Watch List notes:

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

M. Arrius Secundus. Denarius 43, AR 3.85 g. ARRIVS Young male head r. with slight beard. Rev. Two soldiers advancing r., the foremost holding spear in l. hand and reaching back with his r. to grasp one of the two standards held by the soldier behind him. Babelon Arria 3. Sydenham 1085. Sear Imperators 320. Woytek, Arma et Nummi p. 558. RBW –. Crawford 513/3.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the third specimen known and the only one in
private hands. One of the rarest denarii of the entire Republican series offered
n public sale once in the Borghesi collection in 1893 and missing in all
major private collections including Haeberlin, Nicolas, RBW and
Student. Old cabinet tone, two minor banker's mark on
obverse, otherwise good very fine


The second type of the M. Arrius Secundus struck in 41 B.C. is one of the rarest issues of all republican coinage. The portrait on the obverse, while purportedly that of an ancestor – probably Quintus Arrius, perhaps the moneyer's father, who defeated Spartacus' lieutenant, Crixus, during the Servile War (73-71 B.C.) – displays the same ambiguity as discussed under the denarius of C. Numonius Vaala in this sale, except that instead of the portrait with a strong resemblance to Julius Caesar that appears on the denarius of Vaala here it more closely resembles Octavian.
The reverse scene is quite interesting. It depicts two solders, the one on the left holding two military standards while the one on the right holds a spear and reaches back to retrieve one of the standards from the first soldier. The significance of the type is obscure, but may be interpreted as illustrating an important event from M. Arrius Secundus' father's career during the Servile War. On occasion when the Roman army was facing difficult odds during a pitched battle – which happened time and again during Rome's struggle with the rabble army of Spartacus – a soldier might cast a legionary standard into the ranks of the enemy soldiers. The purpose for doing this was to spur on the soldiers to defeat the enemy forces in their efforts to retrieve the standard, a symbol not only of Roman military might, but also, at least from the perspective of the individual legionary, a sacrosanct emblem of his personal virtue. The loss of a legionary standard brought shame upon the legionaries. If Secundus' ancestor committed such a heroic gesture thereby inspiring his troops to inflict heavy casualties upon the enemy during the heat of the battle, it would certainly have served as ready fodder for his coin type.