Watch List notes:

C. Mamilius Limetanus. 82 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (19mm, 3.76 g, 5h). Rome mint. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus; to left, L above caduceus / Ulysses walking right, holding staff and extending hand toward his dog, Argus. Crawford 362/1; Sydenham 741; Mamilia 6; RBW 1370 var. (obv. control letter). Toned with some minor deposits, obverse struck slightly off center. VF.

Ex iNumis MBS 47 (8 October 2019), lot 58.

The obverse and reverse of this coin refer to the lineage of the gens Mamilia, who claimed their descent from Mamilia, the daughter of Telegonus, the son of Ulysses and Circe, and a descendant of Mercury. The reverse scene depicts the moment when, returning home from his long wanderings in the guise of a beggar so as to surprise and kill the many suitors of his wife Penelope, Ulysses' aged dog Argus recognizes him:

Soon as he perceived

Long-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears

Clapped close, and with his tail glad sign he gave

Of gratulation, impotent to rise,

And to approach his master as of old.

Ulysses, noting him, wiped off a tear

Unmarked.

. . . Then his destiny released

Old Argus, soon as he had lived to see

Ulysses in the twentieth year restored. (Hom. Od. 17.290 [Cowper's translation]).

At last, seeing his master after so many years, the old dog dies.