He wears on his head the corona radiata, which at that time was another type of his divinity. The spikes that shoot out from the crown were to represent the rays of the sun. There were twelve of them, in allusion to the signs of the Zodiac. It is this kind of crown that Virgil describes.

--ingenti mole Latinus

Quadrijugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum
Aurati bis sex radii fulgentia cingunt,

Solis avi specimen.

VIRG. EN b. 12.

Four steeds the chariot of Latinus bear:
Twelve golden beams around his temples play,
To mark his lineage from the god of day.

MR. DRYDEN.

a

If you would know why the corona radiata is a representation of the sun, you may see it in the figure of Apollo on the next reverse, where his head is encompassed with such an arch of glory as Ovid and Statius mention, that might be put on and taken off at pleasure.

Though Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine,
And in thy glories more serenely shine.

MR. POPE.

In his right hand he holds the whip with which he is supposed

to drive the horses of the sun; as in a pretty passage of Ovid, that some of his editors must needs fancy spurious.

Colligit amentes, et adhuc terrore paventes,

Phoebus equos, stimuloque dolens et verbere sævit:
Sævit enim, natumque objectat, et imputat illis.

Prevail'd upon at length, again he took

Ov. MET. lib. 2.

The harness'd steeds, that still with horror shook,
And plies them with the lash, and whips them on,
And, as he whips, upbraids them with his son.

The double-pointed dart in his left hand is an emblem of his beams, that pierce through such an infinite depth of air, and enter into the very bowels of the earth. Accordingly Lucretius calls them the darts of the day, as Ausonius to make a sort of witticism has followed his example.

Non radii solis, neque lucida tela Diei.
Exultant udæ super arida saxa rapinæ,
Luciferique pavent letalia tela Diei.

Caligo terræ scinditur,

Percussa solis spiculo.

LUCRET.

DE PISCIBUS CAPTIS. AUS. Eid. 10.

PRUD. Hym. 2.

I have now given you a sample of such emblematical medals as are unriddled by the Latin poets, and have shown several passages in the Latin poets that receive an illustration from medals. Some of the coins we have had before us have not been explained by others, as many of them have been explained in a different manner. There are indeed others that have had very near the same explication put upon them, but as this explication has been supported by no authority, it can at best be looked upon but as a probable conjecture. It is certain, says Eugenius, there cannot be any more authentic illustrations of Roman medals especially of those that are full of fancy, than such as are drawn

look into her will prove a town,

out of the Latin poets. For as there is a great affinity between
designing and poetry, so the Latin poets, and the designers of
the Roman medals, lived very near one another, were acquainted
with the same customs, conversant with the same objects, and
bred up to the same relish for wit and fancy. But who are the
ladies that we are next to examine? These are, says Philander,
so many cities, nations, and provinces, that present themselves to
you under the shape of women. What you take for a fine lady
at first sight, when you come to
a country, or one of the four parts of the world. In short, you
have now Afric, Spain, France, Italy, and several other nations
of the earth before you. This is one of the pleasantest maps,
says Cynthio, that I ever saw. Your geographers now and then
fancy a country like a leg or a head, a bear or a dragon, but I
never before saw them represented like women.
have thought your mountains, seas, and promontories could have
made up an assembly of such well-shaped persons. This, there-
fore, says Philander, is a geography particular to the medalists.
The poets, however, have sometimes given into it, and furnish us
with very good lights for the explication of it.
The first lady
you see on the list is Africa. She carries an elephant's tooth
by her side.

Dentibus ex illis quos mittit porta Syenes,
Et Mauri celeres, et Mauro obscurior Indus:
Et quos deposuit Nabathæo bellua saltu,
Jam nimios, capitique graves

I could not

Juv. Sat. 11.

She is always quoiffed with the head of an elephant, to show that this animal is the breed of that country, as for the same reason she has a dragon lying at her feet.

Huic varias pestes, diversaque membra ferarum,
Concessit bellis natura infesta futuris;

Horrendos angues, habitatque membra veneno,
Et mortis partus, viventia crimina terræ ;
Et vastos elephantes habet, sævosque leones,
In pœnas fæcunda suas, parit horrida tellus.

MANIL. lib. 4, DE AFRICA.

Here nature, angry with mankind, prepares
Strange monsters, instruments of future wars;
Here snakes, those cells of poison, take their birth,
Those living crimes and grievance of the earth;
Fruitful in its own plagues, the desert shore
Here elephants, and frightful lions roar.

MR. CREECH.

Lucan, n his description of the several noxious animals of this country, mentions in particular the flying dragon that we see on this medal.

Vos quoque, qui cunctis innoxia numina terris
Serpitis, aurato nitidi fulgore dracones,
Pestiferos ardens facit Africa: ducitis altum
Aëra cum pennis, armentaque tota secuti
Rumpitis ingentes amplexi verbere tauros.
Nec tutus spatio est elephas; datis omnia letho:
Nec vobis opus est ad noxia fata veneno.

Luc. lib. 9.

And you, ye dragons! of the scaly race,
Whom glittering gold and shining armours grace,
In other nations harmless are you found,
Their guardian genii and protectors own'd;
In Afric only are you fatal; there,

On wide expanded wings, sublime you rear
Your dreadful forms, and drive the yielding air.
The lowing kine in droves you chace and cull
Some master of the herd, some mighty bull:
Around his stubborn sides your tails you twist,
By force compress, and burst his brawny chest.
Not elephants are by their larger size

Secure, but with the rest become your prize.
Resistless in your might, you all invade,
And for destruction need not poison's aid.

MR. ROWE

The bull that appears on the other side of the dragon, shows us that Afric abounds in agriculture.

-tibi habe frumentum, Alledius inquit, O Libye, disjunge boves, dum tubera mittas.

-No more plough up the ground,

O Libya, where such mushrooms can be found,
Alledius cries, but furnish us with store

Juv. Sat. 5.

Of mushrooms, and import thy corn no more. MR. BOWLES.

This part of the world has always on medals something to denote her wonderful fruitfulness, as it was, indeed, the great granary of Italy. In the two following figures, the handful of wheat, the cornu-copia, and basket of corn, are all emblems of the same signification.

The lion on the second medal marks her out for the

Arida nutrix.

Leonum

Нок

The scorpion on the third is another of her productions, as Lucan mentions it in particular, in the long catalogue of her venomous animals.