Chapters 39
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1 01 - Book 31, Chapters 1 to 15. Remarkable facts connected with water. The different properties of water. Remedies derived from water. Curative waters. Salt and bitter waters. 15:42
Chapters One to Fifteen. Remedies Derived from the Aquatic Productions. Chapter One. Remarkable Facts Connected with Water. We have now to speak of the benefits derived, in a medicinal point of view, from the aquatic productions. For not here, even, has all Bounch's nature reposed from her work. Amid waves and billows, And tides of rivers forever on the ebb and flow, she still unceasingly exerts her powers. And nowhere, if we must confess the truth, does she display herself in greater might, for it is this among the elements that holds sway over all the rest. It is water that swallows up dry land, that extinguishes flame, that ascends aloft and challenges possession of the very heavens. It is water that Spreading clouds as it does far and wide, intercepts the vital air we breathe, and, through their collision, gives rise to thunders and lightnings as the elements of the universe meet in conflict.
What can there be more marvelous than water suspended aloft in the heavens? And yet, as though it were not enough to reach so high in elevation as this, they sweep along with them whole shoals of fishes, and often stones as well. Thus leading themselves with ponderous masses which belong to other elements, and bearing them on high. Falling upon the earth, these waters become the prime cause of all that is there produced. A truly wondrous provision of nature if we only consider that in order to give birth to grain and life to trees and to shrubs, water must first leave the earth for the heavens, and then spring down to vegetation the breath of life. The admission must be surely extorted from us that for all our resources the earth is indebted to the boundlessness of water.
It will be only proper, therefore, in the first place, to set forth some instances of the powerful properties displayed by this element, for as to the whole of them, what living mortal could describe them? Chapter Two. The Different Properties of Waters. On all sides, and in a thousand countries, there are waters bounteously springing forth from the earth, some of them cold, some hot, and some possessed of these properties united. Those in the territory of the Tarbelli, for instance, a people of Aquitania, and those among the Pyrenean mountains, where hot and cold springs are separated by only the very smallest distance. Then again, there are others that are tepid only, or lukewarm. Announcing thereby the resources they afford for the treatment of diseases, and bursting forth for the benefit of man alone out of so many animated beings.
Under various names, too, they augment the number of the divinities and give birth to cities. Puteole, for example, in Campania, Statielle in Liguria, and Sextie in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. But nowhere do they abound in greater number or offer a greater variety of medicinal properties than in the Gulf of Baie, some being impregnated with sulfur, some with alum, some with salt, some with nitre, and some with bitumen, while others are of a mixed quality, partly acid and partly salt. In other cases, again, it is by their vapors that waters are so beneficial to man. Being so intensely hot as to heat our baths even, and to make cold water boil in our sitting baths. Such, for instance, as the springs at Valle, now known as Pisidian, after the name of a freedman of the Emperor Claudius.
Waters which are so hot as to cook articles of food even. There are others, too. Those, for example, formerly the property of Licinius Grasus. Chapter Three.
Remedies Derived from Water. According to their respective kinds, these waters are beneficial for diseases of the sinews, feet, or hips, for sprains or for fractures. They act also as purgatives upon the bowels, The country seat where these last are found is worthy of some further mention. Traveling from Lake Avirnus towards Puteoli, it is to be seen on the seashore, renowned for its fine portico and its grove. Cicero gave it the name of Accademia, after the place so called at Athens. It was here that he composed those treatises of his that were called after it. It was here, too, that he raised those monuments to himself, as though, indeed, he had not already done so throughout the length and breadth of the known world.
Shortly after the death of Cicero, and when it had come into the possession of Antistius Vetus, certain hot springs burst forth at the very portals of this house. which were found to be remarkably beneficial for diseases of the eyes, and have been celebrated in verse by Lauria Tullius, one of the freedmen of Cicero, a fact which proves to demonstration that his servants even had Great Prince of Roman Eloquence. Thy grove, where erst thou betest it rise, is verdant now. Thy villa, from fair academia named, from Vetus now, its finished graces takes. Here, too, fair streams burst forth, unknown before, which with their spray the languid eyes relieve. The land I wean, these bounteous springs revealed, to honor Cicero, its ancient lord.
Throughout the world his works by eyes are scanned. May eyes unnumbered by these streams be healed. Chapter Four. Waters Productive of Hicundity. Waters Curative of Insanity. En Campaña, too, are the waters of sinuesa remedial, it is said, for sterility in females, and curative of insanity in men. Chapter Five. Water's Remedial for Urinary Calculi The waters of the island of Ayanaria are curative of urinary calculi, it is said, and the same is the case with the cold spring of Acidula, four miles distance from Tianum Siricinum, the waters at Stabie, known as the Dimidia, and those in the territory of Vinaphrum, which take their rise in the spring of Acidula. Patients suffering from these complaints may be cured also by drinking the waters of Lake Velia, the same effects being produced by those of a spring in Syria near Mount Taurus, Marcus Varus says, and by those of the river Galus in Phrygia, as we learn from Kalimachus.
In taking the waters, however, of this last, the greatest moderation is necessary, as they are apt to cause delirium. An effect equally produced, Ctesias tells us, by the waters of the Red Fountain in Ethiopia. Chapter Six. Waters Curative of Wounds. The tepid waters of Albila, near Rome, have a healing effect upon wounds. Those of Cotilia, again, in the Sabine territory, are intensely cold, and by a kind of suction penetrate the body to such a degree as to have the effect of a mordant almost. They are remarkably beneficial for affections of the stomach, sinews, and all parts of the body, in fact. Chapter Seven. Waters Preventive of Abortion. The waters of Thespiae ensure conception to females, the same, too, with those of the river Ilatus in Arcadia.
The spring Linus, also in Arcadia, acts as a preservative of the fetus and effectually prevents abortion. The waters of the river Aphrodisius, on the other hand, in the territory of Piraea, are productive of sterility. Chapter Eight. Waters which remove Morpheu. The waters of Lake Alpheus remove white Morpheu, Varro tells us, who also mentions the fact that one Titius, a personage who held the praetorship, had a face to all appearance like that of a marble statue in consequence of this disease. The waters of the river Sidnus, in Chilicha, are curative of gout, as would appear from a letter addressed by Cassius of Parma to Marcus Antonius. At Troidzen, on the contrary, all the inhabitants are subject to diseases of the feet, owing to the bad quality of the water there.
The state of the Tungri, in Gaul, has a spring of great renown, which sparkles as it bursts forth with bubbles innumerable. And has a certain ferruginous taste, only to be perceived after it has been drunk. This water is strongly purgative, is curative of tertian fevers, and disperses urinary calculi. Upon the application of fire, it assumes a turbid appearance and finally turns red. The springs of Leocugea, between Puteuli and Neapolis, are curative of eye diseases and of wounds. Cicero, in his work entitled Admiranda, has remarked that it is only by the waters of the marshes of Reate that the hooves of beasts of burden are hardened. Chapter Nine. Waters which color the hair. Iuricus informs us that in Estiaiotis there are two springs, one of which, Cirona, renders sheep black that drink of it, while the other, called Nielus, Turns them white.
If again a sheep should happen to drink their waters mixed, its fleece will be mottled. According to Theophrastus, the water of the Crathis, a river of Turigi, makes sheep and cattle white, while that of the river Sibaris turns them black. Chapter 10. Waters which color the human body. And not only this, But human beings, even, Theophrastus tells us, are sensible of this difference. For persons who drink the water of the Sibaris, he says, become more swarthy and more hardy, the hair inclining to curl, while those again who drink of the Kratis become fair and more soft-skinned, with the hair growing straight and long. So, too, in Macedonia, persons who wish the produce to be white. The people who drive their cattle to the river Al-Yakmon, while those who desire a black or tawny color take them to water at Axius.
Upon the same authority, too, we learned that in certain localities, as in the country of the Mesapi, The river Aleos. Chapter 11. Waters which aid the memory or are productive of forgetfulness. At the temple of the god Trophonius in Boiotia, near the river Hercinus, there are two fountains, one of which aids the memory, while the other is productive of forgetfulness, hence the names which they respectively bear. Chapter Twelve. Waters which sharpen or dull the senses. Waters which improve the voice. Near the town of Cescum, in Chilicha, runs the river Noos, the waters of which, according to Varo, sharpen the intellect, while those of a certain spring in the island of Chea dull the senses. At Zama, in Africa, there is a spring, the waters of which render the voice more musical.
Chapter 13. Waters which cause a distaste for wine. Waters which produce inebriety. Iodoxus says that persons who drink the water of Lake Litorios take a distaste for wine, and Theopampus asserts that the waters of the springs already named are productive of inebriety. According to Muchanus, there is a fountain at Andros consecrated to Father Lieber. Chapter Fourteen. Waters which serve as a substitute for oil. Polyclitus says that the water of the river Liparis, Nersoli, in Chilicha, is used as a substitute for oil. And Theophrastus mentions a spring of that name in Ethiopia, which is possessed of similar properties. Lycus says that, at Tazitia there's a fountain of it, the water of which emits light.
The same is asserted, too, of a spring at Ekpatana. According to Theopompus, there is a lake at Skotusa, the waters of which heal wounds. Chapter 15. Salt and Bitter Waters. Juba says that in the country of the Trogloditai, there is a lake called the Lake of Insanity, from its highly noxious properties. Thrice a day it becomes salt and bitter, and then again fresh, the same taking place as many times during the night. It is full, he says, of white serpents, twenty cubits long. He mentions also a certain spring in Arabiya, which rises from the ground with such remarkable force, As to throw back any object pressed down upon it, however weighty.
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2 02 - Book 31, Chapters 16 to 32. Marvellous facts connected with water. Method of searching for water. The method of conveying water. 39:15
Translated by John Bostock. and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 2. Book 31. Chapters 16-32. Chapter 16. Waters which throw up stones. Waters which cause laughter and weeping. Waters which are said to be curative of love. Theophrastus makes mention of the fountain of Marcias near the city of Selaene in Phrygia. Which throws up masses of stone. Not far from it are two other springs, called Cleon and Yellon by the Greeks, from the effects which they respectively produce. At Sisycus is a fountain known as that of Cupido, the waters of which, Lucianus believes, cure those who drink thereof of love. Chapter 17. Waters which preserve their warmth for three days. At Crenon, there are certain hot springs, though not at boiling heat, the water of which, mixed with wine, preserves it warm in the vessels for a period of three days.
The same is the case, too, with the springs of Matiacum in Germany, beyond the river Renus, the water of which retains its boiling heat three days. The margin of these springs is covered with pumice, formed by the action of the water. Chapter Eighteen. Other Marvelous Facts Connected with Water. Waters in which everything will sink. Waters in which nothing will sink. If any of the above-mentioned facts have the appearance of being incredible to a person, I would have him know that there is no department of nature which presents greater marvels than this, independently of the numerous peculiarities which have already been mentioned in an earlier part of this work. Ctesias informs us that, in India, there is a lake of standing water, upon which nothing will float, every object instantly sinking to the bottom.
Caelius says that in the waters of Lake Avernus, in our own part of the world, the very leaves of the trees even will sink, and, according to Varo, these waters are fatal to such birds as fly towards them. On the other hand, again, In the waters of Lake Apushidamus, in Africa, nothing will sink. The same, too, Apion tells us, with the fountain of Plinthia in Sicily, as also a certain lake in Media, and the well of Saturn. The spring of Limira not unfrequently makes its way through the neighboring localities, and when it does so, is always portentous of some coming event. It is a singular thing, too, that the fish The fish always accompany its waters on these occasions, the inhabitants of the adjoining districts being in the habit of consulting them by offering them food.
When the fishes seize it with avidity, the answer is supposed to be favorable. But if, on the other hand, they reject the food by flapping it with their tails, the response is considered to be unfavorable. The river Olca in Bidinia runs close to Braezus. The source is, too, of the Tamaricus. The river of Cantabria are considered to possess certain powers of presaging future events. They are three in number, and, separated solely by an interval of eight feet, unite in one channel. And so form a mighty stream. These springs are often dry a dozen times in the day, sometimes as many as twenty, without there being the slightest trace of water there, while on the other hand, a spring close at hand is flowing abundantly and without intermission.
It is considered an evil presage when persons who wish to see these springs find them dry, a circumstance which happened very recently, for example, to Larchus Licinius. who held the office of Legatus after his praetorship, for at the end of seven days after his visit, he died. In Judea, there is a river that is dry every Sabbath day. Chapter 19. Deadly Waters, Poisonous Fishes There are other marvels, again connected with water, but of a more fatal nature. Ctesias states in his writings that there is a spring in Armenia. The fishes in which are black, and if used as food, productive of instantaneous death. I have heard the same too, with reference to the waters near the sources of the river Danuvius, until a spring is reached, which is near its main channel, and beyond which this poisonous kind of fish is not to be found.
Hence it is that this spot is generally looked upon as the source of the river. The same too, is reported of the Lake of the Nymphs in Lydia. Near the river Pheneus in Achaea, there flows from the rocks a spring known as the Styx, the waters of which, as already stated, are instantly fatal. And not only this, but there are also small fish in it, Theophrastus says, which are as deadly as the water, a thing that is not the case with the fish of any other poisonous springs. Theopampus says that at the town of Chicri in Thres, the waters are deadly. And Lycus states that at Leontium there is a spring, the waters of which are fatal at the end of a couple of days to those who drink thereof. Varo speaks also of a spring upon Mount Socrate, some four feet in breadth, the waters of which bubble forth at sunrise as though they were boiling.
Birds, he says, which only taste thereof. And then, besides, we meet with this insidious circumstance, that in some cases, waters of this nature are inviting even in their appearance. Those at Nonacris in Arcadia, for example. The water of which fountain possesses no apparent quality to excite mistrust, though, owing to its intense coldness, it is generally looked upon as highly injurious, seeing that it petrifies as it flows. It is otherwise with the waters of Tempe in Thessaly, their baneful properties inspiring universal terror and possessing the property of corroding copper even and iron, it is said. This stream runs a short distance only, as already stated. And it is truly marvelous that, according to general report, the banks of its source are surrounded with the roots of a wild carob, always covered with purple flowers.
While the margin is clothed with a green herbaceous plant of a peculiar species. In Macedonia, not far from the tomb of the poet Euripides, is the confluence of two streams, the water of one of which is extremely wholesome, that of the other fatal. Chapter 20. Waters which petrify themselves, or cause other objects to petrify. At Perperena, There is a spring which petrifies the ground wherever it flows, the same being the case also with the hot waters at Aedepsus in Yuboya. For there, wherever the stream falls, the rocks are continually increasing in height. At Yuremene, chaplets, when thrown into the waters of a certain fountain there, are turned to stone. At Colossae, there is a river, into the water of which, if bricks are thrown, When taken out, they are found changed into stone.
In the mines of Syros, the trees petrify that are watered by the river, branches and all. In the caverns of Mount Coricus, the drops of water that trickle down the rocks become hard in the form of a stone. At Maezza, too, in Macedonia, the water petrifies as it hangs from the vaulted roofs of the rocks. But at Coricus, It is only when it has fallen that it becomes hard. In other caverns, again, the water petrifies both ways, and so forms columns, as we find the case in a vast grotto at Fausia, a town of the Cherosonissus of the Rhodians, the columns of which are tinted with various colors. These instances will suffice for the present. Chapter Twenty-One. The Wholesomeness of Waters. It is a subject of inquiry among medical men which kind of water is the most beneficial.
They condemn, and with justice, all stagnant, sluggish waters, and are of opinion that running water is the best, being rendered lighter and more salubrious by its current and its continuous agitation. Hence it is that I am much surprised that persons should be found to set so high a value as they do Upon cistern water. These last give as their reason, however, that rainwater must be the lightest water of all, seeing that it has been able to rise aloft and remain suspended in the air. Hence it is, too, that they prefer snow water to rainwater, and ice again to snow, as being water subtlized to the highest possible degree, on the ground that snow water and ice water must be lighter than ordinary water, And ice, of necessity, considerably lighter.
It is for the general interest, however, of mankind, that these notions should be refuted. For, in the first place, this comparative lightness which they speak of could hardly be ascertained in any other way than by the sensation, there being pretty nearly no difference at all in weight between the kinds of water. Nor yet, in the case of rainwater, Is it any proof of its lightness that it has made its way upwards into the air, seeing that stones, it is quite evident, do the same? And then besides, this water, while falling, must of necessity become tainted with the vapors which rise from the earth, a circumstance owing to which it is, that such numerous impurities are to be detected in rainwater, and that it ferments with such extreme rapidity.
I am surprised, too, that snow and ice should be regarded as the most subtilized states of this element, in juxtaposition with the proofs supplied us by hail, the water of which, it is generally agreed, is the most pernicious of all to drink. And then, besides, there are not a few among the medical men themselves who assert that the use of ice water and snow water is highly injurious. From the circumstance that all the more refined parts thereof have been expelled by congelation. At all events, it is a well ascertained fact that the volume of every liquid is diminished by congelation, as also that excessive dews are reproductive of blight in corn, and that hoarfrosts result in blast. Of a kindred nature, both of them, to snow.
It is generally agreed, too, that rainwater The water putrefies with the greatest rapidity, and that it keeps but very badly on a voyage. Epigenes, however, assures us that water which has putrefied seven times and as often purified itself will no longer be liable to putrefaction. As to cistern water, medical men assure us that, owing to its harshness, it is bad for the bowels and throat, and it is generally admitted by them That there is no kind of water that contains more slime or more numerous insects of a disgusting nature. But it does not, therefore, follow that river water is best of all, or that, in fact, of any running stream, the water of many lakes being found to be wholesome in the very highest degree.
What water, then, out of all these various kinds, are we to look upon as best adapted for the human constitution? Different kinds in different localities is my answer. The kings of Parthia drink no water but that of the Choaspis, or of the Ualaes, and however long their journeys, they always have this water carried in their suite. And yet, it is very evident that it is not merely because this water is river water that it is thus pleasing to them, seeing that they decline to drink the water of the Tigris, Euphrates, and so many other streams. Chapter 22. The Impurities of Water. Slime is one great impurity of water. Still, however, if a river of this description is full of eels, it is generally looked upon as a proof of the salubrity of its water, just as it is regarded as a sign of its freshness when long worms breed in the water of a spring.
But it is bitter water, more particularly, that is held in disesteem. As also the water which swells the stomach the moment it is drunk, a property which belongs to the water at Troitzen. As to the nitrous and salsoacid waters which are found in the deserts, persons traveling across towards the Red Sea render them potable in a couple of hours by the addition of polenta, which they use also as food. Those springs are more particularly condemned which secrete mud. It is a good plan, too, to observe if water leaves stains upon copper vessels, if leguminous vegetables boil with difficulty in it, if, when gently decanted, it leaves an earthy deposit, or if, when boiled, it covers the vessel with a thick crust.
It is a fault also in water, not only to have a bad smell, but to have any flavor at all. Even though it be a flavor pleasant and agreeable in itself, or, closely approaching, as we often find the case, the taste of milk, water, to be truly wholesome, ought to resemble air as much as possible. There is only one spring of water in the whole universe, it is said, that has an agreeable smell, that of Shabura, namely, in Mesopotamia. The people give a fabulous reason for it. And say that it is because Juno bathed there. Speaking in general terms, water, to be wholesome, should have neither taste nor smell. Chapter 23. The Modes of Testing Water. Some persons judge of the wholesomeness of water through the agency of a balance.
Their pains, however, are expended to little purpose, it being but very rarely that one water is lighter than another. There is, however, a more certain mode of ascertaining the difference in quality, that water being the better of the two which becomes hot and cold with the greatest rapidity. In addition to which, not to keep poising a balance, after water has been drawn up in vessels, if it is good, it should gradually become warmer, they say, when placed upon the ground. Which water, then, of the several kinds will be most likely to be good and wholesome? Well water, no doubt, if we are to judge from the general use made of it in cities. But only in the case of wells in which it is kept in continual agitation by repeated drying and is refined by the earth acting as a filter.
These conditions are sufficient to ensure salubrity in water. In regards to coolness, The well must be in a shaded spot, and the water kept exposed to the air. There is, however, one thing above all to be observed, a point too of considerable importance with reference to the continuance of the flow. The spring must issue from the bed of the well and not from the sides. To make water cold to the touch may be effected artificially even, either by forcing it to rise aloft or by making it fall from a height. And so come in collision with the air, and become incorporated therewith. For in swimming, we find, when we hold our breath, the water is felt to be all the colder. It was the Emperor Nero's invention to boil water, and then enclose it in glass vessels and cool it in snow, a method which ensures all the enjoyment of a cold beverage without any of the inconveniences resulting from the use of snow.
Indeed, it is generally admitted That all water is more wholesome when it has been boiled, as also that water, when it has once been heated, will become more intensely cold than before. A most ingenious discovery. The best corrective of unwholesome water is to boil it down to one half. Cold water, taken internally, arrests hemorrhage. By keeping cold water in his mouth, A person may render himself proof against the intense heat of the bath. Many a person knows by his own everyday experience that water which is the coldest to drink is not of necessity the coldest to the touch, this delightful property being subject to considerable fluctuations. Chapter 24. The Marchan Waters. The most celebrated water throughout the whole world And the one to which our city gives the palm for coolness and salubrity is that of the Marchian Spring, accorded to Rome among the other bounties of the gods.
The name formerly given to the stream was the Ayufean, the spring itself being known as Pitonia. It rises at the extremity of the mountains of the Peligni, passes through the territory of the Marci and through Lake Fucinus, and then, without deviating, Makes directly for Rome. Shortly after this, it loses itself in certain caverns and only reappears in the territory of Tiber, from which it is brought to the city by an arched aqueduct nine miles in length. Ancus Marchius, one of the Roman kings, was the first who thought of introducing this water into the city. At a later period, the works were repaired by Quintus Marchius Rex. And more recently, in his praetorship by Marcus Agrippa. Chapter 25.
The Virgin Waters. It was he, too, who brought the Virgin Waters from the by-road, situate at the eighth milestone from the city, which runs for two miles along the Predestine Way. Near these waters is the stream of Hercules, which the former shunned to all appearance, And have thence obtained the name of virgin waters. On instituting a comparison between the waters of these streams, the difference above mentioned may be immediately detected, the virgin water being as much cooler to the touch as the Marchion water is in taste. And yet, for this long time past, the pleasure of drinking these waters has been lost to the city, owing to the ambition and avarice of certain persons Chapter 26. The Method of Searching for Water.
It will not be out of place to append here an account of the method employed in searching for water. Water is mostly to be found in valleys, whether formed by the intersection of declivities, Many persons have been of opinion that all places with a northern aspect are naturally provided with water, a point upon which it will not be amiss to explain the diversities presented to us by nature. On the south side of the mountains of Ircania, it never rains, and hence it is that it is only on the northeast side that they are wooded. As for Olympus, Osa, Paranasus, The Apenines and the Alps, they are covered with wood on every side and abundantly watered with streams. Some mountains, again, are wooden on the south side, the White Mountains in Crete, for example.
On this point, therefore, we may come to the conclusion that there is no rule which in all cases holds good. Chapter 27 Signs Indicative of the Presence of Water The following are indications of the presence of water. Rushes, reeds, the plant mentioned with reference to this point already, or frogs sitting squatted on a spot for a long time together. As to the wild willow, alder, vitex, reed, and ivy, all of which grow spontaneously on low grounds in which there is a settling of rainwater from higher localities, Considered as indications of the presence of water, they are all of them of a deceptive nature. A sign much more to be depended upon is a certain misty exhalation, visible from a distance before sunrise.
The better to observe this, some persons ascend in eminence and lie flat at full length upon the ground, with the chin touching the earth. There is also another peculiar method of judging upon this point. Known only to men of experience in these matters, in the very middle of the heats of summer, they select the hottest hours of the day and observe how the sun's rays are reflected in each spot, and if, notwithstanding the general dryness of the earth, a locality is observed to present a moist appearance, they make no doubt of finding water there. But so intense is the stress upon the eyes in doing this, That it is very apt to make them ache. To avoid which inconvenience, they have recourse to other modes of testing.
They dig a hole, for instance, some five feet in depth, and cover it with vessels of unbaked pottery, or with a copper basin well-oiled. They then place a burning lamp on the spot, with an archwork over it of leaves, and covered with earth on the top. If, after a time, They find the pots wet or broken, the copper covered with moisture, or the lamp extinguished but not from want of oil, or if a lock of wool that has been left there is found to be moist, it is a sign of the presence of water, beyond all doubt. With some persons, it is the practice to light a fire on the spot before they dig the hole, a method which renders the experiment with the vessels still more conclusive. Chapter Twenty Eight.
Differences in Waters According to the Nature of the Soil. The soil itself, too, gives indications of the presence of water by presenting white spots or an uniformly green appearance. For where the stratum is black, the springs are mostly not of a permanent nature. The presence of potter's clay always puts an end to all hopes of finding water, and the excavation is immediately abandoned. An eye being carefully kept to the strata of the earth, to see whether, beginning with black mold, it successively presents the appearances above mentioned. The water is always fresh that is found in argillaceous soils, but in a stratum of tufa it is colder than elsewhere. This indeed being a soil which is highly approved of, as having a tendency to make the waters pure and extremely light to the stomach.
And, by its action as a filter, to withhold all impurities. The presence of sand gives indications of springs, but of limited extent, and of water impregnated with slime, while that of gravel announces the presence of water of excellent flavor, but not to be depended upon for permanence. Mail sand, fine sea sand, and charcoal earth The water found there is of the very finest quality. Craggy localities at the foot of mountains and silicious soils are equally good, in addition to which, the water found there is cooler than elsewhere. In boring for water, the soil should always become more and more humid. And, the deeper the descent, with the greater facility the implements should penetrate. In deep-sunk wells, the presence of sulfurous or aluminous substances is fatal to the sinkers, a danger that may be guarded against by letting down a lighted lamp and ascertaining whether the flame is extinguished.
When such is found to be the case, it is the practice to sink vent holes on each side of the well, both right and left. In order to receive and carry off the noxious exhalations. Independently of these evils, the air becomes heavier from the great depth merely of the excavation, an inconvenience which is remedied by keeping up a continual circulation with ventilators of linen cloth. As soon as water is reached, walls are constructed at the bottom, but without cement, in order that the springs may not be intercepted. Some waters The sources of which do not lie on elevated ground are coldest at the beginning of spring, being maintained by the winter rains, in fact. Others, again, are coldest at the rising of the Dog Star.
Peculiarities, both of them, to be witnessed at Pella in Macedonia. For in front of that city there is a marsh spring, which at the beginning of summer is cold, while in the more elevated parts of the city The water is ice-cold in the hottest days of summer. The same is the case, too, at Hyos, the water supply of the harbor and of the city occupying the same relative positions. At Athens, the water of the fountain, Eneacrunos, is colder in a cloudy summer than the well there in the Garden of Jupiter, while on the other hand, this last is ice-cold during the drought of a hot summer. For the most part, however, Wells are coldest about the rising of Arcturus. The water supply of wells never fails in summer, but in all cases it falls low during four days at the rising of the constellation above mentioned.
Throughout the whole winter, on the other hand, many wells entirely fail, as in the neighborhood of Olintus, for example, where the water returns in the early days of spring. In Sicily, too, In the vicinity of Messana and Male, the springs are entirely dry throughout the winter, while in summer they overflow and form quite a river. At Apollonia in Pontus, there is to be seen, near the seashore, a fountain which overflows in summer only, and mostly about the rising of the Dog Star. Should the summer, however, not be so hot as usual, its water is less abundant. Certain soils become drier in consequence of rain, that in the territory of Narnia, for example, a fact which Marcos Cicero has mentioned in his Almaranda with a statement that drought is there productive of mud and rain of dust.
Chapter 29. The Qualities of Water at the Different Seasons of the Year Every kind of water is freshest in winter, not so fresh in summer, Still less so in autumn, and least of all in times of drought. River water, too, is by no means always the same in taste, the state of the bed over which it runs making a considerable difference. For the quality of water, in fact, depends upon the nature of the soil through which it flows, and the juices of the vegetation watered by it. Hence it is That the water of the same river is found in some spots to be comparatively unwholesome. The confluence, too, of rivers are apt to change the flavor of the water, impregnating the stream in which they are lost and absorbed.
As in the case of the Boristines, for example. In some instances, again, the taste of river water is changed by the fall of heavy rains. It has happened three times in the posporus, That there has been a fall of salt rain, a phenomenon which proved fatal to the crops. On three occasions, also, the rains have imparted a bitterness to the overflowing streams of the Nilus, which was productive of great pestilence throughout Egypt. Chapter 30. Historical Observations Upon Waters Which Have Suddenly Made Their Appearance or Suddenly Ceased. It frequently happens That in spots where forests have been felled, springs of water make their appearance, the supply of which was previously expended in the nutriment of the trees.
This was the case upon Mount Haemus, for example, when, during the siege by Cassander, the Gauls cut down a forest for the purpose of making a rampart. Very often, too, after removing the wood which has covered an elevated spot and so served to attract and consume the rains, Devastating torrents are formed by the concentration of the waters. It is very important also for the maintenance of a constant supply of water to till the ground and keep it constantly in motion, taking care to break and loosen the callosities of the surface crust. At all events, we find it stated that upon the city of Crete, Arcadia by name, being raised to the ground, the springs and watercourses Which before were very numerous in that locality, all at once dried up.
But that, six years after, when the city was rebuilt, the water again made its appearance, just as each spot was again brought into cultivation. Earthquakes are also apt to discover or swallow up springs of water, a thing that has happened, it is well known, on five different occasions in the vicinity of Phineus, a town of Arcadia. So, too, upon Mount Coricus a river burst forth, after which the soil was subjected to cultivation. These changes are very surprising where there is no apparent cause for them, such as the occurrence at Magnesia, for instance, where the warm waters became cold, but without losing their brackish flavor, and at the Temple of Neptune in Caria, where the water of the river, from being fresh, Here, too, is another fact replete with the marvelous.
The fountain of Arethusa at Syracuse has a smell of dung, they say, during the celebration of the Games at Olympia, a thing that is rendered not improbable by the circumstance that the river Alpheus makes its way to that island beneath the bed of the sea. There is a spring in the Cherosonissus of the Rhodians. Which discharges its accumulated impurities every nine years. Waters, too, sometimes change their color, as at Babylon, for example, where the water of a certain lake for eleven days in summer is red. In the summer season, too, the current of the Boristines is blue, it is said, and this, although its waters are the most rarefied in existence, and hence float upon the surface of those of the Ipanis.
Though at the same time, there is this marvelous fact, that when south winds prevail, the waters of the Ipanis assume the upper place. Another proof, too, of the surpassing lightness of the water of the Boristines is the fact that it emits no exhalations, nor indeed the slightest vapor even. Authors that would have the credit of diligent research in these inquiries assure us that water becomes heavier After the winter solstice. Chapter Thirty-One. The Method of Conveying Water. The most convenient method of making a water course from the spring is by employing earthen pipes, two fingers in thickness, inserted in one another at the points of junction, the one that has the higher inclination fitting into the lower one, and coated with quicklime macerated in oil.
The inclination To ensure the free flow of the water, ought to be at least one-fourth of an inch to every hundred feet. And if the water is conveyed through a subterraneous passage, there should be air holes let in at intervals of every two actus. Where the water is wanted to ascend aloft, it should be conveyed in pipes of lead. Water, it should be remembered, always rises to the level of its source. If again it is conveyed from a considerable distance, it should be made to rise and fall every now and then, so as not to lose its motive power. The proper length for each leaden pipe is 10 feet, and if the pipe is five fingers in circumference, its weight should be 60 pounds. If 8 feet, 100. If 10, 120, and so on, in the same proportion.
A pipe is called a ten-finger pipe when the sheet of metal is ten fingers in breadth before it is rolled up, a sheet one-half that breadth giving a pipe of five fingers. In all sudden changes of inclination in elevated localities, pipes of five fingers should be employed in order to break the impetuosity of the fall. Reservoirs, too, for branches should be made as circumstances may demand. Chapter 32. How Mineral Waters Should Be Used. I am surprised that Homer has made no mention of hot springs, when on the other hand, he has so frequently introduced the mention of warm baths, a circumstance from which we may safely conclude that recourse was not had in his time to mineral waters for their medicinal properties, a thing so universally the case at the present day.
Waters impregnated with sulfur are good for the sinews, and aluminous waters are useful for paralysis and similar relaxations of the system. Those again which are impregnated with bitumen or nitre, the waters of cutila, for example, are drunk as a purgative. Many persons quite pride themselves on enduring the heat of mineral waters for many hours together. A most pernicious practice, however, as they should be used but very little longer than the ordinary bath, after which the bather should be shampooed with cold water and not leave the bath without being rubbed with oil. This last operation, however, is commonly regarded as altogether foreign to the use of mineral baths, and hence it is that there is no situation in which men's bodies are more exposed to the chances of disease.
The head becoming saturated with the intensity of the odors exhaled, and left exposed, perspiring as it is, to the coldness of the atmosphere, while all the rest of the body is immersed in the water. There is another mistake also of a similar description, made by those who pride themselves upon drinking enormous quantities of these waters. And I myself have seen persons, before now, so swollen with drinking it, That the very rings on their fingers were entirely concealed by the skin, owing to their inability to discharge the vast quantities of water which they had swallowed. It is for this reason, too, that these waters should never be drunk without taking a taste of salt every now and then. The very mud, too, of mineral springs may be employed to good purpose, but to be effectual, after being applied to the body, It must be left to dry in the sun.
It must not be supposed, however, that all hot waters are of necessity medicated, those of Segestia and Sisali, for example, of Larissa, Troas, Magnesia, Melos, and Nipara. Nor is the very general supposition a correct one that waters, to be medicinal, must of necessity discolor copper or silver. No such effect being produced by those of patavium or there being the slightest difference perceptible in the smell.
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3 03 - Book 31, Chapters 33 to 42. The uses of sea-water. Thalassomeli and hydromeli. Various kinds of salt. Properties of salt. Flower of salt. 26:17
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section Three, Book Thirty-One, Chapters Thirty-Three to Forty-Two. Chapter Thirty-Three. The Uses of Seawater. The Advantages of a Sea Voyage. Seawater also is employed in a similar manner for the cure of diseases. It is used, made hot, for the cure of pains in the sinews, for reuniting fractured bones, and for its desiccative action upon the body. For which last purpose, it is also used cold. There are numerous other medicinal resources derived from the sea. The benefits of a sea voyage, more particularly, in cases of thesis, as already mentioned, and where patients are suffering from hemoptysis, as lately experienced in our own memory by Aeneus Gallu at the close of his consulship.
For it is not for the purpose of visiting the country that people so often travel to Egypt, But in order to secure the beneficial results arising from a long sea voyage. Indeed, the very seasickness that is caused by the rocking of the vessel to and fro is good for many affections of the head, eyes, and chest. All those cases, in fact, in which the patient is recommended to drink an infusion of Hellebore. Medical men consider seawater, employed by itself, highly efficacious for the dispersion of tumors. And boiled with barley meal for the successful treatment of imposthumes of the parotid glands. It is used also as an ingredient in plasters, white plasters more particularly, and for emollient poultices.
Seawater is very good, too, employed as a shower bath. And it is taken internally, though not without injury to the stomach, both as a purgative and as an expellent.
Some authorities prescribe it, taken internally, for quartan fevers, as also for tenesmus and diseases of the joints, purposes for which it is kept a considerable time to mellow with age and so lose its noxious properties. Some, again, are for boiling it. But in all cases, it is recommended to be taken from out at sea and untainted with the mixture of fresh water, and emetic also being taken before using it. When used in this manner, vinegar or wine is generally mixed with the water. Those who give it unmixed recommend radishes with oxymol to be eaten upon it, in order to provoke vomiting. Seawater, made hot, is used also as an injection. And there is nothing in existence preferred to it as a fomentation for swellings of the testes, or for chillblains before they ulcerate.
It is similarly employed also for the cure of prurigo, itch scab, and lichens. Lice and other foul vermin of the head are removed by the application of seawater, and lividities of the skin are restored to their natural color. It being a remarkably good plan in such cases, after applying the seawater, To foment the parts with hot vinegar. It is generally considered, too, that seawater is highly efficacious for the stings of venomous insects, those of the phalangeum and scorpion, for example, and as an antidote to the poisonous secretions of the asp, known as the tyus, in all which cases it is employed hot. Fumigations are also made of it, with vinegar, for the cure of headache. And... Used warm as an injection, it allays griping pains in the bowels and cholera.
Things that have been heated in seawater are longer than ordinary in cooling. A seawater bath is an excellent corrective for swelling of the bosoms and females, affections of the thoracic organs, and emaciation of the body. The steam also of seawater boiled with vinegar is used for the removal of hardness of hearing and headache. An application of seawater very expeditiously removes rust upon iron. It is curative also of scab in sheep, and imparts additional softness to the wool. Chapter 34. How artificial seawater may be made in places at a distance from the sea. I am by no means unaware that these details may very possibly appear superfluous to persons who live at a distance from the sea. But scientific research has made provision against this objection by discovering a method of enabling everyone to make seawater for himself.
It is a singular fact in connection with this discovery that if more than one sextarius of salt is put into four sextariae of water, the liquefying properties of the water will be overpowered, and the salt will no longer melt. On the other hand, again, A mixture of one sextarius of salt with four sextariae of water acts as a good substitute for the efficacy and properties of the very saltest sea water. The most reasonable proportion, however, is generally thought to be eight saiyati of salt diluted in the quantity of water above mentioned, a preparation which has been found to have a warming effect upon the sinews without in any degree chafing the body. Chapter 35. How Thalassomeli is Made. There is also a composition made to ripen for use, known as thalassomeli, and prepared with equal parts of seawater, honey, and rainwater.
For this purpose also, the water is brought from out at sea, and the preparation is kept in an earthen vessel well-pitched. It acts most efficiently as a purgative. And without in the least fatiguing the stomach. The taste, too, and the smell of it are very agreeable. Chapter 36. How hydromelli is made. Hydromelli also was a mixture formerly made with pure rainwater and honey, and was prescribed for patients who were anxious for wine as being a more harmless drink. For these many years past, however, it has been condemned. As having, in reality, all the inconveniences of wine without the advantages. Chapter 37. Methods of Providing Against the Inconvenience of Drinking Suspected Water As persons out at sea often suffer great inconvenience from the want of fresh water, we will here describe some methods of obviating it.
Fleeces are spread round the ship. And on becoming moistened with the exhalations arising from the sea, the water is wrung from them and found to be quite fresh. Hollow balls of wax also, or empty vessels sealed at the mouth, upon being let down into the sea in a net, become filled with water that is fresh and potable. On shore, too, seawater may be made fresh by filtering it through argillaceous earth. By swimming in water of any kind, Sprains of the limbs in man or beast are reduced with the greatest facility. Persons, when traveling, are sometimes apprehensive that the use of water, the quality of which is unknown to them, may prove injurious to their health. As a precaution against this, they should drink the suspected water cold immediately after leaving the bath.
Chapter 38. Six Remedies Derived from Moss. Remedies derived from sand. Moss which has grown in water is excellent as a topical application for gout, and, in combination with oil, it is good for pains and swellings in the ankles. The foam that floats upon the surface of the water, used as a friction, causes warts to disappear. The sand, too, of the seashore, that more particularly which is very fine and burnt white by the heat of the sun, is used remedially for its desiccative properties, the bodies of dropsical or rheumatic patients being entirely covered with it. Thus, much with reference to water itself, we will now turn to the aquatic productions, beginning, as in all other instances, with the principle of them, namely, salt and sponge.
Chapter 39. The Various Kinds of Salt. The Methods of Preparing It. And the remedies derived from it. Two hundred and four observations thereupon. All salt is either native or artificial, both kinds being formed in various ways, but produced from one of these two causes, the condensation or the desiccation of a liquid. The lake of Tarantum is dried up by the heat of the summer sun, and the whole of its waters, which are at no time very deep. Not higher than the knee, in fact, are changed into one mass of salt. The same two with a lake in Sicily, Pocenicus by name, and another in the vicinity of Gella. But in the case of these two last, it is only the sides that are thus dried up. Whereas in Phrygia, in Cappadocia, and at Aspendus, where the same phenomena are observable, the water is dried up to a much larger extent.
To the very middle of the lake, in fact. There is also another marvelous circumstance connected with this last. However much salt is taken out of it in the day, its place is supplied again during the night. Every kind of lake, salt is found in grains and not in the form of blocks. Seawater, again, spontaneously produces another kind of salt, from the foam which it leaves on shore at high-water mark, or adhering to rocks. This being, in all cases, condensed by the action of the sun, and that salt being the most pungent of the two which is found upon the rocks. There are also three different kinds of native salt. In Bactriana, there are two vast lakes. One of them situate on the side of Scythia, the other on that of Arianna, both of which throw up vast quantities of salt.
So too, at Chitsum, In Cyprus. And, in the vicinity of Memphis, they extract salt from the lake and dry it in the sun. The surface waters of some rivers also condense in the form of salt, the rest of the stream flowing beneath as though under a crust of ice, such as the running waters near the Caspian gates, for instance, which are known as the rivers of salt. The same is the case, too, in the vicinity of the Marti And of the people of Armenia. In Bactriana also, the rivers Ocus and Oxus carry down from the mountains on their banks fragments of salt. There are also in Africa some lakes, the waters of which are turbid, that are productive of salt. Some hot springs, too, produce salt. Those at Pegasai, for example.
Such then... The other is the various kinds of salt produced spontaneously by water. There are certain mountains also formed of native salt. That of Oromenus in India, for example, where it is cut out like blocks from a quarry and is continually reproduced, bringing in a larger revenue to the sovereigns of those countries than that arising from their gold and pearls. In some instances, it is dug out of the earth, being formed there, evidently, The blocks of it are very heavy, the name commonly given to them being mica. At Jere, a city of Arabia, the ramparts and houses are constructed of blocks of salt, which are soldered together by being moistened with water. King Ptolemeus Discovered salt also in the vicinity of Pelusium when he encamped there, a circumstance which induced other persons to seek and discover it in the scorched tracks that lie between Egypt and Arabia beneath the sand.
In the same manner, too, it has been found in the thirsting deserts of Africa, as far as the Oracle of Haman, a locality in which the salt increases at night with the increase of the moon. The districts of Sirinaika are ennobled, too, by the production of Hamonaikum, a salt so-called from the fact of its being found beneath the sands there. It is similar in color to the alum known as schiston, and consists of long pieces, by no means transparent, and of an unpleasant flavor, but highly useful in medicine. That being held in the highest esteem, There is one remarkable fact mentioned in connection with it. So long as it lies under the ground in its bed, it is extremely light. But the moment it is exposed to the light, it is hardly credible to what an extent its weight is increased.
The reason for this is evident. The humid vapors of the excavations bear the masses upwards, as water does. And so aid the workmen. It is adulterated with the Sicilian salt, which we have mentioned as being found in Lake Cocinicus, as also with that of Cyprus, which is marvelously like it. At Egeleista, in nearer Spain, there is a salt hewn from the bed in almost transparent blocks, and to which for this long time past most medical men, it is said, have given the preference over all other salt. Every spot in which salt is found is naturally barren and produces nothing. Such are the particulars in general which have been ascertained with reference to native salt. Of artificial salt there are several kinds, the common salt and the most abundant being made from seawater drained into salt pans and accompanied with streams of fresh water.
But it is rain more particularly, and above all things, the sun. That aids in its formation. Indeed, without this last, it would never dry. In the neighborhood of Utica, in Africa, they build up masses of salt, like hills in appearance, and when these have been hardened by the action of the sun and moon, no moisture will ever melt them, and iron can hardly divide them. In Krite, however, salt is made without the aid of fresh water. And merely by introducing seawater into the salt pans. On the shores of Egypt, salt is formed by the overflow of the sea upon the land, already prepared for its reception, in my opinion, by the emanations of the river Nils. It is made here also from the water of certain wells discharged into salt pans.
At Babylon, the result of the first condensation is a bituminous liquid, like oil. In Cappadocia, also, both well and spring water are introduced into the salt pans. In Shaonia, there is a spring, from which the water of which, when boiled and left to cool, there is an inert salt obtained, not so white as ordinary salt. In the Gaelic provinces and in Germany, It is the practice to pour salt water upon burning wood. Chapter 40. Muria. In one part of Spain, they draw a brine for this purpose from deep-sunk pits, to which they give the name of Muria, being of opinion, also, that it makes a considerable difference upon what kind of wood it is poured. That of the cuircus they look upon as the best, as the ashes of it, unmixed, The wood of the hazel is held in high esteem, and thus we see, by pouring brine upon it, charcoal even is converted into salt.
All salt that is thus prepared with burning wood is black. I find it stated by Theophrastus that the umbri are in the habit of boiling ashes of reeds and bulrushes in water. The brine, too, of salted provisions is sometimes boiled over again, and, as soon as all the moisture has evaporated, the salt resumes its original form. That prepared from the pickle of the Maena has the finest flavor. Chapter 41. The Various Properties of Salt. 120 Historical Remarks Relative Thereto. Of the various kinds of sea salt, the most esteemed is that of Salamis in Cyprus, and of the lake salts that of Tarentum and the salt known as Tatayan salt, which comes from Phrygia. These last two are also good for the eyes.
That of Cappadocia, which is imported in small cubes, imparts a fine color, it is said, to the skin. But for effacing wrinkles, That which we have already spoken of as the salt of Chitsum is the best. Hence it is that in combination with Jit, it is used by females as a liniment for the abdomen after childbirth. The drier the salt, the stronger it is in taste. But the most agreeable of all, and the whitest known, is that of Terentum. In addition to these particulars, we would remark also That the whiter salt is, the more friable it is. Rainwater deadens every kind of salt, but dew water makes it more delicate in flavor. Northeasterly winds render the formation of salt more abundant, but while south winds prevail, it never increases.
It is only while northeasterly winds prevail that flower of salt is formed. Neither the salt of Tragaza Nor the Acanthian salt, so called from the town where it is found, will decrepitate or crackle in the fire. Nor will the froth of salt do so, or the outside scrapings, or refined salt. The salt of Agrigentum resists fire, but decrepitates in water. There are differences, too, in the color of salt. At Memphis, it is deep red. Russet-colored in the vicinity of the Oxus, purple at Centuripa, and so remarkably bright at Gella, situate also in Sicily, as to reflect the image of objects. In Cappadocia, there is a saffron-colored fossil salt, transparent and remarkably odoriferous. For medicinal purposes, The ancients esteemed the salt of Tarentum in particular, and next to that, all the marine salts, those collected from sea foam more especially.
Formalities of the eyes in cattle and beasts of burden, the salt of Trageysa and that of Boetica are employed. For made dishes and ordinary food, the more easily a salt liquefies and the moister it is, the more highly it is esteemed. There being less bitterness in salt of this description, that of Attica and Yuboya, for example. For keeping meat, a pungent, dry salt, like that of Magara, is best. A conserve of salt is also made with the addition of various odoriferous substances, which answers all the purpose of a choice sauce, sharpening the appetite and imparting a relish to all kinds of food. Indeed, among the innumerable condiments which we use, the flavor of salt is always distinctly perceptible.
And when we take garum with our food, it is its salt flavor that is considered so exquisite. And not only this, but sheep even, cattle, and beasts of burden, are induced to graze all the better by giving them salt, it having the effect also of considerably augmenting the milk. And imparting a superior flavor to the cheese. We may conclude, then, by Hercules, that the higher enjoyments of life could not exist without the use of salt. Indeed, so highly necessary is this substance to mankind, that the pleasures of the mind, even, can be expressed by no better term than the word salt, such being the name given to all effusions of wit. All the amenities, in fact, of life, supreme hilarity, and relaxation from toil can find no word in our language to characterize them better than this.
Even in the very honors, too, that are bestowed upon successful warfare, salt plays its part, and from it our word salarion is derived. That salt was held in high esteem by the ancients is evident from the Salarian Way. So named from the fact that by agreement the Sabini carried all their salt by that road. King Encus Marchus gave 600 modii of salt as a largesse to the people, and was the first to establish salt works. Varo also informs us that the ancients used salt by way of a relishing sauce, and we know from an old proverb, That it was the practice with them to eat salt with their bread. But it is in our sacred rites, more particularly, that its high importance is to be recognized. No offering ever being made unaccompanied by the salted cake.
Chapter 42. Flour of Salt. Twenty Remedies. Salsugo. Two Remedies. That which mainly distinguishes the produce of salt works In respect of its purity, is a sort of efflorescence which forms the lightest and whitest part of salt. The name flower of salt is given also to a substance of an entirely different character, more humid by nature, and of a red or saffron color. A kind of rust of salt, as it were, with an unpleasant smell like that of garum. And differing therein not only from froth of salt, but from salt itself. This substance is found in Egypt, and as it would appear, is conveyed thither by the waters of the Nilus, though it is to be found floating upon the surface of certain springs as well.
The best kind is that which yields a certain fatty substance like oil, for salt even, a thing that is quite marvelous to think of. is not without a degree of unctuousness. This substance is sophisticated and colored with red earth or, in most instances, with powdered potsherds, an adulteration to be detected by the agency of water, which washes off the fictitious color, the natural color being only removable by the agency of oil. Indeed, it is for its color that perfumers more particularly make such extensive use of this drug. When seen in the vessels, the surface of it is white, but that which lies in the middle is moister, as already stated. It is of an acrid nature, calorific, and bad for the stomach.
It acts also as a sudorific, and taken with wine and water, has a purgative effect upon the bowels. It is very useful also as an ingredient in a copa and in detersive compositions. And is remarkably efficacious for the removal of hairs from the eyelids. It is the practice to shake up the sediment in order to renovate the saffron color of the drug. In addition to these substances, there is another known in the salt works by the name of salsugo or salsalago. It is quite liquid, salter in taste than seawater, but inferior to it in its properties.
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4 04 - Book 31, Chapters 43 to 47. Garum. Alex. The nature of salt. Nitrum. Sponges. Summary. Roman Authors Quoted. Foreign Authors Quoted. 34:10
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 4, Book 31. Chapter 43. Garum. 15 Remedies. Another liquid, too, of a very exquisite nature, is that known as garum. It is prepared from the intestines of fish and various parts which would otherwise be thrown away. Macerated in salt, so that it is, in fact, the result of their putrefaction, Garum was formally prepared from a fish called Geros by the Greeks, who assert also that a fumigation made with its head has the effect of bringing away the afterbirth. At present day, however, the most esteemed kind of Garum is prepared from the Iscomber. In the fisheries of Carthago, Spartaria, it is known as Garum of the Allies, and for a couple of congi, We have to pay little less than 1,000 sesterces.
Indeed, there is no liquid hardly, with the exception of the unguents, that is sold at higher prices of late, so much so that the nations which produce it have become quite ennobled thereby.
There are fisheries, too, of the Scomber, on the coasts of Morantania and at Cartia in Bityka. Near the straits which lie at the entrance of the ocean, this being the only use that is made of the fish. For the production of Garum, Clasamonene is also famed in Pompeii, Tu, and Leptis, while for their Myria and Typulus, Thuriae of late, Dinataea, enjoy the highest reputation.
Chapter 44. Alex. Eight Remedies. Alex, which is a refuse of garum, properly consists of the drugs of it, when imperfectly strained. But, of late, they have begun to prepare it separately from a small fish that is otherwise good for nothing. The Appua of the Latins, or Appua of the Greeks, so called from the fact of its being endangered from rain. The people of Forum Julii make their garum from a fish to which They give the name of Lupus. In the process of time, Alex has become quite an object of luxury, and the various kinds that are now made are infinite in number. The same, too, with Garum, which is now prepared in imitation of the color of honeyed wine, and so pleasantly flavored as to admit of being taken as a drink.
Another kind, again, is dedicated to those superstitious observances. In the same way, Alex has come to be manufactured from oysters, sea urchins, sea nettles, camerari, and the liver of Sir Mullet, and a thousand different methods have been devised of late for ensuring the putrefaction of salt in such a way as to secure the flavors most relished by the palate. Thus much, by the way, with reference to the tastes of the present day, though at the same time it must be remembered these substances are by no means without their uses in medicine. Alex, for instance, is a curative of scab in sheep, incisions being made in the skin and the liquor poured therein. It is useful, also, for the cure of wounds inflicted by dogs or by the sea dragon, the application being made with lint.
Recent burns, too, are healed by the agency of garum, due care being taken to apply it without mentioning it by name. It is useful, too, for bites inflicted by dogs, and for that of the crocodile in particular, as also for the treatment of serpignous or sordid ulcers, for ulcerations and painful afflictions to the mouth and ears. It is a marvelously useful remedy. Myria also, as well as the salsugo which we have mentioned, has certain astringent, mordant, and discussive properties. It is highly useful for the cure of dysentery, even when ulceration has attacked the intestines. Injections are also made of it for sciatica and for celiac fluxus of an inverted nature. In spots which lie at a distance in the interior, it is used as a fomentation by way of substitute for seawater.
Chapter 45. The Nature of Salt Salt, regarded by itself, is naturally igneous, and yet it manifests an antipathy to fire and flies from it. It consumes everything, and yet, upon living bodies, it has an astringent, desiccative, and binding effect, while the dead it preserves from putrefaction and makes them last for ages even. In respect, however, of its medicinal properties, It is of a mordant, burning, detergent, attenuating, and resolvent nature. It is, however, injurious to the stomach, except that it acts as a stimulant to the appetite. For the cure of injuries inflicted by serpents, it is used with originum, honey, and hyssop, and for the sting of the serastes, with originum, cedar resin, pitch, or honey.
Taken internally with vinegar, it is good for injuries caused by scolopendra and applied topically with an equal proportion of linseed in oil or vinegar for stings inflicted by scorpions. For stings of hornets, wasps, and insects of similar description, it is applied with vinegar. And for the cure of hermocrania, ulcers of the head, blisters, pimples, and incipient warts with veal sweat. It is used also Among the remedies for the eyes, and for the removal of fleshy excrescences upon those organs, as also of hangnails upon the fingers or toes. For webs that form upon the eyes it is particularly useful, and hence it is that it is so commonly employed as an ingredient in eye salves, as well as plasters.
For all these last-mentioned purposes, the salt of tata, or of conus, is most particularly in request. In cases where there is ecchymosis of the eyes, or a bruise from the effects of a blow, salt is applied with an equal quantity of myrrh or honey, or with hyssop in warm water, the eyes also being fomented with salsugo. For this last-mentioned purpose, the Spanish salt is preferred, and when wanted for treatment of cataract, it is ground upon small wet stones with milk. For bruises, it is particularly useful, wrapped in a linen pledget and renewed from time to time, being first dipped in boiling water. For the cure of running ulcers of the mouth, it is applied with lint. Gum boils are also rubbed with it, and broken to pieces and powdered fine, it removes granulations on the tongue.
The teeth, it is said, will never become carious or corroded. If a person every morning puts some salt beneath his tongue, fasting, and leaves it there till it has melted. Salt affects the cure also of leprosy, boils, lichens, and itch scabs, for all which purposes it is applied with raisins, the stones first being removed, beef suet, oreganium, and leaven or else bread. In such cases, it is the salt from the bays that is mostly used, the same salt being considered preferable for the treatment of pirigo. And being highly esteemed for afflictions of the uvula and tonsillary glands in combination with honey. Every kind of salt is useful for the cure of quincy, but in addition to this, it is necessary to make external applications simultaneously with oil, vinegar, and tar.
Mixed with wine, it is a gentle apurriant to the bowels. And taken in a similar manner, it acts as an expellent of All kinds of intestinal worms. Placed beneath the tongue, it enables convalescence to support the heat of the bath. Burnt more than once upon a plate of white heat, then enclosed in a bag, it alleviates pains in the sinews, about the shoulders and kidneys more particularly. Taken internally and similarly burnt at a white heat and applied in bags, it is curative of colic, griping pains in the bowels, and sciatica. Beaten up in wine and honey, with meal, it is a remedy for gout. A malady for the especially behoof of which the observation should be borne in mind that there is nothing better for all parts of the body than sun and salt.
Hence, it is that we see the bodies of fishermen as hard as horn gout. However, it is the principal disease for the benefit of which this maxim should be remembered. Salt is useful for the removal of corns upon the feet and of chilblains. For the cure of burns, also, it is applied with oil, Or else chewed. It acts as a check upon blisters, and in cases of erysipelas and serapygneous ulcers, it is applied topically with vinegar or with hyssop. For the cure of carcinoma, it is employed in combination with timidian grapes. And for phasiodasmic ulcers, it is used parched with barley meal, a linen pudget steeped in wine being laid upon it. In cases of jaundice, it is employed as a friction before the fire with oil and vinegar till the patient is made to perspire for the purpose of preventing itching sensations attendant upon that disease.
When persons are exhausted with fatigue, it is usual to rub them with salt and oil. Many have treated dropsy with salt, have used external applications of salt and oil for the burning heats of fever, Salt has been used, also, as an injection for sciatica, and has been applied to ulcers of fungus or putrid nature. To bites inflicted by the crocodile, salt is applied, the sores being tightly bandaged with linen cloths, first dipped in vinegar. It is taken internally with hydromel to neutralize the effects of opium. And is applied topically with meal and honey to sprains and fleshy excrescences. In cases of toothache, it is used as a colatory with vinegar and is useful applied externally with resin.
For all purposes, however, froth of salt is found to be more agreeable and still more effaceous. Still, however, every kind of salt is good as an ingredient in the okapa. When warming properties are required, the same. Two. In the case of detersive applications, when required for plumping out and giving smooth surface to the skin. Employed topically, salt is curative of itch scab in sheep and cattle. For which disease it is given them to lick, it is injected also with the spittle into the eyes of beasts of burden. Thus much with reference to salt.
Chapter 46. The Various Kinds of Nitrum The methods of preparing it. The remedies derived from it. Two hundred and twenty-one observations thereon.
And here we must no longer defer giving an account of nitrum, which, in its properties, does not greatly differ from salt, and deserves all the more to be attentively considered from the evident fact that medical men who have written upon it were ignorant of its nature. Of all which authors, Theophrastus is the one that has given the greatest attention to the point. It is found in small quantities in Media, in certain valleys there, that are white with heat and drought, the name given to it being Halmarax. In Thrasia II, near Philippi, it is found but in smaller quantities and deteriorated with earthy substances, being known there as Agreon. As to that prepared from the burnt wood of the Quercus, it was never made to any very great extent, and the manufacture of it lies been long since totally abandoned.
Nitrous waters are also found in numerous places, but not sufficiently impregnated to admit of condensation. The best and most abundant supply is found in Litae in Macedonia, where it is known as Calastricum. It is white and pure, and closely resembles salt. In the middle of certain nitrous lakes there, a spring of fresh water issues forth. In this lake, the nitrum forms for nine days, about the rising of the Dog Star, and then ceases for the same period, after which it again floats upon the surface, and then again ceases. Facts which abundantly prove That it is the particular nature of the soil which generates the nitrum, it being very evident that, when the formation is there interrupted, neither the heat of the sun nor the fall of the rain is productive of the slightest effect.
It is also a truly marvelous fact that, though the spring of fresh water is always uninterruptedly flowing, the waters of the lake never increase or overflow. If it happens to rain on days during which the nitrum is forming, the result is that it is rendered additionally salt thereby. The prevalence of northeast winds, too, still more deteriorates its quality, as they have a tendency to stir up mud at the bottom. Such is the formation of native nitrum. In Egypt, again, it is made artificially, and in much greater abundance, but inferior quality, being tawny and full of stones. It is prepared in pretty nearly the same manner as salt, except that in the salt pans, it is seawater that is introduced.
Whereas in the nitrobeds, it is the water of the river Mlus, a water which, upon the substance of the river, is impregnated with nitrum for 40 days together, and not, as in Macedonia, at intermittent periods only. On occasions when there has been a fall of rain, a smaller proportion of river water is employed. As soon, too, as any quantity of nitrum is formed, it is immediately removed in order that it may not melt in the beds. This substance also contains a certain proportion of oil, which is very useful for the cure of scab in animals. Piled up in large heaps, it keeps for a considerable time. It is a marvelous fact that, in Lake Ascanius, and in certain springs in the vicinity of Calcis, the water is fresh and potable on the surface and nitrous below.
The lightest part of nitrum is always considered the best, and hence it is the froth of it, is so much preferred. Still, however, when in an impure state, it is very useful for some purposes. Coloring purple cloth, for instance, and indeed all kinds of dyeing. It is employed, also, very extensively in the manufacture of glass, as we shall more fully mention on the appropriate occasion. The only nitro works in Egypt were formerly those in the vicinity of Nacratus and Memphis, those near Memphis being inferior to the others, the piles of nitrum there being prepared as hard as stone and many of the heaps having become changed into rocks. When in this state, vessels are made of it, and very frequently they melt with sulfur on a charcoal fire.
When substances are wanted to keep, they employ this type of nitrum. In Egypt, there are also nitrobeds, the protus of which is red, owing to the color of the earth in the same locality. Froth of nitrum, a substance held in very high esteem, could only be made, according to the ancients, when the dews had fallen, the pits being, at the moment, saturated with nitrum, but not having arrived at the point of yielding it. On the other hand, again, when the pits were in full activity, no froth was formed. It was said, In a succeeding age, the medical men, speaking of it under the name of Ephronitrum, have stated it was collected in Asia, where it was found to be oozing from the soft sides of certain mines, the name given to which was Coliseus, and that it was dried in the sun.
The very best is thought to be that which comes from Lydia, the test of its genuineness being its extreme lightness, its friability, and its color, which should be almost full purple. The last is imported in tablets, while that of Egypt comes enclosed in vessels pitched within to prevent its melting, the vessels being previously prepared by being thoroughly dried in the sun. To be good, nitrum should be very fine and extremely spongy and porous. In Egypt, it is sophisticated with lime and adulteration easily detected by tasting it, for when pure, it liquefies immediately, while that which has been adulterated remains undissolved sufficiently long to leave a pungent taste in the mouth. It is burnt in a closed earthen vessel, as otherwise it would be decrepitate, except in this last case, however.
The action of fire does not cause it to decrepitate. This substance neither produces nor nourishes anything. While in the salt pans, on the other hand, we see plants growing, and the sea, we know, produces immense number of animated beings, though as to plants, seaweed only. It is evident, too, that the acridity of nitrum must be greater than that of salt. Not only from the fact last mentioned, but from the circumstance also that at the nitrobeds the shoes wear out with the greatest rapidity, localities which are otherwise very healthy and remarkably beneficial to the eyesight. At the nitroworks, ophthalmalia is a thing unknown. Persons, too, that come there with ulcers upon them experience a rapid cure, though ulcerations formed upon the spot are slow in healing.
Used as a friction with oil, nitrum is a suitorific and acts emolliently upon the body. That of cholestra is used as a substitute for salt in making bread, and the Egyptian nitrum is eaten with radishes, it having the effect of making them more tender, though as to other edibles, it turns them white and spoils them. To vegetables, it imparts an additional greenness. Viewed medicinally, nitrum is calorific, attenuent, mordant, astringent, It is good, too, in cases where certain humors require to be drawn out or dispersed, or where gentle mordants or attenuants are required, as in the case of pustules or pimples, for example. Some persons ignite it for this purpose and, after quenching it in astringent wine, bruise it and use it without oil at the bath.
Applied with dried iris powdered and green olive oil, it checks the immoderate perspiration. Apply topically with a fig, or boil down to one half in raisin wine. It removes marks upon the eyes and granulations of the eyelids. It is used also for the removal of Arjima. Boiled in a pomegranate rind with raisin wine, used as an ointment in combination with honey, it improves the eyesight. It is very useful also for toothache, taken as a collatory with wine and pepper, or boiled with a leek. Burnt and employed as a dentifrice, it restores the teeth to their original color that have turned black, and an application of it with samian earth and oil kills nits and other vermins of the head. Dissolved in wine, it is used as an injection for separations of the ears and, applied with vinegar, it consumes filth that has accumulated there.
Introduced dry into the ears, it disperses singings and tinglings into those organs. Applied topically in the sun with an equal quantity of simolean chalk dissolved in vinegar, it removes white morphe, and a mixture of it with resin or with white raisins of stones being beaten up, as well is an excellent cure for boils. It is useful also for inflammations of the testes, and in combination with axle grease, for pituitous eruptions on all parts of the body. For the cure of bites inflicted by dogs, it is used with resin. The application being made at first with vinegar. With lime and vinegar, it is used as a liniment for stings inflicted by serpents, as also for ulcerations, whether phasedenic, putrid, sepignous.
In cases two of dropsy, it is employed internally and externally beaten with figs. Taken internally as a decoction in doses of one drachma with rue, dill, or cumin. It effectively removes griping pains in the bowels. An external application of it with oil and vinegar is highly refreshing to persons exhausted with fatigue. It is equally beneficial for shudderings and cold shiverings, the feet and hands of the patient being well rubbed with it mixed with oil. It allays the itching sensations attendant upon jaundice, more particularly when it is ministered to the patient while perspiring with vinegar. Taken internally in Oxycrate, it is an antidote for the poison of fungi, and taken with water, it acts beneficially as an emetic in cases where burpristis has been swallowed.
To persons who have taken bull's blood, nitrum is administered in combination with laser. Mixed with honey and cow's milk, it is a curative of ulcers upon the face. For the cure of burns, it is applied pounded, being first parched until it turns black. For pains in the bowels and kidneys, and for rigidities of the limbs and pains in the sinews, it is used in the form of an injection. For the cure of paralysis of the tongue, it is applied to that organ with bread, and to asthmatic patients, it is administered with ticin. Flour of Nitrin, used in combination with equal proportions of galbanum and turpentine respectively, is a curative of chronic coughs. The mixture being taken in pieces the size of a bean.
Nitrum itself, boiled and melted with tar, is given to patients to swallow for quincy. Flour of nitrum mixed with oil of cypress and applied in the sun is a soothing liniment for pains and joints. Taken internally with wine, it is curative of jaundice and acts as carminative also, and it arrests bleeding at the nose, the vapor of it in boiling water being inhaled by the patient. Mixed with alum, it removes poriga. And, used daily with water, as a fomentation, it removes offensive odors of the armpits. Used in combination with wax, it heals ulcers produced by pituitous secretions and, similarly employed, is very useful for afflictions of the sinews. For the cure of the celiac flux, it is used in the form of an injection.
Many authorities recommend the use of it with oil as a friction when cold shiverings are just coming on. As also for the removal of leprous spots and freckles. It is a good plan, also, to use a sitting bath made with an infusion of nitrum for the cure of gout, atrophy, opethotony, and tetanus. Both salt and nitre, boiled with sulfur, become petrified.
Chapter 47. Sponges and the Remedies Derived from Them. Ninety-two observations thereon.
We have already, when speaking of the marine productions, described the various kinds of sponge. Some authorities make the following distinctions. They regard as males those sponges which are pierced with more diminutive holes, are more compact in form, and more ready to imbibe, and are stained to satisfy luxurious tastes in various colors, sometimes purple even. Those, on the other hand, which have holes larger and running into one another, they consider to be females. Among the male sponges, there is a kind harder than the others, the name given to which is tragi, and the holes of which are extremely small and numerous. Sponges are made white artificially, the softest being chosen for this purpose, and after they have been steeped the whole summer through with the foam of the sea, They are then exposed to the action of the moon and hoarfrosts, being turned upside down, in other words, with that part upwards, which they formerly adhered to the rocks, the object being that they may become white throughout.
That sponges are animated beings, we have already stated, and not only this, but they have a coat of blood even, adhering to them. Some say that they regulate their movements by sense of hearing, and that at the slightest noise, They contract themselves and emit an abundant moisture. When such is the case, it is said it is impossible to tear them away from the rocks, and consequently they must be cut, an operation during which they emit a sinus secretion. Those sponges, too, are preferred to all others, which are grown upon spots with a northeast aspect, the physicians assuring us that these retain the breadth of life the longest of all. A circumstance which renders them additionally useful to the human body, from the union which there is thereby effected of their vital principle with our own.
It is for this reason, too, that they are preferred as fresh as possible and in a moist state rather than dry. They are not so useful, however, if applied with hot water, and still less so if they are oiled or applied to the body when just anointed. The compact sponges, it is thought, The softest kind of sponge are those employed for tents. Applied with honeyed wine, sponges reduce swellings of the eyes and are extremely useful for the removal of room from those organs, the very finest and softest being a necessity selected for the purpose. Sponges are applied also with Oxycrate to deflections of the eyes and with warm vinegar For headache. In addition to these properties, fresh sponges are resolvent, emollient, and soothing, but when old, they lose their healing properties for wounds.
They are employed also in medicine for cleansing sores and for either fermenting or covering the parts fermented, till some other application is made. Applied topically, they have a healing effect upon running ulcers, And upon sores of the bodies of aged persons. Fractures, too, and wounds are most effectively fomented with sponge. And when surgical operations are performed, it instantly absorbs the blood so as to allow the incision to be Sponges are applied also as a bandage to inflamed wounds, sometimes dry and in some cases moistened with vinegar, wine, or cold water. Soaked in rainwater and applied to the incision. They prevent cuts recently inflicted from swelling. They are used as an application for such parts of the body, though apparently uninjured, as are threatened with occult humors, which require to be dispersed, and also for reducing the tumors known to us as apostomies, the parts being first fermented with a decoction of honey.
Sponges are employed, also, Soaked in salt and water, sponges are applied to calicetes, and with vinegar, they are used for stings inflicted by scorpions. In the treatment of wounds, sponges are sometimes used as a substitute for greasy wool, either with wine, The only difference being that wool acts emolliently upon the sores, whereas a sponge has an astringent action and absorbs the vitiated humors. To dropsical patients, bandages of sponge are applied either dry or steeped in warm water or OxyCrate, according as there is a necessity for soothing the skin or for covering it up and drying it. Sponges are applied, also, in all those diseases where warmth is required, being first soaked in boiling water and then squeezed out between a couple of boards.
Employed in this manner, too, they are very useful for affections of the stomach and for the excessive heats attendant upon fever. Steeped in Oxycrate, they are good for diseases of the spleen and in vinegar for erysipelas, nothing, in fact, being equally aphasis. Sponge, when thus used, should always be applied as to amply cover the adjacent parts that are not affected. Employed with vinegar or cold water, sponge arrests hemorrhage. Soaked in warm salt and water, and frequently renewed, it removes the lividity which results from a recent blow. Used with Oxycrate, it disperses pains and swellings to the testes. To bites inflicted by dogs, it is good plan to apply sponge from time to time, cut fine and moistened with vinegar, cold water, or honey.
Ashes of African sponge with juice of cut leek and a mixture of salt and cold water are good, taken internally, for patients suffering from discharges of blood. Applied topically to the forehead with oil or vinegar, they are a curative of tertian fevers. The sponge of Africa, more particularly, soaked in oxycrate, disperses tumors. Ashes of any kind of sponge burnt with pitch arrest the discharge of blood from wounds, though some recommend, for this purpose, the sponge with large pores only burnt with pitch. For affections of the eyes, sponges burnt in vessels of unbaked earthenware, the ashes being found highly aphasis. For granulations of the eyelids, fleshy excretions, and all diseases of those parts which require detergents, astringents, or expletives.
For all these purposes, however, it is the best plan first to rinse the ashes. When the body is in a diseased state, sponge acts as a substitute for body scrapers, linen towels, and it protects the head most efficiently.
Medical men, in their ignorance, comprehend all sponges under two names, African sponge, the substance of which is tougher and firmer, and Iphodian sponge, which is softer and better adapted to fomentations. At the present day, however, the softest sponges of all are those found above the walls of the city of Entephalos. Trogas informs us that the softest tent sponges are found out at sea, off the coast of Lycia, upon spots which the spun has been previously removed. We learn, too, from Polyvius that these fine sponges suspended over a patient's bed will ensure him additional repose at night. We will now turn to remedies derived from marine and aquatic animals.
Summary. Remedies, Narratives, and Observations, 924. Roman authors quoted. M. Yarrow, Cassius of Parma, Cicero, Musaeinus, Callius, Celsus, Trogus, Ovid, Polybius, Cernatius. Foreign authors quoted. Callimachus, Tisius, Eutychus, Theophrastus, Eudacus, Theopompus, Polycritus, Juba, Lycus, Appian, Epigenes, Pelops, Apelles, Democritus, Thrasilis, Nicander, Meander, the comic writer, Atenes, Celestius, End of Section 4. Recorded by Keith G. Saturn, Rochester, New York, United States. End of the Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley.
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5 05 - Book 32, Chapters 1 to 12. Remedies from aquatic animals. The torpedo. The sea-hare. Properties of fishes. Corals. Pastinaca. Galeos. Sur-mullet. 22:20
The Natural History, Vol. Seven by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section Five Book Thirty-Two Chapters One to Twelve. Natural History of Plain. The Remedies Derived from the Quantic Animals.
Chapter One. The Power of Nature is Manifested in Antipathies. The Echinus. Two Remedies.
Following the proper order of things, we have now arrived at the culminating point of the wonders manifested to us by the operations of nature. And even at the very outset, We find spontaneously presented to us an incomparable illustration of her mysterious powers, so much so, in fact, that beyond it we feel ourselves bound to forbear extending our enquiries, there being nothing to be found either equal or analogous to an element in which nature quite triumphs over herself, and that, too, in such numberless ways. For what is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man than in this by his inventions of sails and of oars?
In addition to this, Weir struck with the ineffable might displayed by the ocean's tides as they constantly ebb and flow, and so regulate the currents of the sea as though they were the waters of one vast river. And yet all these forces, though acting in uisome and impelling in the same direction, a single fish, And that of a very diminutive size, the fish known as the Echinaceus, possesses the power of counteracting. Winds may blow and storms may rage, and yet the Echinaceus controls their fury, restrains their mighty force, and bids the ships to stand still in their career. A result which no cables, no anchors, from their ponderousness quite incapable of being weighed, could ever have produced.
A fish bridles the impetuous violence of the deep. It subdues the frantic rage of the universe, and all this by no effort of its own, no act of resistance on its part, no act at all, in fact, but that of adhering to the bark. Triflung as this object would appear, it suffices to counteract all these forces combined, and to forbid the ship to pass onward on its way. Fleets, armed for war, pile up towers and bulwarks on their decks, in order that, upon the deep even, Men may fight from behind ramparts, as it were, but alas for human vanity. When their prows, beaked as they are with brass and with iron, and armed for the onset, can thus be arrested and riveted to the spot by a little fish no more than some half-foot in length, At the Battle of Actium, it is said, a fish of this kind stopped the Praetorianship of Antonius in its course at the moment that he was hastening from ship to ship to encourage and exhort his men, and so compelled him to leave it and go on board another.
Hence it was that the fleet of Caesar gained the advantage in the onset, and charged with a redoubled impetuosity. In our own time, too, One of these fish arrested the ship of the Emperor Caius in its course when he was returning from Astura to Antium, and thus, as the result proved, did an insignificant fish give pre-stage of great events, for no sooner had the Emperor returned to Rome than he was pierced by the weapons of his own soldiers. Nor did this sudden stoppage of the ship long remain a mystery, the cause being perceived upon finding that, out of the whole fleet, The emperor's five-banked galley was the only one that was making no way. The moment this was discovered, some of the sailors plunged into the sea, and on making search about the ship's sides, they found an echinace adhering to their rudder.
Upon its being shown to the emperor, he strongly expressed his indignation that such an obstacle as this should have impeded his progress, and have rendered powerless the hearty endeavors of some four hundred men. One thing, too, it is well known, more particularly surprised him, how it was possible that the fish, while adhering to the ship, should arrest its progress, and yet should have no such power when brought on board. According to the persons who examined it on that occasion, and who have seen it since, the Echinaceus bears a strong resemblance to a large slum. The various opinions entertain respecting it we have already noticed when speaking of it in the natural history of fishes. There is no doubt, Two, that all fish of this kind are possessed of a similar power.
Witness, for example, the well-known instance of the shells which are still preserved and consecrated in the Temple of Venus at Nidos, and which, we are bound to believe, once gave such a striking evidence of the possession of similar properties. Some of our own authors have given this fish the Latin name of Mora. It is a singular thing, but among the Greeks we find writers who state that, worn as an amulet, The Echinaceus has the property, as already mentioned, of preventing miscarriage and of reducing the procedence of the uterus, and so permitting the fetus to reach maturity, while others, again, assert that, if it is preserved in salt and worn as an amulet, it will facilitate parturition.
The fact to which it is indebted for another name which it bears, Odinalites. Be all this as it may, Considering this most remarkable fact of a ship being thus stopped in its course, who can entertain a doubt as to the possibility of any manifestation of her power by nature, or as to the effectual operation of the remedies which she has censored in her spontaneous productions?
Chapter Two. The Torpedo. Nine Remedies. And then, besides, even if we had not this illustration by the agency of the Iquenius, Would it not have been quite sufficient only to sight the instance in the torpedo, another inhabitant also of the sea, as a manifestation of the mighty powers of nature? From a considerable distance even, and if only touched with the end of a spear or staff, this fish has the property of benumbing even the most vigorous arm, and of riveting the feet of the runner, however swift he may be in the race. If, upon considering this fresh illustration, we find ourselves compelled to admit that there is in existence a certain power which, by the very exhalations and, as it were, emanuations therefrom, is enabled to affect the members of the human body.
What are we not to hope for from the remedial influences which nature has centered in all animated beings?
Chapter Three. The Sea Hare. Five Remedies. No less wonderful, too, are the particulars which we find stated relative to the sea hare. Taken with the food or drink, it is a poison to some persons. While to others, again, the very sight of it is venomous. Indeed, if a woman in a state of pregnancy so much as looks upon one of these fishes, she is immediately seized with nausea and vomiting, a proof that the injury has reached the stomach, and abortion is the ultimate result. The proper preservative against these baneful effects is the male fish, which is kept dried for the purpose in salt, and worn in a bracelet upon the arm. And yet this same fish, while in the sea, is not injurious, by its contact even.
The only animal that eats it without fatal consequences is the mullet. The sole perceptible result being that its flesh is rendered more tender thereby, but deteriorated in flavor, and consequently not so highly esteemed. Persons when poisoned by the sea-hair smell strongly of the fish, the first sign, indeed, by which the fact of their having been so poisoned is detected. Death also ensues at the end of as many days as the fish has lived. Hence it is that, as Lysidius Macer informs us, this is one of those poisons which have no definite time for their operation. In India, we are assured, the sea-hair is never taken alive, and, we are told that, in those parts of the world, man, in his turn, acts as a poison upon the fish, which dies instantly in the sea if it is only touched with a human finger.
There, like the rest of the animals, it attains a much larger size than it does with us.
Chapter Four, Marvels of the Red Sea. Juba, in those books descriptive of Arabia, which he has dedicated to Caius Caesar, the son of Augustus, informs us that there are mussels on those coasts, the shells of which are capable of holding three semisexteriae, and that, on one occasion, A whale, six hundred feet in length and three hundred and sixty feet broad, made its way up a river of Arabia, the blubber of which was bought up by the merchants there. He tells us, too, that in those parts they anoint their camels with the grease of all kinds of fish, for the purpose of keeping off the gadflies by the smell. Chapter Five, the Instincts of Fishes, the statements which Ovid has made as to the instincts of fish, and the work of his known as the Hail, Eudachon.
Appeared to me truly marvelous. Hisceurus, for instance, when enclosed in the wicker kite, makes no effort to escape with its head, nor does it attempt to thrust its muzzle between the oziers. But turning its tail towards them, it enlarges the orifices with repeated blows therefrom, and so makes its escape backwards.
Should, too, another skaris, from without, Chance to see it thus struggling within the caip. It will take the tail of the other in its mouth, and so aid it in its efforts to escape. The lupus, again, when surrounded with a net, burrows the sand with its tail, and so conceals itself until a net has passed over it. The marina, trusting in the slippery smoothness of its rounded back, boldly faces the meshes of the net, and by repeatedly wriggling its body makes its escape. The pallet makes for the hooks, and, without swallowing the bait, clasps it with its feelers. Nor does it quit its hold until it is eaten off the bait, or perceives itself being drawn out of the water by the rod. The mullet, too, is aware that within the bait there is a hook concealed, and it is on its guard against the ambush.
Still, however, So great is its veracity that it beats the hook with its tail and strikes away from it the bait.
The lupus, again, shows less foresight and address, but repentance at its true and prudence arms it with mighty strength. For, when caught by the hook, it flounders from side to side, and so widens the wound, till at last the insidious hook falls from its mouth.
The marina not only swallows the hook, But catches at the line with its teeth, and so gnaws it asunder. The enthias, Oven says, the moment it finds itself caught by the hook, turns its body with its back downwards, upon which there is a sharp knife-like fin, and so cuts the line asunder.
According to Lienius Macer, the marina is of the female sex only, and is impregnated by serpents, as already mentioned. And hence it is that the fishermen, To entice it from its retreat, and catch it, make a hissing noise as an imitation of the hissing of a serpent. He states, also, that by frequently beating the water it is made to grow fat, that a blow with a stout stick will not kill it, but that a touch with a stalk of fennel giant is instantly fatal. That in the case of this animal, the life is centered in the tail, there can be no doubt, as also that it dies immediately on that part of the body being struck. While, on the other hand, there is considerable difficulty in killing it with a ball upon the head.
Persons who have come in contact with the razor-fish smell of iron. The hardest of all fishes, beyond a doubt, is that known as the orbis. It is spherical, destitute of scales, and all hem. Chapter Six. Marvelous properties belonging to certain fishes. Trebius Niger informs us that whenever the Loligo is seen darting above the surface of the water, it portends a change of weather, that the Xiphius, or, in other words, the Swordfish, has a sharp-pointed muzzle with which it is able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the bottom. Instances of which have been known near a place in Mauritania, known as Cot, not far from the river Lyxis. He says, too, But the lowly-goes sometimes darts above the surface in such vast numbers as to sink the ships upon which they fall.
Chapter Seven Places Where Fish Eat From The Hand.
It many of the country-seats belonging to the emperor, the fish eat from the hand. But the stories of this nature, told with such admiration by the ancients, bear reference to lakes formed by nature, and not to fish preserves. That at Eloris, a fortified place in Sicily, for instance, not far from Syracuse. In the fountain, too, of Jupiter, at Labranda, there are eels which eat from the hand, and wear ear-rings, it is set. The same, too, at Chios, near the old men's temple there, and at the fountain of Chobura in Mesopotamia, already mentioned.
Chapter Eight Places where fish recognize the human voice. Oracular responses given by fish. At Myra, too, in Lycia, the fish in the fountain of Apollo, known as Surium, appear and give oracular presages, when thrice summoned by the sound of a flute. If they seize the flesh thrown to them with avidity, it is a good omen for the person who consults them. But if, on the other hand, They flap at it with their tails. It is considered an evil presage. At Hierapolis, in Syria, the fish in the lake of Venus there obey the voice of the officers of the temple. Bedecked with ornaments of gold, they come at their call, fawn upon them while they are scratched, and open their mouths so wide as to admit of the insertion of the hands.
Off the rock of Hercules, in the territory of Stabii, in Campania, The melinuri sees with avidity bread that is thrown to them in the sea, but they will never approach any bait in which there is a hook concealed.
Chapter Nine. Places where bitter fish are found, salt or sweet. Nor is it by any means the least surprising fact that off the island of Peel, in the town of Clasmonii, the Rock of Scylla in Sicily, and in the vicinity of Leptis in Africa, Euboea, and Deirhachium, The fish are bitter. In the neighborhood of Cephalania, Ampelos, Peros, and the rocks of Delos, the fish are so salt by nature that they might easily be taken to have been pickled in brine. In the harbor, again, of the last-mentioned island, the fish are sweet. Differences, all of them, resulting, no doubt, from the diversity of their food. Epion says that the largest among the fishes is the sea-pig. Known to the Lacedaemonians as the Orthogoroskos.
He states also that it grunts like a hog when taken. These accidental varieties in the natural flavor of fish, a thing that is still more surprising, may, in some cases, be owing to the nature of the locality. In a positive illustration of which is, the well-known bat bat at Beneventum in Italy, Salted provisions of all kinds require to be salted over again.
Chapter 10. When Sea-Fish Were First Eaten by the People of Rome. The Ordinance of King Numa as to Fish.
Cassius Ximena informs us that sea-fish had been in use at Rome from the time of its foundation.
I will give his own words, however, upon the subject. Numel ordained that fish without scales should not be served up at the festivals of the gods. A piece of frugality, the intention of which was, that the banquets, both public and private, as well as the repasts laid before the couches of the gods, might be provided at a smaller expense than formerly. It being also his wish to preclude the risk that the caterers for the sacred banquets would spare no expense in buying provisions, and so forestall the market. Chapter 11 Quarrel. Remedies and Observations.
In the same degree that people on our part of the world set a value upon the pearls of India, a subject on which we have already spoken on the appropriate occasion at sufficient length, do the people of India prize quarrel, it being the prevailing taste in each nation respectively that constitutes the value of things. Coral is produced in the Red Sea also, but of a more swarthy hue than ours. It is to be found also in the Persian Gulf, where it is known by the name of Valles.
But the most highly esteemed of all is that produced in the vicinity of the islands called Stichades, in the Gallic Gulf, and near the Aeolian islands in the town of Drapana, in the Sea of Sicily. Coral is to be found growing, too, at Gravisky, and off the coast of Neapolis in Campania, as also at I, where it is intensely red, but soft, and consequently little value. Its form is that of a shrub, and its color green. Its berries are white and soft while under water, but the moment they are removed from it, they become hard and red, resembling the berries in cultivated cornel in size and appearance. They say that, while alive, If it is only touched by a person, it will immediately become as hard a stone.
And hence it is that the greatest pains are taken to prevent this, by tearing it up from the bottom with nets, or else cutting it short with a sharp-edged instrument of iron, from which lasts a circumstance that is generally supposed to have received its name of curallium.
The reddest coral and the most branchy is held in the highest esteem. At the same time, it must not be rough or hard like stone. Nor yet, on the other hand, should it be full of holes or hollow. The berries of coral are no less esteemed by the men in India than are the pearls of that country by the females among us. They are soothsayers, too, and diviners look upon coral as an amulet endowed with sacred properties, and is sure preservative against all dangers. Hence it is that they equally value it as an ornament and as an object of devotion. Before it was known in what estimation quarrel was held by the people of India, the Gauls were in the habit of adorning their swords, shields, and helmets with it.
But at the present day, owing to the value set upon it as an article of exportation, it has become so extremely rare that it is seldom to be seen even in the regions that produce it. Branches of quarrel, Hung at the neck of infants, are thought to act as a preservative against danger. Calcined, pulverized, and taken in water, coral gives relief to patients suffering from griping pains in the bowels, affectations of the bladder, and urinary calculi. Similarly taken in wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water, it acts as a soporific. It resists the action of fire a considerable time before it is calcined. There is also a statement made that if this medicament is frequently taken internally, the spleen will be gradually consumed.
Powdered coral, too, is an excellent remedy for patients who bring up a spit-blen. Calcined coral is used as an ingredient in compositions for the eyes, being productive of certain astringent and cooling effects. It makes flesh, also, in the cavities left by ulcers, and emphasis scars upon the skin.
Chapter Twelve. The Antipathies and Sympathies which exist between certain objects, the hatreds manifested by certain aquatic animals, the Pastinaca, eight remedies, the Gallios, fifteen remedies, the Surmallor, fifteen remedies.
In reference to that repugnance which exists between certain things, known to the Greeks as Antipathia, there is nothing more venomous than the Pastinaca, a sea-fish which kills trees even with its sting, As already stated, and yet, poisonous as it is, the galleos pursues it. A fish, which, though it attacks other marine animals as well, manifests an enmity to the pastinaca in particular, just as on dry land the weasel does to serpents. With such avidity does it go in pursuit of what is poisonous even. Persons stung by the pastinaca find a remedy in the flesh of the galleos, as also in that of the Ceremonite, And the vegetable production known as laser.
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6 06 - Book 32, Chapters 13 to 22. Remedies from amphibious animals. Remedies for poisons and stings. Remedies from frogs, crabs, oysters and sea-weed. 36:16
September 26, 2021, Westford, Massachusetts. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 6, Book 32, Chapters 13 to 22. Chapter 13. Amphibious Animals, Castoreum, Sixty-Six Remedies and Observations. The might of nature, too, is equally conspicuous in the animals which live upon dry land as well. The beaver, for instance, more generally known as castor, and the testes of which are called in medicine castorea. Sextius, a most careful inquirer into the nature and history of medicinal substances, assures us that it is not the truth that this animal, when on the point of being taken, bites off its testes. He informs us also that these substances are small, tightly knit, and attached to the backbone, and that it is impossible to remove them without taking the animal's life.
We learn from him that there is a mode of adulterating them by substituting the kidneys of the beaver, which are of considerable size, whereas the genuine testes are found to be extremely diminutive. In addition to which, he says that they must not be taken to be bladders, as they are two in number. A provision not to be found in any animal. Within these pouches, he says, there is a liquid found, which is preserved by being put in salt. The genuine castureum being easily known from the false by the fact of it being contained in two pouches attached by a single ligament. The genuine article, he says, is sometimes fraudulently sophisticated by the admixture of gum and blood, or else.
The pouches, in fact, ought to be of the same color as this last, covered with thin coats full of a liquid of the consistency of honey mixed with wax. Possessed of a The most efficacious castoreum is that which comes from Pontus and Galatia, the next best being the produce of Africa. When inhaled, it acts as a sternutatory. Mixed with oil of roses and pusydenum and applied to the head, it is productive of narcotic effects, a result which is equally produced by taking in water, for which reason it is employed in the treatment of phrenitis. Used as a fumigation, it acts as an exetant upon patients suffering from lethargy, and similarly employed or used in the form of a suppository, it dispels hysterical suffocations.
It acts also as an amenagogue and as an expellent of the afterbirth, being taken by the patient in doses of 2 drachmae with pennyroyal in water. It is employed also for the cure of vertigo, opistone, fits of trembling, spasms, affections of the sinews, sciatica, stomachy complaints, and paralysis. The patient either being rubbed with it all over or else taking it as an electuary, bruised and incorporated with seed of vitex vinegar and oil of roses to the consistency of honey. In the last form, too, it is taken for the cure of epilepsy, and in a potion for the purpose of dispelling flatulency and gripings in the bowels, and for counteracting the effects of poison. When taken as a potion, the only difference is in the mode of mixing it, according to the poison that it is intended to neutralize.
When it is taken for the sting of the scorpion, wine is used as the medium. And when for injuries inflicted by spiders or by the phalangeum, honeyed wine where it is intended to be brought up again, and rue where it is desirable that it should remain upon the stomach. For injuries inflicted by the chalcis, it is taken with myrtle wine, for the sting of the serastus or prester with panax or rue in wine, and for those of other serpents with wine only. In all these cases, 2-drachmae of castureum is the proper dose to one of the other ingredients respectively. It is particularly useful also in combination with vinegar in cases where viscous has been taken internally, and with milk or water as a neutralizer of aconite.
As an antidote to white hellebore, it is taken with hydromel and niter. It is curative also of toothache, for which purpose it is beaten up with oil and injected into the ear on the side affected. For the cure of earache, the best plan is to mix it with meconium. Applied with attic honey in the form of an ointment, it improves the eyesight. And taken with vinegar, it arrests hiccup. The urine, too, of the beaver is a neutralizer of poisons, and for this reason is used as an ingredient in antidotes. The best way of keeping it, some think, is in the bladder of the animal. Chapter Fourteen. The Tortoise. Sixty-six Remedies and Observations. The tortoise, too, is an animal that is equally amphibious with the beaver, and possessed of medicinal properties as strongly developed.
In addition to which, it claims an equal degree of notice for the high price which luxury sets upon its shell, and the singularity of its conformation. Of tortoises, there are various kinds, land tortoises, sea tortoises, tortoises which live in muddy waters, and tortoises which live in fresh. These last being known to some Greek authors by the name of Amides. The flesh of the land tortoise is employed for fumigations more particularly, and we find it asserted that it is highly salutary for repelling the malpractices of magic and for neutralizing poisons. These tortoises are found in the greatest numbers in Africa, where the head and feet first being cut off. It is said they are given to persons by way of an antidote.
Eaten, too, in a broth made from them, they are thought to disperse scrofula, diminish the volume of the spleen, and effect the cure of epilepsy. The blood of the land tortoise improves the eyesight and removes cataracts. It is kept also made up with meal into pills, which are given with wine when necessary to neutralize the poison of all kinds of serpents, frogs, spiders, and similar venomous animals. It is found a useful plan, too, in the case of glaucoma, to anoint the eyes with the gall of tortoises mixed with attic honey, and for the cure of injuries inflicted by scorpions, to drop the gall into the wound. Ashes of tortoise shells, kneaded up with wine and oil, are used for the cure of chaps upon the feet and of ulcerations.
The shavings of the surface of the shell administered in drink act as anti-phrodisiac, a thing that is more surprising from the fact that a powder prepared from the whole of the shell has a reputation of being a strong aphrodisiac. As to the urine of the land tortoise, I do not think that it can be obtained otherwise than by opening it and taking out the bladder, this being one of those substances to which the adepts in magic attribute such marvelous properties. For the sting of the asp, they say, it is wonderfully effectual, and even more so if bugs are mixed with it. The eggs of the tortoise, hardened by keeping, are applied to scrofulis sores and ulcers arising from burns or cold. They are taken also for pains in the stomach.
The flesh of the sea tortoise, mixed with that of frogs, is an excellent remedy for injuries caused by the salamander. Indeed, there is nothing that is a better neutralizer of the secretions of the salamander than the sea tortoise. The blood of this animal reproduces the hair when lost through allopathy and is curative of porigo and all kinds of ulcerations of the head, the proper method of using it being to let it dry and then gently wash it off. For the cure of the earache, this blood is injected with woman's milk, and for epilepsy, it is eaten with fine wheat and flour. Three hemenae of the blood being mixed with one hemena of vinegar. It is prescribed also for the cure of asthma, but in this case in combination with one hemena of wine.
Sometimes two it is taken by asthmatic patients with barley meal and vinegar in pieces about the size of a bean. One of these pieces being taken each morning and evening at first, but after some days two in the evening. In cases of epilepsy, the mouth of the patient is opened and this blood introduced. For spasmodic affections, when not of a violent nature, it is injected in combination with castoreum as a clyster. If a person rinses his teeth three times a year with blood of tortoises, he will always be exempt from toothache. This blood is also a cure for asthmatic affections and for the malady called orthopnoea, being administered for these purposes in polenta. The gall of the tortoise improves the eyesight, effaces scars, and cures affections of tonsillary glands, quincy, and all kinds of diseases of the mouth, cancers of that part more particularly, as well as cancers of the testes.
Applied to the nostrils, it dispels epilepsy and sets the patient on his feet. Incorporated in vinegar with the slough of a snake, it is a sovereign remedy for purulent discharges from the ears. Some persons add ox gall and the broth of boiled tortoise flesh with an equal proportion of snake's slough, but in such case, care must be taken to boil the tortoise in wine. Applied with honey, this gall is curative of all diseases of the eyes, and for the cure of cataract, gall of the sea tortoise is used in combination with blood of the river tortoise and milk. The hair, too, of females is dyed with this gall. For the cure of injuries inflicted by the salamander, it will be quite sufficient to drink the broth of boiled tortoise flesh.
There is, again, a third kind of tortoise, which inhabits mud and swampy localities. The shell on its back is flat and broad, like that upon the breast, and the calipash is not arched and rounded, the creature being altogether of a repulsive appearance. However, there are some remedial medicaments to be derived even from this animal. Thus, for instance, Three of them are thrown into a fire made with wood cuttings, and the moment their shells begin to separate, they are taken off. The flesh is then removed and boiled with a little salt in one congeus of water. When the water has boiled down to one third, the broth is used, being taken by persons apprehensive of paralysis or of diseases of the joints.
The gall, too, is found very useful for carrying off pituitous humors and corrupt blood. Taken in cold water, it has an astringent effect upon the bowels. There is a fourth kind of tortoise, which frequents rivers. When used for its remedial properties, the shell of the animal is removed and the fat separated from the flesh and beaten up with the plant azoom. In combination with ungent and lily seed, a preparation highly effectual, it is said, for the cure of quartan fevers. The patient being rubbed with it all over, the head accepted, just before the paroxysms come on, and then well wrapped up and made to drink hot water. It is stated also that to obtain as much fat as possible, the tortoise should be taken on the 15th day of the moon.
The patient being anointed on the sixteenth. The blood of this tortoise, dropped by way of embrocation upon the region of the brain, allays a headache. It is curative, also, of scruffulous sores. Many persons recommend that the tortoise should be laid upon its back and its head cut off with a copper knife. The blood being received in a new earthen vessel, and they assure us that the blood of any kind of tortoise, when thus obtained, will be an excellent liniment for the cure of erisopelas, running ulcers upon the head and warts. Upon the same authority, too, we are assured that the dung of any kind of tortoise is good for the removal of inflammatory tumors. Incredible also, as the statement is, we find it asserted by some that ships make way more slowly when they have the right foot of a tortoise on board.
Chapter 15. Remedies derived from the aquatic animals classified according to the respective diseases. We will now proceed to classify the various remedies derived from the aquatic animals according to the several diseases. Not that we are by any means unaware that an exposition of all the properties of each animal at once would be more to the reader's taste and more likely to excite his admiration, but because we consider it more conducive to the practical benefit of mankind to have the various recipes thus grouped and classified, seeing that this thing may be good for one patient, Chapter 16. Remedies for Poisons and for Noxious Spells. The Dorade. Four Remedies. The Sea Star. Seven Remedies.
We have already stated in what country the honey is venomous. The fish, known as Dorade, is an antidote to its effects. Honey, even in a pure state, is sometimes productive of surfeet and of fits of indigestion, remarkable for their severity. The best remedy in such case, according to Pelops, is to cut off the feet, head, and tail of a tortoise and boil and eat the body in place, however, of the tortoise. Apeles mentions the synchus, an animal which has been described elsewhere. We have already mentioned, too, on several occasions, how highly venomous is the menstruous fluid. The surmullet, as already stated, entirely neutralizes its effects. This last fish, too, either applied topically or taken as food, acts as an antidote to the venom of the pastinaca, the land and sea scorpion, the dragon, and the phalangium.
The head of this fish, taken fresh and reduced to ashes, is an active neutralizer of all poisons, that of fungi more particularly. It is asserted also that if the fish, called the sea star, is smeared with a fox blood and then nailed to the upper lintel of the door or to the door itself with a copper nail, no noxious spells will be able to obtain admittance, or at all events Chapter 17. Remedies for the stings of serpents, for the bites of dogs, and for the injuries inflicted by venomous animals. The Sea Dragon, three remedies, 25 remedies derived from salted fish. The Sarda, one remedy, 11 remedies derived from Cybeum. Stings inflicted by the sea dragon or by the sea scorpion are cured by an application of the flesh of those animals to the wound.
The bites, too, of spiders are healed by the same means. In fine, as an antidote to every kind of poison, whether taken internally or acting through the agency of a sting or bite, There is considered to be nothing in existence more effectual than the decoction of the sea dragon and sea scorpion. There are also certain remedies of this nature derived from preserved fish. Persons, for instance, who have received injuries from serpents or have been bitten by other venomous animals are recommended to eat salt. This method being particularly This is particularly good in cases where injuries have been received from the lizard called Chalcis and the Serastes, the reptile known as Ceps, the Elops, or the Dipsus.
For the sting of the scorpion, salted fish should be taken in larger quantities, but not brought up again, the patient submitting to any amount of thirst it may create. Salt fish, too, should be applied by way of plaster to the wound. For the bite of the crocodile, there is no more efficient remedy known. For the sting of the serpent called prester, the sarda is particularly good. The sarda was a kind of palamis, or young tunny, which was pickled like our anchovy. It's particularly good. Saltfish is employed also as a topical application for the bite of the mad dog, and even in cases where the wound has not been cauterized with hot iron, this is found to be sufficiently effectual as a remedy.
For injuries also inflicted by the sea dragon, an application is made of salt fish steeped in vinegar. Cybeum, too, is productive of similar effects. As a cure for the venomous sting inflicted with its stickle by the sea dragon, the fish itself is applied topically to the wound, or else its brain extracted whole. Chapter Eighteen. The Sea Frog. Six Remedies. The river frog, 52 remedies. The bramble frog, one remedy. 32 observations on these animals. The broth prepared from sea frogs boiled in wine and vinegar is taken internally as a neutralizer of poisons and of the venom of the bramble frog as also for injuries inflicted by the salamander. For the cure of injuries caused by the sea hare and the various serpents above mentioned, it is a good plan to eat the flesh of river frogs or to drink the liquor in which they have been boiled.
As a neutralizer, too, of the venom of the scorpion, river frogs are taken in wine. Democritus assures us that if the tongue is extracted from a live frog, with no other part of the body adhering to it, and is then applied, the frog being first replaced in the water, to a woman while asleep, just She will be sure to give a truthful answer to any question that may be put to her. To this, the Magi add some other particulars, which, if there is any truth to them, would lead us to believe that frogs ought to be considered much more useful to society than laws. They say, for instance, that if a man takes a frog and transfixes it with a reed, entering the body at the sexual parts and coming out at the mouth.
And then dips the reed in the menstrual discharge of his wife, she will be sure to conceive an aversion for all paramours. That the flesh of frogs attached to the kype or hook, as the case may be, makes an most excellent bait. For purples, more particularly, is a well-known fact. Frogs, they say, have a double liver, and of this liver, when exposed to the attacks of ants, the part that is most eaten away is thought to be an effectual antidote to every kind of poison. There are some frogs, again, which live only among breaks and thickets, for which reason they have received the name of rivatae, or bramble frogs, as already stated. The Greeks call them phrenii. They are the largest in size of all the frogs and have two protuberances like horns and are full of poison.
Authors quite vie with one another in relating marvelous stories about them, such, for instance, as that if they are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will instantly prevail, and also That by throwing into boiling water a small bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately cool, and the water refused to boil again until it has been removed. This bone, they say, may be found by exposing a dead bramble frog to ants and letting them eat away the flesh, after which the bones must be put into the vessel one by one. On the other hand, again, in the left side of this reptile, there is another bone, they say, which thrown into water has all the appearance of making it boil, and the name given to which is Aposinon.
This bone, it is said, has the property of assuaging the fury of dogs and, if put into the drink, of conciliating love and ending discord and strife. Worn, too, as an amulet, it acts as an aphrodisiac, we are told. The bone, on the contrary, which is taken from the right side, acts powerfully as a refrigerant, upon boiling liquids, it is said. Attached to the patient in a piece of fresh land skin, it has the repute of assuaging, quartan, and other fevers, and of checking amorous propensities. The spleen of these frogs is used as an antidote to the various poisons that are prepared from them, and for all these purposes the liver is considered still more efficacious. Chapter 19. The Anhydris. Six remedies.
The River Crab. Fourteen remedies. The Sea Crab. Seven remedies. The River Snail. Seven remedies. The Coracinus. Four remedies. The Sea Pig. Two remedies. There is also a snake which lives in the water, the fat and gall of which carried about them by persons when in pursuit of the crocodile are said to be marvelously efficacious, the beasts not venturing in such case to make an attack upon them. As such preservative, they are still more effectual if mixed with the herbaceous plant known as Potomagittan. River crabs, taken fresh and beaten up and drunk in water, or the ashes of them, kept for the purpose, are useful in all cases of poisoning, as a counterpoison. Taken with ass's milk, they are particularly serviceable as a neutralizer of the venom of the scorpion.
Goat's milk or any kind of milk being substituted, where ass's milk cannot be procured. Wine, too, should also be used in all such cases. River crabs beaten up with akamom and applied to scorpions are fatal to them. They are possessed of similar virtues also for the bites of all other kinds of venomous animals, the skytale in particular, adders, the sea hare, and the bramble frog. The ashes of them preserved are good for persons who give symptoms of hydrophobia after being bitten by a mad dog, some adding gentian as well, and administering the mixture in wine. In cases, too, where hydrophobia has already appeared, it is recommended that these ashes should be kneaded up into boluses with wine and swallowed.
If ten of these crabs are tied together with a handful of Akamom, all the scorpions in the neighborhood, the magicians say, will be attracted to the spot. They recommend also that to wounds inflicted by the scorpion, these crabs or the ashes of them should be applied with Akamom. For all these purposes, however, sea crabs, it should be remembered, are not so useful. Thrasyllus informs us that there is nothing so antagonistic to serpents as crabs, that swine, when stung by a serpent, cure themselves by eating them, and that while the sun is in the sign of cancer, serpents suffer the greatest tortures. The flesh, too, of river snails, eaten either raw or boiled, is an excellent antidote to the venom of the scorpion.
Some persons keeping them salted for the purpose. These snails are applied also topically to the wound. The Caracinus is a fish peculiar to the river Nylas. It is true, but the particulars we are here relating are for the benefit of all parts of the world. The flesh of it is most excellent as an application for the cure of wounds inflicted by scorpions. In the number of the poisonous fishes, we ought to reckon the sea pig, a fish which causes great suffering to those who have been pierced with the pointed fin upon its back. The proper remedy in such cases is the slime taken from the other parts of the body of the fish. Chapter 20. The Sea Calf. Ten Remedies. The Mirena. One Remedy. The Hippocampus.
Nine Remedies. The Sea Urchin. 11 Remedies. In cases of hydrophobia resulting from the bite of the mad dog, the practice is to rub the patient's face with the fat of the sea calf, an application rendered still more efficacious by the admixture of hyena's marrow, oil of mastiche, and wax. Bites inflicted by the murena are cured by an application of the head of that fish reduced to ashes. The pastinaca also is remedial for its own bite. The ashes of the same fish, or of another of the same genus, being applied to the wound with vinegar. When this flesh is intended for food, every portion of the back that is of a saffron color should be removed, as well as the whole of the head. Care, too, should be taken not to wash it over much.
An observation equally applicable to all kinds of shellfish when intended for food, the flavor being deteriorated thereby. The hippocampus taken in drink neutralizes the poison of the sea hare. As a counterpoison to doranium, sea urchins are remarkably useful, as also in cases where persons have taken juice of carpathum internally. More particularly if urchins are used with the liquor in which they are boiled. Boiled sea crabs, too, are looked upon as highly efficacious in cases of poisoning by durinium, and as a neutralizer of the venom of the sea hare, they are particularly good. Chapter 21. The Various Kinds of Oysters. Fifty-eight remedies and observations. Purples. Nine remedies. Oysters, too, neutralized the venom of the sea hare, and now that we are speaking of oysters, it may possibly be thought that I have not treated of this subject at sufficient length in the former part of my work, seeing that for this long time past, the palm has been awarded to them at our tables as a most exquisite dish.
Oysters love fresh water and spots where the numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea. Hence it is that the Pelagia are of such small size and so few in number. Still, however, we do find them breeding among the rocks and in places far remote from the contact of fresh water, as in the neighborhood of Grinium and Marina, for example. Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of the moon, as already stated by us when treating of the aquatic animals. But it is at the beginning of summer, more particularly, and when the rays of the sun penetrate the shallow waters, that they are swollen with an abundance of milk. This, too, would appear to be the reason why they are so small when found out at sea, the opacity of the water tending to arrest their growth, and the moping consequent thereon producing a comparative indisposition for food.
Oysters are of various colors. In Spain, they are red, in Illyricum of a tawny hue, and at Circe, black, both in meat and shell. But in every country, those oysters are the most highly esteemed that are compact without being slimy from their secretions, and are remarkable more for their thickness than their breadth. They should never be taken in either muddy or sandy spots, but from a firm, hard bottom. The meat should be compressed and not of a fleshy consistence, and the oysters should be free from fringed edges and lying wholly in the cavity of the shell. Persons of experience in these matters add another characteristic. A fine purple thread, they say, should run round the margins of the beard.
This being looked upon as a sign of superior quality, and for obtaining them their name of Calablifara. Oysters are all the better for traveling and being removed to new waters. Thus, for example, the oysters of Brundisium is thought when fed in the waters of Avernus, both retain their own native juices and acquire the flavor of those of the Lake Lacrinis. Thus, much with reference to the meat of the oyster, we will now turn to the various countries which produce it, so that no coast may be deprived of the honors which properly belong to it. But in giving this description, we will speak in the language of another, using the words of a writer who has evinced more careful discernment in treating of this subject than any of the other authors of our day.
These, then, are the words of Musianus. In reference to the oyster, quote, the oysters of Suzukus are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus, fresher than those of the British coasts, sweeter than those of Medullae, more tasty than those of Ephesus, more plump than those of Lucas, less slimy than those of Corifas, more delicate than those of Istria. And whiter than those of Circe." For all this, however, it is a fact well ascertained that there are no oysters fresher or more delicate than those of Circe last mentioned. According to the historians of the Expedition of Alexander, there were oysters found in the Indian Sea a foot in diameter. Among ourselves, too, the nomenclature of some spendthrift and gourmand has found for certain oysters the name of Tridena, wishing it to be understood thereby that they are so large as to require three bites in eating them.
You will take the present opportunity of stating all the medicinal properties that are attributed to oysters. They are singularly refreshing to the stomach and tend to restore the appetite. Luxury, too, has imparted to them an additional coolness by burying them in snow, thus making a medley of the produce of the tops of mountains and the bottom of the sea. Oysters are slightly laxative to the bowels, and boiled in honeyed wine, they relieve tenesmus, in cases where it is unattended with ulceration. They act detergently upon the ulcerations of the bladder. Boiled in their shells unopened just as they come to hand, oysters are marvelously efficacious for rheumatic deflections. Calcined oyster shells mixed with honey allay affections of the uvula and of the tonsillary glands.
They are similarly used for imposthumes of the parroted glands, inflamed tumors, and indurations of the mammillae. Applied with water, these ashes are good for ulcerations of the head and impart a plumpness to the skin in females. They are sprinkled, too, upon burns and are highly esteemed as dentifrice. Applied with vinegar, they are good for the removal of perigo and pituitous eruptions. Beaten up in a raw state, they are curative of scrufula and chilblains upon the feet. Purples, too, are useful.
Chapter 22. Seaweed. Two remedies. According to Nykander, seaweed is also a theriac. There are numerous varieties of it, as already stated. One, for instance, with an elongated leaf, another red, another again with a broader leaf, and another crisped. The most esteemed kind of all is that which grows off the shores of Crete, upon the rocks there, close to the ground, it being used also for dyeing wool, as it has the property of so fixing the colors as never to allow of their being washed out. Nicander recommends it to be taken with wine.
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7 07 - Book 32, Chapters 23 to 32. Remedies for alopecy, diseases of the eyes and ears, tooth-ache, spots on the face, scrofula, coughs and diseases of the chest, pains in the liver and sides, diseases of the bowels, spleen and bladder. 29:32
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 7, Book 32, Chapters 23 to 32. Chapter Twenty-Three. Remedies for Olapocy. Change of color in the hair and ulcerations of the head. The sea mouse. Two remedies. The sea scorpion. Twelve remedies. The leech. Seven remedies. The murex. Thirteen remedies. The concilium. Five remedies. Ashes of the hippocampus mixed with nitre and hogs'lard are else used solely with vinegar. Our curative of olipocy, the skin being first prepared for the reception of the necessary medicaments by an application of powdered bone of cipia. Olipocy is cured also with ashes of the sea mouse mixed with oil. Ashes of the sea urchin burnt flesh and altogether the gall of the sea scorpion, or else ashes of the three frogs burnt alive in an earthen pot applied with honey or what is still better in combination with tar.
Leeches left to petrify for forty days, and red wine stained the hair black. Others again recommend one sextarius of Leeches to be left to petrify the same number of days in a leaden vessel, with two sextari of vinegar, the hair to be well rubbed with the mixture in the sun. According to Cernatius, this preparation is naturally so penetrating that if females, when they apply it, do not take the precaution of keeping some oil in the mouth. The teeth even will be blackened thereby. Ashes of burnt shells of the myorix or purple are used as liniment with honey for ulcerations of the head. The shells, too, of other shellfish, powdered merely and not calcite, are very useful for the same purpose applied with water.
For the cure of headache, Castoreum is employed in combination with picatum and oil of roses. Chapter 24. Remedies for diseases of the eyes and eyelids. Two remedies derived from the fat of fishes. The caliamis, three remedies. The gall of the corriginus, one remedy. The cipia, 24 remedies. Icthicola, five remedies. The fat of all kinds of fish, both fresh water as well as sea. Fish, melted in the sun and incorporated with honey, is an excellent improver of eyesight, the same, too, with the castoreum, in combination with honey. The gall of the calliomus heals marks upon the eyes and caterizes fleshy excursions about those organs. Indeed, there is no fish with a larger quantity of gall than this, an opinion expressed, too, by Menander in his comedies.
This fish is known also as a Uranus scopos, from the eyes being situated in the upper part of the head. The gall, too, of the coracanus has the effect of sharpening the eyesight. The gall of the Red Sea scorpion, used with stale oil or attic honey, disperses incipient cataract, for which purpose the application should be made three times on alternate days. A similar method is also employed for removing indurations of the membrane of the eyes. The surmolent used as a diet weakens the eyesight in its end. The sea hair is poisonous itself, but the ashes of it are useful as an application for preventing superfluous hairs on the eyelids from growing again, when they have once pulled out by the roots.
For this purpose, however, the smaller the fish is, the better. Small scallops, too, are salted and beaten up with cedar resin for similar purposes, or else the frogs known as diapetes. and Kalamitai are used, the blood of them being applied with fine gum to the eyelids after the hairs have been removed. Powdered shell of cipia applied with woman's milk allays swelling and inflammations of the eyes. Employed by itself, it removes eruptions of the eyelids. When this remedy is used, it is the practice to turn up the eyelids, and to leave the medicament there are few moments only. After which the part is anointed with oil of roses, and the inflammation modified by the application of a bread poultice.
Powdered bone of cipia is also used for the treatment of nictilope, being applied to the eyes with vinegar. Reduced to ashes, this substance removes scales upon the eyes. Applied with honey, it effaces marks upon those organs. And used with salt and cadmium, one drachna of each, it disperses webs which impede the eyesight. As also albugu in the eyes of cattle. They say, too, that if the eyelids are rubbed the same bone taken from this fish, a perfect cure will be experienced. Sea urchins applied with vinegar cause Episcitis to disappear. According to what magicians say, they should be burnt with viper skin and frogs, and the ashes sprinkled in the drink, a great improvement of the eyesight being guaranteed as a sure result.
Ichthyokola is the name given to a fish with a glutinous skin. The glue made from which it is also known by the same name. It is highly useful for the removal of impigatus. Some persons, however, assert that it is from the belly of the fish and not the skin, as in the case of blue bull glue, that the ithylocola is prepared. That of Pontus is highly esteemed. It is white, free from veins or scales, and dissolves with the greatest rapidity. The proper way of using it is to cut it into small pieces and then leave it to soak in water or vinegar at night and a day, after which it should be pounded with sea straw pebbles to make it melt the more easily. It is generally asserted that this substance is good for pains in the head and for tetanus.
The right eye of a frog, suspended from the neck and a piece of cloth made from wool of the natural color, is a cure for ophthalmia in the right eye, and the left eye of a frog, similarly suspended, for ophthalmia in the left. If the eyes, too, of a frog are taken out at the same time of the moon's conjunction, and similarly worn by the patient, enclosing an egg-shell, they will effectually remove indurations of the membrane of the eyes. The rest of the flesh applied topically removes all marks resulting from blows. The eyes, too, of a crab, when attached to the neck by way of amulet, are a cure for ophthalmia, it is said. There is a small frog which lives in reed beds and among grass, more particularly, never croaks, being quite destitute of voice, is of green color, and is apt to cause tympanitis in cattle, if they should happen to swallow it.
The slimming moisture on the serpital's body, scraped off with a spatula and applied to eyes, greatly improves the sight, they say. The flesh, too, is employed as a topical application for the removal of pains in the eyes. Some persons take fifteen frogs, and after spitting them upon as many bulrushes, put them in a new earthen vessel. They then mix the juices which flow from them with gum of the white vine, and use it as an application for the eyelids, first pulling out such eyelashes as are in the way, and then dropping the preparation with the point of a needle into the places from which the hairs have been removed. Magus used to prepare a depilatory for the eyes. By killing frogs in vinegar and leaving them to petrify, for which purpose he employed the spotted frogs which make their appearance in vast numbers in the rains of autumn.
Ashes of burnt leeches, it is thought, applied in vinegar, are productive of a similar effect. Care must be taken, however, to burn them in a new earthen vessel. Dry liver, too, of the tunny, made up into an ointment in the preparation of four denarii. with oil of cedar and applied as a dilapatory for nine months together, is considered to be highly effectual for this purpose. Chapter 25 Remedies for Diseases of the Ears. The Batia, one remedy. The Bacchus or Mixon, two remedies. The Silaus, two remedies. For diseases of the ears, fresh gall of the fish called Batia is remarkably good, the same too when it has been kept in wine. The gall also of the bocchus, by some known as the myxin, is equally good, as also that of the calliognimus, injected into the ears with oil of roses, or else isterium, used with poppy juice.
There are certain animals, too, known as sea lice, which are recommended as an injection for the ears, beaten up with vinegar. Wool, too, that has been dried with the juice of the murex, employed by itself, is highly useful for this purpose. Some people, however, moisten it with vinegar and nitrate. Others, again, more particularly recommend, for all affections of the ears, one scythus of the best garum. With one scythus and half a honey, and one scythus of vinegar, the whole gently boiled in a new pot over a slow fire, and skimmed with the feather every now and then. When it has become wholly free from scum, it is injected lukewarm into the ears. In the cases where ears are swollen, the same authorities recommend that the swelling should be first reduced with the juice of coriander.
The fat of frogs injected into the ears instantly removes all pains in these organs. The juice of river crabs, kneaded up with barley meal, is a most effectual remedy for wounds in the ears. Shells of murex reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, or the burnt shells of other shellfish used with honied wine, are curative of imposthumus of the pardar glands. Chapter XXVI. Remedies for toothache. The dogfish, four remedies, whale's flesh. Toothache is alleviated by scarifying the gums with bones of the sea-dragon, or by rubbing the teeth once a year with the brains of a dogfish boiled in oil and kept for the purpose. It is a very good plan, too, for the cure of toothache to lance the gums with the sting of Pastanaca in some cases.
This sting, too, is pounded and applied to the teeth with white halibor, having the effect of extracting them without the slightest difficulty. Another of these remedies is ashes of salted fish calcined in another earthen vessel mixed with powdered marble. Stale sibium rinsed in a new earthen vessel and then pounded is very useful for the cure of toothache. Equally good, it is said, are the back wounds of all kinds of salt fish pounded and applied in a liniment. A decoction made of a single frog boiled in one hemina of vinegar, and the teeth are rinsed with it. The decoction being retained in the mouth. In cases where repugnance existed to making use of this remedy, Celestius Dionysius used to suspend frogs over boiling vinegar by the high legs so as to make them discharge their humours into the vinegar by the mouth, using considerable number of frogs for the purpose.
To those, however, who have a stronger stomach, he prescribed the frogs themselves, eaten with their broth. It is generally thought, too, that this recipe applies more particularly to the double teeth, and that the vinegar prepared, as above mentioned, is remarkably useful for strengthening it when loose. For this last purpose, some persons cut off the legs of two frogs and then macerate the bodies in two hemina of wine, recommending this preparation as a colletory for strengthening loose teeth. Others attach the frog's hole to the exterior of the jaws. And with some of it, it is the practice to boil ten frogs in the sextari of vinegar, down to one third, and to use the decoction as a strengthener of loose teeth.
By certain authorities, too, it has been recommended to boil the hearts of six and thirty frogs beneath a copper vessel, and one sextarius of old oil, and then to inject the decoction into the ear on the same side of the jaw as the part affected. While others again have used as an application for the teeth, a frog's liver boiled and beaten up with honey. All the preparations above described will be found still more efficacious if made from the sea frog. In cases where the teeth are curious and emit an offensive smell, it is recommended to dry some whale's flesh in an oven for a night, then to add an equal quantity of salt and use the mixture as a dentifrice. Anhydrous is the name given by the Greeks to a snake that lives in the water.
With the four upper teeth of this reptile, it is the practice for the cure of aching in the upper teeth, to lance the upper gums and the four lower teeth for aching in the lower. Some persons, however, content themselves with using an eye tooth only. Ashes, too, of burnt crabs are used for this purpose, and the mirex reduced to ashes makes an excellent dentifrice. Chapter 27. Remedies for Lichens and for Spots upon the Face. The Dolphin. Nine Remedies. Colutha or Corphea, three remedies. Halconium, seven remedies. The Toonie, five remedies. Lichens and leprose spots are removed by applying the fat of the sea calf, ashes of the mina, in combination with three obli of honey, liver of the pastinaca, boiled in oil, or ashes of the dolphin or hippocampus mixed with water.
After the parts have been dully excruciated, a citratizing treatment ought to be pursued. Some persons bake dolphin's liver in an earthen vessel till the grease flows therefrom like oil in appearance. This they use by way of ointment for these diseases. Burnt shells of the myricks or purple applied with honey have a detergent effect upon spots on the face in females, used as an application for seven consecutive days. A fermentation made of white eggs being substituted on the eighth, they face wrinkles and plump out the skin. To the genus Murex belong the shellfish known by the Greeks as Coluthia or Coryphea, equally terminated, but considerably smaller. For all the above purposes, they are still efficacious, and the use of them tends to preserve the sweetness of the breath.
Fish glue effaces wrinkles and plumps out the skin, being boiled for the purpose in water for some four hours, and then pounded and kneaded up. After being thus prepared, it is put by in a new vessel for keeping, and when wanted for use, it is mixed in the proportion of four drachoni, with two drachoni of sulfur, two of alkanet, and eight of lethargy, the whole being sprinkled with water and beaten up together. The preparation is then applied to the face and washed off at the end of four hours. For the care of freckles and other affections to the face, calcined bones of cuttlefish are also used, an application which is equally good for the removal of fleshy excrences and dispersion of running sores.
For the care of itch scab, a frog is boiled in five semi-sectari of sea water, the decoction being reduced to the consistency of honey. There is a sea production called haucionium, Composed as something of the nest of the birds known as the Halkion and its cakes, or according to others, of the concretion of sea foam, or of some slime of the sea, or certain lanugus and fluorescence thrown out by it. Of this haliconium, there are four different kinds. The first of an ashy color, of a compact substance, and possessed of a pundit odor. The second soft of a milder nature, and with a smell almost identical with that of seaweed. The third, whiter and with a variegated surface. The fourth, more like pumice in appearance, and closely resembling rotten sponge.
The best of all is that which nearly borders upon a purple hue and is known as a Milesian kind. The whiter it is, the less highly it is esteemed. The properties of halcyoneum are ulcerative in detergent. When required for use, it is parched and applied without oil. It is quite marvelous how efficiently it removes leprosaures, lichens, and freckles, used in combination with lupines and two oboli of sulfur. It is employed also for the removal of marks upon the eyes. Andreas has recommended for the care of leprosy ashes of burnt crabs with oil, and addolus fresh fat of tunny. Chapter Twenty Eight. Remedies for Scrofula and Posthunes of the Apragans, Quincy, and Diseases of the Falchis. The Myna, thirteen remedies, the Sea Scolopendra, two remedies, the Sauros, one remedy, Shellfish, one remedy, the Scyllaurus, fifteen remedies.
Ulcerations of the mouse are cured by an application of brine in which Mynai have been pickled, in combination with calcined heads of the fish and honey. For the cure of scrofula, it is a good plan to prick the sores with a small bone that is found in the tail of the fish known as the sea-frog, care being taken to avoid making a wound, and to repeat the operation daily until a perfect cure is effected. The same property, too, belongs to the seeing of the pastinaca and to the sea-hair, applied topically to the sores, but in both cases, due care must be taken to remove them in an instant. Shells of the sea-urchins are bruised also and applied with vinegar. Shells also of the sea skull of Pondre applied with honey, and river crabs pounded or calcined and applied with honey.
Bones, too, of the cipia, triturated and applied with stale axle grease, are marvelously useful for this purpose. This last preparation is used also for the cure of imposthumes of the parotid glands, a purpose for which the liver of the sea fish known as Zaris is employed. Nay, even more than this, Fragments of earthen vessels in which saltfish have been kept are pounded with stale axle grease and applied to scrofulosaurus and pinpus humes of the pirated glands, and as the calcimerics incorporated with oil. Sniff this in the neck is allayed by taking what are known as sea lice, in doses of one drachna and drink, taking castoria mixed with pepper and honeyed wine, or making a decoction of frogs in oil and salt and taking the liquor.
Apisthetony II and tetanus are treated in a similar manner, in spasms with the addition of pepper. Ashes of burnt heads of salt and mani are applied externally, with honey, for the care of quincy, as also a decoction of frogs, wood, and vinegar, a preparation which is equally good for affections of the tonsillary grains. Glans. River crabs, pounded one to each hemina of water, are used as a gargle for the cure of quincy, or else they are taken with wine and hot water. Garum put beneath the ovala with a spoon, affectionately cures diseases of that part. The cillaris, used as food, either fresh or salted, improves the voice. Chapter 29. Remedies for Cough and Diseases of the Chest. Cermalates Act as an Emetic.
Dried and pounded and taken in drink. Castorium taken fasting with a small quantity of hamanite yuckum and oxymel is extremely good for asthma. Spasm too in the stomach or assaged by taking a similar potion with warm oxymel. Frogs stood in their own liquor in the saucepan, the same way in fact that fish are dressed, are good for a cough, it is said. In some cases also, Frogs are suspended by the legs, and after their juices have been received in a platter, it is recommended to gut them, and the entrails being first carefully removed, to preserve them for the above purpose. There is a small frog also which ascends trees, and croaks aloud there. If a person suffering from cough spits into its mouth and lets it go, he will experience a cure, it is said.
For a cough attended with spitting of blood, it is recommended to beat up the raw flesh of a snail and to drink it in hot water. Chapter 30. Remedies for Pains in the Liver Inside. The elongated conch, six remedies. The tethia, five remedies. For pains in the liver, a sea scorpion is killed in wine, and the liquid is taken. The meat, too, of the elongated conch is taken with honeyed wine and water in equal quantities or, if there are symptoms of fever, with hydromel. Pain to the side are assaged by taking the flesh of the hippocampus, grilled or else the tithia, very similar to the oyster with the ordinary food. For sciataca, the pickle of the silaris is injected, by way of clyster. The flesh of conch, too, is prescribed for fifteen days in doses of three oboli soaked in two sextari of wine.
Chapter Thirty-One. Remedies for Diseases of the Bowels. Seawort. One remedy. The Myaxe. Twenty-five remedies. The Middellis. Eight remedies. Pelerides. One remedy. Seraphim. Two remedies. The Erintheus. Two remedies. The stress taken in its broth or the torpedo used as food acts as a laxative upon the bowels. There is a seaworth also similar in appearance the cultivated cabbage is injurious to the stomach. but acts most efficiently as a prerogative, requiring to be cooked with fat meat for the purpose and consequence of its extreme acridity. The broth, too, of all boiled fish is good for this purpose, it acting also as a strong diuretic, taken with wine more particularly. The best kind of all is that prepared from the sea scorpion, the eulis, and rockfish in general, as they are destitute of all rankness and are free from fat.
The proper way of cooking them is with dill, parsley, coriander, and leeks, with the addition of oil and salt. Still, Kybeum, too, acts as a purgative, and is particularly useful for carrying off crudities, pituous, humorous, and vile. The Mayex is of a purgative nature, a shellfish of which we shall take this opportunity of giving the natural history at length. These fish collect together in masses. like the murex, and are found in spots covered with seaweed. They are the finest eating in autumn, and are found in the greatest perfection in places where fresh-water streams discharge themselves into the sea, for which reason it is that those of Egypt are held in such high esteem. As the winter advances, they contract a bitter flavor, and assume a reddish hue.
The liquor of these fish, it is said, Acts as a purgative upon the bowels and bladder, has a detergent effect upon the intestines, acts apparently upon all the passages, purges the kidneys, and diminishes the blood and abyspects secretions. Hence it is that these shellfish are found of the greatest use for the treatment of dropsy, for the regulation of catamemia, and for the removal of jaundice, all diseases of the joints and flatulency. They are very good also for the reduction of obesity, for diseases of the bile and of the pituitous secretions, for frictions of the lungs, liver, and spleen, and for rheumatic deflections. The only inconvenience resulting from them is that they irritate the throat and impede the articulation.
They have also a healing effect upon ulcers as the saprigonous nature, or which stand in need of detergents, as also carcinomaidosaurus. Calcine, the same way as the murics, and employed with honey, they are curative of bites inflicted either by dogs or human beings, and of leprous spots or freckles. The ashes of them, rinsed, are good for the removal of films upon the eyes, granulations of those organs, and injurations of the membrane, as also for diseases of the gum and teeth, and for pituous eruptions. They serve also as an antidote to dorykinium and to opicar patharthan. There are two species of this shellfish of a degenerate kind. The Middellus, which has a strong flavor and a saltish taste, and the Mitzka, which differs from the former in the roundness of its shell, is somewhat smaller and is covered with filaments, the shell being thinner and the meat of a sweeter flavor.
The ashes also of the middellus, like those of the murex, are possessed of certain caustic properties, and are very useful for the removal of leprous spots, freckles, and blemishes of the skin. They are rinsed, too, in the same manner as lead, for the removal of swellings in the eyelids, of indurations of the membranes, and films upon the eyes, as also of sorted ulcers upon other parts of the body, and of pusols on the head. The meat of them also is employed as an application for bites inflicted by dogs. As to Pelerides, they act as a gentle laxative upon the bowels, an effect equally produced by Castorium, taken in doses of two drachmae and Hydromel. Where, however, a more drastic purgative is required, one drachmae of dried garden cucumber root is added, and two drachmae of Omphrinitrum.
The tethia is good for griping pains in the bowels and for attacks of flatulency. They are generally found adhering to the leaves of marine plants, sucking their nutrients therefrom, and may be rather looked upon as a sort of fungus than as a fish. They are useful also for the removal of tensumus of diseases in the kidneys. There grows also in the sea a kind of absinthium, known by some persons as seraphim, and found in the vicinity of Tapasiris in Egypt, more particularly. It is of a more slender form than the land, Avacinthium, acts as a purgative upon the vowels, and inevitably removes intestinal worms. The Saibia, too, is a laxative. For which purpose these fish are administered with the food, boiled with a mixture of oil, salt, and meal.
Salted mina, applied with bull's gall to the navel, acts as a purgative upon the vowels. The liquor of fish, boiled in the saucepan with lettuces, dispels tenusmus. River crabs, beaten up and taken with water, act astringently upon the bowels, and they have a diuretic effect if taken with white wine. Deprived of the legs and taken in doses of three ovale with mare and iris, one drachma of each, they disperse urinary calcili. For the care of iliac passion and attacks of flatulency, Castureum should be taken, with seeds of daucis and of parsley, a pinch and three fingers of each, the whole being mixed with four scythi of warm honeyed wine. Griping pains in the bowels should be treated with castureum in a mixture of dill and wine.
The fish, called Eurythinous, used as food, acts astringently upon the bowels. The century is cured by taking frogs boiled with squills and prepared in the form of bulluses, or else hearts of frogs beaten up with honey. As Nicaragostus recommends, for the cure of jaundice, saltfish should be taken with pepper, the patient abstaining from all other kinds of meat. Chapter Thirty Two. Remedies for diseases of the spleen, for urinary calcule, and for affections of the bladder. The sole, one remedy. The turbot, one remedy. The blendius, one remedy. The sea nettle, seven remedies. The pulmon marines, six remedies. Onychelles, Four remedies. For the cure of spleen diseases, the fish known as a sole is applied to that part.
Their torpedo also, or else a live torbot, is being then set at liberty in the sea. The sea scorpion killed in wine is a cure for diseases of the bladder and for urinary calcinea. The stone Also that is found in the tail of this last fish, taken in drink, in doses of one obolus, the liver of the anhydrous, and the ashes of the fish called Blundius, taken with rue. In the head, too, of the fish called Bacchus, there are for certain small zones, as it were. These, taken in water, sixth number, are an excellent cure for urinary calcule. They say, too, that the sea-nettle, taken in wine, is very useful for this purpose, as also the pulmonarinus boiled in water. The eggs of the cipia have a duretic effect, and carry off pituitous humours from the kidneys.
Fractures and convulsions are very effectually treated by taking river crabs, bruised in ass's milk more particularly, and urinary calcium by drinking sea-urchins, pounded spines and all. In wine. The due proportion being one semi-sextarius of wine for each urchin, and the treatment being continued till its good effects are visible. The flush, too, of the sea urchin taken as food is very useful as remedy for the same malady. Scallops, also taken as food, act detergently upon the bladder. The male fish is by some persons called donax, and by others allos, the female being known as onyx. The male scallop has a diuretic effect. The flesh of the female is sweeter than that of the male and of any uniform color.
The eggs, too, of the saibia promote the urinary secretions and act detergently upon the kidneys.
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8 08 - Book 32, Chapters 33 to 47. Remedies for the intestines, the generative organs, remedies for the gout, epilepsy, lethargy, burns, diseases of the sinews, ulcers, warts. Depilatories. 27:34
VIII.
Chapter 33 to 47. Chapter 33. Remedies for Intestinal Hernia and for Diseases of the Rectum. The Water Snake, one remedy. The Hydrus, one remedy. The Mullet, one remedy. The Palimus, three remedies. For the cure of intestinal hernia, the sea-hair is applied bruised with honey. The liver of the water-snake and that of the hydrus, bruised and taken in drink, are remedial for a urinary calculi. Sciatica is cured by using the pickle of the salurus as a clister, the bowels being first thoroughly purged. For chafing of the fundament, an application is made of heads of mullets and surmullets, reduced to ashes, for which purpose they are calcined in an earthen vessel and must be applied in combination with honey.
Calcined heads, too, of the fish known as nene, are useful for the cure of chaps and condomolata, as also heads of salted palomides, reduced to ashes, are calcined cipium, applied with honey. The torpedo, applied topically, reduces precedence of the rectum. River crabs, reduced to ashes and applied with oil and wax, are curative of chaps of the fundament. Sea crabs, too, are equally useful for the purpose. Chapter 34. Remedies for Inflamed Tumors and for Diseases of the Generative Organs. The Sclena, one remedy. The Perch, four remedies. The Squantina, three remedies. The Smaris, three remedies. The pickle of the coracinus disperses inflammatory tumors. An effect which is equally produced by using the calcined intestines and scales of the sienna.
The sea scorpion, too, is used for the same purpose, boiled in wine and applied as a fomentation, to the part affected. Shells of sea urchins, bruised and applied with water, act as a check upon incipient inflammatory tumors. Atches of the murex or of the purple are employed in either case. Whether it is wanted to disperse inflammatory tumors in an incipient state, or to bring them to a head and break them. Some authorities prescribe the following preparation. Of wax and frankincense, 20 drachmy. Of letharge, 40 drachmy. Of calcine murex, 10 drachmy. And of old oil, 1 semisextarius. Salt fish, boiled and applied by itself, is highly useful for the above purpose. River crabs, bruised and applied, disperse pustules on the generative organs.
The same, too, with calcined heads of minae, or the flesh of that fish boiled and applied. Heads of salted perch, reduced to ashes, and applied with honey, are equally useful for the purpose, or else calcined heads of elamides, or skin of the squatina, reduced to ashes. It is the skin of this fish that is used already, stated for giving a polish to wood. For the sea even, we find, furnishes its aid to our artificers. For a similar purpose, the fishes called smaridis are applied topically, as also ashes of the shell the murex, or of the purple, applied with honey, which last are still more efficacious when the flesh has been burnt with the shell. Saltfish boiled with honey is particularly good for the care of carbuncles upon the generative organs.
For relaxation of the testes, the slime of snails is recommended, applied in the form of a liniment. The flesh of hippocampi, grilled and taken frequently as food, is a cure for incontinence of urine. The Ophidian, too, a little fish similar to the conjure in appearance, eaten with a lily root, or the small fry found in the bellies of larger fish that have swallowed them, reduced to ashes, and taken in water. It is recommended, too, to burn African snails, both shells and flesh, and to administer the ashes with wine of insignia. Chapter 36 Remedies for Gout and for Pains in the Feet. The Beaver, Four Remedies, Brian, One Remedy. For the cure of the gout and diseases of the joints, Oil is useful in which the intestines of frogs have been boiled.
Ashes, too, of burnt bramble frogs are similarly employed with stale grease, in addition to which some persons use calcined barley, the three ingredients being mixed in equal proportions. It is recommended, too, in cases of gout, to rub the parts affected with the sea-hair, fresh-caught, and to wear shoes made of beaver's skin, pontic beaver more particularly, or else of sea-calf skin. An animal, the vat of which is very useful for the purpose. The same being the case also with Brian, a plant of which we have already spoken, similar to the lettuce in appearance, but with more wrinkled leaves and destitute of stem. This plant is of a styptic nature, and applied topically, it tends to modify the paroxysms of gout.
The same, too, with seaweed, of which we have also spoken already, Due precaution being taken not to apply it dry. Chillbanes are cured by applying the pulmon marinus, ashes of sea crabs with oil, river crabs bruised and burnt to ashes, and kneaded up with oil, or else fat of the salurus. In diseases of the joints, the paroxysms are modified by applying fresh frogs every now and then. Some authorities recommend that they should be split asunder before being applied. The liquor from mussels and other shellfish has a tendency to make flesh. Chapter 37. Remedies for Epilepsy Epileptic patients, as already stated, are recommended to drink the rennet of the sea calf, mixed with mare's milk or ass's milk, or else with pomegranate juice, or in some cases with oxymel.
Some persons do swallow the rennet by itself in the form of pills. Castoreum is sometimes administered in three sapphi of oxymel to the patient fasting. But where the attacks are frequent, it is employed in the form of a chlester, with marvelous effect. The proper proportions in this last case are two drachmae of castoreum, one sextarius of oil and honey, and the same quantity of water. At the moment that the patient is seized with a fit, it is a good plan to give him castoreum, With vinegar to smell. The liver, too, of the sea weasel is given to epileptic patients, or else that of sea mice, or the blood of tortoises. Chapter 38. Remedies for Fevers. The fish called Asilus. One remedy. The Phagus.
One remedy. The Baleena. One remedy. Recurrent fevers are effectually checked by making the patient taste the liver of a dolphin just before the paroxysm comes on. Hippocampi are stifled in oil of roses, and patients are rubbed therewith in cold agues, the fish also being worn as an amulet by the patient. In the same way, too, the small stones that are found at full moon in the head of the fish, called acellus, are worn attached in a piece of linen cloth to the patient's body. A similar virtue has been attributed to the longest tooth of the river fish, called Phagus, attached to the patient with a hair, provided he does not see the person who attaches it to him for five days. Frogs are boiled in oil in a spot where three roads meet, and the flesh being first thrown away.
The patients are rubbed with a decoction by way of cure for quartan fever. Some persons again suffocate frogs in oil, and after attaching them to the patient without his knowing it, anoint him with the oil. The heart of a frog, worn as an amulet, modifies the cold chills and fevers. The same, too, with oil in which the intestines of frogs have been boiled. But the best remedy for quartan fevers is to wear attached to the body either frogs from which the claws have been removed, or else the liver or heart of a bramble frog, attached in a piece of russet-colored cough. River crabs bruised in oil and water are highly beneficial in fevers, the patient being anointed with a preparation just before the paroxysms come on.
Some authorities recommend the addition of pepper to the mixture. Others prescribe for quartan fevers a decoction of river crabs in wine, boiled down to one-fourth, the patient taking it at the moment of leaving the bath. By some, too, it is recommended to swallow the left eye of a river crab. The magicians engage to cure a tertian fever by attaching as an amulet to the patient, before sunrise, the eyes of river crabs, the crabs when thus blinded, being set at liberty in the water. They say, too, that these eyes attached to the body in a piece of deer's hide with the flesh of a nightingale will dispel sleep and promote watchfulness. In cases where there are symptoms of lethargy, the rennet of the balina or of the sea calf is given to the patient to smell.
Some persons, too, use the blood of tortoises as a liniment for lethargic patients. Tertian fevers, it is said, may be cured by wearing one of the vertebrae of a perch attached to the body, and quartan fevers by using fresh river snails as an aliment. Some persons preserve these nails in salt for this purpose, and give them pounded in drink. Remedies for Lethargy, Cachexiae, and Dropsy. Strombi, left to putrefy in vinegar, act as an excitement upon lethargic patients by their smell. They are very useful, too, for the cure of cardiac disease. For cachectic patients, where the body is wasting with consumption, tethi are considered beneficial, mixed with rue and honey. For the cure of dropsy, dolphin's fat is melted and taken with wine, the repulsive taste of it being neutralized by first touching the nostrils with an urgent or some other odoriferous substance, or else by plugging the nostrils in some way or other.
The flesh of Strombi, pounded and given in three hymenae of honeyed wine, and the same quantity of water, or if there is fever in hydromel, is very useful for dropsy. The same, too, with the juice of river crabs, administered with honey. Water-frogs, too, are boiled with old wine and spelt, and taken as food, the liquor in which they have been boiled, being drunk from the same vessel, or else the feet, head, and tail of a tortoise are cut off and the intestines removed, the rest of the flesh being seasoned in such a manner as to allow of its being taken without loathing. River crabs, too, eaten with their broth, are said to be very good for the cure of pithesis.
Chapter 40. Remedies for Burns and for Erisipelas. Burns are cured by applying ashes of calcine sea crabs, or river crabs, with oil. Fish glue, too, and calcine frogs are used as an application for scalds produced by boiling water. The same treatment also restores the hair provided the ashes are those of river crabs. It is generally thought, too, that the preparation should be applied with wax and bear's grease. Ashes, too, of burnt beaver skin are very useful for these purposes. Live frogs act as a check upon erysipelas. the belly side being applied to the part affected. It is recommended, too, to attach them lengthwise by their hinder legs so as to render them more beneficial by reason of their increased respiration.
Heads, too, of Salta saluri, are reduced to ashes and applied with vinegar. Prurigo and itch scab, not only in man but in quadrupeds as well, are most efficaciously treated with the liver of the pastinica boiled in oil. Chapter 41. Remedies for Diseases of the Sinews. The exterior callosity with which the flesh of purples is covered, beaten up, unites the sinews even when they have been severed asunder. It is a good plan for patients suffering from tetanus to take sea-calfs rennet in wine, in doses of one obolus, as also fish-glue. Persons affected with fits of trembling find much relief from castoreum, Provided they are well anointed with oil. I find it stated that the surmullet, used as an article of diet, acts injuriously upon the sinews.
Chapter 42. Methods of Arresting Hemorrhage and of Letting Blood. The polyp, one remedy. Fish used as an ailment, it is generally thought, make blood. The polyp, bruised and applied, arrests hemorrhages, it is thought. In addition to which we find stated the following particulars respecting it, that of itself it emits a sort of brine, in consequence of which there is no necessity to use any in cooking it, that it should always be sliced with a reed, and that it is spoilt by using an iron knife, becoming tainted thereby, owing to the antipathy which naturally exists between it and iron. For the purpose also of arresting hemorrhage, Ashes of burnt frogs are applied topically, or else the dry blood of those animals.
Some authorities recommend the frog to be used that is known by the Greeks as Kalamites, from the fact that it lives among reeds and shrubs. It is the smallest and greenest of all frogs, and either the blood or the ashes of it are recommended to be employed. Others again prescribe in cases of bleeding at the nostrils an injection of the ashes of young water-frogs in the tadpole state calcined in a new earthen vessel. On the other hand again, in cases where it is required to let blood, the kind of leech is used which is known among us by the name of sanguasinga. Indeed, the action of these leeches is looked upon as pretty much the same as that of the cupping-glasses, used in medicine, their effect being to relieve the body of superfluous blood and to open the pores of the skin.
Still, however, there is this inconvenience attending them. When they have been once applied, they create a necessity for having recourse to the same treatment at about the same period in every succeeding year. Many physicians have been of opinion also that leeches may be successfully applied in cases of gout. When gorged, they fall off in consequence of losing their hold through the weight of the blood, but if not, they must be sprinkled with salt for the purpose. Leeches are apt, however, to leave their heads buried in the flesh, the consequence of which is an incurable wound which has caused death in many cases, that of Mesillinus, for example, a patrician of consular rank, after an application of leeches to his knee.
When this is the case, that which was intended as a remedy is turned into an active poison, as a result which it is to be apprehended in using the red leeches more particularly. Hence it is that when these last are employed, it is the practice to dip them with a pair of scissors while sucking, the consequence of which is that the blood oozes forth through a siphon, as it were, and the head gradually contracting as the animal dies, is not left behind in the wound. There is a natural antipathy existing between leeches and bugs, and hence it is that the latter are killed by the aid of a fumigation made with leeches. Ashes of beaver-skin, burnt with tar, kneaded up with leek-juice, arrest bleeding at the nostrils.
Chapter 43. Methods of Extracting Foreign Bodies from the Flesh To extract pointed weapons which have pierced the flesh, ashes of calcined shells of the sepia are used. It is also of the purple, the meat of salted fish, bruised river crabs, or flesh of the Silurus, a river fish that is found in other streams as well as that of the Nylus, applied either fresh or salted. The ashes also of this fish, as well as that, have the property of extracting pointed bodies, and the backbone in a calcined state is used as a substitute for spodium.
Chapter 44 Remedies for Ulcers Carcinomata and Carbuncles Ulcers of a serpiginous nature, as also the fleshy excrescences which make their appearance in them, are kept in check by applying ashes of calcined heads of meene, or else ashes of the Carcinomata, too, are treated with heads of salted perch, their efficacy being considerably increased by using some salt along with the ashes, and kneading them up with the heads of cunilla and olive oil. Ashes of sea crabs, calcined with lead, arrest the progress of carcinomata sores, a purpose for which ashes of river crabs, in combination with honey and fine lint, are equally useful. Though there are some authorities which prefer mixing alum and barley with the ashes.
Phagidinic ulcers are cured by an application of dried cellulures pounded with sandirac. Malignant cancers, corrosive ulcers, and putrid sores by the agency of stale sibium. Maggots that breed in sores are removed by applying frog skull. The fistulas are opened and dried by introducing a tint made of salt fish, with a docile of lint. Salt-fish, kneaded up and applied in the form of plaster, will remove all proud flesh in the course of a day, and will arrest the further progress of putrid and serpiginous ulcers. Alex, applied in lint, acts detergently also upon ulcers. The same, too, with the ashes of calcined shells of sea-urchins. Salsa slices of the coracinus disperse carbuncles. An effect equally produced by the ashes of salted surmulets.
Some persons, however, use the head only of the surmulet, in combination with honey or with the flesh of the coracinus. Ashes of the murex applied with oil disperse tumors, and the gall of the sea scorpion makes scars disappear. Chapter 45 Remedies for Warts and for Malformed Nails The Glanus One Remedy To remove warts, the liver of the glanus is applied to the part. Ashes also of heads of mammae bruised with garlic. Substances which should be used raw were to his thyme warts that require to be removed. The gall of the red sea scorpion, smarides pounded and applied, or alex thoroughly boiled. Ashes of calcined heads of mammae are used to rectify malformed nails. Chapter 46. Remedies for Female Diseases.
The Glauciscus One. Remedy. The milk is increased in females by eating the Glauciscus in its own liquor, or El smarides with a piston, or boiled with fennel. Ashes of calcined shells of the murix of purple applied with honey are an effectual cure for affectations of the mammilli. River crabs, too, and sea crabs, Applied topically are equally good. The meat of the murex applied to the mammilli removes hairs, growing upon those parts. The squatina applied topically prevents the mammilli from becoming too distended. Lint, greased with dolphin's fat, and then ignited, produces a smoke which acts as an excitement upon females suffering from hysterical suffocations. The same, too, with strombi, left to putrefy in vinegar.
Heads of perch or a mammy, calcined and mixed with salt, oil, and cunilla, are curative of diseases of the uterus. Used as a fumigation, they bring away the afterbirth. Fat 2, the sea calf melted by the agency of fire, is introduced into the nostrils of females when swooning from hysterical suffocations, and for a similar purpose, the rennet of that animal is applied as a pessary in wool. The Puma marinus, attached to the body as an amulet, is an excellent promoter of menstruation, an effect which is equally produced by pounding live sea urchins and taking them in sweet wine. River crabs, bruised in wine and taken internally, arrest menstruation. The Silurus, that of Africa more particularly, used as a fumigation, facilitates parturition, it is said.
Crabs taken in water arrest menstruation. But used with hyssop, they act as an amenagogue, we are told. In cases, too, where the infant is in danger of suffocation at the moment of delivery, a similar drink administered to the mother is highly efficacious. Crabs, too, either fresh or dried, are taken in drink for the purpose of preventing abortion. Hippocrates prescribes them as a promoter of menstruation, and as an expellent of the dead fetus, beaten up with five roots of lapithum, and rue, and some soot, and administered in honeyed wine. Crabs boiled and taken in their liquor with lapithum and parsley promote the menstrual discharge and increase the milk. In cases of fever, it tended with pains in the head and throbbing in the eyes, crabs are said to be highly beneficial to females given in astringent wine.
Castorium taken in honeyed wine is useful as a promoter of menstruation. In cases of hysterical suffocation, it is given to the patient to smell at with pitch and vinegar, or else it is made up into tablets and used as a pessary. For the purpose also of bringing away the afterbirth, it is found a useful plan to employ castoreum with Panax, in four sati of wine, and in cases where the patient is suffering from cold, in doses of 3-O-Boli. If, however, a female is in a state of pregnancy, should happen to step over a castoreum, or over the beaver itself, abortion, it is said, will be the sure result. So, too, if a castoreum is only held over a pregnant woman's head, there will be great danger of miscarriage.
There is a very marvelous fact, too, that I find stated in reference to the torpedo. If it is caught at the same time that the moon is in Libra, and kept in the open air for three days, It will always facilitate parturition, as often as it is introduced into the apartment of a woman in labor. The sting, too, of the pastinica attached to the navel is generally thought to have the property of facilitating delivery. It must be taken, however, from the fish while alive, which done the fish must be returned to the sea. I find it stated by some authorities that there is a substance called ostracium, which is also spoken of as onyx by others, that used as a fumigation, it is wonderfully beneficial for suffocations of the uterus, that in smell it resembles castoreum, and is still more efficacious if burnt with this last substance, and that in the calcine state it has the property of healing inveterate ulcers and cancerous sores of a malignant nature.
As to carbuncles and carcinomatous sores upon the secret parts of females, there is nothing more efficacious, it is said, than a female crab beaten up just after full moon with flour of salt, and applied with water. Chapter 47. Methods of Removing Superfluous Hair. Depilatories. Depilatories are prepared from the blood of gall, and liver of the tunny, either fresh or preserved. as also from pounded liver of the same fish preserved with cedar resin in a leaden box, a recipe which we find given by the midwife Salpe for disguising the age of boys on sale for slaves. A similar property belongs to the pulmon marinus, to the blood and gall of the sea hare, and to the sea hare itself stifled in oil.
The same two with ashes of burnt crabs are sea scolopindri, mixed with oil. Sea-nettles bruised in squilf vinegar, and brains of the torpedo applied with alum on the sixteenth day of the moon. The thick matter emitted by the small frogs, which we have described when treating of eye diseases, is a most efficient depilatory if applied fresh. The same, too, with the frog itself, dried and pounded, and then boiled down to one-third in three hemi of water. or else boiled in a copper vessel with oil in a like proportion. Others again prepare depilatory from fifteen frogs in manner already stated under the head of remedies for the eyes. Leeches also, grilled in an earthen vessel and applied with vinegar, have the same property as a depilatory, and very odor too, which attaches to the persons who thus burn them, is singularly efficacious for killing bugs.
Cases are to be found, too, where persons have used castoreum with honey for many days together as a depilatory. In the case, however, of every depilatory, the hair should always be removed before it is applied.
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9 09 - Book 32, Chapters 48 to 54. Remedies for diseases of infants. Preventing intoxication. Aphrodisiacs. Other aquatic productions. Names of fishes. Summary, Roman authors quoted. Foreign authors quoted. 17:53
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 9. Book 32. Chapters 48-54. Chapter 48. Remedies for the Diseases of Infants Dentition in infants is promoted, and the gums greatly relieved by rubbing them with ashes of a dolphin's teeth, mixed with honey, or else by touching the gums with the tooth itself of that fish. One of these teeth, worn as an amulet, is a preventive of sudden frights, the tooth of the dogfish being also possessed of a similar property. As to ulcers which make their appearance in the ears, or in any other part of the body, they may be cured by applying the liquor of river crabs with barley meal. These crabs, too, bruised in oil and employed as a friction, are very useful for other kinds of maladies.
A sponge moistened with cold water from time to time, or a frog applied the back part to the head, is a most efficacious cure of seriases in infants. When the frog is removed, it will be found quite dry, they say. Chapter 49. Methods of Preventing Intoxication. The fish called rubelio, one remedy. The eel, one remedy. The grapefish, one remedy. A sir-mullet stifled in wine. The fish called rubellio, or a couple of veals similarly treated, or a grapefish left to putrefy in wine, all of them producing aversion to wine in those who drink thereof. Chapter 50. Antaphrodisiacs and aphrodisiacs. The hippopotamus, one remedy. The crocodile, one remedy. In the number of antaphrodisiacs, we have the echinace, the skin from the left side of the forehead of the hippopotamus, attached to the body in lambskin, and the gall of a live torpedo applied to the generative organs.
The following substances act as aphrodisiacs, the flesh of river snails, preserved in salt and given to drinking wine, the erythinous, taken as food, the liver of the frog, called diapetes or calametes. Attached to the body in a small piece of cranes skin. The eye-tooth of a crocodile attached to the arm, the hippocampus, and the sinies of a bramble frog worn as an amulet upon the right arm. A bramble frog attached to the body in a piece of fresh sheepskin effectually puts an end to love.
Chapter 51. Remedies for the diseases of animals. A decoction of frogs in water, reduced in the form of a liniment, is curative of each scab in horses. Indeed, it is said that a horse, when once treated in this manner, will never again be attacked with a disease. Salpis says that if a live frog is given to dogs in their mess, they will lose the power of barking. Chapter 52. Other aquatic productions. Adarca or Colomocnus. Three remedies. Reeds. Eight remedies. The ink of the sapia. Among the aquatic productions ought also to be mentioned Colomocnos, in Latin known as Adaria, a substance which collects about small reeds from a mixture of the foam or freshness of sea water. It possesses certain caustic properties, and hence it is that it is so useful as an ingredient in a copa, and as a remedy for cold shiverings.
It is used, too, for removing freckles upon the face of females. And now we are speaking of a darker, the reed ought equally to be mentioned. The root of that, known as the phragmatis, pounded fresh, is curative of sprains and applied topically with vinegar, removes pains in the spine. The calcined bark, too, of the Cyprian reed, known as the donox, is curative of allopathy and inveterate ulcers, and its leaves are good for the extraction of foreign bodies adhering to the flesh and for the cure of erysipelus. Should, however, the flower of the panicle happen to enter the ears, deafness is the consequence. The ink of the sapia is possessed of such remarkable potency that if it is put into a lamp, Anaxileus tells us, the light will become entirely changed, and all present will look as black as Ethiopians.
The bramble frog boiled in water and given to swine with their drink is curative of the maladies with which they are affected, an effect equally produced by the ashes of any other kind of frog. If wood is rubbed with a palm of marinus, it will have all the appearance of being on fire, so much so, indeed, that a walking stick, thus treated, will light the way like a torch. Chapter 53. The names of all the animals that exist in the sea, 176 in number. Having now completed our exposition of the properties which belong to the aquatic productions, it would appear by no means foreign to my purpose to give a list of the various animated beings which inhabit the seas. So many as these are in number of such vast extent, and not only making their way into the interior of the land to a distance of so many miles, but also surrounding the exterior of it to an extent almost equal to that of the world itself.
These animals, it is generally considered, embrace 176 different species, and it will be my object to set them forth, each by its distinct name, a thing that cannot possibly be done in reference to the terrestrial animals and the birds. For, in fact, we are by no means acquainted with all the wild beasts or all the birds that are to be found in India, Ethiopia, Scythia, or the desert regions of the earth, and even of man himself there are numerous varieties, which as yet we have been unable to make ourselves acquainted with. In addition, too, to the various countries above mentioned, we have Taprobani and other isles of the ocean, about which so many fabulous stories are related. Surely, then, everyone must allow that it is quite impossible to comprise every species of animal in one general view for the information of mankind, and yet, by Hercules, in the sea and in the ocean, vast as it is, there exists nothing that is unknown to us, and, a truly marvelous fact, it is with those things which nature has concealed in the deep that we are the best acquainted.
To begin, then, with the monsters that are found in this element. We here find sea trees, visitors, balene, pistresses, tritons, nereids, elephants, the creatures known as seamen, sea wheels, orca, sea rams, musculi, other fish too with a form of rams, dolphins, sea calves, so celebrated by Homer, Tortoices to minister to our luxury, and beavers so extensively employed in medicine to which class belongs the otter, an animal which we nowhere find frequenting the sea, it being only of the marine animals that we are speaking. There are dogfish also, drynongs, cornutei, swordfish, sawfish, hippopotami, and crocodiles. Common to the sea, the land, and the rivers. Ternese also, Thinides, Cillurae, Chorassinii, and Perch.
Common to the sea only, and to rivers. To the sea only, The Bacchus. The Batracus, the Bellone, known to us as Aculitai, the Balanus, the Corvus, the Cytherus, the least esteemed of all, the Turbots, the Calchis, the Cobio, the Calarius, which would belong to the genus of the Acelae, were it not smaller, the Coleus, otherwise known as the fish of Parium or of Sexita. This last from a place of that name in Batica, its native region. The smallest, too, of the Losertae. The Coleus of the Meotis, the next smallest of the Losertae. The Sibium, the name given when cut into pieces to the Pelamis, which returns at the end of 40 days from the Euxyn to the Pallas Meotis. The Cordylla, which is also a small Pelamis so-called at the time when it enters the Euxyn from the Pallas Meotis.
The Cantharus. The Calleonymus. Or Uranus copus. The Cenodus, the only fish that is of a yellow color. The Knidae, known to us as the sea nettle. The different kinds of crabs. The striated Chamae. The smooth Chamae. The Chamae belonging to the genus of Pyloridus. All differing in the variety of their colors and in the roundness of the shells. The Chamae glycimoridus. Still larger than the Pyloridus. The Colithia or Coryphea, the various kinds of shellfish, among which we find the pearl oysters. The Cochlea, belonging to which class are the pentadactylae. The helices, by some known as actinophorae, the spokes on whose shells are used for musical purposes. And, in addition to these, the round Cochlea, The shells of which are used in measuring oil, as also the sea cucumber, the cinnopause, the camarus, and the sinusdexia.
Next to these we have the sea dragon, a fish which, according to some, is altogether distinct from the draconculus and resembles the gyricala in appearance, it having on the jills a stickle which points towards the tail and inflicts a wound, like that of the scorpion, when the fish is handled. The erythonous, the echinace, the sea urchin, the sea elephant, A black kind of crayfish, with four forked legs in addition to two arms with double joints, and furnished, each of them, with a pair of claws indented at the edge. The Faber, also, or Zeus, the Glossiscus, the Glanis, the Gonger, the Gerus, the Galeos, the Garrus, the Hippos, There are various kinds also of Lacerthae, the springing lolligow, the crayfish, the lanternfish, the lepers, the larinus, the sea hare, and the sea lion, with arms like those of the crab, and in the other parts of the body like the crayfish.
We have the Sir Mullet also, the Sea Blackbird, highly esteemed among the Rockfish, the Mullet, the Melonurus, the Mena, the Miotis, the Murena, the Mis, the Mityllus, the Miascus, the Murex, the Aculata, the Ophidian, the Oyster, the Otia, the Orsinus, the largest of all the Palamides, and one that never returns to the Pallus meotes, like the Tritomus in appearance, and best when old, the Orbis, the Orthogoryscus, the Phaeger, the Ficus, a rockfish, the Pelamis, the largest kind of which is called a Polyctum and is tougher than the Tritomus, the Sea-Pig, the Phthyr, the Sea-Sparrow, the Postinaca, The several varieties of the polyp, the scallop, which is larger and more swarthy in summer than at other times, and the most esteem of which are those of Mycellini, Tyndaris, Salone, Altynum, the island of Chios, and Alexandria in Egypt.
The small scallop, the purple, the Pegris, the Pina, the Pinotheris, the Rhine or Squalus of the Latins, the Churbot, The Scarus, a fish which holds the first rung at the present day, the Sol, the Sargus, the Squilla, the Sarta, such being the name of an elongated Pelamis which comes from the ocean, the Scomber, the Sulpa, the Saurus, the Skorpana, the Sea Scorpion, the Solus, the Siena, the Siadius, the Scolopendra, the Zmiris, the Sepia, The Strombus, the Solon, otherwise known as the Aulas, Donax, Onyx or Dactylus. The Spondylus, the Zmaris, the Starfish and the Spongius. There is the Seathrush also, famous among the Rockfish. The Thinus, the Thranis, by some writers known as the Xepheus. The Thrissa, the Torpedo.
The Tethya, the Tritomus, a large kind of Pelamis, which admits of being cut into three Sibia, the shells of Venus, the Chapter 54. Additional names of fishes found in the poem of Ovid. To the above enumeration we will add some names given in the poem of Ovid, which are not to be found in any other writer. Species, however, which are probably peculiar to the euxine, on the shores of which he commenced that work towards the close of his life. The fishes thus mentioned by him are the sea ox, the cercerus, the dwells among the rocks, the orphas, the red erythinus, The Eolus, the Tinted Mormyr, the Chrysophris, a fish of a golden color, the Parus, the Tragus, the Melanurus, remarkable for the beauty of its tail, and the Epides, a flat fish.
In addition to these remarkable kinds of fishes, the same poet tells us that the Canis conceives of itself, that the Glaucous never makes its appearance in summer. That the pompilus always accompanies vessels in their course, and that the chromis makes its nest in the water. The halops, he says, is unknown to our waters, from which it would appear that those are in error who look upon it as identical with our acipensor. Many persons have given the preference to the halops before all other fish in point of flavour. There are several fishes also which have been mentioned by no author, such, for instance, as the one called Sudis by the Latins and Sphyrini by the Greeks, names which indicate the peculiar form of its muzzle.
It is one of the very largest kinds, but rarely found, and by no means of inferior flavour. Perna, too, is the name given to a kind of shellfish found in vast numbers in the vicinity of the islands of the These fish are found firmly planted in the sand, resembling in appearance the long shung of a hog. Opening wide their shells, where there is sufficient space, they lie in wait for their prey, this opening being not less than a foot in breadth, and the edges of it garnished around with teeth closely set, much resembling the teeth of a comb in form. Within the shell, the meat consists of a vast lump of flesh. I once saw, too, a fish called the hyena, which had been caught off the island of Anaria.
In addition to these animals, there are certain excretions thrown up by the sea which do not merit any further notice, and indeed ought to be reckoned among the seaweeds rather than looked upon as animated beings. Summary Remedies, Narratives and Observations, 990. Roman authors quoted.
Foreign authors quoted Juba, Andreas, Salpi, Appian, Pelops, Apelis, Thrasyllus, Nicander.
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10 10 - Book 33, Chapters 1 to 6. Metals. Gold. The origin of gold rings.The right of wearing gold rings. 26:38
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 10, Book 33. Chapters One to Six. Metals. Gold. The origin of gold rings. The right of wearing gold rings.
Chapter One. Metals. We are now to speak of metals, of actual wealth, the standard of comparative value, objects for which we diligently search within the earth in numerous ways. In one place, for instance, We undermine it for the purpose of obtaining riches to supply the exigencies of life, searching for either gold or silver, electrum or copper. In another place, to satisfy the requirements of luxury, our researchers extend to gems and pigments with which to adorn our fingers and the walls of our houses, while in a third place, We gratify our rash propensities by a search for iron, which, amid wars and carnage, is deemed more acceptable even than gold. We trace out all the veins of the earth, and yet, living upon it, undermined as it is beneath our feet, are astonished that it should occasionally cleave asunder or tremble, as though, forsooth, these signs could be any other than expressions of the indignation felt by our sacred.
We penetrate into her entrails, and seek for treasures in the abodes even of the Marnays, as though each spot we tread upon were not sufficiently bounteous and fertile for us. And yet, amid all this, we are far from making remedies the object of our researches, and how few, in thus delving into the earth, have in view the promotion of medicinal knowledge. For it is upon her surface, in fact, that she has presented us with these substances, equally with the serials, bounteous, and ever-ready as she is, in supplying us with all things for our benefit. It is what is concealed from our view, what is sunk far beneath her surface, objects, in fact, of no rapid formation, that urge us to our ruin, that send us to the very depths of hell.
As the mind ranges in vague speculation, let us only consider proceeding through all ages, as these operations are, when will be the end of thus exhausting the earth, and to what point will avarice finally penetrate? How truly delightful even would life be if we were to desire nothing but what is found upon the face of the earth, in a word, nothing but what is provided ready to our hands.
Chapter Two. Gold.
Gold is dug out of the earth, and, in close proximity to it, chrysochola, a substance which, that it may appear all the more precious, still retains the name, which it has borrowed from gold. It was not enough for us to have discovered one bane for the human race, but we must set a value, too, upon the very humours of gold, while Avarice, too, Was on the search for silver, it congratulated itself upon the discovery of minimum and devised a use to be made of this red earth. Alas for the prodigal inventions of man, in how many ways have we augmented the value of things? In addition to the standard values of these metals, the art of painting lends its aid, and we have rendered gold and silver still more costly by the art of chasing them.
Man has learned how to challenge both nature and art to become the incitements to vice. His very cups he has delighted to engrave with libidinous subjects, and he takes pleasure in drinking from vessels of obscene form. But in lapse of time, the metals passed out of fashion, and men began to make no account of them. Gold and silver, in fact, became too common. From this same earth, We have extracted vessels of murine and vases of crystal, objects the very fragility of which is considered to enhance their value. In fact, it has come to be looked upon as a proof of opulence and as quite the glory of luxury to possess that which may be irremediably destroyed in an instant. Nor was even this enough.
We now drink from out of a mass of gems. And we set our goblets with Samarakti. We take delight in possessing the wealth of India as the promoter of intoxication, and gold is now nothing more than a mere accessory.
Chapter Three. What was the first recommendation of gold? Would that gold could have been banished forever from the earth, accursed by universal report, As some of the most celebrated writers have expressed themselves, reviled by the reproaches of the best of men, and looked upon as discovered only for the ruin of mankind. How much more happy the age when things themselves were bartered for one another, as was the case in the times of the Trojan War, if we are to believe what Homer says. For in this way, in my opinion, was commerce then carried on For the supply of the necessaries of life. Some, he tells us, would make their purchases by bartering ox hides, and others by bartering iron, or the spoil which they had taken from the enemy.
And yet he himself, already an admirer of gold, was so far aware of the relative value of things that Glaucus, he informs us, exchanged his arms of gold, valued at 100 oxen, for those of Diomedes. Which were worth but nine. Proceeding upon the same system of barter, many of the fines imposed by ancient laws, at Rome even, were levied in cattle and not in money.
Chapter Four. The Origin of Gold Rings. The worst crime against mankind was committed by him who was the first to put a ring upon his fingers. And yet we are not informed by tradition who it was that first did so. For, as to all the stories told about Prometheus, I look upon them as utterly fabulous, although I am aware that the ancients used to represent him with a ring of iron. It was their intention, however, to signify a chain thereby, and not an ornament. As to the ring of Midas, which, upon the collet being turned inwards, Conferred invisibility upon the wearer, who is there that must not admit, perforce, that this story is even still more fabulous. It was the hand, and a sinister hand too, in every sense, that first brought gold into such high repute.
Not a Roman hand, however, for upon that it was the practice to wear a ring of iron only, and solely as an indication of warlike prowess. As to the usage followed by the Roman kings, it is not easy to pronounce an opinion. The statue of Romulus, in the capital, wears no ring, nor does any other statue, not that of Elbrutus even, with the sole exception of those of Numa and Servius Tullius. I am surprised at this absence of the ring, in the case of the Tarquinii more particularly, seeing that they were originally from Greece. A country from which the use of gold rings was first introduced, though even at the present day the people of Lacedaemon are in the habit of wearing rings made of iron.
Tarquinius Priscus, however, it is well known, was the first who presented his son with the golden bulla on the occasion of his slaying an enemy before he had laid aside the praetexta, from which period the custom of wearing the bulla has been continued, a distinction confined to the children of those who have served in the cavalry, those of other persons simply wearing a leather thong. Such being the case, I am the more surprised that the statue of this Tarquinius should be without a ring. And yet, with reference to the very name of the ring, I find that there has been considerable uncertainty, that given to it originally by the Greeks. is derived from the finger, while our ancestors styled it ungulous, and in later times both Greeks and Latins have given it the name of symbolum.
For a great length of time, it is quite clear not even the Roman senators wore rings of gold, for rings were given, and at the public expense, to those only who were about to proceed on an embassy to foreign nations, the reason being, I suppose, Because men of the highest rank among foreign nations were perceived to be thus distinguished. Nor was it the practice for any person to wear these rings, except those who for this reason had received them at the public expense, and in most instances it was without this distinction that the Roman generals celebrated their public triumphs. For whereas an Etruscan crown of gold was supported from behind over the head of the victor. He himself equally was the slave, probably, who was so supporting the crown, had nothing but a ring of iron upon his finger.
It was in this manner that C. Marius celebrated his triumph over Yrgatha, and he never assumed the Golden Ring, it is said, until the period of his third consulship. Those two who had received golden rings on the occasion of an embassy only wore them when in public, resuming the ring of iron when in their houses. It is in pursuance of this custom that even at the present day an iron ring is sent by way of present to a woman when betrothed, and that, too, without any stone in it. For my own part, I do not find that any rings were used in the days of the Trojan War. At all events, Homer nowhere makes mention of them, for although he speaks of the practice of sending tablets, by way of letter, of clothes and gold and silver plate being kept laid up in chests, still he gives us to understand that they were kept secure by the aid of a knot tied fast, and not under a seal impressed by a ring.
He does not inform us. Two, that when the chiefs drew lots to ascertain which one of them should reply to the challenge of the enemy, they made use of any rings for the purpose. And when he enumerates the articles that were manufactured at the forge of the gods, he speaks of this as being the origin of fibulae and other articles of female ornament, such as earrings, for example, but does not make any mention of rings. Whoever it was that first introduced the use of rings, he did so not without hesitation, for he placed this ornament on the left hand, the hand which is generally concealed, whereas if he had been sure of its being an honorable distinction, it would have been made more conspicuous upon the right, and if anyone should raise the objection, That this would have acted as an impediment to the right hand, I can only say that the usage in more recent times fortifies my opinion, and that the inconvenience of wearing rings on the left hand would have been still greater, seeing that it is with the left hand that the shield is held.
We find mention made, too, in Homer, of men wearing gold plated with the hair. And hence, tis that I am at a loss to say whether the practice first originated with females.
Chapter Five. The Quantity of Gold Possessed by the Ancients.
At Rome, for a long period of time, the quantity of gold was but very small. At all events, after the capture of the city by the Gauls, when peace was about to be purchased, Not more than 1,000 pounds weight of gold could be collected. I am by no means unaware of the fact that in the third consulship of Pompeius there was lost from the throne of Jupiter, Capitolinus, 2,000 pounds weight of gold originally placed there by Camillus, a circumstance which has led most persons to suppose that 2,000 pounds weight was the quantity then collected. But in reality, This excess of one thousand pounds was contributed from the spoil taken from the Gauls, amplified, as it was, by the gold of which they had stripped the temples in that part of the city which they had captured.
The story of Torquatus, too, is a proof that the Gauls were in the habit of wearing ornaments of gold when engaged in combat, from which it would appear that the sum taken from the Gauls themselves And the amount of which they had pillaged the temples were only equal to the amount of gold collected for the ransom, and no more. And this is what was really meant by the response given by the augurs, that Jupiter Capitolinus had rendered again the ransom twofold. As we were just now speaking on the subject of rings, it may be as well to add, by way of passing remark, That upon the officer in charge of the temple of Jupiter, Capitolinus, being arrested, he broke the stone of his ring between his teeth and expired on the spot, thus putting an end to all possibility of discovering the perpetrator of the theft.
It appears, therefore, that in the year of the city, 364, when Rome was captured by the Gauls, there was but 2,000 pounds weight of gold at the very most. And this, too, at a period when, according to the returns of the census, there were already 152,573 free citizens in it. In the same city, too, 307 years later, in gold which C. Marius the Younger conveyed to Praeneste from the temple of the capital when in flames and all the other shrines amounted to 13,000 pounds weight. Such being the sum that figured in the inscriptions at the triumph of Scylla, on which occasion it was displayed in the procession, as well as six thousand pounds weight of silver. The same Scylla had, the day before, displayed in his triumph fifteen thousand pounds weight of gold and one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds weight of silver, the fruit of all his other victories.
Chapter Six. The right of wearing gold rings. It does not appear that rings were in common use before the time of Cnaeus Flavius, the son of Aeneas. This Flavius was the first publisher table of the days for pleading, which till then the populace had to ascertain each day from a few great personages. The son of a freedman only, and secretary to Appius Caicus. At whose request, by dint of natural shrewdness and continual observation, he had selected these days and made them public. He obtained such high favour with the people that he was created curule idile, in conjunction with Quintus Anicus Praenestinus, who a few years before had been an enemy to Rome, and the exclusion of C. Potilius and Domitius, whose fathers respectively were The additional honor was also conferred on Flavius of making him tribune of the people at the same time, a thing which occasions such a degree of indignation that, as we find stated in the book, Most persons, however, are mistaken in the supposition that on this occasion the members of the equestrian order did the same.
For it is, in consequence of these additional words, quote, the Phalerae too were laid aside as well, end quote, that the name of the equestrian order was added. These rings too, as the annals tell us, were laid aside by the nobility, and not by the whole body of the Senate. This event took place in the consulship of P. Sempronius and P. Sulpicius. Flavius made a vow that he would consecrate a temple to Concord if he should succeed in reconciling the privileged orders within the plebeians, and as no part of the public funds could be voted for the purpose, he accordingly built a small shrine of brass in the Grae Costatis, then situate above the Comitium, with the fines which had been exacted for usury.
Here, too, He had an inscription engraved upon a tablet of brass to the effect that the shrine was dedicated 203 years after the consecration of the capital. Such were the events that happened 449 years after the foundation of the city, this being the earliest period at which we find any traces of the common use of rings. A second occasion, however, That of the Second Punic War shows that rings must have been at that period in very general use, for if such had not been the case, it would have been impossible for Hannibal to send the three modii of rings, which we find so much spoken of, to Carthage. It was through a dispute, too, at an auction about the possession of a ring, that the feud first commenced between Caipio and Drusus.
A dispute which gave rise to the social war and the public disasters which thence ensued. Not even in those days, however, did all the senators possess gold rings, seeing that, in the memory of our grandsires, many personages who had even filled the Praetor ship wore rings of iron to the end of their lives. Carpurnius, for example, as Fenestella tells us, and Manilius. who had been legatus to Caius Marius in the Uygathene War. Many historians also state the same of L. Fufidius, he to whom Scourus dedicated the history of his life. In the family of the Quintii, it is the usage for no one, not the females even, ever to wear a ring, and even at the present day, the greater part of the nations known to us, peoples who are living under the Roman sway, are not in the habit of wearing rings.
Neither in the countries of the East nor in Egypt is any use made of seals, the people being content with simple writing only. In this, as in every other case, luxury has introduced various fashions. Either by adding to rings gems of exquisite brilliancy, and so loading the fingers with whole revenues, as we shall have further occasion to mention in our book on gems, or else by engraving them with various devices, so that it is, in one instance, the workmanship, in another the material, that constitutes the real value of the ring. Then again, in the case of other gems, Luxury has deemed it no less than sacrilege to make a mark even upon them, and has caused them to be set whole, that no one may suppose that the ring was ever intended to be employed as a signet.
In other instances, luxury has willed that certain stones, on the side even, that are concealed by the finger, should not be closed in with gold, thus making gold of lesser count than thousands of tiny pebbles. On the other hand, again, many persons will admit of no gems being set in their rings, but impress their seal with the gold itself, an invention which dates from the reign of Claudius Caesar. At the present day, too, the very slaves even increase their iron rings with gold, while other articles belonging to them they decorate with pure gold, a license which first originated in the Isle of Samothrace. As the name given to the invention clearly shows. It was the custom at first to wear rings on a single finger, only the one namely that is next to the little finger, and this we see the case in the statues of Numa and Servius Tullius.
In later times, it became the practice to put rings on the finger next to the thumb, even in the case of the statues of the gods. And more recently again, it has been the fashion to wear them upon the little finger as well. Among the peoples of Gallia and Britannia, the middle finger, it is said, is used for this purpose. At the present day, however, among us, this is the only finger that is accepted, all the others being loaded with rings. Smaller rings, even, being separately adapted for the smaller joints of the fingers. Some there are who heap several rings upon the little finger alone, while others again wear but one ring upon this finger, the ring that sets a seal upon the signet ring itself, this last being kept carefully shut up as an object of rarity, too precious to be worn in common use, and only to be taken from the cabinet as from a sanctuary.
And thus is the wearing of a single ring upon the little finger no more than an ostentatious advertisement that the owner has property of a more precious nature under seal at home. Some, too, make a parade of the weight of their rings, while to others it is quite a labour to wear more than one at a time. Some, in their solicitude for the safety of their gems, make the hoop of gold tinsel. And fill it with a lighter material than gold, thinking thereby to diminish the risks of a fall. Others, again, are in the habit of enclosing poisons beneath the stones of their rings, and so wear them as instruments of death. Temosthenes, for instance, that greatest of the orators of Greece. And then, besides, how many of the crimes that are stimulated by cupidity are committed through the instrumentality of rings?
How happy the times, how truly innocent, in which no seal was ever put to anything. At the present day, on the contrary, our very food even and our drink have to be preserved from theft through the agency of the ring, a result owing to those legions of slaves, those throngs of foreigners which are introduced into our houses, multitudes so numerous. That we require the services of a nomenclator, even, to tell us the names of our own servants. Very different was it in the times of our forefathers when each person possessed a single servant only, one of his master's own lineage, called Marsipor or Lucipor, from his master's name, as the case might be, and taking all his meals with him in common, when...
Two, there was no occasion for taking precautions at home by keeping a watch upon the domestics. But at the present day, we not only procure dainties which are sure to be pilfered, but hands to pilfer them as well. And so far is it from being sufficient to have the very keys sealed that the signet ring is often taken from off the owner's finger while he is overpowered with sleep or lying on his deathbed. Indeed, the most important transactions of life are now made to depend upon this instrument, so at what period this first began to be the case, I am at a loss to say. It would appear, however, so far as foreign nations are concerned, that we may admit the importance attached to it from the days of Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, whose favourite ring, after being thrown in the sea, was recovered from a fish that was caught.
And this Polycrates, we know, was put to death about the year of our city 230. The use of the ring must, of necessity, have been greatly extended with the increase of usury, one proof of which is the usage still prevalent among the lower classes of whipping off the ring the moment a simple contract is made, a practice which takes its date, no doubt, from a period. When there was no more expeditious method of giving an earnest on closing a bargain, we may therefore very safely conclude that though money was first introduced among us, the use of rings was introduced very shortly after. Of money, I shall shortly have occasion to speak further.
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11 11 - Book 33, Chapters 7 to 12. The decuries of the judges. The equestrian order. Gifts of gold and silver. Crowns of gold. Uses made of gold by females. 13:43
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 11, Book 33. Chapter Seven to Twelve. The Decuries of the Judges. The Equestrian Order. Gifts of gold and silver. Crowns of gold. Uses made of gold by females.
Chapter Seven. The Decuries of the Judges. Rings, as soon as they began to be commonly worn, distinguished the second order from the plebeians, in the same manner as the use of the tunic. The last distinction was introduced at a later period only, and we find it stated by writers that the public heralds even were formerly in the habit of wearing the tunic with the purple lati-clave, the father of Lucius, Ilius Stelo, for instance, from whom his son received the cognomen of Priconius. In consequence of his father's occupation as a herald. But the use of rings, no doubt, was the distinguishing mark of a third and intermediate order between the plebeians and the senators, and the title of eques, originally derived from the possession of a war horse, is given at the present time as an indication of a certain amount of income.
This, however, is of comparatively recent introduction. For when the late Emperor Augustus made his regulations for the decuries, the greater part of the members thereof were persons who wore iron rings, and thus bore the name not of equites, but of eudicates, the former name being reserved solely for the members of the squadrons, furnished with war-horses at the public charge. Of these eudicates, too, there were at first but four decuries only. And in each of these decuries there was hardly one thousand men to be found, the provinces not having been hitherto admitted to the office, an observance which is still in force at the present day. No one newly admitted to the rights of citizenship being allowed to perform the duties of Eudex as a member of the decuries.
These decuries, too, were themselves distinguished by several denominations. Tribunes of the Treasury, Selecti, and Eudicase, in addition to whom they were the persons styled the 900, chosen from all the decuries for the purpose of keeping the voting boxes at the Commitia. From the ambitious adoption, however, of some one of these names, great divisions ensued in this order, one person styling himself a member of the 900, another one of the Selecti. Chapter Eight. Particulars connected with the Equestrian Order. At length, however, in the ninth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, the Equestrian Order was united in a single body, and a decree was passed establishing to whom belonged the right of wearing the ring in the consulship of C.
Asinius Pollio, And C. Antistius Vetus, the year from the foundation of the city, 775. It is a matter for surprise how almost futile, we may say, was the cause which led to this change. C. Sulpicius Galba, desirous in his youth to establish his credit with the emperor by hunting out grounds for prosecuting the keepers of fittling houses, made complaint in the senate that the proprietors of those places were in the habit of protecting themselves from the consequences of their guilt by their plea of wearing the golden ring. For this reason, an ordinance was made that no person whatsoever should have this right of wearing the ring unless, freeborn himself as regarded by his father and paternal grandfather, he should be assessed by the censors at 400,000 sesterces and entitled Under the Iulian law, to sit in the 14 tiers of seats at the theatre.
In later times, however, people began to apply in whole crowds for this mark of rank, and in consequence of the diversities of opinion which were occasioned thereby, the empress Caius added a fifth decury to the number. Indeed, to such a pitch has conceit now arisen that whereas under the late emperor Augustus, The decuris could not be completed. At the present day, they will not suffice to receive all the members of the equestrian order, and we see in every quarter persons even who have not been but just liberated from slavery, making a leap all at once to the distinction of the Golden Ring, a thing that never used to happen in former days, as it was by the Ring of Iron that the equites and the eudicates were then to be recognized.
Indeed, so promiscuously was this privilege at last conferred that Flavius Proculus, one of the equities, informed against 400 persons on this ground before the Emperor Claudius, who was then censor, and thus we see an order which was established as a mark of distinction from other private individuals of free birth, has been shared in common with slaves. The Cracci were the first to attach this order, the separate appellation of the Eudigase, their object being, at the same moment, a seditious popularity and the humiliation of the Senate. After the fall of these men, in consequence of the varying results of seditious movements, the name and influence of the equestrian order were lost, and became merged in those of the Publicani.
who, for some time, were the men that constituted the third class in the state. At last, however, Marcus Cicero, during his consulship and at the period of the Catilinarian Troubles, re-established the equestrian name, it being his vaunt that he himself had sprung from that order, and he, by certain acts of popularity peculiar to himself, having conciliated its support. Since that period, it is very clear that the equites have formed the third body in the state, and the name of the equestrian order has been added to the formula, quote, the Senate and the people of Rome, end quote. Hence it is, too, that in the present day even, the name of this order is written after that of the people, it being the one that was the last instituted.
Chapter Nine. How often the name of the equestrian order has been changed.
Indeed, the name of the equites, even, has been frequently changed, and that too in the case of those who only owed their name to the fact of their service on horseback. Under Romulus and the other kings, the equites were known as Keloraes, then again as Flexuntes, and after that as Trosili. From the fact of their having taken a certain town of Etruria, situated nine miles on this side of Falsiniae, without any assistance from the infantry, a name too which survived till after the death of C. Gracchus.
At all events, in the writings left by Junius, who from his affection for C. Gracchus took the name of Gracchianus, we find the following words. Quote, as regards the equestrian order, its members were formerly called Trossuli, but at the present day they have the name of Equites, because it is not understood what the appellation Trossuli really means, and many feel ashamed of being called by that name. End quote. He then goes on to explain the reason, as above mentioned, and he adds that, though much against their will, those persons are still called Trossuli. Chapter 10. Gifts for military service in gold and silver. There are also some other distinctions connected with gold, the mention of which ought not to be omitted.
Our ancestors, for instance, presented talks of gold to the auxiliaries and foreign troops, while to Roman citizens they only granted silver ones. Bracelets, too, were given by them to citizens, but never to foreigners.
Chapter 11. At what period the first crown of gold was presented?
But, a thing that is more surprising still, crowns of gold were given to the citizens as well. As to the person who was first presented with one, so far as I have inquired, I have not been able to ascertain his name. El Piso says, however, that the dictator, a posthumious, was the first who conferred one on taking the camp of the Latins at Lake Regulus. He gave a crown of gold, made from the spoil, to the soldier whose valor had mainly contributed to this success.
El Lentulus also, when consul, presented one to Servius Cornelius Merenda on taking a town of the Samnites, but in his case it was five pounds in weight. Piso Frugi, too, presented his son with a golden crown at his own expense, making it a specific legacy in his will.
Chapter Twelve. Other Uses of Gold by Females.
To honour the gods at their sacrifices, no greater mark of honour has been thought of than to gild the horns of the animals sacrificed, that is, of the larger victims only. But in warfare, this species of luxury made such rapid advances that in the epistles of M. Brutus from the plains of Philippi, we find expressions of indignation at the fibulae of gold that were worn by the tribunes. Yes, so it is by Hercules, and yet you, the same Brutus, have not said a word about women wearing gold upon their feet, while we, on the other hand, charge him with criminality. He was the first to confer dignity upon gold by wearing the ring. Let men even, at the present day, wear gold upon the arms in the form of bracelets, known as Dardania, because the practice first originated in Dardania, and called Virioli in the language of the Celts.
Virii is that of Celtiberia. Let women wear gold upon their arms, and all their fingers, their necks, their ears, the tresses of their hair. Let chains of gold run meandering along their sides, and in the still hours of the night let sachets filled with pearls hang suspended from the necks of their mistresses, all bedizened with gold, so that in their very sleep even they may still retain the consciousness that they are possessors of such gems. But are they to cover their feet as well with gold, and so, between the stola of the matrons and the garb of the plebeians, establish an intermediate or equestrian order of females? Much more becomingly do we accord this distinction to our pages, and the adorned beauty of these youths has quite changed the features of our public baths.
At the present day, too, a fashion has been introduced, among the men even, of wearing effigies upon their fingers, representing Harpocrates and other divinities in Egypt. In the reign of Claudius, also, there was introduced another unusual distinction, in the case of those to whom was granted the right of free admission, that, namely, of wearing the likeness of the emperor engraved in gold upon a ring. A circumstance that gave rise to vast numbers of informations, until the timely elevation of the Emperor Vespasianus rendered them impossible by proclaiming that the right of admission to the Emperor belonged equally to all. Let these particulars suffice on the subject of golden rings and the use of them.
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12 12 - Book 33, Chapters 13 to 21. Coins of gold, silver and copper. Man's cupidity for gold. Gilding. How gold is found. 33:41
Saturn. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 4, Book 33. Chapters 13 to 21. Chapter 13. Coins of Gold. At what periods copper, gold, and silver were first impressed? How copper was used before gold and silver were coined? What was the largest sum of money possessed by anyone at the time of our first census? How often and at what periods the value of copper and coined money has been changed? The next crime committed against the welfare of mankind was on the part of him who was the first to coin a denarius of gold, a crime the author of which is equally unknown. The Roman people made no use of impressed silver even before the period of the defeat of King Pyrrhus.
The as of copper weighed exactly one libra, and hence it is that we still use the terms labella and dupondius. Hence it is, too, That fines and penalties are inflicted under the name of Asgrave, and the words still used in keeping accounts are expensa, impendia, and dependere. Hence, too, the word stipendium, meaning the pay of soldiers, which is nothing more than stipus pondera, and from the same source of those words, dispensus torres and libe pendris. It is also from the circumstance King Servius was the first to make and impress upon copper. Before his time, according to Timaeus, at Rome the raw metal was only used. The form of sheep was the first figure impressed upon money, and to this fact it owes its name, Pecunia, the highest figure at which One man's property was assessed, and the reign of the king was 120,000 asses, and consequently that amount of property was considered the standard of the first class.
Silver was not impressed with a mark until the year of the city 485, the year of the consulship of Q. Ogolnius and C. Fabius, five years before the First Punic War. At which time it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be ten libre of copper, that of the quinarius five libre, and the sestercius two libre and a half. The weight, however, of the libra of copper was diminished during the First Punic War, the Republic not having means to meet its expenditure, in consequence of which an ordinance was made That as should in the future be struck of two ounces of weight. By this contrivance, a saving of five-sixths was effected, and the public debt was liquidated. The impression upon the copper coins was a two-faced Janus on one side and the beak of a ship of war on the other.
The Trians, however, and the Quadrans, bore the impression of a ship. The Quadrans, too, had previously to this been called At a later period, again, when Hannibal was pressing hard upon Rome, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus, asses of one weight were struck, and it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, that of the quinarius, eight asses, and the sestercius, four asses. By which last reduction of the weight of the ass of the Republic made a clear gain? of one half. Still, however, far as the pay of the soldiers was concerned, one denarius has always been given for every ten asses. The impression upon the coins of silver were two-horse and four-horse chariots, and hence it is that they received the names of bigotti and quadrigotti.
Shortly after, in accordance with the laws of Papirius, asses were coined weighing half an ounce only. Livius Druscus, when tribune of the people, alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of copper. The coin that is known at the present day as the torietis was first struck in accordance with the Clodian Law, before which period a coin of this name was imported from, but was only looked upon as an article of merchandise. The impression upon it is a figure of victory, and hence its name. The first golden coin was struck sixty-two years after that of silver, the scruple of gold being valued at twenty sesterces, a computation which gave, according to the value of the sesterce then in use, nine hundred sesterces to each libra in gold.
In later times again, an ordinance was made that the denarii of gold should be struck at the rate of forty denarii to each libra of gold, after which period The emperors gradually curtailed the weight of the golden denarius, until, at last, in the reign of Nero, it was coined at the rate of forty-five to the Libra.
Chapter Fourteen. Considerations on Man's Cupidity for Gold.
But the invention of money opened a new field to human avarice. By giving rise to usury and the practice of lending money at interest, While the owner passes a life of idleness. And it was with no slow advances that not mere avarice only, but a perfect hunger for gold became inflamed with a sort of rage for acquiring. To such a degree, in fact, that Septimilius, the familiar friend of Caius Grecus, not only cut off his head upon which a price had been set of its weight in gold, But before bringing it to Optimus, poured molten lead into the mouth, and so not only was guilty of the crime of Parasite, but added to his criminality by cheating the state. Nor was it now any individual citizen but the universal Roman name that had been rendered infamous by Avarice when King Mithridates caused molten gold to be poured into the mouth of Achilles, the Roman general, Whom he had taken prisoner.
Such were the results of cupidity. One cannot but feel ashamed on looking on those newfangled names which are invented every now and then from the Greek language by which to designate vessels of silver, filigreed, or inlaid with gold, and the various other practices by which such articles of luxury, when not only gilded are made to sell at a higher price, Then they would have done if made of solid gold. And this too, when we know that Spartacus forbade any one of his followers to introduce either gold or silver into the camp. So much more noblest of mind was there in those days, even in our runaway slaves.
The orator, Massala, has informed us that Antonius the Triumvir made use of golden vessels when satisfying the most humiliating wants of nature. A piece of criminality that would have reflected disgrace upon Cleopatra, even. Till then, the most consummate instances of similar licentiousness had been found among strangers only. That of King Philip, namely, who was in the habit of sleeping with a golden goblet placed beneath his pillows, and that of Hagnon of Theos, a commander under Alexander the Great, Who was used to fastening the soles of his sandals with nails of gold. It was reserved for Antonius to be the only one thus to impart a certain utility to gold, by putting an insult upon nature.
Oh, how righteously would he himself have been proscribed! But then the proscription should have been made by Spartacus.
Chapter 15 The Persons Who Have Possessed the Greatest Quantity of Gold and Silver For my own part, I am much surprised that the Roman people have always imposed upon conquered nations a tribute in silver and not in gold. Carthage, for instance, from which upon its conquest under Hannibal a ransom was extracted in the shape of a yearly payment for fifty years of eight hundred thousand pounds weight of silver, but no gold. And yet it does not appear that this could have arisen from there being so little gold then in use.
Midas and Croesus, before this, had possessed gold to an endless amount. Cyrus, already in his conquest of Asia, had found a booty consisting of 24,000 pounds weight in gold, in addition to the vessels and other articles of wrought gold, as well as leaves of trees, a plain tree, and a vine, all made of that metal. It was thought through this conquest, too, that he carried off 500,000 talents of silver, as well as the vase of Samaranus, the weight of which alone amounted to fifteen talents, the Egyptian talent being equal, according to Varro, to eighty of our pounds. Before this time, too, Salasus, the descendant of Aedes, had reigned in Colchis, who, on finding a tract of virgin earth, in the country of Suani, extracted from it a large amount of gold and silver, it is said, and whose kingdom besides had been famed for the possession of the golden fleece.
The golden arches, too, of his palace, we find spoken of, the silver supports and columns and pilasters, all of which he had come into possession of on the conquest of Sosostris, king of Egypt, a monarch so haughty That every year it is said it was his practice to select one of his vassal kings by lot, and, yoking him to his car, celebrate his triumph afresh.
Chapter 16 At what period Silver first made its appearance upon the area and upon the stage?
We too have done things that posterity might probably look upon as fabulous. Caesar, who is afterwards a dictator, But at that time, Edile was the first person on the occasion of the funeral games in honor of his father to employ all the apparatus of the arena in silver. And it was on the same occasion that, for the first time, criminals encountered wild beasts with implements of silver, a practice imitated at the present day, in our municipal towns even. At the games celebrated by C. Antonius, the stage was made of silver, and the same was the case at those celebrated by L. Murena. The Emperor Cassius had scaffolding introduced into the circus, upon which there was 124,000 pounds weight of silver.
His successor, Claudius, on the occasion of his triumph over Britain, announced by the inscriptions that among the coronets of gold, There was one weighing 7,000 pounds weight, contributed by nearer Spain, and another 9,000 pounds, presented by Gallia Comata. Nero, who succeeded him, covered the theater of Pompeius with gold for one day, the occasion on which he displayed to Tiridates, king of Armenia, and yet how small was this theater in comparison with the golden palace of his, with which he environed our city.
Chapter 17. At what periods there was the greatest quantity of gold and silver in the treasury of the Roman people? In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Aurelius, seven years before the commencement of the Third Punic War, there was a treasury of the Roman people 17,410 pounds weight of uncoined gold, 22,070 pounds weight of silver, And in specie, 6,135,400 cesterces. In the consulship of Sexus Julius and Lucius Marcius, that is to say, at the commencement of the Social War, there was in the public treasury 1,620,831 pounds weight in gold. Caius Caesar, At his first entry into Rome during the civil war which bears his name, withdrew from the treasury fifteen thousand pounds weight in gold ingots, thirty thousand pounds weight in uncoined silver, and in specie three hundred thousand sesterces.
Indeed, at no period was the republic more wealthy. Aemilius Paulus, too, after the defeat of King Perseus, paid into the public treasury from the spoil obtained from Macedonia. Three hundred millions of sesterces, and from this period the Roman people ceased to pay tribute.
Chapter 18. At what period ceilings were first gilded?
The ceilings which, at the present day, in private houses even, we see covered with gold, were first gilded in the capital After the destruction of Carthage, and during the censorship of Lucius Mummius, from the ceilings this luxuriousness has been since transferred to the arched roofs of buildings, and the party walls even, which at the present day are gilded like so many articles of plate, very different from the times when Catullus was far from being unanimously approved for having gilded the brazen tiles of the capital.
Chapter 19. For what reasons the highest value is set upon gold?
We have already stated in the seventh book who were the first discoverers of gold, as well as nearly all the other metals. The highest rank has been accorded to this substance not, in my opinion, for its color, which in silver is clearer and more like the light of day, for which reason silver is preferred for our military ensigns, It's brightness being seen at a greater distance. And those persons are manifestly in error who think that it is the resemblance of its color to the stars that is so prized in gold, seeing that various gems and other things of the same tint are not in such particular request, nor yet is it for its weight or malleability that gold has been preferred to other metals. It being inferior in both these respects to lead.
But it is because gold is the only substance in nature that suffers no loss from the action of fire, and passes unscathed through conflagrations and the flames of the funeral pile, nay, even more than this, it is oftener gold is subjected to the action of fire, the more refined in quality it becomes. Indeed, fire is one test of its goodness. As, when submitted to intense heat, gold ought to assume a similar color, and turn red and igneous in appearance, a mode of testing which is known as abrusa. The first great proof, however, of the goodness of gold is its melting with the greatest difficulty, in addition to which it is the fact truly marvelous that through proof against the most intense fire, if made with wood charcoal, It will melt with the greatest readiness upon a fire made with chaff, and that, for the purpose of purifying it, it is used with lead.
There is another reason, too, which still more tends to enhance its value, the fact that it wears the least of all metals by continual use, whereas silver, copper, and lead lines may be traced, and the hands become soiled with the substance that comes off them. Nor is there any material more malleable than this, none that admits of more extended division, seeing that a single ounce of it admits being beaten out into several hundred fifty leaves or more, four fingers in length, by the same in breadth. The thickest kind of gold leaf is known as leaf of pernesti. It is still retaining that name from the excellence of gilding upon the Statue of Fortune there. The next in thickness is known as the castorian leaf.
In Spain, small pieces of gold are known by the name of striches. A thing that is not the case with any other metal, gold is found pure in masses, or in the form of dust, and whereas all other metals, when found in the ore, Required to be brought to perfection by the aid of fire, this gold that I am speaking of is gold the moment it is found, and has all its component parts already in a state of perfection. This, however, is only such gold as is found in the native state, the other kinds that we shall have to speak of being refined by art, and then, more than anything else, gold is subject to no rust, No verdigris, no emanation whatever from it, either to alter its quality or to lessen its weight.
In addition to this, gold steadily resists the corrosive action of salt and vinegar, things which obtain mastery over all other substances. It admits, too, beyond all other metals, of being spun out and woven like wool. Varius tells us that Tarquinus Precius, Celebrated a triumph clad in a tunic of gold. And I myself have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, on the occasion of a naval combat which he exhibited, seated by him attired in a military scarf made entirely of woven gold without any other material. For this long past, gold has been interwoven in the italic textures, an invention of the King of Asia.
Chapter 20. The Method of Gilding On marble and other substances which do not admit to being brought to white heat, gilt is laid with glare of egg, and on wood, by the aid of glutinous composition known as leucopharin. What this last is and how it is prepared, we shall state in the appropriate section. The most convenient method for gilding copper Would be to employ quicksilver, or at all events, hydrogyros. But, with reference to these substances, we shall have occasion to say when describing the nature of them, methods of adulteration have been devised. To effect this mode of gilding, the copper is first well hammered, after which it is subjected to the action of fire, and then cooled with a mixture of salt, vinegar, and alum.
It is then cleansed of all extraneous substances, it being known by its brightness when it has been sufficiently purified. This done, it is again heated by fire, in order to enable it, when thus prepared with the aid of an amalgam of pumice, alum, and quicksilver, to receive the gold leaf when applied. Alum has the same property of purifying copper that we have already mentioned as belonging to lead, with reference to gold.
Chapter Twenty-One. Four. How Gold is Found. Gold is found in our own part of the world, not to mention the gold extracted from the earth in India by the ants and in Scythia by the griffins. Among us it is procured in three different ways, the first of which is in the shape of dust, found in running streams. The Tegis in Spain, for instance, the Pattis in Italy, The Hebris in Thrasia, the Pactolus in Asia, and the Ganges in India. Indeed, there is no gold found in more perfect state than this, thoroughly polished by the continual action of the current. A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or sinking it through the debris of mountains, both of which methods it would be well to describe.
The persons in search of gold in the first place Remove the sigatillum, such being the name of the earth which gives indication of the presence of gold. This done, a bed is made, the sand of which is washed, and, according to the residue found after washing, a conjecture is formed as to the richness of the vein. Sometimes, indeed, gold is found at once in the surface earth, a success, however, but rarely experienced. Recently, for instance, in the reign of Nero, a vein was discovered in Dalmatia, which yielded daily as much as fifty pounds weight of gold. The gold that is thus found in the surface crust is known as telutium. Cases where there is oriferous earth beneath. The mountains of Spain, in other respects arid and sterile, and productive of nothing whatever.
are thus constrained by man to be fertile in supplying him with this precious commodity.
The gold that is extracted from the shafts is known by some persons as canalicium and by others as canalience. It is found adhering to the gritty crust of marble and altogether different from the form in which it sparkles in the sephiris of the east. And in the stone of the bay and other gems, it is seen interlaced with the molecules of the marble. The channels of these veins are found running in various directions along the sides of the shafts, and hence the name of the gold they yield is canalsium. In these shafts, too, the superincumbent earth is kept from falling in by means of wooden pillars. The substance that is extracted is first broken up and then washed, after which it is subjected to the action of fire and ground to a fine powder.
This powder is known as apetiscutes, while the silver, which becomes disengaged in the furnace, has the name of sudor given to it. The impurities that escape by the chimney, as in the case of all other metals, are known by the name of scoria. In the case of gold, the scoria is broken up a second time and melted over again. The crucibles used for this purpose are made of tesconium, a white earth similar to potter's clay in appearance, there being no other substance capable of withstanding the strong current of air, the action of the fire, and the intense heat of the melted metal. The third method of obtaining gold surpasses the labors of the giants even. By the aid of galleries, driven to a long distance, the mountains are excavated by the light of torches, the duration of which forms the set times for work, the workmen never seeing the light of day for many months together.
These mines are known as a rougier, and not unfrequently clefts are formed on a sudden. The earth sinks in, and the workmen are crushed beneath. Hence it is that in this kind of mining, arches are left at frequent intervals for the purpose of supporting the weight of the mountain above. In mining either by shaft or by gallery, barriers of silex are met with Which have been driven asunder by the aid of fire and vinegar, or more frequently, as this method fills the galleries with suffocating vapors and smoke, to be broken to pieces with bruising. Machines shod with pieces of iron weighing 150 pounds, which done, the fragments are carried out on the workman's shoulders night and day, each man passing them to his neighbor in the dark.
It being only those At the pit's mouth that ever see the light. In cases where the bed of silex appears too thick to admit of being penetrated, the miner traces along the sides of it, and so turns it, and yet, after all, the labor entailed by the silex is looked upon as comparatively easy. There being an earth, a kind of potter's clay mixed with gravel, Gengadia by name, Which is almost impossible to overcome. This earth has to be attacked with iron wedges and hammers like those previously mentioned, and it is generally considered that there is nothing more stubborn in existence, except, indeed, the greed for gold, which is the most stubborn of all things. When these operations are all completed, beginning at the last, they cut away the wooden pillars at the point where they support the roof.
The coming downfall gives warning, which is instantly perceived by the sentinel, and by him only, who is set to watch upon the peak of the same mountain. By voice as well as by signals, he orders the workmen to be immediately summoned from their labors, and at the same moment takes to flight himself. The mountain, rent to pieces, is cleft asunder, hurling its debris to a distance with a crash which it is impossible for the human imagination Nor, indeed, were they by any means certain that there was any to be found when they first began to excavate. It being quite sufficient, as an adducement to undergo such perils and to incur such vast expense. Another label, too, quite equal to this, and one which entails even greater expense, is that of bringing rivers from the more elevated mountain heights, a distance in many instances of one hundred miles, perhaps, for the purpose of washing this debris.
The channels thus formed are called korugai, from our word Corvaccio. I suppose, even when these are once made, they entail a thousand fresh labors. The fall, for instance, must be steep, that the water may be precipitated, so to say, rather than flow, and it is in this manner that it is brought from the most elevated points. Then, too, valleys and crevasses Have been united by the aid of aqueducts, and in another place impassable rocks have to be hewn away, and forced to make room for hollowed troughs of wood, the person hewing them hanging, suspended, all the time with ropes, so that to a spectator who views the operations from a distance, the workmen have the appearance not so much of wild beasts as of birds upon the wing.
Hanging thus suspended in most instances, they take the levels and trace with lines the course the water is to take, and thus, where there is no room even for a man to plant a footstep, are rivers traced out by the hand of man. The water, too, is considered in an unfit state for washing, if the current of the river carries any mud along with it. The kind of earth that yields this mud is known as urium, and hence it is that in tracing out these channels, they carry the water over beds of silex or pebbles and carefully avoid this urium. When they have reached the head of the fall, the very brow of the mountain, reservoirs are hollowed out a couple hundred feet in length and breadth, and some ten feet in depth.
In these reservoirs, there are generally five sluices left, about three feet square, so that, the moment the reservoir is filled, the floodgates are struck away, and the torrent bursts forth with such a degree of violence as to roll onward any fragments of rock which may obstruct its passage. When they have reached the level ground two, there is still another labor that awaits them. Trenches, known as Aguga, The earth has to be dug for the passage of the water, and these, at regular intervals, have a layer of ulex placed at the bottom. This ulex is a plant like rosemary in appearance, rough and prickly, and well adapted for arresting any pieces of gold that might be carried along. The sides, too, are closed with planks, and are supported by arches when carried over steep and precipitous spots.
The earth Carried onward in the stream, arrives at the sea at last, and thus the shattered mountain washed away, causes which have greatly tended to extend the shores of Spain by these encroachments upon the deep. It is also by the agency of canals of this description that the material excavated, at the cost of such immense labor by the processes previously described, is washed and carried away. For otherwise, the shafts would soon be choked up by it. The gold found by excavating with galleries does not require to be melted, but is pure gold at once. In these excavations, it is found in lumps, as also in the shafts which are sunk, sometimes exceeding 10 pounds even. The names given to these lumps are palagi and palakunye.
While the gold found in small grains is known as balus, the ulex that is used for the above purpose is dried and burnt, after which the ashes are washed upon a bed of grassy turf in order that the gold may be deposited thereupon. Asturia, Galencia, and Lusitania furnish in this manner, yearly, according to some authorities, twenty thousand pounds weight of gold. The produce of Asturia forming the major part. Indeed, there is no part of the world that for centuries has maintained such a continuous fertility in gold. I have already mentioned that by an ancient decree of the Senate, the soil of Italy has been protected from these researches. Otherwise, there would be no land more fertile in metals.
There is extant also a sensorial law relative to the gold mines of Victimulé in the territory of Versilliers, by which the farmers of the Revenue were forbidden to employ more than 5,000 men at the works.
End of section 12 Recording by Keith G. Saturn, Rochester, New York, U.S.
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13 13 - Book 33, Chapters 22 to 35. Orpimentum. Electrum. Statues of gold. Chrysocolla. Silver. Quicksilver. Stimmi, alabastrum, larbasus, scoria of silver. 29:16
Orpimentum, Electrum, Statues of Gold, Chrysocola, Silver, Quicksilver, Stimi, Albastrum, Labusus, Scoria of Silver. Chapter 22, Orpiment.
There is also one other method of procuring gold by making it from Orpiment. A mineral dug from the surface of the earth in Syria, and much used by painters. It is just the color of gold, but brittle, like mirror stone, in fact. This substance greatly excited the hopes of the Emperor Caius, a prince who was most greedy for gold. He accordingly had a large quantity of it melted, and really did obtain some excellent gold. But then the proportion was so extremely small that he found himself a loser thereby. Such was the result of an experiment prompted solely by Everest, and this too, although the price of the Orpiment itself was no more than four denarii per pound, since his time the experiment has never been repeated.
Chapter 23. Electrum. In all gold ore, there is some silver in varying proportions, a tenth part in some instances, an eighth in others. In one mine, and that only, the one known as the mine of Albu Crara in Galicia, the proportion of silver is but one thirty-sixth. Hence it is that the ore of this mine is so much more valuable than that of others. Whenever the proportion of silver is one-fifth, the ore is known also by the name of electrum. Grains, too, of this metal are often found in the gold known as canaliense. An artificial electrum, too, is made by mixing silver with gold. If the proportion of silver exceeds one-fifth, the metal offers no resistance on the anvil. Electrum. Two was highly esteemed in ancient times, as we learn from the testimony of Homer, who represents the palace of Menelaus as refulgent with gold and electrum, silver and ivory.
At Lindos, in the island of Rhodes, there is a temple dedicated to Minerva, in which there is a goblet of electrum, consecrated by Helena. History states also that it was molded after the proportions of her bosom. One peculiar advantage of Electrum is its superior brilliancy to silver by lamplight. Native Electrum has also the property of detecting poisons, for in such case, semicircles resembling the rainbow in appearance will form upon the surface of the goblet and emit a crackling noise like that of flame. Thus giving a twofold indication of the presence of poison.
Chapter 24. The first statues of gold. The first statue of massive gold, without any hollowness within, and anterior to any of those statues of bronze even, which are known as hollow sphiaratae, is said to have been erected in the temple of the goddess Anaetis. To what particular region this name belongs, we have already stated, it being that of a divinity held in the highest veneration by the nations in that part of the world. This statue was carried off during the wars of Antonius with the people of Parthia, and a witty saying is told with reference to it of one of the veterans of the Roman army, a native of Bononia. Entering on one occasion the late Emperor Augustus at dinner, he was asked by a prince whether he was aware that the person who was the first to commit this violence upon the statue had been struck with blindness and paralysis, and then expired.
To this, he made answer that at that very moment Augustus was making his dinner off one of her legs, for that he himself was the very man. And to that bit of plunder he had been indebted for all his fortune. As regards statues of human beings, Gorgias of Leontini was the first to erect a solid statue of gold in the temple at Delphi in honor of himself about the 70th Olympiad. So great were the fortunes then made by teaching the art of oratory.
Chapter 25. Eight remedies derived from gold. Gold is efficacious as a remedy in many ways being applied to wounded persons and to infants to render any more practices of sorcery comparatively innocuous that may be directed against them. Gold, however, itself is mischievous in its effects if carried over the head, in the case of chickens and lambs more particularly. The proper remedy in such case is to wash the gold and to sprinkle the water upon the objects which it is wished to preserve. Gold, too, is melted with twice its weight of salt and three times its weight of mizzi, after which it is again melted with two parts of salt and one of the stone called schistos. Employed in this manner, it withdraws the natural acridity.
from the substances torrified with it in the crucible, while at the same time it remains pure and incorrupt, the residue forming an ash which is preserved in an earthen vessel and is applied to the earth. It was made with water for the cure of lichens on the face. The best method of washing it off is with bean meal. These ashes have the property also of curing fistulas, and the discharge is known as With the addition, too, of powdered pumice, they are a cure for putrid ulcers and sores which emit an offensive smell. Gold, boiled in honey with melanthium and applied as a liniment to the navel, acts as a gentle purgative upon the bowels. M. Varro assures us that gold is a cure for warts. Chapter 26 Chrysacola is a liquid which is found in the shafts already mentioned, flowing through the veins of gold, a kind of slime which becomes indurated by the cold of winter till it has attained the hardness even of pumice.
The most esteemed kind of it, it has been ascertained, is found in copper mines, the next best being the produce of silver mines. It is found also in lead mines, but that found in combination with gold ore is much inferior. In all these mines, too, an artificial Chrysacoller is manufactured, much inferior, however, to the native Chrysacoller. The method of preparing it consists in introducing water gradually into a vein of metal throughout the winter and until the month of June. After which, it is left to dry up during the months of June and July, so that, in fact, it is quite evident that Chrysochola is nothing else but the putrefaction of a metallic vein. Native Chrysochola, known as Uva, differs from the other in its hardness more particularly, and yet, hard as it is, admits of being coloured with the plant known as Lutum.
Like flax and wool, it is of a nature which imbibes liquids. For the purpose of dyeing it, it is first bruised in a mortar, after which it is passed through a fine sieve. This done, it is ground and then passed through a still finer sieve, all that refuses to pass being replaced in the mortar and subjected once more to the mill. The finest part of the powder is from time to time measured out into a crucible. Where it is macerated in vinegar, so that all the hard particles may be dissolved, after which it is pounded again and then rinsed in shell-shaped vessels and left to dry. This done, the Chrysochola is dyed by the agency of schist alum and the plant above mentioned, and thus is it painted itself before it serves to paint.
It is of considerable importance, too, that it should be absorbent and readily take the dye. Indeed, if it does not speedily take the colour, cytinum and turbistum are added to the dye, such being the names of two drugs which compel it to absorb the colouring matter. Chapter 27. The Use Made of Chrysochola in Painting When Chrysochola has been thus dyed, Painters call it aerobitus and distinguish two kinds of it, the cleansed aerobitus, which is kept for making lomentum, and the liquid, the balls being dissolved for use by evaporation. Both these kinds are prepared in Cyprus, but the most esteemed is that made in Armenia, the next best being that of Macedonia. It is Spain, however, that produces the most.
The great point of its excellence consists in its producing exactly the tint of corn when it is in a state of the freshest verdure. Before now, we have seen, at the spectacles exhibited by the Emperor Nero, the arena of the circus entirely sanded with chrysocola, when the prince himself, clad in a dress of the same colour, was about to exhibit as a charioteer. The unlearned multitude of artisans distinguish three kinds of Chrysochola. The rough Chrysochola, which is valued at seven denarii per pound, the middling, worth five denarii, and the bruised, also known as the herbaceous Chrysochola, worth three denarii per pound. Before laying on the sanded Chrysochola, they underlay coats of Atramentum and Paritonium.
The paritonium, as it is naturally very unctuous, and from its smoothness extremely tenacious, is laid on first, and is then covered with a coat of atramentum, lest the paritonium, from its extreme whiteness, should impart a paleness to the chrysochola. The kind known as lutea derives its name. It is thought from the plant called lutum, which itself is often pounded with chirulium instead of real chrysochola and used for painting, making a very inferior kind of green and extremely deceptive. Chapter 28. Seven Remedies Derived from Chrysochola Chrysochola II is made use of in medicine. In combination with wax and oil, it is used as a detergent for wounds. And used by itself in the form of a powder, it acts as a desiccative and heals them.
In cases, too, of quincy and hardness of breathing, Chrysochola is prescribed in the form of an electury with honey. It acts as an emetic also, and is used as an ingredient in eye salves for the purpose of effacing cicatrisations upon the eyes. In green plasters, too, it is used This kind of Chrysicola is known by medical men as acasis, and is altogether different from orobitis. Chapter 29. The Chrysacoller of the Goldsmiths, known also as Santurna. The Goldsmiths also employ a Chrysacoller of their own for the purpose of soldering gold. And it is from this Chrysochola, they say, that all the other substances which present a similar green have received their name. This preparation is made from verdigris of Cyprian copper, the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty, and a portion of nitre.
It is then pounded with a pestle of Cyprian copper in a copper mortar, and the name given to the mixture is Santurna. It is In this way that the gold known as silvery gold is soldered. One sign of its being so alloyed being its additional brilliancy on the application of Santurna. If, on the other hand, the gold is impregnated with copper, it will contract on coming in contact with the Santurna, become dull, and only be soldered with the greatest difficulty. Indeed, for this last kind of gold, There is a peculiar solder employed, made of gold and one-seventh part of silver, in addition to the materials above mentioned, the whole beaten up together. Chapter 30. The marvelous operations of nature in soldering metallic substances and bringing them to a state of perfection.
While speaking on this subject, it will be as well to annex the remaining particulars. That our admiration may here be drawn to all the marvels presented by nature in connection therewith. The proper solder for gold is that above described. For iron, potter's clay. For copper, when in masses, cadmium. And in sheets, alum. For lead and marble, resin. Lead is also united by the aid of white lead. White lead with white lead by the agency of oil. Stanum with copper, file dust, and silver with stanum. For smelting copper and iron, pine wood is the best, Egyptian papyrus being also very good for the purpose. Gold is melted most easily with a fire made of chaff. Limestone and Thracian stone are ignited by the agency of water, this last being extinguished by the application of oil.
Fire, however, is extinguished most readily by the application of vinegar, viscous, and unboiled eggs. Earth will under no circumstance ignite. When charcoal has been once quenched and then again ignited, it gives out a greater heat than before. Chapter 31. Silver. After stating these facts, we come to speak of silver ore. The next folly of mankind. Silver is never found, but in shafts sunk deep into the ground, there being no indications to raise hopes of its existence, no shining sparkles, as in the case of gold. The earth in which it is found is sometimes red, sometimes of an ashy hue. It is impossible, too, to melt it, except in combination with lead or with galena. This last being the name given to the vein of lead that is mostly found running near the veins of the silver ore.
When submitted to the action of fire, part of the ore precipitates itself in the form of lead, while the silver is left floating on the surface, like oil on water. Silver is found in nearly all our provinces, but the finest of all is that of Spain. Where it is found, like gold, in uncultivated soils, and in the mountains even. Wherever, too, one vein of silver has been met with, another is sure to be found not far off. A thing that has been remarked, in fact, in the case of nearly all the metals, which would appear from this circumstance to have derived their Greek name of Metala. It is a remarkable fact that the shafts opened by Hannibal In the Spanish provinces are still worked, their names being derived from the persons who were the first to discover them.
One of these mines, which at the present day is still called Bybelo, furnished Hannibal with 300 pounds weight of silver per day. The mountain is already excavated for a distance of 1,500 paces, and throughout the whole of this distance there are water bearers standing night and day. Bailing out the water in turns, regulated by the light of torches, and so forming quite a river. The vein of silver that is found nearest the surface is known by the name of Crudaria. In ancient times, the excavations used to be abandoned the moment alum was met with, and no further search was made. Of late, however, the discovery of a vein of copper beneath alum has withdrawn any such limits to man's hopes. The exhalations from silver mines are dangerous to all animals, but to dogs more particularly.
The softer they are, the more beautiful gold and silver are considered. It is a matter of surprise, with most persons, that lines traced with silver should be black. Chapter 32. Quicksilver. There is a mineral, also found in these veins of silver, which yields a humour that is always liquid, and is known as quicksilver. It acts as a poison upon everything, and pierces vessels even, making its way through them by the agency of its malignant properties. All substances float upon the surface of quicksilver, with the exception of gold, This being the only substance that it attracts to itself. Hence it is that it is such an excellent refiner of gold, for, on being briskly shaken in an earthen vessel with gold, it rejects all the impurities that are mixed with it.
When once it has thus expelled these superfluities, there is nothing to do but separate it from the gold. To effect which, it is poured out upon skins that have been well tawed, and so, exuding through them like a sort of perspiration, it leaves the gold in a state of purity behind. Hence it is, too, that when copper has to be gilded, a coat of quicksilver is laid beneath the gold leaf, which it retains in its place with the greatest tenacity. In cases, however, where the leaf is single or very thin, The presence of the Quicksilver is detected by the paleness of the colour. For this reason, persons, when meditating a piece of fraud, have been in the habit of substituting glare of egg for Quicksilver, and then laying upon it a coat of Hydragyros, a substance of which we shall make further mention in the appropriate place.
Generally speaking, Quicksilver has not been found in any large quantities. Chapter 33. Stimmi, Stibi, Alabastrum, Larbasis, or Oplatiophthalmon. In the same mines in which silver is found, there is also found a substance which, properly speaking, may be called a stone made of concrete froth. It is white and shining without being transparent, and has the several names of Stimi, Stibi, Alabastrum, And Larbasis. There are two kinds of it, the male and the female. The latter kind is the more approved of. The male stimmy being more uneven, rougher to the touch, less ponderous.
Chapter 34. Seven remedies derived from stimmy. Stimmy is possessed of certain astringent and refrigerative properties, its principal use in medicine being for the eyes. Hence it is that most persons call it platyophthalmon, it being extensively employed in the callible pharic preparations of females for the purpose of dilating the eyes. It also acts as a check.
It has the property, too, of arresting discharges of blood from the brain, and sprinkled in the form of a powder, it is extremely efficacious for the cure of recent wounds and bites of dogs, which have been sometime inflicted. For the cure of burns, it is remarkably good. Mixed with grease, litharge, cerus, and wax. The method of preparing it is to burn it enclosed in a coat of cow dung in a furnace, which done it is quenched with woman's milk and pounded with rainwater in a mortar. While this is doing, the thick and turbid part is poured off from time to time into a copper vessel and purified with nitre. The lees of it, which are rejected, are recognized by their being full of lead and falling to the bottom.
The vessel into which the turbid part has been poured off is then covered with a linen cloth and left untouched for a night. The portion that lies upon the surface being poured off the following day, or else removed with a sponge. The part that has fallen to the bottom of the vessel is regarded as the choicest part and is left Covered with a linen cloth to dry in the sun, but not to become parched. This done, it is again pounded in a mortar and then divided into tablets. But the main thing of all is to observe such degree of nicety in heating it as not to let it become lead. Some persons, when preparing it on the fire, use grease instead of dung. Others, again, bruise it in water. And pass it through a triple strainer of linen cloth, after which they reject the lease and pour off the remainder of the liquid, collecting all that is deposited at the bottom, and using it as an ingredient in plasters and eye salves.
It has certain restringent and refrigerative effects upon bodies, and, like molybdina, of which we shall make further mention when speaking of lead, is used as an ingredient in making plasters. Those more particularly which are to promote the cicatrization of wounds. It is employed also for the cure of tenesimus and dysentery, being injected in the form of clyster with myrtle oil. It forms an ingredient, too, in the medicaments known as lipari, for the removal of fleshy excrescences in sores, ulcerations arising from chafing, or running ulcers on the head. The same mines also furnish us with the preparation known as scum of silver. There are three varieties of it. The best, known as Chrysitis, the second best, the name of which is Agiritis, and the third kind, which is called Molybditis.
In most instances, too, all these tints are to be found in the same cake. The most approved kind is that of Attica. The next being that which comes from Spain. Chrysitis is the produce of the metallic vein. Argyritis is obtained from the silver itself, and molybditis is the result of the smelting of lead, a work that is done at Puteoli, to which last circumstance, in fact, molybditis owes its name. All these substances are prepared in the following manner. The metal is first melted and then allowed to flow from a more elevated receiver into a lower. From this last it is lifted by the aid of iron spits, and is then twirled round at the end of the spit in the midst of the flames in order to make it all the lighter.
Thus, as may be easily perceived from the name, it is in reality the scum of a substance in a state of fusion, of the future metal, in fact. It differs from scoria in the same way that the scum of a liquid differs from the lees, the one being an excretion thrown out by the metal while purifying itself, the other an excretion of the metal when purified. Some persons distinguish two kinds of scum of silver and give them the names of Sireritis and Pumene, a third variety being Molybdina. Of which we shall have to make further mention when treating of lead. To make this scum fit for use, the cakes are again broken into pieces the size of a hazelnut, and then melted, the fire being briskly blown with the bellows.
For the purpose of separating the charcoal and ashes from it, it is then rinsed with vinegar or with wine, and is so quenched. In the case of Argyrites, it is recommended in order to blanch it. To break it into pieces the size of a bean, and then to boil it with water in an earthen vessel, first putting with it, wrapped in linen cloths, some new wheat and barley, which are left there till they have lost the outer coat. This done, they bruise the hole in mortars for six consecutive days, taking care to rinse the mixture in cold water three times a day. And after that, in an infusion of hot water and fossil salt, one obelus of the latter to every pound of scum. At the end of the six days, it is put away for keeping in a vessel of lead.
Some persons boil it with white beans and a tyson of barley, and then dry it in the sun. Others, again, with white wool and beans, till such time as it imparts no darkness to the wool. After which, first adding fossil salt, they change the water from time to time, and then dry it during the 40 hottest days of summer. In some instances, the practice is to boil it in water in a swine's paunch, and then to take it out and rub it with nitre, after which, following the preceding method, they pound it in a mortar with salt. Some, again, never boil it, but pound it only with salt.
Scum of silver is used as an ingredient in eye salves and in the form of a liniment by females for the purpose of removing spots and blemishes caused by scars, as also in washes for the hair. Its properties are desiccative, emollient, refrigerative, temperative, and detergent. It fills up cavities in the flesh produced by ulceration And reduces tumors. For all these purposes, it is employed as an ingredient in plaster and in the lepari previously mentioned. In combination with rue, myrtle, and vinegar, it removes erysipelas, and with myrtle and wax, it is a cure for Chilblains.
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14 14 - Book 33, Chapters 36 to 46. Minium. Cinnabaris. Gilding with silver. Testing silver and gold. MIrrors. Egyptian silver. 19:19
The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 14. Book 33, chapters 36 to 46, Minimum, Cinnabaris, gilding with silver, testing silver and gold, mirrors, Egyptian silver.
Chapter 36, Minimum, for what religious purposes it was used by the ancients. It is also in silver mines that Minimum is found, a pigment held at the present day in Very high estimation, and by the Romans in former times, not only held in the highest estimation, but used for sacred purposes as well. Varius enumerates certain authors, upon whose testimony we find it satisfactorily established that it was the custom, upon festivals, to colour the face of the statue of Jupiter even with minimum, as well as the bodies of triumphant generals. And that it was in this guise that Camillus celebrated his triumph. We find, too, that it is through the same religious motives that it is employed at the present day for colouring the ungence used at triumphal banquets, and that it is the first duty of the censors to make a contract for painting the statue of Jupiter with this colour.
For my own part, I'm quite at a loss for the origin of this usage. But it is a well-known fact, and at the present day even, Minamum is in great esteem with the nations of Ethiopia, their nobles being in the habit of staining the body all over with it, and this being the colour appropriated to the statues of their gods. I shall therefore use all the more diligence in inquiring into all the known facts respecting it.
Chapter 37, The Discovery.
Theophrastus states that, 90 days before the magistracy of Praxibulus at Athens, a date which answers to the year of our city, 439, Minimum was discovered by Callius the Athenian, who was in hopes to extract gold by submitting to the action of fire the red sand that was found in the silver mines. This, he says, was the first discovery of Minimum. He states also that in his own time it was already found in Spain, but of a harsh and sandy nature, as also in Colchis, upon a certain inaccessible rock there, from which it was brought down by the agency of darts. This, however, he says, was only an adulterated kind of minimum, the best of all being that procured in the Syllbian plains above Ephesus.
The sand of which has just the colour of the Kermesberry. This sand, he informs us, is first ground to powder and then washed, the portion that settles at the bottom being subjected to a second washing. From this circumstance, he says, arises a difference in the article, some persons being in the habit of preparing their minimum with a single washing, while with others it is more diluted. The best kind, however, he says, is that which has undergone a second washing.
Chapter 38 Cinnabaris. I am not surprised that this colour should have been held in such high esteem, for already in the days of the Trojan War, Rubrica was highly valued, as appears from the testimony of Homer, who particularly notices the ships that were coloured with it, whereas, in reference to other colours and paintings, He but rarely notices them. The Greeks call this red earth Miltos, and give to minimum the name of Cinnabarus, and hence the error caused by the two meanings of the same word, this being properly the name given to the thick matter which issues from the dragon when crushed beneath the weight of the dying elephant, mixed with the blood of either animal, as already described.
Indeed, this last is the only colour that in painting gives a proper representation of blood. This Cinnabaris, too, is extremely useful as an ingredient in antidotes and various medicaments. But, by Hercules, our physicians, because Minimum also has the name of Cinnabaris, use it as a substitute for the other, and so employ a poison, as we shall shortly show it to be.
Chapter 39. The Employment of Cinnabaris in Painting. The ancients used to paint with Cinnabaris those pictures of one colour which are still known among us as monochromata. They painted also with the minimum of Ephesus, but the use of this last has been abandoned from the vast trouble which the proper keeping of the picture entailed. And then, besides, both these colours were thought to be too harsh. The consequence of which is that painters have now adopted the use of rubrica and synopsis, substances of which I shall make further mention in the appropriate places. Cinnabaris is adulterated by the agency of goat's blood or of bruised sorb apples. The price of genuine Cinnabaris is fifty sesterces per pound.
Chapter 40 The various kinds of Minimum, the use made of it in painting. According to Yuba, Minimum is also a production of Carmania, and Timagenes says that it is found in Ethiopia, but from neither of those regions is it imported to Rome, nor indeed from hardly any other quarter but Spain, that of most note coming from Sissipo, a territory of Baitica. The mine of minimum there forming a part of the revenues of the Roman people. Indeed, there is nothing guarded with a more constant circumspection, for it is not allowable to reduce and refine the ore upon the spot, it being brought to Rome in a crude state and under seal to the amount of about two thousand pounds per annum. At Rome, the process of washing is performed, and in the sale of it the price is regulated by statute.
It not being allowed to exceed 70 cesterces per pound. There are numerous ways, however, of adulterating it, a source of considerable plunder to the company. For there is, in fact, another kind of minimum found in most silver mines as well as lead mines, and prepared by the calcination of certain stones that are found mixed with the metallic vein. Not the minerals, however. To the fluid humors of which we have given the name of quicksilver, for if those are subjected to the action of fire, they will yield silver, but another kind of stone that is found with them. These barren stones, too, may be recognized by their uniform leaden color, and it is only when in the furnace that they turn red. After being duly calcined, they are pulverized.
And thus form a minimum of second-rate quality, known to but very few, and far inferior to the produce of the native sand that we have mentioned. It is with this substance, then, as also with Syricum, that the genuine minimum is adulterated in the manufactories of the company. How Syricum is prepared, we shall describe in the appropriate place. One motive, however, for giving an undercoat of Syricum to Minimum is the evident saving of the expense that results therefrom. Minimum, too, in another way, affords a very convenient opportunity to painters for pilfering by washing their brushes filled with the colouring matter every now and then. The Minimum, of course, falls to the bottom and is thus so much gained by the thief.
Genuine Minimum ought to have the brilliant colour of the Kermes berry. But when of inferior quality, is used for walls. The brightness of it is sure to be tarnished by the moisture, and this, too, although the substance itself is a sort of metallic mildew. In the mines of Sisapo, the veins are composed exclusively of the sandy particles of minimum, without the intermixture of any silver whatever, the practice being to melt it like gold. Minimum is assayed by the agency of gold in a state of incandescence. If it has been adulterated, it will turn black, but if genuine, it retains its color. I find it stated also that minimum is adulterated with lime, the proper mode of detecting which is similarly to employ a sheet of red-hot iron if there should happen to be no gold at hand.
To objects painted with minimum, The action of the sun and moon is highly injurious. The proper method of avoiding this inconvenience is to dry the wall and then to apply, with a hairbrush, hot punic wax melted with oil, after which the varnish must be heated with an application of gall nuts, burnt to a red heat till it quite perspires. This done, it must be smoothed down with rollers made of wax. and then polished with clean linen cloths, like marble, when made to shine. Persons employed in the manufactories in preparing minimum protect the face with masks of loose bladder skin in order to avoid Minimum is employed also for writing in books. And the letters made with it being more distinct, even on gold or marble, it is used for the inscriptions upon tombs.
Chapter 41. Hydragyros. Remedies derived from minimum. Human industry has also discovered a method of extracting Hydragyros from the inferior minimum, a substitute for Quicksilver, the further mention of which was deferred a few pages before to the present occasion. There are two methods of preparing this substance, either by pounding minimum and vinegar with a brazen pestle and mortar, or else by putting minimum into flat earthen pans covered with a lid, then enclosing in an iron seething pot well looted with potter's clay. A fire is then lighted under the pans. And the flame kept continually burning by the aid of the bellows, which done, the steam is carefully removed, that is found adhering to the lid, being like silver in colour and similar to water in its fluidity.
This liquid, too, is easily made to separate in globules, which from their fluid nature readily unite. As it is a fact generally admitted, That minimum is a poison, I look upon all the recipes given as highly dangerous, which recommend its employment for medicinal purposes, with the exception, perhaps, of those cases in which it is applied to the head or abdomen for the purpose of a resting hemorrhage, due care being taken that it is not allowed to penetrate to the viscera or to touch any sore. Beyond such cases as these, for my own part, I should never recommend it to be used in medicine. Chapter 42. The Method of Gilding Silver At the present day, silver is gilded almost exclusively by the agency of Hydragaros, and a similar method should always be employed in laying gold leaf upon copper.
But the same fraud which ever shows itself so extremely ingenious in all departments of human industry has devised a plan of substituting an inferior material as already mentioned. Chapter 43. Touchstones for Testing Gold. A description of gold and silver is not necessarily accompanied by that of the stone known as corticula. In former times, according to Theophrastus, This stone was nowhere to be found except in the river Tmolus, but at the present day it is found in numerous places. By some persons it is known as the Heraclean, and by others as the Lydian stone. It is found in pieces of moderate size and never exceeding four inches in length by two in breadth. The side that has lain facing the sun is superior to that which has lain next to the ground.
Persons of experience in these matters, when they have scraped a particle off the ore with this stone, as with a file, can tell in a moment the proportion of gold there is in it, how much silver or how much copper, and this to a scruple, their accuracy being so marvelous that they are never mistaken. Chapter 44. The Different Kinds of Silver and the Modes of Testing It. There are two kinds of silver. On placing a piece of it upon an iron fire shovel at white heat, if the metal remains perfectly white, it is of the best quality. If, again, it turns of a reddish color, it is inferior. But if it becomes black, it is worthless. Fraud, however, has devised a means of stultifying this test even. For, by keeping the shovel immersed in men's urine, the piece of silver absorbs it as it burns, and so displays a fictitious whiteness.
There is also a kind of test with reference to polished silver. When the human breath comes in contact with it, it should immediately be covered with steam, the cloudiness disappearing at once. Chapter 45. Mirrors. It is generally supposed among us that it is only the very finest silver that admits of being laminated and so converted into mirrors. Pure silver was formerly used for the purpose, but at the present day this too has been corrupted by the devices of fraud. But really it is a very marvellous property that this metal has of reflecting objects. A property which, it is generally agreed, results from the repercussion of the air, thrown back as it is from the metal upon the eyes. The same, too, is the action that takes place when we use a mirror.
If, again, a thick plate of this metal is highly polished and is rendered slightly concave, the image or object reflected is enlarged to an immense extent. So vast is the difference between a surface receiving and throwing back the air. Even more than this, drinking cups are now made in such a manner as to be filled inside with numerous concave facets, like so many mirrors, so that if but one person looks into the interior, he sees reflected a whole multitude of persons. Mirrors, too, have been invented to reflect monstrous forms, those, for instance, This, however, all results from the configuration given to the metal, and it makes all the difference whether the surface has a concave form, like the section of a drinking cup, or whether it is convex, like a Thracian buckler.
Whether it is depressed in the middle or elevated, whether the surface has a direction transversely or obliquely, or whether it runs horizontally or vertically, the peculiar configuration of the surface which receives the shadows, causing them to undergo corresponding distortions. For, in fact, the image is nothing else but the shadow of the object collected upon the bright surface of the metal. However, to finish our description of mirrors on the present occasion, the best in the times of our ancestors were those of Brundicium, composed of a mixture of stanum and copper. At a later period, however, these made of silver were preferred, Passitelles being the first who made them in the time of Pompeius Magnus.
More recently, a notion has arisen that the object is reflected with greater distinctness by the application to the back of the mirror.
Chapter 46. Egyptian Silver. The people of Egypt stain their silver vessels that they may see represented in them their god Anubis, and it is the custom with them to paint and not chase their silver. This usage has now passed to our own triumphal statues, even, and a truly marvellous fact, the value of silver has been enhanced by deadening his brilliancy. The following is the method adopted. With the silver, I'll mix two-thirds of the very finest Cyprian copper, that known as coronarium, and a proportion of live sulphur equal to that of the silver. The whole of these are then melted in an earthen vessel, well looted with potter's clay, the operation being completed when the cover becomes detached from the vessel.
Silver admits also of being blackened with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, a tint, however, which is removed by the application of vinegar and chalk. The Triumvir Antonius alloyed the silver denarius with iron, and in spurious coin there is an alloy of copper employed. Some again curtail the proper weight of our denarii, the legitimate proportion being 84 denarii to a pound of silver. It was in consequence of these frauds that a method was devised of assaying the denarius, the law ordaining which was so much to the taste of the plebeians that in every quarter of the city there was a full-length statue erected in honour of Marius Greti Dianus. It is very truly marvellous that in this art, and in this only, the various methods of falsification should be made a study.
For the sample of the false denarius is now an object of careful examination, and people absolutely buy the counterfeit coin at the price of many genuine ones.
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15 15 - Book 33, Chapters 47 to 58. Immense wealth. Voluntary contributions. Luxury and frugality. Silver plates. Statues of silver. Caeruleum. Summary, Roman authors quoted. Foreign authors quoted. 30:19
Summary, Roman authors quoted, foreign authors quoted.
Chapter 47, Instances of Immense Wealth, Persons Who Have Possessed the Greatest Sums of Money. The ancients had no number whereby to express a larger sum than one hundred thousand, and hence it is that, at the present day, we reckon by multiples of that number as, for instance, ten times one hundred thousand, and so on. For these multiplications, we are indebted to usury and the use of coined money, and hence, too, the expression aeis alienum, or another man's money, which we still use. In later times, again, the surname Deves was given to some, only be it known to all that the man who first received the surname became a bankrupt, and so bubbled his creditors. M. Crassus, a member of the same family, used to say that no man was rich who could not maintain a legion upon his yearly income.
He possessed in land 200 millions of sesterces, Being the richest Roman citizen next to Scylla. Nor was even this enough for him, but he must want to possess all the gold of the Parthians, too. And yet, although he was the first to become memorable for his opulence, so pleasant is the task of stigmatizing this insatiate cupidity. We have known of many manumitted slaves since his time much more wealthy than he ever was. Three, for example. All at the same time in the reign of Emperor Claudius, Pallas, Callistus, and Narcissus. But to omit all further mention of these men, as though they were still the rulers of the empire, let us turn to C. Caecilius Claudius Isidorus, who, in the consulship of C.
Essinus Gallus and C. Marcius Censorinus, upon the sixth day, before the calends of... February declared by his will that though he had suffered great losses through the civil wars, he was still able to leave behind him 4,116 slaves, 3,600 pairs of oxen, and 257,000 heads of other kinds of cattle. Besides, in ready money, 60 millions of sesterces. Upon his funeral also, He ordered 1100,000 sesterces to be expended.
And yet, supposing all these enormous riches to be added together, how small a proportion will they bear to the wealth of Ptolemaeus, the person who, according to Varro, when Pompeius was on his expedition in the countries adjoining Judea, entertained 8,000 horsemen at his own expense. And gave a repast to one thousand guests, sitting before every one of them a drinking cup of gold, and changing these vessels at every course. And then, again, how insignificant would his wealth have been by the side of that of Pythias the Bithynian! For here I make no mention of kings, be it remarked. He it was who gave the celebrated plane tree and vine of gold to King Darius, and who entertained at a banquet.
The troops of Xerxes, 788,000 men in all, with a promise of pay and corn for the whole of them during the next five months, on condition that one at least of his five children, who had been drawn for service, should be left to him as the solace of his old age. And yet, let any one compare the wealth of Pythias to that possessed by King Croesus. In the name of all that is unfortunate, What madness it is for human nature to centre its desires upon a thing that has either fallen to the lot of slaves, or else has reached no known limit in the aspirations even of kings.
Chapter 48. At what period the Roman people first made voluntary contributions? The Roman people first began to make voluntary contributions In the consulship of Spurius Posthumus and Quintus Marcius. So abundant was money at that period that the people assessed themselves for a contribution to El Scipio to defray the expenses of the games which he celebrated. As to the contribution of the sixth part of an ass for the purpose of defraying the funeral expenses of Agrippa Meneneus. I look upon that to have been a mark of respect paid to him, an honour, too, that was rendered necessary by his poverty, rather than in the light of a largesse.
Chapter 49. Instances of Luxury in Silverplate The caprice of the human mind is marvellously exemplified in the varying fashions of silverplate. The work of no individual manufactory The great Now again, it is embossed plate we are in search of. And silver deeply chiselled around the marginal lines of the figures painted upon it. And now we are building up our sideboards fresh tiers of tables for supporting the various dishes. Other articles of plate we nicely pare away, it being an object that the file may remove as much of the metal as possible. We find the orator Calvus complaining that the saucepans are made of silver. But it has been left for us to invent a plan of covering our very carriages with chased silver, and it was in our own age that Poppea, the wife of the Emperor Nero, ordered her favourite mules to be shod even with gold.
Chapter 50. Instances of the Frugality of the Ancients in reference to Silver Plate.
The younger Scipio Africanus, Left to his heir 32 pounds weight of silver, the same person who, on his triumph over the Carthaginians, displayed 4,370 pounds weight of that metal. Such was the sum total of the silver possessed by the whole of the inhabitants of Carthage, that rival of Rome for the empire of the world. How many a Roman since then has surpassed her in his display of plate for a single table? After the destruction of Numantia, the same Africanus gave to his soldiers, on the day of his triumph, a largesse of seven denarii each, and right worthy were they of such a general when satisfied with such a sum. His brother, Scipio Allobrogicus, was the very first who possessed one thousand pounds weight of silver.
But Drusus Livius, when he was tribune of the people, possessed Ten thousand. As to the fact that an ancient warrior, a man too, who had enjoyed a triumph, should have incurred the notice of the censor for being in possession of five pounds weight of silver, it is a thing that would appear quite fabulous at the present day. The same too with the instance of Catus Ilius, who, when consul, After being found by the Aetolian ambassadors, taking his morning meal off of common earthenware, refused to receive the silver vessels which they sent him, and, indeed, was never in possession to the last day of his life of any silver at all, with the exception of two drinking cups, which had been presented to him as the reward of his valour by L.
Paulus, his father-in-law, on the conquest of King Perseus. We read, too, that the Carthaginian ambassadors declared that no people lived on more amicable terms amongst themselves than the Romans, for that, wherever they had dined, they had always met with the same silver plate. And yet, by Hercules, to my own knowledge, Pompeius Paulinus, son of a Roman of equestrian rank at Arilate, A member, too, of a family on the paternal side that was graced with the fur, had with him when serving with the army, and that, too, in a war against the most savage nations, a service of silver plate that weighed 12,000 pounds.
Chapter 51. At what period silver was first used as an ornament for couches?
For this long time past, however, it has been the fashion to plate the couches of our women, as well as some of our banqueting couches, entirely with silver. Carvillius Pollio, a Roman of equestrian rank, was the first, it is said, to adorn these last with silver, not, I mean, to plate them all over, nor yet to make them after the Delian pattern, the Punic fashion being the one he adopted. It was after this last pattern, too, that he had them ornamented with gold as well, and it was not long after his time that silver couches came into fashion, in imitation of the couches of Delos. All this extravagance, however, was fully expiated by the civil wars of Sulla.
Chapter 52. At what period silver charges of enormous size were first made? When silver was first used as a material for sideboards, when the sideboards called tympana were first introduced.
In fact, it was but very shortly before the period that these couches were invented, as well as charges of silver 100 pounds in weight, of which last it is a well-known fact that there were then upwards of 150 in Rome. And that many persons were prescribed through the devices of others who were desirous to gain possession thereof. Well, may our annals be put to the blush for having to impute those civil wars to the existence of such vices as these. Our own age, however, has waxed even stronger in this respect. In the reign of Claudius, his slave Drusillanus, surnamed Rotundus, who acted as his steward in nearer Spain, Possessed a silver charger weighing 500 pounds, for the manufacture of which a workshop had had to be expressly built.
This charger was accompanied also by eight other dishes, each 250 pounds in weight. How many of his fellow slaves, pray, would it have taken to introduce these dishes, or who were to be the guests served therefrom? Cornelius Nepos says that before the victory gained by Scylla, there were but two banqueting couches adorned with silver at Rome, and that in his own recollection, silver was first used for adorning sideboards. Fenestella, who died at the end of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, informs us that at that period sideboards inlaid even with tortoiseshell had come into fashion, whereas a little before his time, They had been made of solid wood of a round shape, and not much larger than our tables.
He says, however, that when he was quite a boy, they had begun to make the sideboard square and offer different pieces of wood, or else veneered with maple or citrus, and that, at a later period, the fashion was introduced of overlaying the corners and the seams at the jointings with silver. The name given to them in his youth, he says, was tympana. And it was at this period, too, that the chargers, which had been known as Majidies by the ancients, first received the name of lances from their resemblance to the scales of a balance.
Chapter 53. The Enormous Price of Silver Plate.
It is not, however, Only for vast quantities of plate that there is such a rage among mankind, but even more so, if possible, for the plate of peculiar artists, and this too, to the exculpation of our own age, has long been the case.
C. Gratius possessed some silver dolphins, for which he paid 5,000 sesterces per pound. Lucius Crassus, the orator, He paid for two goblets chased by the hand of the artist mentor 100,000 sesterces, but he confessed that, for very shame, he never dared use them, as also that he had other articles of plate in his possession, for which he had paid at the rate of 6,000 sesterces per pound. It was the conquest of Asia that first introduced luxury into Italy, for we find that Lucius Scipio, in his triumphal procession, Exhibited 1,400 pounds weight of chased silver with golden vessels, the weight of which amounted to 1,500 pounds. This took place in the year from the foundation of the city 565, but that which inflicted a still more severe blow upon the Roman morals was the legacy of Asia, which King Attalus left to the state at his decease.
A legacy Which was even more disadvantageous than the victory of Scipio in its results. For, upon this occasion, all scruple was entirely removed by the eagerness which existed at Rome for making purchases at the auction of the king's effects. This took place in the year of the city 622, the people having learned during the 57 years that had intervened not only to admire, But to covet even the opulence of foreign nations. The tastes of the Roman people had received, too, an immense impulse from the conquest of Achaia, which, during this interval in the year of the city 608, that nothing might be wanting, had introduced both statues and pictures. The same epoch, too, that saw the birth of luxury witnessed the downfall of Carthage, so that By fatal coincidence, the Roman people, at the same moment, both acquired a taste for vice and obtained a license for gratifying it.
Some, too, of the ancients sought to recommend themselves by this love of excess, for Caius Marius, after his victory over the Cimbri, drank from a cantharus, it is said, in imitation of Father Liber, Marius, that ploughman of Arpinum. A general who had risen from the ranks.
Chapter 54. Statues of Silver. It is generally believed, but erroneously, that silver was first employed for making statues of the deified Emperor Augustus at a period when adulation was all the fashion, for I find it stated that in the triumph celebrated by Pompeius Magnus there was a silver statue. Exhibited of Pharnaces, the first king of Pontus, as also one of Mithridates, Eupator, besides chariots of gold and silver. Silver, too, has in some instances even supplanted gold, for the luxurious tastes of the female plebeians, having gone so far as to adopt the use of shoe buckles of gold, it is considered old-fashioned to wear them made of that metal. I myself, too, have seen Arellus Fusius, the person whose name was erased from the Equestrian Order, on a singularly calumnious charge, when his school was so thronged by our youth, attracted thither by his celebrity, wearing rings made of silver.
But of what use is it to collect all these instances, when our very soldiers, holding ivory even in contempt, have the hilts of their swords made of chaste silver? When, too, their scabbards are heard to jingle with their silver chains, and their belts with the plates of silver with which they are inlaid. At the present day, too, the continence of our very pages is secured by the aid of silver. Our women, when bathing, quite despise any sitting bath that is not made of silver, while for serving up food at table, as well as for the most unseemly purposes, The same metal must be equally employed. Would that Fabricius could behold these instances of luxuriousness, the baths of our women, bathing as they do in company with the men, paved with silver to such an extent that there is not room left for the sole of the foot even.
Fabricius, I say, who would allow of no general of an army having any other plate than a patera and a salt cellar of silver. Oh, that he could see how the rewards of valor in our day are either composed of these objects of luxury or else are broken up to make them. Alas for the morals of our age! Fabricius puts us to the blush.
Chapter 55. The Most Remarkable Works in Silver and the Names of the Most Famous Artists in Silver It is a remarkable fact that the art of chasing gold should have conferred no celebrity upon any person, while that of embossing silver has rendered many illustrious. The greatest renown, however, has been acquired by Mentor, of whom mention has been made already. Four pairs of vases were all that were ever made by him, and at the present day not one of these, it is said, is any longer in existence. Owing to the conflagrations of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and of that in the capital. Varro informs us in his writings that he also was in possession of a bronze statue, the work of this artist. Next to Mentor, the most admired artists were Acragus, Boethius and Miss.
Works of all these artists are still extant in the Isle of Rhodes. of Bothius in the temple of Minerva at Lindus, of Acragus in the temple of Father Lieber at Rhodes, consisting of cups engraved with figures in relief of centaurs and bacchantes, and of Miss in the same temple figures of Silene and Cupid's. Representations also of the chase by Acragus on drinking cups were held in high estimation. Next to these in repute comes Calamis. Antipater II, it has been said, laid rather than engraved a sleeping satyr upon a drinking bowl. Next to these come Stratonicus of Sisychus and Tauriscus. Ariston also, and Eunicus of Mytilene are highly praised. Hecateus also, and about the age of Pompeius Magnus, Pasitales, Posidonius of Ephesus, Hedistratides, who engraved battle scenes and armed warriors, and Zopyrus, who represented the court of the Areopagus and the trial of Orestes, upon two cups valued at 12,000 sesterces.
There was Pythias also, a work of whose sold at the rate of 10,000 denarii for two ounces. It was a drinking bowl, the figures on which represented Ulysses and Diomedes stealing the Palladium. The same artist engraved also, upon some small drinking vessels, kitchen scenes known as Magyriscia, of such remarkably fine workmanship and so liable to injury that it was quite impossible to take copies of them. Teusa II, the inlayer, enjoyed a great reputation. All at once, however, this art became so lost in point of excellence that, at the present day, ancient specimens are the only ones at all valued, and only those pieces of plate are held in esteem, the designs on which are so much worn that the figures cannot be distinguished.
Silver becomes tainted by the contact of mineral waters and of the salt exhalations from them, as in the interior of Spain, for instance.
Chapter 56. The persons who first used it in painting, and the method they adopted. In the mines of gold and silver, there are some other pigments also found, sil and chiruleum. Sil is, properly speaking, a sort of slime. The best kind is that known as attic sil, the price of which is two denarii per pound. The next best kind is the marbled sil. The price of which is half that of the attic kind. A third sort is the compressed sill, known to some persons as Siric sill, it coming from the Isle of Syros. Then, too, there is the sill of Achaea, which painters make use of for shadow painting, and the price of which is two sesterces per pound. At a price of two asses less per pound is sold the clear sill, which comes from Gaul.
This last kind, as well as the attic sill, is used for painting strong lights. But the marbled sill only is employed for colouring compartitions, the marble in it offering a resistance to the natural acridity of the lime. This last kind is extracted also from some mountains 20 miles distant from the city. When thus extracted, it is submitted to the action of fire, in which form it is adulterated by some. And sold for compressed sill. That it has been burnt, however, and adulterated, may be very easily detected by its acridity, and the fact that it very soon crumbles into dust. Polynotus and Mykon were the first to employ sill in painting, but that of Attica solely. The succeeding age used this last kind for strong lights only, and employed the Siric and Lydian kinds for shadow painting.
The Lydian sill used to be bought at Sardis, but at the present day we hear nothing of it.
Chapter 57. Chiruleum. Chiruleum is a kind of sand. In former times there were three kinds of it. The objitian, which was the most esteemed of all, the scythian, which is easily dissolved, and which produces four colours when pounded, one of a lighter blue, And one of a darker blue, one of a thicker consistency, and one comparatively thin, and the Cyprian, which is now preferred as a colour to the preceding. Since then, the kinds imported from Puteole and Spain have been added to the list, the sand having of late been prepared there. Every kind, however, is submitted to a dyeing process, it being boiled with a plant used particularly for this purpose. And imbibing its juices. In other respects, the mode of preparing it is similar to that of Chrysochola.
From Chiruleum, too, is prepared the substance known as Lomentum, it being washed and ground for the purpose. Lomentum is of a paler tint than Chiruleum. The price of it is ten denarii per pound, and that of Chiruleum but eight. Chiruleum is used upon a surface of clay, For upon lime, it will not hold. A more recent invention is the Vestorian Chiruleum, so called from the person who first manufactured it. It is prepared from the finer parts of Egyptian Chiruleum, and the price of it is 11 denarii per pound. That of Puteoli is used in a similar manner, as also for windows. It is also known as Chylon. It is not so long since. That Indicum was first imported to Rome, the price being 17 denarii per pound.
Painters make use of it for incisures, or in other words, the division of shadows from light. There is also a lamentum of very inferior quality, known to us as ground lamentum, and valued at only five asses per pound. The mode of testing the genuineness of chiruleum is to see whether it emits a flame on being laid upon burning coals. One method of adulterating it is to boil dried violets in water, and then to strain the liquor through linen into Eritrean clay.
Chapter 58. Two Remedies Derived from Chiruleum Chiruleum has the medicinal property of acting as detergent upon ulcers. Hence it is that it is used as an ingredient in plasters, as also in quarteries. As to sill, it is pounded with the greatest difficulty. Viewed as a medicament, it is slightly mordant and astringent, and fills up the cavities left by ulcers. To make it the more serviceable, It is burnt in earthen vessels. The prices of things which I have in different places annexed vary, I am well aware, according to the locality, and experience a change almost every year, variations dependent upon the opportunities afforded for navigation and the terms upon which the merchant may have purchased the article.
It may so happen, too, that some wealthy dealer has engrossed the market and so enhanced the price. For I am by no means forgetful of the case of Demetrius, who, in the reign of the Emperor Nero, was accused before the Consuls by the whole community of the Sepplesia. Still, however, I have thought it necessary to annex the usual price of each commodity at Rome in order to give some idea of their relative values.
Summary. Remedies, Narratives, and Observations.
Roman authors quoted Domitianus Caesar, Junius Gracianus, El Piso, Varius, M. Vero, Corvinus, Eticus Pomponius, Calvus Licinius, Cornelius Napos, Musianus, Boctus, Fetialis, Fenestella, Valerius Maximus, Julius Bassus, who wrote on medicine in Greek, Sextius Niger, who did the same.
Foreign authors quoted Theophrastus, Democritus, Euba, Timaeus, the historian who wrote on metallic medicines, Heraclides, Andreas, Diagoras, Botrys, Archidemus, Dionysus, Aristogenes, Domocles, Nesides, Atalus, the physician, Xenocrates, the son of Zeno, Theonestus, Nymphodorus. Aeolus, Apollodorus, Pasitales, who wrote on wonderful works, and Toginus, who wrote on the Tauritic art, Menaecmus, who did the same, Xenocrates, who did the same. Douris, who did the same. Menander, who wrote on Taurutics. Heliodorus, who wrote on the votive offerings of the Athenians. Metrodorus of Sepsis.
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16 16 - Book 34, Chapters 1 to 8. Brass, copper. 12:06
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 16, Book 34, Chapters 1-8. The Natural History of Metals. Chapter One. The ores of brass. We must, in the next place, give an account of the ores of brass, a metal which, in respect of utility, is next in value. Indeed, the Corinthian brass comes before silver, not to say almost before gold itself. It is also, as I have stated above, the standard of monetary value, hence the terms I have already mentioned for what length of time the Roman people employed no coin except brass, and there is another ancient fact which proves that the esteem in which it was held was of equal antiquity. Chapter Two. The different kinds of copper. The ore is extracted in the mould that has been described above, and is then purified by fusion.
The metal is also obtained from a coppery stone called cadmium. The most highly esteemed copper is procured from beyond seas. It was formally obtained in the Campania also, and at present is found in the country of the Bergamates, at the extremity of Italy. It is said to have been lately discovered also in the province of Germany. In Cyprus, where copper was first discovered, it is also procured from another stone, which is called chalaitis. This, however, was afterwards considered of a little value, a better kind having been found in other regions, especially that of Auri Chalcum. Which was long in high request on account of its excellent quality. But none of it has been found for this long time, the earth having been quite exhausted.
The kind which was next in value was the Seleustian, procured from the Alpine district at the Centrones. But this did not last long and was succeeded by the Livian in Gaul. They both took their names from the owners of the mines, the former a friend of the Emperor Augustus, the latter that Emperor's wife, They soon failed, however, and in the Levian even there is now found but a very small quantity of ore. That which is at present held in the highest estimation is the Marian, likewise known as the Cortuban, next to the Levian. This kind most readily absorbs Edmia and becomes almost as excellent as Orichalium for making Cisteres and Doubleasis, the Cyprian copper being thought good enough for the Ass.
Thus much concerning the natural qualities of this metal. Chapter Three. The Corinthian Brass. The other kinds are made artificially, all of which will be described in the appropriate places, the more celebrated kinds first coming under our notice. Formerly a mixture was made of copper fused with gold and silver, and the workmanship in this metal was considered even more valuable than the material itself, but at the present day... It is difficult to say whether the workmanship in it or the material is the worst. Indeed, it is wonderful that while the value of these works has so infinitely increased, the reputation of the art itself is nearly extinct. But it would appear that in this, as in everything else, what was formerly done for the sake of reputation is now undertaken for the mere purpose of gain.
For whereas this art was ascribed to the gods themselves, And men of rank in all countries endeavored to acquire fame by the practice of it, we have now so entirely lost the method of making this valuable compound by fusion that for this long time past, not even the chance itself has occurred. Next, after the above compound, so celebrated in antiquity, the Corinthian metal has been the most highly esteemed. This was a compound produced by accident, when Corinth was burned at the time of its capture. There has been a wonderful mania for many for gaining possession of this metal. It is even said that Veres, whom Cicero caused to be condemned, was prescribed by Antonius, along with Cicero, for no other reason than his refusal to give up some specimens of Corinthian metal, which were in his possession.
But most of these people seem to me to make a pretense of their discernment in reference to this metal. Rather than for the purpose of distinguishing themselves from the multitude, than from any real knowledge which they possess, and I will briefly show. Corinth was captured in the third year of the 158th Olympiad, being the year of the city 608, some ages after the period when those artists flourished, who produced all the specimens of what these persons now call Corinthian metal. It is in order, therefore, to refute this opinion The only genuine Corinthian vessels, then, are those which these men of taste metamorphose, sometimes into dishes, sometimes into lamps, or even into washing basins, without any regard to decency.
They are of three kinds. The white variety, Approaching very nearly to the splendor of silver, and in which that metal forms a large proportion of the compound. A second kind, in which the yellow color of gold predominates. And a third, in which all the metals are mixed in equal proportions. Besides these, there is another mixture, the composition of which it is impossible to describe, for although it has been formed into images and statues by the hand of man, It is chance that rules in the formation of the compound. This last is highly prized for its colour, which approaches to that of liver, and it is on this account that it is called hepatizone. It is far inferior to the Corinthian metal, but much superior to the aeginitan and delian, which long held the first rank.
Chapter Four. The Dahlian Brass. The Delian Brass was the first that became famous, all the world coming to Delos to purchase it, and hence the attention paid to the manufacture of it. It was in this island that Brass first obtained celebrity for the manufacture of the feet and supports of dining couches. After some time, it came to be employed for the statues of the gods, and the effigies of men and other animated beings. Chapter Five. The Ayaginitan Brass. The next most esteemed brass was the Aeginitan, the island itself being rendered famous for its brass. Not indeed that the metal was produced there, but because the annealing of the Aeginitan manufactories was so excellent. A brazen ox, which was taken from this island, now stands in the Forum Bearium at Rome.
This is a specimen of the Aeginitan metal, as the Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter-Tonans in the capital.
Myron used the former metal, and Polyelitus the latter. They were contemporaries and fellow pupils, but there was a great rivalry between them as to their materials.
Chapter Six. Stands for Lamps. Eugenia was particularly famous for the manufacture of sockets only for lamp stands. As Tarrantum was for that of the branches, the most complete articles were... There are persons, too, who are not ashamed to give for one a sum equal to the salary of a military tribune, although, as the name indicates, its only use is to hold a lighted candle. On the sale of one of these lampstands, Theon the Public Cryer announced that the purchaser must also take, as part of the lot, one Clisippus, a fuller who was humpbacked, and in other respects... The purchase was made by a female named Chizania for fifteen thousand sesteries. Upon her exhibiting these purchases at an entertainment which she gave, the slave, for the amusement of her guests, was brought in naked.
Conceiving an infamous passion for him, she first admitted him to her bed and finally left him all her estate. Having thus become extremely rich, he adored the lampstand as much as any divinity. And the story became a sort of pent to the celebrity of Corinthian lampstands. Still, however, good morals were vindicated in the end, for he erected a splendid monument to her memory, and so kept alive the eternal remembrance of the misconduct of Zhezhania. But although it is well known that there are no lampstands in existence made of the Corinthian metal, yet this name is very generally attached to them, because, in consequence of the victory of Mummius, Corinth was destroyed. At the same time, however, it should be remembered that this victory dispersed a number of bronzes which originally came from many other cities of Asshire.
Chapter Seven. Ornaments of the Temples Made of Brass. The ancients were in the habit of making the door sills and even the doors of the temples of brass. I find it stated also that Sinaeus Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus, erected the double portico to the Flaminian circus, which was called the Corinthian, from the brazen capitals of the pillars. It is stated also that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta should be covered with a coating of The capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by Emagripa in the Pantheon, are made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurious Carvelius, the quaestor, among the other charges which he brought against Camillus, accused him of having brazen doors in his house.
Chapter Eight. Couches of Brass. We learn from El Piso that Gnaeus Manlius was the first to introduce brazen banqueting couches, buffets, and tables with single feet when he entered the city in triumph in the year of Rome 567 after his conquests in Asia. We also learn from Antias that the heirs of the Crassus, the orator, sold a number of banqueting couches adorned with brass. The tripods, which were Delphian, because they were devoted more particularly to receiving the offerings that were presented to the Delphian Apollo, were usually made of brass. Also, the pendant lamps, so much admired, which were placed in the temples or gave their light in the form of trees loaded with fruit, such as the one, for instance, In the temple of the Palatine Apollo, which Alexander the Great, at the sacking of Thebes, brought to Simi, and dedicated to that god.
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17 17 - Book 34, Chapters 9 to 18. Statues. Prices of statues. Colossal statues. 24:41
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 17 of The Natural History, Volume 7. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jack Ball. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riewy. Section 17. Book 34. Chapters 9 to 18. Chapter 9. Which was the first statue of a god made of brass at home? The origin of statues, and the respect paid to them. But after some time, the artists everywhere applied themselves to the representations of the gods. I find that the first brass image which was made at Rome was that of Ceres, and that the expenses were defrayed out of the property that belonged to Spurius Cassius, who was put to death by his own father for aspiring to the regal office.
The practice, however, soon passed from the gods to the statues and representations of men, and this in various forms. The ancients stained their statues with bitumen, Which made the more remarkable that they were afterwards found of covering them with gold. I do not know whether this was a Roman invention, but it certainly had the repute of being an ancient practice of Rome. It was not the custom, in former times, to give the likeness of individuals, except if such as deserved to be held in lasting remembrance on account of some illustrious deed, in the first instance, for a victory at the Sacred Games, and more particularly the Olympic Games. Where it was the usage for the victors always to have their statues consecrated.
And if anyone was so fortunate as to obtain the prize three times, his statue was made with the exact resemblance of every individual limb, from which circumstance they were called Iconicae. I do not know whether the first public statues were not erected by the Athenians, and in honour of Harmonius and Aristogatum, who slew the tyrants, an event which took place in the same year, In which the kings were expelled from Rome. This custom, from a most praiseworthy emulation, was afterwards adopted by all other nations, so that statues were erected as ornaments in the public places.
After some time...
Chapter 10. The different kinds and forms of statues. Statues at home with cutresses. In former times, the statues that were thus dedicated were clad in the toga. Naked statues also, brandishing a spear, after the manner of the youths at their gymnastic exercises were much admired. These were called Achillean. The Greek practice is not to cover any part of the body, while, on the contrary, the Roman and military statues have the addition of a cuirass. Caesar, the dictator, permitted a statue with a cuirass to be erected in honour of him in his forum. As to the statues which are made in the guard of the Lupeci, they are of no older date than those which have been lately erected covered with a cloak.
Mancinius gave directions that he should be represented in the dress which he wore when he was surrendered to the enemy. It has been remarked by some authors that Elatius, the poet, had a statue of himself erected in the Temple of the Muses, which was extremely large, although he himself was very short. Equestrian statues are also held in esteem in Rome, but they are of Greek origin, no doubt. Among the Greeks, those persons only were honoured with equestrian statues who were victors on horseback.
But this did not take the Chapter 11. In honour of whom public statues were first erected, In honour of whom they were first placed on pillars, when the rostra were first erected. The custom of erecting chariots with two horses, in honour of those who had discharged the office of Praetor, and had passed around the circus in a chariot, is not of ancient date. That of placing statues on pillars is older, as it was done in honour of Simanius, who conquered the ancient Latins, to whom the Romans, by treaty, gave one third of the spoil which they had obtained. It was in the same consulship The same thing was done also by Caius Julius, who was the first to obtain naval triumph over the Carthaginians.
His column still remains in the forum. I am not certain whether this honour was not first conferred by the people on El Minucius, the praefect of the markets. The same thing, however, had been previously done by the The statue of Atasnavius, for example, was erected before the Senate House, The pedestal of which was consumed when the Senate House itself was burnt at the funeral of Publius Claudius. The statue of Hermodorus also, the Ephesian, the interpreter of the laws which were transcribed by the Decembers, was erected by the public in the Comitium. It was for a very different and more important reason that the statue of Horatius Coelis was erected, he having singly prevented the enemy from passing the Sublician Bridge, a statue which remains to this day.
I am not at all surprised that the statues of the Sibyl should have been erected near the Rostra, even though three in number, one of which was repaired by Sextus Aeavius Taurus, Aeadio of the people, and the other two by M. Mesel. I should have considered these, and that of Attas Navius, to have been the oldest, having been placed there in the time of Tarcinius Prysus, had there not been in the capital the statues of the preceding kings. Among those we have the statues of Romulus and Tatius, without the tunic, as also that of Camillus, near the rostra. The equestrian statue of Marcius Tremulus, clad in the toga, stood before the temple of the Castus, him who twice subdued the Samanites, and by the capture of an Agnia delivered the people from their tribute.
Among the most ancient are those of Tullus Cloelius, Lucius Ruscius, Spurius Nautius, And see Fulkunus near the Rostra, all of whom were near assassinated by the Fidanates when on their mission as ambassadors. It was the custom with the Republic to confer this honour on those who had been under the It would be wrong not to mention what is stated in the Annals. That their statues, erected in the Forum, were three feet in height. Whence it would appear that such were the dimensions of these marks of honour in those times. Nor must I forget to mention Cineas Octavius, on account of the language used by the Senate. When King Antiochus said that he would give him an answer at another time, Octavius drew a line around him with a stick, which he happened to have in his hand, and compelled him to give an answer before he allowed him to step beyond the circle.
Octavius being slain while on the embassy, the Senate ordered his statue to be placed in the most conspicuous spot, and that spot was the rostra. A statue appears also to have been decreed to Teracia Caia, or Fyretia, a Vestal Virgin, the same too, to be placed wherever she might think fit. An additional honour no less remarkable, it is thought, than the granted stealth of a statue to a female. I will state her merits in the words of the annals. Because she had gratuitously presented to the public the field bordering on the Tiber. Chapter 12. In honour of what foreigners public statues were erected at home. I find also that statues were erected in honour of Pythagoras and of Alcibiages in the corner of the Comitium, in obedience to the command of the Pythian Apollo, who, in the Samni war, had directed that statues of the bravest and wisest of the Greeks It is wonderful that the Senate should then have preferred Pythagoras to Socrates, who, in consequence of his wisdom, had been preferred to all other men by the god himself, as also that they should have preferred Alcibiades for valour to so many other heroes, or indeed, anyone to Themistocles.
Who so greatly excelled in both qualities. The reason of the statues being raised on columns was that the persons represented might be elevated above other mortals. The same thing being signified by the use of arches. A new invention which had its origin among the Greeks. I am of opinion that there is no one to whom more statues were erected than to Demetrius Thalerius at Athens. For there were 360 erected in his honour. These being reckoned at that period no more days in the year. These, however, were soon broken to pieces. The different tribes erected statues in all the quarters of Rome, in honour of Marius Crecigianus, as already stated. But they were all thrown down by Scylla when he entered Rome.
Chapter 13. The first equestrian statues publicly erected at Rome, and in honour of what female statues were publicly erected there. Pedestrian statues have been, undoubtedly for a long time, in estimation at Rome. Equestrian statues are, however, of considerable antiquity, and females even have participated in this honour. For the statue of Cleelia is equestrian, as if it had not been thought sufficient to have her clad in the toga, and this, although statues were not decreed to Lucretia or to Brutus, who had expelled the kings, and through both of whom Cleelia had been given as a hostage. I should have thought that this statue and that of Cocles The first that were erected at the public expense, for it is most likely that the statues of Attus and the Sybil were erected by the Tarcinius, and those of each of the other kings by themselves respectively.
But Annius Fertialis states, on the other hand, The equestrian statue, which stood opposite the temple of Jupiter's stator in the vestibule of the house of Tarkinia Superbus, was that of Valeria, the daughter of the Consul, public...
Chapter Fourteen. At what period all the statues erected by private individuals were removed from the public places? We are informed by El Piso that when M. Aemilius and C. Popilius were consuls for the second time, the censors P. Cornelius Scipio and M. Pompilius caused all the statues erected round the Forum in honour of those who had borne the office of magistrates to be removed, with the exception of those which had been placed there, either by the order of the people. The statue, also which Spurius Cassius, who had aspired to the supreme authority, had erected in honour of himself before the Temple of Tillis, was melted down by order of the censors, for even in this respect the men of those days took precautions against ambition.
There are still extant some declamations by Cato during his censorship against the practice of erecting statues of women in the Roman provinces. However, He could not prevent these statues being erected at Rome even, to Cornelia, for instance, the mother of the Gracchi and daughter of the elder Scipio Africanus. She is represented in a sitting position, and the statue is remarkable for having no straps to the shoes. This statue, which was formerly in the public portico of Metellus, is now in the buildings of Octavia. Chapter 15. The first statues publicly erected by foreigners. The first statue that was erected at Rome at the expense of a foreigner was that of C. Aeolius, the tribune of the people, who had introduced a law against Stenius Statilius Luenius for having twice attacked Therii, on which account the inhabitants of that place presented Aeolius with a statue and a golden crown.
At a later period, the same people erected a statue to Fabricius, who had delivered their city from a state of siege. From time to time, Various nations thus placed themselves under the protection of Romans, and all distinctions were thereby so effectually removed that statues of Hannibal even are to be seen in three different places in that city, within the walls of which he, alone of all its enemies, had hurled his spear. Chapter 16. That there were statuaries in Italy, also at an early period. Various circumstances prove The statue in the cattle market is set to have been consecrated to Hercules by Evander. It is called the Triumphal Hercules, and on the occasion of triumphal processions is arrayed in triumphal vestments.
And then besides, King Numa dedicated the statue of the two-faced Janus, a deity who is worshipped as presiding over both peace and war. The fingers, too, are so formed as to indicate 365 days, in other words, the year, thus denoting that he is the god of time and duration. There are also Etruscan statues dispersed in various parts of the world, which, beyond a doubt, were originally made in Etruria. I should have supposed that these had been the statues only of divinities, had not Metrodorus of Sepsis, who had his surname from his hatred to the Roman name, It appears to me a singular fact that, although the origin of statues was of such great antiquity in Italy, the images of the gods which were consecrated to them in their temples should have been formed either of wool or of earthenware until the conquest of Asia, which introduced luxury among us.
It will be the best plan to enlarge upon the origin of the art of expressing likenesses. When we come to speak of what the Greeks call Plastis, for the art of modelling was prior to that of statuary. This last, however, has flourished to such an extraordinary degree that an account of it would fill many volumes if we were desirous of making an extensive acquaintance with the subject, but as to learning everything contained with it, who could do it? Chapter 17. The Immoderate Prices of Statues. In the idylliship of M. Scouris. There were 3,000 statues erected on the stage of what was a temporary theatre only. Mumias, the conqueror of Achaia, filled the city with statues. He who at his death was destined not to leave a dowry to his daughter, for why not mention this as an apology for him?
The Luculli also introduced many articles from abroad. Yet we learn from Mugianus, who was thrice consul, that there are still 3,000 statues in Rhodes, and it is supposed that there are no fewer. Still, however, I may perhaps afford amusement by giving some ...of each of these, it would be impossible to enumerate all the productions. Alone is said to have executed no less than 1,500 works of art, all of which were of such excellence that any one of them might have immortalized him. The number was ascertained by his heir, upon opening his coffers after his death, it having been his practice to lay up one golden denarius out of the sum which he had received as the price of each statue. This art had arrived at incredible perfection, both in successfulness and in boldness of design.
As proof of successfulness, I will adduce one example, and that of a figure which represented neither God nor man. We have seen in our own time in the capital, before it was last burnt by the party of Vitellius, in the shrine of Juno there, a bronze figure of a dog licking its wounds. Its miraculous excellence and its perfect truthfulness were not only proved by the circumstance of its having been consecrated there, but also by the novel kind of security that was taken for its safety, for... Chapter Eight. The most celebrated colossal statues in the city. As to boldness of design, the examples are innumerable. For we see designed statues of enormous bulk, known as colossal statues, and equal to towers in size.
Such, for instance, is the Apollo in the capital. Which was brought by Emnucullus from Apollonia, a city of Pontus, thirty cubits in height, and which cost five hundred talents. Such, too, is the statue of Jupiter in the campus Martius, dedicated by the late Emperor Claudius, but which appears small in comparison from its vicinity to the theatre of Pompeius. And such is that at Tarentum, forty cubits in height, and the work of Lysippus. It is a remarkable circumstance in this statue that, though, as it is stated, it is so nicely balanced as to be movable by the hand, it has never been thrown down by a tempest. This, indeed, the artist, it is said, has guarded against by a comb erected at a short distance from it, upon the side on which the violence of the wind required to be broken.
On account, therefore, of its magnitude and the great difficulty of moving it, Fabius Vericusus did not touch it. When he transferred the Hercules from that place to the capital where it now stands. But that which is by far the most worthy of our admiration is the colossal statue of the Sun, which stood formerly at Rhodes and was the work of Charis the Lindian, a pupil of the above named Lysippus. No less than 70 cubits in height, this statue, 56 years after it was erected, was thrown down by an earthquake. But even as it lies, it excites our wonder and admiration. Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior.
Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it. It is said that it was twelve years before the statue was completed, and that three hundred talents were expended upon it. A sum raised from the engines of warfare which had been abandoned by King Demetrius when tired of the long protracted siege of Rhodes. In the same city, there are other colossal statues, 100 in number, but those smaller than the one already mentioned, were ever erected. Colossal statues used to also be made in Italy. At all events, we see the Tuscan Apollo. Spurlius Calvilius also erected the statue of Jupiter, which is seen in the capital, after he had conquered the Samnites, who fought in obedience to a most solemn oath, it being formed out of their breastplates, greaves, and helmets, and of such large dimensions it may be seen from the statue of Jupiter Letiaris.
He made his own statue, which is at the feet of the other one, out of the filings of the metal. There are also in the capital two heads which are very much admired, and which were dedicated by Consul P. Lentulus, one of them executed by the above-mentioned Charis, the other by Decius. But this last is so greatly excelled by the former as to have all the appearance of being the work of one of the poorest of artists. But all these gigantic statues of this kind The city of Arverni in Gaul, which was ten years in being completed, and the making of which cost 400,000 cest... Having given sufficient proof there of his artistic skill, he was sent for by Nero to Rome, where he made a colossal statue intended to represent that prince, 110 feet in height.
In consequence, however, This statue was consecrated to the sun. We used to admire in his studio not only the likeness in the model of clay, but in the small sketches also, which served as the first foundation of the work. This statue proves that the art of fusing precious brass was then lost, for Nero was prepared to furnish the requisite gold and silver, and Xenodotus was inferior to none of the ancients. Either as a designer or as an engraver. At the time that he was working at the statue for the Araverni, he copied for Dubius Avitus, then the governor of the province, two drinking cups, chased by the hand of Calamice, which had been highly prized by Germanicus Caesar and had been given by him to his preceptor Cassius Silanus, the uncle of Avitus.
And this with such exactness that they could scarcely be distinguished from the originals. The greater, then, the superiority of Xenodotus, the more certainly it may be concluded that the secret of using precious brass is lost. Persons who possess what are called Corinthian bronzes are generally so much enamoured of them as to carry them about with them from place to place. Hortensius the orator, for instance, who possessed a sphinx which he had made Verus give him when accused. It was to this figure That's Cicero alluded in an altercation which took place at the trial, when, upon Hortensius saying that he could not understand enigmas, Cicero made answer that he ought to understand them, as he had got a sphinx at home.
The Emperor Nero, also, used to carry about with him the figure of an Amazon, of which I shall speak further hereafter. And shortly before this, see, Cestius, a person of consular rank, had possessed a figure which he carried with him even in battle. The tent, too, of Alexander the Great was usually supported, it is said, by statues, two of which are consecrated before the Temple of Maasulter and a similar number before the palace.
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18 18 - Book 34, Chapter 19. Most celebrated works in brass and their artists. 30:52
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 18, Book 34. Chapter 19. An account of the most celebrated works in brass and of the artists, 366 in number. An almost innumerable multitude of artists have been rendered famous by the statues and figures of smaller size. Before all others, The first is Phaedaeus, the Athenian, who executed the Jupiter at Olympia in ivory and gold, but who also made the figures in brass as well. He flourished in the 83rd Olympia, about the year of our city 300. To the same age belong also his rivals Alamines, Cretius, Nesiotes, and Hegeus. Afterwards, in the 87th Olympiad, there were Agilades, Callon, and Gorgias the Laconian. In the 19th Olympiad, there were Polyetus, Phradmon, Myron, Pythagoras, Scopas, and Pirellus.
Of these, Polyetus had for pupils Argeus, Aspadorus, Alexes, Aristides, Phraenon, Deenon, Athenodorus, Dimeas, the Clitorian. Laeus, too, was the pupil of Myron. In the 95th Olympiad flourished Naucydides, Deenomenes, Canaeus, In the 102nd Olympiad, there were Polyeles, Sophistodotus, Leoiharis, and Hypertodorus. In the 104th Olympiad flourished Praxiteles and Euphranor. In the 107th, Aetion and Therimyus. In the 113th, Lysippus, who was the contemporary of Alexander the Great, his brother Lysistratus, Scythenes, Euphron, Euclides, Sostratus, Aeon and Selanion, who was remarkable for having a quiet celebrity without any instructor. Zouk sees was his pupil. In the 121st Olympiad were Eutychides, Euthycratis, Laipus, Cephistodotus, Timatius, Pyromachus.
The practice of this art then ceased for some time, but revived in the 156th Olympiad, when there were some artists who, though far inferior to those already mentioned, The age of the most celebrated artists thus being distinguished, I shall cursily review the more eminent of them, the greater part being mentioned in a desultory manner. The most celebrated of these artists, though born at different epochs, Have joined in a trial of skill in the Amazons, which they had respectively made. When these statues were dedicated in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, it was agreed in order to assert him which was the best, that it should be left to the judgment of the other.
Accordingly, the first rank was assigned to Polykyletus, the second to Pheidias. The third to Cressillas, the fourth to Sidon, and the fifth to Phraedmon. Phadias, besides the Olympian Jupiter, which no one had ever equalled, also executed in ivory the erect statue of Minerva, which is in the Parthenon at Athens. He also made in brass, beside the Amazon above mentioned, a Minerva of such exquisite beauty that it received its name from its fine proportions. He also made the Cliducus. And another Minerva? Which Paolo Aeimilus dedicated at Rome in the Temple of Fortune of the passing day. Also the two statues, draped in pallium, which Catullus erected in the same temple, and a nude colossal statue.
Phidias is deservedly considered to have discovered and developed the Toriotic art. Polycletus of Sycon, the pupil of Aguilades, executed the Diadumenus, the statue of an effeminate youth, and remarkable for having cost 100 talents. As also the statue of a youth full of manly vigour, and called the Doriforos, he also made what the artists have called the model statue, and from which, as a sort of standard, they study the lineaments, so that he, of all men, is thought in one work of art to have exhausted all the resources of art. He also made statues of a man using the body scraper, and two of a naked man challenging to play a dice. As also of two naked boys playing at dice, known as the Astra Galizontes, they are now in the atrium of the Emperor Titus.
There can be no work more perfect than this. He also executed a mercury, which was formerly Adelisimachi, a Hercules agitor, seizing his arms, which is now at Rome, and an artemon, which has received the name of Peripheretus. Polycletus is generally considered as having attained the highest excellence in statuary and as having perfected the toriotic art which Phidias invented. A discovery which was entirely his own was the art of placing statues on one leg. It is remarked, however, by Varro that his statues are all square-built and made very much after the same model. Myron of El-Kuthari, who was also the pupil of Agilades, was rendered more particularly famous by his statue of a heifer, celebrated in their well-known lines so true is it, that most men owe their renown to the genius of others than to their own.
He also made the figure of a dog, a discobulus, Perseus, the pristai, a satyr admiring a flute, and a minerva, the delphic pentathletes, the pancrataiistai, and a Hercules, which is at the Circus Maximus in the house of Pompeius Magnus. Erina, in her poems, makes allusion to a monument which he erected to a cricket and a locust. He also executed the Apollo, which, after being taken from the Ephesians by Triumvir Antonius, was restored by the Emperor Augustus, he having been admonished to do so in a dream. Myron appears to have been the first to give a varied development to the art, having made a greater number of designs than Polycletus, and shewn more attention And yet, though he was very accurate in the proportions of his figures, he has neglected to give expression.
Besides which, he has not treated the hair and the pubes with any greater attention than is observed in the rude figures of more. Pythagoras of Regium in Italy excelled him in the figure of the Paneratiaste, which is now a Delphi, and in which he also surpassed Leontiscus. Pythagoras also executed the statue of Astylus the Runner, There is, at Syracuse, a figure of a lame man by him. Persons, when looking at it, He also made an empower with the serpent, pierced by his arrows, and a player on the lyre, known as the Disaeus. From the fact that when Thebes was taken by Alexander the Great, A fugitive successfully concealed in its bosom a sum of gold. He was the first artist who gave expression to the sinews and the veins, and paid more attention to the hair.
There was also another Pythagoras, a Samian, who was originally a painter, seven of whose nude figures in the Temple of Fortune of the passing day, and one of an aged man are very much admired. He is said to have resembled the last-mentioned artists so much in his features that they could not be distinguished.
Sostratus, it is said, was the pupil of Pythagoras of Regium and his sister's son. According to Darius, Lysippius the Sicyonian was not the pupil of anyone, but was originally a worker in brass, and was first prompted to venture upon statuary by an answer that was given by Eupompus the painter. Who, upon being asked which of his predecessors he proposed to take for his model, pointed to a crowd of men and replied that it was nature herself, and no artist that he proposed to imitate. As already mentioned, Lysippius was most prolific in his works, and made more statues than any other artist. Among these is the man using the body scraper, which Marcus Agrippa had erected in front of his own warm baths, and which wonderfully pleased the Emperor Tiberius.
This prince, although in the beginning of his reign, he imposed some restraint upon himself, and could not resist the temptation, and had this statue removed to his bedchamber, having substituted another for it at the baths. The people, however, were so resolutely opposed to this, that at the theatre they clamorously demanded the Epoxyomenos to be replaced, and the prince, notwithstanding his attachment to it, was obliged to restore it. Lysippus is also celebrated for his statue of the intoxicated female flute player, his dogs and huntsmen, and more particularly for his chariot with the sun, as represented by the Rhodians. He also executed a numerous series of statues of Alexander the Great, commencing from his childhood.
The Emperor Nero was so delighted with his statue of the infant Alexander that he had it guilt. This addition, however, to its value So detracted from its artistic beauty that the gold was removed, and in this statue it was looked upon as still more precious, though disfigured by the scratches and seams which remained upon it, and in which the gold was still to be He also made the statue of Hephaestion, the friend of Alexander the Great, which some persons attribute to Polyetus. Whereas that artist lived nearly a century before his time. Also, The statue of Alexander at the Chase, now consecrated at Delphi, the figure of Aesetiae, now at Athens, and the squadron of Alexander, all of whom he represented with the greatest accuracy.
This last work of art, after his conquest of Macedonia, Metellus conveyed to Rome. Lysippius also executed chariots of various kinds. He is considered to have contributed very greatly to the art of statuary by expressing the details of the hair. By making the head smaller than had been done by the ancient, and the body more graceful and less bulky, a method by which his statues were made to appear taller. The Latin language has no appropriate name for that symmetry, which he so attentively observed in his new and hitherto untried method of modifying the squareness observable in the ancient statues. Indeed, it was a common saying of his that other artists made men as they actually were, while he made them as they appeared to be.
One peculiar characteristic of his work is the finish and the minutius, which are observed in even the smallest details. Lysippius left the three sons, who were also his pupils, and became celebrated as artists Laipus, Boedus, and more particularly Euthyricrates. Although this last-named artist rivalled his father in precision rather than in elegance, and preferred the scrupulous correctness to gracefulness. Nothing can be more expressive than his Hercules at Delphi, his Alexander, his Hunter at Thespiae, and his equestrian combat. Equally good, too, are his statue of Thorophorneus, erected in the Oracular Cave of their divinity, his numerous chariots, his horse with the panniers, and his hounds.
Tisicrates, also a native of Sion, was a pupil of Euthyric Carates, but more nearly approaching the style of Lysippus. So much so that several of his statues can be scarcely distinguished from those of Lysippus. His aged Theban, for example, his king Demetrius, and his Paeocestes, who saved the life of Alexander the Great, and so rendered the dead. Artists who have transmitted these details in their works bestow wonderful eccomiums upon Telefanes, the Phoecian, a statuary but little known, they say, because he lived in Thessaly, where his works remained concealed. According to their accounts, however, he is quite equal to Politus, Myron, and Pythagoras. They more particularly command his Larissa, his Spintherus, the Pentathlete, and his Apollo.
Others, however, assign another reason for his being so little known. It being going, they think, to his having devoted himself to the studios established by King Xerxes and Darius. Praxiteles, who excelled more particularly in marble, and then acquired his chief celebrity, Also executed some very beautiful works in brass. The Rape of Proserpine, the Katagusa, a father Liba, a figure of drunkenness, and the celebrated Satyr, to the Greeks known as Periboitus. He also executed the statues, which were formerly before the Temple of Good Fortune, and the Venus, which was destroyed by fire, with the temple of that goodness in the reign of Claudius. And it was considered equal to his marble statue of Venus, so celebrated throughout the world.
He also executed Estefanusa and Oenophorus, and the two figures of Harmodius and Aristogiton, who slew the tyrants, which, having been taken away from Greece by Xerxes, were restored to the Athenians on the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. He also made the youthful Apollo, known as the Sauroetonus. Because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard which is stealing towards him. They are greatly admired, also, two statues of his, expressive of contrary emotions, a matron in tears, and a courtesan full of gaiety. This last is supposed to be a likeness of Firine, and it is said that we can detect in her figure the love of the artist, and in the countenance of the courtesan the promised reward.
His kindness of heart, too, is witnessed by another figure. For in a chariot and horses which had been executed by Calamus, he himself made the charioteer, in order that the artist who excelled in the representation of horses might not be considered deficient in the human figure. This last-mentioned artist has executed other chariots too, some with four horses and some with two, and in his horses he is always unrivalled. But it may be not supposed that he was so greatly inferior in his human figures. It is as well to remark that his Alamina is equal to any that was ever produced. Aliaminus, who was a pupil of Phaidius, worked in marble and executed a pentathlete in brass known as the Encryno Menus.
Aristides, too, who was the scholar of Polyetus, executed chariots in metal with four and two horses. The Leaenia, The courtesan Laeina, who was a skilful performer on the lyre, and had become so acquainted with the Homodius and Aristogaton, submitted to be tortured till she expired, rather than betray their plot for the extermination of the tyrants. The Athenians, being desirous of honouring her memory, without at the same time rendering homage to a courtesan, had her represented under the figure of the animal whose name she bore. And in order to indicate the cause of the honour thus paid her, ordered the artist to represent the animal without a tongue. Briaxis executed in brass statues of Aeschylapeus and Seleusus, Boeidas, a figure in adoration, baton, an Apollo and a Juno, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome.
Steli Laos executed a statue of a man fainting from his wounds, in the expression of which may be seen how little life remains, as also the Olympian Pericles, well worthy of its title. Indeed, it is one of the marvellous adjuncts of this art that it renders men who are already celebrated even more so. Cephistodotus is the artist of an admirable Minerva, now erected in the port of Athens. Cannaeus executed a nude Apollo, which is known as the Felicia. It is at Didymi, and is composed of a bronze that was fused at Aigina. He also made a stag with it so nicely poised on its hooves as to admit of a thread being passed beneath. One four-foot-two. Another work of his was the boys, known as the Celetizontis.
Caerias made statues of Alexander the Great and of his father Philip. Desilaus made a Dorphoros and a wounded Amazon, a Demetrius, a statue of the Lysimashi, who was priestess of the Minerva. This statuary also made the Minerva, which has the name of Musaia, and so-called because the dragons on its gorgon's head vibrate the sound of the lyre. Also an equestrian statue of Simon, the first writer on the art of equitation. Deir Dulles, who is highly esteemed as a modeler in clay, made two brazen figures of youths using the body scraper. And Deinomenes executed figures of Protesilaus and Pythodemos the rest. The statue of Alexander Paris is the work of Euphranor. It is much admired because we recognise in it, at the same moment, all these characteristics.
We see him as the umpire between the goddesses, the paramour of Helen, and yet the scyre of Achilles. We have a Minerva too, by Euphranor at Rome, known as the Cthulina. And dedicated below the capital by Q. Lutatius. Also a figure of good success, holding in the right hand a patera, and in the left an ear of corn and a poppy. There is also a latona by him in the Temple of Concord, with the newborn infants Apollo and Diana in her arms. He also executed some brazen chariots with four and two horses, and a Clyducus of beautiful proportions as two colossal statues, one representing virtue, The other, Greece, and a figure of a female lost in wonder and adoration, with statues of Alexander and Philip in chariots with four horses.
Eutychides executed an emblematic figure of Eurotas, of which it has been frequently remarked that the work of the artist appears more flowing than the waters even of the river. Hegeas is celebrated for his Minerva and his king Pyrrhus, his youthful Selytizontes, and his statues of Castor and Pollux. Before the temple of Jupiter Tornans. Hegesias for his Hercules, which is at our colony of Parium. Of Isidotus, we have the Buthites. Lycius was the pupil of Myron. He made a figure representing a boy blowing a nearly extinguished fire, well worthy of his master. As also figures of the Argonauts, Leocaries made a bronze representing the eagle carrying off Ganymede. The eagle has all the appearance of being sensible of the importance of his burden.
And for whom he is carrying it, being careful not to injure the youth with his talons, even through the garments. He executed a figure also of Otolysis, who had been victorious in the contests of the Paneratium, and for whom Xenophon wrote his symposium. The figure also of Jupiter Tonans in the capital, the most admired of all his works, and a statue of Apollo crowned with a diadem. He executed also a figure of Lysiasius and of the boy Lagon, full of the archness and low-bred cunning of the slave. Lysias also made a figure of the boy burning perfumes. We have a young bull by Meneicmus, pressed down beneath the man's knee with its neck bent back. This Meneicmus has also written Atreastes on his art.
Now Psydes is admired for a mercury, a discobolus, and a man sacrificing a ram. Naucerus made a figure of a wrestler panting for breath. Nisratus, an Aesculapius, and Hygieia, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. Pyromarchus represented Alcibiades, managing a chariot with four horses. Polycles made a splendid statue of Hermaphroditus. Pyohus, statues of Hygieia and Minerva. And Pharnis, who was a pupil of Lysippus and Epitheusa. Stipax of Cyprus acquired his celebrity by a single work, the statue of the Splankoptes, which represents a slave of the Olympian Pyrocles, roasting entrails and kindling the fire with his breath. Celanion made a statue in metal of Apollodorus, who was himself a modeler, and not only the most diligent of all in the study of this art, but a most severe criticiser of his own works.
Frequently breaking his statues to pieces when he had finished them, and never able to satisfy his intense passion for the art, a circumstance which procured him the name of the Madman. Indeed, it is this expression which he has given to his works which represents in metal embodied anger rather than the lineaments of a human being. The Achilles also of Selanion is very excellent and his epistates exercising the athletes. Strongillion made a figure of an Amazon. Strongilion was the artist, also of a youthful figure, which was so admired by Brutus of Philippi that it received from him its... Theodorus of Samos, who constructed the labyrinth, cast his own statue in brass, which was greatly admired, not only for its resemblance, but for the extreme delicacy of the work.
In the right hand, he holds a file. And with three fingers of the left, a little model of a four-horse chariot, which has since been transferred to Praenesti. It is so extremely minute that the whole piece, both chariot and charioteer, may be covered by the wings of a fly, which he also made with it. Xenocrates was the pupil of Tycrates, or as some say, of Euthycrates. He surpassed them both, however, in the number of his statues, and was the author of some tristes on his art. Several artists have represented the battles fought by Attalus and Eumenes with the Gali. Isogornus, for example, Pyromarchus, Stratonicus, and Antigonus, who also wrote some works in reference to his art. Boethus, although most celebrated for his works in silver, has executed a beautiful figure of a child strangling a goose, the most celebrated of all of the works of which I have here spoken.
The emperor Vespasianus had been dedicated for some time past by the emperor Vespasianus in the Temple of Peace and the other public buildings of his. They had before been forcibly carried off by Nero and brought to Rome and arranged by him in the reception room. In addition to these, there are several other artists of about equal celebrity, but none of whom have produced any first-rate works. Ariston, who was principal employed in Chasing Silver, Calides, Stesias, Cantharus, Cantharus of Cyrean. Theodorus, a pupil of Critias, De Laodice, Euphorion, Euniceus, and Hecateus, all of them chases in silver. Lesbocles, also, Prodorus, Pythoricus, and Polygnotus. Of the most celebrated painters, also two of the other chases in silver, Stratonicus and Simonus, a pupil of Critias.
I shall now enumerate those artists who have executed works of the same class. Apollodorus, for example, Antrobolus, Aselipiodorus, and Eliuus, who have executed statues of philosophers. Apollas has left us some figures of females in the act of adoration. Antignotus, Perixiomenos, and figures of the Tyrannysides, already mentioned. Antimachus and Athenodorus made some statues of females of noble birth. Aristodemos, His Doriphorus, too, possesses his characteristic gracefulness. There were two artists of the name Sophistodotus. The earlier of them made a figure of Mercury nursing Father Leiber, when an infant also of a man haranguing, with the hand elevated, the original of which is now unknown.
The younger Sophistodotus executed statues of philosophers. Callotes, who assisted Phidias in the Olympian Jupiter, also executed statues of philosophers. The same two with Cleon. Senchramis, Callicles, and Cepes. Calchostenes made statues of comedians and athletes. Daipus executed Perioctomenus, Daiphron, Democritus, and Daimon made statues of philosophers. Epigornus, who had attempted nearly all the above-named classes of works, has distinguished himself more particularly by his trumpeter and his child in tears, caressing its murdered mother. The woman in adoration of Eubiles is highly praised, and so is the man by Eubiles. Reckoning on his fingers, Mykon is admired for his athletes, Menognes for his four horse chariots, Nisratus too, who attempted every kind of work that had been executed by any other artist, made statues of Eliabeades and of his mother Demirati, who is represented sacrificing by the light of torches.
Tisicratis executed a two-horse chariot in brass, in which Piston afterwards placed the figure of a female. Piston also made the statues of Mars and Mercury, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. No one can command Perilus, More cruel even than the Tywin Phalaris himself. He made for him a brazen bull, asserting that when a man was enclosed in it and fire applied beneath, the cries of the man would resemble the roaring of a bull. However, with a cruelty in this instance marked by justice, the experiment of this torture was first tried upon himself. To such a degree did this man degrade the art of representing gods and men, an art more adapted than any other to refine the feelings. Sure is so many persons had not toiled to perfect it in order to make it an instrument of torture, hence it is that the works of Perios are only preserved in order that whoever sees them may detest the hands that made them.
Sthenes made the statues of Ceres, Jupiter, and Minerva, which are now in the Temple of Concord. Also figures of matrons weeping, adoring, and offering sacrifice. Simon executed figures of a dog and an archer. Stratonicus, the chaser in silver, made some figures of philosophers. So did both of the artists named Scopas. The following artists have made statues of athletes, armed men, hunters, and sacrifices.
Polycrates, Polyidus, Pythoeritus, Protogenes, a famous painter whom we shall have occasion to mention hereafter, Patroclus, Polis, Posidonius, the Ephesian, who was also a celebrated chaser in silver, Periclimenus, Phylon, Symenus, Timotheus, Theomensstus, Timachydes, Timon, Tisias, and Thrason. But of all these, Callimachus is the most remarkable on account of his surname. Being always dissatisfied with himself and continually correcting his works, he obtained the name of Catatexitechnos, thus affording a memorable example of the necessity of observing moderation even in carefulness. His Laconian female dancers, for instance, is a most correct performance, but one in which, by extreme correctness, he has effaced all gracefulness.
It has been said, too, that Callimachus was a painter also. Cato, in his expedition against Cyprus, sold all the statues he found there, with the exception of one of Zeno, in which case he was influenced neither by the value of the metal nor by its excellence as a work of art, but by the fact that it was a statue of a philosopher. I only mention this circumstance casually, that an example so little followed may be known. While speaking of statues, There is one other that should not be omitted, although its author is unknown, that of Hercules, clothed in a tunic, the only one represented in that costume in Rome. It stands near the rostra, and the countenance is stern and expressive of his last agonies caused by that dress.
There are three inscriptions on it, the first of which states that it had formed part of the spoil obtained by El Luegulus, the general, the second. That his son, while still a minor, dedicated in accordance with the decree of the Senate. The third, that T. Septimus Sabinus, the Eruul Aedile, had it restored to the public from the hands of a private individual. So vast has been the rivalry caused by this statue, and so high the value set upon it.
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19 19 - Book 34, Chapters 20 to 38. Copper. Medicinal properties of metals. 33:18
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 19. Book 34, chapters 20 to 38. Chapter 20. The different kinds of copper and its combinations. Pyropus. Campanian copper. We will now return to the different kinds of copper, and its several combinations. In Cyprian copper, we have the kind known as coronarium, and that called regulari, both of them ductile. The former is made into thin leaves. And after being coloured with ox-gold, is used for what has all the appearance of gilding on the coronets worn upon the stage. The same substance, if mixed with gold, in the proportion of the six scruples of gold to the ounce, and reduced into thin plates, acquires a fiery red colour and is termed pyrupus.
In other mines again, they prepare the kind known as regulari, as also that which is called caldarium. These differ from each other in this respect that In the latter, the metal is only fused and breaks when struck with the hammer, whereas the regulare is malleable, or ductile, as some call it, a property which belongs naturally to all the copper of Cyprus. In case, however, of all the other mines, this difference between bar copper and cast brass is produced by artificial means. All the ores, in fact, will produce bar or malleable copper when sufficiently melted and purified by heat. Among the other kinds of copper, the palm of excellence is awarded to that of Campania, which is the most esteemed for vessels and utensils.
This last is prepared several ways. At Capua, it is melted upon fires made with wood and not coals, after which it is sprinkled with cold water and cleansed through a sieve made of oak. After being thus melted a number of times, Spanish silver lead is added to it. Many parts, however, of Italy and the provinces produce a similar kind of metal. But there they add only eight pounds of lead, and in consequence of the scarcity of the wood, melt it several times over upon coals. It is in Gaul more particularly, where the ore is melted between red-hot stones, that the difference is to be seen that is produced by these variations in the method of smelting. Indeed, this last method scorches the metal and renders it black and friable.
Besides, they only melt it twice, whereas the oftener this operation is repeated, the better in quality it becomes. It is also as well to remark that all copper fuses best when the weather is intensely cold. The proper combination for making statues and tablets is as follows. The ore is first melted, after which there is added to the molten metal one third part of secondhand copper, or, in other words, copper that has been in use and brought up for the purpose. For it is a peculiarity of this metal that when it has been some time in use and has been subject to long-continued friction, it becomes seasoned, and subdued as it were, to a high polish. Twelve pounds and a half of silver lead are then added to every hundred pounds of the fused metal.
There is also a combination of copper of a most delicate nature, mould copper as it is called, there being added to the metal one, tenth part of lead, and one twentieth of silver lead. This combination being the best adapted for taking the colour known as Graeacanicus. The last kind is that known as Olaria, from the vessels that are made of it. In this combination Three or four pounds of silver lead are added to every hundred pounds of copper. By the addition of lead to Cyprian copper, the purple tint is produced that we see upon the drapery of statues. Chapter Twenty-One. The method of preserving copper. Copper becomes covered with verdigris more quickly when cleaned than when neglected, unless it is well rubbed with oil.
It is said that the best method of preserving it is with a coating of tar. Chapter 22. Cadmium. The ores of copper furnish a number of resources that are employed in medicine. Indeed, all kinds of ulcers are healed thereby with great rapidity. Of these, however, the most useful is cadmium. This substance is formed artificially beyond a doubt. In the furnaces also where they smelt silver, but it is whiter and not so heavy, and by no means to be compared with that from copper. There are several kinds of it, for as the mineral itself, from which it is prepared artificially, so necessary in fusing copper ore, and so useful in medicine, has the name of cadmium. So also it is found in the smelting furnaces, where it receives other names.
According to the way in which it was formed, by the action of the flame and the blast, the more attenuated parts of the metal are separated and become attached, in proportion to their lightness, to the arched top and sides of the furnace. These flakes are the thinnest near the exterior opening of the furnace, where the flame finds a vent, the substance being called capnitis. From its burnt appearance and its extreme lightness, it resembles white ashes. The best is that which is found in the interior, hanging from the arches of the chimney, and from its form and position named Botryitis. It is heavier than the first mentioned kind, but lighter than those which follow. It is of two different colours.
The least valuable is ash-coloured, the better kind being red, friable, and extremely useful as a remedy for affections of the eyes. A third kind of cadmium. This species is called Placitis, in reference to its solid appearance, it presenting the plain surface more like a solid crust than pumice and mottled within. It's great uses for the cure of itch scab and for making wounds Iaica trias. Of this last, there are two varieties. The Onychitis, which is almost entirely blue on the exterior, And the ostracitis, which is quite black and more dirty than the others, but particularly useful for healing wounds. All the species of cadmium are of the best quality from the furnaces of Cyprus. When used in medicine, it is heated a second time upon a fire of pure charcoal, and when duly incinerated, is quenched in Arminian wine if required for making plasters, but in vinegar if wanted for the cure of itchscab.
Some persons first pound it, and then burn it in earthen pots. With done, they wash it in mortars and then dry it. Nymphodorus recommends that the most heavy and dense pieces of mineral cadmium that can be procured should be burnt upon hot coals and quenched in Qian wine, after which it must be pounded and then sifted through a linen cloth. It is then pulverized in a mortar and macerated in rainwater. The sediment being again pounded until it is reduced to the consistency of ceruz, and presents no grittiness to the teeth. Aeolus recommends the same process, except that he selects the purest specimens of native cadmium. Chapter 23. 15 Remedies Derived from Cadmium. 10 Medicinal Effects of Calcined Copper.
Cadmium acts as a desiccative, heals wounds, It was a cold morning, and it was a cold morning. Itself, when calcined, is employed for all these purposes, in addition to which it is used for white spots and cicatrizations upon the eyes. Mixed with milk, it is curative also of ulcers upon the eyes. For which purpose, the people in Egypt made a kind of eye salve by grinding it upon whetstones. Taken with honey, it acts as an emetic. For these purposes, cyprian copper is calcined in unbaked earthen pots, with an equal quantity of sulphur, the apertures of the vessel being well-looted, and it being left in the furnace until the vessel itself has become completely hardened. Some persons add salt, and others substitute alum for sulphur.
Others, again, had nothing, but merely sprinkled the copper with vinegar. When calcined, it is pounded in a mortar of thebaic stone, after which it is washed with rainwater, and then pounded with a large quantity of water and left to settle. This process is repeated until the deposit has gained the appearance of minium, after which it is dried in the sun and put by for keeping in a box made of copper. Chapter 24. The Scoria of Copper. The scoria II of copper is washed in the same manner, but the action of it is less efficacious than that of copper itself. The flower II of copper is also used in medicine, a substance which is procured by fusing copper and then removing it into another furnace, where the repeated action of the bellows makes the metal separate into small scales, like the husks of millet, and known as the flower of copper.
These scales are also separated. When the cakes of metal are plunged into water, they become red too, like the scales of copper known as lepis, by means of which the genuine flower of copper is adulterated, it being also sold under that name. This last is made by hammering nails that are forged from the cakes of metal. All these processes are principally carried on in the furnaces of Cyprus. The great difference between these substances being Chapter 25. Stomoma of Copper. 47 Remedies.
There is another finer kind of scale, which is detached from the surface of the metal, like a very fine down, and known as stomoma. But of all these substances, and even of their names, the physicians, if I may venture to say, Are quite ignorant, as appears by the names they give them. So unacquainted are they with the preparation of medicaments, a thing that was formally considered the most essential part of their profession. At the present day, whenever they are They trust entirely to the druggists. who spoil everything by their fraudulent adulterations. For this long time past, they have even purchased their plasters and eye-salves ready-made, and the consequences that the spoiled or adulterated wares in the druggist shops are thus got rid of.
Both lepis and flour of copper are calcined in the shallow earthen or brazen pans, after which they are washed, as described above, and employed for the same purposes. In addition to above, They are used for excrescences in the nostrils and in the anus, and also for dullness of the hearing, being forcibly blown into the ears through a tube. Incorporated with meal, they are applied to swellings of the uvula, and with honey, to swellings of the tonsils. The scales prepared from white copper are much less efficacious than those from Cyprian copper. Sometimes they first macerate the nails and cakes of copper in a boy's urine, and in some instances, They pound the scales when detached and wash them in rainwater.
They are then given to dropsical patients in doses of two drachmae, with one semi-sextarius of honeyed wine. They are also made into a liniment with fine flour. Chapter 26. Verdi Gris. 18 Remedies. Verdi Gris is also applied to many purposes, and is prepared in numerous ways. Sometimes it is detached, already formed, from the mineral from which copper is smelted, and sometimes it is made by piercing holes in white copper and suspending it over strong vinegar in casks, which are closed with covers, it being much superior if scales of copper are used for the purpose. Some persons plunge vessels themselves, made of white copper, into earthen pots filled with vinegar and scrape them at the end of ten days.
Others, again, Cover the vessels with husks of grapes, and scrape them in the same way at the end of ten days. Others sprinkle vinegar upon copper filings, and stir them frequently with a spatula in the course of the day, until they are completely dissolved. Others prefer triterating these filings with vinegar in a brazen mortar. But the most expeditious method of all is to add the vinegar shavings of coronet copper. Rhodian verdigris, more particularly. The adulteration, however, which is the most difficult to detect, is made with copperas, the other sophistications being detected by the crackling of the substance when bitten with the teeth. The best mode of testing it is by using an Ayer Fire shovel.
For when thus subjected to the fire, if pure, the Verdigris retains its colour, but if mixed with copperas, It becomes red. The fraud may also be detected by using the leaf of papyrus, which has been steeped in an infusion of nut galls, for which it becomes black immediately upon the genuine ferrida grease being applied. It may also be detected by the eye, the green colour being unpleasant to the sight. But whether it is pure or adulterated, the best method is first to wash and dry it, and then to burn it in a new earthen vessel. Turning it over until it is reduced to an ash, after which it is pounded and put by for use. Some persons calcine it in raw earthen vessels until the earthenware becomes thoroughly baked.
Others again add it to male frankincense. Verdigris is washed, too, in the same manner as cadmium. It affords a most useful ingredient for eye salves, and from its mordant action is highly beneficial for watery humours of the eyes. It is necessary, however, to wash the part with warm water applied with a fine sponge until its mordency is no longer felt. Chapter 27. Hyarachium. Hyarachium is the name given to an eye salve, which is essentially composed of the following ingredients. Four ounces of salamonia, two of Cyprian verdigris, the same quantity of the kind of copperas which is called shalkanthem. One ounce of mysie, and six of saffron. All these substances being pounded together with thesian vinegar and made up into pills.
It is an excellent remedy for an incipient glaucoma and cataract, as also for films upon the eyes, eruptions, albuugo, and diseases of the eyelids. Verde grease in a crude state is also used as an ingredient in plasters for wounds. In combination with oil, It is wonderfully efficacious for ulcerations of the mouth and gums, and for sore lips. Used in the form of a serrate, it acts detergently upon ulcers, and promotes their cicatrization. Verdigris also consumes the callocytes of fistulas and excrescences about the anus, either used by itself, applied with a salammoniac, or inserted in the fistula in the form of a salve. The same substance Needed with one third part of resin turpentine removes leprosy.
Chapter 28. Skolvax of Copper. 18 Remedies. There is another kind of Verdigrisse also, which is called scolax. It is prepared by traiting in a mortar of Cypric and Koffer, alum and salt, or an equal quantity of nitra, with the very strongest white vinegar. This preparation is only made during the hottest days of the year, about the rising of the dog star. The hole is triterated until it becomes green and assumes the appearance of small worms, to which it owes its name. This repulsive form is corrected by mixing the urine of a young child with twice the quantity of vinegar. Scolex is used for the same medicinal purposes as Santerna, which we have described as being used for soldering gold. And they have both of them the same properties as verdigris.
Native scolex is also procured by scraping the copper ore of which we are about to speak. Chapter 29. Calcitis. Seven remedies. Calcitis is the name of a mineral from which, as well as cadmium, copper is extracted by heat. It differs from cadmium in this respect, that this last is procured from beds below the surface. While calcitis is detached from rocks that are exposed to the air. Calcitis also becomes immediately friable, being naturally so soft as to have the appearance of a compressed mass of down. There is also this other distinction between them, that calcitis is a composition of three other substances, copper, mysi, and suri, of which last we shall speak in their appropriate places. The veins of copper which it contains are oblong.
The most approved kind is the colour of honey. It is streaked with fine, sinuous veins, and is friable and not stony. It is generally thought to be most valuable when fresh, as when old, it becomes converted into sory. It is highly useful for removing fleshy excrescensis indulces, for arresting haemorrhage, and in the form of a powder, for acting as stringently upon the gums, the uvula, and the tonsillary glands. It is applied in wool. As a pessary, for affections of the uterus, and with leek juice it is formed into plasters for diseases of the genitals. This substance is macerated for 40 days in vinegar, in an earthen vessel looted with dung, after which it acquires a saffron colour. When this composition is mixed with an equal proportion of cadmium, it forms the medicament known as surrogon.
If two parts of calcitis are combined with one of cadmium, the medicament becomes more active. And it is rendered still more powerful if vinegar is used instead of wine. For all these purposes, calcined calcitis is the most efficacious. Chapter 30. Sorry. Three remedies. The Sori of Egypt is the most esteemed, being considered much superior to that of Cyprus, Spain, and Africa, although some prefer the Sori from Cyprus for affections of the eyes. But from whatever place it comes, the best is that which has the strongest odour, and which, when triterated, becomes greasy, black, and spongy. It is a substance so unpleasant to the stomach that some persons are made sick merely by the smell. This is the case more particularly with the story from Egypt, that from other countries by triteration, acquires the lowest of mysie, and used as a collatory.
It is good for toothache. It is also useful Chapter 31. Myse.
Some persons have stated that myse is formed by the calcination of the mineral in trenches. Its fine yellow powder become mixed with the ashes of the burnt firewood. The fact is, however, that though obtained from the mineral, It is already formed and in compact masses which require force to detach them. The best is that which comes from the manufactories of cypress. Its characteristics being that when broken, it sparkles like gold. And when triterated, it presents a sandy or earthy appearance, like galsitis. Myse is used in the process of refining gold. Mixed with oil with roses, it is used as an injection for separations of the ears. And in combination with wool, It is applied to the ulcers of the head.
It also removes in veterate granulations of the eyelids, and is particularly useful for affectations of the tonsils, quincy, and suppurations. For these maladies, 16 drachmae should be mixed with one semisextarius of vinegar and boiled with the addition of some honey until it becomes of a viscous consistency, in which state it is applicable to the different purposes above mentioned. When its action is wanted to be modified, a sprinkling of honey is added. A fermentation of mysie and vinegar removes the callocytes of fistulous ulcers. It also enters into the composition of eye salves. It arrests haemorrhage, prevents the spreading of serpignous and putrid ulcers, and consumes fleshy excrescensis.
It is particularly useful for diseases of the male generative organs and acts as a cheek upon menstruation. Chapter 32 Chalxanthum, or Shoemaker's Black. 16 Remedies. The Greeks, by the name, which they have given to it, have indicated the relation between Shoemaker's Black and copper, for they call it chalxanthum. Indeed, there is no substance so singular in its nature. It is prepared in Spain from the water of wells or pits which contain it in dissolution. This water is boiled with an equal quantity of pure water, and is then poured into large wooden reservoirs. Across these reservoirs there are a number of immovable beams to which cords are fastened, and then sunk into the water beneath by means of stones, upon which a slimy sediment attaches itself to the cords, in drops of a vitreous appearance, somewhat resembling a bunch of grapes.
Upon being removed, it is dried for 30 days. It is of an azure colour, and of a brilliant lustre, and is often taken for glass. When dissolved, It forms the black dye that is used for colouring leather. Chalsanthemum is also prepared in various other ways. The earth which contains it being sometimes excavated into trenches, from the sides of which globules exude, which become concrete when exposed to the action of the winter frosts. This kind is called stalagmia, and there is none more pure. When its colour is nearly white, with a slight tinge of violet, it is called lancortum. It is also prepared in pans hollowed out in the rocks, the rainwater carrying the slime into them, where it settles and becomes hardened.
It is also formed in the same way in which we prepare salt, the intense heat of the sun separating the fresh water from it. Hence, it is that some distinguish the two kinds of calsanthemum, the fossil and the artificial, the latter being paler than the former and much inferior to it in quality as it is in colour. The calcitis which comes from Cyprus is the most highly esteemed for the purposes of medicine, being taken in doses of one drachma with honey, as an expellent of intestinal worms. Diluted and injected into the nostrils, it acts detergently upon the brain, and taken with honey, or with hydromel, it acts as a purgative upon the stomach. It removes granulations upon the eyelids, and is good for pains and films upon the eyes.
It is curative also of ulcerations of the mouth. It arrests bleeding of the nostrils and haemorrhoidal discharges. In combination with seed of higher scymas, it brings away splinters of broken bones. Applied to the forehead with a sponge, it acts as a check upon defluxations of the eyes. Made up into plasters, it is very efficacious as a detergent for sores and flesh excrescences and ulcers. The decoction of it By the context solely, is curative of swellings of the uvula. It is laid with linseed upon plasters, which are used for relieving pains. The whitish kind is preferred to the violent in one instance only, for the purpose of being blown into the ears through a tube to relieve deafness. Applied topically by itself, it heals wounds, but it leaves a discoloration upon the scars.
It has been lately discovered. That if sprinkled upon the mouths of bears and lions in the arena, its astringent action is so powerful as to deprive the animals of the power of biting.
Chapter 33. Pomphylix. The substances called pomphylix and spodos are also found in the furnaces of copper smelting works. The difference between them being that pomphylix is disengaged by washing while spodos is not washed. Some persons have called the part which is white and very light, pomphillix, and say that it is the ashes of copper and cadmium, whereas spodos is darker and heavier, being a substance scraped from the walls of the furnace, mixed with extinguished sparks from the metal, and sometimes with the residue of coals. When vinegar is combined with it, pomphillix emits a coppery smell, and, if it is touched with the tongue, the taste is most abominable. It is useful as an ingredient in ophthalmic preparations for all diseases of the eyes, as also for all the purposes of which Spodos is used.
This last only differing from it in its action being less powerful. It is also used for plasters, when required to be gently cooling and desiccative. For all these purposes, it is more efficacious when it has been moistened with wine. Chapter 34. Spolders. Five remedies. The Cyprian spodos is the best. It is formed by using... It is formed by fusing cadmium with copper ore. This substance, which is the lightest part of the metal disengaged by fusion, escapes from the furnace and adears to the roof, being distinguished from the soot by the whiteness of its colour. Such parts of it are as less white, are indicative of incomplete combustion, and this is what some persons call pomphillix. Some portions of it...
As are of a more reddish colour, are possessed of a more energetic power, and are found to be so corrosive that if it touches the eyes while being washed, it will cause blindness. There is also a spodose of a honeycolour, an indication that it contains a large proportion of copper. All the different kinds, however, are improved by washing, it being first skimmed with a feather, and afterwards submitted to a more substantial washing. The harder grains being removed with the finger. That too which has been washed with wine is more modified in its effects, there being also some difference according to the kind of wine that is used. When it has been washed with weak wine, the spodose is considered not so beneficial as an ingredient in medicaments for the eyes, but the same kind of preparation is more efficacious for running sores.
There is also a kind of spodos, called lauriotis, which is made in the furnaces where silver is smelted. The kind, however, that is best for the eyes, it is said, is that produced in the furnaces for smelting gold. Indeed, there is no department of art in which the ingenuity of man is more to be admired, for it has discovered Chapter 35. Fifteen varieties of Antispodos. The substance called Antispodos is produced from the ashes of the fig tree, or wild fig, or of leaves of myrtle, together with the more tender shoots of the branches. The leaves, too, of the wild olive, furnish it, the cultivated olive, the quince tree, And the lentisc, unripe mulberries also, before they have changed their colour.
Dried in the sun, and the foliage of the box, Pseudo-cyperus, Bramble, Terabinth, and Oenanthi. The same... Chapter 36. Smegma. In the copper forges also smegma is prepared. When the metal is liquefied and thoroughly smelted, charcoal is added to it and gradually kindled, after which, upon it being suddenly acted upon by a powerful pair of bells, a substance is disengaged like a sort of copper chaff. The floor on which it is received ought to be prepared with a stratum of coal dust. Chapter 37. Difrix. There is another product of these furnaces which is easily distinguished from smegma, and which the Greeks call Difrix, from its twice being calcine. This substance is prepared from three different sources.
It is prepared, they say, from a mineral pyrites, which is heated in the furnace until it is converted by calcination into a red earth. It is also made in Cyprus. From a slimy substance extracted from a certain cavern there, which is first dried and then gradually heated by a fire made of twigs. A third way of making it is from the residue in the copper furnaces that falls to the bottom. The difference between the component parts of the ore is this. The copper itself runs into the receivers. The scoriae make their escape from the furnace. The flour becomes sublimated. And the difrix remains behind. Some say that there are certain globules in the ore, while being smelted, which become soldered together, and that the rest of the metal is fused around it, the mass itself not becoming liquefied unless it is transferred to another furnace, and forming a sort of knot, as it were, in the metal.
That which remains after the fusion, they say, is called difrex. Its use in medicine is similar to that of the substances mentioned above. It is desiccative, removes morbid excrescensis, And acts as a detergent. It is tested by placing it on the tongue, which ought to be instantly parched by it, a coppery flavour being perceptible. Chapter 38. Particulars relative to the Servilian Trians. We must not neglect to mention one other very remarkable fact relative to copper. The Servilian family, so illustrious in our annals, nourishes with gold and silver a copper trians. The origin and nature of this coin is to me incomprehensible, but I will quote the very words of the story as given by old Masala himself.
The trians itself, they say, appear sometimes to increase in size and sometimes to diminish. Changes which indicate the coming advancement or decadence of the family.
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20 20 - Book 34, Chapters 39 to 46. Iron. Ores. Live iron. Methods of preventing rust. 13:15
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 20. Book 34, Chapters 39 to 46. Chapter 39. Iron Ores.
Next to copper, we must give an account of the metal known as iron, at the same time the most useful and the most fatal instrument in the hand of mankind. For by the aid of iron we lay open the ground, we plant trees, we prepare our vineyard trees, and we force our vines each year to resume their youthful state by cutting away their decayed branches. It is by the aid of iron that we construct houses, cleave rocks, and perform so many other useful offices of life. But it is with iron also that wars, murders, and robberies are effected. And this, not only hand to hand, but from a distance even, by the aid of missiles and winged weapons, now launched from engines, now hurled by the human arm. And now furnished with feathery wings.
This last I regard as the most criminal artifice that has been devised by the human mind. For, as if to bring death upon man, with still greater rapidity, we have given wings to iron, and taught it to fly. Let us therefore acquit nature of a charge that here belongs to man himself. Indeed, there have been some instances in which it has been proved that iron might be solely used for innocent purposes. In the treaty which Pocena granted to the Roman people after the expulsion of the kings, we find it expressly stipulated that iron shall only be employed for cultivation of the fields, and our oldest authors inform us that in those days it was considered unsafe to write with an iron pen. There is an edict, extant, published in the Third Consulship of Pompeius Magnus during the tumults that ensued upon the death of Cordius Prohibiting any weapon from being retained in the city.
Chapter 40 Statues of Iron. Chaste works in iron. Still, however, human industry has not failed to employ iron for perpetuating the honors of more civilized life. The artist, Aristonidas, wished to express the fury of Athamas subsiding into repentance after he had thrown his son, Lyarchus, from the rock, blending copper and iron. In order that the blush of shame might be more exactly expressed, by the rust of the iron, making its appearance through the shining substance of the copper, a statue which still exists at Rhodes. There is also in the same city a Hercules of iron, executed by Aelion, the endurance displayed in his labours by the god, having suggested the idea. We see, too, at Rome...
Cups of iron consecrated in the Temple of Mars the Avenger. Nature, in conformity with her usual benevolence, has limited the power of iron by inflicting upon it the punishment of rust, and has thus displayed her usual foresight in rendering nothing in existence more perishable than the substance which brings the greatest dangers upon perishable mortality. Chapter 41. The different kinds of iron and the mode of tempering it. Iron ores are to be found almost everywhere, for they exist even in the Italian island of Ilva. Being easily distinguished by the ferroganous colour of the earth, the method of working the ore is the same as that employed in the case of copper. In Cappadocia, however, it is peculiarly questionable whether this metal is a present due to the water or to the earth, because when the latter has been saturated with the water of a certain river, it yields, and then only, An iron that may be obtained by smelting.
There are numerous varieties of iron ore, the chief causes of which arise from differences in the soil and in the climate. Some earths produce a metal that is soft and nearly akin to lead. Others an iron that is brittle and coppery, the use of which must be particularly avoided in making wheels or nails, the former kind being better for these purposes. There is another kind, again, which is only a steam gun cut into short lengths and is used for making hobnails, and another which is more particularly liable to rust. All these varieties are known by the name of strictura, an appellation which is not used with reference to the other metals and is derived from the steel that is used for giving an edge.
There is a great difference too in the smelting. Some kinds producing nerves of metal, which are especially adapted for hardening into steel, or else prepared in another manner, for making thick anvils or heads of hammers. But the main difference results from the quality of the water in which the red-hot metal is plunged from time to time. The water, which is in some places better for this purpose than in others, has quite ennobled some localities for the excellence of their iron. Bilbilis, for example, and Choriaso in Spain, and Comum in Italy, and this, although there are no mines in these spots. But of all the different kinds of iron, Palm of Excellence is awarded to that which is made by the Ceres, who send it to us with their tissues and skins, next to which in quality is the Parthian iron.
Indeed, none of the other kinds of iron are made of the pure hard metal, a softer alloy being welded with them all. In our part of the world, a vein of ore is occasionally found to yield a metal of this high quality, as in Noricum, for instance, but in other cases... It derives its value from the mode of working it, as ad sunmo, for example, a result owing to the nature of its water, as already stated. It is to be observed also that in giving an edge to the iron, there is a great difference between oil wet stones and water wet stones, the use of oil producing a much finer edge. It is a remarkable fact that when the ore is fused, the metal becomes liquefied like water. And afterwards acquires a spongy, brittle texture.
It is the practice to quench smaller articles of iron with oil, lest by being hardened in water they should be rendered brittle. Human blood revenges itself upon iron, for if the metal has been once touched by this blood, it is more apt to become rusty.
Chapter 42. The metal called live iron. We shall speak of the lodestone in its proper place, and of the sympathy which it has with iron. This is the only metal that acquires the properties of that stone, retaining them for a length of time and attracting other iron, so that we may see sometimes a whole chain formed of these rings. The lower classes, in their ignorance, call this live iron, and the wounds that are made by it are much more severe. This mineral is also found in Cantabria. Not in continuous strata, like the genuine lodestone, but in scattered fragments, which they call the bollationes. I do not know whether this species of ore is proper also for the fusion of glass, as no one has hitherto tried it, but it certainly is The architect Timosharis began to erect a vaulted roof of lodestone in the temple of Arseneu at Alexandria in order that the iron statue of that princess His death, however, and that of King Ptolemyus, who had ordered this monument to be erected in honour of his sister, prevented the completion of the project.
Chapter 43, Methods of Preventing Rust. Of all metals, the ores of iron are found in the greatest abundance. In the maritime parts of Canterbury, which are washed by the ocean, there is a steep and lofty mountain, Which, however incredible it may appear, is entirely composed of this metal, as already stated in our description of the parts bordering upon the ocean. Iron which has been acted upon by fire is spoiled unless it is forged with the hammer. It is not in a fit state for being hammered when it is red hot, nor, indeed, until it has begun to assume a white heat. By sprinkling vinegar or alum upon it, it acquires the appearance of copper. It is protected from rust by an application of cerus, gypsum, and tar, a property of iron known by the Greeks as Antipathia.
Some pretend, too, that this may be ensured by the performance of certain religious ceremonies, and that there is in existence at the city of Zeugma, upon the Euphrates, an iron chain by means of which Alexander the Great constructed a bridge across the river, the links of which that have been replaced. Chapter 44. Seven remedies derived from iron. Iron is employed in medicine for other purposes besides that of making incisions. For if a circle is traced with iron, or a pointed weapon is carried three times round them, it will preserve both infant and adult from all noxious influences. If nails, too, that have been extracted from a toon are driven into the threshold of a door, they will prevent nightmare.
A slight puncture with the point of a weapon, with which a man has been wounded, will relieve sudden pains, attended with stitches in the sides or chest. Some affections are cured by cauterization with red-hot iron, the bite of the mad dog more particularly. For even if the malady has been fully developed and hydrophobia has made its appearance, The patient is instantly relieved on the wound being cauterized. Water in which iron has been plunged at a white heat is useful as a potion in many diseases, dysentery more particularly.
Chapter 45. 14 Remedies Derived from Rust Rust itself, too, is classed among the remedial substances. For it was by means of that that Achilles cured Telethys. It is said... Whether it was an iron weapon or a brazen one that he used for the purpose. So it is, however, that he represented in paintings detaching the rust with his sword. The rust of iron is usually obtained for these purposes by scraping old nails with a piece of moistened iron. It has the effect of uniting wounds, and is possessed of a certain desiccative and astringent properties. Applied in the form of a liniment, it is curative of alipasy. Mixed with wax and myrtle oil, It is applied to granulations of the eyelids and pustules in all parts of the body.
With vinegar, it is used for the cure of chrysipelas, and, applied with lint, it is curative of itch, which slows on the fingers, and hangnails. Used as a pessary with wool, it arrests female discharges. Diluted in wine and kneaded with myrrh, it is applied to recent wounds and, with vinegar, to condylematis swellings. Employed in the form of a liniment, it alleviates gout. Chapter 46. Seventeen remedies derived from the scales of iron. Hygrimplastrum. The scales of iron, which are procured from a fine point or a sharp edge, are also made use of, being very similar in effect to rust but more active, for which reason they are employed for defluxions of the eyes. They arrest bleeding also, more particularly from wounds inflicted with iron.
And they act as a check upon female discharges. They are applied to for diseases of the spleen, and they arrest haemorrhoidal swellings and serpiginous ulcers. They are also useful for affections of the eyelids, gradually applied in the form of a white powder. But their chief recommendation is their great utility in the form of a hygrine plastrum, or wet plaster, for cleansing wounds and fistulous sores, consuming all kinds of callocytes. and making new flesh on bones that are denuded. The following are the ingredients. To these is added some serrate, when it is wanted to cleanse or fill up wounds. End of section 20. Recording. By Jack Ball.
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21 21 - Book 34, Chapters 47 to 56. Lead. Molybdaena. Psimithium. Sandarach. Arrhenicum. Summary, Roman authors quoted. Foreign authors quoted. 18:27
Translated by John Bostock.
Chapter 47. The oars of lead. The nature of lead next comes to be considered. There are two kinds of it, the black and the white. The white is the most valuable. It was called by the Greeks, kassiteros. And there is a fabulous story told of their going in quest of it to the islands of the Atlantic, and of it being brought in barks made of osiers covered with hides. It is now known that it is a production of Lusitania and Galicia. It is a sand found on the surface of the earth and of a black colour, and is only to be detected by its weight. It is mingled with small pebbles, particularly in the dried beds of rivers. The miners wash this sand, It is also found in the gold mines that are known as alluthiei, the stream of water which is passed through them, detaching certain black pebbles, mottled with small white spots, and of the same way...
Black lead is not procured in Galicia. Although it is so greatly abundant in the neighbouring province of Canterbury, nor is silver procured from white lead. Although it is from black, pieces of black lead cannot be soldered without the intervention of white lead, nor can this be done without employing oil. Nor can white lead, on the other hand, be united without the aid of black lead. White lead was held in estimation in the days even of the Trojan War, a fact that is attested by Homer There are two different sources of black lead. It being procured either from its own native ore, where it is produced without the intermixture of any other substance, or else from an ore which contains it in common with silver, the two metals being fused together.
The metal which first becomes liquid in the furnace is called stanum. The next that melts is silver, and the metal that remains behind is galena, the third constituent part of the metal. On this last, being again submitted to fusion black lead is produced, with a deduction of two ninths. Chapter 48. Stanum. Argentarium. When copper vessels are coated with stanum, they produce a less disagreeable flavour, and the formation of verdigris is prevented. It is also remarkable that the weight of the vessel is not increased. As already mentioned, the finest mirrors were formally prepared from it at Brundisium. Until everybody, our maidservants even, began to use silver ones. At the present day, a counterfeit stannum is made by adding one third of white copper to two thirds of white lead.
It is also counterfeited in another way, by mixing together equal parts of white lead and black lead, this last being what is called Argentarium. There is also a composition called Tertiarium, a mixture of two parts of black lead and one of white. Its price being 20 denarii per pound. And it is used for soldering pipes. Persons still more dishonest mix together equal parts of tetetarium and white lead, and calling the composition argentarium. Cult articles with it melted. This last sells at 60 denarii per 10 pounds, and the price of the pure unmixed white lead being 80 denarii, and of the black, 7. White lead is naturally more dry, while the black, on the contrary, is always moist. Consequently, the white, without being mixed together with another metal, is of no use for anything.
Silver, too, cannot be soldered with it, because the silver becomes fused before the white lead. It is confidently stated also that if too small a proportion of black lead is mixed with the white, this last will corrode the silver. It was in the Gallic provinces that the method was discovered of coating articles of copper with white lead, so as to be scarcely distinguishable from silver. Articles thus plated are known as Incoetilia. At a later period, the people of the town of Alesia began to use a similar process for plating articles with silver, more particularly ornaments for horses, beasts of burden, and yokes of oxen. The merit, however, of this invention belongs to the Piterijas. After this, they began to ornament their Eseira, Colisata, and Peturita in a similar manner.
And luxury has at last arrived at such a pitch And this in obedience to what they call fashion. White lead is tested by pouring it, melted, upon paper, which ought to have the appearance of being torn, rather by the weight than by the heat of the metal. India has neither copper nor lead, but she procures them in exchange for her precious stones and pearls.
Chapter 49. Black Lead. Black lead is used in the form of pipes and sheets. It is extracted with great labour in Spain and throughout all the Gallic provinces. But in Britannia, it is found in the upper stratum of the earth in such an abundance that a law has been simultaneously made, prohibiting anyone from working more than a certain quantity of it. The various kinds of black lead are known by the following names. The Overtanian, The Capra-Riengian and the Olias-Trenzian. There is no difference whatever in them when the scoria has been carefully removed by calcination. It is a marvelous fact that these mines and these only, when they have been abandoned for some time, become replenished and are far more prolific than before.
This would appear to be affected by the air, infusing itself at liberty through the open orifices, just as some women become more prolific after abortion. This was lately found to be the case With the Santorizian mine in Bayetica, which, after being farmed at an annual rental of 200,000 denarii and then abandoned, is now rented at 250,000 per annum. In the same manner, the Antonian mine in the same province has had the rent raised to 400,000 sesterces per annum. It is a remarkable fact that if we pour water into a vessel of lead, it will not melt, but that if we throw into the water a pebble, or a copper quadrant, the vessel will be penetrated by the fire. Chapter 50. 15 Remedies Derived from Lead Lead is used in medicine, without any addition, for the removal of scars.
If it is applied to, in plates, to the region of the lines and kidney, in consequence of its cold nature, it will restrain the venereal passions, and put an end to libidinous dreams at night. The Emperor Nero, for so the gods willed it, could never sing to the full pitch of his voice unless he had a plate of lead upon his chest, thus showing us one method of preserving the voice. For medicinal purposes, The lead is melted in earthen vessels. A layer of finely powdered sulfur being placed beneath. Very thin plates of lead are laid upon it, and are then covered with a mixture of sulfur and iron. While it is being melted, all the apertures in the vessel should be closed. Otherwise, a noxious vapor is discharged from the furnace, of a deadly nature, to dogs in particular.
Indeed, the vapors from all metals destroy flies and gnats. And hence it is that in mines there are none of these annoyances. Some persons, during the process, mix lead filings with the sulfur, while others substitute serous for sulfur. By washing, a preparation is made from lead that is much employed in medicine. For this purpose, a leaden mortar, containing rainwater, is beaten with a pestle of lead until the water has assumed a thick consistency, which done The water that floats on the surface is removed with a sponge, and the thicker part of the sediment is left to dry, and is then divided into tablets. Some persons triterate lead filings in this way, and some makes it with lead ore, or else vinegar, wine, grease, or rose leaves.
Others, again, prefer triterating the lead in a stone mortar, one of thebaic stone more particularly, with a pestle of lead, by which process a whiter preparation is obtained. As to calcined lead, it is washed, like stibia and cadmium. Its action is astringent and repressive, and it is promotive of secotrization. The same substance is also employed in preparations for the eyes, cases of procedence, of those organs more particularly, also for filling up the cavities left by ulcers, and for removing the excrescences and fissures of the anus, as well as haemorrhoidal and condylematis tumors. For all these purposes, the lotion of lead is particularly useful, but for serpignus or sordid ulcers, it is the ashes of calcined lead that are used, these producing the same advantageous effects as ashes of burned papyrus.
The lead is calcined in thin plates, laid with sulfur in shallow vessels, the mixture being stirred with iron rods or stalks of phenyl giant, until the melted metal becomes calcined. When cold, it is pulverized. Some persons calcine lead filings in a vessel of raw earth, which they leave in the furnace until the earthenware is completely baked. Others, again, mix it with an equal quantity of ceruz or of barley, and try to rate it in the way mentioned for raw lead. Indeed, the lead which has been prepared this way is preferred to the spodium of Cyprus. Chapter 51. Fifteen remedies derived from the scoria of lead.
The scoria of lead is also made use of, the best kind being that which approaches nearest to a yellow colour, without any vestiges of lead, or which has the appearance of sulphur without any terraced particles. It is broken into small pieces and washed in a mortar until the mortar assumes a yellow colour, after which it is poured off into a clean vessel, the process being repeated until it deposits a sediment, which is a substance of the greatest utility. It possesses the same properties as lead, But of a more active nature. How truly wonderful is the knowledge when we gain by experiment. When even the very dregs and foul residues of substances have in so many ways been tested by mankind. Chapter 52.
Spodium of lead. A spodium of lead is also prepared in the same manner as that extracted from cyprian copper. It is washed with rainwater in linen of a loose texture.
Chapter 53. Molybidaina. 15 Remedies.
Molybidaina, which in another place I have called Galena, is a mineral compounded of silver and lead. It is considered better in quality, The nearer it approaches to a golden colour, and the less lead it contains. It is also friable and of moderate weight. When it is melted with oil, it acquires the colour of liver. It is found adhering also to the furnaces in which gold and gold are The most esteemed kind is that prepared at Zephyrium. Those kinds, too, are considered the best that are the least earthy and the least stony. It is used in preparing liparai. as also for soothing or cooling ulcers, and as an ingredient in plasters, which are applied without ligatures, but are used only as a liniment for producing cica-trisation on the bodies of delicate persons and the more tender parts.
The composition is made of three pounds of molybidaina, one pound of wax, and three heminiae of oil, to which are added leaves of olives in the case of aged persons. Combined with the scum of silver and the scoria of lead, It is employed warm in fermentations for dysentery and tenesmas. Chapter 54. Simithium, or cerus, six remedies. Simithium, which is also known as cerus, is another production of the lead works. The most esteemed comes from Rhodes. It is made from very fine shavings of lead, placed over a vessel filled with the strongest vinegar, by which means the shavings become dissolved. That which falls into the vinegar is first dried, and then pounded and sifted, after which it is again mixed with vinegar, and is then divided into tablets and dried in the sun during summer.
It is also made in another way. The lead is thrown into jars filled with vinegar, which are kept closed for ten days. The sort of mould that forms upon the surface is then scraped off, and the lead is again put into the vinegar until the whole of the metal is consumed. The part that has been scraped off is triterated and sifted, and then melted in shallow vessels, being stirred with ladles until the substance becomes red, and assumes the appearance of sand rack. It is then washed with fresh water until all the cloudy impurities have disappeared, after which it is dried as before and divided into tablets. Its properties are the same as those of the substances above mentioned. It is, however, the mildest of all the preparations of lead.
In addition to which, it is also used by females to whiten the complexion. It is, however, like scum of silver, a deadly poison. Melted a second time, Seruz becomes red. Chapter 55. Sandarak. 11 Remedies. We have already mentioned nearly all the properties of Sandarak. It is found both in gold mines and in silver mines. The redder it is, the more pure and friable, and the more powerful its odor, the better it is in quality. It is detergent, astringent, heating, and corrosive, but is most remarkable for its septic properties. Applied topically with vinegar, it is curative of alopecia. It is also employed as an ingredient in ophthalmic preparations. Used with honey, it cleanses the forces and makes the voice more clear and harmonious.
Taken with the food, in combination with turpentine, it is a pleasant cure for cough and asthma. In the form of fumigation also with cedar, it has a remedial effect upon those complaints. Chapter 56. Arhenicum. Arhenicum, too, is procured from the same sources. The best in quality is of the colour of the finest gold, that which is of a paler hue, or resembling sandarach, being less esteemed. There is a third kind also, the colour of which is a mixture of that of gold and of sandorak. The last two kinds are both of them scaly, but the other is dry and pure, and divided into delicate long veins. This substance has the same virtues as the one last mentioned, but it is more active in its effects.
Hence, it is that it enters into the composition of cauteries and depilatory preparations. It is also used... For the removal of hangnails, polypy of the nostrils, condylematis tumors, and other kinds of excrescensis. For the purpose of increasing its energies, it is heated in a new earthen vessel until it changes its color.
Summary. Remedies, 158. Facts, narratives, and observations, 915. Roman authors quoted. El Piso, Antaeus, Various, Mvaro.
Foreign authors quoted.
Menaeichmus, who wrote on the Tereutic art. Xenocrates, who did the same. Antigonus, who did the same. Juris, who did the same. Heliodorus, who wrote on the votive offerings of the Athenians. Pasitelles, who wrote on the wonderful works. Timaeus, who wrote on the medicines derived from metals. Nymphodorus. Aeolus. Apollodorus. The son of Zeno. Theumenestus.
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22 22 - Book 35, Chapters 1 to 10. Painting, portraits, monochrome paintings, earliest paintings, Roman paintings, foreign paintings 21:12
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Leon Harvey.
Book thirty-five. An account of paintings and colours. Chapter One. The owner attached the painters.
I have now given a considerable length an account of the nature of metals which constitute our wealth, and of the substances that are derived from them, so connecting my various subjects as at the same time to describe an immense number of medicinal compositions which they furnish, the mysteries thrown upon them by the druggists, and the tedious manute of the arts of chasing and statuary, and of dyeing. It remains for me to describe the various kinds of earths and stones, a still more extensive series of subjects, each of which has been treated of by the Greeks, or particularly in a great number of volumes. For my own part, I propose to employ a due degree of brevity, at the same time meaning nothing that is necessary or that is a product of nature.
I shall begin, then, with what still remains to be said with reference to painting, an art which was formerly illustrious. When it was held in esteem both by kings and peoples, and ennobling those whom it deigned to transmit a posterity. But at the present day, it is completely banished in favour of marble, and even gold. For not only are whole walls now covered with marble, but the marble itself is carved out, or else, mark with it, so as to represent objects and animals of various kinds. No longer now are we satisfied with formal comparisons of marble, or with slabs extended like so many mountains in our chambers. But we must begin to paint the very stone itself. This art was invented in the reign of Claudius.
But it was in the time of Miro that we discovered the method of inserting in marble spots that do not belong to it, and so varying its uniformity, and this for the purpose of representing the marble of Numidia, variegated with ovals, and that of Ceneda, veined with purple, just in fact as luxury might have willed that nature should produce them.
Such are our resources when the quarries fail us, and Lattery ceases not to busy itself in order that as much as possible may be lost whenever a conflagration happens.
Chapter Two. The Honor Attached to Portraits.
Correct portraits of individuals were formerly transmitted to future ages by painting, but this has now completely fallen into destitute. Brazen shields are now set up. And silver faces with only some obscure traces of countenance. The very heads too of statues are changed. A thing that has given rise before, now, to many a current sarcastic line. So true it is that people prefer showing off the valuable material to having a faithful likeness. And yet, at the same time, we tapestry the walls of our galleries with old pictures, and we prize the portraits of strangers, whilst to those made in honour of ourselves, we esteem them only for the value of the material. For some air to break up and melt, and so forrestore the noose and slipknot of the thief.
Thus it is that we possess the portraits of no living individuals, and leave behind us the pictures of our wealth, not of our persons.
And yet the very same persons adorn the palestra and the anointing room with portraits of athletes, and both hang up in their chamber and carry about them a likeness of Imbicurus. On the 20th day of each moon, they celebrate his birthday by a sacrifice and keep his festival, known as the Urcus, every month, and these two people who wish to live without being known. So it is, most assuredly, our indolence has lost sight of the arts, and since our minds are destitute of any characteristic features, those of our bodies are neglected also. But on the contrary, in the days of our ancestors, it was these that were to be seen in their halls. Do not statues made by foreign artists, or work in bronze or marble.
Portraits modelled in wax were arranged, each in its separate niche, to be always in readiness to accompany the funeral processions of the family, occasions on which every member of the family that had ever existed was always present.
The pedigree too of the individual was traced in lines upon each of these coloured portraits. Their monument rooms too were filled with archives and memoirs. stating what each had done when holding the magistracy. On the outside again of their houses, and around the threshold of their doors were placed other statues of those mighty spirits. In the spoils of the enemy there affixed memorials, which a purchaser even was not allowed to displace, so that the very house continued to triumph, even if not it had changed its master. A powerful stimulus to emulation this, when the walls each day reproached. There is still a sense and address by the orator Massala, full of determination, in which he forbids that there should be inserted among the emitters of his family any of those of the stranger race of the Laivini.
It was the same feeling, too, that extorted from old Massala these compilations of his on the families of Rome, when upon passing through the hall of Scipio Pomponianus. He observed that in consequence of a testamentary adoption, the Salvitos, for that being their surname to the disgrace of the Afrikani, had surreptitiously contrived to assume the name of the Scipios. But the Mesalas must pardon me via remark that to lay a claim, though an untruthful one, to the statues of illustrious men, shows some love for their virtues, and is much more honorable than to have such a character as to merit that no one should wish to claim them.
There is a new invention, too, which we must not omit to notice. Not only do we consecrate in our libraries, in gold or silver, or at all events, in bronze, those who are mortal spirits or converse with us in those places, but we even go so far as to reproduce the ideal of features, or remembrance of which had ceased to exist, and our regrets give existence to likenesses that have not been transmitted to us, as in the case of Homer, for example. This practice of grouping portraits was first introduced at Rome by Arsinius Pollio, who was also the first to establish a public library, and so made the works of genius the property of the public. With the kings of Alexandria and of Pergamos, who had so energetically rivaled each other in forming libraries, had previously introduced this practice, I could not so easily say.
That a strong passion for portraits formerly existed is attested both by Atticus, the friend of Cicero, who read a work on this subject, and by M. Farrell, who conceived the very liberal idea of inserting, by some means, or other, in his numerous volumes, the portraits of seven hundred individuals, as he could not bear the idea that all traces of their features should be lost. Thus, was he the inventor of a benefit to his fellow men, that might have been envied by the gods themselves. For not only did he confer upon them immortality, but he transmitted them, too, to all parts of the earth, so that everywhere it might be possible for them to be present, and for each to occupy his niche. This service, too, Pharaoh conferred upon persons who were no members of his own family.
Chapter Three. Three. When shields were first invested with portraits upon them, and when they were first erected in public. So far as I can learn, Appius Claudius, who was consul with P. Servilius in the year of the city, 259, was the first to dedicate shields in the honour of his own family in a sacred or public place. For he placed representations of his ancestors in the Temple of Bellona, And desired that they might be erected in an elevated spot, so as to be seen, and the inscriptions reciting their honors read. A truly graceful device, more particularly when a multitude of children, represented by so many tiny figures, displays those germs, as it were, which are destined to continue the line.
Shields such as these, no one could look out without feeling a pleasure and lively interest.
Chapter Four. When these shields were first placed in private houses.
More recently, M. Aemilius, who was consul with Quintus Lutiatus, not only erected these shields in the Aemilian Basilica, but in his own house as well, in doing which he followed a truly warlike example, for in fact these porches were represented on bucklers similar to those used in the Trojan War, and hence it is that these shields received their present name of Clape. And not, as the perverse subtlies of the grammarians will have it from the word cluo. It was an abundant motive of valor when upon each shield was represented the features of him who had borne it. The Carthaginians used to make both their bucklers and their portraits of gold, and to carry them with them in the camp. At all events, Marcius, the adventurer of the Scipios in Spain, found one of these kind on capturing the camp of Hasdrubal.
And it was on this same buckler that remained suspended over the gate of the Capitoline Temple until the time when it was first burnt. Indeed, in the days of our ancestors, so assured was the safety of these shields that it has been a subject of remark, that in the consulship of M. Manlius and Q. Fulvius, in the year of the city, 575, M. Alphutius, who had given security for the safety of the capital, informed the Senate that the bucklers there which, for some lustre, Chapter Five. The commencement of the art of painting. Monochrome paintings, the earliest painters.
We have no certain knowledge as to the commencement of the art of painting, nor does this inquiry fall under our consideration. The Egyptians assert that it was invented among themselves 6,000 years before it passed into Greece. A vain boast. It is very evident. As to the Greeks, some say that it was invented in Sisyon, others at Corinth. But they all agree that it originated in tracing lines around the human shadow. The first stage of the art, they say, was this. The second stage being the employment of single colours, a process known as monochromaton. After it had become more complicated, and which is still in use of the present day. The invention of line drawing has to be assigned to Philocles.
the Egyptian, or to Clinthus of Corinth. The first who practised this line drawing were Eridices, the Corinthian, and Telaphanes, the Cicionian, artists who, without making use of any colours, shaded the interior of the outline by drawing lines. Hence it was the custom with them to add to the picture the name of the person represented. Euphantus, the Corinthian, was the first to employ colours upon these pictures, made, it is said, of broken earthenware reduced to powder. We shall show on a future occasion that it was a different artist of the same name who, according to Cornelius Nepos, came to Italy with Demaratus, the father of the Roman king Tarquinnus Praeces, on his flight from Corinth to escape the violence of the tyrant Cypselis.
Chapter Six. The Antiquity of Painting in Italy. But already, in fact, Had the art of painting been perfectly developed in Italy. At all events, there are extant in the temples of Ordea, at this day, paintings of greater antiquity than Rome itself, in which, in my opinion, nothing is more marvellous than that they should have remained so long unprotected by a roof, and yet preserving their freshness. At Lanuvium, too, it is the same, where we see an Atalanta and a Helena, without drapery, close together. And painted by the same artist. They were both of the greatest beauty, the former being evidently the figure of a virgin, and they still remain uninjured, though the temple is in ruins. The Emperor Kyos, inflamed with lustfulness, attempted to have them removed, but the nature of the plaster would not omit of it.
There are in existence that care some paintings of a still higher integrity. Whoever carefully examines them will be forced to admit that no art has arrived more speedily at perfection, seeing that it evidently was not in existence at the time of the Trojan War.
Chapter Seven. Four. Roman Painters.
Among the Romans, too, this art very soon rose into esteem. For it was from it that the Fabi, a most illustrious family, derived their surname of Pictor. Indeed, the first of the family who bore it himself painted the Temple of Silas in the year of the city 450, a work which lasted to our own times, but was destroyed when the temple was burnt in the reign of Claudius. Next in celebrity were the paintings of the poet Pacuvius in the Temple of Hercules, situated in the cattle market. He was the son of the sister of Aeneas. And the fame of the art was enhanced at Rome by the success of the artists on the stage. After this period, the art was no longer practiced by men of rank, unless indeed we would make reference to Torpelius in our own times, a native of Venetia, and of equestrian rank, several whose beautiful works are still in existence at Verona.
He painted too with his left hand, a thing never known to have been done by anyone before.
Teterdius Libio, a person of Praetorian rank, who had been formerly proconsul of the province of Gallia Norbornensis, and who lately died at a very advanced age, used to pride himself upon the little pictures which he executed, but it only caused him to be ridiculed and sneered at. I must not admit, too, to mention a celebrated consultation upon the subject of painting which was held by the same persons of the highest rank. Cupidius. who had been honoured with a consulship and a triumph, and who had been named by the dictator Caesar as co-heir with Augustus and a grandson, who had been dumb from his birth. The orator messala, to whose family his grandmother belonged, recommended that he should be brought up as a painter, a proposal which was also approved of by the late Emperor Augustus.
He died, however, in his youth, out of having made great progress in the art. But the high estimation in which painting came to be held at Rome was principally due, in my opinion, to M. Valerius Maximus Messala, who in the year of the city was the first to exhibit a painting to the public, a picture, namely, of the battle in which he had defeated the Carthaginians and Hero in Sicily, upon one side of the Curia Hostilia. The same thing was done, too, by El Scipio, who placed in the capital a painting of the victory which he had gained in Asia, but his brother Africanus, it is said, was offended at it, and not without reason, for his son had been taken prisoner in the battle. Lucius Hostilius Mancinus, who had been the first to enter Carthage at the final attack, gave a very similar offence to Aemilianus, by exposing the former painting of that city and the attack upon it.
He himself standing near the picture and ascribing to the spectators the various details of the siege, a piece of complacence which secured him the consulship at the ensuing Commedia.
The Stage Two, which was erected for the games, celebrated by Claudius Pulcher, brought the art of painting into great admiration. It be observed that the ravens were so deceived by the resemblance as to light upon the decorations which were painted in imitation of tiles.
Chapter Eight. At what period foreign paintings were first introduced at Rome?
The highest estimation in which the paintings of foreigners were held at Rome commenced with Lucius Mummius, who from his victories acquired the surname of Archiecus. For upon the sale of the spoil on that occasion, King Attalus, having purchased at the price of six thousand denarii a painting of Father Liber by Aristides, Momoeus, feeling surprised at the price and suspecting that there might be some merit in it, of which he himself was unaware, in spite of the complaints of the Talus, broke off the bargain and had the picture placed in the Temple of Ceres, the first instance I conceive of a foreign painting being publicly exhibited at Rome. After this, I find, it became a common practice to exhibit foreign pictures in the Forum, for it was to this circumstance that we are indebted for a joke of the orator Crassus.
While pleading below the old shops, he was interrupted by a witness who had been summoned with the question. Tell me then, Crassus, what do you take me to be? Very much like him, answered he, pointing to the figure of a gore in a pitcher, thrusting out his tongue in a very unbecoming manner. It was in the forum, too, that was placed the pitcher of the old shepherd leaning on his staff, respecting which, when the envoy of the Teutons was asked what he thought was of value of it. He made answer that he would rather not have the original, even at a gift.
Chapter Nine. At what period paintings were first held in high esteem at Rome, and from what causes? But it was the dictator Caesar that first brought the public exhibition of pictures into such high estimation, by consecrating an Ajax and a Medina before the temple of Venus Genetrix. After him, there was M. Magripa, A man who was naturally more attached to rustic simplicity than to refinement. Still, however, we have a magnificent oration of his, and one well worthy of the greatest of our citizens. On the advantage of exhibiting in public all pictures and statues, a practice which we would have been far preferable to sending them into punishment at our country homes. Sphere as he was in his tastes, he paid the people of Saizius twelve hundred thousand Sesteres for two paintings.
An Ajax and a Venus. He also ordered small paintings to be set in marble in the very hottest part of his warm baths, where they remained until they were removed a short time since when the building was repaired.
Chapter 10. What pictures the emperors have exhibited in public? The late Emperor Augustus did more than all the others, for he placed in the most conspicuous part of his forum two pictures representing war and triumph. He also placed in the temple of his father, Caesar, a picture of the castores, and won a victory, in addition to those which we shall mention in our account are the works of the different artists. He also inserted two pictures in the wall of the curia, which he consecrated in their comitium, one of which was a numeah seated upon a lion and bearing a palm in her hand. Close to her is an old man standing with a staff, and above his head hangs a picture of a chariot with two horses.
Nicuaius has written upon this picture that he inboned it, such being the word he has employed. The second picture, the thing to be chiefly admired, is resemblance that the youth bears to the old man, his father, allowing, of course, for the difference in age. Above them soars an eagle, which grasps the dragon in its talons. Philokyrus attests that he is the author of this work, an instance, if we only consider it, of the mighty power welded by the pictorial art. For here, thanks to Philokers, the senate of the Roman people, age after age, has before its eyes Gloucien, and his son Aristobus, persons who otherwise have been altogether unknown. The emperor Tiberius, too, a prince who was by no means very gracious, has exhibited in the temple dedicated by him in his turn to Augustus several pictures which we shall describe hereafter.
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23 23 - Book 35, Chapters 11 to 35. The art of painting, pigments, artificial colours, colours on wet coating, age of painting, contests of painting 27:41
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley.
Book 35. Chapters 11-35. Chapter Eleven. The Art of Painting.
This much then with reference to the dignity of this now expiring art, we have already stated with what single colours the earlier artists painted when speaking of these pigments under the head of metals. The new modes of painting which were afterwards discovered, and are known as neogrammetia, the names of the artists had different inventions And the periods of which these inventions were adopted will all be described when we come to enumerate the painters. For the present, however, the proposed plan of this work requires that I should enlarge upon the nature of the several colours that are employed.
The art of painting at last became developed in the invention of light and shade. The alternating contrast of the color is serving to heighten the effect of each. At a later period, again, lustre was added. A thing altogether different from light. The gradation between lustre and light on the one hand and the shade on the other was called tonos, where the blending of the various tints and their passing into one another was known as homoge.
Chapter Twelve. Pigments other than those of a metallic origin. Artificial colors.
Colors are either sombre or florid. These qualities are rising either from the nature of the substances or their mode of combination. The florid colours are those which the employer supplies. To the painter is his own expense. Minimum, namely, Armenium, Cinebarus, Chrysacola, Indicium, and Papyrusum. The others are the sombre colours. Taking both kinds together, some are native colours and others are artificial. Rubrica, Peritonium, Millennium, Eritrea, and Opiment are native colours. The others are artificial, more particularly those described by us when speaking of metals, in addition to which there are, among the more common colours, Ochra, Astra, or Burnt Cerus, Sandirac, Sandix, Siricum, and Atramentum.
Chapter 13. Sinobis. Eleven remedies.
Sinobis was discovered in Pontus, and has its name, from the city of Sinoptheir. It is produced also in Egypt, the Balearic Islands, and Africa, but the best is found in Lemnos and Carpatocia, being extracted from quarries there. That part is considered the best which has been found adhering to the rock. In the native mass, It has its own proper colour within, but is spotted on the exterior. The ancients made use of it for tone. There are three kinds of synopsis. The red, the pale red, and the intermediate. The price of the best is 12 denarii per pound. It is used both for painting with the brush and for colouring wood. The kind which comes from Africa sells at 8 arses per pound. The name given to it is Socherestulum.
That, which is of the deepest red, is the most in use for colouring competitions. The synopsis, known as the dull kind, being of a very tawny complexion, sells also at the price of eight hours per pound. It is used principally for the lower parts of competitions. Used medicinally, synopsis is of a soothing nature, and is employed as an ingredient in clusters. An emollient poultices. It emits of being easily used, whether in the form of a dry or of a liquid composition, for the cure of ulcers situate in the humid parts of the body, the mouth and the rectum, for instance. Used as an injection, it arrests looseness of the bowels, and taken in doses of 1 denarius, it acts as a check upon female discharges.
Applied in a burnt state, with wine in particular, it has a decisive effect upon granulations of the eyelids.
Chapter Fourteen. Rubrica. Linear and Earth. Four Remedies. Some persons have wished to make out that Synopsis is nothing else but a kind of rubrica of secondary quality, looking upon Earth of Lemnos as a rubrica of the highest quality. This last approaches very nearly to minimum, and was as highly esteemed among the ancients as among the island that produces it. It was never sold except in sealed packages. A circumstance to which it was indebted for its additional name of syphragis. It is with this material that they give the undercoating to minimum, in the older duration of which it is also extensively employed. In medicine, it is very highly esteemed, applied to the eyes in the form of a liniment.
It allays deflections and pains in those organs, and arrests the discharge and lacrimal fistulas. To persons vomiting blood, It is ministered with vinegar to drink. It is taken also internally for affections of the spleen and kidneys, and by females for the purpose of arresting flooding. It is employed, too, to counteract the effects of poisons, and of stings inflicted by sea or land serpents. Hence it is that it is so commonly used as an ingredient in antidotes. Chapter 15. Egyptian Earth Of the other kinds of rubrica, Those of Egypt and Africa are of the greatest utility to workers in wood. From the fact that they have been absorbed with the greatest rapidity, they are used also for painting and are found in a native state in iron mines.
Chapter 16. Okra. Remedies derived from rubrica. It is from rubrica also that okra is prepared, the rubrica being burnt in new earthen pots when looted with clay. The more highly it is calcined in the furnace, the better the colour is. All kinds of rubrica are of a disassociative nature, and hence it is that they are so useful for plasters and as application for the erycibeles.
Chapter 17. Lusiforon. Half a pound of Pontic Synopsis, ten pounds of Bright Sil, and two pounds of Greek Millennium. were mixed and tertreted together for twelve successive days, produced theosulfuron, a cement used for applying gold-leafed wood. Chapter Eighteen. Peritonium. Peritonium is so called from the place of that name in Egypt. It is sea-foam, they say solidified with slime, and it is that minute shells are often found in it. It is repaired also in the Isle of Crete and at Syrien. At Rome it is adulterated. With simoleon. Earth boiled and thickened. The price of that of the highest quality is fifty denarii per six pounds. This is the most unctuous of all the white colours, and the most tenacious of a coating for plaster, the result of its smoothness.
Chapter Nineteen. Millennium. Six Remedies. Cerus.
Millennium, too, is a white colour. The best being to produce of the Isle of Melos is found also in Samos, but this last kind is never used by painters in consequence of its being too unctuous. The persons employed in extracting it lie at full length upon the ground and search for the veins among the rocks. In medicine it is employed for much the same purposes as Erythria, in addition to which it dries the tongue, acts as a depilatory and has a soothing effect. The price of it is one cesterius per pound. The third of the white pigments is ceruz, the nature of which we have already explained when speaking of the ores of lead. There was also a native ceruz, formerly found on the lands of Theodotus at Smyrna, which the ancients made use of for painting ships.
At the present day, all the ceruz is prepared artificially from lead and vinegar, as already stated.
Chapter 20 Asta. Asta was accidentally discovered at a fire in the Piraeans, some cerus having been burnt in the jars there. Macias, the artist above mentioned, was the first to use it. At the present day, that of Asia, known also as Prypura, is considered the best. The price of it is six denarii per pound. It is prepared also at Rome by calcining marble sill and quenching it with vinegar. Without the use of usta, shadows cannot be made.
Chapter Twenty-One. Eritrea. Eritrea takes its name from the territory which produces it. Necomachus and Parasius made use of it. In a medical point of view, it is cooling and emollient. In a calcined state, it promotes the psychiatricization of wounds. Chapter 22. Sandorak. According to Juba, Sandra and Okra are both of them productions on the island of Topazus in the Red Sea. But neither of them are imported to us from that place. The mode of repairing Sandirac we have described already. There is a spurious kind also, prepared by calcining sarus in the furnace. There's substance to be good, or to be of a flame color. The price of it is five arses per pound. Chapter 23. Sandix. Calcined with an equal proportion of rupica, Sandirac forms Sandix.
Although I perceive that Virgil, in the following line, has taken Sandix to be a plant. Sandix itself shall clothe the feeding lambs. The price of Sandix is one half that of Sandirac, these two colours being the heaviest of all in weight. Chapter 24. Syricum. Among the artificial colours too is syricum, which is used as an undercoding for minium, as already stated. It is repaired from a combination of synopus with sandex. Chapter 25. Artamentum. Artamentum, too, must be reckoned among the artificial colours, although it is also derived in two ways from the earth. For sometimes it is found exuding from the earth like the brine of salt pits, while at other times an earth itself of a sulphurous colour is sought for the purpose.
Painters too have been known to go so far as to dig up half-charred bones from the sublagers for this purpose. All these plans, however, are newfangled and troublesome, for this substance may be prepared in numerous ways, from the soot that is yielded by the combustion of resin or pitch, so much, so indeed, that manufacturers have been built on the principle of not allowing escape from the smoke evolved by the process. The most esteemed black, however, That is made in this way is prepared from the wood of the torch pine. It is altered by mixing it with the ordinary soot from furnaces and baths, a substance which is also employed for the purpose of writing. Others again calcined dried wine leaves, and assure us that if the wine was originally of good quality from which the colour is made, it will bear comparison with that of indichem.
Polygnotus and Mykon. The most celebrated painters of Athens made their black from grape husks and called it Troikinon. Appels invented a method of repairing it from burnt ivory, the name given to it being Elephantion.
We have Indicum, also, a substance imported from India, the composition of which is at present unknown to me. Dyer is to repair an attramentum from the black inflorescence which adheres to the brazen dye pans. It is made also from logs of torchbine, burned to charcoal, and powdered in a mortar. The sepia, too, has a wonderful property of secreting a black liquid, but from the liquid no colour is prepared. The preparation of every kind of vatramentum is completed by exposure to the sun. The black, for writing, having an in-mixture of gum, and that for coating balls and a mixture of glue. Black pigment that has been dissolved in vinegar is not easily affected by washing.
Chapter 26. Papyrusum. Among the remaining colours which, as already stated, owing to their dearness, are furnished by the employer. Papyrusum holds the highest rank. For the purpose of repairing it, Argentaria, or silver chalk, is dyed along with purple cloth, it imbibing the colour more speedily than the wool. The best of all is that which, being thrown the very first into the boiling cauldron, becomes saturated with the dye in its primitive state. The next best in quality is that which has been put into the same liquor, after the first has been removed. Each time that this is done, the quality becomes proportionally deteriorated, owing of course to the comparative thinness of the liquid. The reason that the papyrusum of Puttuelli is more highly esteemed than that of Tyre, Gautulia, or Laconia, places which produce the most precious kinds of purple, is the fact that it combines more readily with his skinnum.
And that is made to absorb the colouring liquid of matter. The words purpuricium is that of lanuvium. The price of purpuricium is from one to thirty denarii per pound. Persons who use it in painting place a coat of sandix beneath, a layer on which of purpuricium with glare of egg produces all the brilliant tints of minium. If, on the other hand, it is their object to make a purple, they lay a coat of ceruleum beneath and purpuricium with egg upon it.
Chapter 27 Indicum Next in esteem to this is Indicum, a production of India, being a slime, which adheres to the scum upon the reeds there. When powdered, it is black in appearance. When diluted in water, it yields a marvellous combination of purple and ceruleum. There is another kind also, which floats upon the surface of the pans in the purple dyehouses. Being the scum which rises upon the purple dye. Persons who adulterated, stained pigeons done with genuine indicum, or else colour, Selenusian earth, or anularia chalk with woad. The proper way of testing indicum is by laying it on hot coals, that which is genuine in producing a fine purple flame, and emitting a smell like that of sea water while it smokes.
Hence it is that some are of the opinion that it is gathered from the rocks on the seashore. The price of vindicum is twenty denarii per pound. Used medicinally, it alleviates cold shiverings and deflections, and acts as a desiccative upon sores.
Chapter 28. Arminium. One remedy.
Arminia sends us the colouring substance which is known to us by its name. This also is a mineral which emits of being dyed, like crossacola, and is best when it most closely resembles that substance, the colour being pretty much that of ceruleum. In former times it was sold at 30 cestias per pound, but there has been found of late in the Spanish provinces a sandwich emits of a similar preparation, and consequently, Armenia has come to be sold so low as at 6 denarii per pound. It differs from ceruleum in a certain degree of whiteness, which causes the colour it yields to be thinner in comparison. The only use made of it in medicine is for the purpose of giving nourishment to the hair, that of the eyelids in particular.
Chapter 29. Apianum. There are also two colours of very inferior quality, which have been recently discovered. One of them is the green known as Apianum. A fair imitation of Chlorosokola. Just as though we had not had to mention sufficient of these counterfeits already. This color, too, is prepared from a green chalk, the usual price of it being once steered per pound.
Chapter 30. An Eulerian White. The other colour that is known as an Eulerian White being used for giving a brilliant whiteness to the figures of females. This too is prepared from a kind of chalk, combined with the classy paste which the lower classes wear in their rings. Hence it is that it has the name Andolaire.
Chapter Thirty-One. Which colours do not omit of being laid on a wet coating?
Those among the colours which require dry, cretaceous coating, and if used to adhere to a wet surface, are purpuricium, indicum, Ceruleum, Melinum, Orpiment, Epienum, and Cerules.
Wax too is stained with all these colouring substances for an encaustic painting, a process which does not omit of being applied to walls, but is in common use by way of ornament for ships of war, and indeed merchant ships as of the present day. As we go so far as to paint these vehicles of danger, No one can be surprised if we paint our funeral piles as well, or if we have our gladiators conveyed in handsome characters to the scene of death, or at all events of carnage. When we only contemplate this extensive variety of colours, we cannot but omit the ingenuity displayed by the men of former days.
Chapter 32. What colours were used by the ancients in painting?
It was with four colours only that Apels, Echion, Melanthius and Necumachus, those most illustrious painters, executed their immortal works. Melinum for a white, Attixil for the yellow, Pontic Sinopus for the red, and Atramentum for the black. And yet a single picture of theirs has sold before now for the treasures of whole cities. But at the present day, when purple is employed for colouring walls even, and when India sends us the slime of her rivers, and the corrupt blood of her dragons, and her elephants, there is no such thing as a picture of high quality produced. Everything, in fact, was superior at a time when the resources of art were so much fewer than they are now. Yes, so it is, and the reason is, as we have already stated, that it is material And not the efforts of genius that is now the object of research.
Chapter 33. At what time combats of gladiaries were first painted and publicly exhibited? One folly too of this age of ours, in reference to painting, I must not omit. The Emperor Nero ordered a painting of himself to be executed upon a canvas of colossal proportions 120 feet in height. A thing till then unknown. This picture was just completed when it was burnt by lightning with the greater part of the gardens of Maus in which it was exhibited.
A freedman of the same price, on the occasion of his exhibiting a show of gladiators at Antium, had the public porticos hung, as everybody knows, with paintings which were represented genuine portraits of the gladiators and all the other assistants. Indeed, at this place, There has been a very prevailing taste for painting for many ages past. C. Terentius Lucanus was the first who had combats of gladiators painted for public exhibition in order of his grandfather, who had adopted him. He provided thirty pairs of gladiators in the forum for three consecutive days and exhibited a painting of their combats in the Grove of Diana.
Chapter 34 The age of painting, with the names of the more celebrated works of artists, four hundred and five in number. I shall now proceed to enumerate, as briefly as possible, the more eminent among the painters. It not being consistent with the plan of this work to go into any great lengths of detail, it must suffice, therefore, in some cases, to name the artist in a cursory manner only, and with reference to the account given of others, with the exception, of course, of the more famous production of the pectoral art, whether still in existence or now lost, all of which it will be only right to take some notice of. In this department, the ordinary exactness of the Greeks has been somewhat inconsistent in placing the painters so many Olympiades after the statuaries and the Othecarists, and the very first of them so late as the 90th Olympiade.
Seeing that Phidias himself is said to have been originally a painter, and that there was a shield at Athens which had been painted by him, in addition to which it is universally agreed that in the 83rd Olympiad his brother Panaeus painted Adelis the interior of the shield of Minerva, which had been executed by Colotz, a disciple of Phidias and an assistant in the statue of the Olympian Jupiter. And then besides, Is it not equally admitted that Candules, the last Lydian king of the race of the Heraclidae, very generally known also by the name of Myrcilas, paid his weight in gold for a picture by the painter Bularchus, which represented the battle fought by him with the magnates.
So great was the estimation in which the art was already held. This circumstance must, in necessity, have happened about the period of El Romulus, for it was in the 18th Olympiad that Canduels perished, or as some writers say, in the same year as the death of Romulus, a thing which clearly demonstrates that even at that early period of the art had already become famous and arrived at a state of great perfection. If, then, we are bound to admit this conclusion, it must be equally evident that the commencement of the art is a much earlier date, and that those artists who painted in monochrome and whose dates have not been handed down to us must have flourished at even an anterior period.
Hegeanon, namely, Danaeus, Charmatis, Eumaris of Athens, the first who distinguished the sexes in painting and attempted to remitigate every kind of figure. and Simon of Cleone, who improved upon the inventions of Humerus.
It was this Simon, too, who first invented four shortenings, or in other words, oblique views of the figure, and who first learned the very features by representing them in the various attitudes of looking backwards, upwards, or downwards. It was he, too, who first marked the articulations of the limbs, indicated the veins, It gave the natural folds and xenosities to drapery. Benannus, too, the brother of Phidias, even executed a painting of the battle fought by the Athenians with the Persians of Marathon. So common indeed, had the employment of colours become, and if such a state of perfection had the art arrived, that he was able to represent, it is said, the portraits of the various generals who commanded the battle.
Miltades.
On the side of the Athenians, and on that of the Bavarians, Datus and Atafernes.
Chapter 35. The First Contest for Excellence in the Pictorial Art.
And not only this, but during the time that Panenas flourished, there were contests in the pictorial art instituted at Corinth and Delphi. On the first occasion, Panenus himself entered the lists at the Pythian Games with Timagoras of Chalseus, by whom he was defeated, a circumstance which is recorded in some ancient lines by Timagoras himself, and an undoubted proof that the chronicler is on error as to the date of the origin of painting. After these, and yet before the 19th Olympiad, there were other celebrated painters. Polygnotus of Thassos, for instance, He was the first to paint females in transparent drapery, and to represent the head covered with a party-coloured headdress. He too was the first to contribute many other improvements to the art of painting, opening the mouth, for example, showing the teeth, and throwing expression into the countenance in place of the ancient rigidity of the features.
There is a picture by this artist in the Portico of Pompeius, before the Curia that was built by him. He also embellished the temple at Delphi, at Athens the portico known as the Poesile, at which last he worked gratituously, in conjunction with Migon, who received pay for his labours. Indeed, Polygnotus was held in the highest esteem of the two for the Amphictians, who formed the General Council of Greece. Decree that he should have his lodging furnished him at the public expense. There was also another Maicon, distinguished from the first Maicon by the surname of the Younger, and whose daughter, Temaret, also practiced the art of painting.
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24 24 - Book 35, Chapter 36. Artists who painted with the pencil 39:39
The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 24, Book 35, Chapter 36 Artists who painted with a pencil In the nineteenth Olympiad lived Aglaophon, Cephisodorus, Aerilus and Evanor, the father of Parasius, one of the greatest of painters, and of whom we shall have to speak when we come to the period at which he flourished. All these were artists of note. but not sufficiently so to detain us by any further detail in our haste to arrive at the luminaries of the art, first among whom shone Apollodorus of Athens in the ninety-third Olympiad. He was the first to paint objects as they really appeared, the first, too, we may justly say, to confer glory by the aid of the pencil.
Of this artist there is a priest in adoration and an Ajax struck by lightning, A work to be seen at Pergamos, at the present day. Before him there is no painting of any artist now to be seen which has the power of riveting the eye. The gates of art, being now thrown open by Apollodorus, Zeuxis of Heraclea entered upon the scene. In the fourth year of the ninety-fifth Olympiad, destined to leak the pencil, for it is of the pencil that we are still speaking, a pencil for which there was nothing too arduous, to a very high pitch of glory. By some writers he is erroneously placed in the 99th Olympiad, a date that must of necessity be reserved for Demophilus of Himmora and Nessus of Thassus, of one of whom, it is uncertain which, Zeuxis was the pupil.
It was in reverence to him that Apollodorus, above mentioned, wrote a verse to the effect that Zeuxis had stolen the art from others and had taken it all to himself. Zeuxis also acquired such a vast amount of wealth that, in a spirit of ostentation, he went so far as to parade himself at Olympia with his name embroidered on the checked pattern of his garments in letters of gold. At a later period he came to the determination to give away his works, there being no price high enough to pay for them, he said. Thus, for instance, he gave an alcmina to the people of Agrigentum, and a pan to Archelaus. He also painted a Penelope in which the peculiar character of that matron appears to be delineated to the very life, and a figure of an athlete, with which he was so highly pleased that he wrote beneath it the line which has since become so famous, to the effect that it would be easier to find fault with him than to imitate him.
His Jupiter seated on the throne, with the other deities standing around him, is a magnificent production. The same, too, with his infant Hercules strangling the dragons, in presence of Amphitryon, and his mother Alcmena, who is struck with horror. Still, however, Xiexus is generally censured for making the heads and articulations of his figures out of proportion. And yet, so scrupulously careful was he, that on one occasion, when he was about to execute a painting for the people of Agrigentum, To be consecrated in the temple of the Lysinian Juno there, he had the young maidens of the place stripped for examination, and selected five of them, in order to adopt in his picture the most commendable points in the form of each.
He also painted some monochromes in white. The contemporaries and rivals of Xuxis were Timanthes, Androsides, Eupampus, and Parasius. This last, it is said, entered into a pictorial contest with Zeuxis, who represented some grapes, painted so naturally that the birds flew towards the spot where the picture was exhibited. Parasius, on the other hand, exhibited a curtain drawn with such singular truthfulness that Zeuxis, elated with a judgment which had been passed upon his work by the birds, haughtily demanded that the curtain should be drawn aside to let the picture be seen. Upon finding his mistake, with a great degree of ingenious candor, he admitted that he had been surpassed, for that, whereas he himself had only deceived the birds, Parasius had deceived him, an artist.
There is a story, too, that at a later period, Xuxis having painted a child carrying grapes, the birds came to peck at them, upon which, with a similar degree of candor, he expressed himself vexed with his work, and exclaimed, I have surely painted the grapes better than the child, for if I had fully succeeded in the last, the birds would have been in fear of it. Xuxis executed some figures also in clay, the only works of art that were left behind at Ambracia, when Fulvius Nobilior transported the Muses from that city to Rome. There is at Rome a Helena, by Xuxis, in the porticles of Philippus, and a Marcius bound in the Temple of Concord there. Paracius of Ephesus also contributed greatly to the progress of painting, being the first to give symmetry to his figures, the first to give play and expression to the features, elegance to the hair, and gracefulness to the mouth.
Indeed, for contour, it is universally admitted by artists that he bore away the palm. This, in painting, is the very highest point of skill. To paint substantial bodies and the interior of object is a great thing, no doubt, but at the same time it is a point in which many have excelled. But to make the extreme outline of the figure, to give the finishing touches to the painting in rounding off the contour, this is a point of success in the art which is but rarely attained. For the extreme outline to be properly executed requires to be nicely rounded, and so to terminate as to prove the existence of something more behind it, and thereby disclose that which it also serves to hide. Such is the merit considered to Parasius by Antigonus and Xenocrates, who have written on the art of painting, and in this as well as in other points, not only do they admit his excellence, but enlarge upon it in terms of the highest commendation.
There are many pen sketches by him, still in existence, both upon panel and on parchment, from the study of which even artists, it is said, may greatly profit. Notwithstanding these points of excellence, however, Parasius seems comparatively inferior to himself in giving the proper expression to the middle of the body. In his allegorical picture of the people of Athens, he has displayed singular ingenuity to the treatment of his subject, For in representing it, he had to depict it as at once fickle, choleric, unjust, and versatile, while again he had equally to show its attributes of implacability and clemency, compassionateness and pride, loftiness and humility, fierceness and timidity, and all these at once.
He painted a Theseus also, which was formerly in the capital at Rome, a naval commander wearing a cuirass, and, in one picture, now at Rhodes, figures of Malaguer, Hercules, and Perseus. This last painting, though it has been thrice struck by lightning, has escaped being effaced, a circumstance which tends to augment the admiration which it naturally excites. He painted an archigalus also, a picture which the emperor Tiberius greatly admired. According to Deculow, that prince had it shut up in his chamber, the price at which it was valued being 600,000 sesterces. Paracius also painted a Thracian nurse, with an infant in her arms. A philiscus, a father liber, attended by virtue, two children, in which we see portrayed the careless simplicity of childhood, and a priest attended by a boy, with a censer and chaplet.
There are also two most noble pictures by him, one of which represents a runner contending for the prize, completely armed, so naturally depicted that he has all the appearance of sweating. In the other, we see the runner taking off his armor, and can fancy that we hear him panting aloud for breath. His Aeneas, Castor, and Pollux, all represented in the same picture, are highly praised, his Stellathus also, and his Achilles, Agamemnon, and Ulysses. Parasis was a most prolific artist, but at the same time there was no one who enjoyed the glory conferred upon him by his talent with greater insolence and arrogance. It was in this spirit that he went so far as to assume certain surnames, and to call himself Hybrideates, while in some other verses he declared himself to be the Prince of Painters, and asserted that in him the art had arrived at perfection.
But above all things, it was a boast with him that he had sprung upon the lineage of Apollo, and that he had painted his Hercules a picture now at Lindor's, just as you had often seen him in his sleep. It was in this spirit, too, that upon being defeated by Timonthys at Samos, by a great majority of votes, the subject of the picture being Ajax and the award of the arms, he declared, in the name of his hero, that he felt himself quite disgraced on thus seeing himself a second time defeated by an unworthy opponent. He painted also some smaller pictures of an immodest nature, indulging his leisure in such prurient fancies as these. As to Timonthys, he was an artist highly gifted with genius, and, loud have some of the orators been, in their commendations of his Iphigenia, represented as she stands at the altar, waiting her doom.
Upon the countenance of all present, that of her uncle in particular, Griff, was depicted. But having already exhausted all the characteristic features of sorrow, the artist adopted the device of veiling the features of the victim's father, finding himself unable adequately to give expression to his feelings. There are also some other proofs of his genius. A sleeping cyclops, for instance, which he has painted upon a small panel, but, being desirous to convey an idea of his gigantic stature, he has painted some satyrs near him, measuring his thumb with a thyrsus. Indeed, Timothée's is the only one among the artists in whose works there is always something more implied by the pencil than is expressed, and whose execution, though of the very highest quality, is always surpassed by the inventiveness of his genius.
He has also painted the figure of a hero, a masterpiece of skill, in which he has carried the art to the very highest pitch of perfection in the delineation of the warrior. This last-mentioned work is now at Rome, in the Temple of Peace. It was at this period, too, that Eucinidas had for his pupil Aristides, who became a most illustrious artist, and that Eupompus instructed Pamphylos, who afterwards became the instructor of Apeles. There is by Eupampus a victory in a gymnastic contest, holding a palm. So high was the reputation of this artist that he established a school of painting, and so divided the art into three styles, whereas till then there had been but two, known respectively as the Heladic and the Asiatic.
In honor of him, A native of Sision by birth, the Hellatic school was divided into two, and from this period there were three distinct styles recognized, the Ionic, the Sisionian, and the Attic. We have by Pamphylos a picture representing the alliance and the battle that was fought at Phileas, the victory also that was gained by the Athenians, and a representation of Ulysses in his ship. He was a Macedonian by birth, but was the first painter who was also skilled in all the other sciences, arithmetic and geometry more particularly, without the aid of which he maintained that the pictorial art could not attain perfection. He gave instruction to no one for a smaller sum than one talent, at the rate of 500 denarii per annum, and this fee both Apilles and Melanthias paid.
It was through his influence that first at Sisyon, and there throughout the whole of Greece, all children of free birth were taught the graphic art, or, in other words, the art of depicting upon Boxwood before all others, in consequence of which this came to be looked upon as the first step in the liberal arts. It is a fact, however, that this art has always been held in high estimation and cultivated by persons of free birth, and that, at a more recent period, men of rank even began to pursue it, it having always been forbidden that slaves should receive instruction in it. Hence it is that neither in painting nor in taureitic art has there been any celebrated work executed by a slave. In the hundred and seventh Olympiad flourished Aetion and Theurymachus.
By the former, we have some fine pictures—a father liber, tragedy and comedy, semiramis from the rank of a slave, elevated to the throne, an old woman, bearing torches, and a new-made bride, remarkable for the air of modesty with which she is portrayed. But it was Apilles of Kos, in the Hundred and Twelfth Olympiad, who surpassed all the other painters who either preceded or succeeded him. Single-handed, he contributed more to painting than all the others together, and even went so far as to publish some treatises on the principles of the art. The great point of artistic merit with him was his singular charm of gracefulness, and this, too, though the greatest of painters were his contemporaries.
In admiring their work, and bestowing high eulogiums upon them, he used to say that there was still wanting in them that ideal of beauty so peculiar to himself, and known to the Greeks as charis. Others, he said, had acquired all the other requisites of perfection, but in this one point he himself had no equal. He also asserted his claim to another great point of merit, admiring a picture of Protogenes, which bore evident marks of unbounded laboriousness and the most minute finish, he remarked that in every respect Protogenes was fully his equal, or perhaps his superior, except in this, that he himself knew when to take his hand off a picture, a memorable lesson which teaches us that over-carefulness may be productive of bad results.
His candor, too, was equal to his talent. He acknowledged the superiority of Melanthius in his grouping, and of Asclepiodorus in the niceness of his measurements, or, in other words, the distances that ought to be left between the objects represented. A circumstance that happened to him in connection with Protogenes is worthy of notice. The latter was living at Rhodes when Apilles disembarked there, desirous of seeing the works of a man whom he had hitherto only known by reputation. Accordingly, he repaired at once to the studio. Protogenes was not at home, but there happened to be a large panel upon the easel, ready for painting, with an old woman who was left in charge. To his inquiries, she made answer that Protogenes was not at home, and then asked whom she should name as the visitor.
Here he is, was the reply of Apilles, and seizing a brush, he traced with color upon the panel an outline of a singularly minute fineness. Upon his return the old woman mentioned to Protogenes what had happened. The artist, it is said, upon remarking the delicacy of the touch, instantly exclaimed that Apilles must have been the visitor, for that no other person was capable of executing anything so exquisitely perfect. So saying, he traced within the same outline a still finer outline, but with another color, and then took his departure, with instructions to the woman to show it to the stranger if he returned, and to let him know that this was the person whom he had come to see. It happened as he anticipated.
Apilles returned, and vexed at finding himself thus surpassed, he took up another colour and split both of the outlines, leaving no possibility of anything finer being executed. Upon seeing this, Protogenes admitted that he was defeated, and at once flew to the harbour to look for his guest. He thought proper, too, to transmit the panel to posterity, just as it was, and it always continued to be held in the highest admiration by all, artists in particular. I am told that it was burnt in the first fire which took place at Sizes Palace on the Palatine Hill, but in former times I have often stopped to admire it. Upon its vast surface it contained nothing whatever except the three outlines, so remarkably fine as to escape the sight.
Among the most elaborate works of numerous other artists, it had all the appearance of a blank space. And yet, by that very fact, it attracted the notice of everyone, and was held in higher estimation than any other painting there. It was a custom with Apilles, to which he most tenaciously adhered, never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising himself By tracing some outline or other, a practice which is now passed into a proverb. It was also a practice with him, when he had completed a work, to exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in some exposed place, while he himself, concealed behind the picture, would listen to the criticisms that were passed upon it. It being his opinion that the judgment of the public was preferable to his own as being the more discerning of the two.
It was under these circumstances, they say, that he was censured by a shoemaker for having represented the shoes with one shoestring too little. The next day the shoemaker, quite proud at seeing the former error corrected, thanks to his advice, began to criticize the leg, upon which Apulis, full of indignation, popped his head out and reminded him that a shoemaker should give no opinion beyond the shoes, a piece of advice which has equally passed into a proverbial saying. In fact, Apilles was a person of great amenity of manners, a circumstance which rendered him particularly agreeable to Alexander the Great, who would often come to his studio. He had forbidden himself by public edict, as already stated, to be represented by any other artist.
On one occasion, however, when the prince was in his studio, talking a great deal about painting without knowing anything about it, Apelius quietly begged that he would quit the subject, telling him that he would get laughed at by the boys who were there grinding the colours. So great was the influence which he rightfully possessed over a monarch who was otherwise of an irascible temperament. And yet, irascible as he was, Alexander conferred upon him a very signal mark of the high estimation in which he held him, for having, in his admiration of her extraordinary beauty, engaged Apilles to paint Pancasti undraped, the most beloved of all his concubines, the artist, while so engaged, fell in love with her, upon which Alexander, perceiving this to be the case, made him a present of her, thus showing himself, Though a great king in courage, a still greater one in self-command, this action redounding no less to his honour than any of his victories.
For in thus conquering himself, not only did he sacrifice his passions in favour of the artist, but even his affections as well, and influenced, too, by the feelings which must have possessed his favourite in thus passing at once from the arms of a monarch to those of a painter. Some persons are of opinion that Pancasti was the model of Apilles in his paintings of Venus and Adiomene. It was Apilles, too, who, courteous even to his rivals, first established the reputation of protogenes at Rhodes. Held as he was, in little estimation by his own fellow countrymen, a thing that generally is the case, Apilles enquired of him what price he set upon certain finished works of his, which he had on hand.
Upon Protogenes mentioning some very trifling sum or other, Appilles made him an offer of fifty talents, and then circulated a report that he was buying these works in order to sell them as his own. By this contrivance he aroused their audience to a better appreciation of the merits of their artist, and only consented to leave the pictures with them upon their offering a still larger price. He painted portraits, too, so exactly to the life that a fact with which we are made acquainted by the writings of Appion the Grammarian seems altogether incredible. One of those persons, he says, who divine events by the traits of the features and are known as metaposcopy, It was enabled, by an examination of his fortress, to tell the year of their death, whether past or future, of each person represented.
Apollos had been on bad terms with Ptolemais in former times, when they formed part of the suit of Alexander. After Ptolemais had become king of Egypt, it so happened that Apollos was driven by the violence of a tempest to Alexandria. Upon this, some of his rivals fraudulently suborned a jester who was attached to the court to carry him in invitation to dine with the king. Accordingly, Apeeles attended. Upon which Ptolemaeus was highly indignant, and summoning before him his stewards of the household, requested that the artist would point out the one that had given him the invitation. Thus challenged, Apeles seized a piece of quenched charcoal that lay in the fireplace, and traced a likeness upon the wall, with such exactness that the king, the moment he began it, recognized the features as those of the jester.
He also painted a portrait of King Antigonus, and, as that monarch was blind of one eye, he invented a method of concealing the defect. With this object he painted him in profile, in order that what in reality was wanting to the person might have the semblance of being wanting to the picture, rather, he making it his care to show that side of the face only which he could show without any defect. Among his works, too, there are some figures representing persons at the point of death, but it is not easy to say which of his productions are of the highest order of excellence. His Venus rising from the sea, known as the Venus anadiomene, was consecrated by the late Emperor Augustus in the temple of his father Caesar.
A work which has been celebrated in certain Greek lines, which, though they have outlived it, have perpetuated its fame. The lower part of the picture having become damaged, no one could be found to repair it, and thus did the very injury which the picture had sustained redound to the glory of the artist. Time, however, and Tamp at last faced the painting, and Nero, in his reign, had it replaced by a copy, painted by the hand of Dorotheus. Apelles also commenced another Venus for the people of Kos, which would have outshone even the former one, but death invidiously prevented its completion, nor could anyone be found to complete the work in conformity with the sketches of the outline. He painted also in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, Alexander the Great yielding the thunderbolts, a picture for which he received twenty talents of gold.
The fingers have all the appearance of projecting upon the surface, and the lightning seems to be darting from the picture. And then, too, let the reader bear in mind that all these works were executed by the aid of four colours only. The price paid in golden coin for this picture was ascertained by a weight, there being no specific sum agreed upon. He also painted a procession of the Megabyses, the priest of Diana at Ephesus, and Eclitus on horseback, hastening to the combat, his armor-bearer handing him his helmet at his command. How many times he painted Alexander and Philip, it would be quite superfluous to attempt to enumerate. At Samos, there is a Habru by him, that is greatly admired. At Rhodes, a Menander, king of Caria, and an Aeneas.
At Alexandria, a Gorgostonis, the Turgidian, and at Rome, a Castor and Pollux, with figures of Victory and Alexander the Great. and an emblematical figure of war with her hands tied behind her, and Alexander seated in a triumphal car, both of which pictures the late Emperor Augustus with a great degree of moderation and good taste consecrated in the most frequented parts of his forum. The Emperor Claudius, however, thought it advisable to efface the head of Alexander in both pictures and substitute likenesses of his predecessor Augustus. It is by his hand, too, it is generally supposed, that the Hercules, with the face averted, now in the temple of Anna, was painted. A picture in which, one of the greatest difficulties in the art, the face, though hidden, may be said to be seen rather than left to the imagination.
He also painted a figure of a naked hero, a picture in which he has challenged nature herself. There exists, too, or did exist, a horse that was painted by him for a pictorial contest, as to the merits of which Apeles appealed from the judgment of his fellow men to that of the damned quadrupeds. For, finding that by their intrigues his rivals were likely to get the better of him, he had some horses brought, and the picture of which artist successively shone to them. Accordingly, it was only at the sight of the horse painted by a Peelys that they began to neigh, a thing that has always been the case since, whenever this test of his artistic skill has been employed. He also painted an Neoptolemus on horseback, fighting with the Persians, an Archelaus with his wife and daughter, and an Antigonus on foot, with a cuirasson and his horse led by his side.
Connoisseurs in the art give the preference before all other works of his to his paintings of King Archelaus on horseback and of Diana in the midst of a throng of virgins performing a sacrifice. A work in which he would appear to have surpassed the lines of Homer descriptive of the same subject. He also portrayed some things which in reality do not admit of being portrayed, thunder, lightning, and thunderbolts, in pictures which are known by the respective names of Bronte, Astrapi, and Cheronabolia. His inventions, too, in the art of painting, have been highly serviceable to others, but one thing there was in which no one could imitate him. When his works were finished, he used to cover them with a black varnish of such remarkable thinness that while by the reflection it gave more vivacity to the colours and preserved them from the contact of dust and dirt, its existence could only be detected by a person when close enough to touch it.
In addition to this, there was also this other great advantage attending it. The brightness of the colors was softened thereby, and harmonized to the side, looking as though they had been viewed from a distance, and through a medium of specular stone. The contrivance, by some indescribable means, giving a soberness to colors which would otherwise have been too florid. One of the contemporaries of Apeles was Aristides of Thebes. The first of all the painters to give full expression to the mind and passions of man, known to the Greeks as Ethy, as well as to the mental perturbations which we experience. He was somewhat harsh, however, in his colours. There is a picture by him of a captured city, in which is represented an infant crawling towards the breast of its wounded mother, who, though at the point of death, Has all the appearance of being aware of it, and of being in dread, lest the child should suck blood in place of milk from her exhausted breast.
This picture Alexander the Great orders to be transferred to Pella, his native place. Aristides also painted a battle with the Persians, a picture which contained one hundred figures, for each of which he was paid at the rate of ten minae by Mnason, the tyrant of Alatia. He also painted chariots with four horses in full career, a suppliant, which almost speaks, handsman with game, Leontion, the mistress of Epicurus, the Anna Pavomene, a damsel pining to death from love of her brother, a father Liber also, and an Artemini. Two fine pictures now to be seen in the Temple of Ceres, at Rome. A tragedian and a child in the Temple of Apollo, a picture which has lost its beauty owing to the unskillfulness of the painter to whom Marcus Junius, the Praetor, entrusted the cleaning of it, about the period of the Apollinarian Games.
There was also to be seen, in the Temple of Faith, in the capital, a picture of his representing an aged man, giving instructions to a child on the lyre. He executed also a painting of an invalid, upon which endless encomiums have been lavished. Indeed, so great was the excellence of this artist that King Attalus, it is said, purchased one picture of his at the price of one hundred talents. At the same period flourished Protogenes, as already stated. He was a native of Cornus, a place held in subjection by the Rhodians. Great poverty in his early days and extreme application to his art were the causes of his comparative unproductiveness. It is not known with certainty from whom he received his instruction in the art.
Indeed, some say that he was only a ship-decorator down to his fiftieth year, A proof of which, it is asserted, is the fact that, in decorating the propylium in the temple of Minerva, situated in one of the most celebrated spots in Athens, where he has painted the fine picture of Parallus and Hymonius, known by some as the Nausicaa, he has added in the side pieces of the picture By painters called Parurga, several small ships of war, wishing thereby to show in what department that skill had first manifested itself, which had thus reached the citadel of Athens, the scene of his glory. Of all his compositions, however, the palm has been awarded to his Ialces, now at Rome, consecrated in the Temple of Peace there.
So long as he was at work upon it, he lived, it is said, upon nothing but soaked lupins, by which means he at once appeased both hunger and thirst, and avoided all risk of blunting his perception by too delicate a diet. In order to protect this picture against the effects of ill-usage and old age, he painted it over four times, so that when an upper coat might fail, there would be an under one to succeed it. There is, in this picture, the figure of a dog, which was completed in a very remarkable manner, inasmuch as accident had an equal share with design in the execution of it. The painter was of opinion that he had not given the proper expression to the foam at the mouth of the animal, panting for breath, as it was represented, while, with all other parts of the picture, a thing extremely difficult with him, he was perfectly satisfied.
The thing that displeased him was the evident traces of art in the execution of it, touches which did not admit of any diminution, and yet had all the appearance of being too laboured, the effect produced, being far removed from his conception of the reality. The foam, in fact, bore the marks of being painted, and not of being natural secretion of the animal's mouth. Vexed and tormented by this dilemma, it being his wish to depict truth itself, and not something that only bore a semblance of truth, he effaced it again and again, changed his pencil for another, and yet by no possibility could satisfy himself. At last, quite out of temper with an art which, in spite of him, would still obtrude itself, he dashed his sponge against the vexatious spot.
When, behold, The sponge replaced the colours that it had just removed, exactly in accordance with his utmost wishes, and thus did chance represent nature in a painting. Following his example, Nelsis, it is said, succeeded in representing the foam at a horse's mouth, for, on one occasion, when engaged in painting a man holding in a pair of horses and soothing them with his voice, he also dashed his sponge against the picture with a view of producing a like effect. It was on account of this aeolysis, which he was apprehensive of destroying, that King Demetrius forbore to set fire to the only side of the city of Rhodes by which it was capable of being taken, and thus, in his anxiety to spare a picture, did he lose his only opportunity of gaining a victory.
The dwelling of Phrytogenes at this period was situated in a little garden in the suburbs, or, in other words, in the midst of the camp of Demetrius. The combats that were taking place made no difference whatever to the artist, and in no way interrupted his proceeding with the works which he had commenced, until at last he was summoned before the king, who inquired how he could have the assurance thus to remain without the walls. Because I know, was his answer, that you are waging war with the Rodians and not with the arts. Upon this, the king, delighted at having the opportunity of protecting the hand which he had thus spared, ordered a guard to be placed at his disposal for the special purpose of his protection.
In order, too, that he might not distract the artist's attention by sending for him too often, he would often call, an enemy albeit, to pay him a visit, and, abandoning his aspirations for victory, in the midst of arms and the buttering down of walls, would attentively examine the compositions of the painter. Even to this day, the story is still attached to the picture which he was then engaged upon, to the effect that Protogenes painted it beneath the sword. It is his sutter, known as the Annapavomonos, in whose hand, to mark the sense of security that he felt, the painter has placed a pair of pipes. Protogenes executed also a cydebi, a tlepolemus, a portrait of Feliscus, the tragic poet, in an attitude of meditation, an athlete, a portrait of King Antigonus and one of the mother of Aristotle.
It was this philosopher, too, who advised him to paint the exploits of Alexander the Great as being certain to be held in everlasting remembrance. The impulse, however, of his natural disposition, combined with a certain artistic caprice, led him in preference to adopt the various subjects which had just been mentioned. His last works were representations of Alexander and the god Pan. He also executed some figures in bronze, as already stated. At the same period also lived Asclepiodorus, who was greatly admired by Apelles for his proportions. The tyrant Mnason paid him for his picture of the twelve gods at the rate of thirty mine for each divinity. This same Mnason also paid Theomnusetus twenty mine for each of his heroes.
In addition to these, it is only proper to mention Nicomachus, the son and disciple of Aristaeus. He painted a rape of Proserpina, a picture that was formerly in the temple of Minerva in the capital, above the shrine of Juventus. Another picture of his was to be seen also in the capital, placed there by the Roman general Plankus. A victory soaring aloft in a chariot. He was the first painter who represented Ulysses wearing the pillows. He painted also an Apollo and Diana, the mother of the god seated on a lion. The fine picture of the Bacchantes. With Satyrs moving stealthily towards them. and Ascylla, now at Rome, in the Temple of Peace. No painter ever worked with greater rapidity than Nicomachus.
Indeed, it is said that on one occasion, having entered into an engagement with Aristoteles, the tyrant of Sicyon, to paint within a given time the monument which he was raising to the memory of the poet Telastis, the artist only arrived a few days before the expiration of the term, upon which the tyrant was so angry that he threatened to punish him. However, in the few days that were left, Nicomachus, to the admiration of all, completed the work with equal promptitude and success. Among his pupils were his brother Ariston, his son Aristides, and Philoxenus of Eretria, who painted for King Cassander a picture representing one of the battles between Alexander and Darius, a work which may bear comparison with any.
He also painted a picture in grotesque, representing three Sileni at their revels. Imitating the celerity of execution displayed by his master, he introduced a more sketchy style of painting, executed in a comparatively offhand manner. To these artists, Nicophenes has also been added, an elegant and finished painter to whom, for gracefulness, few can be compared, but for a severe and tragic style far inferior to Zuxi's Oropiles. Perseus also belongs to this period, a pupil of Apiolis, who dedicated to him his work on painting. Aristides of Thebes had for pupils his sons Niseras and Ariston. By the latter of this artist there is a satyr crowned with a chaplet and holding a goblet. Two of his pupils were Antorides and Euphraenor, of the latter of whom we shall have to make mention again.
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25 25 - Book 35, Chapters 37 to 42. Other kinds of painting. Encaustic painting. Colouring of tissues. 27:10
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 25, Book 35, Chapters 37 to 42. Chapter Thirty-seven, various other kinds of painting. We must now, however, make some mention of those artists who acquired fame by the pencil in an inferior style of painting. Among these was Paraikos, inferior to few of the painters in skill. I am not sure that he did injustice to himself by the choice of his subjects, seeing that, although he adopted in a humble walk, He still attained in that walk the highest reputation. His subjects were barber's shops, cobbler's stalls, jackasses, eatables, and the like, and to these he was indebted for his epithet, ripotographos. His paintings, however, are exquisitely pleasing, and have sold at higher prices than the very largest works of many masters.
On the other hand, again, as Farrell tells us, A single picture by Serapio covered the whole space of the Bulostridis, beneath the old shops where it was exhibited. This artist was very successful in painting stage scenery, but was unable to depict the human form. Dionysius, on the contrary, painted nothing but men, and hence it was that he had the surname, Anthagrope Graphos. Calicles also painted some small pictures. And Colottes executed some small works in the comic styles. Both of these styles were adopted by Antiphilus, who painted a very fine Hesioin, and of Philip and Alexander with Minerva, now in the school of the porticos of Octavia. In the portico of Philippus, also, there is a father, Lieber, by him, and Alexander when a child, and Hippolytus alarmed at the bull, which is rushing upon him, and in the portico of Pompeius, We have his Cadmus and Europa.
On the other hand, again, he painted figure in a ridiculous costume, known Joscoli as Gryllis. And hence, it is that pictures of this class are generally known as Gryllis. Antiphilus was a native of Egypt, and received instruction in the art from Sidermus. It would not be right to pass in silence the painter of the temple at Ardea, the more particularly as he was honored with the citizenship at that place. and with the following inscription in verse upon one of the paintings which he executed there. These paintings, worthy of this worthy place, Temple of Juno, Queen and Wife of Jove, Plotius Marcus, from Allalia, made, may Ardea now and ever praise him for his skill. These lines are written in ancient Latin characters.
Luteus, too, who lived in the time of the late Emperor Augustus, must not be allowed to pass without some notice. For he was the first to introduce the fashion of covering the walls of our houses with most pleasing landscapes, representing villas, porticos, ornamental gardening, woods, groves, hills, fishponds, canals, rivers, seashores, and anything else one could desire, vary with figures of persons walking, sailing, or proceeding to their villas on asses or in carriages. Then, too, there are others to be seen fishing, fowling, or gathering in the vintage. In some of his decorations there are fine villas to be seen, and roads to them across the marshes, with women making bargains to be carried across on men's shoulders, who move along, slipping at every step and tottering beneath their load, with numberless other objects of a similar nature, redolent of mirth and of the most amusing ingenuity.
It was this artist, too, who first decorated our uncovered edifices with representations of maritime cities, A subject which produces a most pleasing effect, and at a very trifling expense. But as for fame, that has been reserved solely for the artists who have painted pictures, a thing that gives us all the more reason to venerate the prudence displayed by the men of ancient times. For with them, it was not the practice to decorate the walls of houses for the gratification of the owners only, Nor did they lavish all their resources upon a dwelling which must of necessity always remain a fixture in one spot, and in the midst of no removal and clades of conflagration. Protagonese was content with the college in his little garden.
Apelles had no paintings on the plaster of his walls, it not being the fashion in their day to color the party walls of houses from top to bottom. With all those artists, art was ever watchful for the benefit of whole cities only. And in those times a painter was regarded as a common property of all. Shortly before the time of the late Emperor Augustus, Aurelius was in high esteem at Rome, and with fair reason had he not profaned the art by a disgraceful piece of profanity. For, being always in love with some woman or other, it was his practice, in painting goddesses, to give them the features of his mistresses. Hence it was that there was always some figures of prostitutes to be seen in his pictures.
More recently lived Amulius, a grave and serious personage, but a painter in the florid style. By this artist, there was a minerva, which had the appearance of always looking at the spectators from whatever point it was viewed. He only painted a few hours each day, and then with the greatest gravity, for he always kept the toga on, even in the midst of his implements. The Golden Palace of Nero was the prison house of this artist's productions. And hence it is that there are so few of them to be seen elsewhere. Next in repute to him were Cornelius Pinus and Audius Priscus, who painted the temple of honor and that of virtue, on their restoration by the emperor Vespotianus Augustus. Priscus approaches more closely to the ancient masters.
Chapter 38. An Effectful Way of Putting a Stop to the Singing of Birds I must not omit here, in reference to a painting, a celebrated story that is told by Lapidus. During the Triumvirate, when he was entertained by the magistrates of a certain place, he had lodgings given to him in a house that was woolly surrounded by trees. The next day he complained to them in a threatening tone that he had been unable to sleep for the singing of birds there. Accordingly, they had a dragon painted on pieces of parchment of the greatest length that could possibly be obtained Chapter 39. Artists who have painted in acoustics or wax, with either the crestrum or the pencil. It is not agreed who was the inventor of the art of painting and waxed in an encaustic.
Some think it was the discovery of the painter Aristides. And some think it was afterwards brought to perfection by Proxoteles. But there are encaustic paintings in existence, of a somewhat prior date to them, those by Polygnotus, for example, and by Nicanor and Arcesialus, natives of Paros. Elasippus, too, had inscribed upon a picture of his Aikina, the word, a thing that he certainly could not have done if the art of encaustic painting had not been then invented. Chapter 40 The first inventors of various kinds of painting. The greatest difficulties in the art of painting. The several varieties of painting. The first artist that painted ceilings. When arced roofs were first painted. The marvelous price of some pictures.
It is said, too, that Pamphilis, the instructor of Apeles, not only painted in encaustic, but also instructed Pauzius of Sisykon in the art. The first who rendered himself distinguished in this branch. Posseus was the son of Braites, by whom he was originally instructed in the art of painting. He retouched also with the pencil some walls at thespiae, then undergoing repair, which had formerly been painted by Polygnotus. Upon instituting a comparison, however, it was considered that he was greatly inferior, this kind of painting not being in his line. It was he, too, who first thought of painting ceilings, nor had it been the practice before his day to use this kind of decoration for arced roofs.
He painted many small pictures also, miniatures of children more particularly, a thing which, according to the interpretation put it upon by his rivals, was owing to the peculiarly slow process of encaustic painting. The consequence was that, being determined to give a memorable proof of his celerity of execution, he completed a picture in the space of a single day, which was thence called the haemorrhysios, representing the portrait of a child. In his youth, he was enamored by Glychera, his fellow-townswoman, the first inventor of chaplets, and in his rivalry of the skill shown by her, he achieved so much success in the encaustic art As to reproduce the almost numberless tints displayed by flowers.
At a later period, he painted her, seated, with a chaplet on, and thus produced one of the very finest of his pictures, known as the Stephani Plocos by some, and as the Stephanopoulos by others. From the circumstance that Lycura has supported herself in her poverty by selling these chaplets. A copy of this picture, usually known as an apographon, was purchased by L. Lucullus at Athens during the festival of Dionysia, at the price of two talents. Posseus also painted some large pictures, the sacrifice of oxen, for instance, which used to be seen in the portico of Pompeius. In this painting, he invented several improvements, which many artists have since imitated, but none with the same success.
Although in the picture it was particularly his desire to give an impression of the length of the ox, he painted it with the front view, and not sideways, and still has caused the large dimensions of the animal to be fully understood. And then, too, whereas all other painters color in white such parts as they wish to have the appearance of being prominent, and in black such proportions are as intended to remain in the background, he has painted the whole of the ox a black color, It has shown the dimensions of the body which throws the shadow by the medium of the shadow itself, thus evincing a wonderful degree of skill in showing relief upon a coat painted with a single color, and conveying an impression of uniform solidity upon a broken ground.
It was at Sisykon also that Posse passed his life, a city which for a long time continued to be the native place of painting. Ultimately, All the paintings belonging to that place were sold by public auction for the discharge of the debts owing by the city, and were transferred to Rome in the Edelship of Scaris. Next to him, in the 104th Olympiad, Euphranor the Istuthmian distinguished himself far beyond all others, an artist who has already been mentioned in our account of the statuaries. He executed some colossal figures also, and some statues in marble. And he chased some drinking vessels, being studious and laborious in the highest degree, excellent in every branch, and at all times equal to himself.
This artist seems to have been the first to represent heroes with becoming dignity, and to have paid particular attention to symmetry. Still, however, in the generality of instances, he has made the body slight in proportion to the head and limbs. He composed some treatises also upon symmetry and colors. His works are, in Equestrian Combat, The Twelve Gods, and A Theseus, with reference to which he remarked that the Theseus of Parhasius had been fed upon roses, but his own upon beef. There are also at Ephesus some famous pictures by him, and Ulysses, in his feigned madness, yoking together an ox and a horse, men, in an attitude of meditation, wearing the polyam, and a warrior sheathing his sword.
And at the same time also Floris Caedias, for whose pictures of the Argonauti, the orator Hortensius, paid 144,000 sesterces, and a shrine constructed expressly for its reception on the essay at Haskulam. There was also an Antidotus, a pupil of Euphraenor, by whom there is, at Athens, a combatant armed with a shield, a wrestler also, and a trumpeter, a work which has been considered a most exquisite production. Antidotus, as a painter, was more careful in his works than prolific, and his coloring was of a severe style. His principal glory was his having been the instructor of Nicias, of Athens, who was a most careful painter of female portraits, and a strict observer of light and shade, making it his especial care that the figures in his pictures should appear in the boldest relief.
His works are, Anemia, which was brought from Asia to Rome by Solanus, and was placed in the Curia, as already stated, of Father Liber, in the Temple of Concord, Aehyacathus, which the Emperor Augustus was so delighted with that he took it away with him after the capture of Alexandria, for which reason also it was consecrated in the Temple of Augustus, by the Emperor Tiberius in the Danai. At Ephesus, there is a tomb by him of Omega Beisus, or priest of the Ephesian Diana, and at Athens, a representation of the Nicomontia of Homer, which last he declined to sell to King Attalus for sixty talents, and in preference, so rich was he, made a present of it to his own native place. He also executed some large pictures, among which there are a Calypso, an Io, an Andromeda, A very fine Alexander in the porticos of Pompeius, and a calypso seated.
To this painter also, there are some pictures of cattle attributed, and in his dogs he has been remarkably successful. It was this Nicias, with reference to whom, Praxiteles, when asked with which all of his works and marble he was the best pleased, made answer, those to which Nicias has set his hand. So highly did he esteem the coloring of that artist. It has not been satisfactorily ascertained whether it is this artist or another of the same name that some writers have placed in the Hundred and Twelfth Olympiad. With Nicias has been compared, and indeed sometimes preferred to him, Athenion of Maronia, a pupil of Glacion of Corinth. In his coloring he is more somber than Nicias, and yet with all his somberness more pleasing, so much so indeed that in his paintings shines forth the extensive knowledge which he possessed of the art.
He painted in the temple of Elysius, of Pylarchus, and at Athens, a family group, which has been known as the Syngenicon, and Achilles also, concealed in a female dress, and Ulysses detecting him, a group of six whole-length figures in one picture, and a work which has contributed to his fame more than any other, a groom leading a horse. Indeed, If he had not died young, there would have been no one comparable to Athenion in painting. Heraclides II of Makedon has some repute as an artist. At first he was a painter of ships, but afterwards, on the capture of King Perseus, he removed to Athens, where at the same period was also Metrodorus, who was both a painter and a philosopher, and of considerable celebrity in both branches.
Hence it was that when El Paulus Aemilius, after the conquest of Perseus, Requested the Athenians to send him the most esteemed philosopher for the education of his children, and a painter to represent his triumph. They made choice of Metrodorus, declaring that he was eminently suited for either purpose, a thing which Paulus admitted to be the case. To Mamacus of Byzantium, in the time of the dictator Caesar, painted in Ajax and Amadea, which were placed by Caesar in the temple of Venus Genetrix, having been purchased at the price of 80 talents. The value of the Attic talent being, according to M. Barrow, equivalent to 6,000 denarii. An Arrestus, also by Timomachus, and Nifiginia, in Taurus, and Lichthion, the teacher of gymnastics, are equally praised.
A noble family also, and two men clothed in the polyam, and about to enter into conversation, the one standing, the other in a sitting posture. It is in his picture, however, of the Gorgon that the art appears to have favored him most highly. Aristolos, the son and pupil of Posseos, was one of the painters in a more severe style. Thereby him, an eponymous, a Pericles, a Medea, a Theseus, an emblematical picture of the Athenian people in a sacrifice of oxen. Some persons, too, are pleased with the careful style of Nicophanes, who is also a pupil of Posseos, a carefulness, however, which only artists can appreciate, as in other respects he was harsh in his colors and too lavish of silk. As in his picture, for example, of the Scopolis with the daughters Hygia, Igle, and Panachia, his Jason and his sluggard, known as the Ocnes, a man twisting her rope at one end as an ass nods at another.
As to Socrates, his pictures are, with good reason, universally esteemed. Having now mentioned the principal painters in Ivor's branch, I must not pass in silence those who occupy the next rank. Aristocles decorated the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Antipholus is highly praised for his picture of a boy blowing a fire, which illumines an apartment handsomely furnished, and throws a light upon the features of the youth, a spinning-room, with women plying their respective tasks, and a king, Ptolemus, hunting. But his most famous picture is the satire, clad in a panther's skin, and known as the Pascapulon. Aristophan has painted an innocuous, wounded by the boar, with a stepali, the sharer of his grief.
In a picture with numerous figures representing Priam, Helena, Credulity, Ulysses, Deaphobus, and Gullae, Andropos has painted a skyless cutting-weight anchors of the Persian fleet, and Ardomon Adanae, with robbers and myration, a queen's Drotonicae, and a Hercules and Dianaria. But the finest of all this artist's work are now those in the buildings of Octavia. A Hercules ascending to heaven with the sanction of the gods from his funeral pile upon Mount Eda in Doris. In the story of Lamedon and his bargaining with Hercules and Neptune, Akiamus has painted Deoxapes, who was victorious in the Pancratium at Olympia, without raising the dust, a victory known to the Greeks as being gained a conidy.
Conus painted Pedigrees. Cecilichos, a pupil of Apeles, was famous for a bull-ass picture of his representing Jupiter in labor with Bacchus, with a meteor on his head and crying like a woman in the midst of the goddesses, who were acting as midwives. Cleon distinguished himself by his codmas and Cecidimese by its capture of Eccalia and his Laodomia. Cecilichos became notorious for the insult which she offered to Queen Stratinocche. For, upon failing to meet with an honorable recession for her, he painted her, romping with a fisherman, for whom, according to common report, she had conceived an ardent affection. After exhibiting this picture in the harbor of Ephesus, he at once set sail and escaped.
The queen, however, would not allow of its removal, the likeliness of the two figures being so admirably respected. Crotinus, the comic writer, painted at Athens in the Poppeian there. Of Eutychides, there is a victory riding a chariot drawn by two horses. Eudorus is famous for its dramatic scenery. He executed some statues in bronze also. By Hippas, there is a Neptune in victory. Hebron painted a picture of friendship and concord, and several figures of divinities. Leon Tiscus, an erotus with the trophies of victory and a singing girl. Leon, a portrait of Sappho, and Nearchus, a Venus attended by cupids and graces. and Hercules, sorrowing and repentant at the sad results of his madness. Nyalgius, a remarkably ingenious and inventive artist, painted a Venus.
On one occasion, when he had to represent a naval engagement between the Persians and Egyptians, wishing it to be understood that it took place on the river Nihilus, the waters of which are similar in appearance to those of the sea, he employed an emblem to disclose that which would not admit of expression by art. For he painted an ass drinking on the shore, and a crocodile lying in wait for him. Aeneas has painted a family group, a philiscus, a painter's studio with a boy blowing the fire, Philarion, a Skyla, Simonides, an Agartharchus, and a Manesimus, a youth reposing, a fuller's shop, a person celebrating the quinquatria, and a nemesis of great merit. By Theogorus, there is a man anointing himself, a picture of the murder of Aegisthus, And Clemenostra by Orestes.
In a representation of the Trojan War, in a series of paintings now at Rome, in the Porticos of Philippus, a Cassandra also in the Temple of Concord, a Leontum, the mistress of a Picurus, in an attitude of meditation, and a King Demetrius. Theonis painted the frenzy of Orestes, and a Themarius placing on the lyre. Teriscus, a Discoebolus, a Clemenestra, a pan in miniature, Apollonikus claiming the sovereignty. And speaking of these artists, I must not omit to mention one memorable circumstance. Aragones, who was color grinder to the painter, Nyelcus, himself made such progress in the art as to leave a very celebrated pupil, Pocsius, the brother of Aigonida, the modeler. It is also a very singular fact, and one well deserving of remark, that the last works of these artists, their unfinished paintings, in fact, are held in greater admiration than their completed works.
The Iris of Aristides, for example, the Tindinare of Nicomachus, the Dimaeia of Timomachus, and the Venus of Apilles, already mentioned. For in such works as these, we not only see the outline depicted in the very thoughts of the artist express, but have the composition additionally commended to our notice by the regretts which we must necessarily feel on finding the hand that commenced it arrested by death. There are still some other artists who, by no means without can only be noticed here in a summary manner. Carmentides, a pupil of Euphronor, Dinosodorus of Colophon, Dicagogenes, a contemporary of King Demetrius, Euthymides, Heraclides of Makedon, Melo of Soli, A pupil of the satuary Pyramarchus, Nesithius of Sisython, Nesidamus, the son and pupil of Aristotendes, Nesus, son of Habron, Polyamene of Alexandria, Theodorus of Samos and Stadeus, pupils of Nicostesnes, and Zeno of Sisython, a pupil of Neocles.
There have been some female painters also. Timuride, the daughter of Micon, painted a Diana at Ephesus, one of the very oldest panel paintings known. Irene, daughter and pupil of the artist Cartanus, painted a figure of a girl, now an Alesius, a Calypso, an aged man, the juggler Theodorus, and Alcistanus, the dancer. Aristarite, daughter and pupil of Nearchars, painted an Escoplis. Aia of Sisychus, who always remained single, painted that room in the youth of M. Borro, worn with a brush, and with greater graver upon ivory, her subjects being female portraits mostly. At Naples, there was a large picture by her, the portrait of an old woman, as also a portrait of herself, taken by the aid of a mirror.
There was no painter superior to her for expedition, while at the same time her artistic skill was such that her work sold at much higher prices than those of the most celebrated portrait painters of her day, Sopolis, namely, and Dionysius, with whose pictures our galleries are filled. One Olympios painted also, but nothing is known relative to her, except that she had autobulus for a pupil. Chapter 41. Encaustic Painting. In ancient times, there were but two methods of encaustic painting, in wax and on ivory, with the sestrum or pointed graver. When, however, this art came to be applied to the painting of ships of war, a third method was adopted, that of melting the wax colours and laying them on with a brush while hot.
Painting of this nature applied to vessels will never spoil from the action of the sun, winds, or salt water. Chapter 42. The Coloring of Tissues. In Egypt, too, they employ a very remarkable process for the coloring of tissues. After pressing the material, which is white at first, they saturate it, not with colors, but with mordants that are calculated to observe color. This done, the tissues, still unchanged in appearance, are plunged into a cauldron of boiling dye and are removed the next moment fully colored. It is a singular fact, too, that although the dye in the pan is of one uniform color, the material, when taken out of it, is of various colors, according to the nature of the mordants that have been respectively applied to it.
These colors, too, will never watch out. Thus, the dye pan, which under ordinary circumstances No doubt, would have been made but one color of several, if colored tissues had been put into it. It's here made to yield several colors from a single dye. At the same moment that it dyes the tissues, it boils in the color, and it is in the color.
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26 26 - Book 35, Chapters 43 to 49. The art of modelling. Pottery. Brick walls. 17:57
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 26, Book 35. Chapters 43 to 49. Chapter 43. The inventors of the art of modeling. On painting we have now said enough, and more than enough, but it will be only proper to append some accounts of the plastic art. Butades, a potter of Sicilian, was the first invented at Corinth, the art of modeling portraits in the earth which he used in his trade. It was through his daughter that he made the discovery who, being deeply in love with a young man about to depart on a long journey, traced the profile of his face, as then upon the wall by the light of the lamp. Upon seeing this, her father filled in the outline by compressing clay upon the surface, and so made a face in relief, which he then hardened by fire along with other particles of pottery.
This model, it is said, was preserved in the Nymphium at Corinth, until the destruction of that city by Mummius. Others again assert that the first inventors of the plastic art were Rokas and Theodorus at Samos, a considerable period before the expulsion of the Bacchiadae from Corinth. And that Dameratis, on taking to flight from that place and settling in Euturia, where he became father of Tarquinius, who was ultimately king of the Roman people, was accompanied thither by the modellers Eucere, Diopis, and Eugramis, by whose agency the art was first introduced into Italy. Butades first invented the method of coloring plastic compositions by adding red earth to the material, or else modeling them in red chalk.
He, too, was the first to make masks on the outer edges of gutter tiles upon the roofs of buildings, in low relief and known as prastipa at first, but afterwards in high relief or ectipa. It was in these designs, too, that the ornaments on the pediments of temples originated, and from this invention, modelers first had their name of plastai. Chapter 44. Who was the first to mold figures in imitation of the features of living persons or of statues? The first person who expressed the human features by fitting a mold of plaster upon the face, and then improving it by pouring melted wax into the cast, was Lysistratus of Sicyon, brother of Lysippus, already mentioned. It was he, in fact, who first made it his study to give a faithful likeness, for before his time Artists only thought how to make their portraits as handsome as possible.
The same artist, too, was the first who thought of making models for statues, a method which afterwards became so universally adopted that there could be neither figure nor statue made without its model in clay. Hence, it would appear that the art of modeling in clay is more ancient than that of molding in bronze. Chapter 45. The Most Famous Modelers. The most celebrated modelers were Damophilus and Gorogossus, who were painters as well. These artists adorned with their works in both kinds the Temple of Ceres and the Circus Maximus at Rome, with an inscription in Greek, which stated that the decorations on the right hand were the workmanship of Damophilus, and those on the left of Gorogossus.
Varro says that, before the construction of this temple, everything was Tuscan in the temples, and that when the temple was afterwards repaired, The painted coatings on the walls were cut away in tablets and enclosed in frames, but that the figures on the pediments were dispersed. Calcopheles, too, executed at Athens some works in unbaked earth, on the spot which, from his manufactory, has since obtained the name Ceramicus. M. Varel states that he knew an artist at Rome, posses by name, who executed fruits, grapes, and fish, with such exactness that it was quite impossible by only looking at them to distinguish them from the reality. He speaks very highly also of Archisalis, who is on terms of intimacy with Lucius Lucullus, and whose models in plaster used to sell at a higher rate among artists themselves than the works of others.
He informs us also that it was by this modeler that the Venus Denatrix in the form of Caesar was executed. It having been erected before completion, in the great haste that there was to consecrate it. That the same artist had made an agreement with Lucullus to execute a figure of felicity at the price of 60,000 cesterces, the completion of which was prevented by their death, and that Octavius, a Roman of equestrian rank, being desirous of a model for a mixing bowl, Arcasilos made him one in plaster at the price of one talent. Varro praises Paistatiles also. He used to say that the plastic art was the mother of chasing, statuary, and sculpture, and who, excellent as he was in each of these branches, never executed any work without first modeling it.
In addition to these particulars, he states that the art of modeling was anciently cultivated in Italy, Eutruria in particular. And that Vulcanius was summoned from Weii, and entrusted by Tarquinius Priscus with making the figure of Jupiter, which he intended to consecrate in the capital, that this Jupiter was made of clay, and that hence arose the custom of painting it with minium, and that the four-horse chariot so often mentioned upon the pediment of the temple was made of clay as well. We learn also from him that it was by the same artist that the Hercules was executed. which even to this day is named at Rome for the material of which it is composed. Such in those times were the most esteemed statues of the gods.
In small reason have we to complain of our forefathers for worshipping such divinities as these. For in their day there was no working of gold and silver, no, not even in the service of the gods. Chapter 46. Works and Pottery. Statues of this nature are still in existence at various places. At Rome, in fact, and in our municipal towns, we still see many such pediments of temples, wonderful too, for their workmanship, and from their artistic merit and long duration, more deserving of our respect than gold, and certainly far less baneful. At the present day even, in the midst of such wealth as we possess, we make our first libation at the sacrifice not from mere hindvases or vessels of crystals, but from ladles made of earthenware.
Bountest beyond expression is the earth. If we only consider in detail her various gifts. To admit all mention of the cereals, wine, fruits, herbs, shrubs, medicaments, and metals, bounties which she has lavished upon us and which have already passed under notice, her productions in the shape of pottery alone would more than suffice in their variety to satisfy our domestic wants. What with gutter tiles of earthenware, vats for receiving wine, pipes for conveying water, conduits for supplying baths, big tiles for roofs, Ricks for foundation, the productions too, of the Potter's Wheel, results all of them of an art which included King Numa to establish as a seventh company, that of the makers of earthenware.
Even more than this, many persons have chosen to be buried in coffins made of earthenware. M. Vero, for instance, who was interred in true Pythagorean style in the midst of leaves of myrtle, olive, and black poplar, Indeed, the greater part of mankind make use of earthen vases for this purpose. For the service of the table, the Samian pottery is even yet held in high esteem. That, too, of Redium in Italy still maintains its high character, while for their cups and for those only, the manufactories of Sorrentum, Osta, Palentia, Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamos in Asia are greatly esteem. The city of Trolleys, too, in Asia, and that of Mudena in Italy. Had their respective manufactures of earthenware.
Even by this branch of art, all localities rendered famous. Their productions, by the aid of the potter's wheel, becoming known to all countries, and conveyed by sea and by land to every quarter of the earth. At Eurythrae there are still shown, in a temple there, tube and phori, that were consecrated in consequence of the singular thinness of the material. They originated in a contest between master and his pupil, which of the two could make earthenware of the greatest thinness. The vessels of Kos are the most highly celebrated for their beauty, but those of Audrea are considered the most substantial. In relation to these productions of art, there are some instances of severity mentioned. Q. Cupionis, who we find, was condemned for bribery because he made present of an amphora of wine to a person who had the right of voting, to make luxury to, conduce in some degree to enhance her estimation of earthenware, tripartinium, As we learn from Fenestella, was the name given to the most exquisite course of dishes that was served up at the Roman banquets.
It consisted of one dish of myrnai, one of lupi, and a third of a mixture of fish. It's clear that the public manners were then already on the decline, though we still have a right to hold them preferable to those of the philosophers, even of Greece, seeing that the representatives of Aristotle, it is said, sold at the auction of his goods As many as seventy dishes of earthenware. It is already stated by us, when on the subject of birds, that a single dish cost the tragic actor, Isobis, one hundred thousand sesterces, much to the readers in denigdation know about, but by Hercules. Vitellius, when Emperor ordered a dish to be made, which was to cost a million of sesterces, and for the preparation of which a furnace had to be erected out in the fields.
Luxury have thought thus arrived at such a pitch of excess as to make earthenware even sell at higher prices than mere hindvessels. It was in reference to this circumstance that Mucionus, in his second consulship, when pronouncing one of his Torshens reproached the memory of Vitellius with his dishes as broad as the palm-tied march, not less deserving to be execrated than the poisoned dish of Esperonis, which, according to the accusation brought against him by Cassius Severus, caused the death of 130 guests. These works of artistic merit have confirmed celebrity on some cities even, Regium, for example, and Kumai. The priests of the mother of the gods, known as the Gali, deprived themselves of their virility with the piece of Samian pottery, the only means, if we believe M.
Caelius, of avoiding dangerous results. He it was, too, who recommended, when in weighing against certain abdominal practices, that the person guilty of them should have his tongue cut out in a similar manner, a reproach which would appear to have been leveled by anticipation against the same Vitellius. What is there that human industry will not devise? Even broken pottery has been utilized, it being found that, beaten to powder and tempered with lime, it becomes more solid and durable than other substances of a similar nature, forming the cement known as sigini in composition, so extensively employed for even making the pavement of houses. Chapter XLVII Various Kinds of Earth The Plotillian dusts, and other earths of which cements like stone are made.
But there are other resources also which are derived immediately from the earth. Who, indeed, cannot but be surprised at finding the most interior constitute parts of it, known as dust only, on the hills of the Ptole, forming a barrier against the waves of the sea, becoming changed into stone the moment of its immersion, and increasing in hardness from day to day, more particularly when mixed with the cement of Kumai. This is an earth, too, of a similar nature found in the districts about Sisychus. But there it is not a dust, but a solid earth, which is cut away in blocks of all sizes. and which, after being immersed in the sea, is taken out transformed into stone. The same thing may be seen also, it is said, in the vicinity of Cassandria, and at Syngos there is a spring of fresh water, which has the property of causing earth to petrify within the space of eight months.
Between Europas and Aulas, every portion of the land upon which the sea and roaches becomes transformed into solid rock. The finer portion of the sand of the river Nelis is not very different in its properties from the dust of Putoli, not indeed that it is used for breaking the force of the sea and withstanding the waves, but only for the purpose, forsooth, of subduing the body for the exercises of the palaestra. At all events, it was for this purpose that it used to be brought over for Petrobius, a freedman of the Emperor Nere. I find it stated also that Craterus, Leonatus, and Meleaguer, generals of Alexander the Great, had this sand transported along with their munitions of war. But I forbear to enlarge any further upon this subject, or indeed by Hercules, upon these preparations of earthen wax of which the serramata are made, so much employed by our youth in their exercise of the body at the cost of all vigor of the mind.
Chapter 48 Formacean Walls And then, besides have we not in Africa and in Spain walls of earth known as Formacean walls? From the fact that they are molded rather than built, by enclosing the earth within a frame of boards constructed on either side, these walls will last for centuries, are proof against rain, wind, and fire, and are superior in solidity to any cement. Even at this day, Spain still beholds watch-towers that were erected by Hannibal, and turrets of earth placed on the very summits of her mountains. It is from the same source, too, that we derive the substantial materials so well adopted for forming the earthworks of our camps and embankments against the impetuous violence of rivers.
What person, too, is unacquainted with the fact that partitions are made of hurdles coated with clay, and that walls are constructed out of unbreak bricks? Chapter 49. Walls of Brick. The Method of Making Bricks. Earth for making bricks should never be extracted from a sandy or gravelly soil, and still less from one that is stony, but from a stratum that is white and cretaceous, or else impregnated with red earth. If a sandy soil must be employed for the purpose, it should at least be male sand, and no other. This spring is the best season for making bricks, as at midsummer they are very apt to crack. For building, Bricks two years old are the only ones that are approved of, and the raw material of them should be well macerated before they are made.
There are three different kinds of bricks. The Lydian, which is in use with us, a foot and a half in length by a foot in breadth. The Tetraduron, and the Petraduron. The word douron being used by ancient Greeks to signify the palm, hence too, their word douron meaning a gift, because it is the hand that gives. These last two kinds, therefore, are named respectively from there being four and five palms in length, the breadth being the same. The smaller kind is used in Greece for private buildings, the larger for the construction of public edifices. In Pitane in Asia, and in the cities of Maxiola, a Calentum in farther Spain, there are breaks made which float in water when dry, the material being a sort of pumice earth, extremely good for the purpose when it can be made to unite.
The Greeks have always preferred walls of brick, except in those cases where they could find Sicily stone for the purposes of building. For walls of this nature will last forever if they are only built on the perpendicular. Hence it is that the Greeks have built their public edifices and their palaces of their kings of brick. The wall at Athens, for example, which faces Mount Himmatis, the temples of Jupiter and Hercules at Potri. Although the columns and architrives and the interior are of stone, the palace of King Ataulis at Trollez, the palace of Croces at Sardes, now converted into an islam for eight persons, and that of King Mazalus at Halachonarsus, edifices, all of them, still in existence.
Moraini and Varro, in their idolship, Had a fine fresco painting on the plaster of a wall at Lecce Daimon, cut away from the bricks and transported in wooden frames to Rome for the purpose of adorning the Commitium. Admirable as the work was as of itself, it was still more admired after being thus transferred. In Italy also, there are walls of brick at Arredium in Vivania. At Rome, there are no buildings of this description. Because a wall only a foot and a half in thickness would not support more than a single story, and by public ordinance has been enacted that no partition should exceed that thickness, nor, indeed, does the peculiar construction of our party walls admit it.
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27 27 - Book 35, Chapters 50 to 59. Sulphur, Bitumen, Alumen, earths and their medicinal purposes. Summary, Roman authors quoted, foreign authors quoted. 25:22
The Natural History, Vol. VII, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 27, Book 35, Chapters 50-59. Chapter 50 Sulphur and the several varieties of it. Let thus much be deemed sufficient on the subject of bricks. Among the other kinds of earth, though one of the most singular nature, perhaps, is sulphur, an agent of great power upon other substances. Sulphur is found in the Aeolian islands between Sicily and Italy, which are volcanic, as already stated, but the finest sulphur of all is that which comes from the Isle of Melos. It is obtained also in Italy, upon the range of hills in the territories of Neapolis and Campania, known as the Leucogei. When extracted from the mines there, it is purified by the agency of fire.
There are four kinds of sulphur. The first of which is live sulphur, known as apiron by the Greeks, and found in solid masses, or, in other words, in blocks. This, too, is the only sulphur that is extracted in its native state, the others being found in a state of liquorscence and requiring to be purified by being boiled in oil. This kind is green and transparent, and is the only sulphur that is used for medicinal purposes. A second kind is known as the Glebaseous sulphur, and is solely employed in the workshops of the Fullers. The third kind also? is only used for a single purpose, that of fumigating wool, a process which contributes very greatly to making the wool white and soft. Agula is the name given to it.
The fourth kind is used in the preparation of matches more particularly. In addition to these several uses, sulfur is of such remarkable virtue that if it is thrown upon the fire, it will at once detect, by the smell, whether or not a person is subject to epilepsy. Anaxileus used to employ this substance by way of pastime. Putting sulphur in a cup of wine, with some hot coals beneath, he would hand it round to the guests, the light given by it, while burning, throwing a ghastly paleness like that of death upon the face of itch. Its properties are colourific and maturative, in addition to which it disperses abscesses on the body. Hence it is that it is used as an ingredient in plastis and emollient poultices.
Applied to the loins and kidneys, with grease, when there are pains in those parts, it is marvellously effectual as a remedy. In combination with turpentine, it removes lichens on the face and leprosy, the preparation being known as harpax, from the celerity with which it acts upon the skin. For which reason, it ought to be removed every now and then. Employed as an electory, it is good for asthma, purulent expectorations, and stings inflicted by scorpions. Live sulphur, mixed with nitre, and then bruised with vinegar, and applied, causes morphe to disappear, and destroys nits in the hair. In combination, too, with sandorac and vinegar, it is good for diseases of the eyelids. Sulfur has its place among our religious ceremonies, being used as a fumigation for purifying houses.
Its virtues are also to be perceived in certain hot mineral waters, and there is no substance that ignites more readily a proof that there is in it a great affinity to fire. Lightning and thunder are attended with the strong smell of sulfur, and the light produced by them is of a sulfurous complexion. Chapter 51 Bitumen and the several varieties of it, 27 remedies. Nearly approaching to the nature of sulfur is that of bitumen, which in some places assumes the form of a slime, and in others that of an earth, a slime thrown up, as already stated, by a certain lake in Judea, and an earth found in the vicinity of Sidon, a maritime town of Syria. In both these states, it admits of being thickened and condensed.
There is also a liquid bitumen, that of Xeanthes, for example, and the bitumen that is imported from Babylon, which last kind is also white. The bitumen, too, of Apollonia is liquid. All these kinds in Greek have the one general name of Pisasphaltos, from their strong resemblance to a compound of Pichen bitumen. There is also found an unctuous liquid bitumen, resembling oil, in a spring at Agrigentum in Sicily, the waters of which are tainted by it. The inhabitants of the spot collect it on the panicles of reeds, to which it very readily adheres, and make use of it for burning in lamps as a substitute for oil, as also for the cure of each scab in beasts of burden. Some authorities include, among the bitumens, naphtha, A substance which we have already mentioned in the second book, but the burning properties which it possesses, and its susceptibility of igniting, render it quite unfit for use.
Bitumen, to be of good quality, should be extremely brilliant, heavy, and massive. It should also be moderately smooth, it being very much the practice to adulterate it with pitch. Its medicinal properties are similar to those of sulfur, it being naturally astringent, dispersive, contractive, and agglutinating. Ignited, it drives away serpents by the smell. Babylonian bitumen is very efficacious, it is said, for the cure of cataract and albugo, as also of leprosy, lichens, and pruriginous affections. Bitumen is employed, too, in the form of a liniment for gout, and every variety of it is useful for making bundle lines for eyelashes that are refractory and impede the sight. Applied topically with nitre, it is curative of toothache, and, taken internally with wine, it alleviates chronic coughs and difficulty of respiration.
It is administered in a similar manner for dysentery, and is very good for arresting looseness of the bowels. Taken internally with vinegar, it dissolves and brings away coagulated blood. It modifies pains also in the loins and joints, and applied with barley meal, it forms a peculiar kind of plaster to which it has given its name. It stances blood also, heals wounds, and unites the sinews when severed. Bitumen is administered by quartz and fevers. In doses of one drachma, to an equal quantity of hediosmos, the whole kneaded up with one obelisk of Myrrh. The smell of burnt bitumen detects a tendency to epilepsy, and applied to the nostrils with wine and castoreum, it dispels suffocations of the uterus.
Employed as a fumigation, it acts as a check upon procedence of the uterus, and, taken internally with wine, it has the effect of an amenagogue. Another use that is made of it is for coating the inside of copper vessels, each rendering them proof against the action of fire. It has been already stated that bitumen was formerly employed for staining copper and coating statues. It has been used too as a substitute for lime, the walls of Babylon, for instance, which are cemented with it. In the smithies, they are in the habit of varnishing iron and heads of nails with it, and of using it for many other purposes as well. Chapter 52. Alumen and the several varieties of it. Thirty-eight remedies. No less important, or indeed very dissimilar, are the uses that are made of alumen, by which name is understood a sort of brine which exudes from the earth.
Of these, too, there are several kinds. In Cyprus there is a white alumen and another kind of a darker colour. The difference, however, in their colour is but trifling in reality. Though the uses made of them are very dissimilar. The white liquid aluminum being employed for dyeing wool of bright colors, and the black, on the other hand, for giving wool a tawny or a sombre tint. Gold, too, is purified by the agency of black aluminum. Every kind of aluminum is a compound of slime and water, or, in other words, is a liquid product exuding from the earth, the concretion of it commencing in winter and being completed by the action of the summer sun. The portion of it which is the first matured is the whitest in appearance.
The countries which produce this substance are Spain, Egypt, Armenia, Macedonia, Pontus, Africa, and the islands of Sardinia, Mellus, Lipara and Strongly. The most esteemed, however, is that of Egypt, the next best being the produce of melos. Of this last kind there are also two varieties, the liquid almond and the solid. Liquid almond, to be good, should be of a limpid, milky appearance. When rubbed between the fingers it should be free from grit and productive of a slight sensation of heat. The name given to it is Forimon. The mode of detecting whether or not it has been adulterated is by the application of pomegranate juice, for, if genuine, it will turn black on combining with the juice. The other, or solid, aluminum is pale and rough in appearance and turns black on the application of nut galls, for which reason it is known by the name of paraforon.
Liquid aluminum is naturally astringent, endurative, and corrosive. Used in combination with honey, it heals ulcerations of the mouth, pimples, and pruriginous eruptions. The remedy, when thus used, is employed in the bath, the proportions being two parts of honey to one of almond. It has the effect also of checking and dispersing perspiration, and of neutralizing offensive odors of the armpits. It is taken, too, in the form of pills for affections of the spleen, and for the purpose of carrying off blood by the urine. Incomparated with nitro and melanthium, it is curative of each scub. There is one kind of solid alumine, known to the Greeks as schiston, which splits into filaments of a whitish color, for which reason some have preferred giving it the name of trichitis.
It is produced from the mineral ore known to us as chalchitis, from which copper is also produced, it being a sort of exudation from that mineral coagulated into the form of scum. This kind of alumen is less desiccative than the others, and is not so useful as a check upon bad humours of the body. Used, however, either in the form of a liniment or of an injection, it is highly beneficial to the ears, as also for ulcerations of the mouth and for toothache, if retained with the saliva in the mouth. It is employed also as a serviceable ingredient in compositions for the eyes and for the generative organs in either sex. The mode of preparing it is to roast it in crucibles until it has quite lost its liquid form.
There is another variety of almond also, of a less active nature, and known as Stronguli, which is again subdivided into two kinds. The fungus, which easily dissolves in any liquid and is looked upon as altogether worthless, and the porous. Which is full of small holes like a sponge, and in pieces of a globular form, more nearly approaching white aluminum appearance. It has a certain degree, too, of unctuousness, is free from grit, friable, and not apt to blacken the fingers. This last kind is calcined by itself upon hot coals, and mixed with any other substance until it is entirely reduced to ashes. The best kind of all, however, is that called melanin. As coming from the Isle of Melos, as already mentioned, none being more effectual for acting as an astringent, staining black and indurating, and none assuming a closer consistency.
It removes granulations of the eyelids and, in a calcined state, is still more efficacious for checking deflections of the eyes. In this last form, too, it is employed for the cure of pruriginous eruptions of the body. Whether taken internally or employed externally, it arrests discharges of blood, and if it is applied with vinegar to a part from which the hair has been first removed, it will change into a soft down the hair which replaces it. The leading properties of every kind of alumine is its remarkable astringency, to which, in fact, it is indebted for its name with the Greeks. It is for this property that the various kinds are, all of them, so remarkably good for the eyes. In combination with grease, they arrest discharges of blood, and they are employed in a similar manner for checking the spread of putrid ulcers and for removing sores upon the body of infants.
Alumin has a desiccative effect upon drobsical eruptions, and in combination with pomegranate juice, it removes diseases of the ears, malformed nails, indurations resulting from cicatrization, hung nails, and chalblains. Calcined with vinegar or nut galls, in equal proportions, it is curative of phagetene calcers, and, in combination with extracted juice of cabbage, of leprosy. Used in the proportion of one part of aluminum to two of salt, it arrests the progress of serpiginous eruptions, and an infusion of it in water destroys lice and other parasitical insects that infest the hair. Employed in a similar manner, it is good for burns, and in combination with the service part of pitch, for ferforaceous eruptions on the body.
It is used also as an injection for dysentery, and, employed in the form of a gargle, it braces the uvula and tonsillary glands. For all those maladies, which we have mentioned as being treated with the other kinds of valumin, that imported from mellus, be it understood, is still more efficacious. As to the other uses that are made of it for industrial purposes, such as preparing hides and wool, for example, they have been mentioned already. Chapter 53. SEMIAN EARTH. THREE REMEDIES. In succession to these, we shall now have to speak of various other kinds of earth, which are made use of, in medicine. Of SEMIAN EARTH there are two varieties, one known as collirium, the other by the name of aster.
To be in perfection, the first kind should be fresh, remarkably smooth, and glutinous to the tongue, the second being of a more solid consistency, and white. They are both prepared for use by being calcined and then rinsed in water, some persons giving the preference to the first. They are both of them useful for discharges of blood from the mouth, and are employed as an ingredient in plasters of a desiccative nature. They are used also in the preparation of ophthalmic compositions.
Chapter 54. The various kinds of Eretria. Of Eretria, or Eretrian earth, there are also the same number of varieties. One white, and the other of an ashy colour, this last being preferred in medicine. To be good, this earth should be of a soft consistency, and when rubbed upon copper, it should leave a violet tint. The virtues of eretria in a medicinal point of view, and the methods of using it, have been already mentioned in our description of the pigments. Chapter 55. The method of washing earths for medicinal purposes. All these earths, for we will take the present opportunity of mentioning it, are well washed in water, and then dried in the sun, after which they are again triturated in water, and left to settle.
These done, they are divided into tablets. They are usually boiled in earthen vessels, which are well shaken every now and then.
Chapter 56. Key and Earth. Three remedies. Selinusian Earth. Three remedies. Negitis. Nine remedies. Ampelitis. Four remedies. Among the medicinal substances there is the white earth of Chios also, the properties of which are the same as those of Samian earth. It is used more particularly as a cosmetic for the skin of females. The Selenusian earth being also employed for a similar purpose. This last is of a milk-white colour and melts very rapidly in water. Dissolved in milk, it is employed for whitening the plaster coats on walls.
Is very similar to Eretrine earth, only that it is found in larger masses and is of a glutinous consistency. Its effects are similar to those produced by chemolean earth, but are not so energetic. Ampelitis is an earth which bears a strong resemblance to bitumen. The test of its goodness is its dissolving in oil, like wax, and preserving its black color when submitted to the action of fire. Its properties are emollient and repercussive. For which reason, it is used in medicinal compositions, those known as Caliblephora more particularly, and in preparation for dyeing the hair. Chapter 57 Cretaceous earths used for scarring cloth Simolean earth, Nine Remedies Sardinian earth Umbrian earth, Saxum Of Cretaceous Earths, there are several varieties, and among them two kinds of chemolean earth employed in medicine, the one white and the other inclining to the tint of purpurism.
Both kinds, moistened with vinegar, have the effect of dispersing tumors and arresting defluxions. There are curative also for inflammatory swellings and imposthumes of the parotid glands, and applied topically, they are good for affections of the spleen and pustules of the body. With the addition of a phronytrum, oil of cypress, and vinegar, they reduce swellings of the feet, care being taken to apply the lotion in the sun, and at the end of six hours to wash it off with salt and water. In combination with wax and oil of cypress, Simolean earth is good for swellings of the testes. Cretaceous earths, too, are of a cooling tendency, and applied to the body in the form of a liniment, they act as a check upon excessive perspiration.
Taken with wine in the bath, they remove pimples of the body. The most esteemed of all these earths is that of Thessaly. It is found also in the vicinity of Boubon, in Lycia. Simolean earth is used also for another purpose, that of scouring cloth. As to the kind which is brought from Sardinia, and is known as sarda, it is used for white tissues only, and is never employed for coloured cloths. Indeed, this lust is held in the lowest estimation of all the Simolean earths. Whereas that of Umbria is more highly esteemed as also the kind generally known as saxum. It is a property of this lust to increase in weight by maceration. And it is by weight that it is usually sold, Sardinian earth being sold by measure.
Umbrian earth is only used for giving lesser to cloths. It will not be deemed out of place to give some further account here of this process, there being still in existence the Metylian law relative to Fuller's, an enactment which Gaius Flaminius and Lucius Aemilius, in their censorship, had passed by the people, so attentive to everything were our ancestors. The following, then, is the method employed in preparing cloth. It is first washed in an infusion of Sardinian earth and is then exposed to a fumigation with sulfur. This done, it is scoured with simolean earth, when the cloth has been found to be of a genuine color, it being very soon detected when it has been colored with spurious materials by its turning black and the colors becoming dispersed by the action of the sulfur.
Where the colours are genuine and rich, they are softened by the application of simolean earth, which brightens and freshens them also when they have been rendered sombre by the action of the sulphur. Saxum is better for white tissues after the application of sulphur, but to coloured cloths it is highly injurious. In Greece they used tymphean gypsum in place of simolean earth. Names of freed men who have either risen to power themselves, or have belonged to men of influence. There is another Cretaceous earth known as Argentaria, from the brightness which it imparts to silver. There is also the most inferior kind of chalk, which was used by the ancients for tracing the line of victory in the circus, and for marking the feet of slaves on sale that were brought from beyond sea.
Such, for instance, were Publilius Locius, the founder of our mimic scenes, his cousin, Menilius Antiochus, the first cultivator of astronomy, and Stabarius Eros, our first grammarian, all three of whom are ancestors so brought over in the same ship. But why mention these names, recommended as they are by the literary honors which they acquired? Other instances, too, Rome has beheld of persons rising to high positions from the slave market. Chrysogonus, for example, the freed man of Scylla. Amphion, the freed man of Quintus Catullus, the man who was the keeper of Lucullus. Demetrius, the freed man of Pompeius. And Ogi, the freed woman of Demetrius, were also of Pompeius himself, as some have supposed.
Hipparchus, the freed man of Marcus Antonius, as also Menes and Monocrates, freed man of Sextus Pompeius, and many others as well, whom it would be superfluous to enumerate, and who have enriched themselves at the cost of Roman blood and the license that results from proscription. Such is the mark that is set upon these droves of slaves which we see on sale, such the opobrium thrown upon them by a capricious fortune. And yet, some of these very men have we beheld in the enjoyment of such power and influence that the senate itself has decreed them, at the command of Agrippina, wife of the emperor Claudius, the decorations even of pretorship, all but honoured with the fasses and their laurels, in fact, and sent back in state to the very place from which they originally came, with their feet whitened with the slave-dealer's chalk.
Chapter 59 The earth of Galata, of Klypia, of the Bolares, and of Ebusus.
In addition to these, there are various other kinds of earth, endowed with peculiar properties of their own, and which have been already mentioned on former occasions. We may, however, take the present opportunity of again remarking the following properties. The earth of the island of Galata and of the vicinity of Klipea in Africa is fatal to scorpions, and that of the Balearic islands and of Ebusses kills serpents. Summary Remedies, Narratives, and Observations, 956. Roman authors quoted Fabius Vestalis, who wrote on painting. Foreign authors quoted. Theophristus.
Andreas, Heraclides, Diagoras, Botrys, Archidamus, Dionysius, Aristogenes, Democles, Mnacides, Xenocrates, the son of Xeno, Theomnestus.
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28 28 - Book 36, Chapters 1 to 4. Marble. Marble in public buildings. Marble columns. Sculptors in marble. 31:19
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Book 36, chapters 1 to 4.
Book thirty-six, The Natural History of Stones, Chapter One. Luxury displayed in the use of various kinds of marble. It now remains for us to speak of stones, or in other words, the leading folly of the day, to say nothing at all of our taste for gems and amber, crystal, and marine vases. For everything of which we have previously treated, down to the present book, may, by some possibility or other, have the appearance of having been created for the sake of man. But as to the mountains, nature has made those for herself, as a kind of bulwark for keeping together the bowels of the earth, as also for the purpose of curbing the violence of the rivers, of breaking the waves of the sea, and so by opposing to them the very hardest of her materials.
Putting a check upon those elements which are never at rest. And yet we must hew down these mountains forsooth and carry them off, and this for no other reason than to gratify our luxurious inclinations, heights which in former days it was reckoned a miracle even to have crossed. Our forefathers regarded as a prodigy the passage of the Alps, first by Hannibal, and more recently by the Cimbri. But at the present day these very mountains are cut asunder to yield us a thousand different marbles. Promontories are thrown open to the sea, and the face of nature is being everywhere reduced to a level. We now carry away the barriers that were designed for the separation of one nation from another. We construct ships for the transport of our marbles, and amid the waves, the most boisterous elements of nature, we convey the summits of the mountains to and fro.
A thing, however, that is even less unpardonable than to go on the search amid the regions of the clouds for vessels with which to cool our draughts, and to excavate rocks towering to the very heavens, in order that we may have the satisfaction of drinking from ice. Let each reflect, when he hears of the high prices set upon these things, when he sees these ponderous masses carted and carried away, how many there are whose life is passed far more happily without them. For what utility, or for what so-called pleasure, do mortals make themselves the agents, or more truly speaking, the victims of such undertakings, except in order that others may take their repose in the midst of variegated stones?
Just as though, too, the shades of night, which occupy one half of each man's existence, would forbear to curtail these imaginary delights.
Chapter Two. Who was the first to employ marble in public buildings? Indeed, while making these reflections, one cannot but feel ashamed of the men of ancient times, even. There are still in existence sensorial laws which forbid the kernels in the neck of swine to be served at table, dormice, too, and other things too trifling to mention, and yet there has been no law passed forbidding marble to be imported, or the seas to be traversed in search of it. It may possibly be observed that this was, because marble was not then introduced. Such, however, is not the fact. For in the idyllship of Emskarus, 360 columns were to be seen imported for the decorations of a temporary theater, to one that was destined to be in use for barely a single month.
And yet the laws were silent thereon, in a spirit of indulgence for the amusements of the public, no doubt. But then why such indulgence? Or how do vices more insidiously steal upon us than under the plea of serving the public? By what other way, in fact, did ivory, gold, and precious stones first come into use with private individuals? Can we say that there is now anything that we have reserved for the exclusive use of the gods? However, be it so, let us admit of this indulgence for the amusements of the public. But still, why did the laws maintain their silence when the largest of these columns, pillars of Leuculean marble, as much as eight and thirty feet in height, were erected in the atrium of Skarus?
A thing, too, that was not done privately or in secret, for the contractor for the public sewers compelled him to give security for the possible damage that might be done in the carriage of them to the palladium. When so bad an example as this was set, would it not have been advisable to take some precautions for the preservation of the public morals? And yet the laws still preserved their silence, when such enormous masses as these were being carried past the earthenware pediments of the temples of the gods to the house of a private individual. Chapter Three. Who was the first to erect columns of foreign marble at Rome? And yet it cannot be said that Scarus, by way of a first essay in Vice, took the city by surprise, in a state of ignorance and totally unguarded against such evils as these.
Already had El-Crasus, the orator, he who was the first to possess pillars of foreign marble, and in this same Palladium too received from Ambrutus, on the occasion of a dispute, the nickname of the Palatine Venus, for his indulgence in this kind of luxury. The material, I should remark, was Hymetian marble, and the pillars were but six in number, and not exceeding some twelve feet in height. Our forefathers were guilty of this omission, no doubt, because morals were universally contaminated, and seeing that things which had been interdicted had been forbidden in vain, they preferred the absence of laws to laws that were no better than a dead letter. These particulars, and others in the sequel, will show that we are so far improved.
For who is there at the present day that has in his atrium any such massive columns as these of Skarus? But before proceeding to treat of the several varieties of this material, it will be as well to mention the various artists and the degrees of estimation in which they are held, who have worked in marble. We will, therefore, proceed to review the sculptors who have flourished at different periods.
Chapter Four. The first artists who excelled in the sculpture of marble and the various periods at which they flourished, the Mausoleum in Caria, the most celebrated sculptors and works in marble, 225 in number.
The first artists who distinguished themselves in the sculpture of marble were Dipaenas and Shiles, natives of the Isle of Crete. At this period, the Medians were still in power, and Cyrus had not begun to reign in Persia. Their date being about the 50th Olympiad. They afterwards repaired to Shikon, a state which for a length of time was the adopted country of all such pursuits as these. The people of Shikon had made a contract with them for the execution of certain statues of the gods, but before completing the work, the artists complained of some injustice being done them, and retired to Aetolia. Immediately upon this, the state was afflicted with sterility and famine. And dreadful consternation was the result.
Upon inquiry being made as to a remedy for these evils, the Pythian Apollo made answer that Dipaeinus and Chiles must complete the statues of the gods, an object which was attained at the cost of great concessions and considerable sums of money. The statues were those of Apollo, Diana, Hercules, and Minerva, the last of which was afterwards struck by lightning. Before these artists were in existence, there had already appeared Melus, a sculptor of the Isle of Chios, and in succession to him, his son Michades and his grandson Archemus, whose sons Bupalus and Athenis, afterwards attained the highest eminence in the art. These last were contemporaries of the poet Eponox, who, it is well known, lived in the 60th Olympiad.
Now, if a person only reckons going upwards that the art of sculpture must have necessarily originated about the commencement of the era of the Olympiads. Eponox, being a man notorious for his ugliness, the two artists, by way of joke, exhibited a statue of him for the ridicule of the public. Indignant at this, the poet emptied upon them all the bitterness of his verses, to such an extent, indeed, that as some believed they were driven to hang themselves in despair. This, however, was not the fact. For, at a later period, these artists executed a number of statues in the neighboring islands. At Delos, for example, with an inscription subjoined to the effect that Chios was rendered famous not only by its vines, but by the works of the sons of Archermus as well.
The people of Lasos still show a Diana that was made by them, and we find mention also made of a Diana at Chios, the work of their hands. It is erected on an elevated spot. And the features appear stern to a person as he enters, and joyous as he departs. At Rome, there are some statues by these artists on the summit of the temple of the Palatine Apollo, and indeed in most of the buildings that were erected by the late Emperor Augustus. At Delos, on the Isle of Lesbos, there were formerly some sculptures by their father to be seen. Ambracia II, Argos, and Cleone were filled with productions of the sculptor Depaenus. All these artists, however, used nothing but the white marble of the Isle of Peros, a stone which was known as Leishnitz, at first because, according to Varu, it was cut out in quarries by lamplight.
Since their time, many other whiter marbles have been discovered, and very recently that of the quarries of Luna. With reference to the marble of Peros, there is one very marvelous circumstance related. In a single block that was split with wedges, a figure of Silenus made its appearance. We must not admit to remark that the art of sculpture is of more ancient date than those of painting and of statuary in bronze, both of which commenced with Fidias in the 83rd Olympiad, or in other words about 332 years later. Indeed, it is said that Fidias himself worked in marble, and that there is a Venus of his at Aome, a work of extraordinary beauty, in the buildings of Octavia. A thing, however, that is universally admitted is the fact that he was the instructor of Alkalmis, the Athenian, one of the most famous among the sculptors.
By this last artist, there are numerous statues in the temples at Athens, as also, without the walls there, the celebrated Venus, known as the Aphrodite in Kippis, a work to which Phidias himself, it is said, put the finishing hand. Another disciple also of Phidias was Agora Cretus of Peros, a great favorite with his master on account of his extremely youthful age, and for which reason it is said Phidias gave his own name to many of that artist's work. The two pupils entering into a contest as to the superior execution of a statue of Venus, Alcimenes was successful. Not that his work was superior, But because his fellow citizens chose to give their suffrages in his favor in preference to a stranger.
It was for this reason, it is said, that Agora Critus sold his statue on the express condition that it should never be taken to Athens and changed its name to that of Nemesis. It was, accordingly, erected at Hehamnus, a borough of Attica, and Envaro has considered it superior to every other statue. There is also to be seen in the Temple of the Great Mother in the same city another work by Agora Cretus. Among all nations which the frame of the Olympian Jupiter has reached, Phidias is looked upon, beyond all doubt, as the most famous of artists. But to let those who have never even seen his works know how deservedly he is esteemed, we will take this opportunity of deducing a few slight proofs of the genius which he displayed.
In doing this, we shall not appeal to the beauty of his Olympian Jupiter, nor yet to the vast proportions of his Athenian Minerva, six and twenty cubits in height, and composed of ivory and gold. But it is to the shield of this last statue that we shall draw attention, upon the convex face of which he has chased a combat of the Amazons, while upon the concave side of it he has represented the battle between the gods and the giants. Upon the sandals again we see the wars of the Lepithe and centaurs, so careful has he been to fill every smallest portion of his work with some proof or other of his artistic skill. To the story chased upon the pedestal of the statue, the name of the birth of Pandora has been given, and the figures of newborn gods to be seen upon it are no less than twenty in number.
The figure of victory in particular is most admirable And connoisseurs are greatly struck with the serpent and the sphinx in bronze lying beneath the point of the spear. Let thus much be said incidentally in reference to an artist who can never be sufficiently praised, if only to let it be understood that the richness of his genius was always equal to itself even in the very smallest details. When speaking of the statuaries, we have already given the period at which Praxiteles flourished. An artist who, in the glory which he acquired by his works in marble, surpassed even himself. There are some works of his in the Ceramicus at Athens, but superior to all the statues, not only of Praxiteles, but of any other artist that ever existed, is his Canadian Venus.
For the inspection of which many persons before now have purposely undertaken a voyage to Canidos. The artist who made two statues of the goddess and offered them both for sale, One of them was represented with drapery, and for this reason was preferred by the people of Kos, who had the choice. The second was offered them at the same price, but on the grounds of propriety and modesty, they thought fit to choose the other. Upon this, the Canadians purchased the rejected statue, and immensely superior has it always been held in general estimation. At a later period, King Necomedes wished to purchase this statue of the Canadians. and made them an offer to pay off the whole of their public debt, which was very large.
They preferred, however, to submit to any extremity rather than part with it, and with good reason, for by this statue Praxiteles has perpetuated the glory of Canidos. The little temple in which it is placed is open on all sides, so that the beauties of the statue admit of being seen from every point of view, an arrangement which was favored by the goddess herself, it is generally believed. Indeed, from whatever point it is viewed, its execution is equally worthy of admiration. A certain individual, it is said, became enamored of this statue, and concealing himself in the temple during the night, gratified his lustful passion upon it, traces of which are to be seen in a stain left upon the marble.
There are also at Canedos some other statues in marble, the productions of illustrious artists. A. Father Lieber by Briaxis, another by Scopus, and a Minerva by the same hand. Indeed, there is no greater proof of the supreme excellence of the Venus of Praxiteles than in the fact that amid such productions as these it is the only one that we generally find noticed. By Praxiteles, too, there is a Cupid, a statue which occasioned one of the charges brought by Cicero against Veres, and for the sake of seeing which persons used to visit Thespier. On the present day it is said to be seen at the schools of Octavia. By the same artist, there is also another cupid without drapery at Parium, a colony of the Propontus, equal to the Canadian Venus in the fineness of its execution, and said to have been the object of a similar outrage.
For one Olcetas, a Bodian, becoming deeply enamored of it, left upon the marble similar traces of the violence of his passion. At Rome, there are by Praxiteles a flora, a trip to Lamus, and a Ceres in the gardens of Servilius. Statues of good success and good fortune in the capital, as also some Mnondides and figures known as Theodes and Cariatides. Some Sileni to be seen in the memorial buildings of Asinius, Polio, and the statues of Apollo and Neptune. Cephisodocus, the son of Proxateles, inherited his father's talent. There is, by him, at Pergamus, a splendid group of wrestlers, a work that has been highly praised, and in which the fingers have all the appearance of being impressed upon real flesh rather than upon marble.
At Aeomi there are, by him, a latona in the temple of the Palatium, a Venus in the buildings that are memorials of Asinius Polio, And an Escalapius and a Diana in the Temple of Juno, situate within the porticoes of Octavia. Scopus rivals these artists in fame. There are by him a Venus and a Pothos, statues which are venerated at Samothrace in the most august ceremonials. He was also the sculptor of the Palatine Apollo, a Vesta seated in the gardens of Servilius and represented with two bends around her, a work that has been highly praised. Two similar bends to be seen upon the buildings of Asinius Polio and some figures of Canaefori in the same place. But the most highly esteemed of all his works are those in the temple erected by Canaeus Domitius in the Flaminian Circus.
A figure of Neptune himself, Athetus and Achilles, Nereides ceded upon dolphins, cetaceous fishes and seahorses, tritons, the train of Porcus, and whales. And numerous other sea monsters all by the same hand. An admirable piece of workmanship, even if it had taken a whole life to complete it. In addition to the works by him already mentioned, and others of the existence of which we are ignorant, there is still to be seen a colossal Mara of his seated in the temple, erected by Brutus Callaicus, also in the Flaminian Circus, as also a naked Venus of an anterior date to that by Praxiteles. And a production that would be quite sufficient to establish the renown of any other place. At Rome, it is true, it is quite lost sight of amid such a vast multitude of similar works of art.
And then, besides, the inattention to these matters that is induced by such vast numbers of duties and so many items of business quite precludes the generality of persons from devoting their thoughts to the subject. For, in fact, the admiration that is due to this art not only demands an abundance of leisure, But requires that profound silence should reign upon the spot. Hence it is that the artist is now forgotten who executed the Statue of Venus that was dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus in the Temple of Peace, a work well worthy of a high repute of ancient times. With reference to, to the dying children of Niobe, in the Temple of the Socion Apollo, there is an equal degree of uncertainty, whether it is the work of Scopus or of Praxiteles.
So, too, as to the father Janus, a work that was brought from Egypt and dedicated in his temple by Augustus, it is a question by which of these two artists it was made. At the present day, however, it is quite hidden from us by the quantity of gold that covers it. The same question, too, arises with reference to the Cupid brandishing a thunderbolt, now to be seen in the Curia of Octavia. The only thing, in fact, that is affirmed with any degree of certainty respecting it is that it is a likeness of Alliyabiads, who was the handsomest man of his day. There are, too, in the schools of Octavia many other highly attractive works, the authors of which are now unknown. Four satyrs, for example, one of which carries in his arms a father Lieber, robed in the Pala.
Another similarly supports the goddess Libera. A third is pacifying a child who is crying. And the fourth is giving a child some water to drink from a cup. Two zephyrs also who agitate their flowing drapery with their breath. No less is the uncertainty that prevails as to the authors of the statues now to be seen in the septa, and Olympus and Pan, and a Chiron and Achilles. And yet their high reputation has caused them to be deemed valuable enough for their keepers to be made answerable for their safety at the cost of their lives. Scopus head for rivals and contemporaries, Breaxes, Timotheus, and Leochares, artists whom we are bound to mention together, from the fact that they worked together at the mausoleum, such being the name of the tomb that was erected by his wife, Artemisia, in honor of Mazolus, a petty king of Cardia, who died in the second year of the hundred and seventh Olympiad.
It was through the exertions of these artists more particularly that this work came to be reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. The circumference of this building is in all 440 feet, and the breadth from the north to south 63, the two fronts being not so wide in extent. It is 25 cubits in height, and is surrounded with six and 30 columns, the outer circumference being known as the Teron. The east side was sculpted by Scopus, the north by Briaxis, the south by Timoteus, and the west by Leochares. But before their task was completed, Queen Artemisia died. They did not leave their work, however, until it was finished, considering that it was at once a memorial of their own fame and of the sculptor's art, and to this day even it is undecided which of them has excelled.
A fifth artist also took part in the work. For above the Tehran there is a pyramid erected, equal in height to the building below, and formed of four and twenty steps, which gradually taper upward towards the summit, a platform crowned with a representation of a four-horse chariot by Pythes. This addition makes the total height of the work 140 feet. There is at Rome, by Timotheus, a Diana in the Temple of Apollo, and the Palladium, the head of which has been replaced by a Vianius Evander. A Hercules, too, by Menestratus is greatly admired. And there is a Hecate of his at Ephesus, in the temple of Diana there, behind the sanctuary. The keepers of the temple recommend persons when viewing it to be careful of their eyes.
So remarkably radiant is the marble. No less esteemed, too, are the statues of the Graces, in the Propylaeum at Athens, the workmanship of Socrates the sculptor, a different person from the painter of that name. Though identical with him in the opinion of some. As to Myron, who is so highly praised for his works in Broads, there is by him, at Smyrna, an old woman intoxicated, a work that is held at high estimation. Asinius Polio, a man of a warm and ardent temperament, was determined that the buildings which he erected as memorials of himself should be made as attractive as possible. For here we see groups representing nymphs carried off by centaurs, a work of Arcezillas, The Thespiades by Cleomenes, Oceanus and Jupiter by Heneochus, Apiades by Stephanus, Hermerotes by Tariscus, not the chaser in silver already mentioned, but a native of Trales, a Jupiter hospitales by Papillus, a pupil of Proxyteles, Zetus and Amphion with Birche the bull and the halter all sculptured from a single block of marble.
The work of Apollonius and Tariscus. These two artists made it a sort of rivalry as to their parentage, for they declared that although Apollodorus was their natural progenitor, Menecrates would appear to have been their father. In the same place, too, there is a father Liber by Eukitides, highly praised. Near the portico of Octavia there is an Apollo by Feliscus of Rhodes, placed in the temple of that god. A Latona and Diana also, the nine Muses, and another Apollo without drapery. The Apollo holding the lyre in the same temple was executed by Tibarchides. In the temple of Juno, within the porticoes of Octavia, there is a figure of that goddess, executed by Dionysius, and another by Polycles, and also other statues by Praxiteles.
This Polycles, too, in conjunction with Dionysius, the son of Timarchides, made the statue of Jupiter which is to be seen in the adjoining temple. The figures of Pan and Olympus wrestling in the same place are by Heliodorus, and they are considered to be the next finest group of this nature in all the world. The same artist also executed a Venus at the bath, and Polycharmus, another Venus, in an erect posture. By the honorable place which the work of Lysias occupies, we may see in what high esteem it was held by the late Emperor Augustus, who consecrated it in honor of his father Octavius in the palladium, placing it on an arch within a small temple adorned with columns. It is the figure of a four-horse chariot with an Apollo and Diana, all sculptured from a single block.
I find it stated also that the Apollo by Calamis, the chaser already mentioned, The Pugilus by Deraclides, and the statue of Calasthenes, the historian, by Omphistratus. All of them now in the gardens of Servilius are works highly esteemed. Beyond these there are not many sculptors of high repute, for in the case of several works of very great excellence, the number of artists that have been engaged upon them has proved a considerable obstacle to the fame of each. No individual being able to engross the whole of the credit, and it being impossible, to award it in due proportion to the names of the several artists combined. Such is the case with the Laocoat, for example, in the palace of the emperor Titus, a work that may be looked upon as preferable to any other production of the art of painting or of statuary.
It is sculptured from a single block, both the main figure as well as the children and the serpents, with their marvelous folds. This group was made in concert by three most eminent artists, Agassander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, Nades of Ilhodes. In similar manner also, the palaces of the Caesars in the Palladium have been filled with most splendid statuary. The work of Craterus in conjunction with Pythodorus, of Polydeuses with Hermoleus, and of another Pythodorus with Artemon. Some of the statues also are by Aphrodisius of Trales, who worked alone. The Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the Cariatids by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as masterpieces of excellence.
The same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof, though in consequences of the height, they have not had an opportunity of being so well appreciated. Without glory, and excluded from every temple, is the statue of Hercules, in honor of whom the Carthaginians were accustomed to sacrifice human victims every year. It stands upon the ground before the entrance of the portico of the nations. There were erected, too, near the temple of Felicity, the statues of the thespian Muses, of one of which, according to Varro, Junius Pisciculus, a Roman of equestrian rank, became enamored. Parsateles, too, speaks in terms of high admiration of them, the artist who wrote five books on the most celebrated works throughout the world.
Born upon the Grecian shores of Italy and presented with the Roman citizenship granted to the cities of those parts, Parsateles constructed the ivory statue of Jupiter, which is now in the temple of Metelus on the road to the campus Martius. It so happened that being one day at the docks where there were some wild beasts from Africa, while he was viewing through the bars of a cage, a lion which he was engaged in drawing, a panther made its escape from another cage, to the no small danger of this most careful artist. He executed many other works, it is said, but we do not find the names of them specifically mentioned. Arche Sileis also is an artist highly extolled by Varro. who states that he had in his possession a lioness in marble of his, and winged cupids playing with it, some holding it with cords and others making it drink from a horn, the whole sculptured from a single block.
He says also that the fourteen figures around the theater of Pompeius, representing different nations, are the work of Copponius. I find it stated that Canachus, an artist highly praised among the statuaries in bronze, executed some works also in marble. Sarus II and Batracus must not be forgotten. Lacedaemonians by birth who built the temples enclosed by the porticos of Octavia. Some are of the opinion that these artists were very wealthy men, and that they erected these buildings at their own expense, expecting to be allowed to inscribe their names thereon, but that this indulgence being refused them, they adopted another method of attaining their object. At all events, there are still to be seen at the present day on the spirals of the columns, the figures of a lizard and a frog, emblematical of their names.
In the Temple of Jupiter by the same artist, the paintings, as well as all the other ornaments, bear reference to the worship of a goddess. The fact is that when the Temple of Juno was completed, the porters, as it is said, who were entrusted with the carriage of the statues, made an exchange of them, and on religious grounds, the mistake was left uncorrected. From an impression that it had been, by the intervention of the divinities themselves, that this seat of worship had been thus shared between them. Hence it is that we see in the Temple of Juno also the ornaments which properly pertain to the worship of Jupiter. Some minute works in marble have also gained reputation for their artists. By Myrmichides there was a four-horse chariot, so small that it could be covered, driver in all, by the wings of a fly.
And by Calabrates, some ants in marble, the feet and other limbs of which were so fine as to escape the site.
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29 29 - Book 36, Chapters 5 to 13. Marble slabs. The use of marble in Rome. Onyx and alabastrites. Lygdinus. Corallitic stones. 16:46
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 29. Book 36. Chapters 5 to 13. Chapter 5. At what period marble was first used in buildings? This must suffice for the sculptors in marble, and the works which have gained the highest repute. With reference to which subject, it occurs to me to remark that spotted marbles were not then in fashion. In making their statues, these artists used the marble of Tassos also, one of the Cyclades, and of Lesbos, this last being rather more livid than the other. The poet Menander, in fact, who was a very careful inquirer into all matters of luxury, is the first who has spoken, and that but rarely, of variegated marbles, and indeed of the employment of marble in general.
Columns of this material were at first employed in temples, not on grounds of superior elegance, for that was not thought of as yet, but because no material could be found of a more substantial nature. It was under these circumstances that the temple of the Olympian Jupiter was commenced at Athens, the columns of which were brought by Scylla to Rome for the buildings in the capital. Still, however, there had been a distinction drawn between ordinary stone and marble, in the days of Homer, even. The poet speaks in one passage of a person being struck down with a huge mass of marble, but that is all. And when he describes the abodes of royalty adorned with every elegance, besides brass, gold, electrum, and silver, he only mentions ivory.
Variegated marbles, in my opinion, were first discovered in the quarries of Chios, when the inhabitants were building the walls of their city, a circumstance which gave rise to a facetious repartee on the part of Marcus Cicero, it being the practice with them to show these walls to everybody. As something magnificent. I should admire them much more, said he, if you had built them of the stone used at Tiber. And, by Hercules, the art of painting would never have been held in such esteem, or indeed in any esteem at all, if variegated marbles had been held in admiration. Chapter Six. Who were the first to cut marble into slabs, and at what period? I'm not sure whether the art of cutting marble into slabs is not an invention for which we are indebted to the people of Caria.
The most ancient instance of this practice, so far as I know of, is found at the palace of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, the walls of which, in brick, are covered with marble of Proconnessus. Mausolus died in the second year of the 107th Olympiad, being the year of Rome, 403. Chapter Seven. Who was the first to encrust the walls of houses at Rome with marble? The first person at Rome who covered the whole of the walls of his house with marble, according to Cornelius Nepos, was Mamura, who dwelt upon the Caelan hill, a member of the equestrian order and a native of Formiae, who had been prefect of the engineers under Cassius Caesar in Gaul. Such was the individual, That nothing may be wanting to the indignity of the example who first adopted this practice.
The same Mamura, in fact, who was so torn to pieces in the verses of Catalysts of Verona. Indeed, his own house proclaimed more loudly than Catalyst could proclaim it, that he had come into possession of all that Gallia Camata had had to possess. For, Nippos adds, as well, that he was the first to have all the columns of his house made of nothing but solid marble, and that, too, marble of Charistis or of Luna. Chapter Eight. At what period the various kinds of marble came into use at Rome? Marcus Lepidus, who was consul with Quirinius Catullus, was the first to have the lintels of his house made of Numidian marble, a thing for which he was greatly censured. He was consul in the year of Rome, 676.
This is the earliest instance that I can find of the introduction of Numidian marble. Not in the forms of pillars, however, or of slabs, as was the case with the marble of Charistis, above mentioned, but in blocks, and that, too, for the comparatively ignoble purpose of making the thresholds of doors. Four years after this Lepidus, Lucius Lucullus was consul. The same person who gave its name, it is very evident, to the Lucian marble, for, taking a great fancy to it, he introduced it at Rome. While other kinds of marble are valued for their spots or their colors, this marble is entirely black. It is found on the island of Milos, and is pretty nearly the only marble that has taken its name from the person who first introduced it.
Among these personages, Scarus, in my opinion, was the first to build a theatre with walls of marble. But whether they were only coated with slabs of marble, or were made of solid blocks, highly polished, such as we now see in the temple of Jupiter Tonas in the capital, I cannot exactly say, for up to this period I cannot find any vestiges of the use of marble slabs in Italy. Chapter Nine. The Method of Cutting Marble into Slabs. The sand used in cutting marble. But whoever it was that first invented the art of thus cutting marble, and so multiplying the appliances of luxury, he displayed considerable ingenuity, though to little purpose. This division, though apparently affected by the aid of iron, is, in reality, affected by sand.
The saw acting only by pressing upon the sand within a very fine cleft in the stone, The sand of Ethiopia is the most highly esteemed for this purpose. For, to add to the trouble that is entailed, we have to send to Ethiopia for the purpose of preparing our marble, ay, and as far as India even, whereas in former times the severity of the Roman manners thought it beneath them to repair thither in search of such costly things, even as pearls. This Indian sand is held in the next highest degree of estimation, the Ethiopian being of a softer nature, and better adapted for dividing the stone without leaving any roughness on the surface, whereas the sand from India does not leave so smooth a face upon it.
Still, however, for polishing marble, we find it recommended to rub it with Indian sand, calcinate. The sand of Naxos has the same defect. As also that from Koptos, generally known as Egyptian sand. The above were the several varieties of sand used by the ancients in dividing marble. More recently, sand has been discovered that is equally approved for this purpose, in a certain creek of the Adriatic Sea, which is left dry at low water only, a thing that renders it not very easy to be found. At the present day, however, The fraudulent tendencies of our workers in marble have emboldened them to use any kind of river sand for the purpose, a mischief which very few employers rightly appreciate. For, the coarser the sand, the wider is the division made in the stone, the greater the quantity of material consumed, and the more extensive the labor required for polishing the rough surface that is left, a result of which is that the slabs lose so much more in thickness.
For giving the last polish to marble, to batak stone, is considered well adapted, as also porous stone or pumice powdered fine. Chapter 10. Stone of Naxos, Stone of Armenia. For polishing marble statues, as also for cutting and giving a polish to precious stones, The preference was long given to the stone of Naxos, such being the name of a kind of touchstone that is found in the Isle of Cyprus. More recently, however, the stones imported from Armenia for this purpose have displaced those of Naxos. Chapter 11. The Marbles of Alexandria. The marbles are too well known to make it necessary for me to enumerate their several colors and varieties. And indeed, so numerous are they. That it would be no easy task to do so.
For what place is there, in fact, that has not a marble of its own? In addition to which, in our description of the earth and its various peoples, we have already made it our care to mention the more celebrated kinds of marble. Still, however, they are not all of them produced from quarries, but in many instances lie scattered just beneath the surface of the earth. Some of them, the most precious even, The green Lacedaemonian marble, for example, more brilliant in color than any other, the Augustan, also, and, more recently, the Tiberian, which were first discovered in the reigns respectively of Augustus and Tiberius in Egypt. These two marbles differ from Ophites in the circumstance that the latter is marked with streaks which resemble serpents in appearance, whence its name.
There is also this difference between the two marbles themselves, in the arrangement of their spots. The Augustan marble has them undulated and curling to a point, whereas in the Tiberian the streaks are white, not involved, but lying wide asunder. Of Ophites, there are only some very small pillars known to have been made. There are two varieties of it, one white and soft, the other inclining to black and hard. Both kinds, it is said, worn as an amulet, are a cure for headache and for wounds inflicted by serpents. Some, too, recommend the white ophytes as an amulet for phrenitis and lethargy. As a counterpoison to serpents, some persons speak more particularly in praise of the ophytes that is known as tephryas, from its ashy color.
There is also a marble known as memphytes, from the place where it is found, and of a nature somewhat analogous to the precious stones. For medicinal purposes, it is triterated and applied in the form of a liniment with vinegar to such parts of the body as require cauterizing or incision, the flesh becoming quite benumbed and thereby rendered insensible to pain. Porphyrites, which is another product of Egypt, is of a red color. The kind that is mottled with white blotches is known as Leptosposophis. The quarries there are able to furnish blocks of any dimensions, however large. Petrosius Polio, who was steward in Egypt for the Emperor Claudius, brought to Rome from Egypt some statues made of this stone, a novelty which was not very highly approved of, as no one has since followed his example.
The Egyptians, too, have discovered in Ethiopia The stone known as Bassanites, which in color and hardness resembles iron, whence the name that has been given to it. A larger block of it has never been known than the one forming the group which has been dedicated by the Emperor Vespansianus Augustus in the Temple of Peace. It represents the river Nylas, with sixteen children sporting around it, symbolical of the sixteen cubits, the extreme height to which, in the most favorable seasons, It is stated, too, that in the temple of Serapis, at Thebes, there is a block not unlike it, which forms the statue of Memnon there. Remarkable, it is said, for emitting a sound each morning when first touched by the rays of the rising sun.
CHAPTER XII. ONYX AND ALABASTRITES. 6 REMEDIES. Our forefathers imagined that onyx was only to be found in the mountains of Arabia. and nowhere else. But Sudynes was aware that it is also found in Carmania. Drinking vessels were made of it at first, and then the feet of beds and chairs. Cornelius Nepos relates that great was the astonishment when Publius Lentulus Spinther exhibited amphora made of this material as large as Cheon wine vessels in size. And yet, five years after, says he, I saw columns of this material no less than two and thirty feet in height. At a more recent period again, some change took place with reference to this stone, for four small pillars of it were erected by Cornelius Balbus in his theatre as something quite marvellous, and I myself have seen thirty columns of larger size in the banqueting room which Calastus erected, the freedman of Claudius, So well known for the influence which he possessed.
This stone is called alabasterites by some, and is hollowed out into vessels for holding unguents, it having the reputation of preserving them from corruption better than anything else. In a calcined state, it is a good ingredient for plasters. It is found in the vicinity of Thebes in Egypt and of Damascus in Syria. That of Damascus being whiter than the others. The most esteemed kind, however, is that of Carmania, the next being the produce of India, and then those of Syria and Asia. The worst in quality is that of Cappadacea, it being utterly destitute of luster. That which is of a honey color is the most esteemed, covered with spots curling in whirls, and not transparent. Alabasterites is considered defective when it is of a white or horn color, or approaching to glass in appearance.
Chapter 13. Ligdinnus, Choralitic Stone, Stone of Albanda, Stone of Thebaeus, Stone of Cyna. Little inferior to it for the preservation of unguents, in the opinion of many, is the stone called Ligdinnus that is found in Paros. And never of a larger size than to admit of a dish or goblet being made of it. In former times, it was only imported from Arabia, being remarkable for its extreme whiteness. Great value is placed also upon the two other kinds of stone of quite a contrary nature. Choralytic stone, found in Asia, in blocks no more than two cubits in thickness, and of a white somewhat approaching that of ivory. and in some degree resembling it, and alabandic stone, which, on the other hand, is black and is so called from the district which produces it, though it is also to be found at Melitis, where, however, it verges somewhat more upon the purple.
It admits of being melted by the action of fire, and is fused for the preparation of glass. The bayac stone, which is sprinkled all over with spots like gold, is found in Africa, On the side of it which lies adjacent to Egypt. The small hones which it supplies being peculiarly adapted from their natural properties for grinding the ingredients used in preparations for the eyes. In the neighborhood of Sina, too, in Thabias, there is a stone found that is now known as cyanides, but was formerly called Pihoposleon.
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30 30 - Book 36, Chapters 14 to 20. Obelisks. Works in Egypt. Pyramids. The Sphynx. The Pharos. Hanging Gardens. 22:53
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 30 Book Thirty Six Chapters Fourteen to Twenty Chapter Fourteen Obelisks Monarchs, too, have entered into a sort of rivalry with one another in forming elongated blocks of this stone, known as obelisks, and consecrated to the divinity of the sun. The blocks had this form given to them in resemblance to the rays of that luminary, Mesfres, who reigned in the city of the sun, was the first who erected one of these obelisks, being warned to do so in a dream. Indeed, there is an inscription upon the obelisk to this effect, for the sculptures and figures which we still see engraved thereon are no other than Egyptian letters. At a later period, other kings had these obelisks hewn.
Saothis, erected four of them in the above-named city, forty-eight cubits in height. Ramses, too, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one, a hundred and forty cubits high. Having quitted the spot where the palace of Minervis stood, this monarch erected another obelisk, one hundred and twenty cubits in height, but of prodigious thickness, the sides being no less than eleven cubits in breadth. It is said that one hundred and twenty thousand men were employed upon this work, and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove strong enough for the weight, with the view of increasing the peril that might be entailed by due want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his own son fastened to the summit, in order that the safety of the prince might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone.
It was in his admiration of this work that, when King Cambys took the city by storm, and the conflagration had already reached the very foot of the obelisk, he ordered the fire to be extinguished, he entertaining a respect for this stupendous erection, which he had not entertained for the city itself. There are also two other obelisks, one of them erected by Zemers, and the other by Fias. Both of them without inscriptions, and forty-eight cubits in height. Ptolemas, Philadelphus, had one erected at Alexandria, eighty cubits high, which had been prepared by order of King Necthibus. It was without any inscription, and cost far more trouble in its carriage and elevation than had been originally expended in quarrying it.
Some writers inform us that it was conveyed on a raft, under the inspection of the architect, Sateris, but Callinexus gives the name of Phoenix. For this purpose, a canal was dug from the river Nillus to the spot where the obelisk lay, and two broad vessels, laden with blocks of similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each amounting to double the size and consequently double the weight of the obelisk, were brought beneath it, the extremities of the obelisk remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. The blocks of stone were then removed, and the vessels, being thus gradually lightened, received their burden. It was erected upon a basis of six square blocks, quarried from the same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the sum of fifty talents.
This obelisk was placed by the king above mentioned in the Arsionium, in testimony of his affection for his wife and sister Arsion. At a later period, As it was found to be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, the then-praefect of Egypt, had it transferred to the Forum there, after removing the summit for the purpose of substituting a gilded point, an intention which was ultimately abandoned. There are two other obelisks, which were in Caesar's temple at Alexandria, near the harbor there, forty-two cubits in height, and originally hewn by order of King Mesfriis. But the most difficult enterprise of all... was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration.
Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk as a lasting memorial of this marvelous undertaking in the docks at Puttiole, but it was destroyed by fire. As to the one in which, by order of the Emperor Caius, the other obelisk had been transported to Rome, After having been preserved for some years, and looked upon as the most wonderful construction ever beheld upon the seas, it was brought to Ostia by order of the late Emperor Claudius, and towers of Putiolan earth being first erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the harbor which he was making there. And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber, by which it became practically ascertained that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nils.
The obelisk that was erected by the late Emperor Augustus in the Great Circus was originally quarried by order of King Semenpasirtas, in whose reign it was that Pythagoras visited Egypt. It is eighty-five feet and three-quarters in height, exclusive of the base, which is a part of the same stone. The one that he erected in the campus Martinus is nine feet less in height, and was originally made by order of Saotheus. They are both of them covered with inscriptions, which interpret the operations of nature according to the philosophy of the Egyptians. Chapter 15. The Obelisk which serves as a dial in the campus Martinus. The one that has been erected in the campus Martinus has been applied to a singular purpose by the late emperor Augustus, that of marking the shadows projected by the sun, and so measuring the length of the days and nights.
With this object, a stone pavement was laid, the extreme length of which corresponded exactly with the length of the shadow thrown by the obelisk at the sixth hour on the day of the winter solstice. After this period, the shadow would go on, day by day, gradually decreasing. and then again would as gradually increase. Correspondingly with certain lines of brass that were inserted in the stone, a device well deserving to be known, and due to the ingenuity of Facundis Novus, the mathematician, upon the apex of the obelisk he placed a gilded ball, in order that the shadow of the summit might be condensed and agglomerated, and so prevent the shadow of the apex itself from running to a fine point of enormous extent.
The plan being first suggested to him, it is said, by the shadow that is projected by the human head. For nearly the last thirty years, however, the observations derived from the style have been found not to agree. Whether it is that the sun itself has changed its course, in consequence of some derangement of the heavenly system, or whether that the whole earth has been in some degree displaced from its center, A thing that, I have heard say, has been remarked in other places as well. Or whether that some earthquake, confined to this city only, has wrenched the dial from its original position. Or whether it is that in consequence of the induations of the Tiber, the foundations of the mass have subsided, in spite of the general assertion that they are sunk as deep into the earth as the obelisk erected upon them is high.
The third obelisk at Rome is in the Vaticanian Circus, which was constructed by the empress Caius and Nero, this being the only one of them all that has been broken in the carriage. Nuncourius, the son of Ceuces, made it, and there remains another by him, one hundred cubits in height, which, by order of an oracle, he consecrated to the sun, after having lost his sight and recovered it. Chapter 16 Marvelous works in Egypt. The Pyramids. We must make some mention, too, however cursorily, of the Pyramids of Egypt, so many idle and frivolous pieces of ostentation of their resources on the part of the monarchs of that country. Indeed, it is asserted by most persons that the only motive for constructing them was either a determination not to leave their treasures to their successors, or to rivals that might be plotting to supplant them, or to prevent the lower classes from remaining unoccupied.
There was great vanity displayed by these men in constructions of this description, and there are still the remains of many of them in an unfinished state. There is one to be seen in the nome of Arsinoctes, two in that of Memphaites, not far from the Labyrinth, of which we shall shortly have to speak, and two in the place where Lake Meares was excavated, an immense artificial piece of water. Sighted by the Egyptians among their wondrous and memorable works. The summits of the pyramids, it is said, are to be seen above the water. The other three pyramids, their noun of which has filled the whole earth, and which are conspicuous from every quarter to persons navigating the river, are situate on the African side of it, upon a rocky, sterile elevation.
They lie between the city of Memphis and what we have mentioned as the Delta, within four miles of the river, and seven miles and a half from Memphis, near a village known as Bursirs, the people of which are in the habit of ascending them. Chapter 17. The Egyptian Sphinx. In front of these pyramids is the Sphinx, a still more wondrous object of art, but one upon which silence has been observed, as it is looked upon as a divinity by the people of the neighborhood. It is their belief that King Hermas was buried in it. And they will have it that it was brought there from a distance. The truth is, however, that it was hewn from the solid rock, and from a feeling of veneration the face of the monster is colored red.
The circumference of the head measured round the forehead is one hundred and two feet, the length of the feet being one hundred and forty-three, and the height, from the belly to the summit of the asp on the head, sixty-two. The largest pyramid is built of stone quarried in Arabia. Three hundred and sixty thousand men, it is said, were employed upon it twenty years, and the three were completed in seventy-eight years and four months. They are described by the following writers. Herodotus, Ehumeris, Duras of Samos, Astragoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Alexander Polyhistor, Butoridas, Anthe-Tethens, Demetrius, Demotelus, and Apion. These authors, however, are disagreed as to the persons by whom they were constructed.
Accident having, with very considerable justice, consigned to oblivion the names of those who erected such stupendous memorials of their vanity. Some of these writers inform us that fifteen hundred talents were expended upon radishes, garlic, and onions alone. The largest pyramid occupies seven iogra of ground, and the four angles are equidistant, the face of each side being eight hundred and thirty-three feet in length. The total height from the ground to the summit is seven hundred and twenty-five feet, and the platform on the summit is sixteen feet and a half in circuit. Of the second pyramid, the faces of the four sides are each seven hundred and fifty-seven feet and a half in length. The third is smaller than the others, but far more prepossessing in appearance.
It is built of Ethiopian stone, and the face between the four corners is three hundred and sixty-three feet in extent. In the vicinity of these erections, there are no vestiges of any buildings left. Far and wide, there is nothing but sand to be seen. of a grain somewhat like a lentil in appearance, similar to that of the greater part of Africa, in fact. The most difficult problem is to know how the materials for construction could possibly be carried to so vast a height. According to some authorities, as the building gradually advanced, they heaped up against it vast amounts of nitre and salt, which piles were melted after its completion by introducing beneath them the waters of the river. Others again maintain that bridges were constructed.
of bricks of clay, and that, when the pyramid was completed, these bricks were distributed for erecting the houses of private individuals. For the level of the river, they say, being so much lower, water could never by any possibility have been brought there by the medium of canals. In the interior of the largest pyramid there is a well, eighty-six cubits deep, which communicates with the river, it is thought. The method of ascertaining the height of the pyramids, and all similar edifices, was discovered by Thales of Miletus, he measuring the shadow at the hour of the day at which it is equal in length to the body projecting it. Such are the marvellous pyramids, but the crowning marvel of all is that the smallest, but most admired of them, that we may feel no surprise at the opulence of the kings, was built by Rodolphus, a courtesan.
This woman was once the fellow-slave of Aesopis, the philosopher and fabulist, and the share of his bed. But what is much more surprising is that a courtesan should have been enabled, by her vocation, to amass such enormous wealth. Chapter 18. The Pharos. There is another building, too, that is highly celebrated. The tower that was built by a king of Egypt on the island of Pharos at the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria. The cost of its erection was 800 talents, they say. and not to omit the magnanimity that was shown by King Ptolemaeus on this occasion, he gave permission to the architect Sotratus of Saindos to inscribe his name upon the edifice itself. The object of it is, by the light of its fires at night, to give warning to ships of the neighboring shoals and to point out to them the entrance of the harbor.
At the present day, there are similar fires lighted up in numerous places. Ostia and Ravenna. for example. The only danger is, that when these fires are thus kept burning without intermission, they may be mistaken for stars, the flames having very much that appearance at a distance. This architect is the first person that built a promenade upon arches, at Snidos, it is said. Chapter 19. Labyrinths. We must speak also of the labyrinths, the most stupendous works, perhaps on which mankind has expended its labors. and not for chimerical purposes, merely as might possibly be supposed. There is still, in Egypt, in the nome of Heracleopotes, a labyrinth which was first constructed 3,600 years ago, they say, by King Petsuchius or Tethius, although, according to Herodotus, the entire work was the production of no less than twelve kings, the last of whom was Passamachus.
As to the purpose for which it was built, there are various opinions. Demoteles says that it was the palace of King Moteras, and Lyciennes that it was the tomb of Maceres, while many others assert that it was a building consecrated to the sun, an opinion which mostly prevails. That Daedalus took this for the model of the labyrinth which he constructed in Crait, there can be no doubt. Though he only reproduced the hundredth part of it, that portion, namely, which encloses circuitous passages, windings, and inextricable galleries which lead to and fro. We must not, comparing this last to what we see delineated on our mosaic pavements, or to the mazes formed in the fields for the amusement of children, suppose it to be a narrow promenade along which we may walk for many miles together.
But we must picture to ourselves a building filled with numerous doors and galleries, which continually mislead the visitor, Bringing him back, after all his wanderings, to the spot from which he first set out. This labyrinth is the second, that of Egypt being the first. There is a third in the Isle of Lemnos, and a fourth in Italy. They are all of them covered with arched roofs of polished stone. At the entrance, too, of the Egyptian labyrinth, a thing that surprises me, the building is constructed of Parian marble, while throughout the other parts of it the columns are of cyanates. With such solidity is this huge mass constructed that the lapse of ages has been totally unable to destroy it, seconded as it has been by the people of Heraclepotes, who have marvelously ravaged a work which they have always held in abhorrence.
To detail the position of this work, and the various portions of it, is quite impossible, it being subdivided into regions and prefectures, which are styled gnomes, thirty in number, with a vast palace assigned to each. In addition to these, it should contain temples of all the gods of Egypt, and forty statues of Nemesis, in as many sacred shrines, besides numerous pyramids, forty Ls in height, and covering six Aria at the base. Fatigued with wandering to and fro, the visitor is sure to arrive at some inextricable crossing or other of the galleries. And then, too, there are banqueting rooms, situate at the summit of steep ascents, Porticos from which we descend by flights of ninety steps, columns in the interior made of phosphorites, figures of gods, statues of kings, and effigies of hideous monsters.
Some of the palaces are so peculiarly constructed that the moment the doors are opened a dreadful sound like that of thunder reverberates within. The greater part, too, of these edifices have to be traversed in total darkness. Then again, without the walls of the labyrinth, there rises another mass of buildings, known as the Peteron, beneath which there are passages excavated leading to other subterranean palaces. One person, and only one, has made some slight repairs to the labyrinth. Charamon, a eunuch of King Necthibus, who lived five hundred years before the time of Alexander the Great. It is asserted, also, that while the arched roofs of squared stone were being raised, he had them supported by beams of thorn, boiled in oil.
As for the Chritian labyrinth, which I have already stated must suffice for that, the labyrinth of Lemnos is similar to it, only that it is rendered more imposing by its hundred and fifty columns, the shafts of which, when in the stone-yard, were so nicely balanced that a child was able to manage the wheel of the lathe in turning them. The architects were Similis, Rhaeusius, and Theodorus, natives of the island, and there are still in existence some remains of it, whereas of the Cretan labyrinth, and of that in Italy, not a vestige is left. As to this last, which Porcienne, king of Etruria, erected as his intended sepulchre, it is only proper that I should make some mention of it, if only to show that the vanity displayed by foreign monarchs, great as it is, has been surpassed.
But as the fabulousness of the story connected with it quite exceeds all bounds, I shall employ the words given by M. Varro himself in his account of it. Porciano was buried, says he, beneath the city of Clusum, in the spot where he had had constructed a square monument, built of squared stone. Each side of this monument was three hundred feet in length and fifty in height, and beneath the base, which was also square, There was an inextricable labyrinth, into which if anyone entered without a clue of thread, he could never find his way out. Above this square building there stand five pyramids, one at each corner, and one in the middle, seventy-five feet broad at the base, and one hundred and fifty feet in height.
These pyramids are so tapering in their form that upon the summit of all of them, united, there rests a brazen globe, and upon that a pettius. From which there hang, suspended by chains, bells, which make it tinkling when agitated by the wind, like what was done at Dodana in former times. Upon this globe there are four other pyramids, each one hundred feet in height, and above them is a single platform, on which there are five more pyramids. The height of which Vero has evidently felt ashamed to add, but, according to the Etruscian fables, it was equal to that of the rest of the building. What downright madness this! To attempt to seek glory at an outlay which can never be of utility to anyone.
To say nothing of exhausting the resources of the kingdom, and after all, that the artist may reap the greater share of the praise. Chapter 20. Hanging Gardens. A Hanging City. We read, too, of Hanging Gardens, and what is even more than this, a hanging city. Thebes in Egypt. It being the practice for the kings to lead forth their armies from beneath, while the inhabitants were totally unconscious of it. This, too, is even less surprising than the fact that a river flows through the middle of the city. If, however, all this had really been the case, there is no doubt that Homer would have mentioned it, he who has celebrated the Hundred Gates of Thebes.
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31 31 - Book 36, Chapters 21 to 24. The Temple of Diana. Other temples. The fugitive stone. Marvellous buildings at Rome. 24:24
The Temple of Diana at Ephesus. The most wonderful monument of Grecian magnificence, and one that merits our genuine admiration, is the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which took one hundred and twenty years in building, a work in which all Asia joined. A marshy soil was selected for its site in order that it might not suffer from earthquakes, or the chasms which they produce. On the other hand, again, that the foundation of so vast a pile might not have to rest upon a loose and shifting bed. Layers of trodden charcoal were placed beneath, with fleeces covered with wool upon the top of them. The entire length of the temple is 425 feet, and the breadth 225. The columns are 127 in number and 60 feet in height, each of them presented by a different king.
Thirty-six of these columns are carved, and one of them by the hand of Scopus. Tricifron was the architect who presided over the work. The great marvel in this building is how such ponderous architraves could possibly have been raised to so great a height. This, however, the architect effected by means of bags filled with sand, which he piled up upon an inclined plane until they reached beyond the capitals of the columns. Then, as he gradually emptied the lower bags, The architraves insensibly settled in the places assigned them. But the greatest difficulty of all was found in laying the lintel which he placed over the entrance doors. It was an enormous mass of stone, and by no possibility could it be brought to lie level upon the jams which formed its bed, in consequence of which the architect was driven to such a state of anxiety and desperation as to contemplate suicide.
Wearied and quite worn out by such thoughts as these, During the night, they say, he beheld in a dream the goddess in honor of whom the temple was being erected, who exhorted him to live on, for that she herself had placed the stone in its proper position. And such, in fact, the next morning was found to be the case, the stone apparently having come to the proper level by dint of its own weight. The other decorations of this work would suffice to fill many volumes, but they do not tend in any way Chapter 22. Marvels connected with other temples. There still exists, too, at Xychus, a temple of polished stone, between all the joints of which the artist has inserted a thread of gold, it being his intention to erect an ivory statue of Jupiter within, with Apollo in marble crowning him.
The result is that the interstices Quite glisten with their fine hair-like threads, and the reflection of the gold, obscured as it is, gently falling upon the statues, besides proclaiming the genius of the artist, heightens their effect, and so teaches us to appreciate the costliness of the work. Chapter 23. The Fugitive Stone. The Sevenfold Echo. Buildings erected without the use of nails. In the same city also, There is a stone, known as the Fugitive Stone, the Argonata, who used it for the purposes of an anchor, having left it there. This stone, having repeatedly taken flight from the Pritanium, the place so-called where it is kept, it has been fastened down with lead. In this city also, near the gate which is known as the Trachia, there are seven towers, which repeat a number of times all sounds that are uttered in them.
This phenomenon At Zycus, however, it is the effect of accident only, while at Olympia it is produced by artificial means, and in a very marvelous manner, in a portico there which is known as the Heptophenon, from the circumstance that it returns the sound of the voice seven times. At Zycus also, Is the bulletarium, a vast edifice constructed without a nail of iron, the raftering being so contrived as to admit of the beams being removed and replaced without the use of stays. A similar thing, too, is the case with the Sublysian Bridge at Rome, and by this enactment, on religious grounds, there having been such difficulty experienced in breaking it down when Horatius Cocles defended it. Chapter 24.
Marvelous Buildings at Rome. Eighteen in Number. But it is now time to pass on to the marvels in building displayed by our own city, and to make some inquiry into the resources and experience that we have gained in the lapse of eight hundred years, and so prove that here, as well, the rest of the world has been outdone by us. A thing which will appear, in fact, to have occurred almost as many times as the marvels are in number, which I shall have to enumerate. If, indeed, all the buildings of our city are considered in the aggregate, and supposing them, so to say, all thrown together in one vast mass, the united grandeur of them would lead one to suppose that we were describing another world accumulated in a single spot.
Not to mention, among our great works, the Circus Maximus, that was constructed by the dictator Caesar, one stadium in width and three in length, and occupying, with the adjacent buildings, no less than four juggera, with room for 260,000 spectators seated. Am I not to include the number of our magnificent constructions, the Basilica of Paulus, with its admirable Phrygian columns? The Forum of the late Emperor Augustus, the Temple of Peace, erected by the Emperor Vesponcius Augustus, some of the finest works that the world has ever beheld, the roofing, too, of the vote office that was built by Agrippa. Not to forget that, before his time, Valerius of Ostia, the architect, had covered in a theatre at Rome at the time of the public games, celebrated by Lebo.
We behold with admiration Pyramids that were built by kings, when the very ground alone that was purchased by the dictator Caesar for the construction of his forum cost one hundred millions of sesterces? If, too, an enormous expenditure has its attractions for anyone whose mind is influenced by monetary considerations, be it known to him that the house in which Claudius dwelt, who was slain by Milo, was purchased by him. At the price of 14,800,000 sesterces. A thing that, for my part, I look upon is no less astounding than the monstrous follies that have been displayed by kings. And then, as to Milo himself, the sums in which he was indebted amounted to no less than 70 millions of sesterces. A state of things to be considered, in my opinion, as one of the most portentous phenomena.
In the history of the human mind. But it was in those days, too, that old men still spoke in admiration of the vast proportions of the agar, and of the enormous foundations of the capital, of the public sewers, too, a work more stupendous than any, as mountains had to be pierced for their construction, and, like the hanging city which we recently mentioned, navigation had to be carried on beneath Rome. An event which happened in the adaleship of Marcus Agrippa, after he had filled the office of council. For this purpose, there are seven rivers, made by artificial channels, to flow beneath the city. Rushing onward like so many impetuous torrents, they are compelled to carry off and sweep away all the sewage, and, swollen as they are by that vast accession of plurvial waters, they reverberate against the sides and bottom of their channels.
Occasionally, too, the Tiber, overflowing, is thrown backward in its course and discharges itself by these outlets. Obstinate is the contest that ensues within the meeting tides, but so firm and solid is the masonry that it is enabled to offer an effectual resistance. Enormous as are the accumulations that are carried along above, the work of the channels never gives way. Houses falling spontaneously to ruins, or leveled with the ground by conflagrations, are continually battering against them. The ground, too, is shaken by earthquakes every now and then. And yet, built as they were in the days of Tarquinius Priscus, 700 years ago, these constructions have survived, all but unharmed. We must not omit, too, to mention one remarkable circumstance, and all the more remarkable from the fact That the most celebrated historians have omitted to mention it.
Tarquinius Priscus, having commenced the sewers and set the lower classes to work upon them, the laboriousness and prolonged duration of the employment became equally an object of dread to them. And the consequence was that suicide was a thing of common occurrence, the citizens adopting this method of escaping their troubles. For this evil, however, the king devised a singular remedy. and one that has never been resorted to either before that time or since, for he ordered the bodies of all who had been thus guilty of self-destruction to be fastened to a cross and left there as a spectacle to their fellow-citizens and a prey to birds and wild beasts. The result was that the sense of propriety which so peculiarly attaches itself to the Roman name, and which more than once has gained a victory when the battle was all but lost, came to the rescue on this occasion as well.
Though for this once the Romans were in reality its dupes, as they forgot that, though they felt shocked at the thoughts of such ignominy while alive, they would be quite insensible to any such disgrace when dead. It is said that Tarquinius made these sewers of dimensions sufficiently large to admit a wagon laden with hay passing along them. All that we have just described, however, is but trifling when placed in comparison with one marvelous fact, which I must not omit to mention before I pass on to other subjects. In the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catullus, there was not at Rome, as we learn from one of the most trustworthy authors, a finer house than the one which belonged to Lepidus himself, and yet by Hercules.
Within five and thirty years from that period, the very same house did not hold the hundredth rank, even, in the city. Let a person, if he will, in taking this fact into consideration, only calculate the vast masses of marble, the productions of painters, the regal treasures that must have been expended in bringing these hundred mansions to vie with one that had been in its day the most sumptuous and the most celebrated in all the city. And then let him reflect how, that since that period, and down to the present time, these houses have all of them been surpassed by others without number. There can be no doubt that conflagrations are a punishment inflicted upon us for our luxury, but such are our habits, that in spite of such warnings as these, we cannot be made to understand that there are things in existence more perishable even than man himself.
But there are still two other mansions by which these edifices have been eclipsed. Twice have we seen the whole city environed by the palaces of the emperors Caius and Nero, that of the last that nothing might be wanting to its magnificence being coated with gold. Surely such palaces as these must have been intended for the abode of those who created this mighty empire, and who left the plough or their native hearth to go forth to conquer nations. And to return laden with triumphs, men, in fact, whose very fields even occupied less space than the audience chambers of these palaces. Indeed, one cannot but help reflecting how trifling a portion of these palaces was equal to the sites which the Republic granted to its invincible generals for the erection of their dwellings.
The supreme honor, too, attended upon these grants, as is the case of Publius Valerius Publicola, the First Consul, With Lucius Brutus for his many meritorious services, and of his brother, who twice in one councilship defeated the Sabines, was the permission granted, by the terms of the decree, to have the doors of their houses opening from without, and the gates thrown back upon the public street. Such was the most distinguished privilege accorded in those days to triumphant mansions even. I will not permit, however, these two Caiuses, or two Neros, to enjoy this glory even, such as it is. For I will prove that these extravagant follies of theirs have been surpassed in the use that was made of his wealth by Marcus Scarus, a private citizen.
Indeed, I am by no means certain that it was not the edelship of this personage that inflicted the first great blow upon the public manners, and that Scylla was not guilty of a greater crime in giving such unlimited power to his stepson than in the proscription of so many thousands. During his edelship, and only for the temporary purposes of a few days, Scarus executed the greatest work that has ever been made by the hands of man, even when intended to be of everlasting duration—his theater, I mean. This building consisted of three stories, supported upon 360 columns, and this, too, in a city which had not allowed, with some censure, one of its greatest citizens to erect six pillars of Hymetian marble.
The ground story was of marble, the second of glass, a species of luxury which ever since that time has been quite unheard of, and the highest of gilded wood. The lowermost columns, as previously stated, were 8 and 30 feet in height, and placed between these columns, as already mentioned, were brazen statues, 3,000 in number. The area of this theater afforded accommodation for 80,000 spectators. And yet the theater of Pompeius, after the city had so greatly increased and the inhabitants had become so vastly more numerous, was considered abundantly large, with its sittings for forty thousand only. The rest of the fittings of it, what with the Attalic vestments, pictures, and other stage properties, were of such enormous value, that after Scaris had conveyed to his Tuscalian villa such parts thereof as were not required for the enjoyment of his daily luxuries, the loss was no less than three hundred millions of sesterces when the villa was burnt by The consideration of such prodigality as this quite distracts my attention and compels me to digress from my original purpose in order to mention a still greater instance of extravagance In reference to Wood, Gaius Curio, who died during the civil wars, fighting on the side of Caesar, found, to his dismay, that he could not, when celebrating the funeral games in honor of his father, surpass the riches and magnificence of Scarrus.
For where, in fact, was to be found such a step-sire as Scylla, and such a mother as Metella, that bidder at all auctions for the property of the proscribed? Where, too, was he to find for his father, Marcus Scarrus? So long as the principal man in the city, and the one who had acted, in his alliance with Marius, as a receptacle for the plunder of the whole provinces. Indeed, Scarrus himself was no longer able to rival himself, and it was at least one advantage which he derived from this destruction by fire of so many objects brought from all parts of the earth that no one could ever after be his equal in this species of folly. Curio, consequently, found himself compelled to fall back upon his own resources, and to think of some new device of his own.
It's really worth our while to know what this device was, if only to congratulate ourselves upon the manners of the present day, and to reverse the ordinary mode of expression, and term ourselves the men of the olden time. He caused to be erected, close together, two theatres of very large dimensions, and built of wood, each of them nicely poised, and turning on a pivot. Before midday, a spectacle of games was exhibited in each, the theaters being turned back to back in order that the noise of neither of them might interfere with what was going on in the other. Then, in the latter part of the day, all on a sudden, the two theaters were swung round, and the corners uniting, brought face to face, the outer frames too were removed, and thus an amphitheater was formed, in which combats of gladiators were presented to the view.
Men whose safety was almost less compromised than was that of the Roman people in allowing itself to be thus whirled round from side to side. Now, in this case, which have we most reason to admire? The inventor, or the invention? The artist, or the author of the project? Him who first dared to think of such an enterprise, or him who ventured to undertake it? Him who obeyed the order, or him who gave it? But the thing that surpasses all is the frenzy that must have possessed the public to take their seats in a place which must, of necessity, have been so unsubstantial and so insecure. Lo and behold, here is a people that has conquered the whole earth, that has subdued the universe, that divides spoils of kingdoms and of nations, that sends its laws to foreign lands, that shares in some degree the attributes of the immortal gods in common with mankind.
Suspended aloft in a machine, and showering plaudits even upon its own peril. This is indeed holding life cheap. And can we, after this, complain of our disasters at Cana? How vast the catastrophe that might have ensued! When cities are swallowed up by an earthquake, it is looked upon by mankind as a general calamity. And yet here have we the whole Roman people embarked, so to say, in two ships, and sitting suspended on a couple of pivots. The grand spectacle being its own struggle with danger and its liability to perish at any moment that the overstrained machinery may give way. And then the object, too, of all this, that public favor may be conciliated for the Tribune's harangues at a future day, and that, at the rostra, he may still have the power of shaking the tribes, nicely balanced as they are.
And really, what may he not dare with those who, at his persuasion, Indeed, to confess the truth, at the funeral games celebrated at the tomb of his father, it was no less than the whole Roman people that shared the dangers of the gladiatorial combats. When the pivots had now been sufficiently worked and wearied, he gave another turn to his magnificent displays. For, upon the last day, still preserving the form of the amphitheater, he cut the stage in two through the middle and exhibited a spectacle of athletes. After which, the stage being suddenly withdrawn on either side, he exhibited a combat, upon the same day, between such of the gladiators as had previously proved victorious. And yet, with all this, Curio was no king, no ruler of the destinies of a nation, nor yet a person remarkable, for his own opulence even, seeing that he possessed no resources of his own, beyond what he could realize from the discord between the leading men.
But now let us turn our attention to some marvels which, justly appreciated, may be truthfully pronounced to remain unsurpassed. Quintius Marcius Rex, upon being commanded by the Senate to repair the Appian Aqueduct, and those of the Anio and Teppala, constructed during his praetorship a new aqueduct, which bore his name, and was brought hither by a channel pierced through the sides of mountains. Agrippa, in his adelship, united the Marcion with the Virgin Aqueduct and repaired and strengthened the channels of the others. He also formed 700 wells, in addition to 500 fountains, and 130 reservoirs, many of them magnificently adorned. Upon these works, too, he erected 300 statues of marble or bronze and 400 marble columns, and all of this in the space of a single year.
In the work which he has written in commemoration of his Edel ship, he also informs us that public games were celebrated for the space of 59 days and that 170 gratuitous baths were opened. The number of these last at Rome has increased to an infinite extent since his time. The preceding aqueducts, however, have all been surpassed by the costly work which was more recently commenced by the Emperor Caius and completed by Claudius. Under these princes, the Curtain and Cerulean waters, with the Nuonio, were brought from a distance of forty miles and at so high a level that all the hills were supplied with water on which the city is built. The sum expended on these works was three hundred and fifty millions of cisterces.
If we only take into consideration the abundant supply of water to the public for baths, ponds, canals, household purposes, gardens, We must, of necessity, admit that there is a There is nothing to be found more worthy of our admiration throughout the whole universe. Among the most memorable works, too, I, for my own part, should include another undertaking of the Emperor Claudius, though it was afterwards abandoned. In consequence of the hatred borne him by his successor. I mean the channel that was cut through a mountain as an emissary for Lake Fusinus, a work which cost a sum beyond all calculation and employed a countless multitude of workmen for many years. In these parts where the soil was found to be tereris, it was necessary to pump up the water by the aid of machinery.
In other parts, again, the solid rock had to be hewn through. All this, too, had to be done in the midst of darkness within. A series of operations which can only be adequately conceived by those who are witnesses of them, and which no human language can possibly describe. I pass in silence the harbor that has been formed at Ostia, the various roads, too, that have been cut across mountains, the Tahirinian Sea separated by an embankment from Lake Lucrinus, and vast numbers of bridges constructed at an enormous expense. Among the many other marvels, too, of Italy, We are informed by Papyrius Fabianus, a most diligent inquirer into the operations of nature, that the marble there grows in the quarries, and those who work in the quarries assure us that the wounds thus inflicted upon the mountains fill up spontaneously.
If such is the fact, luxury has good grounds for hoping that it will never be at a loss for a supply of materials for its gratification.
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32 32 - Book 36, Chapters 25 to 46. Magnets. Various kinds of stones and their medicinal uses. 28:12
Chapters 25 to 46. Chapter 25. The Magnet. Three Remedies. Upon quitting the marbles to pass on to other more remarkable stones, who can for a moment doubt that the magnet will be the first to suggest itself? For what, in fact, is there endowed with more marvelous properties than this? Or in which of her departments has nature displayed a greater degree of waywardness? She has given a voice to rocks, as already mentioned, and has enabled them to answer man, Or rather, I should say, to throw back his own words in his teeth. What is there in existence more inert than a piece of rigid stone? And yet, behold, nature has here endowed stone with both sense and hands. What is there more stubborn than hard iron?
Nature has, in this instance, bestowed upon it both feet and intelligence. It allows itself, in fact, to be attracted by the magnet And itself a metal, which subdues all other elements, it precipitates itself towards the source of an influence at once mysterious and unseen. The moment the metal comes near it, it springs toward the magnet, and as it clasps it, is held fast in the magnet's embraces. Hence it is that this stone is sometimes known by the name of Sidiritus, another name given it being Heraklion. It received its name Magnus. Nicander informs us. From the person who was the first to discover it, upon Ida, it is found, too, in various other countries, as in Spain, for example. Magnus, it is said, made this discovery, when, upon taking his herds to pasture, he found that the nails of his shoes and the iron ferrule of his staff adhered to the ground.
Sauticus describes five different kinds of magnet. The Ethiopian magnet, that of Magnesia, a country which borders on Macedonia, And lies to the right of the road which leads from the town of Beb to Ilokas, a third from Hydeus in Boecia, a fourth from Alexandria in Troas, and a fifth from Magnesia in Asia. The leading distinction The next distinction in magnets is the sex, male and female, and the next great difference in them is the color. Those of Magnesia, bordering on Macedonia, are of a reddish-black. Those of Boeotia are more red than black. And the kind that is found in Troas is black, of the female sex, and consequently destitute of attractive power. The most inferior, however, of all, are those of Magnesia in Asia.
They are white, have no attractive influence on iron, and resemble pumice in appearance. It has been found by experience that the more nearly the magnet approaches to an azure color, the better it is in quality. The Ethiopian magnet is looked upon as the best of all, And is purchased at its weight in silver. Zimaris in Ethiopia is the place where it is found, such being the name of a region there covered with sand. In the same country, too, the magnet called hematites is found, a stone of blood-red color and which, when bruised, yields a tint like that of blood, as also of saffron. The hematites has not the same property of attracting iron that the ordinary magnet has. The Ethiopian magnet is recognized by this peculiarity that it has the property also of attracting other magnets to it.
All these minerals are useful as ingredients in ophthalmolic preparations, in certain proportions according to the nature of each. They are particularly good, too, for resting the fluxions of the eyes. Triturated in a calcinated state, they have a healing effect upon burns. In Ethiopia too, not far from Zamoros, there is a mountain in which the stone called Theomedes is found, a mineral which repels and rejects all kinds of iron. Of the attractive and repulsive properties of iron, we have spoken more than once. Chapter 26. Stone of Skyros. In the Isle of Skyros, there is a stone, they say, which floats upon the water when whole, but which falls to the bottom when broken into fragments. Chapter 27.
At Assos in Troas, there is found a stone of a laminated texture called sarcophagus. It is a well-known fact that dead bodies, when buried in this stone, are consumed in the course of 40 days, with the sole exception of the teeth. According to Musianus, two, mirrors, body scrapers, garments, and shoes that have been buried with the dead become transformed into stone. In Lycia, and in the East, there are certain stones of a similar nature, which, when attached to the bodies of the living, even, corrode the flesh. Chapter 28. Chernites. Less active in its properties is Chernites, a stone which preserves bodies without consuming them, and strongly resembles ivory in appearance. The body of King Darius, they say, was buried in it.
The stone that is known as Porus, Theophrastus mentions also a transparent stone that is found in Egypt and is similar to Stone of Chios in appearance. It is by no means improbable that it may have existed in his time, for stones, we know, disappear and new kinds are discovered. The Stone of Assos, which is saltish to the taste, modifies the attacks of gout, the feet being placed in a vessel made of it for the purpose. In addition to which, in the quarries of this stone, all maladies of the legs disappear, whereas in mines in general, the legs become affected with disease. Flower of Stone of Assos is the name given to a soft stone which crumbles into dust and is found very efficacious in some cases.
It resembles red pumice in appearance. In combination with Cyprian wax, this stone is curative of affections of the mammala. And employed with pitch or resin, it disperses scrofulous sores and inflammatory tumors. Used in the form of an electuary, it is good for thisis, and with honey, it causes old sores to cicatrize and consumes proud flesh. It is used also for the cure of wounds of an obstinate nature inflicted by animals and acts as a desiccative upon separations. Plasters, too, are made of it for gout, bean metal being incorporated with it for the purpose. Chapter 29. Osseous Stones, Palm Stones, Korani, Black Stones. Theophrastus and Mucianus are of the opinion that there are certain stones which bring forth other stones.
Theophrastus states also that a fossil ivory is found, both white and black, that the earth, too, produces bones, And that Osseos stones are sometimes found. In the vicinity of Munda in Spain, the place where the dictator Caesar defeated Pompeius, there are stones found which, when broken asunder, bear the impression of palm leaves. There are some black stones also, which are held in much the same esteem as the marbles, the Tenerean stone, for example. Varro says that the black stone of Africa is more durable than that of Italy, while on the other hand, the white Korani are harder than the Parian marble. He states also that the silex of Luna admits of being cut with a saw, that that of Tusculum decrepitates in the fire, that the tawny silex of the Sabine districts, with the addition of oil, And that, at Volsini, molar stones for grinding are found.
Among the prodigies that have happened, I find mention made of millstones that have moved of themselves. Chapter 30 Molar stones, pyrites, seven remedies. In no other country are the molar stones superior to those of Italy. Stones, be it remembered, are not fragments of rock. There are some provinces, too, where they are not to be found at all. Some stones of this class are softer than others, and admit of being smoothed with a wet stone, so as to present all the appearance, at a distance, of offites. There is no stone of a more durable nature than this. For in general, stone, like wood, suffers from the action, more or less, of rain, heat, and cold. Some kinds, again, become deteriorated by the action of the moon, while others are apt to contract a rust in lapse of time or to change their white color when steeped in oil.
Some persons give this molar stone the name of pyrites from the circumstance that it has a great affinity to fire. But there is also another kind of pyrites, of a more porous nature, And another, again, which resembles copper. This last, it is said, is found in the mines near Akamas in the Isle of Cyprus, one variety of it being of a silver, another of a golden color. There are various methods of melting these stones, some persons fusing them twice, or three times even, in honey till all the liquid has evaporated, while others, again, calcine them upon hot coals and, after treating them with honey, wash them like copper. The medicinal properties which these minerals possess are of a calorific, desiccative, dispersive, and resolvent nature, and, applied topically, they cause indurations to separate.
They are employed also, in a crude state and pulverized, for the cure of scrofulous sores and boils. Some writers mention another kind of pyrites also. These, among them, have the greatest affinity to fire, which we distinguish as live pyrites. They are the most ponderous of all. and are found remarkably useful for advance guards when laying out encampments, for on being struck with a nail or any other kind of stone, they emit a spark, which received upon sulfur, dried fungus, or leaves, Produces a fire almost sooner than it could be named. Chapter 31. Ostracytes. Four remedies. Amianthus. Two remedies. The several varieties of ostracytes bear a resemblance to shells. They are used by way of substitute for pumice stone for smoothing the skin.
Taken in drink, they arrest discharges of blood and applied topically with honey. They are curative of ulcerations and pains in the mammalli. Amianthus resembles alamin in appearance and suffers no diminution from the action of fire. This substance effectually counteracts all noxious spells, those wrought by magicians in particular. Chapter 32. Geodes. Three remedies. Geodes is so called from its formation, it containing earth within. It is remarkably beneficial for the eyes, and is used for the cure of diseases of the testes and mammalia. Chapter 33. Melatinous. Six remedies. The stone called melatinous yields a liquid that is sweet like honey. Bruised and incorporated with wax, it is curative of pituitous eruptions, spots on the skin, and ulcerations of the fosses.
It removes epinicus also, and applied as a pessary in wool, it alleviates pains in the uterus. Chapter 34. Gagatz. Six Remedies. Gagatz is a stone, so called from Gages, the name of a town and river in Lycia. It is asserted, too, that at Leucola the sea throws it up, and that it is found over a space twelve stadia in extent. It is black, smooth, light, and porous, differs but little from wood in appearance. is of a brittle texture and emits a disagreeable odor when rubbed. Marks made upon pottery with this stone cannot be effaced. When burnt, it gives out a sulfurous smell, and it is a singular fact that the application of water ignites it, while that of oil quenches it. The fumes of it, burnt, keep serpents at a distance and dispel hysterical affections.
They detect a tendency also to epilepsy and act as a test of virginity. A decoction of this stone in wine is curative of toothache, and, in combination with wax, it is good for scrofula. The magicians, it is said, make use of geggits in the practice of what they call axionomacy, and they assure us that it will be sure not to burn if the thing is about to happen as the party desires. Chapter 35 Spongites. Two Remedies. The stone called Spongites is found in sponges, And is a marine formation. By some persons, it is called tecolithos from the circumstance that it is curative of affections of the bladder. Taken in wine, it breaks and disperses urinary calculi. Chapter 36 Phrygian Stone Phrygian stone is, so called, from the country which produces it, and which is a porous mass, like pumice.
It is first saturated with wine and then calcined. The fire being kept up with the bellows till the stone is brought to a red heat, which done, it is quenched in sweet wine. The operation is repeated three times. The only use made of it is for dyeing cloths. Chapter 37. Hematites. Five Remedies. Schizotes. Seven Remedies. Schizotes and hematites have a certain affinity between them. The latter is found in mines, and when burnt, has just the color of minium. It is calcined in the same manner as the Phrygian stone, but is not quenched in wine. Adulterations of it are detected by the appearance of red veins in it and by its comparative freeability. It is marvelously useful as an application for bloodshot eyes, and, taken internally, it acts as a check upon female discharges.
To patients vomiting blood, it is administered in combination with pomegranate juice. It is very efficacious also for affections of the bladder, and it is taken with wine for the cure of wounds inflicted by serpents. In all these cases, the stone called Schizotes is most efficacious, though not in so high a degree as the other, the most serviceable being that which resembles saffron in color. Applied with woman's milk, it is particularly useful for resting discharges from the corners of the eyes, and it is also very serviceable for reducing precedence of those organs. Such, at least, is the opinion of the authors who have most recently written on the subject. Chapter 38. Ethiopic Hematites, Andromedas, Two Remedies.
Arabian Hematites, Miltites or Hepatites, Anthrocytes. Soticus, one of the most ancient writers, says that there are five kinds of hematites, in addition to the magnet so-called. He gives the preference among them to that of Ethiopia, a very useful ingredient in ophthalmolic preparations and in compositions which he calls pancresta, and good for the cure of burns. The second, he says, is called Andromedus, of a black color, Remarkable for its weight and hardness, to which it owes its name, in fact, and found in Africa more particularly. It attracts silver, he says, copper and iron, and is tested with a touchstone made of basenites. It yields a liquid, the color of blood, and is an excellent remedy for diseases of the liver.
The third kind that he mentions is the hematites of Arabia, a mineral of equal hardness and which, with difficulty, The fourth kind, he says, is known as heptadites while raw and as miltites when calcined, a substance good for burns and more efficacious than rubrica for the purposes for which that mineral is employed. The fifth variety is schistose, a substance which, taken internally, arrests hemorrhoidal discharges. Upon the same authority, it is recommended to take any kind of hematites, fasting, in doses of three drachma, triturated in oil, for affections of the blood. The same author mentions also a kind of schistose, which has no affinity to hematites, and which he gives the name of anthracites.
It is a native of Africa, he says, and is of a black color. When rubbed upon a water whetstone, it yields a black color on the side which has adhered to the earth, and on the opposite side. A saffron tint. He states also that it is a useful ingredient in ophthalmic preparations. Chapter 39. Etites, Taffusian Stone, Calamus. The stone called Etites has a great reputation in consequence of the name which it bears. It is found in the nests of eagles, as already mentioned in our tenth book. There are always two of these stones found together, they say, a male stone and a female. And without them, it is said, the various eagles that we have described would be unable to propagate. Hence it is, too, that the young of the eagle are never more than two in number.
There are four varieties of the etites. That of Africa is soft and diminutive, and contains in the interior, in its bowels as it were, a sweet, white, argillaceous earth. It is freeable, and is generally thought to be one of the female sex. The male stone, on the other hand, which is found in Arabia, is hard and similar to a nutgal in appearance, or else of a reddish hue, with a hard stone in the interior. The third kind is a stone found in the Isle of Cyprus and resembles those of Africa in appearance, but is larger and flat, while the others are of a globular form. It contains a sand within, of a pleasing color and mixed with small stones, being so soft itself as to admit of being crushed between the fingers.
The fourth variety is known as the Taffusian Aetites, and is found near Lucas at Taffusia, a locality which lies to the right as you sail from Ithaca towards Cape Lucas. It is met with in the beds of rivers there, and is white and round, having another stone in the interior, the name given to which is Calamus. None of the varieties of Aetites have a smoother surface than this. Attached to pregnant women, or to cattle, in the skins of animals that have been sacrificed, These stones act as a preventative of abortion, care being taken not to remove them till the moment of paturation, for otherwise the procedence of the uterus is the result. If, on the other hand, they are not removed at the moment when paturation is about to ensue, that operation of nature cannot be effected.
Chapter 40. Samian Stone. Eight Remedies. Samian stone comes from the same island which produces the earth in praise of which we have spoken already. It is useful for giving a polish to gold, and is employed medicinally for the treatment of ulcerations of the eyes, combined with milk in manner already described. It is good, too, for watery discharges of a chronic nature from the eyes. Taken internally, it is useful for affections of the stomach, and has the effect of dispelling vertigo and restoring the spirits when depressed. Some writers are of the opinion that this stone may be administered with advantage for epilepsy and stranglery. And it is employed as an ingredient in the restoratives known as acopa.
The test of its purity is its weight and its whiteness. Some persons will have it that, worn as an amulet. It acts as a preventative. Chapter 41. Arabian Stone. Six Remedies. Arabian stone resembles ivory in appearance, and in a calcined state, it is employed as a dentifrice. It is particularly useful for the cure of hemorrhoidal swellings, applied either by lint or by the aid of linen pledgets. Chapter 42. Pumice. Nine Remedies. And here, too, I must not omit to give some account of pumice. This name is very generally given, it is true, to those porous pieces of stone, which we see suspended in the erections known as musea, with the view of artificially giving them all the appearance of caverns.
But the genuine pumice stones that are in use for imparting smoothness to the skin of females, and not females only, but men as well, and as Catalyst says, for polishing books, are found of the finest quality in the islands of Milos and Nisairos and in the Aetolian Isles. To be good, they should be white, as light as possible, porous and dry in the extreme, freeable, and free from sand when rubbed. Considered medicinally, Pumice is of a resolvent and desiccative nature, for which purpose it is submitted to calcination no less than three times on a fire of pure charcoal, it being quenched as often in white wine. It is then washed like cadmium, and after being dried, is put by for keeping in a place as free from damp as possible.
In a powdered state, pumice is used in ophthalmolic preparations more particularly, and acts as a lenitive detergent upon ulcerations of the eyes. It also makes new flesh upon secretarizations of those organs and removes all traces of the marks. Some prefer, after the third calcination, leaving the pumice to cool and then triterating it in wine. It is employed also as an ingredient in emollient poultices, being extremely useful for ulcerations on the head and generative organs. Dentifrices, too, are prepared from it. According to Theophrastus, persons, when drinking for a wager, are in the habit of taking powdered pumice first, but they run a great risk, he says, if they fail to swallow the whole draught of wine at once, it being so refrigerative of a nature that grape juice will absolutely cease to boil if pumice is put into it.
Chapter 43. Stones for Mortars, Used in Medicinal and Other Purposes, Aetesian Stone, The Bayic Stone, Chalazian Stone. Authors, too, have paid some attention to the stones in use for mortars, not only those employed for the trituration of drugs and pigments, but for other purposes as well. In this respect, they have given the preference to Aetesian stone before all others, and, next to that, to Thebaeoc stone, already mentioned, as being called Pyhopsilion and known as Saranus by some. The third rank has been assigned to Chrysites, A stone nearly allied to Chalazian stone. For medicinal purposes, however, Bassanites has been preferred, this being a stone that remits no particles from its surface.
Those stones which yield a liquid are generally looked upon as good for the trituration of ophthalmolic preparations, and hence it is that the Ethiopian stone is so much in request for the purpose. Tenarian stone, they say, Phoenician stone and hematites are good for the preparation of those medicinal compositions in which saffron forms an ingredient, but they also speak of another Tanarian stone of a dark color which, like Paurian stone, is not so well adapted for medicinal purposes. We learn from them, too, that Egyptian alabasterites, or white ophites, from the virtues inherent in them, are considered still better adapted for these purposes than the kinds last mentioned. It is this kind of ophites, too, from which vessels, and casks even, are made.
Chapter 44. Stone of Siphnos. Soft Stones. At Siphnos, there is a kind of stone which is hollowed and turned in a lathe for making cooking utensils and vessels for keeping provisions. A thing, too, that, to my own knowledge, is done with the green stone of Comum in Italy. With reference, however, to the stone of Sifnos, it is a singular fact that, when heated in oil, though naturally very soft, it becomes hard and black, so great a difference is there in the qualities of stone. There are some remarkable instances, too, beyond the Alps, of the natural softness of some kinds of stone. In the province of the Belge, there is a white stone which admits of being cut with a saw that is used for wood, and with greater facility even.
This stone is used as a substitute for roof tiles and gutter tiles, and even for the kind of roofing known as the Pavanaceous tile, if that is preferred. Such are the stones that admit of being cut into thin slabs. Chapter 45. Specular Stones. As to specular stone, for this too is ranked as one of the stones, it admits of being divided with still greater facility and can be split into leaves as thin as may be desired. The province of nearer Spain used formerly to be the only one that furnished it. Not, indeed, the whole of that country, but a district extended for a hundred miles around the city of Segobrica. But at the present day, Cyprus, Cappadocia, and Sicily supply us with it. And still more recently, it has been discovered in Africa.
They are all, however, looked upon as inferior to the stone which comes from Spain. The sheets from Cappadocia are the largest in size, but then they are clouded. This stone is to be found also in the territory of Bononia in Italy, but in small pieces only, covered with spots and encrusted in a bed of silics, there being considerable affinity, it would appear, in their nature. In Spain, the specular stone is extracted from shafts sunk in the earth to a very considerable depth, though it is occasionally to be found just beneath the surface, enclosed in solid rock and extracted without difficulty, or else cut away from its bed. In most cases, however, it admits of being dug up, being of an isolated nature, and lying in pieces, like ragstone, but never known as yet to exceed five feet in length.
It would appear that this substance is originally a liquid, which, by an animating power in the earth, becomes congealed like crystal. And it is very evident that it is the result of petrification from the fact that, when animals have fallen into the shafts from which it is extracted, The marrow of their bones becomes transformed into stone of a similar nature by the end of a single winter. In some cases, too, it is found of a black color, but the white stone has the marvelous property, soft as it is known to be, of resisting the action of the sun and of cold. Nor will it, if it is only protected from accidents, become deteriorated by lapse of time, a thing that is so generally the case with many other kinds of stone that are used for building purposes.
The shavings, too, and the scales of this stone have been used of late for another purpose, the Circus Maximus having been strewed with them at the celebration of the games with the object of producing an agreeable whiteness. Chapter 46. FENGYTES. During the reign of Nero there was a stone found in Cappadocia as hard as marble, white, and transparent even in those parts where red veins were to be seen upon it, a property which has obtained for it the name of FENGYTES. It was with this stone that Nero rebuilt the Temple of Fortune, surnamed Sia, originally consecrated by King Servius, enclosing it within the precincts of his golden palace. Hence it was that, even when the doors were closed, there was light in the interior during the day, not transmitted from without, as would be the case through a medium of specular stone, but as having all the appearance of being enclosed within the building.
In Arabia, too, according to Juba, there was a stone, Transparent like glass, which is used for the same purposes as specular stone.
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33 33 - Book 36, Chapters 47 to 70. Various kinds of silex. Stones used for buildings. Methods of building. Cisterns. Various kinds of sand. Plaster for walls. Columns. Gypsum. Pavements. Mosaic pavaments. Origins of glass. Kinds of glass. Obsidian glass. Summary. Roman authors quoted, Foreign authors 28:53
VII. Chapter 47 Whetstones. We must now pass on to the stones that are employed for handicrafts, and first of all, whetstones for sharpening iron. Of these stones there are numerous varieties, the Cretan stones having been long held in the highest estimation, and the next best being those of Mount Tegitus in Laconia, both of which are used as hones and require oil. Among the water whetstones, the first rank belongs to those of Naxos, and the second to the stones of Armenia, both of them already mentioned. The stones of Cilicia are of excellent quality, whether used with oil or with water. Those of Arsinoe, too, are very good, but with water only. Whetstones have been found also in Italy, which, with water, give a remarkably keen edge.
And from the countries beyond the Alps, we have the whetstones known as Passernices. To the fourth class belong the Hones, which give an edge by the agency of human saliva, and are much in use in barber shops. They are worthless, however, for all other purposes, in consequence of their soft and brittle nature. Those from the district of Laminium, in nearer Spain, are the best of the kind. Chapter 48. Tophus. Among the multitude of stones, which still remain undescribed, there is tophus, A material totally unsuited for building purposes, in consequence of its perishableness. Still, however, there are some localities which have no other, Carthage in Africa, for example. It is eaten away by the emanations from the sea, crumbled to dust by the wind, and shattered by the pelting of the rain.
But human industry has found the means of protecting walls of houses built with it with a coating of pitch, as a plaster of lime would corrode it. Hence it is that we have the well-known saying that the Carthaginians use pitch for their houses and lime for their wines, this last being the method used by them in the preparation of their must. In the territories of Fadena and Alba, in the vicinity of Rome, we find other kinds of soft stone, and in Umbria and Venetia there is a stone which admits of being cut with the teeth of a saw. These stones are easily to be worked, The Stone of Tiber can stand everything except heat, which makes it crack. Chapter 49. The Various Kinds of Silex. The black silex is, in general, the best.
But in some localities it is the red, and occasionally the white. As in the Anasinian quarries at Tarquini, near Lake Walsinius, for example, and those at Statonia, the stone of which is proof against fire, even. These stones, sculpted for monumental purposes, are subject to no deterioration by lapse of time. Molds, too, are made from them for the purpose of fusing copper. There is a green silex, also, which offers a most powerful resistance to the action of fire. But is never found in any large quantities, and in all cases, in an isolated form, and not as a constituent part of solid rock. Of the other kinds, the pale silex is but rarely used for erections. Being of globular form, it is not liable to injury, but at the same time, it is insecure for building purposes, unless it is well braced and tightly held together.
Nor yet, Does river silex offer any greater security, for it always has the appearance of being wet? Chapter 50. Other Stones Used for Building. When the nature of stone is doubtful, the proper precaution is to quarry it in summer, and not use it for building before the end of a couple of years, leaving it, in the meantime, to be well seasoned by the weather. The slabs which have been damaged will be found to be better suited for the foundations underground, While those, on the other hand, which have remained uninjured, may be employed with safety and exposed to the open air, even. Chapter 51. The Various Methods of Building The Greeks construct party walls, resembling those of brickwork, of hard stone or silex, squared.
This kind of stonework is what they call a sodomon, it being pseudo-sodomon, when the wall is built of materials of unequal dimensions. A third kind of stonework is called emplectin, the two exteriors only being made with regularity, the rest of the material being thrown in at random. It is necessary that the stones should lie over one another alternately, in such a way that the middle of one stone meets the point of junction of the two below it, and this too in the middle of the wall, if possible. But if not, at all events, at the sides. When the middle of the wall is filled up with broken stones, the work is known as diatoicon. The reticulated kind of building, which is mostly in use at Rome, is very liable to crack.
All buildings should be done by line and rule, and ought to be strictly on the perpendicular. Chapter 52. Cisterns. Cisterns should be made of five parts of pure, gravelly sand, two of the very strongest quicklime, and fragments of silex. Not exceeding a pound each in weight. When thus incorporated, the bottom and sides should be well beaten with iron rammers. The best plan, too, is to have the cisterns double, so that all the superfluities may settle in the inner cistern and the wall Chapter 53. Quick Lime. Cato, the sensor, disapproves of lime prepared from stones of various colors. That made of white stone is the best. Lime prepared from hard stone is the best for building purposes, and that from porous stone for coats of plaster.
For both these purposes, lime made from silex is equally rejected. Stone that has been extracted from quarries furnishes a better lime than that collected from the beds of rivers, but the best of all is the lime that is obtained from molar stone, that being of a more unctuous nature than the others. It is something truly marvelous that quicklime, after the stone has been subjected to fire, should ignite on the application of water. Chapter 54. The Various Kinds of Sand. Combinations of Sand with Lime. There are three kinds of sand. Fossil sand, to which one-fourth part of lime should be added, river sand, and sea sand, to both of which last one-third of lime should be added. If, too, one-third of the mortar is composed of bruised earthenware, it will be all the better.
Fossil sand is found in the districts that lie between the Apennines and the Pados, but not in parts beyond the sea. Chapter 55. Defects in Building. Plasters for Walls. The great cause of the fall of so many buildings in our city is that through a fraudulent abstraction of the lime, the rough work is laid without anything to hold it together. The older, too, the mortar is, the better it is in quality. In the ancient laws for the regulation of building, no contractor was to use mortar less than three months old, hence it is that no cracks have disfigured the plaster coatings of their walls. These stuccos will never present a sufficiently bright surface unless there have been three layers of sanded mortar and two of marbled mortar upon that.
In damp localities and places subject to exhalations from the sea, it is the best plan to substitute ground earthenware mortar for sanded mortar. In grease, it is the practice first to pound the lime and sand used for plastering with wood pestles in a large trough. The test by which it is known that marbled mortar has been properly blended is it not adhering to the trowel. Whereas, if it is only wanted for whitewashing, the lime, after being well slaked with water, should stick like glue. For this last purpose, however, the lime should only be slaked in lumps. At Ellis there is a temple of Minerva, which was pargetted, they say, by Penaeanus, the brother of Phidias, with a mortar that was blended with milk and saffron.
Hence it is, that even at the present day, when rubbed with spittle on the finger, it yields the smell and flavor of saffron. Chapter 56. Columns. The several kinds of columns. The more closely columns are placed together, the thicker they appear to be. There are four different kinds of pillars. Those of which the diameter at the foot is one-sixth part of the height are called doric. When the diameter is one-ninth, they are ionic. And when it is one-seventh, Tuscan. The proportions in the Corinthian are the same as those of the ionic. But they differ in the circumstance that the Corinthian capitals are of the same height as the diameter at the foot, a thing that gives them a more slender appearance, whereas in the Ionic column, the height of the capital is only one-third of the diameter at the foot.
In ancient times, the rule was that the columns should be one-third of the breadth of the temple in height. It was in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, as originally built, that spirals were first placed beneath and capitals added. And it was determined that the diameter of the shafts should be one-eighth of their height, and that the spirals should be one-half of the diameter in height, the upper extremity of the shaft being one-seventh less in diameter than the foot. In addition to these columns, there are what are called attic columns, triangular and with equal sides. Chapter 57. Five Remedies Derived from Lime. Lime is also employed very extensively in medicine. For this purpose, fresh lime is selected, which has not been slaked with water.
Its properties are caustic, resolvent, and attractive, and it prevents serpigenia salsas from spreading, being incorporated with vinegar and oil of roses for the purpose. When this has been effected, it is tempered with wax and oil of roses and applied to promote cicatrization in combination with honey and liquid resin or hogs' lard, Lime is curative of sprains and scrofulous sores. Chapter 58. Malta. Malta is a cement from fresh lime, lumps of which are quenched in wine, and then pounded with hogs' lard and figs, both of them mollifying substances. It is the most tenacious of all cements, and surpasses stone in hardness. Before applying the malta, the substance upon which it is used must be well rubbed with oil.
Chapter 50. Gypsum. Gypsum has a close affinity with limestone, and there are numerous varieties of it. One kind is prepared from calcined stone, as in Syria, and at Thuri, for example. In Cyprus and at Perhabia, gypsum is dug out of the earth, and at Timphea, it is found just below the level of the soil. The stone that is calcined for this purpose ought to be very similar to alabasterites or else of a grain like that of marble. In Syria, they select the hardest stones for the purpose, and calcined them with cow dung to accelerate the process. Experience has proved, however, that the best plaster of all is that prepared from specular stone or any other stone that is similarly laminated. Gypsum, when moistened, must be used immediately, as it hardens with the greatest rapidity.
It admits, however, of being triturated over again and so reduced to powder. It is very useful for pargeting and has a pleasing effect when used for ornamental figures There is one remarkable fact connected with this substance. Caius Proculius, an intimate friend of the emperor Augustus, suffering from violent pains in the stomach, swallowed gypsum and so put an end to his existence. Chapter 60. Pavements. The Acerotos Ecos. Pavements are an invention of the Greeks, who also practiced the art of painting them, till they were superseded by mosaics. In this last branch of art, the highest excellence has been attained by Sostas, who laid at Pergamos the mosaic pavement known as the Aserotos Ecos, from the fact that he there represented, in small squares of different colors, the remnants of a banquet lying upon the pavement, and other things which are usually swept away with a broom, they having all the appearance of being left there by accident.
There is a dove also, greatly admired, in the act of drinking, Chapter 61. The first pavements in use at Rome. The first pavements, in my opinion, were those now known to us as barbaric and subdugulian pavements, a kind of work that was beaten down with the rammer, at least if we may form a judgment from the name that has been given to them. The first diamonded pavement at Rome was laid in the Temple of Jupiter, Capitolinus, after the commencement of the Third Punic War. That pavements have come into common use before the Cymbric War, and that a taste for them was very prevalent, is evident from the line of Lucinius, with checkered emblems like a pavement marked. Chapter 62. Terrace Roof Pavements.
The Greeks have also invented terrace roof pavements, and have covered their houses with them. A thing that may easily be done in the hotter climates, but a great mistake in countries where the rain is apt to become congealed. In making these pavements, the proper plan is to begin with two layers of boards running different ways and nailed at the extremities to prevent them from warping. Upon this planking, a rough work must be laid, one fourth of which consists of pounded pottery, and upon this, another bed of rough work, Two-fifths composed of lime, a foot in thickness, and well beaten down with the rammer. The nucleus is then laid down in a bed six fingers in depth, and upon that, in large square stones not less than a couple of fingers in thickness, an inclination being carefully observed of an inch and a half to every ten feet.
This done, the surface is well rubbed down with a polishing stone. The general opinion is that oak should never be used for the planking, it being so very liable to warp, and it is considered a good plan to cover the boards with a layer of fern or chaff that they may be the better able to resist the action of the lime. It is necessary, too, before putting down the planking, to underset it with a bed of round pebbles. Wheat-ear tessellated pavements are laid down in a similar manner. Chapter 63 Grychanic pavements. We must not omit here one other kind of pavement, that known as the Grychanic. The ground is well rammed down, and a bed of rough work, or else broken pottery, is then laid upon it.
Upon the top of this, a layer of charcoal is placed, well trodden down with a mixture of sand, lime, and ashes, care being taken by line and rule to give it a uniform thickness of half a foot. The surface then presents the ordinary appearance of the ground, but if it is well rubbed with a polishing stone, it will have all the appearance of a black pavement. Chapter 64. At what period mosaic pavements were first invented, and what period arched roofs were first decorated with glass? Mosaic pavements were first introduced in the time of Scylla. At all events, there is still an existence of pavement formed of small segments which he ordered to be laid down in the Temple of Fortune at Prenesta. Since his time, these mosaics have left the ground for the arched roofs of houses, and they are now made of glass.
This, however, is but a recent invention, for there can be no doubt that, when Agrippa ordered the earthenware walls of the hot baths in the thermae which he was building at Rome to be painted in encaustic, And had the other parts coated with pargetting, he would have had the arches decorated with mosaics in glass, if the use of them had been known, or, at all events, if from the walls of the Theater of Skaris, where it figured, as already stated, glass had by that time come to be used for the arched roofs of apartments. It will be as well, therefore, to give some account also of glass. Chapter 65. The Origin of Glass. In Syria, there is a region known as Phoenicia, adjoining to Judea and enclosing, between the lower ridges of Mount Carmelis, a marshy district known by the name of Candibia.
In this district, it is supposed, rises the river Belus, which, after a course of five miles, empties itself into the sea near the colony of Ptolemais. The tide of this river is sluggish, and the river unwholesome to drink. But held sacred for the observance of certain religious ceremonials. Full of slimy deposits, and very deep, it is only at the reflux of the tide that the river discloses its sands, which, agitated by the waves, separate themselves from their impurities, and so become cleansed. It is generally thought that it is the acridity of the seawater that has this purgative effect upon the sand, and that without this action no use could be made of it. The shore upon which this sand is gathered is not more than half a mile in extent, and yet for many ages this was the only spot that afforded the material for making glass.
The story is that a ship laden with nitra being moored upon this spot, the merchants, while preparing their repast upon the seashore, finding no stones at hand for supporting their cauldrons, employed for the purpose some lumps of nitra which they had taken from the vessel. Upon its being subjected to the action of the fire, In combination with the sand of the seashore, they beheld transparent streams flowing forth of a liquid hitherto unknown. This, it is said, was the origin of glass. Chapter 66. Various Kinds of Glass and the Mode of Making It. In the process of time, as human industry is ingenious in discovering, it was not content with the combination of nitra, but magnet stone began to be added as well.
From the impression that it attracts liquefied glass as well as iron. In a similar manner, too, brilliant stones of various descriptions came to be added in the melting, and at last, shells and fossil sand. Some authors tell us that the glass of India is made with broken crystal, and that, in consequence, there is none that can be compared to it. Infusing it, light and dry wood is used for fuel. Cyprian copper and nitra being added to the melting, nitra of ophir, More particularly, it is melted, like copper, in contiguous furnaces, and a swarthy mass of unctuous appearance is the result. Of such a penetrating nature is the molten glass that it will cut to the very bone any part of the body which it may come near, and that, too, before it is even felt.
This mass is again subjected to fusion in the furnace for the purpose of coloring it, after which the glass is either blown into various forms, turned in a lathe, or engraved like silver. Sidon was formerly famous for its glasshouses, for it was this place that first invented mirrors. Such was the ancient method of making glass, but at the present day there is found very white sand for the purpose at the mouth of the river Volturnus in Italy. It spreads over an extent of six miles upon the seashore that lies between Cumae and Laturnum, and is prepared for use by pounding it with a pestle and mortar. Which done, it is mixed with three parts of nitra, either by weight or measure, and when fused, is transferred to another furnace.
Here it forms a mass of what is called hemonitrum, which is again submitted to fusion and becomes a mass of pure white glass. Indeed, at the present day, throughout the Gallic and Spanish provinces even, we find sand subjected to a similar process. In the reign of Tiberius, it is said, A combination was devised which produced a flexible glass, but the manufactory of the artist was totally destroyed, we are told, in order to prevent the value of copper, silver, and gold from being depreciated. This story, however, was for a long time more widely spread than well authenticated. But, be it as it may, it is of little consequence, for, in the time of the Emperor Nero, there was a process discovered by which two small glass cups were made of the kind called Petroti, the price of which was no less than six thousand cisterces.
Chapter 67. Obsidian Glass and Obsidian Stone. Among the various kinds of glass, we may also reckon obsidian glass, a substance very similar to the stone which Opsius discovered in Ethiopia. This stone is of a very dark color and sometimes transparent, but it is dull to the site and reflects, when attached as a mirror to walls, the shadow of the object rather than the image. Many persons use it for jewelry, and I myself have seen solid statues in this material of the late Emperor Augustus, of very considerable thickness. That prints consecrated, in the Temple of Concord, as something marvelous, four figures of elephants made of obsidian stone. Tiberius Caesar, too, restored to the people of Heliopolis, as an object of ceremonial worship, an image in this stone which had been found among the property left by one of the prefects of Egypt.
It was a figure of Menelaus, a circumstance which goes far towards proving that the use of this material is of more ancient date than is generally supposed, confounded as it is at the present day with glass, by reason of its resemblance. Xenocrates says that obsidian stone is found in India also, and in Somnium in Italy, and that it is a natural product of Spain upon the coasts which border on the ocean. There is an artificial obsidian stone made of colored glass for services for the table, and there is also a glass that is red all through and opaque known as hematenum. A dead white glass, too, is made as also other kinds in imitation of marine color. Hyccynthine, sapphire, and every other tint.
Indeed, there is no material of a more pliable nature than this, or better suited for coloring. Still, however, the highest value is set upon glass that is entirely colorless and transparent, as nearly as possible resembling crystal, in fact. For drinking vessels, glass has quite superseded the use of silver and gold, but it is unable to stand heat unless a cold liquid is poured in first. And yet, we find that globular vessels, filled with water, when brought in contact with the rays of the sun, become heated to such a degree as to cause articles of clothing to ignite. When broken, too, glass admits of being joined by the agency of heat, but it cannot be wholly fused without being pulverized into small fragments, as we see done in the process of making the small checkers, known as abaculi, for mosaic work, some of which are of variegated colors and of different shapes.
If glass is fused with sulfur, it will become as hard as stone. Chapter 68. Marvelous Facts Connected with Fire. Having now described all the creations of human ingenuity, reproductions, in fact, of nature by the agency of art, it cannot but recur to us, with a feeling of admiration, that there is hardly any process which is not perfected through the intervention of fire. Submit to its action some sandy soil, And in one place it will yield glass, in another silver, in another minium, and in others, again, lead and its several varieties, pigments, and numerous mendicaments. It is through the agency of fire that stones are melted into copper, by fire that iron is produced and subdued to our purposes, by fire that gold is purified, by fire, too, that the stone is calcined, which is to hold together the walls of our houses.
Some materials, again, are all the better for being repeatedly submitted to the action of fire, and the same substance will yield one product at the first fusion, another at the second, and another at the third. Charcoal, when it has passed through fire and has been quenched, only begins to assume its active properties, and, when it might be supposed to have been reduced to annihilation, it is then that it has its greatest energies. An element of this Chapter 69. Three remedies derived from fire and from ashes. Fire even has certain medicinal virtues of its own. When pestilences prevail, in consequence of the obscuration of the sun, it is a well-known fact that if fires are lighted, they are productive of beneficial results in numerous ways.
Empedocles and Hippocrates have proved this in several passages. Quote, for convulsions or contusions of the viscera, end quote, says Marcus Varro, for it is his own words that I use, quote, let the hearth be your medicine box. For lye of ashes taken from thence, mixed with your drink, will effect a cure. Witness the gladiators, for example, who, when disabled of the games, refresh themselves with this drink, end quote. Carbuncle, too, a kind of disease which, as already stated, has recently carried off two persons of consular rank, admits of being successfully treated with oak charcoal, triturated with honey. So true it is that things which are despised, even, and looked upon as so utterly destitute of all virtues, have still their own remedial properties, charcoal and ashes, for example.
Chapter 70. Prodigies Connected with the Hearth. I must not omit, too, one portentous fact connected with the hearth and famous in Roman history. In the reign of Tarquinus Priscus, it is said, there appeared upon his hearth a resemblance of the male generative organ in the midst of the ashes. The captive Ocrisia, a servant of Queen Tannachil, who happened to be sitting there, arose from her seat in a state of pregnancy and became the mother of Servius Tullius, who eventually succeeded to the throne. It is stated, too, that while the child was sleeping in the palace, a flame was seen playing round his head, the consequence of which was that it was believed that the lar of the household was his progenitor.
It was owing to this circumstance, we are informed, that the Compatalia games in honour of the lares were instituted. Summary. Remedies mentioned. 89. Facts and Narratives 434. Roman authors quoted. Marcus Varro, Thank you. Foreign authors quoted. Alexander Polyhistor, Apion, Plistonicus, Douris, Herodotus, Euhemaris, Aristagoras, Dionysus, Artemidorus, Butadoras, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles, Lycaeus.
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34 34 - Book 37, Chapters 1 to 10. Jewels. Murrhine vessels. Crystals. 28:00
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 34. Book 37. Chapters 1-10. The Natural History of Precious Stones. Chapter One. The First Use of Precious Stones. That nothing may be wanting to the work which I have undertaken, it still remains for me to speak of precious stones. A subject in which the majestic might of nature presents itself to us, contracted within a very limited space, though, in the opinion of many, nowhere displayed in a more admirable form. So great is the value that men attach to the multiplied varieties of these gems, their numerous colors, their constituent parts, and their singular beauty, that, in the case of some of them, It is looked upon as no less than sacrilege to engrave them, for signets even, the very purpose for which, in reality, they were made.
Others again are regarded as beyond all price. and could not be valued at any known amount of human wealth, so much so that, in the case of many, it is quite sufficient to have some single gem or other before the eyes there to behold the supreme and absolute perfection of nature's work. We have already stated, to some extent, when speaking on the subject of gold and rings, how the use of precious stones first originated, and from what beginnings this admiration of them has now increased to such an universal passion. According to fabulous lore, The first use of them was suggested by the rocks of Caucasus, in consequence of an unhappy interpretation which was given to the story of the chains of Prometheus.
For we are told by tradition that he enclosed a fragment of this stone in iron, and wore it upon his finger, such being the first ring and the first jewel known. This being imposed as a punishment on him in remembrance of his sacrilegious crimes when released by Jupiter from the rock. Chapter Two. The Jewel of Polycrates. The beginning such as this, the value set upon precious stones, increased to such a boundless extent that Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, Who ruled over the islands and the adjacent shores when he admitted that his good fortune had been too great, deemed it a sufficient expiation for all his enjoyment of happiness to make a voluntary sacrifice of a single precious stone, thinking thereby to balance accounts with the inconstancy of fortune, and, by this single cause for regret, abundantly to buy off every ill will she might entertain.
Weary, therefore, of his continued prosperity, he embarked on board a ship, and putting out to sea through the ring which he wore into the waves. It so happened, however, that a fish of remarkable size, one destined for the table of a king, swallowed the jewel, as it would have done a bait, and then, to complete the portentous omen, restored it again to the owner in the royal kitchen. By the ruling hand of a treacherous fortune, for ultimately Orates, the Satrap of Sardes, contrived to lure him into his power and had him crucified. The stone in this ring, it is generally agreed, was Sardonyx, and they still show one at Rome, which, if we believe the story, was this identical stone. It is enclosed in a horn of gold and was deposited by Emperor Augustus in the Temple of Concord, where it holds pretty nearly the lowest rank among the multitude of other jewels that are preferable to it.
Chapter Three. The Jewel of Pyrrhus. Next in note after this ring is the jewel that belonged to another king, Pyrrhus, who was so long at war with the Romans. It is said that there was in his possession an agate, a variegated Chalcedony probably called from its variegated streaks a fortification agate, upon which were to be seen the nine muses and Apollo holding a lyre, not a work of art, but the spontaneous produce of nature, the veins in it being so arranged that each of the muses had her own peculiar attribute. With the exception of these two jewels, authors make no mention of any others that have been rendered famous. We only find it recorded by them that Ismenius, the flute player, was in the habit of displaying great numbers of glittering stones, a piece of vanity on his part which gave occasion to the following story.
An Emerald Smaragdus. Upon which was engraved a figure of Amimini, one of the Dianades, being offered for sale in the Isle of Cyprus at the price of six golden denarii. He gave orders to purchase it. The dealer, however, reduced the price and returned two denarii, upon which Ismeneus remarked, By Hercules, he has done me but a bad turn in this. For the merit of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price. It seems to have been this Ismenius who introduced the universal practice among musicians of proclaiming their artistic merit by this kind of ostentation. Thus, Dinosodorus, for instance, his contemporary and rival, Imitated his example in order that he might not appear to be his inferior in skill, whereas in reality he only held the third rank among the musicians of that day.
Nicomachus, too, it is said, was the possessor of great numbers of precious stones, though selected with but little taste. In mentioning these illustrations by way of prelude to this book, It is by no means improbable that they may have the appearance of being addressed to those who, peeking themselves upon a similar display, become puffed up with a vanity which is evidently more appropriate to a performer on the flute. Chapter Four. Who were the most skillful lapidaries? The finest specimens of engraving on precious stones. The stone of the ring, which is now shown as that of Pelacrates, is untouched and without engraving. In the time of this Menius, long after his day, it would appear to have become the practice to engrave Smaragdi, even, a fact which is established by an edict of Alexander the Great forbidding his portrait to be cut upon this stone by any other engraver than Pyrgotulus, who, no doubt, was the most adept in this art.
Since this time, Apollonades and Cronius have excelled in it, as also Discurides, who engraved a very excellent likeness of the late Emperor Augustus upon a signet which, ever since, the Roman emperors have used. The dictator Scylla, it is said, always made use of a seal, which represented the surrender of Jugurtha. Authors inform us also that the native Intercacia, whose father challenged Scipio Emelianus, the younger Africanus, and was slain by him, was in the habit of using a signet with a representation of his combat engraved upon it, a circumstance which gave rise to the well-known joke of Stilo Preconius. who naively inquired what he would have done if Scipio had been the person slain. The late Emperor Augustus was in the habit at first of using the figure of a sphinx for his signet, having found two of them among the jewels of his mother that were perfectly alike.
During the Civil Wars, his friends used to employ one of those signets in his absence for sealing such letters and edicts as the circumstances of the times required to be issued in his name. It's being far from the unmeaning pleasantry on the part of those who received these misses that the Sphinx always brought its enigmas in reference to the story of Oedipus and the Sphinx. With it. The frog, too, on the seal of Maecenas was held in great terror by reason of the monetary imposts which it announced. As a later period, with the view of avoiding the sarcasms relative to the Sphinx, Augustus made use of a signet with a figure upon it of Alexander the Great. Chapter Five. The First Dactyliothecae at Rome.
A collection of precious stones bears the foreign name of dactylotheca, a Greek word signifying a repository of kings. The first person who possessed one at Rome was Scaris, the stepson of Scylla, and for a long time there was no other such collection there until at length Pompeius Magnus consecrated in the capital, among other donations, one that had belonged to King Mithridates, and which, as M. Varro and other authors of that period assure us, was greatly superior to that of Scaris. Following his example, the dictator Caesar consecrated six Dactylothecae in the temple of Venus Genetrix, and Marcellus, the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, presented one to the temple of the Palantine Apollo.
Chapter 6. Jewels displayed at Rome in the triumph of Pompeius Magnus. But it was this conquest by Pompeius Magnus that first introduced so general a taste for pearls and precious stones, just as the victories gained by El Scipio and Cannaeus Manlius had first turned the public attention to chaste silver, Adelaide tissues, and banqueting couches decorated with bronze. and the conquests of Elmumius had brought Corinthian bronzes and pictures into notice. To prove more fully that this was the case, I will here give the very words of the public registers, Octa, with reference to the triumphs of Pompeius Magnus, On the occasion of his third triumph over the pirates and over the kings and nations of Asia and Pontus that have been already enumerated in the seventh book of this work, M.
Piso and M. Messala being consuls on the day before the calends of October, the anniversary of his birth, he displayed in public, with its pieces, a chessboard, Elvium Lysurium. made of two precious stones, three feet in width by two in length, and to leave no doubt that the resources of nature do become exhausted, I will here observe that no precious stones are to be found at the present day at all approaching such dimensions as these. As also that there was upon this board a moon of solid gold, thirty pounds in weight, three banqueting couches, vessels for nine waiters in gold and precious stones, three golden statues of Minerva, Mars, and Apollo, thirty-three crowns adorned with pearls, A square mountain of gold with stags upon it, lions and all kinds of fruit, and surrounded with a vine of gold, as also a museum adorned with pearls, with an horologe upon the top of it.
There was a likeness also in pearls of Pompeius himself, his noble continence, with the hair thrown back from the forehead, delighting the eye. Yes, I say those frank features, so venerated throughout all nations, were here displayed in pearls. The severity of our ancient manners being thus subdued, and the display being more the triumph of luxury than the triumph of conquest. Never, most assuredly, would Pompeius have so long maintained his surname of Magnus among the men of that day if, on the occasion of his first conquest, that of Africa, his triumph had been such as this. Thy portrait in pearls, O Magnus, those resources of prodigality that have been discovered for the sake of females only.
Thy portrait in pearls, refinements in luxury, which the Roman laws would not have allowed thee to wear even, and it was in this way that thy value must be appreciated. Would not that trophy here given a more truthful likeness of thee, which thou hadst erst erected upon the Pyranian mountain heights? Assuredly such a portrait as this had been no less than a downright ignominy. And disgrace, were we not bound to behold in it a menacing presage of the anger of the gods, and to see foreshadowed thereby the time when that head, now laden with the wealth of the East, was to be displayed severed from the body, as was the case after the murder of Pompeii in Egypt. But in other respects, how truly befitting the hero was this triumph.
To the state, he presented two thousand millions of cisteres. To the Legati and Quaestors, who had exerted themselves in defense of the seacoast, he gave one thousand millions of cisteres, and to each individual soldier six thousand cisteres. He has rendered, however, comparatively excusable the Emperor Caius Caligula. Who, in addition to the other feminine luxuries, used to wear shoes adorned with pearls, as also the Emperor Nero, who used to adorn his scepters with masks worked in pearls and had the couches, destined for his pleasures, made of the same costly materials. Nay, we have no longer any right, it would seem, to censure the employment of drinking-cups adorned with precious stones, of various other articles in daily use that are similarly enriched, and of rings that sparkle with gems.
For what species of luxury can there be thought of that was not more innocent in its results than this on the part of Pompeius? Chapter Seven. At what period marine vessels were first introduced at Rome, instances of luxury in reference to them? It was the same conquest, too, that first introduced marine vessels at Rome, Pompeius being the first to dedicate, at the conclusion of this triumph, vases and cups made of this material in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, a circumstance which soon brought them into private use. Waiters even, and eating utensils made of marine being in great request. This species of luxury, too, is daily on the increase. A single cup, which would hold no more than three sextari, having been purchased at the price of 70,000 cesteres.
A person of consular rank, who some years ago used to drink out of this cup, grew so passionately fond of it as to gnaw its edges even. An injury, however, which has only tended to enhance its value. Indeed, there is now no vessel in Meereen that has ever been estimated at a higher figure than this. We may form some opinion how much money this same personage swallowed up. In articles of this description, from the fact that the number of them was so great that when the Emperor Nero deprived his children of them, and they were exposed to public view, they occupied a whole theater to themselves in the gardens beyond the Tiber. A theater which was found sufficiently large even for the audience that attended on the occasion when Nero rehearsed his musical performances before his appearance in the Theater of Pompeius.
It was at this exhibition, too, that I saw counted the broken fragments of a single cup, which it was thought proper to preserve in an urn and display, I suppose, with the view of exciting the sorrows of the world, and of exposing the cruelty of fortune, just as though it had been no less than the body of Alexander the Great himself. T. Petronius, a personage of consular rank, intending from his hatred of Nero to disinherit the table of that prince, broke a marine basin, which had cost him no less than three hundred thousand cesteres. But Nero himself, as it was only proper for a prince to do, surpassed them all by paying one million of cesteres for a single cup. A fact well worthy of remembrance that an emperor, the father of his country, should have drunk from a vessel of such costly price.
Chapter Eight. The Nature of Marine Vessels. Marine vessels come from the east, in numerous localities of which, remarkable for nothing else, they are to be found. It is in the empire of the Parthians, more particularly, that they are met with, though those of the very finest quality come to us from Carmenia. It is generally thought that these vessels are formed of a moist substance, which underground becomes solidified by heat. In size, they never exceed a small wader. Abacus. And as to thickness, they rarely admit of being used as drinking cups so large as those already mentioned. The brightness of them is destitute of strength, and it may be said that they are rather shining than brilliant, meaning that they are semi-transparent.
But the chief merit of them is the great variety of their colors, and the wreathed veins, which every here and there present shades of purple and white, with a mixture of the two, the purple gradually changing, as it were, to a fiery red, and the milk-white assuming a ruddy hue. Some persons praise the edges of these vessels more particularly, the kind of reflection in the colors, like those beheld in the rainbow. Others again are more pleased with them when they are quite opaque, it being considered a demerit when they are at all transparent or of a pallid hue. The appearance, too, of crystals in them is highly prized, and of spots that look like warts, not prominent. But depressed, as we mostly see upon the human body.
The perfume, too, of which they smell is looked upon as an additional recommendation. Chapter Nine. The Nature of Crystal. It is a diametrically opposite cause to this that produces crystal, colorless crystals, quartz, or rock crystal called white stone in jewelry, a substance which assumes a concrete form from excessive congelation. At all events, crystal is only to be found in places where the winter snow freezes with the greatest intensity, and it is from the certainty that it is a kind of ice that it has received the name, kristallos, from krios, cold, which it bears in Greek. The East, too, sends us crystal, there being none preferred to the produce of India. It is to be found also in Asia, that of the vicinity of Alabanda, or Thosia, and the neighboring mountains being held in a very low degree of esteem.
In Cyprus also, there is a crystal, but that found upon the Alpine heights in Europe is, in general, more highly valued. According to Juba, there is crystal in a certain island of the Red Sea, opposite the coast of Arabia, called Necron. The island of the dead. As also in another neighboring island, which produces the precious stone known as Topazus, where a block of crystal was extracted, he says, by Pythagoras, the prefect of King Ptolemus, no less than a cubit in length. Cornelius Bacchus informs us that in Lusitania there have been blocks of crystal found of extraordinary weight in sinking shafts in the Amnesian mountains there to a water level for the supply of wells. It is a marvelous fact stated by Xenocrates of Ephesus that in Asia and in the Isle of Cyprus crystal is turned up by the plow.
It having been the general belief that it is never to be found in the terrace soils, and only in rocky localities. That is much more probable, which the same Xenocrates tells us when he says that the mountain streams often bring down with them fragments of crystal. Sudin says that crystal is only to be found in localities that face the south, a thing that is known to be really the fact. Indeed, it is never found in humid spots, however cold the climate may be, even though the rivers there freeze to the very bottom. Rainwater and pure snow are absolutely necessary for its formation, and hence it is that it is unable to endure heat, being solely employed for holding liquids that are taken cold.
From the circumstance of it being hexagonal and hexahedral, it is not very easy to penetrate this substance, and the more so as the pyramidal terminations do not always have the same appearance. Its shape is rhombohedral and hemihedral in some of its modifications. The planes on the angles between the prism and the pyramidal terminations incline sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, and the crystals are termed right- and left-handed crystals. Dana, System of Mineralogy, Quartz. The polish on its faces is so exquisite that no art can possibly equal it. Chapter 10. Luxury Displayed in the Use of Crystal. Remedies derived from crystal. The largest block of crystal that has ever been beheld by us is the one that was consecrated by Julian Augusta in the capital and which weighted about 150 pounds.
Sinocrates speaks of having seen a vase of crystal which held one amphora. 48 sextari. And we find other writers mentioning a vessel from India which held four sextari. For my own part, I can positively say that there is a crystal amid the crags of the Alps so difficult of access that it is usually found necessary to be suspended by ropes in order to extract it. Persons who are experienced in the matter detect its presence by certain signs and indications. Crystal is subject to numerous defects, sometimes presenting a rough solder-like substance or else clouded by spots upon it, while occasionally it contains some hidden humor within, either water, azote. Rarified oxygen or water in combination with naphtha, or is traversed by hard and brittle nerves, which are known as salt grains.
Some crystal, too, has a red rust upon it, while in other instances it contains filaments that look like flaws, a defect which artisans conceal by engraving it. But where crystals are entirely free from defect, they are preferred uncut, in which case they are known as ascenteta without flaw, and have the color not of foam but of limpid water. In the last place, the weight of crystals is a point which is taken into consideration. I find it stated by medical men that the very best cautery for the human body is a ball of crystal acted upon by the rays of the sun. This substance, too, has been made the object of a mania, for, not many years ago, a mistress of a family who was by no means very rich gave 150,000 cesteres for a single basin made of crystal.
Nero, on receiving tidings that all was lost, in the excess of his fury dashed two cups of crystal to pieces, this being his last act of vengeance upon his fellow creatures, preventing anyone from ever drinking again from those vessels. Crystal, when broken, cannot by any possibility be mended. Vessels in glass have been brought to marvelous degrees of resemblance to crystal. And yet, wonderful to say, they have only tended to enhance the value of crystal, and in no way to depreciate it.
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35 35 - Book 37, Chapters 11 to 18. Amber. Precious stones. Smaragdus. 40:21
Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 35, Book 37, Chapters 11-18. Chapter 11. Amber. The many falsehoods that have been told about it. Next in rank among the objects of luxury, we have amber, an article which, for the present, however, is in request among women only. It is of vegetable origin, and, according to Goebert, was originally a viscous resin of a tree named by him, Panides succinifer. It is used by men more particularly at the present day as a mouthpiece for pipes. All these three last-mentioned substances hold the same rank, no doubt as precious stones. The two form for certain fair reasons, crystal because it is adapted for taking cool drinks, and marine vessels for taking drinks that are either hot or cold.
But as for amber, luxury has not been able as yet to devise any justification for the use of it. This is a subject which affords us an excellent opportunity of exposing some of the frivolities and falsehoods of the Greeks, and I beg that my readers will only have patience with me while I do so, it being really worthwhile for our own practical improvement to become acquainted with the marvelous stories which they have promulgated respecting Amber. After Phaethon had been struck by lightning, his sisters, they tell us, became changed into poplars. Which every year shed their tears upon the banks of the Eridanus, a river known to us as the Padas. To these tears was given the name of Electrum, from the circumstance that the sun was usually called Elector.
Such is the story at all events that is told by many of the poets, the first of whom were, in my opinion, Aeschylus, Philixenus, Euripides, Satiris, and Nicander. and the falsity of which is abundantly proved upon the testimony of Italy itself, where Amor was not to be found. Those among the Greeks who have devoted more attention to the subject have spoken of certain islands in the Adriatic Sea known as Electrodes, to which the Padas, they say, carries down the Electrum. It is the fact, however, that there never were any islands, their so-called, Nor indeed any islands so situate as to allow the Padas carrying down anything in its course to their shores. As to Aeschylus placing the Aridonis in Iberia, or in other words in Spain, and giving it the name of Rhodonis.
And as to Euripides and Apollonius representing the Rhodonis and the Padas, as discharging themselves by one common mouth on the shores of the Adriatic. We can forgive them all the more readily for knowing nothing about Amber when they betray such monstrous ignorance of geography. Other writers, again, who are more guarded in their assertions, have told us, though with an equal degree of untruthfulness, that, at the extremity of the Adriatic Gulf, upon certain inaccessible rocks there, there are certain trees which shed their gum at the rising of the Dog Star. Theophrastus has stated that amber is extracted from the earth. In Liguria, charred that Phaethon died in the territory of Haman and Ethiopia, where there is a temple of his to an oracle, and where amber is produced.
Philemon, that it is a fossil substance, and that it is found in two different localities in Scythia, in one of which is a white and waxen color, and is known as Electrum. While in the other, it is red and is called Suoleturnicum. Demostritus calls Amber Linkurian, and he says that it originates from the urine of the wild beasts known as the lynx, that voided by the male producing a red and fiery substance, and that by the female an amber of a white and less pronounced color. He also informs us that by some persons it is called a Langurium. And that in Italy, there are certain wild beasts known as Languri. Synothemus, however, calls these wild beasts Langae, and gives the banks of the river Paddis as their locality.
Sudin says that it is a tree in reality that produces amber, and that in Erturia, this tree is known by the name of Lynx, an opinion which is also adopted by Metrodorus. Sotakis expresses a belief that Amber exudes from certain stones in Britannia, to which he gives the name of Elecridis. Pythias says that the Goutons, a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the ocean called Mentonamon, their territory extending a distance of 6,000 stadia. That at one day's sail from this territory is the Isle of Avalis, upon the shores of which amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form, as also that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors the Tuotones.
Timaeus, too, is of the same belief, but he has given to the island the name of Basilia. Philemon says that Electrum did not yield a flame. Nicaeus, again, will have it, that it is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun, and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the ocean and thrown open upon the shores of Germany. He states also that in Egypt it is similarly produced and is there called sakal. In Hebrew, this word means a stone. That it is found in India, too, where it is held as a preferable substitute for frankincense, and that in Syria the women make the whorls of their spindles of this substance and give it the name of harpax, from the Greek arpazo, to drag.
According to Triocristus, Amber is thrown up by the tides of the ocean at the foot of the Pyrenean range, an opinion adopted also by Xenocrates. Sarabas, who has written the most recently upon these subjects and is still living, informs us that near the shores of the Atlantic is Lake Cephisis, Known to the Maori by the name of Electrum, and that when this lake is dried up by the sun, the slime of it produces amber, which floats upon the surface. Mencius speaks of a locality in Africa called Sikian, and of a river Krathus there, which discharges itself from a lake into the ocean, the banks of which are frequented by birds, which he calls Malagrades and It is there that, according to him, Electrum is produced, in manner above mentioned.
Theomenes says that near the greater Sirtis are the gardens of the Hesperides, and Lake Electrum on the banks, he says, are poplars, from the summits of which amber falls into the water below, where it is gathered by the maidens of the Hesperides. Stisius asserts that there is in India a river called Hypobaris, a word which signifies bearer of all good things, that this river flows from the north into the eastern ocean, where it discharges itself near a mountain covered with trees, which produce electrum, and that these trees are called Cyptacarae, the meaning of which is intense sweetness. Mithridates says that off the shores of Germany there is an island called Surita. The old reading is Osiretica.
Adjacent identifies it with the island of Osel in the Baltic. Covered with a kind of cedar, from which amber falls upon the rocks. According to Xenocrates, this substance is called in Italy not only succinum but theum as well. The Scythian name of it, for there also it is to be found, being Cycrium. Others, he says, are of opinion that it is a product of Numidia. But the one that has surpassed them all is Sophocles, the tragic poet, a thing that indeed surprises me when I only consider the surpassing of his lofty style, the high repute that he enjoyed in his life. His elevated position by birth at Athens, his various exploits, and his high military command. According to him, amber is produced in the countries beyond India from the tears that are shed for Milagre by the birds called Milagreides, who can't be otherwise than surprised that he should have believed such a thing as this, or have hoped to persuade others to believe it.
What child, too, could possibly be found in such a state of ignorance as to believe that birds weep once a year, that their tears are so prolific as this, or that they go all the way from Greece, where Milagra died, to India to weep? But then, it will be said, do not the poets tell many other stories that are quite as fabulous? Such is the fact, no doubt, but for a person seriously to advance such an absurdity with reference to a thing so common as amber, which is imported every day and so easily proves the mendacity of this assertion, is neither more nor less than to evince a supreme contempt for the opinions of mankind, and to assert with impunity an intolerable falsehood. There can be no doubt that amber is a product of the islands of the northern ocean, and that it is the substance by the Germans called glasum, for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus Caesar commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glissaria, which by the barbarians was known as Osteravia.
Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from the cherry and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened by heat or cold, or else by the action of the sea, when the rise of the tide carries off the fragments from the shores of these islands. At all events, it is thrown up upon the coast, in so light and voluble a form, that in the shallows it has all the appearance of hanging suspended in the water. Our forefathers, too, were of the opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of succinum, from Sussius, juice. And one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns when ignited with the odor and appearance of torch-pinewood.
Amber is imported by the Germans into Pannonia, more particularly from whence the Veneti, by the Greeks called Eneti, first brought it into general notice. A people in the vicinity of Pannonia, and dwelling on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. From this it is evident how the story which connects it with the Padas first originated, and at the present day we see the female peasantry in the countries that lie beyond that river wearing necklaces of amber, principally as an ornament, no doubt, but on account of its remedial virtues as well. For amber, it is generally believed, is good for affections of the tonsillary glands and fosses, and the various kinds of water in the vicinity of the Alps being apt to produce disease in the human throat.
Goiter, for example, from Cognitum, in Pannonia, to the coasts of Germany from which the amber is brought, is a distance of about six hundred miles, a fact which has been only very recently ascertained, and there is still living a member of the equestrian order, who was sent thither by Julianus, the manager of the gladiatorial exhibitions for the Emperor Nero, to procure a supply of this article. Transversing the coasts of that country and visiting the various markets there, he brought back amber in such vast quantities as to admit of the nets, which are used for protecting the podium, the projecting part in the circus or amphitheatre next to the arena and immediately in front of the place occupied by the emperor and norples.
Against the wild beasts, being studded with amber, the arms to the litters. Bibitina, meaning the litters on which the slain gladiators were carried away from the arena, and all the other apparatus were, on one day, decorated with nothing but amber, a different kind of display being made each day that these spectacles were exhibited. The largest piece of amber that this personage brought to Rome was thirteen pounds in weight. That amber is found in India, too, is a fact well ascertained. Archelaus, who reigned over Cappadocia, says that it is brought back from that country in the rough state, and with the fine bark still adhering to it, it being the custom there to polish it by boiling it in the grease of a sucking-pig.
The one great proof that amber must have been originally in a liquid state is the fact that, owing to its transparency, certain objects are to be seen within. Ants, for example, gnats, and lizards. These, no doubt, must have first adhered to it while liquid, and then, upon its hardening, have remained enclosed within. Chapter Twelve. The Several Kinds of Amber. The Remedies Derived from It. There are several kinds of amber. The white is the one that has the finest odor, which is perceptible on being rubbed. In some cases, the odor of amber is very fine. In others, it is perfectly fetid, though in the latter case, as adjacent remarks, it is doubtful whether it may be considered to be genuine amber.
But neither this nor the wax-colored amber is held in very high esteem. The red amber is more highly valued, and still more when it is transparent, without presenting too brilliant and igneous an appearance. For amber, to be of high quality, should present a brightness like that of fire, but not flakes resembling those of flame. The most highly esteemed amber is that known as Falernian, from its resemblance to the color of Falernian wine. It is perfectly transparent, and has a softened transparent brightness. Other kinds, again, are valued for their mellowed tints, like the color of boiled honey in appearance. It ought to be known, however, that any color can be imparted to amber that may be desired, it being sometimes stained with Kidsuit and Root of Elkanet.
Indeed, at the very present day, amber is dyed purple even. When a vivifying heat has been imparted to it by rubbing it between the fingers, amber will attract chaff, dried leaves, and thin bark, just in the same way that the magnet attracts iron. Pieces of amber steeped in oil burn with a more brilliant and more lasting flame than pith of flax. So highly valued is this as an object of luxury that a very diminutive human effigy made of amber has been known to sell at a higher price than living men even in stout and vigorous health. This single ground for censure, however, is far from being sufficient. In Corinthian objects of virtue, it is the copper that recommends them. Combined with silver and gold, and in embossed works, it is the skill and genius of the artist that is so highly esteemed.
We have already said what it is that recommends vessels of marine and of crystal. Pearls, too, are of use for wearing upon the head, and gems upon the fingers. In the case of all other luxuries, in fact, it is either a spirit of ostentation or some utility that has been discovered in them that pleads so strongly in their behalf. But in that of amber we have solely the consciousness that we are enjoying a luxury, and nothing more. Domitius Nero, among the other portentous extravagances of his life, bestowed this name upon the ringlets of his wife Poppaea, and in certain verses of his he has even gone so far as to call them Sucini. As fine names, too, are never wanting for bodily defects, a third tint has been introduced of late for hair among our ladies under the name of amber color.
Amber, however, is not without its utility in a medicinal point of view, though it is not for this reason that the women are so pleased with it. It is beneficial for infants also attached to the body in the form of an amulet, and, according to Cholestratus, it is good for any age as a preventive of delirium and as a cure for strangledy, either taken in drink or attached as an amulet to the body. This last author, too, has invented a new variety of amber, giving the name of chrysolectrum to an amber of a golden color, and which presents the most beautiful tints in the morning. This last kind attracts flame, too, with the greatest rapidity, and the moment it approaches the fire, it ignites. Worn upon the neck, he says, it is a cure for fevers and other diseases, and, triturated with honey and oil of roses, it is good for maladies of the ears.
Beaten up with attic honey, it is good for dimness of sight, and the powder of it, either taken by itself or with gum mastic in water, is remedial for diseases of the stomach. Amber, too, is greatly in request for the imitation of the transparent precious stones, amethystos in particular, for, as already stated, it admits of being dyed of every color. Chapter Thirteen. Lincurium. Two asserted remedies. The pertinacity that has been displayed by certain authors compels me to speak of Lincurion next, for even those who maintain that it is not a variety of amber still assure us that it is a precious stone. They assert, too, that it is a product of the urine of the lynx, and a kind of earth, the animal covering up the urine the moment it has voided it, from a jealousy that man should gain possession of it, a combination which hardens into stone.
The color of it, they inform us, like that of some kinds of amber, is of a fiery hue, and it admits, they say, of being engraved. They assert, too, that this substance attracts to itself not only leaves or straws, but thin plates of copper, even, or of iron, a story which Theophrostus even believes, on the faith of a certain Dioclese. For my own part, I look upon the whole of these statements as untrue. And I do not believe that in our time there has ever been a precious stone seen with such a name as this. I regard to the assertions that have been made as to its medicinal properties as equally false, to the effect that, taken in drink, it disperses urinary calculi, and that, taken in wine, or only looked at, it is curative of jaundice.
Chapter Fourteen. The various precious stones classified according to their principal colors. We will now proceed to speak of the various kinds of precious stones, the existence of which is generally admitted, beginning with those which are the most highly esteemed, nor shall we content ourselves with doing this only. But with the view of consulting the general welfare of mankind, we shall also refute the infamous lies that have been promulgated by the magicians. For it is with reference to precious stones, more particularly, that they have circulated most of their fabulous stories, stepping under that most alluring guise of ascertaining remedial virtues beyond all bounds and entering the region of the marvelous.
Adamus. Six Varieties of it. Two Remedies. The substance that possesses the greatest value, not only among the precious stones, but of all human possessions, is Adamus. You may here remark that throughout this book, in all cases where there is any doubt as the identification of the substance, the ancient name is retained. Hence are words adamant and diamond. If Pliny means the latter, which is thoughtful, it still maintains the rank here assigned to it. The word Adamus is supposed to be derived from the Greek ah and to subdue, it being supposed to be invincible by fire. The diamond is pure carbon crystallized, and is thought to have been of vegetable origin. Dana has the following remarks upon the word Adamus.
This name was applied by the ancients to several minerals differing much in their physical properties. A few of these are quartz, specular iron ore, emery, and other substances of rather high degrees of hardness, which cannot now be identified. It is doubtful whether Pliny had any acquaintance with the real diamond. System of Mineralogy, Article Diamond. We may also add, from the same authority, that the method of polishing diamonds was first discovered in 1456 by Louis Berquin, a citizen of Burges, previous to which time the diamond was only known in its native, uncut state. A mineral which, for a long time, was known to kings only, and to very few of them. Such was the name given to the naudosity of gold, sometimes though but rarely found in the mines in close proximity with gold, and only there to be found it was thought.
The ancients supposed that Adamus was only to be discovered in the mines of Ethiopia between the temple of Mercury and the island of Merau, and they have informed us that it was never larger than a cucumber seed, or differing at all from it in color. At the present day, for the first time, there are no less than six different varieties of it recognized. The Indian Adamus is found not in a stratum of gold, but in a substance of a kindred nature to crystal, which it closely resembles in its transparency in its highly polished hexagular and hexahedral form. In shape, it is turbinated, running to a point at either extremity, and closely resembling, marvelous to think of, two cones united at the base.
In size, too, it is as large even as a hazel-nut. Resembling that of India is the Adamas of Arabia, which is found in a similar bed, but not so large in size. Other varieties have a pallid hue, like that of silver, and are only to be found in the midst of gold of the very finest quality. These stones are tested upon the anvil, and will resist the blow to such an extent as to make the iron rebound and the very anvil split asunder. Indeed, its hardness is beyond all expression, while at the same time it quite sets fire at defiance, and is incapable of being heated, owing to which indomitable powers it is, that it has received the name which derives from the Greek. One kind, about as large as a grain of millet in size, has been called Senkros, and another that is found in the gold mines of Filippi is known as Macedonian Adamas.
This last is about as large as a cucumber seed in size. We next come to the Cyprian Adamas, so called from its being found in the Isle of Cyprus. It is of a color somewhat inclining to that of copper, but in reference to its medicinal virtues, of which we shall have to make further mention, it is the most efficacious of them all. Next, in succession to this, we have Siderites, a stone which shines like iron, and is more ponderous than any of the others, but differs in its properties from them all. For it breaks when struck by the hammer, and admits of being perforated by other kinds of Adamas, a thing which is the case also with that of Cyprus. In short, these two are degenerate stones, and only bear the name of Adamus for the purpose of enhancing their value.
Now, with reference to those affinities and repugnances which exist between certain objects, known to the Greeks as sympatia and antipatia phenomena, to which we have endeavored to draw attention throughout these books, they nowhere manifest themselves with greater distinctness than here. This indomitable power, in fact, which sets at naught the two most violent agents in nature, Fire, namely, and iron, is made to yield before the blood of a he-goat. The blood, however, must be no otherwise than fresh and warm. The stone, too, must be well steeped in it, and then subjected to repeated blows, and even then it is apt to break both anvils and hammers of iron, if they are not of the very finest temper.
To what spirit of research, or to what accident, are we indebted for this discovery? Or what conjecture can it have been that first led man to experiment on a thing of such extraordinary value as this, and that, too, with the most unclean of all animals? Surely a discovery such as this must have been due solely to the munificence of the gods, and we must look for the reason of it in none of the elementary operations of nature, but wholly in her will. When, by good fortune, this stone does happen to be broken, it divides into fragments so minute as to be almost imperceptible. These particles are held in great request by engravers, who enclose them in iron, and are enabled thereby with the greatest facility to cut the very hardest substances known.
So great is the antipathy borne by this stone to the magnet, that when placed near, it will not allow of its attracting iron, or if the magnet has already attracted the iron, it will seize the metal and drag it away from the other. Adamus, too, overcomes and neutralizes poisons, dispels delirium, and banishes groundless perturbations of the mind. Hence it is that some have given it the name of Anamchites. Metrodorus of Sepsis is the only author that I know of who says that this stone is found also in Germany, and in the island of Basilia, where amber is found. He says, too, that this is preferable to the Stone of Arabia, but can there be any doubt that his statement is incorrect? Chapter 16. Next in esteem with us are the pearls of India and Arabia, of which we have already spoken in the Ninth Book, when treating of the marine productions.
The third rank, for many reasons, has been given to the Smaragdas. Indeed, there is no stone, the color of which is more delightful to the eye, for whereas the sight fixes itself with avidity upon the green grass and the foliage of the trees, we have all the more pleasure in looking upon the Smaragdus, there being no green in existence of a more intense color. The emerald is supposed to derive this color from a minute portion of oxide of chrome. And then, besides, of all the precious stones, this is the only one that feeds the sight without satiating it. Even when the vision has been fatigued with intently viewing other objects, it is refreshed by being turned upon this stone, and lapidaries know nothing that is more gratefully soothing to the eyes.
Its soft green tints being wonderfully adapted for assuaging lassitude when felt in those organs. And then, besides, when viewed from a distance, these stones appear all the larger to the sight, reflecting as they do their green hues upon the circumambient air. Neither sunshine, shade, nor artificial light affects any change in their appearance. They have always a softened and graduated brilliancy, and transmitting the light with facility, they allow the vision to penetrate their interior, a property which is so pleasing also with reference to water. In form, they are most concave so as to reunite the rays of light and the powers of vision, and hence it is that it is so universally agreed upon among mankind to respect these stones and to forbid their surface to be engraved.
In the case, however, of the stones of Scythia and Egypt, their hardness is such that it would be quite impossible to penetrate them. When the surface of the Smaragdus is flat, it reflects the image of objects in the same manner as a mirror. The Emperor Nero used to view the combats of the gladiators upon a Smaragdus. Chapter 17. Twelve Varieties of the Smaragdus. Of this stone, there are no less than twelve different kinds, of which the finest is the Scythian Smaragdus. So called from the country where it is found. None of them has a deeper color than this, or is more free from defects. Indeed, in the same degree that the Smaragdus is superior to other precious stones, the Scythian Smaragdus is superior to the other varieties.
Next in esteem to this, as also in locality, is the Smaragdus of Bactriana. These stones are collected, it is said, in the fissures of rocks when the Atesian winds prevail, a period at which the earth that covers them is removed, and the stones are detected by their brightness, the sands being greatly agitated by the action of the winds. These last, however, are much inferior, they say, to those of scythia in size. The third rank is held by the stones of Egypt, which are extracted from the hills in the vicinity of Coptus, a city of Thebes. Mount Zalora in Upper Egypt still produces emeralds, and was probably the only locality of the genuine stone that was known to the ancients. All the other kinds are found in copper mines, and hence it is that of these varieties the Smaragdus of Cyprus holds the highest rank.
The merit of them consists in their clear color, which has nothing thin or diluted in it, but presents a rich and humid transparency, closely resembling the tints of the sea, in fact. Hence it is that these stones are at once diaphanous and shining, or, in other words, reflect their colors and allow the vision to penetrate within. They say that in this island, upon the tomb of a petty king named Hermius, near the fisheries, Cetarias, there was formerly a lion in marble, With eyes made of smeragdi, the brilliance of which penetrated the sea to such a degree as to alarm the Tunis, and put them to flight, a novel circumstance which for a long time excited the wonder in fishermen, till at last the stones in the statue were changed for others.
Chapter 18 Defects in the Smaragdis It will be only proper, too, seeing that the prices of these stones are so exorbitant, to point out their defects. Some defects, no doubt, are common to all of them, while others, again, like those found in the human race, are peculiar only to those of a certain country. Thus, for example, the stones of Cyprus are not all green alike. And in the same smeragdus, some parts are more or less so than others, the stone not always preserving that uniform deep tint which characterizes the smeragdus of Scythia. In other instances, a shadow runs through the stone, and the color becomes dulled thereby. The consequence of which is that its value is depreciated, and even more so when the color is thin and diluted.
In consequence of the defects of these stones, they have been divided into several classes. Some of them are obscure, and are known as blind-stones. Some have a certain density which impairs their transparency, Others, again, are mottled, and others covered with a cloud. This cloud, however, is altogether different from the shadow above mentioned, for it is a defect which renders the stone of a whitish hue, and not of a transparent green throughout, presenting as it does in the interior or upon the surface a certain degree of whiteness which arrests the vision. Other defects again in these stones are filaments, salt-like grains, or traces of lead ore, faults which are mostly common to them all.
Next, after the kinds above described, the Smaragdus of Ethiopia is held in high esteem, being found, as Juba tells us, at a distance of twenty-five days' journey from the Coptus. These are of a bright green. but are seldom to be met with perfectly clear or of an uniform color. Democritus includes in this class of stones that are known as Hermione and as Persian stones, the former of which are of a convex, massive shape, while the latter are destitute of transparency but have an agreeable uniform color and satisfy the vision without allowing it to penetrate them. Strongly resembling in this respect the eyes of cats and of panthers, which are radiant without being diaphanous. In the sun, he says, they lose their brilliancy, but they are radiant in the shade, the brightness of them being seen at a greater distance than in the case of other stones.
One other fault, too, in all these stones is that they often have a color like that of honey or rancid oil. or else are clear and transparent, but not green. These defects exist in the Smaragdi of Attica, more particularly which are found in the silver mines there at a place known by the name of Thorikos. These last are never so massive as the others, and are always more pleasing to the sight when viewed from a distance. Lead ore, too, is often to be detected in them, Or, in other words, they have a leaden appearance when looked at in the sun. One peculiarity in them is that some of them become impaired by age, gradually lose their green color, and are even deteriorated by exposure to the sun.
Next to the stones of Attica come those of Medea, a variety which presents the most numerous tints of all, and sometimes approaches sephiros in color. These stones are wavy and represent various natural objects, such as poppy-heads, for example, birds, the young of animals, and feathers. All of them appear naturally of a green color, but become improved by the application of oil. No stones of this species are of a larger size than these. I am not aware that any of these stones are still in existence in Chalcedon. The copper mines of that locality being now exhausted, but be this as it may, they were always the smallest in size and the most inferior in value. Brittle and of a color far from distinctly pronounced, they resembled in their tints the feathers that are seen in the tail of the peacock or on the necks of pigeons.
More or less brilliant, too, according to the angle at which they were viewed, they presented an appearance like that of veins and scales. There was another defect also, peculiar to these stones, known as sarsion, from the circumstance that a kind of flesh appeared to attach itself to the stone. The mountain near Chalcedon, where these stones were gathered, is still known by the name of Smaragdates. Juba informs us that a kind of smeragdus known as chloras is used in Arabia as an ornament for buildings, and also the stone by which the people of Egypt is called alabastratus. On the same authority, too, we learn that there are several varieties of smeragdus in the neighboring mountains, and that stones like those of Medea are found in Mount Taigetus, as also in Sicily.
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36 36 - Book 37, Chapters 19 to 30. Tanos, beryls, opals, sardonyx, onyx, carbuncles, sandastros, lychnis, carchedonia. 27:56
August 22, 2021, Westford, Massachusetts. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 36. Book 37. Chapters 19-30. Chapter 19. The Precious Stone Called Thanos. Chalcos Maragdus. Among the smeragdi is also included the precious stone known as Thanos. It comes from Persia and is of an unsightly green and of a soiled color within. There is the Chalcas Maragdus, it was probably Dioptase, combined with copper pyrites, also a native of Cyprus, the face of which is mottled with coppery veins. Theophrastus relates that he had found it stated in the Egyptian histories that a king of Babylon once sent to the king of Egypt a smaragdus four cubits in length by three in breadth.
He informs us also that in a temple of Jupiter in Egypt, there was an obelisk made of four smeragdi, forty cubits in length and four in breadth at one extremity and two at the other. He says, too, that at the period at which he wrote, there was in the temple of Hercules at Tyrus a large column made of singular smeragdis, though very possibly it might only be a pseudo-smeragdis. A kind of stone not uncommonly found in Cyprus, where a block had been discovered, composed one half of smeragdus and one half of jasper, and the liquid in which had not as yet been entirely transformed. Appion, surnamed Plastonices, meaning the conqueror of many, has left a very recent statement that there was still in existence in his time in the Labyrinth of Egypt a colossal statue of Serapis, made of a single Samaragdus nine cubits in height.
Chapter 20. Barrels. Eight varieties of them, defects in barrels. Barrels, it is thought, are of the same nature as the Samaragdus, or at least closely analogous. India produces them, and they are rarely to be found elsewhere. The lapidiaries cut all barrels of an hexagonal form, because the color, which is deadened by a dull uniformity of surface, is heightened by the reflection resulting from the angles. If they are cut in any other way, these stones have no brilliancy whatever. The most esteemed barrels are those which in color resemble the pure green of the sea. The chrysobaryl being next in value, a stone of a somewhat paler color, but approaching a golden tint. Closely allied to this last in its brilliancy, but of a more pallid color, and thought by some to constitute a separate genus, is chrysoprasus, leek green and gold.
In the fourth rank are reckoned the hyacinthine beryls, and in the fifth those known as aeroides. Sky-colored. Next, we have the wax-colored barrels, and after them, the oleaginous barrels, so-called from the resemblance of their color to that of oil. Last of all, there are the stones, which closely resemble crystal in appearance, mostly disfigured by spots and filaments, and of a poor, faint color as well, all of them so many imperfections in the stone. The people of India are marvelously fond of barrels of an elongated form, and say that these are the only precious stones they prefer wearing without the addition of gold. Hence it is that after piercing them, they string them upon the bristles of the elephant.
It is generally agreed, however, that those stones should not be perforated which are of the finest quality, and in this case they only enclose the extremities of them in studs of gold. They prefer to cutting the barrels in a cylindrical form instead of setting them as precious stones, an elongated shape being the one that is most highly esteemed. Some are of the opinion that barrels are naturally angular, And that when pierced, they become improved in color. The white substance being thus removed that lies within, and their brilliancy heightened by the reflection of the gold in which they are set, or at all events, their transparency being increased by this diminution in their thickness. In addition to the defects already mentioned, and which are pretty nearly the same as those to which the Smaragdus is subject, Barrels are affected with cloudy spots, like those on the fingernails in appearance.
In our own part of the world, it is thought that they are sometimes found in countries that lie in the vicinity of Pontus. The people of India, by coloring crystal, have found a method of imitating various precious stones, barrels in particular. Chapter Twenty-One. Opals. Seven Varieties of Them. Opals are at once very similar to and very different from barrels, and only yield to the Smaragdus in value. India, too, is the sole parent of these precious stones, thus completing her glory as being the great producer of the most costly gems. Of all precious stones, it is opal that presents the greatest difficulties of description, displaying at once the piercing fire of Carbunculus. The purple brilliancy of Amethystus and the sea green of Smaragdus.
The whole blended together and refulgent with a brightness that is quite incredible. Some authors have compared the effect of its refulgony to that of the color known as Armenian pigment, while others speak of it as resembling the flame of burning sulfur or flame fed with oil. In size, the opal is about as large as a hazelnut, and with reference to it there is a remarkable historical anecdote related. For there is still in existence a stone of this class on account of which Antonius proscribed the senator Nonius, son of the Nonius Strumma, whom the poet Catullus was so displeased at seeing in the Cyrul chair and grandfather of the Servilius Nonianus. Who, in our own times, was counsel. On being thus proscribed, Nonius took to flight, carrying with him out of all his wealth nothing but this ring, the value of which it is well known, was estimated at two millions of sersterces.
How marvelous must have been the cruelty, how marvelous the luxurious passion of Antonius, thus to prescribe a man for the possession of a jewel. And no less marvelous must have been the obstinacy of Nonius, who could thus dote upon what had been the cause of his proscription. For we see the very brutes even tear off the portion of their body, for the sake of which they know their existence to be imperiled, and so redeem themselves by parting with it. Chapter 22. Defects in Opal. The Modes of Testing Them. Defects in Opal are A color inclining to that of the flower called heliotropium, or to that of crystal or of hailstones. Salt-like grains intervening, roughness on the surface, or sharp points presenting themselves to the eye.
There is no stone that is imitated by fraudulent dealers with more exactness than this in glass. The only mode of detecting the imposition being by the light of the sun. For when a false opal is held between the finger and thumb and exposed to the rays of that luminary, it presents but one and the same transparent color throughout, limited to the body of the stone, whereas the genuine opal offers various refulgent tints in succession and reflects now one hue and now another, as it sheds its luminous brilliancy upon the fingers. This stone, in consequence of its extraordinary beauty, has been called Paedros, lovely youth, by many authors, and some who make a distinct species of it say that it is the same as the stone that in India is called Senjinan.
These last-mentioned stones, it is said, are found in Egypt also, Arabia, and of very inferior quality in Pontus. Galatia, too, is said to produce them, as also Thassus and Cyprus. The finest in quality of them have all the beauty of opal, but they are of a softer brilliance and are mostly rough on the surface. Their color is a mixture of sky-blue and purple, and the green hues of the Smaragdus are wanting. Those, too, are preferred, which have their brilliancy deepened by a Venus hue. Chapter 23. Sardonic.
The several varieties of it. Defects in the sardonic. Thus far, we have spoken in reference to the stones which, it is generally agreed, belong to the highest rank in obedience, more particularly to a degree that has been passed by the ladies to that effect. There is less certainty with respect to those upon which the men as well have been left to form a judgment. Seeing that the value of each stone depends more particularly upon the caprice of the individual and the rivalry that exists in reference thereto. As for example, when Claudius Caesar was so much in the habit of wearing the Smaragdus and the Sardonyx. The first Roman who wore sardonyx, according to Demostritus, was the elder Africanus, since whose time this stone has been held in very high esteem at Rome, for which reason we shall give it the next place after the opal.
By sardonyx, from the Greek, someton, sard, and onyx, a fingernail. As the name itself indicates, was formally understood a sarda, With a white ground beneath it, like the flesh beneath the human fingernail, both parts of the stone being equally transparent. Such, according to Ismenius, Demostratus, Xenothenius, and Sotakis, is the sardonyx of India, the last two giving the name of blind sardonyx to all the other stones of this class which are not transparent, and which have now entirely appropriated the name to themselves. For at the present day, the Arabian sardonyx presents no traces whatever of the Indian sarda, it being a stone that has been found to be characterized by several different colors of late, black or azure for the base, and vermilion surrounded with a line of rich white for the upper part, not without a certain glimpse of purple as the white passes into the red.
We learn from Xenothemis, that in his time these stones were not held by the people of India in any high esteem, although they are found there of so large a size as to admit of the hilts of swords being made of them. It is well known, too, that in that country they are exposed to view by the mountain streams, and that in our part of the world they were formerly valued from the fact that they are nearly the only ones among the engraved precious stones that do not bring away the wax when an impression is made. The consequence is that our example has at last taught the people of India to set a value upon them. And the lower classes there now pierced them even to wear them as ornaments for the neck.
A great proof, in fact, at the present day, of a sardonyx being of Indian origin. Those of Arabia are remarkable for their marginal line of brilliant white of considerable breadth, and not glistening in hollow fissures in the stone or upon the sides, but shining upon the very surface at the margin and supported by a ground intensely black beneath. In the stones of Inia, this ground is like wax in color, or else like Cornell, with a circle also of white around it. In some of these stones, too, there is a play of colors like those of the rainbow, while the surface is redder even than the shell of the sea locust. Those stones, which are like honey in appearance or of a feiculant color, such being the name given to one defect in them, are generally disapproved of.
They are rejected also when the white zone blends itself with the other colors, and its limits are not definitely marked. Or, if in like manner, it is irregularly intersected by any other color, it being looked upon as an imperfection if the irregularity of any one of the colors is interrupted by the interposition of another. The sardonyx of Armenia is held in some esteem, but the zone round it is of a pallid hue. Chapter 24, Onyx, the several varieties of it. We must give some account also of onyx, because of the name which it partly shares in common with sardonyx. This name, though in some places given to a marble, is here used to signify a precious stone. Sudene says that in this stone there is a white portion which resembles the white of the human fingernail, in addition to the colors of chrysolithos, sarda, and iaspis.
According to Xenothemis, there are numerous varieties of the Indian onyx, the fiery-colored, the black, and the cornel, with white veins encircling them like an eye, as it were, and in some cases running across them obliquely. It is pretty clear that the onyx of Pliny included not only our onyx, but several other varieties of the Chalcedony. Sotakis mentions an Arabian onyx, which differs from the rest, that of India, according to him presenting small flames, each surrounded by one or more white zones, in a manner altogether different from the Indian sardonyx, which presents a series of white specks, while in this case it is one continuous circle. The Arabian onyx, on the other hand, is black, he says, with a white zone encircling it.
Satyrus says that there is an onyx in India of a flesh color, partly resembling carbunculus and partly chrysolithos and amethystis, a variety, however, which he altogether disapproves of. The real onyx, according to him, has numerous veins of variegated colors, interspersed with others of a milk-white hue. The shades of which, as they pass into one another, produce a tint which surpasses all description and blends itself into one harmonious whole of a most beautiful appearance. Not unlike sardonyx, too, is sarda, a stone which also has, in part, a kindred name with it. But before passing on to it, we must first take some notice of all those precious stones which have a brilliancy like that of flame.
Chapter 25. Carbunculus. Twelve Varieties of it. In the first rank among these is carbunculus, literally meaning a red-hot coal, so called from its resemblance to fire, though in reality it is proof against the action of that element. Hence it is that some persons call these stones a kostoi, from the Greek meaning incombustible. There are various kinds of carbunculus, the Indian and the garomantic, for example, which last has been also called the carchidonian, in complement to the former opulence of the great Carthage. To these are added the Ethiopian and the alabantic stones, the latter of which are found at Arthosia and Caria, but are cut and polished at Alabanda. In addition to this, each kind is subdivided into the male carbunculus and the female, the former of which is a more striking brilliancy, the brightness of the latter being not so strong.
In the male varieties, too, we see some in which the fire is clearer than in others, while some, again, are of a darker hue, or else have their brilliancy more deeply seated, and shine with a more powerful luster than others when viewed in the sun. The most highly esteemed, however, is the amethyst-colored stone, the fire at the extremity of which closely approaches the violent tint of amethystus. Next in value to which are the stones known as sirtites, radiant with a wavy, feathery, riffelgenie. They are found, more particularly, it is said, where the reflection is most powerful of the rays of the sun. Satiris says that Carbunculus of India has no luster, that it is mostly soiled, and that in all cases its brilliancy is of a tawny complexion.
The Ethiopian stones, he says, are dense, emit no luster, and burn with a concentrated flame. According to Calistratus, the rephilgenie of this stone should be of a whitish hue, and when placed upon a table, it should heighten by its luster other stones placed near it that are clouded at the edge. Hence it is that many writers speak of this stone as the white carbunculus, while the Indian stone, with its comparatively feeble luster, is known by the name of lignison. The Carcidonian stones, they say, are of a much smaller size than the others, but those of India admit of being hollowed out and making vessels that will hold as much as one Sextarius even. According to Archelaus, the Carcidonian Carbunculus is of a more swarthy appearance than the others, but when exposed to the light of the fire or sun, And viewed obliquely, the brilliancy of it is much more intense than that of the rest.
He says, too, that this stone, when overshadowed by a roof, has a purple tint, that when viewed in the open air is of a flame color, and that when exposed to the rays of the sun it scintillates. He states also that wax, if sealed with these stones, in the shade even will melt. Many others have asserted that the Indian stones are paler than the Carthidonian, and that, quite the converse of these last, they are all the less brilliant when viewed obliquely, as also that in the male Carthidonian stone there are luminous points like stars within, while, in the case of the female stone, the whole of its rifulgenie is thrown beyond it. The stones of Alabanda, too, it is said, are darker than the other kinds and rough on the surface.
In the vicinity also of Miletus, there are stones of this description found in the earth, resembling those of Alabanda in color and proof against the action of fire. According to Theophrastus, these stones are to be found also at Orchomenes, in Arcadia, and in the Isle of Chios. The former of which are of a darker hue and are used for making mirrors. He says, too, that at Troezen they are found of various colors and modeled with white spots, those found at Corinth being of a more pallid whitish hue. He states also that they are sometimes imported from Massilia. Volcus informs us in his writings that these stones are extracted from the ground at Eliscipil at the cost of great labor. However, in consequence of the parched argillaceous nature of the soil.
Chapter 26. Defects in Carbunculus and the Mode of Testing It Nothing is more difficult than to distinguish the several varieties of the stone, so great an opportunity do they afford to the artistic skill of compelling them to reflect the colors of substances placed beneath. It is possible, they say, to heighten the brilliancy of dull stones by steeping them for fourteen days in vinegar, this adventitious luster being retained by them as many months. They are counterfeited, too, with great exactness in glass, but the difference may be detected with the touchstone, the same being the case also with other artificial stones, as the material is always of a softer nature and comparatively brittle.
When thus tested by the stone, hard knots, too, are detected in them, and the weight of the glass counterfeit is always less. In some cases, too, they present small blisters within, which shine like silver. Chapter 27. Anthrositis. There is also a fossil stone found in Thesprotea, known as anthrositis, and resembling a burning coal in appearance. Those who have stated that it is a native also of Liguria are mistaken, in my opinion, unless perhaps it was to be found there in their time. Some of these stones, they say, are surrounded with a vein of white, like those which we have mentioned above. They have a fiery color, but there is Chapter 28. Sandastros. Sandarestos. Of a kindred nature, too, is Sandastros.
Known as Garmentites by some, it is found in India at a place of that name, and is a product also of the southern parts of Arabia. The great recommendation of it is that it has all the appearance of fire placed behind a transparent substance. It burning with star-like scintillations within that resemble drops of gold, And are always to be seen in the body of the stone, and never upon its surface. There are certain religious associations, too, connected with this stone, in consequence of the affinity which it is supposed to bear with the stars, the scintillations being mostly in number and arrangement, like the constellations of the Pleiades and Hyades, a circumstance which had led to the use of it by Chalde in the ceremonials which they practice.
Here, too, the male stones are distinguished from the female by the comparative depth of color and the vigorousness of the tints which they impart to objects near them. Indeed, the stones of India, it is said, quite dim the sight by their brilliancy. The flame of the female Sandostros is of a more softened nature, and may be pronounced to be lustrous rather than brilliant. Some prefer the stone of Arabia to that of India, and say that this last bears a considerable resemblance to a smoke-colored chrysolithos. Ismeneus asserts that Sandastris, in consequence of its extreme softness, will not admit of being polished, a circumstance which makes it sell all the dearer. Other writers again call these stones Sandricitae.
One point upon which all the authorities are agreed is that the greater the number of stars upon the stone, the more costly it is in price. The similarity of the name has sometimes caused this stone to be confounded with that known as sanderesos, and which Nicander calls sandesarian and others sandesaron. Some again call this last-mentioned stone sandastros, and the former one sanderesos. The stone that is thus mentioned by Nicander is a native of India, as well as the other, and likewise takes its name from the locality where it is found. The color of it is that of an apple, or of green oil, and no one sets any value on it. Chapter 29. Lightness. Four varieties of it. To the same class of flame-colored stones belongs that known as lightness.
from Leichnos, a lighted lamp or torch, so called from its luster being heightened by the light of the lamp, under which circumstances its tints are particularly pleasing. It is found in the vicinity of Orthosia, throughout the whole of Karya, and in the neighboring localities, but the most approved stones are those that come from India. Some writers have given the name of deadened carbunculus to a likeness of second-rate quality, and similar in color to the flower known as the flower of Jove. I find other varieties also mentioned, one with a purple radiance and another of a scarlet tint. It is asserted, too, that these stones, when heated or rubbed between the fingers, will attract chaff and filaments of paper.
Chapter 30. Carcidonia. Carchidonia, too, is said to have the same property, though far inferior in value to the stones already mentioned. It is found in the mountains among the Nassamones, being produced, the natives think, by showers sent for the purpose from heaven. These stones are found by the light of the moon, more particularly when at full. In former days, Carthage was not the intrapat for them. Archelaus speaks of a brutal variety being found in the vicinity of Thebes also, in Egypt, full of veins and similar to dying embers in appearance. I find it stated, too, that in former times drinking vessels used to be made of the stone and of likeness.
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37 37 - Book 37, Chapters 31 to 50. Sarda, topazos, sapphiros, amethystos, chrysolitos, chryselectrum, asteria, astrobolos. 25:57
The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock.
Chapter 31, Sarda, five varieties of it. Sarda, on the other hand, is remarkably useful for this purpose. A stone which shares its name in part with sardonyx. It is a common stone and was first found at Sardes, but the most esteemed kind is that of the vicinity of Babylon. When certain quarries are being worked, these stones are found adhering, like a kind of heart, to the interior of the rock. This mineral, however, is said to be now extinct in Persia, though it is to be found in numerous other localities, Paros and Assos, for example. In India, there are three varieties of this stone, the red sarda, the one known as peonia, from its thickness, And a third kind, beneath which they place a ground of silver tinsel.
The Indian stones are transparent, those of Arabia being more opaque. There are some found also in the vicinity of Leucas, in Empiris, and in Egypt, which have a ground placed beneath them of leaf gold. In the case of this stone, too, the male stone shines with a more attractive brilliancy than the female, which is of a thicker substance and more opaque. Among the ancients, there was no precious stone in more common use than this. At all events, it is this stone that is made so much parade of in the comedies of Menander and Philemon. No one, too, among the transparent stones is tarnished more speedily by exposure to moisture than this, though of all liquids it is oil that acts the most readily upon it.
Those stones which are like honey in color are generally disapproved of, and still more so when they have the complexion of earthenware. Chapter 32. Topazzo's Two Varieties of It. Tapazos is a stone that is still held in very high estimation for its green tints. Indeed, when it was first discovered, it was preferred to every other kind of precious stone. It so happened that some troglodytic pirates, suffering from tempest and hunger, having landed upon an island off the coast of Arabia known as Cytus, when digging there for roots and grass, discovered this precious stone. Such, at least, is the opinion expressed by Archelaus. Juba says that there is an island in the Red Sea called Topazos, at a distance of 300 studia from the mainland.
That it is surrounded by fogs and is often sought by navigators in consequence, and that owing to this, it received its present name, the word tapazin, meaning to seek in the language of the Traglatae. He states also that Philon, the king's praefect, was the first to bring these stones from this island, that on his presenting them to Queen Berenice, the mother of the second Ptolemaeus, she was wonderfully pleased with them. And that, at a latter period, a statue four cubits in height was made of this stone in honor of Arsenault, the wife of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, it being consecrated in the temple known as the Golden Temple. The most recent writers say that this stone is found also in the vicinity of Alabastrum, a city of Thebes, and they distinguish two varieties of it, the prosaides, And the Chrysopteron, which last is similar to Chrysoprosis.
All the shades of it tending, more or less, to resemble the coloring principle of the leek. Topazus is the largest of all the precious stones, and is Chapter 33. Kalena. With this stone, we must also couple another, which resembles it more closely in appearance than in value, the stone known as Kalena, and of a pale green color. It is found in the countries that lie at the back of India among the Fikari, namely who inhabit Mount Caucasus, the Sakai and the Dahai. It is remarkable for its size, but is covered with holes and full of extraneous matter, that however which is found in Carmania is of a finer quality and far superior. In both cases, however, it is only amid frozen and inaccessible rocks that it is found protruding from the surface, like an eye in appearance and slightly adhering to the rock, not as though it formed an integral part of it, but with all the appearance of having been attached to it.
People so habituated as they are to riding on horseback cannot find the energy and dexterity requisite for climbing the rocks to obtain the stones, while, at the same time, they are quite terrified at the danger of doing so. Hence it is that they attack the stones with slings from a distance, and so bring them down, moths and all. It is with this stone that the people pay their tribute, and this the rich look upon as their most graceful ornament for the neck. It constitutes the whole of their wealth with some, and it is their chief glory to recount how many of these stones they have brought down from the mountain heights since the days of their childhood. Their success, however, is extremely variable.
For while some, at the very first throw, have brought down remarkably fine specimens, many have arrived at old age without obtaining any. Such is the method of procuring these stones, their form being given them by cutting, a thing that is easily affected. The best of them have just the color of smaragdus, a thing that proves that the most pleasing property in them is one that belongs to them. The final The finest of them lose their color by coming into contact with oil, ungjints, or undiluted wine even, whereas those of a poorer quality preserve their color better. There is no stone, too, that is more easily counterfeited in glass. Some writers say that this stone is to be found in Arabia also, in the nest of a bird known as the Melaniorifice.
Chapter 34. Proceus, three varieties of it. There are numerous other kinds also of green stones. To the more common class belongs proscius, one variety of which is disfigured with spots like blood, while another kind is marked with three streaks of white. To all these stones, chrysopressus is preferred, which is also similar to the coloring matter of the leek, but varies in tint between topazus and gold. This stone is found of so large a size as to admit Chapter 35. Nilean. India, which produces these stones, produced Nilean, also a stone that differs from the last in its dull diminished luster, which when steadily looked upon soon fades from sight. Sudinz says that it is to be found also in the Sibiris, a river of Attica.
In appearance, it resembles a smoke-colored tapazos, or in some cases a tapazos with a tint like honey. According to Juba, Ethiopia produces it upon the shores of the river known to us as the Nihilus, to which circumstance, he says, it owes its name. Chapter 36. Molokitis. Molokitis is not transparent, being of a deeper green and more opaque than Smaragdus. Its name is derived from the mallow, which it resembles in color. It is highly esteemed for making seals, and it is endowed by nature with medicinal properties which render it a preservative for infants against certain dangers which menace them. This stone is a native of Arabia. Chapter 37, Iaspis. Fourteen varieties of it. Defects found in Iaspis.
Iaspis II is green, and often transparent, a stone which, if surpassed by many others, still retains the renown which it acquired in former times. Many countries produce this stone. That of India is like Samaragdus in color. That of Cyprus is hard and of a full sea green, and that of Persia is sky blue, whence its name Erizusa. Similar to this last is the Caspian Iaspis. On the banks of the river Thermodon, the Iaspis is of an azure color. In the Phrygia, it is purple, and in Cappadocia of an azure purple, somber and not refulgent. Emesis sends us an Iaspis like that of India in color, and Chalcedon, a stone of a turbid hue. But it is of less consequence to distinguish the several localities that furnish it than it is to remark upon the degrees of excellence which they present.
The best kind is that which has a shade of purple, the next best being the rose-colored, and the next the stone with the green color of the smeragdus, to each of which the Greeks have given names according to their respective tints. A fourth kind, which is called by them Borea, resembles in color the sky of a morning in autumn. This, too, will be the same that is known as Eorzusa. There is an Iaspis, also which resembles Sarda in appearance, and another with a violet tint. Not the less numerous, too, are the other kinds that are left undescribed, but they are all blue to a fault. Or else resemble crystal in appearance, or the tints of the mixa plum. There is the pterabenthine-colored Iaspis also, improperly so-called in my opinion, as it has all the appearance of being a composition of numerous gems of this description.
The best of these stones are set in an open bezel, the gold of which only embraces the margins of the stone, leaving the upper and lower surfaces uncovered. One great defect in them is a subdued luster and a want of refulgence when viewed from a distance. Grains, also like salt, appear within the stone and all the other defects which are common to precious stones in general. Sometimes they are imitated in glass, a fraud, however, which may be easily detected from the material throwing out its refulgence instead of concentrating it within itself. To this class also belongs the stone called sphragus, which is only reckoned as belonging to the domain of precious stones from the circumstance that it is the best of all for making cygnets.
Throughout all the East, it is custom, it is said, to wear Iaspis by the way of amulet. The variety of this stone, which resembles Smaragdus in color, is often found with a white line running transversely through the middle, in which case it is known as monogrammos. When it is streaked with several lines, it is called polygrammos. Here, too, I may take the opportunity of exposing the falsehoods of the magicians, who pretend that this stone is beneficial for persons when speaking in public. There is a stone also that is formed of Iaspis and Onyx combined and is known as Iasponix. Sometimes this stone has a clouded appearance, sometimes it has spots upon the surface like snow, and sometimes it is stellated with red spots.
One kind resembles salt of Megara in appearance, and another is known as Capnius and looks as if it had been smoked. We have seen in our day an Iaspis fifteen inches in length, which a figure of Nero was made armed with a charis. Chapter 38. Cyanos. The several varieties of it. We must also give separate account of Cyanos, a name which, until very recently, was given to a species of Iaspis on account of its cerulean color. The best kind is that of Scythia. The next The best being the produce of Cyprus, and last of all, that of Egypt. An artificial kind is much in use that is prepared by dyeing other substances, and this invention is looked upon as one of the great glories of the kings of Egypt.
The name of the king who first discovered it being still preserved in their annals. This stone, too, is divided into male and female, and sometimes it has the appearance of being powdered with a golden dust, in much the same way as Saphiros. Chapter 39, Saphiros. For Saphiros, too, is refulgent with spots like gold. It is also of an azure color, though sometimes, but rarely, it is purple, the best kind being that which comes from Medea. In no case, however, is this stone Diaphanous. In addition to which, it is not suited for engraving when intersected with hard particles of a crystal in nature. Those among them who have the color of cyanos are generally thought to be the male stones. Chapter 40.
Amethystis. Four varieties of it. Socondion, Sapanos, Farnitis, Aphrodites, Blepharon, Anteros, or Paederos. We will now commence. With another class of precious stones, those of a purple color, or whose tints are derived from purple. To the first rank belongs the Amethystus of India, a stone which is also found in the part of Arabia that adjoins Syria and is known as Petra, as also in lesser Armenia, Egypt, and Galatia. The very worst of all, and the least valued, being those of Thassos and Cyprus. The name which these stones bear originates, it is said, in the peculiar tint of their brilliancy, which, after closely approaching the color of wine, passes off into a violet without being fully pronounced.
Or else, according to some authorities, in the fact that in their purple color there is something that falls short of a fiery color, the tints fading off and inclining to the color of wine. All these stones are transparent and of an agreeable violet color and are easy to engrave. Those of India have in perfection the very richest shades of purple, and it is to attain this color that the dyers in purple direct all their endeavors, in presenting a fine, mellowed appearance to the eye and not dazzling the sight, as in the case with the colors of the carbunculus. Another variety approaches more nearly the hyacinth color. The people of India call this tint Sokon, and the stone itself Sokondian. A third stone of this class is of a more diluted color, and is known as saponos, being identical with pharanitis, so-called from a country on the frontiers of Arabia that produces it.
Of a fourth kind, the color is like that of wine, and in a fifth it borders very closely upon that of crystal. The purple gradually passing off into white. This last kind is but little valued, for a fine amethyst should always have, when viewed sideways and held up to the light, a certain purple refulgence, like that of carbunculus, slightly inclining to a tint of rose. Some prefer giving these stones the name of paederos, or of anteros. While to many they are known as Venus's eyelid, a name which would seem to be particularly appropriate to the color and general appearance of the gem. The falsehoods of the magicians would persuade us that these stones are preventative of inebriety, and that it is from this that they have derived their name.
They tell us also that if we inscribe the names of the sun and moon upon the stone, and then wear it suspended from the neck, with some hair of ainocyphilis and feathers of the swallow, it will act as a preservative against all noxious spells. It is said, too, that worn in any manner this stone will ensure access to the presence of kings, and that it will avert hail and the attack of locusts, if a certain prayer is also repeated, which they mention. They make similar promises, too, in reference to the Samaragdus, if graven with the figure of an eagle or of a scarabaeus. Statements which, in my opinion, they cannot have committed to writing without a feeling of contempt and derision for the rest of mankind.
Chapter 41. Hyacinthus. Very different from this stone is Hyacinthus, though partaking of a color that closely borders upon it. The great difference between them is that the brilliant violet which is so refulgent in the amethystis is diluted in the other stone. Though pleasing at first sight, its beauty fades before the eye is satiated. Indeed, so far is it from satisfying the sight that it almost wholly fails to attract the eye, its luster disappearing more rapidly than the tints of the flower known by the same name. Chapter 42, Chrysolithos, Seven Varieties of It. Ethiopia, which produces hyacinthos, produces chrysoluthos, also, a transparent stone with a refulgence like that of gold. The stones of India are the most highly esteemed, as also those found among the Tiberini, provided these last are not of a mottled hue.
The worst in quality are those of Arabia, the color of them being turbid and mottled, and their brilliancy interrupted by cloudy spots. Even two, when they happen to be limpid, they have all the appearance of being full, as it were, of a peculiar dust. The best stones are those which, when placed by the side of gold, impart to it a sort of whitish hue, and so give it the appearance of silver. When this is the case, they are set in a bezel that is open on either side, but when the stone is of inferior quality, a ground of aracholicum is placed beneath. Chapter 43, Chrysolectrum. Though it has now altogether gone out of use for jewelry, there is a precious stone known as Chrysolectrum, the color of which inclines to that of amber, but only when viewed by a morning light.
The stones of Pontus are known by their lightness. Some of them are hard and reddish, while others again are soft and of a soiled appearance. According to Bacchus, these stones are found in Spain as well, in a spot where, according to him, fossil crystal has been discovered in sinking to the water level for wells. He tells us also that he once saw chrysolithis 12 pounds in weight. Chapter Four. Leucochrysos. Four varieties of it. There's also a stone known as a Leucochrysos, with a white vein running across it. To this class, too, belongs Copneus, a stone also which resembles glass in appearance, and another which reflects a tint like that of saffron. These stones are imitated in glass to such a degree of perfection that it is impossible to distinguish them by the eye.
The touch, however, detects the difference, the imitation being not so cold as the real stone. Chapter 45. Melachrysis. Xuthon. To this class also belongs Melachrysis, a stone which has all the appearance of pure honey, seen through transparent gold. India produces these stones, and although hard, they are very brittle, but not unpleasing to the sight. The same country, too, produces Xuthone, a stone much used by the lower classes there. Chapter 46. Paiaduros Saganon, or Tenaitis. At the very head of the white stones is Pietros, though it may still be questionable to which of the colors it in reality belongs. As to the name, it has been much bandied about, among other precious stones of conspicuous beauty, that it has quite assumed the privilege of being a synonymous term for all that is charming to the eye.
Still, however, there is one stone in particular which fully merits all the commendation that might be expected for a stone with so prepossessioning a name. For in itself it reunites the transparency of crystal, the peculiar green of the sky, the deep tints of purple, and a sort of bright reflex like that of a golden-colored wine. A reflex, indeed, that is always the last to meet the eye. But it's always crowned with the lustrous hues of purple. The stone, in fact, has all the appearance of having been bathed in each of these tints individually, and yet in the whole of them at once. There is no precious stone either that has a clearer water than this, or that presents a more pleasing sweetness to the eye.
Paedros of the finest quality comes from India, where it is known as Sanginon. The next best being that of Egypt. Next, we have the stone of Pontus, the radiance of which is softer than that of Vasus, which in its turn is of a more mellowed color than the stones of Galatia, Thrace, and Cyprus. The defects commonly found in these stones are a want of brilliancy, a confusion with colors which do not properly belong to them, and the other imperfections which are found in stones in general. Chapter 47. Asteria. Next among the white stones is Asteria, a gem which holds its high rank on account of a certain peculiarity in its nature. It having a light enclosed within, in the pupil of an eye, as it were.
This light, which has all the appearance of moving within the stone, it transmits according to the angle of inclination at which it is held, now in one direction and now in another. When held facing the sun, it emits white rays like those of a star, and to this, in fact, it owes its name. The stones of India are very difficult to engrave. Those of Carmania being preferred. Chapter 48. Astrion. Of a similar white radiance is the stone that is known as Astrion, closely resembling crystal in its nature, and found in India and upon the coast of Palin. In the center of it there shines eternally a brilliant star with a refulgence like that of the moon when full. Some will have it that the stone receives its name from the fact that, when held opposite to the stars, it absorbs the light they emit and then returns it.
The finest stones, they say, are those of Carmania, there being none more entirely free from all defects. They add, also, that a stone of inferior quality is known as Sarounia, and that, in the worst of all, the light is very similar to that given by a lamp. Chapter 49. Astriotis. Astriotis II is a stone that is highly esteemed, and Zoroaster, they say, has sung its wondrous praises as an adjunct of the magic art. Chapter 50. Astrobolos. Sudin says that Astrobolos resembles the eye of a fish in appearance, and that it has a radiant white refulgence when viewed in the sun.
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38 38 - Book 37, Chapters 51 to 62. Several varieties of precious stones. 33:13
VII. By Christine Rutger, September 9, 2021, Western, Massachusetts. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 38. Book 37. Chapters 51-62. Chapter 51. Seraunia. Four varieties of it. Among the white stones, also, there is one known as Seraunia, which absorbs the brilliancy of the stars. It is of crystalline formation of a lustrous azure color, and is a native of Carmania. Xenothemis admits that it is white. But asserts that it has a figure of a blazing star within. Some of them, he says, are dull, in which case it is the custom to steep them for some days in a mixture of niter and vinegar, at the end of which period the star makes its appearance, but gradually dies away by the end of as many months.
Sotakis mentions also two other varieties of Sarania, one black and the other red, and he says that they resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he says, are looked upon as sacred, and by their assistance cities and fleets are attacked and taken. The name given to them is by a Tilly. Those of an elongated form being known as a Saranay. They make out also that there is another kind rarely to be met with, and much in request for the practices of magic, it never being found in any place but one that has been struck by lightning. Chapter Fifty Two. Two Varieties of it. The next name mentioned by these authors is that of the stone called Iris, which is found in a fossil state in a certain island of the Red Sea, Forty Miles distant from the city of Berenice.
It is partly composed of crystal, and hence it is that some have called it root of crystal. It takes its name, Iris, from the properties which it possesses, for when struck by the rays of the sun in a covered spot, it projects upon the nearest wall the form of diversified colors of the rainbow, continually changing its tints and exciting admiration by the great variety of colors which it presents. That it is hexahedral in form, like crystal, is generally agreed, but some say that it is rough on the sides and of unequal angles, and that, when exposed to a full sun, it disperses the rays that are thrown upon it, while at the same time, by throwing out a certain brightness before it, it illumines all objects that may happen to be adjacent.
The stone, however, as already stated, only presents these colors when under cover. Not as though they were in the body of the stone itself, but to all appearances as if they were a result of the reflected light upon the surface of the wall. The best kind is the one that produces the largest aris, with the closest resemblance to the rainbow. Irytis is the name of another stone, similar to the last in all of the respects, but remarkable for its extreme hardness. Horace says in his writings that this stone calcined and titrated is a remedy for the bite of the Achenumen, and that it is a native of Persia. Chapter 53 Larus. The stone called Larus is similar in appearance, but does not produce the same effects.
It is a crystal with streaks of white and black running across it. Chapter 54 Ache, the several varieties of it, Acapis, the remedies derived from it, Alabastritus, The remedies derived from it. Alectoria, Androdamus, Argyrodamus, Antipathes, Arubica, Aromatitis, Asbestos, Aspisatis, Atezo, Argytis, Amphidanes or Chrysolicola, Aphrodisiaca, Apisticus, Apsictus, Agyptilia. Having now described the principal precious stones classified according to their respective colors, I shall proceed to mention the rest of them in their alphabetical order. Achates was a stone formerly in high esteem, but now held in none. It was first found in Sicily, near a river of that name, but has since been discovered in numerous other localities.
In size, it exceeds any other stones of this class, and the varieties of it are numerous, the name varying accordingly. Thus, for example, we have Aespacates, Syracates, Smuragdacates, Hamacates, Leucacates, Dendrocates, marked with the small shrubs, as it were, Anticatates, which, when burnt, has a smell like that of myrrh, and Coralocates, spotted all over like Zephyros. with drops of gold, and commonly found in Crete, where it is also known as sacred acates. This last, it is thought, is good for wounds inflicted by spiders and scorpions, a property which I could really believe to belong to the stones of Sicily, for, the moment they breathe the air of the province, scorpions lose their venom.
The stones, too, that are found in India are possessed of similar properties, and of other great and marvelous properties as well. For they present the appearance in them of rivers, woods, beasts of burden, and forms even like ivy, and the trappings of horses. Medical men, too, make grinding homes of these stones, and indeed the very sight of them is beneficial for the eyes held in the mouth they allay thirst. Those found in Phrygia have no green in them, and those of Thebes in Egypt are destitute of red and white veins. These last are good as counterpoison to the venom of the scorpion, and the stones of Cyprus are held in similar repute. Some persons set the highest value upon these stones, which present a transparency like that of glass, in the vicinity of Mount Etta, upon Mount Parnassus, in the Isle of Lesbos, in Messines, where they resemble the flowers that grow in the hedges and at Rhodes.
The magicians make other distinctions in reference to these stones. Those, they tell us, which have spots upon them, like the spots on the lion's skin, are efficacious as protection against scorpions. And in Persia, they say, these stones are used by way of fumigation for arresting tempests and hurricanes, and for stopping the course of rivers. The proof of their efficacy being their turning the water cold if thrown into a boiling caldron. To be duly efficacious, they must be attached to the body with hairs from the lion's mane. The hair, however, of the hyena is held in abomination for this purpose as being a promoter of discord in families. The stone that is of an uniform color renders athletes invincible, they say.
The way of testing it is to throw it, along with the coloring matter, into a potful of oil after being kept for a couple of hours gently on the boil. If genuine, it will impart a uniform color of vermilion to the mixture. Aeopos is a stone like nitre in appearance, porous and starred with drops of gold, gently boiled with oil and applied as an ungent. It relieves lassitude, if we choose to believe it. Alabastratus is a stone which comes from Alabastron, in Egypt, and Damascus, in Syria. It is of a white color, spotted with various other tints. Caleamed with fossil salt and pulverized is a cure for affections of the mouth and teeth, it is said. Alectoria is the name given to a stone that is found in the crop of poultry, like crystal in appearance, and about as large as a bean in size.
Milo, of Cortona, some will have it, was thought to be in the habit of carrying this stone about him, a thing that rendered him invincible in his athletic contests. Androdamus has the shining color of silver, like Adamus. It is always quadrangular, like small cubes in shape. The magicians are of the opinion that it was thus named from the fact that it subdues anger and violence in man. Whether Argyrodamus is the same stone or not, authors do not inform us. Antipathes is a black stone, and not transparent. The mode of testing it is by boiling it in milk, to which, if genuine, it imparts a color like that of myrrh. A person might probably expect to find some extraordinary virtues in the stone, seeing that among so many other substances possessed of antithetic properties, it is the only one that bears this name.
The magicians will have it that it possesses the power of counteracting fascinations. Arabica is a stone which closely resembles ivory in appearance, and indeed might easily be taken for it were it not for its superior hardness. Persons who have this stone about them, it is thought, will experience a cure of diseases of the sinews. Aromatitis, too, is a stone that is found in Arabia, as also in the vicinity of Pirae in Egypt. It is always full of small stones, and, like myrrh in color and smell, a thing that makes it much in request with ladies of rank. Asbestos is found in the mountains of Arcadia, and is of an iron color. Democritus informs us that Asbestos is a native of Arabia, that it is of a fiery color, and that patients should wear it attached to the body with camel's dung.
He says, too, that it is found in the nests of certain birds in Arabia. Same writer also mentions another stone of this name that is found in Lekupatera, in the same country, of a silver color, radiant, and an excellent preservative against delirium. In India, he says, and on Mount Oxidane, in Persia, there is a stone found that is known as Atazo, of a silver luster, three fingers in length, like a lentil in shape, possessed of a pleasant smell, and considered necessary by the Magi at the consecration of a king. Agetis is thought by many to be identical with Kalena. Amphidanes, which is also known as Chrysochola, is a stone found in that part of India where the ants throw up gold, and in it there are certain square pieces, like gold in appearance.
The nature of this stone, it is asserted, is similar to that of the magnet. In addition to which it is said to have the property of increasing gold. Aphrodacia is a stone of a reddish-white color. Apsychthus, when heated by the fire, retains the warmth so long as seven days. It is black and ponderous, and is streaked with red veins. It is good, too, it is thought, as a preservative against cold. According to Aeacus, aegyptilia is a kind of white and black sarda, intersected with veins, but the stone commonly known by that name is black at the lower part and azure on the surface. It takes its name from the country that produces it. Chapter 55 Balonites, Batrychitis, Boptes, Belioculus, Bellus, Baroptinus, or Barup, Botrytis.
Bostricitis. Bucadia. Brontia. Bolos. Of Balanites, there are two kinds, the one of a greenish hue, and the other like Corinthian bronze in appearance. The former comes from Coptus, and the latter from Troglodicta. They are both of them intersected by a flame-like vein, which runs through the middle. Coptus, too, sends us Bostricitis. One kind of which is like a frog in color. Another has the tint of ebony, and a third is blackish, inclining to red. Bottis is a soft stone, and of a most excellent smell. Bellioculus is a stone of a whitish hue surrounding a black pupil in the middle, which shines amid a luxe stir like that of gold. This stone, in consequence of its singular beauty, has been consecrated to the deity held in the highest veneration by the people of Assyria.
According to Democritus, there is also a stone called Belis, and found in Arbella. It is about the size of a walnut, and looks like glass. Baroptinus, or barraip, is black, and covered with knots of white and blood-red color. The use of it as an amulet is avoided as being apt to produce monstrosities. Bostrychitis is sometimes black and sometimes purple-red, and resembles a bunch of grapes in form when making its first appearance. Zoaster says that Bostrychitis is a stone which is more like the hair of females than anything else. Bucardia resembles an ox-heart in appearance, and is only found in Babylon. Brontia is a stone like the head of a tortoise, which falls with thunder, it is supposed.
If, too, we are to believe what is said, it has the property of quenching the fire in objects that have been struck by lightning. Boulos is the name of a stone found in Iberia, similar to a clod of earth in appearance. Chapter Fifty Six Cadmides, Calais, Capnides, Cappadocia, Calaca. Catochitis, Catochitis, Cetopritis, Cepitis, or Cepulatitis, Ceremitis, Cenedia, Cereitis, Circus, Corsoides, Coraloaceae, Coralis, Crateritis, Crocalis, Saitis, Calocophonus, Cheliodonia, Chelionia, Chelonitis, Cloritis, Coaspitis, Chrysolampus. Chrysopis. Ceponides. Cognitis differs only from the stone that is known as Austraecitis, in being sometimes surrounded with blisters of an azure color. Cognitis is like sapphiros in color, only that it is paler and more closely resembles the tint of the water near the seashore in appearance.
Cognitis, in the opinion of some, is a peculiar species of stone. It is covered with numerous spiral streaks of a smoky color, as already stated in the appropriate place. Cappadocia is a native of Aphrygia, and resembles ivory in appearance. Calacchia is the name given to a stone like a clouded calina. A number of them are always found united, it is said. is a stone found in Corsia of larger size than the other precious stones, and of a more wonderful nature, if the story is true, that it retains the hand like gum when placed upon it. Cappotritus is found in Cappadocia, and from its whiteness reflects figures like a mirror. Cepitis, or Cepilotitis, is a white stone with veins upon it uniting together.
Ceramintus has a color like that of earthenware. Cenedia is a stone found in the brain of a fish, of a corresponding nature. It is white and oblong, and possessed of marvelous virtues, if we are to put faith in what is said that it announces beforehand whether the sea will be tranquil or stormy. Cerritus is a stone-like wax. Circos resembles the plumage of a hawk. Chorasoides is like white hair in appearance. Choraloacates is very similar to coral, marked with drops of gold, and Chorales, a native of India and Cyene, resembles Minium in appearance. Chrataritis is in color a medium between chrysalithis and amber, and is remarkable for its hardness. Chocallus is a gem like the cherry in its tints.
Saetis is a stone found in the vicinity of Kaptos. It is white, and to all appearances has an embryo stone within, the rattling of which may be heard on shaking it. Chalkophanos is a black stone, but when struck it clinks like brass. Tragic actors are recommended to carry it about them. Of Chaladonia there are two varieties, both resembling the swallow in color. One of them is purple on one side, and the other is purple besprinkled with black spots. Chelonia is the eye of the Indian tortoise, and is the most marvelous of all the stones if we believe the lying stories told by the magicians. For according to them, this stone, placed upon the tongue after rinsing the mouth with honey, will ensure power of divination, if this is done at full moon or new moon, for one whole day.
If, however, this plan is adopted while the moon is on the increase, the power of divination will be acquired before sunrise only, and if upon other days, from the first hour to the sixth. Chilonritus, too, is a stone that resembles the tortoise in appearance, and many virtues of which are talked of for calming storms and tempests. As to the one that has all the appearance of being sprinkled with spots of gold, if thrown with a scarabaeus into boiling water, it will raise a tempest, they say. Chloridus is a stone of grass-green color. According to the magicians, it is found in the crop of the motosila, being engendered with the bird. They recommend that it should be set in iron for the purpose of working certain potentious marvels which they promise as usual.
Quaspitis is a stone so called from the river Quaspis, of a brilliant golden color mixed with green. Chrysolampis is a native of Ethiopia, and is pale by day, but of a fiery lustre at night. Chrysopis has all the appearance of gold. Ceponides is found at Atarna, a borough and once a city of Aeolus. It is transparent, presents numerous tints, and has sometimes the appearance of glass, sometimes of crystal, and sometimes of Iespis. Indeed, the stones of this kind, that are tarnished even, are possessed of such singular brilliancy as to reflect objects like a mirror. Chapter Fifty Seven Daphna Diadoccus Diffes Dionysius Draconitus. Daphnia is mentioned by Zoaraster as curative of epilepsy. Diadochos is a stone that resembles the barrel.
Of Daphys, there are two kinds, the white and the black, male and female, with a line dividing the characteristics of either sex. Dionysius is hard and black and covered with red spots. Titrated in water, this stone imparts to it the flavor of wine, and it is generally thought to be a preservative against intoxication. Draconitis or Dracontia is a stone produced from the brain of the dragon, but unless the head of the animal is cut off while it is alive, the stone will not assume the form of a gem through spite on the part of the serpent when finding itself at the point of death. Hence it is that, for this purpose, the head is cut off when it is asleep. So, Tachis, who tells us that he once saw a stone of this kind in the possession of a king, says that persons go in search of it in a chariot drawn by two horses, and that, the moment they see the serpent, they strew narcotic drugs in its way, and then cut off its head when asleep.
According to him, this stone is white and pellucid, and admits of no polishing or engraving. Chapter Fifty Eight and Cardia or Ariste. Anorkis, Excebinus, Eretalis, Eretilos, Amphicomos, or Hieronymmon, Eumekis, Eumithris, Eupetilos, Eureos, Eurotias, Eusebis, Epimolus. The stone Enerdia is also called Ariste. There are three varieties of it, one of a black color, with a figure in relief upon it like a heart. A second of a green color, and, like a heart in shape, and a third with a black heart upon it, the rest of the stone being white. Anorahis is a white stone, the fragments of which, when it is split asunder, resemble the testes in shape. Xebanes, Zora, it tells us, is a white, handsome stone employed by goldsmiths for polishing gold.
Erathalus, though a white stone, assumes a red hue when viewed at an inclined angle. Euryothalus, also known as Amphicomos and Hieromimon, is highly praised by Democritus for its use in the art of demonation. Humis is a stone of Vietrena. Like Silex in appearance, placed beneath the head, it produces visions in the night of an auricular description. Eumithras is called by the Assyrians Gem of Belus, the most sacred of all their gods. It is of a leet-green color, and greatly in request for superstitious purposes. Epitalis is a stone that has four different tints, azure-fiery vermilion and apple color. Euryos is similar to an olive stone in form, streaked like a shell, and moderately white. Eurotius has all the appearance of concealing its black color beneath a coat of mold.
Eusibis is the stone, it is said, of which the seat was made in the temple of Hercules at Tyrus, from which the pious only could raise themselves without difficulty. Epimolus is a white gem, with a black hue reflected from its surface. Chapter 59 Galaxius Galaxides Galaxias by some is called Galactitis. It is a stone that closely resembles those next mentioned, but it is interspersed with veins of blood red or white. Galactitis is of the uniform color of milk. Other names given to it are Luaguia, Luografitis, and Sinophitis, and when pounded in water, both in taste and color, it marvelously resembles milk. This stone promotes the secretion of the milk in nursing women, it is said, in addition to which, attached to the neck of infants, it produces saliva, and it dissolves when put into the mouth.
They say, too, that it deprives a person of their memory. It is in the river Nylas and Achilles that it is produced. Some persons give the name of Galactites to a smeragdus surrounded with veins of white. Galea is a stone like a girodamus, but of a somewhat more soiled appearance. These stones are found in twos and threes clustered together. The people of Medea send us Glossonade, A stone like Oribus in color, and sprinkled with flowers, as it were. It is found at Arabella. This stone, too, aonivis, it is said, a fact which it admits when shaken. The conception lasting for a period of three months. Glossopetra, which resembles a human tongue, is not engendered, it is said, in the earth, but falls from the heavens during the moon's eclipse.
It is considered highly necessary for the purposes of selenomani. To render all this, however, still more incredible, we have the evident untruthfulness of one assertion made about it, that it has the property of silencing the winds. Gorgonia is nothing but a coral, which has been thus named from the circumstance that, though soft in the sea, it afterwards assumes the hardness of stone. It has the property of counteracting fascinations, it is said. Gonea, it is asserted, and with the same degree of untruthfulness, ensures vengeance upon our enemies. Chapter 60. Heliotropium, Hephaestasis, Hermelodion, Hexacontolithus, Hierocities, Amittis, Hamonis Cornu, Hormision, Hyena, Heumetitis. Heliotropion is found in Ethiopia, Africa, and Cyprus.
It is of elite green color, streaked with blood-red veins. It has been thus named from the circumstance that, if placed in a vessel of water and exposed to the full light of the sun, it changes to a reflected color, like that of blood, this being the case with the stone of Ethiopia more particularly. Out of the water, too, it reflects the figure of the sun like a mirror, and it discovers eclipses of that luminary by showing the moon passing over its disk. In the use of this stone, also, we have a most glaring illustration of the impudent effrontery of the adepts in magic, for they say that If it is combined with the plant Filiotropium, and certain incantations are then repeated over it, it will render the person invisible who carries it about him.
Hephaestus also, though a radiant stone, partakes of the properties of a mirror in reflecting objects. The mode of testing it is to put it into boiling water, which should immediately become cold. If exposed to the rays of the sun, It should instantly cause dry fuel to ignite. Quiricus is the place where it is found. Hermann Duane is so called from the resemblance to the male organs, which it presents on a ground that it is sometimes white, sometimes black, and sometimes of a palette hue, with a circle surrounding it of a golden color. Hexacontolithus receives its name from the numerous variety of colors, which, small as it is, it presents. It is found in Trogole-dita. Hieracitus is entirely covered with mottled streaks, resembling a kite's feathers, alternately with black.
Hamitis is similar in appearance to the spawn of fish. There is also one variety of it which has all the appearance of being composed of niter, except that it is remarkably hard. Hamonis Cornu is reckoned among the most sacred gems of Ethiopia. It is of a golden color, like a ram's horn in shape, and ensures prophetic dreams, it is said. Hermesian is one of the most pleasing stones to the site. It is of a fiery color, and emits rays like gold tipped at the extremity with a whitish light. Hyenia is derived from the eyes of the hyena, it is said, the animal being hunted to obtain it. Place beneath the tongue, if we believe the story, it will enable a person to prophesy the future. Hyamatitis, of the very finest quality, comes from Ethiopia, but it is found in Arabia and Africa as well.
It is a stone of a blood-red color, and we must not omit to mention the assurance given. by the magicians, that the possession of it reveals treacherous designs on the part of the barbarians. Thakalus of Babylon, in the books which he dedicated to King Mithridates, attributing the destinies of man to certain properties innate in precious stones, is not content with vaunting the merits of this stone as curative of diseases of the eyes and liver, but recommends it also as ensuring success to petitions addressed to kings. He also makes it play its part in lawsuits and judgments. and even goes so far to say that it is highly beneficial to be rubbed with on the field of battle. There is another stone of the same class called Meni by the people of India and Xanthos by the Greeks.
It is of a whitish-tawny color. Chapter 61. Aidee Dactyli Ectarius Jovis Gemma Indica Ion The stones, called Aidae dactyli, and found in Crete, are of an iron color, and resemble the human thumb in shape. The color of the Aeterius resembles that of livid skin, and hence it is that it has been thought so excellent a remedy for jaundice. There is also another stone of this name, of a still more livid color, while a third has all the appearance of a leaf. This last is broader than the others. Almost imponderous and streaked with livid veins. A fourth kind again is of the same color but blacker and marked all over with livid veins. Jovis Gemma is a white stone, very light and soft. Another name given to it is Drosolethos.
Indica retains the name of the country that produces it. It is a stone of a reddish color and yields a purple liquid when rubbed. There is another stone also of this name white and of dusty appearance. Ion is an Indian stone of a violet tint. It is but rarely, however, that it is found of a deep, full color. Chapter 62. Lepidotis Lesbius Leucophthalmos Leucoposilos Libanochus Limonaitis Leparia Leisemachos lepidotis is a stone of various colours and resembles the scales of fish in appearance. Lesbius, so-called from Lesbos, which produces it, is a stone found in India as well. Leucofthalmos, which in other respects is of a reddish hue, presents all the appearance of an eye in white and black.
Louispostolos is white, variegated with drop of vermilion of a golden hue. Libanachris strongly resembles frankincense and yields a liquid like honey. Luminatus would appear to be the same as Smaragdus, and all that we find said about Liparea is that, employed in the form of a fumigation, it allures all kinds of wild beasts. Lysomachos resembles rhodian marble with veins of gold. In polishing it, it is reduced very considerably in size in order to remove all defects. Luchochrysos is a kind of chrysothelos interspersed with white.
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39 39 - Book 37, Chapters 63 to 77. Several varieties of precious stones. The methods of testing precious stones. A comparative view of Nature as she appears in different countries. The comparative values of things. Summary. Roman authors quoted, Foreign authors quoted. 31:41
September 9, 2021, Westford, Massachusetts. The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section 39, Book 37, Chapters 63-77. Chapter 63. Memnonia, Media, Mechonitis, Mithrax, Mothrochos, Mormorian, or Promnian, Meritus, Myrmesias, Myrcinitas, Mesoleukos, Mesomelas. What kind of stone memnonia is, we do not find mentioned. Medea is a black stone, said to have been discovered by the Medea of Fable. It has veins of a golden luster, and yields a liquid like saffron in color, and with a vinyous flavor. Mycognitus strongly resembles poppies. Mithrax comes from Persia and the mountains of the Red Sea. It is of numerous colors and reflects various tints when exposed to the sun.
Morochdoss is a stone of leek-green color from which milk exudes. Mormorion is a transparent stone from India of a deep black color and known also as Promnean. When it has a mixture of the color of the carbunculus, it is from Alexandria, and when it shares that of Sarda, it is a native of Cyprus. It is found also at Tyrus and in Galatia, and according to Xenocrates, it has been discovered at the foot of the Alps. These stones are well adapted for cutting relief. Meridus has just the color of myrrh and very little of the appearance of the gem. It has the odor also of ungent and smells like nard when rubbed. Myrmysius is black. and has excursions upon it like wurtz. Myrcinitis has a color like that of honey and the smell of myrtle.
Mesolcucos is the name given to a stone when a white line runs through the middle, and when a black vein intersects any other color. It is called Mesomelis. Chapter 64. Nasomonitis Nebritis Neparin. Nazimanitis is a blood-red stone marked with black veins. Nebritis is a stone sacred to Father Liber, and has received its name from its resemblance to a nebrus. There is also another stone of this kind that is black. Nipperine bears the name of a city and people of Persia, and resembles the teeth of the hippopotamus. 65. Oica, Umbria, and Noscia. Onocardia. Orytis or Sidereitis. Ostraceus, Ostrittis, Ophicardalon, Obscene, Stone. Oica is the barbarian name given to a stone which is pleasing for its colors, black, reddish, yellow, green, and white.
Umbria, by some called Noscia, falls with showers and lightning, much in the same manner as Sauronia and Brontia. The properties of which it is said to possess. There is a statement also that if this stone is placed upon altars, it will prevent the offerings from being consumed. Onocardia is like a curmsbury in appearance, but nothing further is said about it. Oritus, by some called Siduritus, is a stone of globular form, and proof against the action of fire. Ostracius or Ostracitus is a testaceous stone harder than Ceramintus and similar in all respects to the Acades, except that the latter has an unctuous appearance when polished. Indeed, so remarkably hard is Ostracitus that with fragments of it other gems are engraved.
Ostracitus receives its name from its resemblance to an oyster-shell. Ophacardolan is the barbarian name for a stone of a black color terminated by a white line on either side. Of Obsian stone we have already spoken in the preceding book. There are gems, too, of the same name and color found not only in Ethiopia and in India, but in Somnium as well, and, in the opinion of some, upon the Spanish shores that lie towards the ocean. Chapter 66 Pancras, Panganus, Paneros or Panorastus, Pontica, four varieties of it, Vylogenos or Chrysitis, Phonicitis, Phoenicitis, Phycitis, Perilucos, Pianitis or Giannis. Pancras is a stone which displays nearly every color. Panganus is no longer than the finger. The only thing that prevents it from being taken for a crystal is its greater number of angles.
What kind of stone Pancros is, Metrodorus does not inform us, but it gives us some lines, by no means without elegance, that were written upon this stone by Queen Tamaris and dedicated to Venus, from which we have reason to conclude that certain fecundating virtues were attributed to it. By some writers, it is called Panerastus. Of the stone called Pontica, there are numerous varieties. One is stellated and presents either blood-red spots or drops like gold, being reckoned in the number of the sacred stones. Another, in place of stars, has streaks of the same color, and a fourth presents all the appearance of mountains and valleys. Phlogenos, also called Chrysistis, strongly resembles Attic Ochre, and is found in Egypt.
Phonicitis is a stone so called from its resemblance to a date. Physistis receives its name from its resemblance to seaweed. Perleucos is the name given to a gem, in which a white color runs down from the margin of the stone to the base. Pianitis, by some called Giannis, conceives, it is said, and is good for females at the time of parturition. This stone is found in Macedonia, near the monument of Tiresias there, and has all the appearance of congealed water. Chapter 67 Solis Gemma, Sagda, Somothrasia, Sauritis, Sarsitis, Silenitis, Siduritis. Solus Gemma is white, and like the luminary from which it takes its name, emits brilliant rays in a circular form. Sagda is found by the people of Chaldea, adhering to ships, and is of a leek green color.
The Isle of Samothrace gives its name to a stone which it produces black and imponderous, and similar to wood in appearance. Ceridus is found, they say, in the belly of the green lizard, cut asunder with a reed. Ceridus is a stone like beef in appearance. Selenitis is white and transparent, with a reflected color like that of honey. It has a figure within it, like that of the moon, and reflects the face of that luminary, if what we are told is true according to its phases, day by day, whether on the wane or whether on the increase. This stone is a native Arabia, it is thought. Siduritus is a stone like iron, the presence of which in lawsuits creates discord. Sideropaeozolos, which is a variety of the same stone, is a native of Ethiopia and is covered with variegated spots.
Spongitis has its name from its resemblance to sponge. Sinodontitis is a stone found in the brain of the fish known as Sinodas. Sirtitis is a stone that used formerly to be found on the shores of Sirtes. Though now it is found on the coast of Lucania as well. It is of a honey color, with a reflected tint of saffron, and contains stars like a feeble lustre within. Syringitis is hollow throughout, like the space between the joints in a straw. Chapter 68 Tritrus, Thelyrisos, Thelycardios, or Mok. Three varieties of it. Tephrydis. Ticolithos. Tricorus comes from Africa. It is of a black color, but yields three different liquids, black at the lower part, blood-red in its middle, and of an ochre color at the top.
The lyrisos is of an ashy or russet color, but white at the lower part. Thelicarios is like a heart in color, and is held in high esteem by the people of Persia, in which country it is found. The name given to it by them is Mule. Of Thracia there are three varieties, a green stone, one of a more pallid color, and a third with spots like drops of blood. Tephritis is crescent-shaped, with horns like those of the new moon, but it is of an ashy color. Teclythus has all the appearance of an olive stone. It is held in no estimation as a gem, but a solution of it will break and expel urinary calculi. Chapter 69. Veneris Crenes, Bien Tana. Veneris Crenes is the name given to a stone that is remarkably black and shiny, with an appearance like red hair within.
The Intana is an Italian stone found at Viet. It is black divided by a line of white. Chapter 70. Zathin Zmalampis Zwerinischia. Zathin, according to Democritus, is a native of Medea. It is like amber in color, and, if beaten up with palm wine, And saffron, it will become soft like wax, yielding a very fragrant smell. Smilampus is found in the river Euphrates. It resembles marble of Proconesis in appearance and is of sea-green color within. Zoraniscea is found in the river Indus. It is a stone used by magicians, it is said, but I find no further particulars relative to it. Chapter 71. Precious stones which derive their names from various parts of the human body.
There is another method of classifying stones according to the resemblance which they bear to various other objects. Thus, for example, the different parts of the body give the following names to stone. Hepatitis is so-called from the liver, and stetitis permits resemblance to the fat of various animals. Adadonephros, Adaduophthalmos, and Adaduodactylos mean kidney of Adad, eye of Adad, and finger of Adad, a god of the Syrian so-called. Triophthalmos is a stone found in conjunction with onyx, which resembles three human eyes at one. Chapter 72. Precious stones which derive their names from animals. Carcinous, Aecytis, Scorpitus, Scaritus, Triglitus, Egochthalmus, Hyophtalmus, Geronitis, Hierocytis, Aeocytis, Myrmesitis, Cantharius, Lycophtalmus, Taos, Other stones, again, derive their names from various animals.
Caracinius is so-called from the color of the sea crab. Echitis from the color of the viper. Scorpitis from either the color or the shape of the scorpion. Ceritis from the fish called Osiris. Triglitus from the Sermalyn. Echothalamus from the eye of the goat. Hypothalamus from the eye of the swine, Geronitis from the neck of the crane, Hierocitis from the neck of the hawk, and Aetitis from the color of the white-tailed eagle. Myrmesitis presents the appearance of an ant crawling within, and Canathreus of a Scarabius. Lycothalmus is a stone of four different colors. On the exterior, it is ruddy and blood-red, and within it is black, surrounded with a line of white, closely resembling the eye of the wolf in every respect.
Taos is a stone with colors like those of the peacock. Timectonia, I find, is the name of a stone like the asp in color. Chapter 73. Precious Stones Which Derive Their Names From Other Objects Hemocrysus, Syncretus, Trietus, Scycetus, Narcissetus, Chiamias, Perrin, Phuenicitus, Chalasius, Peridus, Polyzonos, Astropia, Phlogitis, Anthracitis, Inchirros, Polythrix, Leontius, Pardalios, Droslithos, Melechris, Melechlorus, Crocius, Palaeus, Spartopalaeus, Rhodistis, Chalcitis, Saecitis, Bostricitis, Cernitis, Anansitis, Sinocitis, Dendritis. Hemocrysos resembles sand in appearance, but sand mixed with gold. Sencritus has all the appearance of grains of millet scattered here and there. Trititis resembles the trunks of a tree and burns like wood.
Scystis, upon a white transparent surface, has leaves of ivy running all over it. Narcissitis is distinguished by veins on the surface. and has a smell like that of Narcissus. Siumeus is a black stone, but when broken produces a bean to all appearance. Pyrene is so-called from its resemblance to an olive-colored stone. In some cases it would appear to contain the backbone of a fish. Chornicitis resembles a palm date in form. Chalasius resembles a hailstone, both in form and in color. It is as hard as Ademant, so much so indeed that in the fire even it retains its coolness, it is said. Pyrrhus, though a black stone, burns the fingers when rubbed by them. Polyzonos is a black stone traversed by numerous zones of white.
Astropia has rays like flashes of lightning running across the middle on a ground of white or blue. In Phlogythus there is to all appearance a flame burning within, but not reaching the surface of the stone. In Anthracytus there are sometimes sparks to all appearance flying to and fro. And Hanegroos is always perfectly round, smooth, and white, but when it is shaken a liquid is heard to move within, just like the yolk within an egg. Polythrix presents the appearance of hair upon a green surface, but it causes the hair to fall off, it is said. Lyonchios and Pardolios are names given to stones from their resemblance to the skin of the lion and panther. Drosolithos has received its name from its color.
Melichris is a honey-colored stone, of which there are several varieties. Melenchloros is a stone of two colors, partly honey-colored, partly yellow. Croceus is the name given to a stone which reflects a color like that of saffron. Polius to a stone resembling white hair in color, and Spartopolius to a stone more thinly sprinkled with white. Rhoditis is like the rose in color. Calcitis resembles copper. and Scythus is in color like a fig. Bostracchitis is covered with branches of a white or blood-red color upon a ground of black, and Trinitis has, on a stony surface, a figure like that of two hands grasping each other. Anonsitis is used in hydromancy, they say, for summoning the gods to make their appearance, and Sinokitis for detaining the shades from below when they have appeared.
If White Dendritus is buried beneath a tree that is being felled, the edge of the axe will never be blunted, it is asserted. There are many other stones also, of a still more outrageously marvellous nature, to which, admitted as it is, that they are stones, barbarous names have been given. We have refuted, however, a quite sufficient number of these portentous lies already. Chapter 74 Precious Stones That Suddenly Make Their Appearance New species of precious stones are repeatedly brought into existence, and fresh ones are found all at once destitute of names. Thus, for example, there was a stone formerly discovered in the gold-mines of Lamsacis, which, on account of its extraordinary beauty, was sent to King Alexander, as we learn from Theophrastus.
Cochlytis, too, which are now so common, are rather artificial productions than natural. And in Arabia there have been found vast masses of them, which are boiled, it is said, in honey for seven days and nights without intermission. By doing this, all earthly and faulty particles are removed, after which the mass, thus cleansed and purified, is adorned by the ingenuity of artists, with variegated veins and spots, and cut into such shapes as may be most to the taste of purchasers. Indeed, these articles in former times were made of so large a size that they were employed in the East as frontals for the horses of kings and as pendants for their trappings. All precious stones in general are improved in brilliancy by being boiled in honey.
Corsican honey more particularly, but acrid substances are in every respect injurious to them. As to the stones which are variegated, and to which new colors are imparted by the inventive ingenuity of man, as they have no name in common use, they are usually known by that of a name which claims for them, as it were, that admiration which we are more ready to bestow upon the works of nature. But really, these artificial stones have names without end, and I could never think of recounting the infinite series of them, Coined, as they have been, by the frivolous tendencies of the Greeks. Having already described the more noble gems, and indeed those of inferior quality, which are found among the stones that are held in high esteem, I must content myself with knowing that I have pointed out those kinds which are the most deserving of mention.
It will be as well, however, for the reader to bear in mind that according to the varying number of spots and inequalities on their surface, according to the numerous intersections of lines and their multiplied tints and shades, the names of precious stones are subject to repeated changes. The material itself, for the most part, remaining just the same. Chapter 75. The Various Forms of Precious Stones We will now make some observations in reference to precious stones in general, following therein the opinions that have been expressed by various authors. Stones with a level surface are preferred to those which are concave or protuberant on the face. An oblong shape is the one that is most approved of, and next to that the lenticular form, as it is called.
After this, the stone with a plain surface and circular is admired, those which are angular being held in the least esteem. There is considerable difficulty in distinguishing genuine stones from the false, the more so as there has been discovered a method of transforming genuine stones of one kind into false stones of another. Sardonyx, for example, is imitated by cementing together three other precious stones in such a way that no skill can detect the fraud. A black stone being used for the purpose, a white stone, and one of vermilion color, each of them in its own way a stone of high repute. Nay, even more than this, there are books in existence, the authors of which I forbear to name, which give instructions how to stain crystal in such a way as to imitate Smiragdus and other transparent stones, how to make sardonyx of sarda and other gems in a similar manner.
Indeed, there is no kind of fraud practiced by which larger profits are made. Chapter 76, The Methods of Testing Precious Stones On the contrary, we will make it our business to point out the methods of detecting these false stones, seeing that it is only proper to put luxury even on its guard against fraud. In addition to the particulars which we have already given, when treating of each individual kind of precious stone, it is generally agreed that the transparent stones should be tested by a morning light, or even, if necessary, so late as the fourth hour, but never after that hour. The modes of testing stones are numerous, first by their weight, the genuine stone being the heavier of the two, next by their comparative coolness, the genuine stone being cooler than the other to the mouth, and next to that by their substance, there being blisters perceptible in the body of the fictitious stone, as well as a certain roughness on the surface, filaments too, an unequal brilliancy, and a brightness that falls short before it reaches the eye.
The best mode of testing is to strike off a fragment with an iron saw, but this is a thing not allowed by the dealers, who equally refuse to let their gems be tested by the file. Dust of obscene stone will not leave a mark upon the surface of a genuine stone, but where the gem is artificial, every mark that is made will leave a white scratch upon it. In addition to this, there is such a vast diversity in their degrees of hardness that some stones do not admit of being engraved with iron, and others can only be cut with a gravure blunted at the edge. In all cases, however, precious stones may be cut and polished by the aid of Adamus, an operation which may be considerably expedited by heating the gravure.
The rivers which produce precious stones are the Anseas and the Ganges, and of all countries, India is the most prolific of them. Chapter 77. A Comparative View of Nature as She Appears in Different Countries. The Comparative Values of Things. Having now treated All the works of nature, it will be as well to take a sort of comparative view of her several productions, as well as the countries which supply them. Throughout the whole earth, then, and wherever the vault of heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful or which, for the productions of nature, merits so high a rank as Italy. That ruler and second parent of the world, recommended as she is by her men, her women, her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced.
Her situation, too, is equally in her favor. The salubrity and mildness of her climate, the easy access which she offers to all nations, Her coast indented with so many harbors, the propitious breezes, too, that always prevail on her shores, advantages, all of them, due to her situation lying as she does midway between the east and the west, and extended in the most favorable of all positions. Add to this the abundant supply of her waters and the salubrity of her groves. The repeated intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness of her pastures. Whatever there is that the life of man ought not to feel in want of is nowhere to be found in greater perfection than here.
The cereals, for example, wine, oil, wool, flax, tissues, and oxen, As to horses, there are none, I find preferred to those of Italy for the course, while for mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron, so long as it was deemed lawful to work them, Italy was held inferior to no country whatsoever. At the present day, teeming as she is with these treasures, she contents herself with lavishing upon us as the whole of her bounties, her various liquids, and the numerous flavors yielded by her cereals and her fruits. Next to Italy, if we except the fabulous regions of India, I would rank Spain, for my own part, those districts at least that lie in the vicinity of the sea. She is parched and sterile, and one part is true, but where she is at all productive, she yields to cereals in abundance, oil, wine, horses, and metals of every kind.
In all these respects, Gaul is her equal, no doubt. But Spain, on the other hand, outdoes the Gallic provinces in her Spartum and her specular stone, the products of her desert tracts, in her pigments that minister to our luxuries, in the ardor displayed by her people in laborious employments, in the perfect training of her slaves, in the robustness of body of her men, and in their general resoluteness of character. As to the productions themselves, the greatest value of all among the products of the sea is attached to pearls. Of objects that lie upon the surface of the earth, it is crystals that are most highly esteemed, and of those derived from the interior, Adamus, Smaragdus, precious stones, and Merine are the things upon which the highest value is placed.
The most costly things that are matured by the earth are kermis berry and laser, that are gathered from trees, nard and cirric tissues that are derived from the trunks of trees, logs of citrus wood that are produced by shrubs, cinnamon, cassia, and amomum, that are yielded by the juices of trees, or of shrubs, amber, apobalsamum, myrrh, and frankincense, that are found in the roots of trees, the perfumes derived from costus. The most valuable products furnished by living animals on land are the teeth of elephants, by animals in the sea tortoise shell, by coverings of animals the skins which the ceres dye, and the substance gathered from the hair of the she-goats of Arabia, which we have spoken of under the name of la-danum, by creatures that are common to both land and sea, the purple of the murex.
With reference to the birds beyond the plumes for warriors' helmets, and the grease that is derived from the goose of command-gain, I find no remarkable product mentioned. We must not omit, too, to observe that gold, for which there is such a mania with all mankind, hardly holds the tenth rank as an object of value, and silver, with which we purchase gold, hardly the twentieth. Hail to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things, and do thou deign to show thy favor unto me, who alone of all the citizens of Rome have in thy every department thus made known thy praise. Summary Facts, Narratives, and Observations, One Thousand Three Hundred Roman authors quoted M. Varro, the Register of the Triumphs, Maecenas, Iacus, Cornelius Bacchus.
Foreign authors quoted King Juba, Xenocrates, the son of Xeno, Sudenes, Ascellus, Philoxenus, Euripides, Nicander, Satyrus, Theophrastus, Charus, Philemon, Demostratus, Xenothemus, Metrodorus, Sotacus, Pythias, Timaeus, the Sicilian, Nicaeus, Theocrestus, Osarubus, Nusius, Theomenus, Stisius, Mithridates, Sophocles, King Archelaus, Callostratus, Democritus. Ismenius. Olympicus. Alexander. Polyhyster. Appian. Horus. Zoroaster.
Sacaleus. End of The Natural History, Volume 7, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley.