It is a silver coin that seems to be much scarcer than generally said. Marcus Porcius Cato the younger, quinarius, Africa (?) 47/6 BC. AR 14 mm, 1.68 g, 6h. Obv.: M·CATO·PRO·PR, head of Liber, right, wearing ivy-wreath Rev.: VICTRIX, Victory seated right, holding patera in right hand and palm-branch in left hand, over left shoulder RRC 462/2 During the Social War c. 89 BC, in Rome, Marcus Porcius Cato, who had been a plebeian tribune but had not yet been elected to a higher mandate, was a moneyer. He issued denarii and quinarii. The denarius had on obverse a head of Rome bare-headed (with the legend ROMA for unambiguous identification), the quinarius a head of Liber wearing ivy-wreath. Both denominations had the same reverse : Victory seated right holding patera and palm, with the legend VICTRIX in exergue. 42 years later it's the Civil War, Caesar vs Pompey. The son of M. Porcius Cato, M. Porcius Cato the younger, who unlike his father had been Praetor, was supporting Pompey. After the bitter defeat of Pharsalus, Pompey was assassinated in Egypt. Some of his partisans, among which Cato the younger, were willing to fight on. Cato moved to Africa and raised troops against Caesar's army. Another battle took place at Thapsus, another defeat for the Pompeians. All was lost, Caesar was now about to take Utica, but the propraetor Cato refused to beg for his pardon and committed suicide. Shortly before, Cato minted silver coins to pay his troops, probably in Utica. Paying homage to his late father (that's pietas, in Roman moral values), he ordered an exact reproduction of the coins his father had minted 42 years before, the denarii with Roma and the quinarii with Liber. The only difference was the legend, for he added his title of PRO·PR(aetor). (Not my coins) Many years later, under Nero, in his epic poem Pharsalia, the poet Lucan would write this verse celebrating Cato's desperate heroism: Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni "The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the vanquished [cause] pleased Cato." This verse became a famous quote. In America you can read it on the Confederates' memorial in the Arlington cemetery, for example. In France, where defeats are never taken too seriously, you can read it in Asterix, recited by the old one-legged pirate who always finds an appropriate Latin quote every time his ship is sunk. Ancient Romans knew rather well which coins had been minted, in their history. Under Trajan, for example, the imperial mint issued reproductions of republican denarii of the 3rd, 2nd and 1st c. BC. Hoard contents show that some old Republican denarii were still circulating as late as the 2nd c. AD. Cato the younger in 47/6 BC precisely reproduced the coins minted by his father 42 years before. It is likely that these coins, those of the father and those of the son, all of which had the same VICTRIX reverse, were still well-known among the Romans under Nero, when Lucan wrote the Pharsalia. Did Lucan write his famous verse beginning with the word Victrix and ending with Catoni on purpose, could it be a subtle reference to the legends of Cato's coins ?
@GinoLR fantastic coin and a thoroughly educational and entertaining write up about the coin types. Thanks for posting
