The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

38 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE
of rubbing a paper impression from a first engraved plaque
on to the face of a fresh one, and then following closely
with a graver the lines so transferred". There can be
little doubt that the silver map of Drake's voyages was
transferred in a similar manner.
The victory of the Marne which has arrested the
devastating progress of the New Barbarism recalls the
world-famous defeat of Attila in the neighbouring Cata-
launian Plain and lends a present appropriateness to the
FIG. 1.
recent identification of a type of Valentinian III by our
Honorary Fellow, Monsieur Babelon. He shows that the
reverse type of the Emperor holding the Cross and tramp-
ling on the head of a human-headed serpent (Fig. 1) appears
first on the imperial dies about 451, the date of Aetius's
victory. It is also seen, moreover, on a solidus struck at
Kavenna in the name of the Eastern Emperor Marcian in 452,
when he sent a considerable army to assist his colleague to
protect Italy against the advance of Attila on that side.
M. Babelon therefore concludes that this addition of a human
head to the earlier type of the serpent trampled under foot
may have a direct reference to the Hunnish king.
Attention may here be called to a small exhibition