Tu quoque extinctus jaces.

Defende nobis femper, infelix puer,
Modo fidus orbis, columen augufta domús,
Britannice.-

Sen. Octav. Act. 1.

Thou too, dear youth, to ashes turn'd,
Britannicus, for ever mourn'd!

Thou Star that wont this Orb to grace!
Thou pillar of the Julian race!!

-Maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terraque potens, et fidèra dones.

Stat. Theb. Lib. p.

Stay, great Cafar, and vouchfafe to reign O'er the wide earth, and o'er the watry main: Refign to Jove his Empire of the fkies,

And people Heav'n with Roman Deities..

Mr. Pope.

I need not mention Homer's comparing Aftyanax to the Morning-ftar, nor Virgil's imitation of him in his description of Afcanius.

FIG. IQ.

The next Medal was ftampt on the marriage of Nero and Octavia; you fee the Sun over the head of Nero, and the Moon over that of Octavia. They face one another according to the fituation of thefe two Planets in the Heavens.

Phoebeis obvia flammis

Demet notti Luna timores. Sen. Thyeft. A&t. 4.

And to fhew that Octavia derived her whole luftre from the friendly afpect of her husband.

Sicut Luna fuo tunc tantum deficit orbe,
Quum Phoebum adverfis currentem non videt aftris.
Manil. Lib. 4.

Because the Moon then only feels decay,
When oppofite unto her brother's ray.

Mr. Creech,

But if we confider the hiftory of this Medal, we fhall find more Fancy in it than the Medallists have yet discovered. Nero and Octavia were not only husband and wife, but brother and sister, Claudius being the father of both. We have this relation between them marked out in the Tragedy of Octavia, where it speaks of her marriage with Nero.

Fratris thalamos fortita tenet
Maxima Juno: foror Augufti
Sociata toris, cur à patria
Pellitur Aula?.

Sen. O&. A&. 1.

To Jove his fifter confort wed,
Uncenfur'd fhares her brother's bed:
Shall Cafar's wife and fifter wait,
An Exile at her husband's gate?

Implebit aulam ftirpe cœlefti tuam
Generata divo, Claudia gentis decus,

Sortita fratris, more Junonis, toros. Ibid. Act. 2.

Thy fifter, bright with ev'ry blooming grace, Will mount thy bed t' enlarge the Claudian race: And proudly teeming with fraternal love, Shall reign a Juno with the Roman Fove.

They

They are therefore very prettily represented by the Sun and Moon, who as they are the most glorious parts of the univerfe, are in a poetical genealogy brother and fifter. Virgil gives us a fight of them in the fame pofition that they regard each other on this Medal.

Nec Fratris radiis obnoxia furgere Luna.

Virg. Georg. 1.

The flattery on the next Medal is in the fame thought as that of Lucretius.

Ipfe Epicurus obit decurfo lumine vitæ ;

FIG. II.

Qui genus humanum ingenio fuperavit, et omnies Praftinxit, ftellas exortus uti atberius So!.

Lucret. Lib. 3.

Nay, Epicurus' race of life is run;

That man of wit, who other men outshone,
As far as meaner stars the mid-day Sun.

Mr. Creech,

The Emperor appears as a Rifing Sun, and holds a Globe in his hand to figure out the Earth that is enlightened and actuated by his beauty.

Sol qui terrarum flammis opera omnia luftras. Virg.

-ubi primos craftinus ortus

Extulerit Titan, radiifque retexerit orbem.

When next the Sun his rifing light difplays,
And gilds the world below with purple rays.

Id.

Mr. Dryden.

On

On his head you fee the rays that feem to grow out of it. Claudian-in- the defcription of his-infant Titan defcants on this glory about his head, but has run his description into most wretched fuftian.

Invalidum dextro portat Titana lacerto,
Nondum luce gravem, nec pubefcentibus alte
Criftatum radiis; primo clementior avo
Fingitur, & tenerum vagitu defpuit ignem.

Claud: de rapt. Prof. Lib. 1.

An infant Titan held she in her arms ;
Yet fufferably bright, the eye might bear
The ungrown glories of his beamy hair.
Mild was the babe, and from his cries there came
A gentle breathing and a harmless flame.

The Sun rifes, on, a Medal of

FIG. 12, Gommedus, as Quid defcribes him in

the ftory of Phaeton.

Ardua prima via eft, et quà vix manè recentes

Enituntur equi

Ov. Met.. Lib. 2.

You have here too the four horfes breaking through the clouds in their morning paffage.

-Pyroëis et Ebus, et Ætbon,.

Solis equi, quartufque Phlegon

Corripuere viam, pedibufque per aëra motis
Obftantes faindunt nebulas

Ibid.

Ibid

The woman, underneath reprefents the Earth, as Ovid has drawn her fitting in the fame figure.

Suftulit

Suftulit omniferos collo tenus arida vultus ;
Oppofuitque manum fronti, magnoque-tremøre
Omnia concutiens paulum fubfedit.

The earth at length

Ibid.

Uplifted to-the heav'ns her blafted head, And clap'd her hand upon her brows, and faid, (But first, impatient of the fultry heat,

Sunk deeper down, and fought a cooler feat)

The Cornu-copia in her hand is a type of her fruitfulness, as in the speech the makes to Jupiter.

Hofne mibi fructus, banc fertilitatis bonorem.
Officiique refers? quod adunci vulnera aratri
Raftrorumque fero, totoque exerceor anno?
Qood pecori frondes, alimentaque mitia fruges
Humano generi, vobis quoque tbura miniftro?

-Ibid.

And does the plough for this my body tear? This the reward for all the fruits I bear, Tortur'd with rakes, and harrass'd all the year? That herbs for cattle daily I renew,

And food for man; and frankincense for you?

}

So much for the defigning part of the Medal; as for the thought of it, the Antiquaries are divided upon it. For my part I cannot doubt but it was made as a compliment to Commodus "on his fkill in the chariot race. It is fuppofed that the fame occafion furnithed Lucan with the fame thought in his addrefs to Nero.

Seu