The coins of Massilia bear testimony to her influence on Gaul. The early specimens of her drachms, bearing the head of Artemis with sprigs of olive in her hair, show a high artistic development. Their beauty diminishes as time goes on, partly because of the large numbers in which they were produced, since for a long time they were the chief currency for Southern Gaul as far as Lyons and for the whole valley of the Po. So frequently were they copied by the Celtic tribes that the imitations are far commoner than the originals.[16] It is probable, moreover, that Massilia’s artistic contribution did not stop here. We possess a torso in sixth-century style of Aphrodite with a dove on her right hand, which Prof. Percy Gardner believes to be the work of Phocaean Greeks at Massilia. Sculpture of this kind must have been a new ray of light for the civilization (or the lack thereof) in Celtic Gaul. Her friendship with Rome is well attested. Cicero mentions[17] the support given to Rome by the Massilians at the time of the Gallic campaigns. When Fonteius, who had been governor of Gallia Narbonensis, was impeached for extortion, Massilia came up in his defence. Strabo regards the connexion as a well-known fact.[18] Ammianus, too, knew of this traditional friendship: ‘Massilia ... cuius societate et viribus in discriminibus arduis fultam aliquotiens legimus Romam.’[19] It is well known that at the time of the second Punic war Massilia gave faithful and effective support to her ally.[20] Yet such was the independence of Massilia’s Greek spirit, that when Caesar, in the Civil war,[21] sent Domitius to take her, she alone of all the Gallic cities refused him admittance. Her citizens replied with a dignity and a self-consciousness that argue a high level of development, that they were indeed allies of the Roman people, but that they would not and could not decide between the two parties: if they were approached in a friendly spirit they would listen to both sides; if in a hostile way they would listen to neither. Caesar’s siege of the town was at first unsuccessful, and he had to depart leaving the operations in the hands of others. When, at length, Massilia capitulated, he deprived her of her material resources, but (as was fitting) left her liberty unviolated.[22] But the connexion with Rome was not political only. It is probable that the Massilians traded with Italy in early times[23] and that their city, once the rival of Carthage,[24] grew to renewed importance as a commercial centre for Rome after the Punic wars. The Massilians were early Rome’s agents for the products of Gaul.[25] In order to make bronze to send to Rome they obtained tin from Cornwall[26] to blend with their own copper. Theophrastus[27] speaks of their export to Rome of precious stones, and the Romans knew the value of their corn trade.[28] ‘Frumenti praecipue ac pabuli ferax (Gallia).’[29]