'All I can say is, their coinage was far handsomer than ours, if it was like that.'
'The reverse is as fine as the obverse. A chariot with four horses, done with infinite spirit.'
'How can you remember what is on the other side—I suppose this side is what you mean by the obverse—of this particular coin? Are you sure?'
Pitt produced a key from his pocket, unlocked the glass door of the cabinet, and took the coin from its bed. On the other side was what he had stated to be there. Betty took the piece in her hands to look and admire.
'That is certainly very fine,' she said; but her attention was not entirely bent on the coin 'Is this lovely head meant for Apollo too?'
'No; don't you see it is feminine? Ceres, it is thought; but Mr. Strahan held that it was Arethusa, in honour of the nymph that presided over the fine fountain of sweet water near Syracuse. The coinage of that city was extremely beautiful and diversified; yielding to hardly any other in design and workmanship. Here is an earlier one; you see the very different stage art had attained to.'
'A regular Greek face,' remarked Betty, going back to the coin she held in her hand. 'See the straight line of the nose and the very short upper lip. Do you hold that the Greek type is the only true beauty?'
'Not I. The only true beauty, I think, is that of the soul; or at least that which the soul shines through.'
'What are these little fish swimming about the head? They would seem to indicate a marine deity.'
'The dolphin; the Syracusan emblem.'