children, who are sometimes called among the poets the Pledges of Peace, as they took away the occasions of war, in cutting off all disputes to the succession. -tu mihi primum Tot natorum memoranda parens- Pignora pacis. The first kind author of my joys, Thou source of many smiling boys, A pledge of peace in every throe. SEN. OCTAV. act. v. This medal, therefore, compliments the emperor on his two children, whom it represents as public blessings that premise peace and plenty to the empire. The two hands that join one another are emblems of Fi delity.1 Inde Fides dextræque datæ Sociemus animos, pignus hoc fidei cape, -en dextra fidesque Ov. MET. lib. xiv. SEN. HERC. FUR. act. ii. Quem secum patrios aiunt portare penates! VIRG. EN. lib. iv. The pious man, who, rushing through the flame, Preserved his gods. MR. DRYDEN. By the inscription we may see that they represent, in this place, the fidelity or loyalty of the public towards their emperor. The Caduceus rising between the hands signifies the peace that arises from such an union with their prince, as the spike of corn, on each side, shadows out the plenty that is the fruit of such a peace. Pax Cererem nutrit, pacis alumna Ceres. Ov. de Fast. lib. i. The giving of a hand,2 in the reverse of Claudius, is a token of good will. For when, after the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life, he was, contrary to his expectation, well received among the Prætorian guards, and afterwards declared their emperor. His reception is here recorded on a medal, in which one of ensigns presents him his hand, in the same sense as Anchises gives it in the following verses. the Ipse pater dextram Anchises haud multa moratus VIRG. EN. lib. iii. The old weather-beaten soldier that carries in his hand the Roman eagle, is the same kind of officer that you meet with in Juvenal's fourteenth satire. Dirue Maurorum attegias, castella Brigantum, Juv. Sat. 14. I remember in one of the poets the Signifer is described with a lion's skin over his head and shoulders, like this we see in the medal, but at present I cannot recollect the passage. Virgil has given us a noble description of a warrior making his appearance under a lion's skin. -tegmen torquens immane leonis Terribili impexum setâ, cum dentibus albis Horridus, Herculeoque humeros indutus amictu. VIRG. EN. lib.vii. MR. DRYDEN. Like Hercules himself his son appears, In savage pomp: a lion's hide he wears; About his shoulders hangs the shaggy skin, The teeth and gaping jaws severely grin. Thus like the god his father, homely drest, He strides into the hall, a horrid guest! Since you have mentioned the dress of your standard-bearer, says Cynthio, I cannot forbear remarking that of Claudius, which was the usual Roman habit. One may see in this medal, as well as in any antique statues, that the old Romans had their necks and arms bare, and as much exposed to view as our hands and faces are at present. Before I had made this remark, I have sometimes wondered to see the Roman poets, in their descriptions of a beautiful man, so often mentioning the turn of his neck and arms, that in our modern dresses lie out of sight, and are covered under part of the clothing. Not to trouble you with many quotations, Horace speaks of both these parts of the body in the beginning of an ode, that in my opinion may be reckoned among the finest of his books, for the naturalness of the thought, and the beauty of the expression. Dum tu Lydia Telephi Cervicem roseam, et cerea Telephi When Telephus, his youthful charms, My heart, inflamed by jealous heats, It was probably this particular in the Roman habit that gave Virgil the thought in the following verse, where Remulus, among other reproaches that he makes the Trojans for their softness and effeminacy, upbraids them with the make of their tunicas that had sleeves to them, and did not leave the arms naked and exposed to the weather like that of the Romans. Et tunica manicas, et habent ridimicula mitræ. Virgil lets us know in another place, that the Italians preserved their old language and habits, notwithstanding the Trojans became their masters, and that the Trojans themselves quitted the dress of their own country for that of Italy. This, he tells us, was the effect of a prayer that Juno made to Jupiter. Illud te nullâ fati quod lege tenetur, Pro Latio obtestor, pro majestate tuorum: Occidit, occideritque sinas cum nomine Troja. ÆN. lib. xii. Both for myself and for your father's land, That when the nuptial bed shall bind the peace, (Which I, since you ordain, consent to bless,) But let the Latins still retain their name: Speak the same language which they spoke before, MR. DRYDEN. By the way, I have often admired at Virgil for representing his Juno with such an impotent kind of revenge as what is the subject of this speech. You may be sure, says Eugenius, that Virgil knew very well this was a trifling kind of request for the queen of the gods to make, as we may find by Jupiter's way of accepting it. Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor: Adjiciam, faciamque omnes uno ore Latinos, &c. Æn. lib. xii. From ancient blood the Ausonian people sprung, Shall keep their name, their habit, and their tongue. I will myself their common rites provide; The natives shall command, the foreigners subside: All shall be Latium; Troy without a name : And her lost sons forget from whence they came. MR. DRYDEN. I am apt to think Virgil had a further view in this request of Juno than what his commentators have discovered in it. He knew very well that his Eneid was founded on a very doubtful story, and that Æneas's coming into Italy was not universally received among the Romans themselves. He knew, too, that a main objection to this story was the great difference of customs, language, and habits, among the Romans and Trojans. To obviate, therefore, so strong an objection, he makes this difference to arise from the forecast and pre-determination of the gods themselves. But pray what is the name of the lady in the next medal? Methinks she is very particular in her quoiffure. It is the emblem of Fruitfulness,' says Philander, and was designed as a compliment to Julia, the wife of Septimius Severus, who had the same number of children as you see on this coin. Her head is crowned with towers in allusion to Cybele the mother of the gods, and for the same reason that Virgil compares the city of Rome to her. Felix prole virum, qualis Berecynthia mater VIRG. EN. lib. vi. High as the mother of the gods in place, Then when in pomp she makes a Phrygian round, MR. DRYDEN. The vine issuing out of the urn, speaks the same sense as Utque tui faciunt sidus juvenile nepotes, OVID DE TRIST. lib. ii. El. 1. ' Tu quoque extinctus jaces, Deflende nobis semper, infelix puer, Britannice Thou too, dear youth, to ashes turned, Thou star, that wont this orb to grace! Thou pillar of the Julian race? SEN. OCTAV. act. i. Maneas hominum contentus habenis, Undarum terræque potens, et sidera dones. STAT. THEB. lib. i. O'er the wide earth, and o'er the watery main; Resign to Jove his empire of the skies, And people heaven with Roman deities. MR. POPE. I need not mention Homer's comparing Astyanax to the morning-star, nor Virgil's imitation of him in his description of Ascanius. 1 The next medal was stampt on the marriage of Nero and Octavia; you see the sun over the head of Nero, and the moon over that of Octavia. They face one another according to the situation of these two planets in the heavens. Phœbeis obvia flammis Demet nocti luna timores. SEN. THYEST. act. iv. And to show that Octavia derived her whole lustre from the friendly aspect of her husband, Sicut luna suo tunc tantum deficit orbe, Quum Phœbum adversis currentem non videt astris. |