Page - 811 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

811Student of Antiquity but a coin showing the Circus Maximus, pretext for a similar disquisition on the Circus itself, and in particular of the games and chariots races for which it was used, including a description of the pompa circensis, the richly apparelled entry procession [Fig. 15.13–15.14].21 Finally Strada used a coin-type of Domitian for a short explanation of the Secular Games or Ludi Saeculares. He described not so much these games themselves as the three days of religious sacrifices and ceremonies that pre- ceded them, doubtless again basing himself on classical texts. It is such depen- dence on literary sources that Agustín meant when he contended that Strada and his fellow antiquaries ‘made use of the labour of others’. Indeed, in his text Strada repeatedly refers to the literary sources he had used for individual passages, and he pays ample tribute to the many friends and colleagues who had contributed to the material he collected and with whom he had critically discussed his finds and their interpretation. In his preface Strada compares his effort favourably with those of existing and prospective rivals, thinking that none of them could beat him as to the quantity of images included, or the diligence in which he had searched for them. He stresses the importance of critically examining each item in order to select true, ancient exemplars and to avoid modern counterfeits, being per- fectly aware that ‘nowadays one finds so many excellent and subtle sculptors, that truly they merit to be prized no less than the ancients [themselves]’. For the same reason one should carefully consider the workmanship of each object: Strada claims to have done his utmost to select images of outstanding beauty and elegance. His selection of the reverses described doubtless reflected Strada’s own in- terests. His preface was probably a sincere statement of his intentions; and his Epitome thesauri antiquitatum did satisfy the very many contemporaries who wished to own a copy. Yet it is not surprising that it did not satisfy later seri- ous numismatists, for the book was in fact not very numismatic in character. Though the ancient coins at first sight appear to be its raison d’être, and in its preface Strada did talk about the ample quantity of coins he had documented, the coins of which he illustrated the obverses are never described as objects— not even the metal is given—and it seems that the reverses described are rarely related to the obverses illustrated [cf. Figs. 15.9–15.14]. The clue to this enigma can be found in the subtitle of the Latin version: 21 Strada 1553(a), pp. 65–68, again based on sources (‘ex variae autoribus desumptam’). Strada refers to Dio Cassius and ‘Sextus Ruffus’, the mysterious author of the treatise De regionibus Urbis Romae first published by Onofrio Panvinio (Frankfurt 1558), which Strada quoted either from the manuscript in the library of Monte Cassino or, more likely, from extracts inserted in Flavio Biondo’s Roma instaurata (Verona 1482); cf. Jacks 1993, pp. 116, 311.