Sale: Triton V, Lot: 2137. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $6250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DIOCLETIAN. 284-305 AD. AV Aureus (5.41 gm). Struck 286 AD. Antioch mint. IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirsassed bust right / FATIS VICTRICIBVS, the Parcae standing facing clasping hands, the figures on the left and right facing the central figure; X/SMA. RIC V pt. 2, 314; Depeyrot 3/2. EF. [See color plate 11]($7500)

The Parcae, individually Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, were the daughters of Erebus (Night). The Romans generally referred to them as Fata, or Fate, and together they were responsible for human destiny - the first held the distaff from which the thread of life was woven, the second spun it to the appropriate length, the third cut it at the appointed time. The remarkable reverse legend, FATIS VICTRICIBVS, declares that destiny is left "to the victorious Fates."