14. M. T. Cicero.

The coyne which you shew me hath on the obverse the head of Marcus Plætorius Cestianus, with a dagger behinde his head; on the reverse it hath a Caduceus or Mercuries wande, with this inscription: M. PLAETORJ CEST. EX. s. c., the j in Plætorius and s. c. on the reverse are scarce visible, or the dagger on the obverse. It is thus to be read; Marcus Plætorius Cestianus ex Senatus Consulto. This Marcus Plætorius, or, as some will have it, Lætorius, was a remarkable man of the ancient Plætorian family, who derive themselves from the Sabines, which family was of the faction of the commons of Rome, as may be gathered from their being chosen ædiles and tribunes of the people. He was contemporary with Crassus, Pompey, Brutus, and was designed prætor together with Cicero, in the 686 yeare after the foundation of Rome, three yeares before Catilines conspiracy, and eighty-five yeares before the birth of our Saviour. He had been an ædile before that, as I know by a coyne which I have with an ædiles chair on the reverse, and this inscription: M. Plætorius ÆD. CVR. EX. S. C., on the obverse his head, with this inscription: Cestianus. He is mentioned by Varro in his fifth booke De Lingua Latina, and by Livy, lib. 30. He preferred a law de jure dicendo, taken notice of by Censorinus De die natali, cap. 19. He is spoken of by Cicero in his oration pro Marco Fonteio, whom this M. Plætorius accused, and in another, pro A. Cluentio; but this coyne was stamped upon his being chosen to dedicate the temple of Mercury, no small honour, and for which both the consuls at that time sued, Claudius and Servilius, but carried it from them both by the election of the people, although he were at that time onely a centurion, as is to be seen in Valerius Maximus, lib. 9. cap. 3. 9 This letter is but a fragment. It is acrompanied by a pen drawing of the coin.