This is the (short) tale of my first purchase on Forum, or –if you prefer– a description of the ideas that brought me to buy a little and quite inexpensive Roman denarius (which made me happy).
At the beginning of the story, I was just hunting for a bargain when I saw these coins in the "Specials" area of Forum...
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They looked nice, especially if you consider the price (21$), but there was a lot of other cheap and interesting coins. The key element for my decision has been another. A litterary passage came out of my high school memories when I saw this denarius of Septimius Severus and I read the comments. It is the most famous part of the Agricola by Tacitus.
The following phrases are from the speech that Galgacus, a Britons leader "superior to the rest in valour and in birth”, uses to "harangue the multitude gathered around him and clamouring for battle”. Their last battle, most likely, because "there are no lands beyond [them], and even the sea is not safe, menaced as [they] are by a Roman fleet”. Galgacus is describing the Romans (with the words that Tacitus puts in his mouth...):
"Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.”
"Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.”
(From "Internet Ancient History Sourcebook”, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb)
Joe Sermarini wrote that "the Romans knew that victory in war is an effective way to achieve peace”. And even if it’s true –as Joe said– that ""Mars the Pacifier" may be seen as ironic today,” what that is extraordinary is that also the Romans perfectly knew that it was possible to see their Glory as simple robbery. The irony is not only in the eye of the reader of today...
[A note, just to avoid any historical misunderstanding: Tacito wrote the Agricola at the end of the first century AD... In 198-200 AD, Septimius Severus wasn't fighting the Britons: in fact, he started his Parthian campaign in the summer of 197 and ended it an year later, regaining the peace for Rome: this coin was probably issued to celebrate this victory and the pillage of the capital of the Parthian Empire, Ctésiphon. By the way, in the same year (198 b.C.), Caracalla became Augustus and received Tribunician Powers (TR P) and Geta became Caesar.]
To complete my tale (I'm sure you don't want to read more!), I also have an happy end: I ordered the denarius (and a few uncleaned coins) and in less than 10 days a received (in Italy) this one:
As you can see, I was quite lucky in the random selection because I received the coin in the top of the picture (even if I'm sure that Forum is the most honest dealer of the world, I'm also quite sure that if a coin is the most visible of the image, it isn't the worse of the lot ;-)).
