After the death of Cassius, the Emperor made a journey into the east in order to restore tranquillity, which had been somewhat interrupted by the late rebellion. In his visit to Lower Egypt and Syria, he conciliated the goodwill and affection of his various subjects by his kindness and his affable manners. During his return through Asia Minor, his wife Faustina, who accompanied him, died at a place called Halale, at the foot of Mount Taurus. Though her infidelity to the Emperor was generally believed, the good-natured prince, who either knew nothing of it or took no notice of it, lamented her loss as if she had been the best of wives; and the Senate, in the usual style of adulation, decreed a temple to her memory, and raised her to divine honours with the title of Diva. Aurelius also instituted a new establishment for young ladies under the title of Nova Puellæ Faustinianæ, in imitation of that which was created by Antoninus in honour of the mother of the empress. [See ANTONINUS.] We should not omit to mention, in opposition to the accounts of Capitolinus and Dion Cassius, that the emperor extols the obedience, affection, and simplicity of his wife. (Meditat. i. 17.) At Smyrna, the Emperor witnessed a display of the rhetorical talents of Aristides, who pronounced on that occasion his declamation in praise of Smyrna, which still exists among his works. Two years afterwards, when Smyrna was ruined by an earthquake, Aristides prevailed upon the Emperor to extend to its suffering inhabitants the same bounty that he had already bestowed on other cities. [See ARISTIDES, ELIUS.]

The calamities in Italy were not ended when the Parthian | from all imputation of revengeful feeling. [See CASSIUS, war broke out Verus took the command in this war, and AVIDIUS.] returned victorious, A.D. 166, but brought the plague with him to Rome. (See VERUS.) Calpurnius Agricola was sent against the Britons, who threatened insurrection; and Aufidius Victorinus against the Catti. The two emperors soon after marched together against the Marcomanni, and obliged them to sue for peace. In returning from this expedition Verus died, B.c. 169. In the year 170 Aurelius was compelled to prepare for a more serious war against the northern nations. During this campaign a battle was fought with the lazyges on the frozen Danube: and in the year 174 an event happened which has given rise to much controversy, though we have no good account of it. It is said that the army of Aurelius, being unwarily drawn into a defile by the Quadi, was nearly overcome by the attacks of the enemy, whom, from the nature of the place, the Romans could not resist, as well as from fatigue, the unusual heat of the weather, and above all the want of water, which they had not tasted for some days. From this difficulty they were suddenly relieved by a violent storm, that fell lightly on them, and gave them an opportunity of refreshing themselves, while it directed its fury against the enemy, throwing them into confusion; and, as some say, the lightning, to which others add wildfire, actually destroyed them. The Romans took advantage of the crisis, and gained a victory. Upon this, some unlucky legendist, not knowing that the 12th or Thundering Legion, which was engaged in this affair, had its name before it happened, took occasion to call it a Christian Legion, and to attribute the miraculous storm to the efficacy of its prayers: and a letter exists from the emperor to the senate acknowledging the fact. This letter is in Greek: no Latin original, or any similar authentic document, can be found; and nobody will believe that Aurelius would insult the senate by writing to them in a foreign language, though it may be argued, as it has been, that this is only the substance of the emperor's communication, and not to be considered as the original. (See the letter in D'Acier's Life of Aurelius, Stanhope's ed.) But the internal evidence of the letter is perhaps sufficient to destroy its credit. The heathens are also said to have acknowledged the miracle, and to have attributed it to the prayers of their good emperor. (See Capito- | linus, cap. 24.) The Antonine column at Rome commemorates the miraculous shower in the historical sculptures on its shaft. [See ANTONINE COLUMN.]

This letter to the Senate, if genuine, would prove that some kind of persecution had been carried on against the Christians; for the emperor herein declares that they are not for the future to be molested for their religious opinions. There is also another letter, said to be written by Aurelius to the council of Asia assembled at Ephesus, upon the subject of persecuting the Christians. This letter acquits Aurelius, in as far as it forbids persecution, and confines punishment to civil crimes, and not to opinions. (See Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iv. 13.) Some attribute it to Antoninus Pius: but the charge of persecution is still maintained against Aurelius, especially in the early part of his reign. It is impossible, however, to reconcile this with his known character and writings. Crevier (iv. p. 453) calls him the author of the fourth persecution against the Christians, but he gives no proof, and admits that the emperor published no edict against them. Marcus certainly appears not to have liked the Christians: perhaps he even hated them. (See Medit. xi. 3, and Gataker's note.)

During his long northern campaigns Aurelius crossed the Danube, and brought the Sarmatians to terms. His victories are commemorated on one of the medals which we have given. But the rebellion of Avidius Cassius in the east compelled the Emperor to return to Rome, and to leave the barbarians of the north in a more powerful position than was consistent with the safety of the frontiers.

The clemency, justice, and sound policy of the Emperor were particularly shown in this rebellion of Cassius (A.D. 175), who, after a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to get possession of the empire, was put to death by his own officers. He would not extend the usual penalties to his family, nor suffer many of his accomplices to be punished; he even destroyed his private correspondence, that none might live in fear, and be induced to continue in rebellion as their only safety. He left the whole matter to the senate, as if it had been an ordinary affair, recommending the greatest clemency, as he was most desirous of freeing bimself

From Smyrna Aurelius passed to Athens, where he appears to have been admitted into the sacred mysteries of Ceres. During his reign he showed his affection to this antient seat of learning by founding chairs of philosophy for the four chief sects, the Platonics, Stoics, Peripatetics, and Epicureans; and also a professorship of rhetoric.

The close of the philosophical Emperor's life was not spent in the peaceful retirement which he loved, but in the midst of a northern campaign against the Marcomanni, Hermunduri, Sarmatians, and Quadi. His son Commodus accompanied him during these campaigns, which appear to have lasted between two and three years. Aurelius died, B.C. 180, after a short illness, at Vindebona (Vienna), in his fiftyninth year, having reigned ten years alone, and nine with his colleague. His loss was regretted by the whole empire: he was ranked amongst the gods, and every house in Rome had his statue or picture. One of the medals that we have given, bearing the inscription CONSECRATIO, represents the apotheosis of Aurelius. [See APOTHEOSIS.] Suidas (copying, of course, some of the panegyrists of the emperor) says, 'It is easier to admire his character in silence than to give it due praise. It may all be traced in his book; and whoever will contemplate that will assuredly be the better for it. (See Life of M. Antoninus, by Capitolinus: Herodian, lib. i.; Dion. Cass. lib. 71; the various authorities referred to in Gataker's edition by Stanhope; and the uncritical Life of Aurelius by Crevier, Histoire des Empereurs Romains, vol. iv.)

AURELIUS VICTOR. Four books are commonly published together under the name of Aurelius Victor. 1. Origo Gentis Romanæ,' an imperfect work, beginning with Janus and Saturn, and going down to the foundation of Rome. 2. De Viris Illustribus Urbis Romæ,' which contains short biographies of the most illustrious Romans, with a few foreigners, from Romulus down to Pompey. 3. De Cæsaribus,' which contains the lives of the emperors, from Augustus to the appointment of Julian to govern Gaul, A.D. 356. 4. De Vita et Moribus Imperatorum Romanorum,' or Aurelii Victoris Epitome, another history of the emperors, from Augustus to the death of Theodosius the Great, A.D. 395.

That all these are not written by the same person is generally acknowledged; by whom they are written it is harder to say. It is pretty well agreed that the Origo' is not written by the same person as the Illustrious Men,' or the Cæsars; and some persons, on very slight grounds, have attributed it to Asconius the critic. The Illustrious Men has been variously ascribed to Cornelius Nepos, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, and the true Aurelius Victor, who is the undoubted author of the Caesars.' Of his life we know hardly any thing: he tells us (De Caes. xx. 5) that he was born in the country, of a poor and unlearned

VOL. III.-P

Eckhel shows, that on the denarii of Tib. Claudius, and in other cases, the Romans represented 50 by a symbol very like an inverted T.

Soon after the reign of this prince the coinage became very irregular, till Constantine entirely new-modelled it by coining aurei of seventy-two to the pound of gold (see the Codex Theod. de Ponderatoribus, § i. Cod. Justin. 1. x. tit. 70. de Susceptoribus § 5.); a more convenient number than either forty or forty-five, as it divided the ounce and half ounce without a fraction,

father, and it is conjectured, from his abundant praises of Africa, that he was a native of that province. The Caesars seems, on the evidence of a passage written in the present tense, to have been composed about the year 359; and there Pliny proceeds to say that it was afterwards usual to are other grounds for supposing that Victor was alive at that coin forty pieces out of the pound of gold (larger in size, of time. It is said in Ammianus Marcellinus (xxi.) that the course, bearing the general name of Aurei), and that the Emperor Julian appointed Victor the historian prefect of Roman emperors by degrees made them forty-five to the Pannonia Secunda, and honoured him with a brazen statue,' pound. In a passage, the corruptness of which is more than and that some time after he was made prefect of the city. suspected, some of the texts ascribe this last change to Nero. Now there is an inscription extant, from which we learn that Alexander Severus coined pieces of one-half and oneAurelius Victor was prefect of the city in the reign of Theo-third of the aureus, called Semissis and Tremissis (Æl. dosius; and it is probable that these two notices refer to Lamprid. in Alex. Severi Vita, cap. 39), whence the aureus the same person. We also know that Aurelius Victor was came to be called solidus or solidus aureus, as being the consul with Valentinian, A.D. 369. This brings us to con- integer. sider who was the author of the Epitome,' which extends to the death of Theodosius. In all the titles prefixed to the MSS. it is mentioned as Epitome ex libris, breviatus ex libris,' Sext. Aur. Victoris; and Mad. Dacier thinks that it is really an epitome, taken partly from other sources than the Cæsars' of Victor, which she believes to have come to us imperfect, and to have extended to the reign of Theodosius. This opinion is countenanced by there being no formal conclusion to the work as it now stands. Nor is it impossible, nor indeed improbable, supposing Victor to have been in middle life between the years 359 and 369, that he may have lived and continued his work down to the end of Theodosius's reign in 395, where the Epitome ends. Neither the style nor the contents of these books entitle the author to a high place among historians. The most important portion is that which contains the history of the empire, where the frequent want of all contemporary authority renders a continuous sketch, even though it be a meagre one, of the more value. The editions of Aurelius Victor are numerous: among the best are the Delphin, and those of Schott, Gruner, Arntzenius, &c. The most modern which we have seen noticed is that of Schoenberger, Vienn. 1820. Valpy's Delphin edition (vol. i.) contains a collection of notices from various writers concerning the life of Victor, and the authorship of the works bearing his name. (See also Moller, Disputatio de Aurelio Victore, Altdorf. 1805.)

AUREUS, or DENARIUS AUREUS, the ordinary Roman coin of gold, was equivalent to twenty-five silver denarii, or a hundred sestertii.

Gold was first struck at Rome in the year of the city 547, or 207 before Christ, in the consulship of C. Cl. Nero and M. Liv. Salinator, sixty-two years after the introduction of the coinage of silver. The earliest coin of gold at this time was named a scruple (scrupulum), and went for twenty sesterces

Scrupulum.

[Brit. Mus. Gold. Actual size.]

of that age. (See Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiii. c. 3; edit. Dalecampii, et Variorum. In other editions, c. 13.) It had the head of Mars on one side, and an eagle standing on a thunderbolt upon the other, with the word 'ROMA' below; and was marked xx at the back of the head of Mars. Raper (Inquiry into the Value of antient Greek and Roman Money, Philos. Transact. lxi. p. 508.) determines the weight of the scruple to have been 17 Troy grains, which is the weight of one in perfect condition in the British Museum. Nauzeus, as quoted by Eckhel, (Doctr. Num. Vet. tom. v. c. 4.) makes the true weight twenty-one grains and one-third. These, as

A triple Scrupulum.

[Brit Mus. Gold. Actual size.]

it appears, are Paris grains (see Eckhel, v. 4); 17 Troy grains being about equivalent to 214 Paris grains. Its double was marked xxxx, or forty sesterces; and its triple Vx, or sixty, which weighed 52 grains. The symbol which precedes the x on this triple scruple, indicates L or 50:

Eckhel from Nauzeus (Doctr. Num. Vet. ut supr.) divides the variations of weight of the aurei between the year 547 of Rome and Caracalla's time into eight epochs, varying in the respective coins from 153 to 128 (Paris) grains. That the estimates are correct may be gathered from the following facts, ascertained from aurei, or gold denarii, all in a state of high preservation in the British Museum. An aureus of Julius Cæsar weighed 123 grains, which is exactly the weight of an English sovereign. Out of twenty-five gold denarii of Augustus, one weighed 115 grains, five weighed 120 grains each, three 1204, four 121 grains, four 122, and one 127. Of fifteen aurei of Nero, four weighed 113 grains, two 114, two 116, two 118, one 119, one 120. An aureus of Maximianus II. weighed 81 grains, Carausius 67, and Maxentius 79. The coin of Carausius, of which a copy is here given, is believed to be unique. The Rev. Mr.

SPRAV

CONS

[Brit. Mus. Gold. Actual size.]

Cracherode, who bequeathed it to the British Museum, bought it at the price of 150. Of the aurei of Constantine in the Museum, one weighed 66 grains, three 67, three 691, one 73, and one 814. The highest weights are possibly of coins struck before Constantine's re-arrangement of the coinage. All here mentioned, as far as can be ascertained, are of gold without alloy.

The average weight of the aurei of Augustus, then, appears to have been nearly 121 grains; that of Nero's aurei nearly 117.

Raper says the Consular aurei weighed at a mean 126 grains. Some of the Family aurei in the Museum weigh 122, 124, and 125 grains.

The following is Letronne's table of the mean weight of Aurei, transferred into Troy grains :—

(See Letronne, Considérations générales sur l' Evaluation des Monnaies Grecques et Romaines, &c. Paris, 1817. 4to.) Victors in the chariot races were usually rewarded with aurei. (See Suetonius, Claud. cap. 21. § 10. Juv. Sat. vii. 243.) The Scholiast observes that no more than five were allowed to be given in such cases. (Buleng. de Circo, c. 55.) The fee (probably the maximum) to a lawyer was centum aurei, see Ulpian (D. i. 12. de extr. cognit.) A single aureus was all that Justinian permitted to be risked at dice. (Coel. Calcagninus de Talorum Tess. et Calc. Ludis, ap. Græv. Thesaur. tom. vii. col. 1228.)

The reader who wishes for information upon the aureus,

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must in its turn be separated most exactly from the white border. (See Maddock's Florist's Directory, by S. Curtis, 1822; Hogg's Supplement to a Treatise on Flowers, 1833; Kannegiesser's Aurikel-flor; and Ranft's Bemerkungen über die Cultur, &c. der Aurikel.)

The following is the nomenclature of the principal stars. Those in parentheses are from Piazzi.

AURICULA (zoology), a genus of phytophagous or plant-eating trachelipods, whose organs of respiration are formed for breathing air. Cuvier observes, that the species of this genus differ from all the pulmoniferous aquatic mollusks which precede them in his system in having the columella or pillar of the shell marked by large plaits. It is curious to observe the progress of an animal, in the infancy of science, towards its natural place among created beings. Linnæus placed the auriculae known to him in his genus voluta, which comprised mollusks that can live only by respiring water, and others which can only breathe air, and would die if immersed for any length of time in the water; in short, the presence of plaits on the pillar of a shell was sufficient to induce Linnæus to place it among his voluta. Bruguières took the auricula from this heterogeneous mass, and placed them among his bulimi, a genus whose organs of respiration are fitted for breathing air only; and Lamarck, struck with the great development of the plaits on the pillar, and suspecting from that structure a particular organization of the animal, formed from the AURILLAC, a town in France, capital of the departspecies so distinguished his genus auricula. Cuvier adopts Lamarck's genus, though he is uncertain whether the au- ment of Cantal, one of the two departments into which the ricula live in marshes like the limnææ, or merely on their former province of Auvergne has been divided. The town borders, like the succinea. The probability is, that the auri-is situated in a picturesque valley, watered by the river cula lives in the neighbourhood of rivers, lakes, or morasses, above its junction with the Cère, of which it is a tributary. Jourdanne, and stands on the bank of that river, a little and that its respiratory system, though formed for breathing air, is so framed as to enable it to sustain any vicissitudes (The Cère is a feeder of the Dordogne, which, uniting with which such a locality might render probable. Auricula south of Paris by the road through Orleans, Limoges, and the Garonne, forms the Gironde.) Aurillac is 332 miles Mida (Lam.), voluta auris Mida (Linn.), the Midas's ear Uzerche: but judging by the map, there must be a much of collectors, is a good example of the genus. nearer road through Fontainebleau, Briare, Nevers, Moulins, and Clermont.

It is said to be an inhabitant of the East Indies. Lamarck also names the Moluccas as its locality.

The following is the generic character.-Shell somewhat oval, or ovate-oblong; aperture longitudinal, narrowed above, and with the base entire; pillar with one or more plaits; outer lip either reflected or simple and acute.

The true auriculae are the inhabitants of warm climates. There is one in the south of France, near the shores of the Mediterranean (auricula myosotis of Draparnaud), but it is a small species.

AURIGA, the Charioteer, a constellation situated between Perseus and Gemini. It is represented as a man holding a bridle in the right hand and supporting a goat and kids on the left arm. The star in the body of the goat, called Capella (and Alioth by the Arabs) is of the first magnitude, and presents the best guide to the constellation. There is no satisfactory account of the mythology of this figure. It is said to have been the Horus of the Egyptians; among the Greeks, the human figure is by different writers called Erichthonius, Bellerophon, Hippolytus, &c.; while the goat is Amalthæa, the foster-mother of Jupiter. But this explanation is even more unsatisfactory than most others, owing to the want of apparent connexion between the figures of the group.

The star Capella never sets in the latitude of Greenwich, and is in the line drawn through the higher two (a and d) of the four stars which form the body of the great bear. It is on the meridian at six P.M. early in March, and at midnight in December.

Aurillac is built on a spot where the lava, so abundant in Auvergne, is covered with calcareous deposits. The town is not of very antient date. It is said to owe its rise to a Benedictine monastery, founded here by St. Geraud, in the ninth century; the monastery was celebrated not only for the sanctity, but also for the learning of its inmates, who had here a famous school. The successors of Geraud in the abbacy were lords of the town, and took from it the title of count. They had almost episcopal power.

Aurillac has wide but irregular streets, which are kept clean and fresh by running streams. The town itself was walled and had six gates. As later authorities do not mention these, it is likely they have been pulled down. It had a collegiate church, which was partly destroyed by the Calvinists: the remains show the great extent of the building. There are three suburbs, viz. Fauxbourg St. Stephen, Fauxbourg des Frères, and Fauxbourg du Buis. Prior to the Revolution, Aurillac and its suburbs possessed several religious houses. In the suburb of St. Stephen is a castle on an elevated situation which commands the town. The suburb des Frères (which was larger than the town itself) took its name from two convents which were in it: there were also two nunneries in the same quarter, and a Jesuits' college in the city, besides the foundation of St. Geraud already noticed, which was secularized by the Pope Pius IV., in 1561 or 1562, and the monastery changed into a collegiate church. There is a collège or high school, also a society of agriculture, arts, and commerce. The theatre is considered to be too large and too much ornamented for the capital of so poor a department. At the lower part of the town, along the river, is the public walk called Le Gravier, pleasant in the day-time, but unhealthy in the evening, owing to the vapours which arise from the river.

The manufactures carried on here are of common and letter-paper, copper, household utensils, and leather; the chief trade is in cattle, cheese, stockings, tapestry, and lace. The inhabitants amount to 9500.

At an early period, and for several centuries, the townsmen are said to have enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom, and to have met for the purpose of choosing magistrates, who bore the title of consuls. Aurillac suffered considerably during the civil wars of France, of which religion was the cause, or pretext. It was besieged by the Protestants; and after this siege, lost the municipal freedom which it had formerly possessed, and received a governor appointed by the king of France.