Note for example the way in which Horace has contrived to introduce in
combination the ideas of the fertility of crops and herbs, of marriage
and the increase of population, of public morality and prosperity.
Footnote 1510:
It gives me pleasure to quote this passage from _Roman Society in the
last century of the Western Empire_ (p. 63) by my old friend Professor
Dill.
Footnote 1511:
_Aen._ 5. 235.
Footnote 1512:
See Nettleship, _Essays in Latin Literature_, pp. 103, 104.
NOTES ON TWO COINS.
A. Denarius of P. Licinius Stolo (p. 42).
_Obv._ AVGVSTVS TR POT Augustus, laureate, on horse-back to r.
_Rev._ P. STOLO Helmet (apex) between two shields.
IIIVIR
[Illustration]
The forms of the helmet and shields are very archaic and interesting,
appearing to point to a very early period. The helmet bears a marked
likeness to that worn on Egyptian monuments by the Shardana, one of the
races that invaded Egypt about the thirteenth century B.C. The shield
seems to consist of two small round bosses connected by an oval boss. It
is strikingly like the Mycenaean shield as shown on a number of
monuments, and far earlier than the so-called Boeotian shield which was
common in Greece from the sixth century onwards. The Roman writers
themselves seem to have been puzzled by this shape (Marindin, article
‘Salii’ in Smith’s _Dict. Antiq._), and there can be little doubt that
it came down from a time when the ‘Mycenaean’ civilization was common to
Greece and Italy.
The figure on the coins of M. Sanquinius (Babelon, _Mon. de la Répub.
Rom._ ii. 417), who wears a horned helmet and long tunic and carries a
herald’s staff and round shield, has been identified by several
authorities as one of the Salii. This, however, is certainly wrong. Both
on this coin, and later coins of Domitian, the personage is closely
connected with the Ludi Saeculares. Dr. Dressel, in the _Ephem. Epigr._
viii. 314, maintains him to be a herald proclaiming the festival. This
would admirably suit the caduceus; but the decorations of the helmet
seem to me to be not plumes, as Dr. Dressel thinks, but horns, like
those on the headpiece of Juno Lanuvina. In any case the person is no
Salius.
B. DENARIUS OF L. CAESIUS (p. 101).
_Obv._ Youthful bust l., hair disordered, striking with thunderbolt.
Behind, a monogram.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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