The shield on the reverse is the point. In 27 BC the Senate voted Octavian, newly renamed Augustus, a golden *clipeus virtutis* to be hung in the Curia Julia, inscribed with the four virtues that justified his supremacy: *virtus*, *clementia*, *iustitia*, *pietas*. The CL V on this denarius is its shorthand, *clipeus virtutis*, and the oak wreath crowning the portrait is its companion honor, the *corona civica* awarded for saving the lives of citizens.
Struck at an uncertain Spanish mint around 19 to 18 BC, more than a decade after the original grants, the coin is not announcing news. It is rehearsing a now official theology of the *princeps*, pressing into silver the arguments that the Senate had already conceded and that anyone handling the denarius was expected to accept. The man who had won at Actium by killing Roman citizens in great numbers now circulated through the empire's pockets as their savior, and the legend CAESAR AVGVSTVS framed the shield like a caption that no longer needed defending.
- Mint
- Uncertain Spanish mint
- Struck
- Struck circa 19-18 BC
- Authority
- Augustus
- Reverse
- Round shield inscribed CL • V with CAESAR above and AVGVSTVS below