Sempronia. -- The surnames of this Roman
family as they appear on coins are Atratinus,
Graccus, and Pitio. Of these (as Livy shows)
the Atratini were patricians, the Gracchi plebeians;
of what order were the Pitiones is
uncertain. -- Although Morell gives twenty-two
varieties, in silver and first brass, yet the types
are, as Mr. Akerman observes, "for the most
part uninteresting ; consisting of the winged
head of Minerva, with the reverse of the
Dioscuri." -- A very rare gold coin, bearing on
its obverse the moderately bearded face of
Octavian, with DIVI IVLI. F., and on its reverse
a female figure holding rudder and cornucopia,
together with the imposing inscription of TI.
SEMPRONIVS GRACCVS IIII. VIR. Q. DESIO. has
given rise to dissertation of Havercamp's , in
which Eckhel finds him to have twice shown
symptoms of somnolence (bis dormitat) ; and
about which nothing of consequence seems
probable than what the coin itself indicates, viz.,
that this Graccus (of plebeian parentage, to say
nothing "de seditione" of his famous agitating
ancestors,) officiated as Quatuor vir monetalis
to Augustus, and at the time when he struck
the coin was Quaestor elect. -- There are silver
pieces of this family coined by the mintmasters
of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The brass are
either the as, or parts of the as.