Sed tibi debetur cœlum, te fulmine pollens, OV. DE AUGUSTO AD LIVIAM. 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 twelve of them, in allusion to the signs of the Zodiac. It is this kind of crown that Virgil describes. -ingenti mole Latinus Quadrijugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum Solis avi specimen. VIRG. Æn. lib. xii. Four steeds the chariot of Latinus bear: To mark his lineage from the god of day. MR. DRYDEN. If you would know why the corona radiata is a representation of the sun, you may see it in the figure of Apollo1 on 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. --at genitor circum caput omne micantes Deposuit radios OV. MET. lib. ii. The tender sire was touched with what he said, Then fixed his beamy circle on his head. Ibid. STAT. THEB. lib. i. ad Domitianum. Though Phœbus longs to mix his rays with thine, MR. POPE. In his right hand he holds the whip with which he is supposed to drive the horses of the sun: as in a pretty passage of Ovid, that some of his editors must needs fancy spurious. Colligit amentes, et adhuc terrore paventes, OV. MET. lib. ii. Prevailed upon at length, again he took The double-pointed dart in his left hand is an emblem of his Fig. 24. beams, that pierce through such an infinite depth of air, and enter into the very bowels of the earth. Accordingly Lucretius calls them the darts of the day, as Ausonius to make a sort of witticism has followed his example. Non radii solis, neque lucida tela Diei. LUCRET. DE PISCIBUS CAPTIS. Aus. Eid. 10. Caligo terræ scinditur, I have now given you a sample of such emblematical medals as are unriddled by the Latin poets, 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 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 another, 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 nations 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 country like a leg or a head, a bear or a dragon, but I never before saw them represented like women. 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 particular to the medallists. The poets, however, have sometimes given 1 into it, and furnish us with very good lights for the explication of it. The first lady you see on the list is Africa.1 She carries an elephant's tooth by her side. Dentibus ex illis quos mittit porta Syenes, Juv. Sat. 11. She is always quoiffed with the head of an elephant, to show that this animal is the breed of that country, as for the same reason she has a dragon lying at her feet. Huic varias pestes, diversaque membra ferarum, MANIL. lib. iv. DE AFRICA. Here nature, angry with mankind, prepares MR. CREECH. Lucan, in his description of the several noxious animals of this country, mentions in particular the flying dragon that we see on this medal. Vos quoque, qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Nec vobis opus est ad noxia fata veneno. And you, ye dragons! of the scaly race, Luc. lib. ix. Resistless in your might, you all invade, The bull that appears on the other side of the dragon, shows us that Afric abounds in agriculture. -tibi habe frumentum, Alledius inquit, O Libye, disjunge boves, dum tubera mittas. Juv. Sat. 5. Of mushrooms, and import thy corn no more. MR. BOWLES. This part of the world has always on medals something to denote her wonderful fruitfulness, as it was, indeed, the great granary of Italy. In the two following figures, the handful of wheat, the cornu-copiæ, and basket of corn, are all emblems of the same signification. Sed quâ se campis squalentibus Africa tendit, SIL. IT. lib. i. HOR. Sat. 3, lib. ii. Horreo; nec Libyæ senserunt damna rebellis -segetes mirantur Iberas CLAUD. IN EUTROP. lib. i. The lion' on the second medal marks her out for the Arida nutrix. -Leonum HOR. The scorpion2 on the third is another of her productions, as Lucan mentions it in particular, in the long catalogue of her venomous animals. -quis fata putaret Scorpion, aut vires maturæ mortis habere? Luc. lib. ix. Who, that the scorpion's insect form surveys, And fixed him, his proud trophy, in the sky. MR. ROWE. The three figures you have here shown us, says 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 1 Fig. 2. 2 Fig. 3. |