Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/199

Rh of Britain is personified as a female seated on a rock, holding a javelin, her head slightly inclining on her right hand, by her side a large oval shield; beneath, the word. The attitude exhibits a mixture of repose and of watchfulness, happily emblematical of the state of the province, free from dread of her enemies, yet provided with the means of repelling future invasion. These latter coins are frequently discovered throughout England. Nearly a dozen, differing in some slight degree from each other, were found in the bed of the Thames near London Bridge a few years since.

The coins of Antoninus Pius give us many interesting references to Britain. The reverse of one of great beauty is here given and described:—

Obverse:—

Antoninus Augustus Pius, Pater Patriæ, Tribunitia Potestate, Consul tertium. The bearded and laureated head of Pius.

Reverse:— (Imperator iterum): across the field of the coin,. An elegant winged Victory standing on a globe, holding a garland in her right hand, and a palm-branch in her left.

This coin, Mr. Akerman remarks, "in all probability commemorates the victory gained by Lollius Urbicus over the revolted Brigantes, who made incursions upon their neighbours, then leagued with the Romans. Victory was an important deity among the Greeks and Romans, and she is accordingly figured on great numbers of their coins. Tacitus says that, besides other prodigies which preceded the revolt of the Britons under Boadicea, the image of Victory, set up at Camulodunum, fell down without any apparent cause, with its back to the enemy. Sylla built a temple to Victory at Rome; and we are told that Hiero, king of Sicily, made a present to the Romans of a statue of Victory in solid gold. She had a fine statue in the Capitol, of which the figure on the reverse of the coin here described, may have been a copy." The reverse of another, with the same inscription, exhibits a helmeted female figure seated on a rock, holding a javelin in her right hand, her left reposing on a large ornamented shield by her side, her right foot resting on a globe. The author remarks, "the reverse of this coin differs materially from those of all the others of this series. Instead of a female figure bare-headed, as on the coins of Hadrian, we have here doubtless a personification of Rome herself, her dominion being aptly enough portrayed by the globe beneath her right foot, while she grasps a javelin (a barbarian weapon) instead of a spear." Another specimen presents us with a female figure seated on a globe, surrounded with waves; in her right hand a standard, in her left a javelin; her elbow resting upon the edge of a large buckler by her side; a type illustrative of the oft-quoted line of Virgil—

and similar descriptions by Claudian and Horace. The most common