Page:Troja by Heinrich Schliemann.djvu/269

with certainty to the Roman time, and explains them as follows:—One is of cornelian, and represents the Dioscuri, holding each a spear and a short sword; each of them has a star above his head. The other stone represents a caduceus between two cornucopiae, this being the symbol of the Senate of Rome. The third is a glass-paste imitation of amethyst, on which a Muse is incised. The fourth, which is also of a glass-paste, shows in pretty intaglio Jupiter sitting on his throne, holding in his right hand a lance, on his flat left hand a small Niké; at his feet is an eagle.

The same friend kindly calls my attention to the passage of Pliny (H. N. XXXVII. 5): "Gemmas plures, quod peregrino appellant nomine dactyliothecam, primus omnium habuit Romae privignus Sullae Scaurus. Diuque nulla alia fuit, donec Pompeius Magnus eam quae Mithridatis regis fuerat inter dona in Capitolio dicaret, ut M. Varro aliique ejusdem aetatis auctores confirmant, multum praelatam Scauri. Hoc exemplo Caesar dictator sex dactyliothecas in aede Veneris Genetricis consecravit: Marcellus Octavia genitus in aede Palatini Apollinis unam."

Mr. Postolaccas also reminds me of the incised gem which ornamented the ring of Pompey the Great, and which according to Plutarch^[1] represented a lion carrying a sword, but according to Dion Cassius^[2] three trophies; the latter historian adds that Sulla had an identically similar seal-ring.

I again found a great many coins; and I bought many others of the shepherds who had found them on the site of Ilium; most of them are Macedonian and imperial Roman coins. Of well-preserved coins of Ilium there were found forty-two, but all of them are of bronze; for the most part they are of the types represented in Ilios, pp. 641647;