Seu te flammigeros Phoebi confcendere currus, Luc. Lib. 1. ad Neronem, Or if thou choose the empire of the day, Mr. Rowe. This is fo natural an allufion, that we find the course of the Sun described in the Poets by metaphors borrowed from the Circus. Quum fufpenfus eat Phoebus, currumque reflectat Huc illuc, agiles et fervet in æthere metas. Manil. Lib. I. -Hefperio pofitas in littore metas. Ov. Met. Lib. 2. Et Sol ex æquo metâ diflabat utrâque. Idem. However it be, we are fure in general it is a comparing of Commodus to the Sun, which is a fimile of as long standing as poetry, I had almoft faid, as the Sun itself. I believe, fays Cynthio, there is fcarce a great man he ever fhone upon that has not been compared to him. I look on fimiles as a part of his productions. I do not know whether he raifes fruits or flowers in greater number. Horace has turn'd this comparifon into ridicule seventeen hundred years ago. Laudat Laudat Brutum, laudatque cobortem, Solem Afiæ Brutum appellat- Hor. Sat. 7. Lib. 1. He praiseth Brutus much and all his train ; He calls him Afia's SunMr. Creech. You have now shown us perfons under the difguife of Stars, Moons and Suns. I suppose we have at last done with the celestial bodies. FIG. 13. The next figure you fee, fays Philander, had once a place in the Heavens, if you will believe ecclefiaftical story. It is the fign that is faid to have appeared to Conftantine before the battle with Maxentius. We are told by a Chriftian Poet, that he caus'd it to be wrought on the military Enfigns that the Romans call their Labarum. And it is on this Enfign that we find it in the present Medal. Cbriftus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro Signabat Labarum. ——— Prudent. contra Symm. Lib. i. A Chrift was on th' Imperial ftandard borne, That Gold embroiders, and that Gems adorn. By the word Chrifius, he means without doubt the prefent figure, which is composed out of the two initial letters of the name. He bore the fame fign in his ftandards, as you may fee in the following Medals and verfes.... FIG. 14. Agnofcas, Regina, libens mea figna neceffe eft: In quibus Effigies Crucis aut gemmata refulget, Aut longis folida ex auro præfertur in baftis. Conftantinus Romam alloquitur. Ibid. My My Enfign let the Queen of nations praife, Vexillumque Crucis fummus dominator aderat. See there the Crofs he wav'd on hoftile fhores, But to return to our Labarum; if FIG. 15. you have ́a ́mind to see it in a ftate of Paganifm, you have it on a Coin of Tiberius. It tands between two other Enfigns, and is the mark of a Roman Colony where the Medal was ftamped. By the way you muft obferve, that where-ever the Romans fixed their standards they looked on that place as their country, and thought themselves obliged to defend it with their lives. For this reafon their standards were always carried before them when they went to fettle themselves in a Colony. This gives the meaning of a couple of verses in Silius Italicus that make a very far-fetcht compliment to Fabius. Ocyus bue Aquilas fervataque figna referte, The following Medal was ftamped FIG. 16. on Trajan's victory over the Daci, you fee on it the figure of Trajan prefenting a little Victory to Rome. Between them lies the conquered province of Dacia. It may be worth while to obferve the particularities in each figure. We fee abundance of perfons on old Coins that hold a little Victory in one hand, like this of Trajan, which is always the fign of a Conqueft. I have fometimes fancied Virgil alludes to this custom in a verse that Turnus speaks. Non adeo has exofa manus Victoria fugit. Virg. Æn. Lib. 11. If you confent, he fhall not be refus'd, II. Mr. Dryden. The Emperor's ftanding in a Gown, and making a present of his Dacian Victory to the city of Rome, agrees very well with Claudian's character of him. -victura feretur Gloria Trajani; non tam quod, Tigride viclo, Claud. de 4to Conf. Honor. Thy glory, Trajan, fhall for ever live, The City of Rome carries the Wand in her hand that is the symbol of her Divinity. Delubrum Roma (colitur nam finguine et ipfa VOL. III. Prudent. cont. Sym. Lib. 1. E For For Rome, a Goddefs too, can boast her shrine, With victims stain'd, and fought with rites divine. As the Globe under her feet betokens her dominion over all the nations of the earth. Terrarum Dea, Gentiumque Roma ; Mart, Lib. 12. Epig. 8. O Rome, thou Goddefs of the earth! The heap of arms fhe fits on fignifies the Peace that the Emperor had procured her. On old Coins we often fee an Emperor, a Victory, the city of Rome, or a flave, fitting on a heap of arms, which always marks out the Peace that arofe from fuch an action as gave occafion to the Medal. I think we cannot doubt but Virgil copied out this circumftance from the ancient Sculptors, in that inimitable defcription he has given us of Military Fury fhut up in the Temple of Janus and loaden with chains. Claudentur belli porte: Furor impius intus. Sæva fedens fuper arma, et centum vinctus ahenis Poft tergum nodis, fremet borridus ore cruento. Virg. Æn. Lib. 1. gate, Janus himself before his fane fhall wait, |