THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS.[647]
CHAP. 1. (1.)—METALS.
We are now about to speak of metals, of actual wealth,[648] 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[649]
or copper.[650] In another place, to satisfy the requirements of
luxury, our researches extend to gems and pigments, with which to adorn
our fingers[651] 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 parent!
We penetrate into her entrails, and seek for treasures in the abodes
even of the Manes,[652] 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 cereals, 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,[653] 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 innocent, how happy, how truly
delightful even would life be, if we were to desire nothing but what is
to be found upon the face of the earth; in a word, nothing but what is
provided ready to our hands!
CHAP. 2.—GOLD.
Gold is dug out of the earth, and, in close proximity to it,
chrysocolla,[654] a substance which, that it may appear all the more
precious, still retains the name[655] which it has borrowed from
gold.[656] 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.[657] While avarice, too, was on the search for silver, it
congratulated itself upon the discovery of minium,[658] 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![659] In addition to the standard value
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![660] 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 murrhine[661] and vases of crystal,[662] 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,[663] and we set our goblets with smaragdi;[664] we take delight
in possessing the wealth of India, as the promoter of intoxication, and
gold is now nothing more than a mere accessory.[665]
CHAP. 3.—WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECOMMENDATION OF GOLD.
Would that gold could have been banished for ever from the earth,
accursed by universal report,[666] 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:[667] 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 one hundred oxen,
for those of Diomedes, which were worth but nine.[668] Proceeding upon
the same system of barter, many of the fines imposed by ancient laws,
at Rome even, were levied in cattle,[669] [and not in money].
CHAP. 4.—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,[670] 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[671] 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 Capitol wears no
ring, nor does any other statue—not that of L. Brutus 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,[672] a
country from which the use of gold rings was first introduced; though
even at the present day the people of Lacedæmon 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,[673]
on the occasion of his slaying an enemy before he had laid aside the
prætexta;[674] 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.[675] 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;[676] while our ancestors styled it
“ungulus;”[677] and in later times both Greeks and Latins have given
it the name of “symbolum.”[678] 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 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.[679] For
whereas an Etruscan crown[680] of gold was supported from behind over
the head of the victor, he himself, equally with the slave probably,
who was so supporting the crown, had nothing but a ring of iron upon
his finger.[681] It was in this manner that C. Marius celebrated his
triumph over Jugurtha; and he never assumed[682] the golden ring, it
is said, until the period of his third consulship.[683] Those, too,
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[684] 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[685] by way
of letter,[686] of clothes and gold and silver plate being kept laid
up in chests,[687] 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 too, that when the chiefs drew lots
to ascertain which one of them should reply to the challenge[688] of
the enemy, they made any use of rings[689] for the purpose; and when
he enumerates the articles that were manufactured at the forge[690] of
the gods, he speaks of this as being the origin[691] of fibulæ[692] and
other articles of female ornament, such as ear-rings for example, but
does not make any mention of rings. [693] 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,[694] whereas, if he had been sure of its being an honourable
distinction, it would have been made more conspicuous upon the right.
And if any one 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,[695] of men wearing gold plaited with the hair;
and hence it is that I am at a loss to say whether the practice first
originated with females.
CHAP. 5.—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 one thousand pounds’
weight of gold could be collected. I am by no means unaware of the
fact that in the third[696] consulship of Pompeius there was lost from
the throne of Jupiter Capitolinus two thousand pounds’ weight of gold,
originally placed there by Camillus; a circumstance which has led most
persons to suppose, that two thousand 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,[697] too, is a proof that the Gauls were in the
habit of wearing ornaments of gold when engaged in combat;[698] 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.[699] 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[700] in charge of the
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus being arrested, he broke the stone of his
ring between his teeth,[701] and expired upon 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 two thousand 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 one hundred and fifty-two
thousand five hundred and seventy-three free citizens in it. In this
same city, too, three hundred and seven years later, the gold which
C. Marius the younger[702] conveyed to Præsneste from the Temple of
the Capitol when in flames, and all the other shrines, amounted to
thirteen thousand pounds’ weight, such being the sum that figured in
the inscriptions at the triumph of Sylla; on which occasion it was
displayed in the procession, as well as six thousand pounds’ weight of
silver. The same Sylla 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.
CHAP. 6.—THE RIGHT OF WEARING GOLD RINGS.
It does not appear that rings were in common use before the time of
Cneius Flavius, the son of Annius. This Flavius was the first to
publish a table[703] of the days for pleading,[704] which till then the
populace had to ascertain each day from a few great personages.[705]
The son of a freedman only, and secretary to Appius Cæcus,[706] (at
whose request, by dint of natural shrewdness and continual observation,
he had selected these days and made them public),[707] he obtained
such high favour with the people, that he was created curule ædile; in
conjunction with Quintus Anicius Prænestinus, who a few years before
had been an enemy to Rome,[708] and to the exclusion of C. Pœtilius and
Domitius, whose fathers respectively were of consular rank.[709] The
additional honour was also conferred on Flavius, of making him tribune
of the people at the same time, a thing which occasioned such a degree
of indignation, that, as we find stated in the more ancient Annals,
“the rings[710] were laid aside!”
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, “the phaleræ,[711] too,
were laid aside as well,” 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[712] by the whole body of the senate. This event
took place in the consulship of P. Sempronius and P. Sulpicius.[713]
Flavius made a vow that he would consecrate a temple to Concord,
if he should succeed in reconciling the privileged orders with the
plebeians: and as no part of the public funds could be voted for the
purpose, he accordingly built a small shrine of brass[714] in the
Græcostasis,[715] then situate above the Comitium,[716] 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 two hundred and three years after the consecration of the
Capitol. Such were the events that happened four hundred and forty-nine
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[717] 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
Cæpio[718] and Drusus,[719] a dispute which gave rise to the Social
War,[720] 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 prætorship, wore rings of iron to the end of their lives;
Calpurnius,[721] for example, as Fenestella tells us, and Manilius, who
had been legatus to Caius Marius in the Jugurthine War. Many historians
also state the same of L. Fufidius, he to whom Scaurus dedicated the
history of his life.
In the family of the Quintii,[722] 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,[723] nor in Egypt, is any use made of seals, the
people being content with simple writing only.[724]
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;[725] 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[726] 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 is concealed by the
finger, should not[727] be closed in with gold, thus making gold of
less account 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[728] itself, an invention which dates
from the reign of Claudius Cæsar. At the present day, too, the very
slaves even, incase their iron rings with gold (while other articles
belonging to them, they decorate with pure gold),[729] a licence which
first originated in the Isle of Samothrace,[730] as the name given to
the invention clearly shows.
It was the custom at first to wear rings on a single finger[731] 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[732] 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 excepted, 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[733]
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[734] 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.[735] Others, again, are in
the habit of inclosing poisons beneath the stones of their rings, and
so wear them as instruments of death; Demosthenes, for instance, that
greatest of the orators of Greece.[736] And then, besides, how many
of the crimes that are stimulated by cupidity, are committed through
the instrumentality of rings![737] 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[738] 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[739] 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 Marcipor or Lucipor,[740] from his master’s name, as
the case might be, and taking all his meals with him in common; when,
too, 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 death-bed.[741]
Indeed the most important transactions of life are now made to depend
upon this instrument, though 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,[742] 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[743] about the year of our City, 230. The use of the ring
must, of necessity, have become 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[744] 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.[745]
CHAP. 7.—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[746] distinguished the senate from those who only wore the ring.
Still, however, this last distinction was introduced at a later period
only, and we find it stated by writers that the public heralds[747]
even were formerly in the habit of wearing the tunic with the purple
laticlave; the father of Lucius Ælius Stilo,[748] for instance, from
whom his son received the cognomen of “Præconinus,” 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,[749] is given
at the present day 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,[750] the
greater part of the members thereof were persons who wore iron rings,
and these bore the name, not of “equites,” but of “judices,” the
former name being reserved solely for the members of the squadrons[751]
furnished with war-horses at the public charge.
Of these judices, too, there were at first but four[752] 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 judex as a member of the decuries.
(2.) These decuries, too, were themselves distinguished by several
denominations—“tribunes[753] of the treasury,” “selecti,”[754] and
“judices:” in addition to whom, there were the persons styled the “nine
hundred,”[755] chosen from all the decuries for the purpose of keeping
the voting-boxes at the comitia. 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 nine hundred, another one of the
selecti, and a third a tribune of the treasury.
CHAP. 8.—PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER.
At length, however, in the ninth[756] 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,[757] desirous in his youth to
establish his credit with the Emperor by hunting[758] out grounds for
prosecuting[759] the keepers of victualling-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.[760] For this reason, an ordinance
was made that no person whatsoever should have this right of wearing
the ring, unless, freeborn himself as regarded his father and paternal
grandfather, he should be assessed by the censors at four hundred
thousand sesterces, and entitled, under the Julian Law,[761] to sit in
the fourteen 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 Emperor Caius[762] added a fifth decury to the number.
Indeed to such a pitch has conceit now arisen, that whereas, under the
late Emperor Augustus, the decuries 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
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
judices were then to be recognized.
Indeed, so promiscuously was this privilege at last conferred, that
Flavius Proculus, one of the equites, informed against four hundred
persons on this ground, before the Emperor Claudius, who was then
censor:[763] 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 Gracchi were the first to attach to this order the separate
appellation of “judices,” 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,[764] 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—“The Senate and People of Rome.” Hence[765] it is,
too, that at 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.
CHAP. 9.—HOW OFTEN THE NAME OF THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER HAS BEEN CHANGED.
Indeed, the name itself 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 “Celeres,”[766] then again as
“Flexuntes,”[767] and after that as “Trossuli,”[768] from the fact of
their having taken a certain town of Etruria, situate nine miles on
this side of Volsinii, 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 Gracchanus,[769] we find the
following words—“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 at being called by
that name.”[770]—He[771] then goes on to explain the reason, as above
mentioned, and adds that, though much against their will, those persons
are still called “Trossuli.”
CHAP. 10.—GIFTS FOR MILITARY SERVICES, 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 torcs[772] of gold to the auxiliaries and foreign
troops, while to Roman citizens they only granted silver[773] ones:
bracelets[774] too, were given by them to citizens, but never to
foreigners.
CHAP. 11.—AT WHAT PERIOD THE FIRST CROWN OF GOLD WAS PRESENTED.
But, a thing that is more surprising still, crowns[775] of gold were
given to the citizens as well. As to the person who was first presented
with one, so far as I have enquired, I have not been able to ascertain
his name: L. Piso says, however, that the Dictator[776] A. Posthumius
was the first who conferred one: on taking the camp of the Latins at
Lake Regillus,[777] he gave a crown of gold, made from the spoil, to
the soldier whose valour had mainly contributed to this success. L.
Lentulus, also, when consul,[778] 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 private expense, making[779] it a specific legacy in
his will.
CHAP. 12. (3.)—OTHER USES MADE 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[780] 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
fibulæ[781] 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[782] who 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 form of bracelets—known as “dardania,” because the practice
first originated in Dardania, and called “viriolæ” in the language of
the Celts, “viriæ”[783] in that of Celtiberia, let women wear gold upon
their arms[784] 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 the possessors of such gems: but are
they to cover their feet[785] as well with gold, and so, between the
stola[786] of the matrons and the garb of the plebeians, establish
an intermediate[787] or equestrian[788] order of females? Much more
becomingly do we accord this distinction to our pages,[789] 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[790] and other divinities of 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,[791]
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.
CHAP. 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 ANY ONE AT THE
TIME OF OUR FIRST CENSUS. HOW OFTEN, AND AT WHAT PERIODS, THE VALUE OF
COPPER AND OF COINED MONEY HAS BEEN CHANGED.
The next[792] crime committed against the welfare of mankind was on the
part of him who was the first to coin a denarius[793] 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[794] of King
Pyrrhus. The “as” of copper weighed exactly one libra; and hence it is
that we still use the terms “libella”[795] and “dupondius.”[796] Hence
it is, too, that fines and penalties are inflicted under the name of
“æs grave,”[797] and that the words still used in keeping accounts are
“expensa,”[798] “impendia,”[799] and “dependere.”[800] Hence, too, the
word “stipendium,” meaning the pay of the soldiers, which is nothing
more than “stipis pondera;[801] and from the same source those other
words, “dispensatores”[802] and “libripendes.”[803] It is also from
this circumstance that in sales of slaves, at the present day even, the
formality of using the balance is introduced.
King Servius was the first to make an impress upon copper. Before his
time, according to Timæus, at Rome the raw metal only was used. The
form of a sheep was the first figure impressed upon money, and to this
fact it owes its name, “pecunia.”[804] The highest figure at which one
man’s property was assessed in the reign of that king was one hundred
and twenty thousand 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. Ogulnius 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 libræ[805] of copper, that of the
quinarius five libræ, and that of the sestertius two libræ 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 the as should in
future be struck of two ounces weight. By this contrivance a saving
of five-sixths was effected, and the public debt was liquidated. The
impression upon these copper coins was a two-faced Janus on one side,
and the beak of a ship of war on the other: the triens,[806] however,
and the quadrans,[807] bore the impression of a ship. The quadrans,
too, had, previously to this, been called “teruncius,” as being three
unciæ[808] in weight. At a later period again, when Hannibal was
pressing hard upon Rome, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus,
asses of one ounce weight were struck, and it was ordained that the
value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, that of the quinarius
eight asses, and that of the sestertius four asses; by which last
reduction of the weight of the as the republic made a clear gain of one
half. Still, however, so far as the pay of the soldiers is concerned,
one denarius has always been given for every ten asses. The impressions
upon the coins of silver were two-horse and four-horse chariots, and
hence it is that they received the names of “bigati” and “quadrigati.”
Shortly after, in accordance with the Law of Papirius, asses were
coined weighing half an ounce only. Livius Drusus, when[809] tribune
of the people, alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of copper. The
coin that is known at the present day as the “victoriatus,”[810] was
first struck in accordance with the Clodian Law: before which period,
a coin of this name was imported from Illyricum, but was only looked
upon as an article of merchandize. 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 of gold.[811] In later times, again, an
ordinance was made, that denarii of gold should be struck, at the rate
of forty denarii[812] 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.
CHAP. 14.—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[813] for
gold became inflamed with a sort of rage for acquiring: to such a
degree, in fact, that Septimuleius, the familiar friend of Caius
Gracchus, not only cut off his head, upon which a price had been set
of its weight in gold, but, before[814] bringing it to Opimius,[815]
poured molten lead into the mouth, and so not only was guilty of the
crime of parricide, 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 Aquilius[816] the
Roman general, whom he had taken prisoner: such were the results of
cupidity.
One cannot but feel ashamed, on looking at those new-fangled names
which are invented every now and then, from the Greek language, by
which to designate vessels of silver filagreed[817] or inlaid with
gold, and the various other practices by which such articles of luxury,
when only gilded,[818] are made to sell at a higher price than they
would have done if made of solid gold: and this, too, when we know that
Spartacus[819] forbade any one of his followers to introduce either
gold or silver into the camp—so much more nobleness of mind was there
in those days, even in our runaway slaves.
The orator Messala 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 a 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 Teos, a commander under
Alexander the Great, who used to fasten the soles of his sandals with
nails of gold.[820] 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.[821]
CHAP. 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 has 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 exacted in the shape of a yearly[822] 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 throughout the world. Midas and
Crœsus, before this, had possessed gold to an endless amount: Cyrus,
already, on his conquest of Asia,[823] had found a booty consisting of
twenty-four thousand pounds’ weight of gold, in addition to vessels
and other articles of wrought gold, as well as leaves[824] of trees, a
plane-tree, and a vine, all made of that metal.
It was through this conquest too, that he carried off five hundred
thousand[825] talents of silver, as well as the vase of Semiramis,[826]
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, Saulaces, the descendant of Æëtes, had reigned
in Colchis,[827] who, on finding a tract of virgin earth, in the
country of the Suani,[828] 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 Sesostris,[829] 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.
CHAP. 16.—AT WHAT PERIOD SILVER FIRST MADE ITS APPEARANCE UPON THE
ARENA AND UPON THE STAGE.
We, too, have done things that posterity may probably look upon as
fabulous. Cæsar, who was afterwards dictator, but at that time ædile,
was the first person, on the occasion of the funeral games in honour of
his father, to employ all the apparatus of the arena[830] 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[831]
silver; and the same was the case at those celebrated by L. Muræna.
The Emperor Caius had a scaffold[832] introduced into the Circus, upon
which there were one hundred and twenty-four thousand 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 seven thousand[833] pounds’ weight, contributed
by Nearer Spain, and another of nine thousand pounds, presented by
Gallia Comata.[834] Nero, who succeeded him, covered the Theatre of
Pompeius with gold for one day,[835] the occasion on which he displayed
it to Tiridates, king of Armenia. And yet how small was this theatre in
comparison with that Golden Palace[836] of his, with which he environed
our city.
CHAP. 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,[837] seven
years before the commencement of the Third Punic War, there was in
the treasury of the Roman people seventeen thousand four hundred and
ten pounds’ weight of uncoined gold, twenty-two thousand and seventy
pounds’ weight of silver, and in specie, six million one hundred and
thirty-five thousand four hundred sesterces.
In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Marcius, that is to say,
at the commencement of the Social War,[838] there was in the public
treasury one million[839] six hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one pounds’ weight of gold. Caius Cæsar, 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[840] period was the republic
more wealthy. Æmilius Paulus, too, after the defeat of King Perseus,
paid into the public treasury, from the spoil obtained in Macedonia,
three hundred millions[841] of sesterces, and from this period the
Roman people ceased to pay tribute.
CHAP. 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 Capitol, after
the destruction of Carthage, and during the censorship of Lucius
Mummius.[842] 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 Catulus[843] was far from being
unanimously approved of for having gilded the brazen tiles of the
Capitol!
CHAP. 19.—FOR WHAT REASONS THE HIGHEST VALUE IS SET UPON GOLD.
We have already stated, in the Seventh[844] 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 colour, (which in silver is clearer[845] and more like the
light of day, for which reason silver is preferred for our military
ensigns, its brightness being seen at a greater distance); and those
persons are manifestly in error who think that it is the resemblance
of its colour to the stars[846] that is so prized in gold, seeing that
the various gems[847] and other things of the same tint, are in no such
particular request. Nor yet is it for its weight or malleability[848]
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[849]
substance in nature that suffers[850] no loss from the action of fire,
and passes unscathed through conflagrations and the flames of the
funeral pile. Nay, even more than this, the 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 colour, and turn red and igneous in
appearance; a mode of testing which is known as “obrussa.”[851]
The first great proof, however, of the goodness of gold, is its melting
with the greatest difficulty: in addition to which, it is a fact truly
marvellous, that though proof against the most intense fire, if made
with wood charcoal, it will melt with the greatest readiness upon a
fire made with chaff;[852] and that, for the purpose of purifying it,
it is fused with lead.[853] 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 with silver, copper, and
lead, lines may be traced,[854] and the hands become soiled with the
substance that comes from off them. Nor is there any material more
malleable than this, none that admits of a more extended division,
seeing that a single ounce of it admits of being beaten out into seven
hundred and fifty[855] leaves, or more, four fingers in length by the
same in breadth. The thickest kind of gold-leaf is known as “leaf of
Præneste,” it still retaining that name from the excellence of the
gilding upon the statue of Fortune[856] there. The next in thickness
is known as the “quæstorian leaf.” In Spain, small pieces of gold are
known by the name of “striges.”[857]
A thing that is not the case with any other metal, gold is found pure
in masses[858] or in the form of dust;[859] and whereas all other
metals, when found in the ore, require 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,[860] 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,[861] things which
obtain the mastery over all other substances: it admits, too, beyond
all other metals, of being spun out and woven[862] like wool.[863]
Verrius tells us that Tarquinius Priscus 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[864] made entirely of woven
gold without any other material. For this long time past, gold has been
interwoven in the Attalic[865] textures, an invention of the kings of
Asia.
CHAP. 20.—THE METHOD OF GILDING.
On marble and other substances which do not admit of being brought to
a white heat, gilt is laid with glair of egg, and on wood by the aid
of a glutinous composition,[866] known as “leucophoron:” what this
last is, and how it is prepared, we shall state on the appropriate
occasion.[867] The most convenient method for gilding copper would be
to employ quicksilver, or, at all events, hydrargyros;[868] but with
reference to these substances, as we shall have occasion to say when
describing the nature[869] 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.[870] 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[871] mentioned us belonging to lead with reference to gold.
CHAP. 21. (4.)—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,[872] and in Scythia by
the Griffins.[873] Among us it is procured in three different ways; the
first of which is, in the shape of dust, found in running streams, the
Tagus[874] in Spain, for instance, the Padus in Italy, the Hebrus in
Thracia, the Pactolus in Asia, and the Ganges in India; indeed, there
is no gold found in a more perfect state than this, thoroughly polished
as it is by the continual attrition of the current.
A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or seeking it
among the debris of mountains; both of which methods it will be as well
to describe. The persons in search of gold in the first place remove
the “segutilum,”[875] 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 “talutium,”[876] in cases where there is auriferous
earth beneath. The mountains of Spain,[877] 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 shafts is known by some persons as
“canalicium,” and by others as “canaliense;”[878] it is found adhering
to the gritty crust of marble,[879] and, altogether different from the
form in which it sparkles in the sapphirus[880] of the East, and in
the stone of Thebais[881] 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—“canalicium.”[882] 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 “apitascudes,”
while the silver which becomes disengaged in the furnace[883] has the
name of “sudor”[884] 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, this scoria is broken up a second time,
and melted over again. The crucibles used for this purpose are made of
“tasconium,”[885] 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 labours of the
Giants[886] even: by the aid of galleries driven to a long distance,
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 “arrugiæ;”[887] and
not unfrequently clefts are formed on a sudden, the earth sinks in,
and the workmen are crushed beneath; so that it would really appear
less rash to go in search of pearls and purples at the bottom of the
sea, so much more dangerous to ourselves have we made the earth than
the water! 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 to be driven asunder by the aid of
fire and vinegar;[888] or more frequently, as this method fills the
galleries with suffocating vapours and smoke, to be broken to pieces
with bruising-machines shod with pieces of iron weighing one hundred
and fifty pounds: which done, the fragments are carried out on the
workmen’s shoulders, night and day, each man passing them on to his
neighbour 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 labour entailed by this silex
is looked upon as comparatively easy, there being an earth—a kind of
potter’s clay mixed with gravel, “gangadia” by name, which it is almost
impossible to overcome. This earth has to be attacked with iron wedges
and hammers like those previously mentioned,[889] 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[890] 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 a peak
of the same mountain. By voice as well as by signals, he orders the
workmen to be immediately summoned from their labours, 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 to conceive; and from the midst of
a cloud of dust, of a density quite incredible, the victorious miners
gaze upon this downfall of Nature. Nor yet even then are they sure of
gold, 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 inducement to undergo such perils and to incur such vast expense,
to entertain the hope that they shall obtain what they so eagerly
desire.
Another labour, too, quite equal to this, and one which entails
even greater expense, is that of bringing rivers[891] from the more
elevated mountain heights, a distance in many instances of one hundred
miles perhaps, for the purpose of washing these debris. The channels
thus formed are called “corrugi,” from our word “corrivatio,”[892] I
suppose; and even when these are once made, they entail a thousand
fresh labours. 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,
vallies and crevasses have to be 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 all the appearance, not
so much of wild beasts, as of birds upon the wing.[893] 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 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;”[894] 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, at the very brow of the mountain, reservoirs are
hollowed out, a couple of 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 onwards any fragments of rock
which may obstruct its passage.
When they have reached the level ground, too, there is still another
labour that awaits them. Trenches—known as “agogæ”[895]—have 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[896] is a plant
like rosemary in appearance, rough and prickly, and well-adapted for
arresting any pieces of gold that may be carried along. The sides, too,
are closed in with planks, and are supported by arches when carried
over steep and precipitous spots. The earth, carried onwards in the
stream, arrives at the sea at last, and thus is 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 labour by the process previously described,[897] 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, too, it is
found in lumps, as also in the shafts which are sunk, sometimes
exceeding ten pounds even. The names given to these lumps are “palagæ,”
and “palacurnæ,”[898] while the gold found in small grains is known
as “baluce.” The ulex that is used for the above purpose is dried and
burnt, after which the ashes of it are washed upon a bed of grassy
turf, in order that the gold may be deposited thereupon.
Asturia, Gallæcia, 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[899] 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 censorial law relative to the gold mines of
Victumulæ, in the territory of Vercellæ,[900] by which the farmers of
the revenue were forbidden to employ more than five thousand men at the
works.
CHAP. 22.—ORPIMENT.
There is also one other method of procuring gold; by making it from
orpiment,[901] a mineral dug from the surface of the earth in Syria,
and much used by painters. It is just the colour of gold, but brittle,
like mirror-stone,[902] in fact. This substance greatly excited the
hopes of the Emperor Caius,[903] a prince who was most greedy for gold.
He accordingly had a large quantity of it melted, and really did obtain
some excellent gold;[904] 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 avarice: 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.
CHAP. 23.—ELECTRUM.
In all[905] 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 Albucrara, in Gallæcia,[906]
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;”[907] grains, too, of this metal are often found
in the gold known as “canaliense.”[908] An artificial[909] 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, too, was highly esteemed in ancient times, as we learn from
the testimony of Homer, who represents[910] the palace of Menelaüs 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 moulded after the proportions of her bosom. One
peculiar advantage of electrum is, its superior brilliancy to silver by
lamp-light. 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.[911]
CHAP. 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
“holosphyratæ,”[912] is said to have been erected in the Temple of
the goddess Anaïtis. To what particular region this name belongs, we
have already[913] stated, it being that of a divinity[914] 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. Entertaining on
one occasion the late Emperor Augustus at dinner, he was asked by that
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 of 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.[915]
As regards statues of human beings, Gorgias of Leontini[916] was the
first to erect a solid statue of gold, in the Temple at Delphi, in
honour of himself, about the seventieth[917] Olympiad: so great were
the fortunes then made by teaching the art of oratory!
CHAP. 25.—EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GOLD.