have ſome bo⯑dy put the Muſes under a kind of contribution to furniſh out whatever they have in them that bears any relation to Coins. Though they taught us but the ſame things that might be learnt in other writings, they would at leaſt teach us more agreeably, and draw ſeveral over to the ſtudy of Medals that would rather be inſtructed in verſe than in proſe. I am glad, ſays Philander, to hear you of this opinion, for to tell you truly, when I was at Rome, I took occaſion to buy up many Imperial Medals that have any affinity with paſſages of the ancient Poets. So that I have by me a ſort of poetical Caſh, which I fancy I could count over to you in Latin and Greek verſe, If you will drink a diſh of Tea with me to-mor⯑row morning, I will lay my whole collection before you. I cannot tell, ſays Cynthio, how the [34] Poets will ſucceed in the explication of coins, t [...] which they are generally very great ſtrangers. We are however obliged to you for preventing us with the offer of a kindneſs that you might well imagine we ſhould have asked you.

Our three friends had been ſo intent on thei [...] diſcourſe, that they had rambled very far int [...] the fields without taking notice of it. Philande [...] firſt put them in mind, that unleſs they turne [...] back quickly they would endanger being benight⯑ed. Their converſation ran inſenſibly into othe [...] ſubjects, but as I deſign only to report ſuch part of it as have any relation to Medals, I ſhall leav [...] them to return home as faſt as they pleaſe, with out troubling my ſelf with their talk on the w [...] thither, or with their ceremonies at parting.

DIALOGUE II.

SOME of the fineſt treatiſes of the moſt po⯑lite Latin and Greek writers are in Dialogue, as many very valued pieces of French, Itali⯑an, and Engliſh appear in the ſame dreſs. I have ſometimes however been very much diſtaſted at this way of writing, by reaſon of the long Pre⯑faces and exordiums into which it often betrays an author. There is ſo much time taken up in ceremony, that before they enter on their ſubject the Dialogue is half ended. To avoid the fault I have found in others, I ſhall not trouble my ſelf nor my Reader with the firſt ſalutes of our three friends, nor with any part of their diſcourſe over the Tea-table. We will ſuppoſe the China diſhes taken off, and a Drawer of Medals ſupply⯑ing their room. Philander, who is to be the He⯑roe in my Dialogue, takes it in his hand, and ad⯑dreſſing himſelf to Cynthio and Eugenius, I will firſt of all, ſays he, ſhow you an aſſembly of the moſt virtuous Ladies that you have ever perhaps converſed with. I do not know, ſays Cynthio, re⯑garding them, what their virtue may be, but me⯑thinks they are a little fantaſtical in their dreſs. You will find, ſays Philander, there is good ſenſe in it. They have not a ſingle ornament that they cannot give a reaſon for. I was going to ask you, ſays Eugenius, in what country you find theſe Ladies. But I ſee they are ſome of thoſe [36] imaginary perſons you told us of laſt night that inhabit old Coins, and appear no where elſe but on the reverſe of a Medal. Their proper coun⯑try, ſays Philander, is the breaſt of a good man: for I think they are moſt of them the figures of Virtues. It is a great compliment methinks to the ſex, ſays Cynthio, that your Virtues are gene⯑rally ſhown in petticoats. I can give no other reaſon for it, ſays Philander, but becauſe they chanced to be of the feminine gender in the learn⯑ed languages.Firſt Series. FIGURE I. You find however ſomething bold and maſculine in the air and poſture of the firſt figure, which is that of Virtue her ſelf, and agrees very well with the deſcription we find of her in Silius Italicus.

Virtue and Honour had their Temples bordering on each other, and are ſometimes both on the ſame coin,FIG. 2. as in the following one of Galba. Silius Italicus makes them companions in the glorious equipage that he gives his Virtue.

The head of Honour is crowned with a Laurel, as Martial has adorned his Glory after the ſame manner, which indeed is but another name for the ſame perſon. ‘Mitte coronatas Gloria maeſta comas.’ I find, ſays Cynthio, the Latins mean Courage by the figure of Virtue, as well as by the word it ſelf. Courage was eſteemed the greateſt perfe⯑ction among them, and therefore went under the name of Virtue in general, as the modern Italians give the ſame name on the ſame account to the Knowledge of Curioſities. Should a Roman Painter at preſent draw the picture of Virtue, in⯑ [...]ead of the Spear and Paratonium that ſhe bears [...]n old coins, he would give her a Buſt in one hand and a Fiddle in the other.

The next, ſays Philander, FIG. 3. is a Lady of a more peaceful character, and had [...]er Temple at Rome. ‘[38]—Salutato crepitat Concordia nido.’ She is often placed on the reverſe of an Imperi [...] coin to ſhow the good underſtanding betwee [...] the Emperor and the Empreſs. She has alway [...] a Cornu-copiae in her hand, to denote that Plent [...] is the fruit of Concord. After this ſhort accou [...] of the Goddeſs, I deſire you will give me you [...] opinion of the Deity that is deſcribed in the fo [...] ⯑lowing verſes of Seneca, who would have he propitious to the marriage of Jaſon and Creuſ: He mentions her by her qualities, and not b [...] her name.

The deſcription, ſays Eugenius, is a copy of th [...] figure we have before us: and for the future, in ſtead of any further note on this paſſage, would have the reverſe you have ſhown us ſtamp⯑ed on the ſide of it. The interpreters of Seneca ſays Philander, will underſtand the precedent ver⯑ſes as a deſcription of Venus, though in my opi⯑nion there is only the firſt of them that can aptly relate to her, which at the ſame time agrees as wel [...] with Concord: and that this was a Goddeſs wh [...] [39] [...]ed to intereſt her ſelf in marriages, we may ſee the following deſcription.

Peace differs as little in her Dreſs as in her Character from Concord. FIG. 4. You may obſerve in both theſe figures that the Veſt is gathered up before them, like an Apron, which you muſt ſuppoſe filled with fruits as well as the Cornu-copiae. It is to this part of the Dreſs that Tibullus alludes.

Prudentius has given us the ſame circumſtance in his deſcription of Avarice.

[40] How proper the emblems of Plenty are to Peace, may be ſeen in the ſame Poet.

The Olive-branch in her hand is frequently touch⯑ed upon in the old Poets as a token of Peace.

In his right hand an Olive-branch he holds.

[41] Which by the way one would think had been ſpoken rather of an Attila, or a Maximin, than Julius Caeſar.

You ſee Abundance or Plenty makes the ſame figure in Medals as in Horace. FIG. 5.

The Compliment on this reverſe to Gordianus Pius is expreſſed in the ſame manner as that of Horace to Auguſtus.

But to return again to our Virtues.FIG. 6. You have here the picture of Fidelity, who was worſhipped as a Goddeſs among the Romans.

I ſhould fancy, from the following verſes of Vir⯑gil [42] and Silius Italicus, that ſhe was repreſented under the figure of an old woman.

FIG. 7.There is a Medal of Heliogabal [...] inſcrib'd FIDES EXERCITUS. that receives a great light from the preceding verſes. She is poſted between two military En⯑ſigns, for the good quality that the Poet aſcribes [43] [...]her of preſerving the publick peace, by keeping the Army true to its Allegiance.

I fancy, ſays Eugenius, as you have diſcovered the Age of this imaginary Lady from the deſcrip⯑tion that the Poets have made of her, you may [...]nd too the colour of the Drapery that ſhe wore in the old Roman paintings, from that verſe in Horace,

One would think, ſays Philander, by this verſe, that Hope and Fidelity had both the ſame kind of Dreſs. It is certain Hope might have a fair pre⯑tence to White, in alluſion to thoſe that were Candidates for an employ.

And how properly the Epithet of Rara agrees with her, you may ſee in the tranſpa⯑rency of the next figure.FIG. 8. She is here dreſſed in ſuch a kind of Veſt as the [...]atins call a Multicium from the fineneſs of its iſſue. Your Roman Beaus had their ſummer [...]a of ſuch a light airy make.

I remember, ſays Cynthio, Juvenal rallys Cre [...] ⯑cus, that was otherwiſe a brave rough fellow, ve⯑ry handſomely, on this kind of garment.

But pray what is the meaning that this tranſ⯑parent Lady holds up her train in her left hand for I find your women on Medals do nothin [...] without a meaning. Beſides, I ſuppoſe there a moral precept at leaſt couch'd under the figur [...] ſhe holds in her other hand. She draws bac [...] her garment, ſays Philander, that it may not in cumber her in her march. For ſhe is always drawn in a poſture of walking, it being as natu⯑ral for Hope to preſs forward to her proper ob⯑jects, as for Fear to fly from them.

This beautiful ſimilitude is, I think, the prettieſt Emblem in the world of Hope and Fear in extre⯑mity. A flower or bloſſome that you ſee in the right hand is a proper ornament for Hope, ſince they are theſe that we term in poetical language th [...] Hopes of the year.

The ſame Poet in his De faſtis, ſpeaking of [...] Vine in flower, expreſſes it

FIG. 9.The next on the Liſt is a Lady of contrary character, and therefore in quite different poſture. As Security is free from purſuits, ſhe is repreſented leaning careleſly on pillar. Horace has drawn a pretty metaphor fro [...] this poſture.

She reſts her ſelf on a pillar, for the ſame reaſ [...] as the Poets often compare an obſtinate reſol [...] ⯑tion or a great firmneſs of mind, to a rock th [...] is not to be moved by all the aſſaults of win or waves.

I am apt to think it was on Devices of this na⯑ture that Horace had his eye in his Ode to Fortune. It is certain he alludes to a pillar that figured out Security, or ſomething very like it; and till any body finds out another that will ſtand better in [...]s place, I think we may content our ſelves with this before us.

I muſt however be ſo fair as to let you know th [...] Peace and Felicity have their pillars in ſever [...] Medals as well as Security, ſo that if you do [...] like one of them, you may take the other.

FIG. 10.The next Figure is that of Chaſ⯑ty, who was worſhipped as a Go [...] ⯑deſs, and had her Temple.

How her poſture and dreſs become her, you [...] ſee in the following verſes.

Sh [...] repreſented in the habit of a Roman Matron.

Th [...] ni Catia eſt, ſays Cynthio, is a beauty un⯑known to moſt of our Engliſh Satyriſts. Ho⯑race knew how to ſtab with addreſs, and to give a thruſt where he was leaſt expected Boileau ha [...] nicely imitated him in this, as well as his o⯑the [...] beauties. But our Engliſh Libellers are for he [...]ng a man down-right, and for letting him ſee at [...]iſtance that he is to look for no mercy. I own to you, ſays Eugenius, I have often admi⯑red this piece of art in the two Satyriſts you men⯑tion and have been ſurprized to meet with a man in Satire that I never in the leaſt expected to [50] find there. They have a particular way of hiding their ill-nature, and introduce a criminal rather to illuſtrate a precept or paſſage, than out of any ſeeming deſign to abuſe him. Our Engliſh Poets on the contrary ſhow a kind of malice prepenſe in their Satires, and inſtead of bringing in the per⯑ſon to give light to any part of the Poem, let you ſee they writ the whole Poem on purpoſe to abuſe the perſon. But we muſt not leave the Ladies thus. Pray what kind of head-dreſs is that of Piety?

As Chaſtity, ſays Philander, appears in the habit of a Roman matron, in whom that Virtue was ſup⯑poſed to reign in its perfection, Piety wears the dreſs of the Veſtal Virgins,FIG. 11: who were the greateſt and moſt ſhining exam⯑ples of it. Vittata Sacerdos is you know an Expreſ⯑ſion among the Latin Poets. I do not queſtion but you have ſeen in the Duke of Florence's gallery a beautiful antique figure of a woman ſtanding before an Altar, which ſome of the Antiquaries call a Piety and others a Veſtal Virgin. The woman, Altar and fire burning on it, are ſeen in marble exactly as in this coin, and bring to my mind a part of [...] ſpeech that Religion makes in Phaedrus's fables.

It is to this Goddeſs that Statius addreſſes him⯑ſelf in the following lines.

The little trunk ſhe holds in her left hand is the [...] that you ſo often find among the Poets, in w [...]ich the frankincenſe was preſerv'd that Pi⯑ [...]ty [...]ere ſuppoſed to ſtrow on the fire.

T [...] figure of Equity differs but lit⯑ [...]e from that our painters make of [...]er a [...] preſent.FIG. 12. The ſcales ſhe carries in her hand [...]re ſo natural an emblem of juſtice, that Perſius [...]as [...]med them into an allegory to expreſs the deci⯑ [...]o [...] [...]f right or wrong.

FIG. 13.The next figure I preſent you wi [...] is Eternity. She holds in her ha [...] a globe with a Phaenix on it. How proper a [...] of Eternity is each of theſe you may ſee in [...] following quotations. I am ſure you will p [...] ⯑don the length of the latter as it is not impro [...] to the occaſion, and ſhows at the ſame time [...] great fruitfulneſs of the Poet's fancy, that co [...] turn the ſame thought to ſo many different wa [...]

The circle of rays that you ſee round the hea [...] the Phaenix diſtinguiſh him to be the bird and ſpring of the Sun.

The radiated head of the Phaenix gives us meaning of a paſſage in Auſonius, which I formerly ſurprized to meet with in the deſc [...] ⯑tion of a Bird. But at preſent I am very well [...]tisfied the Poet muſt have had his eye on the [...]gure of this Bird in ancient ſculpture and pai [...] ⯑ing, as indeed it was impoſſible to take it fr [...] the life.

If you have a mind to compare this ſcale of Be⯑ [...] with that of Heſiod, I ſhall give it you in a [...]lation of that Poet.

A man had need be a good Arithmetician, ſa [...] Cynthio, to underſtand this Author's works. H [...] deſcriptton runs on like a Multiplication Tab [...] But methinks the Poets ought to have agreed little better in the calculations of a Bird's life th [...] was probably of their own creation.

We generally find a great confuſion in the [...] ⯑ditions of the ancients, ſays Phil [...] ⯑der. FIG. 14. It ſeems to me, from the n [...] Medal, it was an opinion among the [...] that the Phoenix renewed her ſelf at the beginni [...] of the great year, and the return of the Gold [...] Age. This opinion I find touched upon in [...] couple of lines in Claudian.

The perſon in the midſt of the circle is ſuppoſ [...] to be Jupiter, by the Author that has publiſh [...] this Medal, but I ſhould rather take it for t [...] figure of Time. I remember I have ſeen at Ro [...] [59] antique Statue of Time, with a wheel or [...]p of marble in his hand, as Seneca deſcribes [...] and not with a ſerpent as he is generally re⯑p [...]ented.

[...] the circle of marble in his hand repreſents the [...]mon year, ſo this that encompaſſes him is a [...]er repreſentation of the great year, which [...]e whole round and comprehenſion of Time. [...] when this is finiſhed, the heavenly bodies [...] ſuppoſed to begin their courſes anew, and to [...]ſure over again the ſeveral periods and divi⯑ [...]s of years, months, days, &c. into which the [...]t year is diſtinguiſhed.

T [...] ſum up therefore the thoughts of this Medal. The inſcription teaches us that the whole deſign [...]ſt refer to the Golden Age which it lively re⯑preſents, [60] if we ſuppoſe the circle that encompa⯑ſes Time, or if you pleaſe Jupiter, ſignifies th [...] finiſhing of the great year; and that the Phaen [...] figures out the beginning of a new ſeries of tim [...] So that the compliment on this Medal to the Em⯑peror Adrian, is in all reſpects the ſame that V [...] ⯑gil makes to Pollio's ſon, at whoſe birth he ſu [...] ⯑poſes the annus magnus or platonical year [...] out, and renewed again with the opening of [...] Golden Age.

[...] may compare the deſign of this reverſe, if yo [...] pleaſe, with one of Conſtantine, ſo far as the P [...]enix is concerned in both. As for the other figure, we may have occaſion to ſpeak of it in a⯑nother place. Vid. 15 figure. King of France's Medalions.

The next figure ſhadows out Eter⯑ni [...] to us,FIG. 16. by the Sun in one hand [...] the Moon in the other, which in the lan⯑ [...]e of ſacred poetry is as-long as the Sun and [...]n endureth. The heathens made choice of th [...]e Lights as apt ſymbols of Eternity, becauſe, contrary to all ſublunary Beings, though they ſeem to periſh every night, they renew themſelves every morning.

[...]ace, whether in imitation of Catullus or not, [...] applied the ſame thought to the Moon: and [...] too in the plural number.

FIG. 17.In the next figure Eternity ſits a globe of the heavens adorned w [...] ſtars. We have already ſeen how proper an e [...] ⯑blem of Eternity the globe is, and may find [...], duration of the ſtars made uſe of by the Poets [...]n expreſſion of what is never like to end.

Vid. FIG. 13.I might here tell you that Eter [...] ⯑ty has a covering on her he becauſe we can never find out her beginni [...] that her legs are bare, becauſe we ſee only th [...] parts of her that are actually running on; that fits on a globe and bears a ſcepter in her hand, ſhew that ſhe is ſovereign Miſtreſs of all thing [...] but for any of theſe aſſertions I have no war [...] from the Poets.

[63]You muſt excuſe me, if I have been longer than ordinary on ſuch a ſubject as Eternity. FIG. 18. The next you ſee is Victo⯑ry [...]o whom the Medalliſts as well as [...]oets never fail to give a pair of wings.

T [...] palm branch and lawrel were both the re⯑w [...]s of Conquerors, and therefore no impro⯑per ornaments for Victory.

I [...] [...]e way you may obſerve the lower plaits of the [...]rapery that ſeem to have gathered the wind into them. I have ſeen abundance of antique fi⯑gures in Sculpture and Painting, with juſt the [...] turn in the lower foldings of the Veſt, [64] when the perſon that wears it is in a poſture tripping forward.

It is worth while to compare this figure of Vic [...] ⯑ry with her Statue as it is deſcribed in a very be [...] ⯑tiful paſſage of Prudentius.

You have here another Victory that I fa [...]cy Claudian had in his view when he mentions her wings,FIG. 19. palm and trophy in the following deſcription. It appears on a Coin of Conſtantine who lived about an age before Clau⯑dian, and I believe we ſhall find that it is not the only piece of antique ſculpture that this Poet has copied out in his deſcriptions.

FIG. 20,The laſt of our imaginary B [...] is Liberty. In her left hand ſhe [...]ries the wand that the Latins call the Rud [...] Vindicta, and in her right the cap of Lib [...] The Poets uſe the ſame kinds of metaphor expreſs Liberty. I ſhall quote Horace for firſt, whom Ovid has imitated on the ſame [...] ⯑ſion, and for the latter Martial.

[67] I cannot forbear repeating a paſſage out of Per⯑ſius ſays Cynthio, that in my opinion turns the cer [...]mony of making a Freeman very handſomely in [...] ridicule. It ſeems the clapping a Cap on hi [...] [...]ead and giving him a Turn on the heel were ne [...]ſſary circumſtances. A Slave thus qualified be [...]me a Citizen of Rome, and was honoured w [...]th a name more than belonged to any of his Forefathers, which Perſius has repeated with a great deal of humour.

Since you have given us the ceremony of the [...] ſays Eugenius, I'll give you that of the W [...] out of Claudian.

The Grato ictu and the felix injuria, ſays Cyn [...] would have told us the name of the Aut [...] though you had ſaid nothing of him. T [...] is none of all the Poets that delights ſo much theſe pretty kinds of contradictions as Clau [...] He loves to ſet his Epithet at variance with ſubſtantive, and to ſurprize his Reader wit [...] ſeeming abſurdity. If this Poet were well e [...] mined, one would find that ſome of his gre [...] beauties as well as faults ariſe from the freq [...] uſe of this particular figure.

I queſtion not, ſays Philander, but you are t [...] by this time with the company of ſo myſteriou [...] ſort of Ladies as thoſe we have had before [...] We will now, for our diverſion, entertain [...] ſelves with a ſett of Riddles, and ſee if we [...] find a key to them among the ancient Po [...] [69] The firſt of them, ſays Cynthio, is [...] Sh [...] under ſail,Second Series. FIG. 1. I ſuppoſe it has it h [...] a metaphor or moral pre⯑cep [...]or its cargo. This, ſays Philander, is an [...]m of Happineſs, as you may ſee by the in⯑ [...]cription it carries in its ſails. We find the ſame Device to expreſs the ſame thought in ſeveral of [...]he Poets: as in Horace, when he ſpeaks of the moderation to be uſed in a flowing fortune, and [...]n Ovid when he reflects on his paſt happineſs.

Yo [...] ſee the metaphor is the ſame in the Verſes is [...]e Medal, with this diſtinction only, that [70] the one is in words and the other in figur [...] The Idea is alike in both, though the manner repreſenting it is different. If you would ſee [...] whole Ship made uſe of in the ſame ſenſe by old Poet, as it is here on the Medal, you [...] find it in a pretty Allegory of Seneca.

After having conſidered the Ship as a Metaph [...] we may now look on it as a Reality, and obſer [...] in it the Make of the old Roman veſſels, as th [...] are deſcribed among the Poets. It is carried [...] by oars and ſails at the ſame time.

[71] [...] [...]op of it has the bend that Ovid and Vir⯑ [...] mo [...]ion.

[...]u ſee the deſcription of the Pilot, and the place ſits on, in the following quotations.

[72] I have mentioned theſe two laſt paſſages [...] Virgil, becauſe I think we cannot have ſo [...] an idea of the Pilot's misfortune in each of th [...] without obſerving the ſituation of his poſt, as [...] ⯑pears in ancient Coins. The figure you ſee the other end of the ſhip is a Triton, a man in upper parts, and a fiſh below with a trumpe [...] his mouth. Virgil deſcribes him in the ſ [...] manner on one of Aeneas's ſhips. It was p [...] ⯑bably a common figure on their ancient ve [...] for we meet with it too in Silius Italicus.

I am apt to think, ſays Eugenius, from cer [...] paſſages of the Poets, that ſeveral ſhips made ch [...] of ſome God or other for their guardians, a⯑mong the Roman Catholics every veſſel is reco⯑mended to the patronage of ſome particular S [...] To give you an inſtance of two or three.

The figure of the Deity was very large, as I have ſeen it on other Medals as well as this you have ſhow us, and ſtood on one end of the veſſel that patroniſed. This may give us an image of a [...]ery beautiful circumſtance that we meet with in a couple of wrecks deſcribed by Silius Italicus, and Herſius.

You will think perhaps I carry my conject [...] too far, if I tell you that I fancy they are ti [...] kind of Gods that Horace mentions in his Alle [...] ⯑rical veſſel which was ſo broken and ſhattere [...] pieces; for I am apt to think that integra reli [...] to the Gods as well as the lintea.

Since we are engaged ſo far in Roman ſhipping,FIG. 2. ſays Philander, here ſhow you a Medal that has on reverſe a Roſtrum with three teeth to it: whe [...] Silius's trifidum roſtrum and Virgil's roſtriſque [...] dentibus, which in ſome editions is ſtridenti [...] [75] th [...] Editor chuſing rather to make a falſe quantity tha [...] to inſert a word that he did not know the m [...]ing of. Flaccus gives us a Roſtrum of the ſa [...] make.

A Ship-carpenter of old Rome ſays Cynthio, could not have talked more judiciouſly. I am afr [...], if we let you alone, you will find out eve⯑ry [...]nk and rope about the veſſel among the La⯑ti [...] [...]oets. Let us now, if you pleaſe, go to the n [...] Medal.

The next, ſays Philander, FIG. 3. is a pair of Scales, which we meet with on ſeveral old Coins. They are commonly interpreted as an emblem of the Emperor's Juſtice. But why may not we ſuppoſe that they allude ſometimes to the Ba⯑lance in the Heavens, which was the reigning con⯑ſtellation of Rome and Italy? Whether it be ſo or no, the [...] are capable methinks of receiving a nobler in⯑terpretation than what is commonly put on them, if we ſuppoſe the thought of the reverſe to be the ſame with that in Manilius.

FIG. 4.The Thunderbolt is a reverſe Auguſtus. We ſee it uſed by the g [...] ⯑teſt Poet of the ſame age to expreſs a terrible [...] ⯑irreſiſtable force in battle, which is probably [...] meaning of it on this Medal, for in another pl [...] the ſame Poet applys the ſame metaphor to [...] ⯑guſtus's perſon.

I have ſometimes wondered, ſays Eugenius, w [...] the Latin Poets ſo frequently give the Epith [...] of trifidum and triſulcum to the Thunderbolt. [77] am [...]ow perſuaded they took it from the ſculp⯑tors and painters that lived before them, and had ge [...]ally given it three forks as in the preſent fi⯑gu [...]. Virgil inſiſts on the number three in its de⯑ſcr [...]ion, and ſeems to hint at the wings we ſee on it. He has worked up ſuch a noiſe and ter⯑ro [...] the compoſition of his Thunderbolt as cannot be expreſſed by a pencil or graving-tool.

Our next reverſe is an Oaken Gar⯑ [...]and which we find on abundance of [...]mperial Coins.FIG. 5. I ſhall not here multiply quo⯑ [...]ations to ſhow that the garland of Oak was the [...]eward of ſuch as had ſaved the life of a citizen, [...]ut will give you a paſſage out of Claudian, where [...]he compliment to Stilico is the ſame that we have [...]ere on the Medal. I queſtion not but the old Coin [...] gave the thought to the Poet.

It is not to be ſuppoſed that the Emperor h [...] actually covered a Roman in battle. It is enoug [...] that he had driven out a tyrant, gained a victor [...] or reſtored Juſtice. For in any of theſe or t [...] like caſes he may very well be ſaid to have ſave the life of a citizen, and by conſequence ent [...] ⯑tled to the reward of it. Accordingly we fin [...] Virgil diſtributing his Oaken garlands to thoſ [...] that had enlarged or ſtrength'ned the dominio [...] of Rome; as we may learn from Statius that t [...] ſtatue of Curtius, who had ſacrificed himſelf fo [...] the good of the people, had the head ſurround [...] with the ſame kind of ornament.

The two horns that you ſee on the [...]t Medal are emblems of Plenty. FIG. 8.

[...]ur Medalliſts tell us that two horns on a Coin [...]ify an extraordinary Plenty. But I ſee no [...]ndation for this conjecture. Why ſhould [...] not as well have ſtamped two Thunder-bolts, [...]o Caduceus's, or two Ships, to repreſent an [...]raordinary force, a laſting peace, or an un⯑ [...]nded happineſs. I rather think that the dou⯑ [...] Cornu-copia relates to the double tradition of its original. Some repreſenting it as the horn of A [...]helous broken off by Hercules, and others as the ho [...]n of the Goat that gave ſuck to Jupiter.

Betwixt the double Cornu-copia you ſee Mercury's rod.

It [...]ands on old Coins as an emblem of Peace, by [...]on of its ſtupifying quality that has gained it the title of Virga ſomnifera. It has wings, for another quality that Virgil mentions in his de⯑ſcription of it.

The two heads over the two Cornu-copiae are of the Emperor's children, who are ſometimes cal⯑led among the Poets the pledges of Peace, as they took away the occaſions of war in cutting off all diſputes to the ſucceſſion.

This Medal therefore compliments the Emper [...] on his two children, whom it repreſents as pu [...] ⯑lic bleſſings that promiſe Peace and Plenty to [...] Empire.

FIG. 7.The two hands that joyn one an [...] ⯑ther are Emblems of Fidelity.

By the Inſcription we may ſee that they repre⯑ſent in this place the Fidelity or Loyalty of the public towards their Emperor. The Caduces riſing between the hands ſignifies the Peace tha [...] ariſes from ſuch an union with their Prince, [...] the ſpike of Corn on each ſide ſhadows out th [...] Plenty that is the fruit of ſuch a peace.

The giving of a hand, in the reverſe of Claudius, is a token of good will.FIG. 8. For when, after the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no ſmall apprehenſion for his own life, he was, contrary to his expectation, well received among the Praetorian guards, and afterwards declared their Emperor. His recep⯑tion is here recorded on a Medal, in which one of the Enſigns preſents him his hand, in the ſame ſenſe as Anchiſes gives it in the following verſes.

The old weather-beaten ſoldier that carries in his hand the Roman Eagle, is the ſame kind of offi⯑cer that you meet with in Javenal's fourteenth Satire.

I remember in one of the Poets the Signifer is de⯑ſcribed with a Lion's skin over his head and ſhoulders, like this we ſee in the Medal, but at preſent I cannot recollect the paſſage. Virgil has given us a noble deſcription of a warrior ma⯑king his appearance under a Lion's skin.

Since you have mentioned the dreſs of your Sta [...] ⯑dard-bearer, ſays Cynthio, I cannot forbear [...] marking that of Claudius, which was the uſ [...] Roman habit. One may ſee in this Medal, [...] well as in any antique Statues, that the old [...] ⯑mans had their necks and arms bare, and as m [...] expoſed to view as our hands and faces are at p [...] ⯑ſent. Before I had made this remark, I ha [...] ſometimes wondered to ſee the Roman Poe [...] in their deſcriptions of a beautiful man, ſo oft mentioning the Turn of his Neck and Arm [...] that in our modern dreſſes lie out of ſight, [...] are covered under part of the cloathing. N [...] to trouble you with many quotations, Hor [...] ſpeaks of both theſe parts of the body in the begi [...] ⯑ning of an Ode, that in my opinion may be rec [...] ⯑oned among the fineſt of his book, for the na [...] ⯑ralneſs of the thought, and the beauty of the [...] preſſion.

It was probably this particular in the Roman ha⯑bit that gave Virgil the thought in the following verſe, where Remulus, among other reproaches th [...] [...]he makes the Trojans for their ſoftneſs and ef⯑fe [...]acy, upbraids them with the Make of their T [...]ca's that had ſleeves to them, and did not leave the arms naked and expoſed to the wea⯑t [...] like that of the Romans. ‘ [...]t tunicae manicas, et habent ridimicula mitrae.’ [...]il lets us know in another place, that the I⯑ [...]ns preſerved their old language and habits, [...]withſtanding the Trojans became their Ma⯑ [...], and that the Trojans themſelves quitted the [...] of their own country for that of Italy. [...] he tells us was the effect of a prayer that J [...]o made to Jupiter.

By the way, I have often admired at Virgil for repreſenting his Juno with ſuch an impotent kind of revenge as what is the ſubject of this ſpeech. You may be ſure, ſays Eugenius, that Virgil knew very well this was a trifling kind of requeſt for the Queen of the Gods to make, as we may find by Jupiter's way of accepting it,

I am apt to think Virgil had a further view in this requeſt of Juno than what his Commenta⯑tors have diſcovered in it. He knew very well that his Aeneid was founded on a very doubtful ſtory, and that Aeneas's coming into Italy was not uni⯑verſally received among the Romans themſelves. He knew too that a main objection to this ſtory was the great difference of Cuſtoms, Language and Habits among the Romans and Trojans. To obviate therefore ſo ſtrong an objection, he makes this difference to ariſe from the forecaſt and prae⯑determination of the Gods themſelves. But pray what is the name of the Lady in the next Medal? Methinks ſhe is very particular in her Quoiffure.

[88] FIG. 9.It is the emblem of Fruitfulneſs, ſays Philander, and was deſigned as a com⯑pliment to Julia the wife of Septimius Severus, who had the ſame number of children as you ſee on this Coin. Her head is crowned with towers in alluſion to Cybele the mother of the Gods, and for the ſame reaſon that Virgil compares the city of Rome to her.

The Vine iſſuing out of the Urn ſpeaks the ſame ſenſe as that in the Pſalmiſt. Thy wife ſhall be as the fruitful vine on the walls of thy houſe. The four Stars overhead, and the ſame number on the Globe, repreſent the four children. There is a Medalion of Romulus and Remus ſucking the wolf, with a Star over each of their heads, as we find the Latin Poets ſpeaking of the children of Princes under the ſame metaphor.

I need not mention Homer's comparing Aſtyanax to the Morning-ſtar, nor Virgil's imitation of him in his deſcription of Aſcanius.

The next Medal was ſtampt on the marriage of Nero and Octavia;FIG. 10. you ſee the Sun over the head of Nero, and the Moon over that of Octavia. They face one another according to the ſituation of theſe two Planets in the Heavens.

And to ſhew that Octavia derived her whole lu⯑ſtre from the friendly aſpect of her husband.

But if we conſider the hiſtory of this Medal, we ſhall find more Fancy in it than the Medalliſts have yet diſcovered. Nero and Octavia were not only husband and wife, but brother and ſiſter, Claudius being the father of both. We have this relation between them marked out in the Tragedy of Octavia, where it ſpeaks of her marriage with Nero.

They are therefore very prettily repreſented by the Sun and Moon, who as they are the moſt glorious parts of the univerſe, are in a poetical [91] [...]nealogy brother and ſiſter. Virgil gives us a [...]ght of them in the ſame poſition that they regard [...]ch other on this Medal.

The flattery on the next Medal is in [...]e ſame thought as that of Lucretius. FIG. 11.

The Emperor appears as a Riſing Sun, and holds [...] Globe in his hand to figure out the Earth that is enlightned and actuated by his beauty.

On his head you ſee the rays that ſeem to grow out of it. Claudian in the deſcription of his in⯑fant Titan deſcants on this glory about his head, but has run his deſcription into moſt wretched fuſtian.

FIG. 12.The Sun riſes on a Medal of Com⯑modus, as Ovid deſcribes him in the ſto⯑ry of Phaeton

You have here too the four horſes breaking through the clouds in their morning paſſage.

The woman underneath repreſents the Earth, as Ovid has drawn her ſitting in the ſame figure.

[...]he Cornu-copiae in her hand is a type of her [...]itfulneſs, as in the ſpeech ſhe makes to Jupiter.

So much for the deſigning part of the Medal; as for the thought of it, the Antiquaries are divided upon it. For my part I cannot doubt but it was made as a compliment to Commodus on his s [...]ill in the chariot-race. It is ſuppoſed that the ſame occaſion furniſhed Lucan with the ſame thought in his addreſs to Nero.

This is ſo natural an alluſion, that we find the courſe of the Sun deſcribed in the Poets by me⯑taphors borrowed from the Circus.

However it be, we are ſure in general it is [...] comparing of Commodus to the Sun, which is [...] ſimile of as long ſtanding as poetry, I had almoſt ſaid, as the Sun it ſelf.

I believe, ſays Cynthio, there is ſcarce a grea [...] man he ever ſhone upon that has not been com⯑pared to him. I look on ſimiles as a part of his productions. I do not know whether he raiſes fruits or flowers in greater number. Horace has turn'd this compariſon into ridicule ſeventeen hundred years ago.

[95]You have now ſhown us perſons under the diſ⯑ [...]uiſe of Stars, Moons and Suns. I ſuppoſe we [...]ave at laſt done with the coeleſtial bodies.

The next figure you ſee, ſays Philan⯑ [...]er, had once a place in the Heavens,FIG 13. [...] you will believe eccleſiaſtical ſtory. It is the [...]gn that is ſaid to have appeared to Conſtantine [...]efore the battle with Maxentius. We are told [...]y a Chriſtian Poet, that he caus'd it to be wrought [...]n the military Enſign that the Romans call their Labarum. And it is on this Enſign that we find in the preſent Medal.

By the word Chriſtus he means without doubt [...]he preſent figure, which is compoſed out of the [...]wo initial letters of the name.

He bore the ſame ſign in his ſtandards,FIG. 14. [...]s you may ſee in the following Me⯑ [...]al and verſes.

FIG. 15.But to return to our Labarum; [...] you have a mind to ſee it in a ſtate of Paganiſm you have it on a Coin of Tiberius. [...] ſtands between two other Enſigns, and is the mark of a Roman Colony where the Medal was ſtamped. By the way you muſt obſerve, the where-ever the Romans fixed their ſtandards they looked on that place as their country, and thought themſelves obliged to defend it with their lives. For this reaſon their ſtandards were always carryed before them when they went to ſettle themſelves in a Colony. This gives the meaning of a couple of verſes in Silius Italicus, that make a very far-fetcht compliment to Fabius.

FIG. 16.The following Medal was ſtamped on Trajan's victory over the Daci, you ſee on it the figure of Trajan preſenting a little Victory to Rome. Between them lies the con⯑quered province of Dacia. It may be worth while to obſerve the particularities in each figure. We ſee abundance of perſons on old Coins that hold a little Victory in one hand, like this of Tra⯑jan, [97] which is always the ſign of a Conqueſt. I [...]ave ſometimes fancied Virgil alludes to this [...]uſtom in a verſe that Turnus ſpeaks.

The Emperor's ſtanding in a Gown, and making [...] preſent of his Dacian Victory to the city of Rome, agrees very well with Claudian's chara⯑cter of him.

The city of Rome carries the Wand in her hand that is the ſymbol of her Divinity.

As the Globe under her feet betokens her domi⯑nion over all the nations of the earth.

The heap of arms ſhe ſits on ſignifies the Peace that the Emperor had procured her. On old Coins we often ſee an Emperor, a Victory, the city of Rome, or a ſlave, ſitting on a heap of arms, which always marks out the Peace that aroſe from ſuch an action as gave occaſion to the Me⯑dal. I think we cannot doubt but Virgil copied out this circumſtance from the ancient Sculptors, in that inimitable deſcription he has given us of Military Fury ſhut up in the Temple of Janus and loaden with chains.

We are told by the old Scholiaſt, ſays Eugenius, that there was actually ſuch a ſtatue in the Tem⯑ple of Janus as that Virgil has here deſcribed, which I am almoſt apt to believe, ſince you aſſure [...]s that this part of the deſign is ſo often met with on ancient Medals. But have you nothing [...]o remark on the figure of the Province? Her poſture, ſays Philander, is what we often meet with in the ſlaves and captives of old Coins: a⯑mong the Poets too, ſitting on the ground is a mark of Miſery or Captivity.

You have the ſame poſture in an old Coin that celebrates a victory of Lucius Verus o⯑ver the Parthians. FIG. 17. The captive's hands are here bound behind him, as a farther inſtance of his ſlavery.

We may learn from Ovid that it was ſometimes the cuſtom to place a ſlave with his arms bound at the foot of the Trophy, as in the figure before us.

You ſee on his head the cap which the Parthians, and indeed moſt of the eaſtern nations, wear on Medals. They had not probably the ceremony of veiling the Bonnet in their ſalutations, for in Me⯑dals they ſtill have it on their heads, whether they are before Emperors or Generals, kneeling, ſit⯑ting or ſtanding. Martial has diſtinguiſhed them by this cap as their chief characteriſtic.

[101] [...] cannot hear, ſays Cynthio, without a kind of indignation, the ſatyrical reflections that Martial [...]as made on the memory of Domitian. It is certain ſo ill an Emperor deſerved all the reproa⯑ches that could be heaped upon him, but he [...]ould not deſerve them of Martial. I muſt con⯑feſs I am leſs ſcandaliſed at the flatteries the Epi⯑ [...]rammatiſt paid him living, than the ingratitude [...]e ſhowed him dead. A man may be betrayed [...]nto the one by an overſtrained complaiſance, or [...]y a temper extremely ſenſible of favours and obligations: whereas the other can ariſe from [...]othing but a natural baſeneſs and villany of [...]oul. It does not always happen, ſays Philan⯑ [...]er, that the Poet and the honeſt man meet toge⯑ther in the ſame perſon. I think we need enlarge [...]o farther on this Medal, unleſs you have a mind [...]o compare the Trophy on it with that of Me⯑ [...]entius in Virgil.

FIG. 18.On the next Medal you ſee the Peace that Veſpaſian procured the Empire, af⯑ter having happily finiſhed all its wars both at home and abroad. The woman with the olive-branch in her hand is the figure of Peace.

With the other hand ſhe thruſts a lighted torch under a heap of armour that lies by an Altar. This alludes to a cuſtom among the ancient Ro⯑mans of gathering up the armour that lay ſcatter⯑ed on the field of battle, and burning it as an of⯑fering to one of their Deities. It is to this cuſtom that Virgil refers, and Silius Italicus has deſcri⯑bed at large.

As for the heap of Arms, and mountain of Arms, that the Poet mentions, you may ſee them on two Coins of Mar⯑cus Aurelius. FIG. 19.20. DE SARMATIS and DE GERMANIS allude perhaps to the form of words that might be uſed at the ſet⯑ting fire to them.—Auſonio de nomine. Thoſe [104] who will not allow of the interpretation I have put on theſe two laſt Medals may think it an ob⯑jection that there is no torch or fire near them to ſignifie any ſuch alluſion. But they may conſi⯑der that on ſeveral Imperial Coins we meet with the figure of a funeral pile, without any thing to denote the burning of it, though indeed there is on ſome of them a Flambeau ſticking out on each ſide, to let us know it was to be conſumed to aſhes.

You have been ſo intent on the burning of the Arms, ſays Cynthio, that you have forgotten the Pil⯑lar on your 18th Medal. You may find the hiſtory of it, ſays Philander, in Ovid de Faſtis. It was from this Pillar that the ſpear was toſſed at the o⯑pening of a war, for which reaſon the little figure on the top of it holds a ſpear in its hand, and Peace turns her back upon it.

FIG. 21.The different interpretations that have been made on the next Medal ſeem to be forced and unnatural. I will therefore give you my own opinion of it. The veſſel is here repreſented as ſtranded. The figure before it [105] ſeems to come in to its aſſiſtance, and to lift it off the ſhallows: for we ſee the water ſcarce [...]eaches up to the knees, though it is the fi⯑gure of a man ſtanding on firm ground. His attendants, and the good office he is employed upon, reſemble thoſe the Poets often attribute to Neptune. Homer tells us, that the Whales leap⯑ed up at their God's approach, as we ſee in the Medal. The two ſmall figures that ſtand naked among the waves are Sea-Deities of an inferiour rank, who are ſuppoſed to aſſiſt their Sovereign in the ſuccour he gives the diſtreſſed veſſel.

The interpreters of this Medal have miſtaken theſe two figures for the repreſentation of two perſons that are drowning. But as they are both naked and drawn in a poſture rather of trium⯑phing o'er the waves than of ſinking under them, ſo we ſee abundance of Water-Deities on other Medals repreſented after the ſame manner.

After having thus far cleared our way to the Me⯑dal, I take the thought of the reverſe to be this. The ſtranded veſſel is the Commonwealth of Rome, that by the tyranny of Domitian, and the inſolence of the Praetorian Guards under Nerva, was quite run aground and in danger of periſh⯑ing. Some of thoſe embarked in it endeavour at her recovery, but it is Trajan that by the adoption of Nerva ſtems the tide to her relief, and like another Neptune ſhoves her off the quick⯑ſands. Your Device, ſays Eugenius, hangs very well together; but is not it liable to the ſame ex⯑ceptions that you made us laſt night to ſuch expli⯑cations as have nothing but the writer's imagina⯑tion to ſupport them? To ſhew you, ſays Phi⯑lander, that the conſtruction I put on this Medal is conformable to the fancies of the old Romans, you may obſerve, that Horace repreſents at length the Commonwealth of Rome under the figure of a ſhip, in the Allegory that you meet with in the fourteenth Ode of his firſt book.

Nor was any thing more uſual than to repreſent a God in the ſhape and dreſs of an Emperor.

For the thought in general, you have juſt the ſame metaphorical compliment to Theodoſius in Claudian, as the Medal here makes to Trajan.

I ſhall only add, that this Medal was ſtamped in honour of Trajan, when he was only Caeſar, as appears by the face of it....SARI TRAIANO.

FIG. 22.The next is a reverſe of Marcus Au⯑relius. We have on it a Minerva mounted on a monſter, that Auſonius deſcribes in the following verſes.

The monſter, ſays Cynthio, is a Sphinx, but for her meaning on this Medal, I am not O Edipus [109] enough to unriddle it. I muſt confeſs, ſays Phi⯑lander, the Poets fail me in this particular. There is however a paſſage in Pauſanias that I will re⯑peat to you, though it is in proſe, ſince I know no body elſe that has explained the Medal by it. The Athenians, ſays he, drew a Sphinx on the armour of Pallas, by reaſon of the ſtrength and ſagacity of this animal. The Sphinx therefore ſignifies the ſame as Minerva herſelf, who was the Goddeſs of arms as well as wiſdom, and deſcribes the Emperor, as one of the Poets ex⯑preſſes it,

The Romans joined both devices together, to make the emblem the more ſignificant, as in⯑deed they could not too much extol the learn⯑ing and military virtues of this excellent Empe⯑ror, who was the beſt Philoſopher and greateſt General of his Age.

We will cloſe up this Series of Me⯑dals with one that was ſtamped under Tiberius to the memory of Auguſtus. FIG. 23. Over his head you ſee the ſtar that his father Julius Caeſar was ſuppoſed to have been changed into.

Virgil draws the ſame figure of Auguſtus on Ae⯑neas's ſhield as we ſee on this Medal. The Com⯑mentators tell us, that the ſtar was engraven on Auguſtus's helmet, but we may be ſure Virgil means ſuch a figure of the Emperor as he uſed [111] [...]o be repreſented by in the Roman ſculpture, and [...]ch a one as we may ſuppoſe this to be that we [...]ave before us.

The thunderbolt that lies by him is a mark of his Apotheoſis, that makes him as it were a compa⯑ [...]ion of Jupiter. Thus the Poets of his own age [...]hat deified him living,

He wears on his head the Corona Radiata, which at that time was another type of his Divinity. The ſpikes that ſhoot out from the crown were to repreſent the rays of the Sun. There were [112] twelve of them, in alluſion to the Signs of the Zo⯑diac. It is this kind of crown that Virgil deſcribes.

FIG. 24:If you would know why the corona radiata is a repreſentation of the Sun, you may ſee it in the figure of Apollo in the next reverſe, where his head is encompaſſed with ſuch an arch of glory as Ovid and Statius mention, that might be put on and taken off at pleaſure.

[113] In his right hand he holds the whip with which [...]e is ſuppoſed to drive the horſes of the Sun: as [...]n a pretty paſſage of Ovid, that ſome of his edi⯑ [...]ors muſt needs fancy ſpurious.

The double-pointed dart in his left hand is an emblem of his beams, that pierce through ſuch an [...]nfinite depth of air, and enter into the very bow⯑els of the earth. Accordingly Lucretius calls [...]hem the darts of the day, as Auſonius to make a ſort of witticiſm has follow'd his example.

I have now given you a ſample of ſuch emble⯑matical Medals as are unriddled by the Latin Po⯑ets, and have ſhown ſeveral paſſages in the Latin Poets that receive an illuſtration from Medals. Some of the Coins we have had before us have [114] not been explained by others, as many of them have been explained in a different manner. There are indeed others that have had very near the ſame explication put upon them, but as this explication has been ſupported by no authority, it can at beſt be looked upon but as a probable conjecture. It is certain, ſays Eugenius, there cannot be any more authentic illuſtrations of Roman Medals, eſpecially of thoſe that are full of fancy, than ſuch as are drawn out of the Latin Poets. For as there is a great affinity between Deſigning and Poetry, ſo the Latin Poets, and the Deſigners of the Roman Medals, lived very near one ano⯑ther, were acquainted with the ſame cuſtoms, converſant with the ſame objects, and bred up to the ſame reliſh for wit and fancy. But who are the Ladies that we are next to examine? Theſe are, ſays Philander, ſo many Cities, Nations and Provinces that preſent themſelves to you under the ſhape of women. What you take for a fine Lady at firſt ſight, when you come to look into her will prove a town, a country, or one of the four parts of the world. In ſhort, you have now Afric, Spain, France, Italy, and ſeveral other na⯑tions of the earth before you. This is one of the pleaſanteſt Maps, ſays Cynthio, that I ever ſaw. Your Geographers now and then fancy a coun⯑try like a Leg or a Head, a Bear or a Dragon, but I never before ſaw them repreſented like wo⯑men. I could not have thought your mountains, ſeas and promontories could have made up an aſſembly of ſuch well-ſhaped perſons. This therefore, ſays Philander, is a Geography particu⯑lar to the Medalliſts. The Poets however have ſometimes given into it, and furniſh us with very [115] [...]ood lights for the explication of it.Third Series. FIG. 1. The firſt Lady you ſee on the Liſt is Africa, ſhe carries an Elephant's tooth [...]y her ſide.

She is always quoiff'd with the head of an Ele⯑phant, to ſhow that this animal is the breed of that Country, as for the ſame reaſon ſhe has a Dragon lying at her feet.

Lucan in his deſcription of the ſeveral noxious animals of this country, mentions in particular the flying Dragon that we ſee on this Medal.

The Bull that appears on the other ſide of the Dra⯑gon, ſhows us that Afric abounds in agriculture.

[117] This part of the world has always on Medals ſomething to denote her wonderful fruitfulneſs, [...]s it was indeed the great granary of Italy. In the [...]wo following figures, the handful of wheat, the Cornu-copiae, and basket of corn, are all emblems of the ſame ſignification.

FIG. 2.The Lion on the ſecond Medal marks [...]er out for the

The Scorpion on the third is ano⯑ther of her productions,FIG. 3. as Lucan mentions it in particular, in the long catalogue of her venomous animals.

The three figures you have here ſhown us, ſay [...] Eugenius, give me an idea of a deſcription or two in Claudian, that I muſt confeſs I did not before know what to make of. They repreſent Africa in the ſhape of a woman, and certainly allude to the corn and head-dreſs that ſhe wears on old Coins

I think, ſays Philander, there is no queſtion but the Poet has copied out in his deſcription the fi⯑gure that Africa made in ancient ſculpture and painting.FIG. 4. The next before us is Egypt. Her basket of wheat ſhows us the great fruitfulneſs of the country, which is cau⯑ſed by the inundations of the Nile.

The inſtrument in her hand is the Siſtrum of the Egyptians, made uſe of in the worſhip of the Goddeſs Iſis.

On Medals you ſee it in the hand of Egypt, of [...]ſis, or any of her Worſhippers. The Poets too [...]ake the ſame uſe of it, as Virgil has placed it [...]n Cleopatra's hand, to diſtinguiſh her from an Egyptian.

The bird before her is the Egyptian Ibis. This figure however does not repreſent the living bird, but rather an idol of it, as one may gueſs by the pedeſtal it ſtands upon, for the Egyptians wor⯑ſhipped it as a God.

We have Mauritania on the fifth Me⯑dal,FIG. 5. leading a horſe with ſomething like a thread, for where there is a bridle in old Coins you ſee it much more diſtinctly. In her other [...]and ſhe holds a ſwitch. We have the deſign of his Medal in the following deſcriptions that ce⯑ [...]ebrate the Moors and Numidians, Inhabitants of Mauritania, for their horſemanſhip.

The Horſe too may ſtand as an emblem of the warlike genius of the people.

FIG. 6.From Africa we will croſs over into Spain. There are learned Medalliſts that tell us, the Rabbet which you ſee before her feet, may ſignifie either the great multitude of theſe Animals that are found in Spain, or per⯑haps the ſeveral mines that are wrought within the bowels of that country, the Latin word Cu⯑niculus ſignifying either a Rabbet or a Mine. But theſe Gentlemen do not conſider, that it is not [123] the Word but the Figure that appears on the Me⯑dal. Cuniculus may ſtand for a Rabbet or a Mine, but the picture of a Rabbet is not the pi⯑cture of a Mine. A pun can be no more engra⯑ven than it can be tranſlated. When the word is conſtrued into its idea the double meaning va⯑niſhes. The figure therefore before us means a real Rabbet, which is there found in vaſt multi⯑tudes.

The Olive-branch tell us, it is a country that a⯑bounds in Olives, as it is for this reaſon that Claudian in his deſcription of Spain binds an O⯑live branch about her head.

Martial has given us the like figure of one of the greateſt rivers in Spain.

And Prudentius of one of its eminent towns.

FIG. 7. France, you ſee, has a Sheep by her, not only as a ſacrifice, but to ſhew that the riches of the country conſiſted chiefly in flocks and paſturage. Thus Horace mentioning the commodities of different countries,

She carries on her ſhoulders the Sagulum that Virgil ſpeaks of as the habit of the ancient Gauls.

She is drawn in a poſture of ſacrificing for the [...]afe arrival of the Emperor, as we may learn [...]rom the inſcription. We find in the ſeveral Medals that were ſtruck on Adrian's progreſs [...]hrough the Empire, that at his arrival they offer⯑ [...]d a ſacrifice to the Gods for the reception of ſo [...]reat a bleſſing. Horace mentions this cuſtom.

Italy has a Cornu-copiae in her hand,FIG. 8. to denote her fruitfulneſs;

[126] and a crown of towers on her head to figure out the many towns and cities that ſtand upon her. Lucan has given her the like ornament, where he repreſents her addreſſing herſelf to Julius Caeſar.

She holds a ſceptre in her other hand, and ſits on a globe of the heavens, to ſhew that ſhe is the Sovereign of nations, and that all the influences of the Sun and Stars fall on her dominions. Claudian makes the ſame compliment to Rome.

The picture that Claudian makes of Rome one would think was copied from the next Medal.FIG. 9.

The next figure is Achaia. FIG. 10.

[128]I am ſorry, ſays Cynthio, to find you running farther off us. I was in hopes you would have ſhown us our own nation, when you were ſo near us as France. I have here, ſays Philander, FIG. 11. one of Auguſtus's Britan⯑nia's. You ſee ſhe is not drawn like other countries, in a ſoft peaceful poſture, but is adorned with emblems that mark out the milita⯑ry genius of her Inhabitants. This is, I think, the only commendable quality that the old Poets have touched upon in the deſcription of our country. I had once made a collection of all the paſſages in the Latin Poets, that give any account of us, but I find them ſo very malicious, that it would look like a libel on the nation to repeat them to you. We ſeldom meet with our fore-fathers, but they are coupled with ſome epithet or another to blacken them. Barbarous, Cruel and Inhoſpitable are the beſt terms they can afford us, which it would be a kind of injuſtice to publiſh, ſince their poſterity are become ſo polite, good-natured, and kind to ſtrangers. To mention therefore thoſe parts only that relate to the pre⯑ſent Medal. She ſits on a globe that ſtands in water, to denote that ſhe is Miſtreſs of a new world, ſeparate from that which the Romans had before conquered, by the interpoſition of the ſea. I think we cannot doubt of this interpretation, if we conſider how ſhe has been repreſented by the ancient Poets.

The feet of Britannia are waſhed by the waves, in the ſame Poet.

She bears a Roman Enſign in one of her hands, to confeſs herſelf a conquered province.

But to return to Achaia, FIG. 10. whom we left upon her knees before the Emperor Adrian. She has a pot before her with a ſprig of Parſly riſing out of it. I will not here trouble you with a dull ſtory of Hercules's eating a ſal⯑lade of Parſly for his refreſhment, after his en⯑counter with the Nemean Lion. It is certain, there were in Achaia the Nemean Games, and that a garland of Parſly was the Victor's reward. You have an account of theſe Games in Auſonius.

One reaſon why they choſe Parſly for a Garland, was doubtleſs becauſe it always preſerves its ver⯑dure, as Horace oppoſes it to the ſhort-lived Lilly.

Juvenal mentions the Crown that was made of it, and which here ſurrounds the head of Achaia.

She preſents herſelf to the Emperor in the ſame poſture that the Germans and Engliſh ſtill ſalute the Imperial and Royal family.

Sicily appears before Adrian in the ſame poſture.FIG. 12. She has a bundle of Corn [132] in her hand, and a Garland of it on her head, as ſhe abounds in wheat, and was conſecrated to Ceres.

FIG. 13.We find Judaea on ſeveral coins of Veſpaſian and Titus, in a poſture that denotes ſorrow and captivity. The firſt figure of her is drawn to the life, in a picture that Seneca has given us of the Trojan matrons bewailing their captivity.

The head is veiled in both figures, as another ex⯑preſſion of grief.

I need not mention her ſitting on the ground, be⯑cauſe we have already ſpoken of the aptneſs of ſuch a poſture to repreſent an extreme affliction. I fancy, ſays Eugenius, the Romans might have an eye on the cuſtoms of the Jewiſh nation, as well as of thoſe of their country, in the ſeveral marks of ſorrow they have ſet on this figure. The Pſalmiſt deſcribes the Jews lamenting their captivity in the ſame penſive poſture. By the wa⯑ters of Babylon we ſate down and wept, when we remembred thee, O Sion. But what is more re⯑markable, we find Judaea repreſented as a wo⯑man in ſorrow ſitting on the ground, in a paſſage of the Prophet that foretells the very captivity re⯑ed on this Medal. The covering of the head, and the rending of garments, we find very often in Holy Scripture, as the expreſſions of a raging grief. But what is the tree we ſee on both theſe Medals? We find, ſays Philander, not only on theſe, but on ſeveral other coins that relate to Judaea, the figure of a Palm-tree, to ſhow us that Palms are the growth of the country. Thus Sili⯑us Italicus, ſpeaking of Veſpaſian's conqueſt, that is the ſubject of this Medal.

Martial ſeems to have hinted at the many pieces of painting and ſculpture that were occaſioned by this conqueſt of Judaea, and had generally ſome⯑thing of the Palm-tree in them. It begins an E⯑pigram on the death of Scorpus a chariot-driver, which in thoſe degenerate times of the Empire was looked upon as a public calamity.

The man by the Palm-tree in the firſt of theſe Medals, is ſuppoſed to be a Jew with his hands bound behind him.

I need not tell you that the winged figure on the other Medal is a Victory. FIG. 14. She is repreſented here as on many other coins, writing ſomething on a ſhield. We find this way of regiſtring a Victory touched upon in Virgil, and Silius Italicus.

FIG 15. Parthia has on one ſide of her the Bow and Quiver which are ſo much talked of by the Poets. Lucan's account of the Parthians is very pretty and poetical.

The Crown ſhe holds in her hand, refers to the crown of gold that Parthia, as well as other pro⯑vinces, preſented to the Emperor Antonine. The preſenting a Crown, was the giving up the ſo⯑vereignty into his hands.

Antioch has an Anchor by her,FIG. 16. in [...]emory of her founder Seleucus, whoſe [...]ace was all born with this mark upon them, if you'll believe Hiſtorians. Auſonius has taken notice of it in his verſes on this city.

Smyrna is always repreſented by an Amazon, FIG. 17. that is ſaid to have been her firſt foundreſs. You ſee her here entring into a league with Thyatira. Each of them holds her tutelar Deity in her hand.

On the left arm of Smyrna, is the Pelta or Buck⯑ler of the Amazons, as the long weapon by her is the Bipennis or Securis.

FIG. 18.The dreſs that Arabia appears in, brings to my mind the deſcription Lu⯑can has made of theſe eaſtern nations.

She bears in one hand a ſprig of frankincenſe.

In the other hand you ſee the perfumed reed, as the garland on her head may be ſuppoſed to be woven out of ſome other part of her fragrant productions.

What a delicious country is this, ſays Cynthio? a man almoſt ſmells it in the deſcriptions that are made of it. The Camel is in Arabia, I ſup⯑poſe, a beaſt of burden, that helps to carry off its ſpices. We find the Camel, ſays Philander, mentioned in Perſius on the ſame account.

He loads the Camel with pepper, becauſe the a⯑nimal and its cargo are both the productions of the ſame country.

You have given us ſome quotations out of Perſius this morning, ſays Eugenius, that in my opinion have a great deal of poetry in them. I have often wondered at Mr. Dryden for paſſing ſo ſevere a cenſure on this Author. He fancies the deſcription of a Wreck that you have already ci⯑ted, is too good for Perſius, and that he might be helpt in it by Lucan, who was one of his contemporaries. For my part, ſays Cynthio, I am ſo far from Mr. Dryden's opinion in this particu⯑lar, that I fancy Perſius a better Poet than Lucan: and that had he been engaged on the ſame ſub⯑ject, he would at leaſt in his Expreſſions and De⯑ſcriptions have out-writ the Pharſalia. He was indeed employed on ſubjects that ſeldom led him into any thing like Deſcription, but where he has an occaſion of ſhewing himſelf, we find very few of the Latin Poets that have given a grea⯑ter beauty to their Expreſſions. His obſcurities are indeed ſometimes affected, but they generally ariſe from the remoteneſs of the Cuſtoms, Per⯑ſons and Things he alludes to: as Satyr is for this reaſon more difficult to be underſtood by thoſe that are not of the ſame Age with it, than any other kind of Poetry. Love-verſes and [142] Heroics deal in Images that are ever fixed and ſettled in the nature of things, but a thouſand ideas enter into Satyr, that are as changeable and unſteady as the mode or the humours of mankind.

Our three friends had paſſed away the whole morning among their Medals and Latin Poets. Philander told them it was now too late to enter on another Series, but if they would take up with ſuch a dinner as he could meet with at his Lodgings, he would afterwards lay the reſt of his Medals before them. Cynthio and Euge⯑nius were both of them ſo well pleaſed with the novelty of the ſubject, that they would not refuſe the offer Philander made them.

DIALOGUE III.
A PARALLEL between the Ancient and Modern MEDALS.

PHILANDER uſed every morning to take a walk in a neighbouring wood, that ſtood on the borders of the Thames. It was cut [...]hrough by abundance of beautiful allies, which [...]erminating on the water, looked like ſo many [...]ainted views in perſpective. The banks of the [...]iver and the thickneſs of the ſhades drew into them all the birds of the country, that at Sun-ri⯑ſing filled the wood with ſuch a variety of notes, as made the prettieſt confuſion imaginable. I know in deſcriptions of this nature the ſcenes are generally ſuppoſed to grow out of the Au⯑thor's imagination, and if they are not charming in all their parts, the Reader never imputes it to the want of ſun or ſoil, but to the Writer's bar⯑renneſs of invention. It is Cicero's obſervation on the Plane-tree, that makes ſo flouriſhing a fi⯑gure in one of Plato's Dialogues, that it did not [144] draw its nouriſhment from the fountain that ra [...] by it and watered its roots, but from the rich⯑neſs of the ſtyle that deſcribes it. For my own part, as I deſign only to fix the ſcene of the fol⯑lowing Dialogue, I ſhall not endeavour to give it any other ornaments than thoſe which nature has beſtowed upon it.

Philander was here enjoying the cool of the morning, among the dews that lay on every thing about him, and that gave the air ſuch a freſhneſs as is not a little agreeable in the hot part of the year. He not been here long before he was joined by Cynthio and Eugenius. Cyn⯑thio immediately fell upon Philander for breaking his night's reſt. You have ſo filled my head, ſays he, with old Coins, that I have had nothing but figures and inſcriptions before my eyes. If I chanced to fall into a little ſlumber, it was im⯑mediately interrupted with the viſion of a Cadu⯑ceus or a Cornu-copiae. You will make me be⯑lieve, ſays Philander, that you begin to be recon⯑ciled to Medals. They ſay it is a ſure ſign a man loves money, when he is uſed to find it in his dreams. There is certainly, ſays Eugenius, ſomething like Avarice in the ſtudy of Medals. The more a man knows of them, the more he deſires to know. There is one ſubject in par⯑ticular that Cynthio, as well as my ſelf, has a mind to engage you in. We would fain know how the Ancient and Modern Medals differ from one another, and which of them deſerves the preference. You have a mind to engage me in a ſubject, ſays Philander, that is perhaps of a lar⯑ger extent than you imagine. To examine it thoroughly, it would be neceſſary to take them [145] in pieces, and to ſpeak of the difference that ſhews it ſelf in their Metals, in the Occaſion of ſtamp⯑ing them, in the Inſcriptions, and in the Figures that adorn them. Since you have divided your ſubject, ſays Cynthio, be ſo kind as to enter on it without any further preface.

We ſhould firſt of all, ſays Philander, conſider the difference of the Metals that we find in an⯑cient and modern Coins, but as this ſpeculation is more curious than improving, I believe you will excuſe me if I do not dwell long upon it. One may underſtand all the learned part of this ſcience, without knowing whether there were Coins of iron or lead among the old Romans, and if a man is well acquainted with the Device of a Medal, I do not ſee what neceſſity there is of being able to tell whether the Medal it ſelf be of copper or Corinthian braſs. There is how⯑ever ſo great a difference between the antique and modern Medals, that I have ſeen an Antiquary lick an old Coin, among other tryals, to diſtin⯑guiſh the age of it by its Taſte. I remember when I laught at him for it, he told me with a great deal of vehemence, there was as much dif⯑ference between the reliſh of ancient and modern braſs, as between an apple and a turnep. It is pity, ſays Engenius, but they found out the Smell too of an ancient Medal. They would then be able to judge of it by all the ſenſes. The Touch, I have heard, gives almoſt as good evidence as the Sight, and the Ringing of a Me⯑dal is, I know, a very common experiment. But I ſuppoſe this laſt proof you mention relates only to ſuch Coins as are made of your baſer ſorts of metal. And here, ſays Philander, we may ob⯑ſerve [146] the prudence of the Ancients above that of the Moderns, in the care they took to perpetuate the memory of great actions. They knew very well that ſilver and gold might fall into the hands of the covetous or ignorant, who would not reſpect them for the Device they bore, but for the Metal they were made of. Nor were their apprehenſions ill-founded; for it is not eaſily ima⯑gined how many of theſe noble monuments of hiſtory have periſhed in the goldſmiths hands, be⯑fore they came to be collected together by the learned men of theſe two or three laſt Centuries. Inſcriptions, Victories, Buildings, and a thouſand other pieces of antiquity were melted down in thoſe barbarous Ages, that thought figures and letters only ſerved to ſpoil the gold that was charged with them. Your Medalliſts look on this deſtruction of Coins, as on the burning of the Alexandrian Library, and would be content to compound for them, with almoſt the loſs of a Vatican. To prevent this in ſome meaſure, the ancients placed the greateſt variety of their devi⯑ces on their braſs and copper Coins, which are in no fear of falling into the clippers hands, nor in any danger of melting till the general confla⯑gration. On the contrary, our modern Medals are moſt in ſilver or gold, and often in a very ſmall number of each. I have ſeen a golden one at Vienna, of Philip the ſecond, that weighed two and twenty pound, which is probably ſingular in its kind, and will not be able to keep it ſelf long out of the furnace when it leaves the Emperor's Treaſury. I remember another in the King of Pruſſia's collection, that has in it three pound weight of gold. The Princes who ſtruck theſe [147] Medals, ſays Eugenius, ſeem to have deſigned them rather as an oſtentation of their Wealth, than of their Virtues. They fancied probably, it was a greater honour to appear in gold than in copper, and that a Medal receives all its value from the rarity of the metal. I think the next ſubject you propoſed to ſpeak of, were the dif⯑ferent Occaſions that have given birth to ancient and modern Medals.

Before we enter on this particular, ſays Phi⯑lander, I muſt tell you by way of preliminary, that formerly there was no difference between Money and Medals. An old Roman had his purſe full of the ſame pieces that we now pre⯑ſerve in Cabinets. Aſſoon as an Emperor had done any thing remarkable, it was immediately ſtamped on a Coin, and became current through his whole Dominions. It was a pretty contri⯑vance, ſays Cynthio, to ſpread abroad the virtues of an Emperor, and make his actions circulate. A freſh Coin was a kind of a Gazette, that pub⯑liſhed the lateſt news of the Empire. I ſhould fancy your Roman Bankers were very good Hi⯑ſtorians. It is certain, ſays Eugenius, they might find their profit and inſtruction mixed together. I have often wondered that no nation among the moderns has imitated the antient Romans in this particular. I know no other way of ſecuring theſe kinds of monuments, and making them nu⯑merous enough to be handed down to future ages. But where Stateſmen are ruled by a ſpi⯑rit of faction and intereſt, they can have no paſ⯑ſion for the glory of their country, nor any con⯑cern for the figure it will make among poſterity. A man that talks of his nation's honour a thou⯑ſand [148] years hence, is in very great danger of being laught at. We ſhall think, ſays Cynthio, you have a mind to fall out with the Government, becauſe it does not encourage Medals. But were all your ancient Coins that are now in Cabinets once current money? It is the moſt probable opinion, ſays Philander, that they were all of them ſuch, excepting thoſe we call Meda⯑lions. Theſe in reſpect of the other Coins were the ſame as modern Medals, in reſpect of mo⯑dern money. They were exempted from all commerce, and had no other value but what was ſet upon them by the fancy of the owner. They are ſuppoſed to have been ſtruck by Emperors for preſents to their Friends, foreign Princes, or Ambaſſadors. However, that the ſmallneſs of their number might not endanger the loſs of the devices they bore, the Romans took care gene⯑rally to ſtamp the ſubject of their Medalions on their ordinary Coins that were the running caſh of the nation. As if in England we ſhould ſee on our half-penny and farthing pieces, the ſeveral deſigns that ſhow themſelves in their perfection on our Medals.

If we now conſider, continued Philander, the different Occaſions or Subjects of ancient and modern Medals, we ſhall find they both agree in recording the great actions and ſucceſſes in war, allowing ſtill for the different ways of making it, and the circumſtances that attended it in paſt ages, and in the preſent. I ſhall inſtance one. I do not remember in any old Coin to have ſeen the taking of a town mentioned: as indeed there were few conquerors could ſignalize themſelves that way before the invention of powder and [149] fortifications, a ſingle battle often deciding the fate of whole kingdoms. Our modern Medals give us ſeveral ſieges and plans of fortified towns, that ſhow themſelves in all their parts to a great advantage on the reverſe of a Coin. It is indeed, a kind of juſtice, ſays Eugenius, that a Prince owes to poſterity, after he has ruined or defaced a ſtrong place to deliver down to them a model of it as it ſtood whole and entire. The Coin re⯑pairs in ſome meaſure the miſchiefs of his Bombs and Cannons. In the next place, ſays Philan⯑der, we ſee both on the ancient and modern Me⯑dals the ſeveral noble pieces of Architecture that were finiſhed at the time when the Medals were ſtamped. I muſt obſerve however, to the ho⯑nour of the latter, that they have repreſented their buildings according to the rules of perſpe⯑ctive. This I remember to have ſeen but in ve⯑ry few of the plans on ancient Coins, which makes them appear much leſs beautiful than the modern, eſpecially to a mathematical eye. Thus far our two ſetts of Medals agree as to their Subject. But old Coins go farther in their compliments to their Emperor, as they take occaſion to celebrate his diſtinguiſhing Virtues; not as they ſhowed themſelves in any particular action, but as they ſhone out in the general view of his character. This humour went ſo far, that we ſee Nero's fid⯑ling, and Commodus's skill in fencing, on ſeveral of their Medals. At preſent, you never meet with the King of France's generoſity, nor the Em⯑peror's devotion recorded after this manner. A⯑gain, the Romans uſed to regiſter the great actions of Peace that turned to the good of the people, as well as thoſe of War. The remiſſion of a [150] Debt, the taking off a Duty, the giving up a Tax, the mending a Port, or the making a Highway, were not looked upon as improper ſubjects for a Coin. They were glad of any opportunity to encourage their Emperors in the humour of do⯑ing good, and knew very well, that many of theſe acts of beneficence had a wider and more laſting influence on the happineſs and welfare of a peo⯑ple, than the gaining a Victory, or the Conqueſt of a nation. In England perhaps it would have looked a little odd to have ſtamped a Medal on the aboliſhing of Chimney-money in the laſt Reign, or on the giving a hundred thouſand pound a year towards the carrying on a war, in this. I find, ſays Eugenius, had we ſtruck in with the practice of the ancient Romans, we ſhould have had Medals on the fitting up our ſeveral Docks, on the making of our Rivers navigable, on the building our men of War, and the like ſubjects, that have certainly very well deſerved them. The reaſon why it has been neglected, ſays Philander, may poſſibly be this. Our Princes have the coin⯑ing of their own Medals, and perhaps may think it would look like vanity to erect ſo many Tro⯑phies and Monuments of praiſe to their own merit; whereas among the ancient Romans, the Senate had ſtill a watchful eye on their Emperor, and if they found any thing in his life and actions that might furniſh out a Medal, they did not fail of making him ſo acceptable an offering. 'Tis true, their flatteries betray often ſuch a baſe⯑neſs of ſpirit, as one would little expect to find among ſuch an order of men. And here by the way we may obſerve, that you never find any thing like Satyr or Raillery on old Coins.

[151]Whatever victories were got on foreign ene⯑mies, or the ſeveral pretenders to the Empire obtained over one another, they are recorded on Coins without the leaſt bitterneſs or reflection. The Emperors often jeſted on their rivals or predeceſſors, but their Mints ſtill maintained their gravity. They might publiſh invectives againſt one another in their diſcourſes or wri⯑tings, but never on their Coins. Had we no other hiſtories of the Roman Emperors, but thoſe we find on their money, we ſhould take them for the moſt virtuous race of Princes that mankind were ever bleſſed with: whereas, if we look in⯑to their lives, they appear many of them ſuch monſters of luſt and cruelty, as are almoſt a re⯑proach to human nature. Medals are therefore ſo many compliments to an Emperor, that a⯑ſcribe to him all the Virtues and Victories he himſelf pretended to. Were you to take from hence all your informations, you would fancy Claudius as great a Conqueror as Julius Caeſar, and Domitian a wiſer Prince than his brother Ti⯑tus. Tiberius on his Coins is all Mercy and Mo⯑deration, Caligula and Nero are Fathers of their Country, Galba the patron of public Liberty, and Vitellius the reſtorer of the city of Rome. In ſhort, if you have a mind to ſee the religious Commodus, the pious Caracalla, and the devout Heliogabalus, you may find them either in the inſcription or device of their Medals. On the contrary, thoſe of a modern make are often char⯑ged with Irony and Satyr. Our Kings no ſoon⯑er fall out, but their mints make war upon one another, and their malice appears on their Me⯑dals. One meets ſometimes with very nice [152] touches of Raillery, but as we have no inſtance of it among the ancient Coins, I ſhall leave you to determine, whether or no it ought to find a place there. I muſt confeſs, ſays Cynthio, I be⯑lieve we are generally in the wrong, when we deviate from the ancients: becauſe their practice is for the moſt part grounded upon reaſon. But if our fore-fathers have thought fit to be grave and ſerious, I hope their poſterity may laugh with⯑out offence. For my part, I cannot but look on this kind of Raillery as a refinement on Me⯑dals: and do not ſee why there may not be ſome for diverſion, at the ſame time that there are o⯑thers of a more ſolemn and majeſtic nature, as a Victory may be celebrated in an Epigram as well as in an Heroic Poem. Had the ancients given place to Raillery on any of their Coins, I queſtion not but they would have been the moſt valued parts of a collection. Beſides the enter⯑tainment we ſhould have found in them, they would have ſhown us the different ſtate of Wit, as it flouriſhed or decayed in the ſeveral ages of the Roman Empire. There is no doubt, ſays Philander, but our fore-fathers, if they had plea⯑ſed, could have been as witty as their poſterity. But I am of opinion, they induſtriouſly avoided it on their Coins, that they might not give us oc⯑caſion to ſuſpect their ſincerity. Had they run into mirth or ſatyr we ſhould not have thought they had deſigned ſo much to inſtruct as to di⯑vert us. I have heard, ſays Eugenius, that the Romans ſtamped ſeveral Coins on the ſame occa⯑ſion. If we follow their example, there will be no danger of deceiving poſterity: ſince the more ſerious ſort of Medals may ſerve as Comments [153] on thoſe of a lighter character. However it is, the raillery of the Moderns cannot be worſe than the flattery of the Ancients. But hitherto you have only mentioned ſuch Coins as were made on the Emperor, I have ſeen ſeveral of our own time that have been made as a compliment to private perſons. There are pieces of money, ſays Philander, that during the time of the Roman Emperors, were coined in honour of the Senate, Army or People. I do not remember to have ſeen in the upper Empire the face of any private perſon that was not ſome way related to the Im⯑perial family. Sejanus has indeed his Conſulſhip mentioned on a Coin of Tiberius, as he has the honour to give a name to the year in which our Saviour was crucified. We are now come to the Legend or Inſcription of our Medals, which as it is one of the more eſſential parts of them, it may deſerve to be examined more at length. You have choſen a very ſhort Text to enlarge upon, ſays Cynthio: I ſhould as ſoon expect to ſee a Critique on the Poſie of a Ring, as on the In⯑ſcription of a Medal.

I have ſeen ſeveral modern Coins, ſays Phi⯑lander, that have had part of the Legend running round the edges, like the Decus et Tutamen in our milled money; ſo that a few years will proba⯑bly wear out the action that the Coin was de⯑ſigned to perpetuate. The ancients were too wiſe to regiſter their exploits on ſo nice a ſur⯑face. I ſhould fancy, ſays Eugenius, the mo⯑derns may have choſen this part of the Medal for the inſcription, that the figures on each ſide might appear to a greater advantage. I have obſerved in ſeveral old Coins a kind of confuſion between [154] the legend and the device. The figures and let⯑ters were ſo mingled together, that one would think the Coiner was hard put to it on what part of the money to beſtow the ſeveral words of his inſcription. You have found out ſome⯑thing like an excuſe, ſays Philander, for your milled Medals, if they carried the whole legend on their edges. But at the ſame time that they are lettered on the edges, they have other inſcrip⯑tions on the face and the reverſe. Your modern Deſigners cannot contract the occaſion of the Medal into an inſcription that is proper to the Volume they write upon: ſo that having ſcrib⯑bled over both ſides, they are forced, as it were to write upon the margin. The firſt fault there⯑fore that I ſhall find with a modern legend, is its Diffuſiveneſs. You have ſometimes the whole ſide of a Medal over-run with it. One would fancy the Author had a deſign of being Ciceroni⯑an in his Latin, and of making a round period I will give you only the reverſe of a Coin ſtampt by the preſent Emperor of Germany, on the rai⯑ſing of the ſiege of Vienna. VIENNA AVSTRIA [...] 4/ [...]4 IVLII AB ACHMETE II. OBSESSA [...]/1 [...] SEPT. EX INSPERATO AB EO DESERTA EST. I ſhould take this, ſays Cynthio, for the paragraph of a Gazette, rather than the inſcription of a Medal. I remember you repreſented your ancient Coins as abridgements of hiſtory; but your modern, if there are many of them like this, ſhould themſelves be epitomized. Compare with this, ſays Philander, the brevity and comprehen⯑ſiveneſs of thoſe legends that appear on ancient Coins. ‘[155]Salus Generis humani. Tellus ſtabilita. Gloria Orbis Terrae. Pacator Orbis. Reſtitutor Orbis Terrarum. Gaudium Reipublicae. Hilaritas po⯑ [...]uli Romani. Bono Reipub. nati. Roma rena⯑ [...]cens. Libertas reſtituta. Saeculum Aureum. Puellae Fauſtinianae. Rex Parthis datus. Vi⯑ctoria Germanica. Fides Mutua. Aſia Subacta. Judaea capta. Amor mutuus. Genetrix orbis. Sideribus recepta. Genio Senatûs. Fides exer⯑citús. Providentia Senatûs. Reſtitutori Hiſpaniae. Adventui Aug. Britanniae. Regna Adſignata. Adlocutio. Diſcipulina Auguſti. Felicitas publica. Rex Armenis datus.’ What a majeſty and force does one meet with in theſe ſhort Inſcriptions! Are not you amazed to ſee ſo much hiſtory gathered into ſo ſmall a compaſs? You have often the ſubject of a Vo⯑lume in a couple of words.

If our modern Medals are ſo very prolix in their proſe, they are every whit as tedious in their verſe. You have ſometimes a dull Epigram of four lines. This, ſays Cynthio, may be of great uſe to immortalize Punns and Quibbles, and to let poſterity ſee their forefathers were a parcel of blockheads. A Coin, I find, may be of great uſe to a bad Poet. If he cannot become im⯑mortal by the goodneſs of his verſe, he may by the durableneſs of the Metal that ſupports it. I ſhall give you an inſtance, ſays Philander, from a Medal of Guſtavus Adolphus, that will ſtand as an eternal monument of Dullneſs and Bravery.

It is well, ſays Cynthio, you tell us this is a Medal of the Great Guſtavus: I ſhould have ta⯑ken it for ſome one of his Gothic Predeceſſors. Does it not bring into your mind Alexander the Great's being accompanied with a Chaerilus in his Perſian expedition? If you are offended at the homelineſs of this Inſcription, ſays Philander, what would you think of ſuch as have neither ſenſe nor grammar in them? I aſſure you I have ſeen the face of many a great Monarch hemmed in with falſe Latin. But it is not only the ſtupi⯑dity and tediouſneſs of theſe Inſcriptions that I find fault with; ſuppoſing them of a moderate length and proper ſenſe, why muſt they be in verſe? We ſhould be ſurprized to ſee the title of a ſerious book in rhime, yet it is every whit as ri⯑diculous to give the ſubject of a Medal in a piece of an Hexameter. This however is the practice of our modern Medalliſts. If you look into the ancient Inſcriptions, you ſee an air of ſimplicity in the words, but a great magnificence in the thought; on the contrary, in your modern Me⯑dals you have generally a trifling thought wrapt up in the beginning or end of an Heroic verſe. Where the ſenſe of an Inſcription is low, it is not in the power of Dactyls and Spondees to raiſe it; where it is noble, it has no need of ſuch af⯑fected ornaments. I remember a Medal of Phi⯑lip the ſecond, on Charles le Quint's reſigning to him the Kingdom of Spain, with this Inſcription, Ut Quieſcat Atlas. The Device is a Hercules with the Sphere on his ſhoulders. Notwithſtanding [157] the thought is poetical, I dare ſay you would think the beauty of the Inſcription very much loſt, had it been — requieſcat ut Atlas. To inſtance a Medal of our own nation. After the concluſion of the peace with Holland, there was one ſtampt with the following Legend — Re⯑deant Commercia Flandris. The thought is here great enough, but in my opinion it would have looked much greater in two or three words of proſe. I think truly, ſays Eugenius, it is ridiculous enough to make the Inſcription run like a piece of a verſe, when it is not ta⯑ken out of an old Author. But I would fain have your opinion on ſuch Inſcriptions as are borrowed from the Latin Poets. I have ſeen ſeveral of this ſort that have been very prettily ap⯑plied, and I fancy when they are choſen with art, they ſhould not be thought unworthy of a place in your Medals.

Which ever ſide I take, ſays Philander, I am like to have a great party againſt me. Thoſe who have formed their reliſh on old Coins, will by no means allow of ſuch an innovation; on the contrary, your men of wit will be apt to look on it as an improvement on ancient Medals. You will oblige us however to let us know what kind of rules you would have obſerved in the choice of your quotations, ſince you ſeem to lay a ſtreſs on their being choſen with Art. You muſt know then, ſays Eugenius, I do not think it enough that a quotation tells us plain matter of fact, unleſs it has ſome other accidental orna⯑ments to ſet it off. Indeed if a great action that ſeldom happens in the courſe of human affairs, is exactly deſcribed in the paſſage of an old Poet, it [158] gives the Reader a very agreeable ſurprize, and may therefore deſerve a place on a Medal.

Again, if there is more than a ſingle circum⯑ſtance of the action ſpecified in the quotation, it pleaſes a man to ſee an old exploit copied out as it were by a Modern, and running parallel with it in ſeveral of its particulars.

In the next place, when the quotation is not only apt, but has in it a turn of Wit or Satyr, it is ſtill the better qualified for a Medal, as it has a double capacity of pleaſing.

But there is no Inſcription fitter for a Medal, in my opinion, than a quotation that beſides its aptneſs has ſomething in it lofty and ſublime: for ſuch an one ſtrikes in with the natural great⯑neſs of the ſoul, and produces a high idea of the perſon or action it celebrates, which is one of the principal deſigns of a Medal.

It is certainly very pleaſant, ſays Eugenius, to ſee a verſe of an old Poet, revolting as it were from its original ſenſe, and ſiding with a modern ſubject. But then it ought to do it wil⯑lingly of its own accord, without being forced to it by any change in the words, or the punctua⯑tion: for when this happens, it is no longer the verſe of an ancient Poet, but of him that has converted it to his own uſe.

You have, I believe, by this time exhauſted your ſubject, ſays Philander; and I think the criticiſms you have made on the poetical quota⯑tions that we ſo often meet with in our modern Medals, may be very well applied to the Mottos of books, and other Inſcriptions of the ſame nature. But before, we quit the Legends of Me⯑dals, I cannot but take notice of a kind of wit [159] that flouriſhes very much on many of the mo⯑dern, eſpecially thoſe of Germany, when they re⯑preſent in the Inſcription the year in which they were coined. As to mention to you another of Guſtavus Adolphus. CHRISTVS DVX ER⯑GO TRIVMPHVS. If you take the pains to pick out the figures from the ſeveral words, and range them in their proper order, you will find they amount to 1627, the year in which the Me⯑dal was coined; for do not you obſerve ſome of the letters diſtinguiſh themſelves from the reſt, and top it over their fellows? theſe you muſt conſider in a double capacity, as letters and as cy⯑phers. Your laborious German Wits will turn you over a whole Dictionary for one of theſe in⯑genious Devices. You would fancy perhaps they were ſearching after an apt claſſical term, but in⯑ſtead of that, they are looking out a word that has an L. an M. or a D. in it. When there⯑fore you ſee any of theſe Inſcriptions, you are not ſo much to look in them for the thought, as for the year of the Lord. There are foreign U⯑niverſities where this kind of wit is ſo much in vogue, that as you praiſe a man in England for being an excellent Philoſopher or Poet, it is an or⯑dinary character among them to be a great Chro⯑nogrammatiſt. Theſe are probably, ſays Cynthio, ſome of thoſe mild provinces of Acroſtic land, that Mr. Dryden has aſſigned to his Anagrams, Wings and Altars. We have now done, I ſup⯑poſe, with the Legend of a Medal. I think you promiſed us in the next place to ſpeak of the Fi⯑gures.

As we had a great deal of talk on this part of a Coin, replied Philander, in our diſcourſe on [160] the Uſefulneſs of ancient Medals, I ſhall only juſt touch on the chief heads wherein the Ancient and the Modern differ. In the firſt place, the Romans always appear in the proper Dreſs of their country, inſomuch that you ſee the little variations of the Mode in the drapery of the Medal. They would have thought it ridiculous to have drawn an Emperor of Rome in a Gre⯑cian Cloak or a Phrygian Mitre. On the con⯑trary, our modern Medals are full of Toga's and Tunica's, Trabea's and Paludamentums, with a multitude of the like antiquated garments, that have not been in faſhion theſe thouſand years. You ſee very often a King of England or France dreſſed up like a Julius Caeſar. One would think they had a mind to paſs themſelves upon poſteri⯑ty for Roman Emperors. The ſame obſervation may run through ſeveral cuſtoms and religions, that appear in our ancient and modern Coins. Nothing is more uſual than to ſee Alluſions to Roman cuſtoms and ceremonies on the Medals of our own nation. Nay very often they carry the figure of a heathen god. If poſterity takes its notions of us from our Medals, they muſt fancy one of our Kings paid a great devotion to Miner⯑va, that another was a profeſſed Worſhipper of Apollo, or at beſt that our whole religion was a mixture of Paganiſm and Chriſtianity. Had the old Romans been guilty of the ſame extravagance, there would have been ſo great a confuſion in their Antiquities, that their Coins would not have had half the uſes we now find in them. We ought to look on Medals as ſo many monu⯑ments conſigned over to Eternity, that may poſ⯑ſibly laſt when all other memorials of the ſame [161] Age are worn out or loſt. They are a kind of Preſent that thoſe who are actually in Being make over to ſuch as lie hid within the depths of Futu⯑rity. Were they only deſigned to inſtruct the three or four ſucceeding generations, they are in no great danger of being miſunderſtood: but as they may paſs into the hands of a poſterity, that [...]ie many removes from us, and are like to act their part in the world, when its governments, manners and religions may be quite altered; we ought to take a particular care not to make any falſe reports in them, or to charge them with any Devices that may look doubtful or unintelligible.

I have lately ſeen, ſays Eugenius, a Medallic hiſtory of the preſent King of France. One might expect, methinks, to ſee the Medals of that na⯑tion in the higheſt perfection, when there is a ſo⯑ciety penſioned and ſet apart on purpoſe for the deſigning of them.

We will examine them, if you pleaſe, ſays Phi⯑lander, in the light that our foregoing obſerva⯑tions have ſet them: but on this condition that you do not look on the faults I find in them any more than my own private opinion. In the firſt place then, I think it is impoſſible to learn from the French Medals either the religion, cuſtom, or habits of the French nation. You ſee on ſome of them the Croſs of our Saviour, and on others Hercules' his Club. In one you have an Angel, and in another a Mercury. I fancy, ſays Cynthio, poſterity would be as much puzzled on the reli⯑gion of Louis le Grand, were they to learn it from his Medals, as we are at preſent on that of Conſtantine the Great. It is certain, ſays Phi⯑lander, there is the ſame mixture of Chriſtian and [162] Pagan in their Coins; nor is there a leſs confu⯑ſion in their cuſtoms. For example, what rela⯑tion is there between the figure of a Bull, and the planting of a French colony in America? The Romans made uſe of this type in alluſion to one of their own cuſtoms at the ſending out of a co⯑lony. But for the French, a Ram, a Hog, or an Elephant, would have been every whit as ſigni⯑ficant an emblem. Then can any thing be more unnatural than to ſee a King of France dreſſed like an Emperor of Rome, with his arms ſtripped up to the elbows, a Laurel on his head, and a Chlamys over his ſhoulders? I fancy, ſays Euge⯑nius, the ſociety of Medalliſts would give you their reaſons for what they have done. You your ſelf allow the Legend to be Latin, and why may not the cuſtoms and ornaments be of the ſame country as the language? eſpecially ſince they are all of them ſo univerſally underſtood by the learned. I own to you, ſays Philander, if they only deſign to deliver down to poſterity the ſeveral parts of their Great Monarch's hiſto⯑ry, it is no matter for the other circumſtances of a Medal; but I fancy it would be as great a plea⯑ſure and inſtruction for future ages, to ſee the Dreſ⯑ſes and Cuſtoms of their anceſtors, as their Buil⯑dings and Victories. Beſides, I do not think they have always choſen a proper Occaſion for a Me⯑dal. There is one ſtruck, for example, on the Engliſh failing in their attempts on Dunkirk: when in the laſt reign they endeavoured to blow up a Fort, and bombard the town. What have the French here done to boaſt of? A Medal how⯑ever you have with this inſcription, DVNKIRKA ILLAESA. Not to cavil at the two K's in [163] Dunkirka, or the impropriety of the word Illaeſa, [...]he whole Medal, in my opinion, tends not ſo much to the honour of the French as of the Eng⯑ [...]iſh,

I could mention a few other faults, or at leaſt what I take for ſuch. But at ſame time muſt be forced to allow, that this Series of Medals is the moſt perfect of any among the moderns in the beauty of the Work, the aptneſs of the De⯑vice, and the propriety of the Legend. In theſe and other particulars, the French Medals come nearer the ancients than thoſe of any other coun⯑try, as indeed it is to this nation we are indebted for the beſt lights that have been given to the whole ſcience in general.

I muſt not here forget to mention the Medal⯑lic hiſtory of the Popes, where there are many Coins of an excellent workmanſhip, as I think they have none of thoſe faults that I have ſpoken of in the preceding ſett. They are always Roman-Catholic in the Device and in the Legend, which are both of them many times taken out of the ho⯑ly Scriptures, and therefore not unſuitable to the character of the Prince they repreſent. Thus when Innocent XI. lay under terrible apprehen⯑ſions of the French King, he put out a Coin, that on the reverſe of it had a ſhip toſſed on the waves to repreſent the Church. Before it, was the figure of our Saviour walking on the waters, and St. Peter ready to ſink at his feet. The in⯑ſcription, if I remember, was in Latin. Help [164] Lord, or elſe I periſh. This puts me in mind, ſays Cynthio, of a Paſquinade, that at the ſame [...]ime was fixed up at Rome. Ad Galli cantum Petrus flet. But methinks, under this head of the figures on ancient and modern Coins, we might expect to hear your opinion on the difference that appears in the Workmanſhip of each. You muſt know then, ſays Philander, that till about the end of the third Century, when there was a gene⯑ral decay in all the arts of deſigning, I do not re⯑member to have ſeen the head of a Roman Em⯑peror drawn with a full face. They always ap⯑pear in profil, to uſe a French term of art, which gives us the view of a head, that, in my opinion, has ſomething in it very majeſtic, and at the ſame time ſuits beſt with the dimenſions of a Medal. Beſides that it ſhows the noſe and eyebrows, with the ſeveral prominencies and fallings in of the fea⯑tures, much more diſtinctly than any other kind of figure. In the lower Empire you have abundance of broad Gothic faces, like ſo many full Moons on the ſide of a Coin. Among the moderns too, we have of both ſorts, though the fineſt are made after the antique. In the next place, you find the figures of many ancient Coins riſing up in a much more beautiful relief than thoſe on the modern. This too is a beauty that fell with the grandeur of the Roman Emperors, ſo that you ſee the face ſinking by degrees in the ſeveral declenſions of the Empire, till about Conſtantine's time it lies al⯑moſt even with the ſurface of the Medal. After this it appears ſo very plain and uniform, that one would think the Coiner look'd on the flatneſs of a figure as one of the greateſt beauties in Sculp⯑ture. I fancy, ſays Eugenius, the Sculptors of [165] that age had the ſame reliſh as a Greek Prieſt that was buying ſome religious pictures at Venice. A⯑mong others he was ſhown a noble piece of Ti⯑tian. The Prieſt having well ſurvey'd it, was ve⯑ry much ſcandalized at the extravagance of the relief, as he termed it. You know, ſays he, our religion forbids all idolatry: We admit of no I⯑mages but ſuch as are drawn on a ſmooth ſur⯑face: The figure you have here ſhown me, ſtands ſo much out to the eye, that I would no ſooner ſuf⯑fer it in my Church than a Statue. I could re⯑commend your Greek Prieſt, ſays Philander, to a⯑bundance of celebrated Painters on this ſide of the Alps that would not fail to pleaſe him. We muſt own however, that the figures on ſeveral of our modern Medals are raiſed and rounded to a very great perfection. But if you compare them in this particular with the moſt finiſhed among the ancients, your men of art declare univerſally for the latter.

Cynthio and Eugenius, though they were well pleaſed with Philander's diſcourſe, were glad how⯑ever to find it at an end: for the Sun began to gather ſtrength upon them, and had pierced the ſhelter of their walks in ſeveral places. Philan⯑der had no ſooner done talking, but he grew ſen⯑ſible of the heat himſelf, and immediately propo⯑ſed to his friends the retiring to his lodgings, and getting a thicker ſhade over their heads. They both of them very readily cloſed with the propo⯑ſal, and by that means give me an opportunity of finiſhing my Dialogue.