High on a Trophy rais'd of useless arms We are told by the old Scholiaft, fays Eugenius, that there was actually fuch a ftatue in the Temple of Janus as that Virgil has here described, which I am almoft apt to believe, fince you affure us that this part of the defign is fo often met with on'ancient Medals. But have you nothing to remark on the figure of the Province ? Her pofture, fays Philander, is what we often meet with in the flaves and captives of old Coins: among the Poets too, fitting on the ground is a mark of Mifery or Captivity. Muitas illa dies incomptis mæla capillis Propert. Lib. 1. O utinam ante tuos fedeam captiva penates! O might I fit a captive at thy gate! You have the fame pofture in an old Coin that celebrates a victory of Id. Lib. 4. FIG. 17. Lucius Verus over the Parthians. The captive's hands are here bound behind him, as a farther instance of his slavery. Ecce manus juvenem interea pofl terga revinctum, Mean while, with fouts, the Trojan fhepherds bring A captive Greek in bonds before the King. E 2 Mr. Dryden. Cui Cui dedit invitas victa noverca manus. Ov. de Fast. Cùm rudis urgenti brachia victa dedi. Propert. L. 4. We may learn from Ovid that it was fometimes the custom to place a flave with his arms bound at the foot of the Trophy, as in the figure be fore us. Stentque fuper vinctos trunca trophaa viros. Ov. Ep. ex Ponto, Lib. 4. You fee on his head the cap which the Parthians, and indeed moft of the eastern nations, wear on Medals. They had not probably the ceremony of veiling the Bonnet in their falutations, for in Medals they ftill have it on their heads, whether they are before Emperors or Generals, kneeling, fitting or ftanding. Martial has diftinguifhed them by this cap as their chief characteristic. Fruftra blanditia venitis ad me Attritis miferabiles labellis, Dicturus dominum, deumque non fum : Mart. Epig. 7 Lib. 10. In vain, mean Aatteries, ye try, Or Or on the ground all proftrate fling I cannot hear, fays Cythio, without a kind of indignation, the fatirical reflexions that Martial has made on the memory of Domitian. It is certain fo ill an Emperor deferved all the reproaches that could be heaped upon him, but he could not deserve them of Martial. I must confefs I am less scandalised at the flatteries the Epigrammatift paid him living, than the ingratitude he showed him dead. A Man may be betrayed into the one by an overftrained complaifance, or by a temper extremely fenfible of favours and obligations: whereas the other can arise from nothing but a natural bafenefs and villany of foul. It does not always happen, fays Philander, that the Poet and the honest man meet together in the fame perfon. I think we need enlarge no farther on this Medal, unless you have a mind to compare the Trophy on it with that of Mezentius in Virgil. Ingentem quercum decifis undique ramis Virg. Æn. Lib. II. He bar'd an ancient Oak of all her boughs: Then on a rifing ground the trunk he plac❜d; Which with the fpoils of his dead foe he grac❜d. E 3 The The coat of arms by proud Mezentius worn, Now on a naked Snag in triumph borne, Was hung on high; and glitter'd from afar : A trophy facred to the God of war. Above his arms, fix'd on the leafless wood, Appear'd his plumy creft, befmear'd with blood; His brazen buckler on the left was feen; Truncheons of fhiver'd lances hung between : And on the right was plac'd his Corflet, bor'd, And to the neck was ty'd his unavailing fword. Mr. Dryden. On the next Medal you see the FIG. 18. Peace that Vefpafian procured the Empire, after having happily finished all its wars both at home and abroad. The woman with the olive-branch in her hand is the figure of Peace. pignore Pacis Prætendens dextrâ ramum canentis oliva. Sil. It. Lib. 3. With the other hand fhe thrufts a lighted torch under a heap of armour that lies by an Altar. This alludes to a cuftom among the ancient Romans of gathering up the armour that lay feattered on the field of battle, and burning it as an offering to one of their Deities. It is to this cuftom that Virgil refers, and Silius Italicus has defcribed at large. Qualis eram cùm primam aciem Prænefte fub ipfå Such Such as was beneath Prænefle's walls; Then when I made the foremost foes retire, Aft tibi, Bellipotens, Sacrum, conftructus acerva Sil. It. Lib. 10. To thee the Warrior-God, aloft in air fee them on two Coins FIG. { 19. 20. MATIS and DE GERMANIS allude per E 4 haps |