Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/201

Rh one of the most important epochs in the early history of this island. Carausius, the admiral of the Roman fleet stationed in the British channel to protect Gaul and Britain from the depredations of the Saxons, being accused or suspected of appropriating to his own uses the rich booty he had captured from the pirates of the north, and anticipating in consequence the worst from the emperors at Rome, landed in Britain with several legions previously under his command in Gaul, took complete and permanent possession of the province, and assumed the titles of Augustus and Imperator. From some remarkable coins to which the reader is referred, it would appear that the Britons, hoping perhaps that any change would be for the better, invited and awaited his coming. Defended by his fleet, Carausius defied with success the attempts of Diocletian and Maximian to recover the lost province, and a peace, to which it seems the Roman emperors unwillingly but unavoidably conceded, confirmed the adventurer in the undisturbed possession of Britain for upwards of six years. Numerous coins of Carausius refer to the establishment of this peace, and appear from the inscription (Pax Augustorum) to imply the free concurrence therein of Diocletian and Maximian, especially as coins also of these emperors are extant with a similar legend. The careful numismatist, however, detects these coins from certain peculiarities to have been struck by Carausius himself, to give an appearance of being recognised in his assumed titles and power by the emperors at Rome. One of the rarest from the collection of the writer of these notes, is here given. It is in gold, and was found a few years since in the bed of the Thames.

The in the exergue of the reverse is believed to stand for Moneta Londinensis. It may also be remarked that these coins with the three 's are not recorded to have been found in any other country except England, but the coins of Diocletian and Maximian with two 's, as, &c. are exceedingly numerous, and are continually discovered wherever the Roman rule extended. Descriptions of isolated coins, from the extensive series of the coins of Carausius and his successor Allectus, would only afford a faint notion of the various points of view in which they interest the historian and the antiquary. Mr. Akerman's volume, which contains a notice of every known variety, with copious illustrations, and is published at a very moderate price, should be consulted, not merely for these particular coins, but also for facts most valuable to all who are interested in Romano-British history. Author:Charles Roach Smith