"Alexander' surrounding it. The square finally disappears in the reign of Amyntas II., B.C. 397 to 371. From this period the Greek coinage gradually improves in workmanship, until at length they present those beautiful specimens of workmanship which, although they may have been equalled, have certainly never been surpassed, even in modern times.

“The figures 1, 2, 3, 4, represent Greek coins of the earliest kind; 5 is a Persian daric, which has also the irregular hollow, but appears from the workmanship to be of later date; 6 is a coin of Ægina, also of much later date, shewing the indented square, with letters and figures in the divisions of the square.

"The Roman coinage," continues Mr. Williams, "appears to have originated in the as, a copper piece weighing twelve ounces. The pieces of the most common occurrence have on their obverse the double head of Janus, and on the reverse the prow of a ship. Others, as in the specimen represented in Fig. 7, have on them the head of Rome and a Bull, with the word Roma. The divisions of the as, were the semis, or half of six ounces, marked S.; the quincunx, or piece of five ounces; the triens, of four; the quadrans, of three; the sextans, of two; and the uncia, of one ounce. These have on them dots or pellets expressing the number of ounces contained in them individually. There were also multiples of the as, as high as the dicussis, or piece of ten ases. The as and its parts originally weighed as much as was expressed upon them; but they gradually decreased in weight, until, at the time of the second Punic war, the as was reduced to only half an ounce. This depreciation in value, and consequently in size, may be exemplified by a comparison of Figs. 9 and 13, representing the triens or piece of four ounces, at different periods. Figs. 11 and 14 show the sextans, and Figs. 12 and 15 the uncia of ancient and more modern times, and thus the as and its parts became of a merely nominal value.

As these heavy pieces must have been very inconvenient in their use before their reduction in weight, silver appears to have been soon substituted for them, and the denarius, or silver piece originally of the value of 10 ases, and afterwards of 16, became the most common representative of value; this piece is frequently marked X. The quinarius, or victoriatus, which was the half of the denarius, and marked V, to show it was of the value of five ases, also occurs. These are represented in Figs. 17 and 18. The sestertius, or fourth of a denarius, equal in value to two and a