THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE ORES OF BRASS.[1215]
We must, in the next place, give an account of the ores of brass,[1216]
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,[1217] the standard of
monetary value;[1218] hence the terms “æra militum,” “tribuni ærarii,”
“ærarium,” “obærati,” and “ære diruti.”[1219] I have already mentioned
for what length of time the Roman people employed no coin except
brass;[1220] and there is another ancient fact which proves that the
esteem in which it was held was of equal antiquity with that of the
City itself, the circumstance that the third associated body[1221]
which Numa established, was that of the braziers.
CHAP. 2.—THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF COPPER.
The ore is extracted in the mode that has been described above,[1222]
and is then purified by fusion. The metal is also obtained from a
coppery stone called “cadmia.”[1223] The most highly esteemed copper is
procured from beyond seas: it was formerly obtained in Campania also,
and at present is found in the country of the Bergomates,[1224] at the
extremity of Italy. It is said to have been lately discovered also in
the province of Germany.
(2.) In Cyprus, where copper was first discovered, it is also procured
from another stone, which is called “chalcitis.”[1225] This, however,
was afterwards considered of little value, a better kind having been
found in other regions, especially that called “aurichalcum,”[1226]
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 Sallustian,[1227] procured from the Alpine district of the
Centrones;[1228] 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.[1229] They soon failed, however, and in the Livian 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 Corduban;[1230] next to the Livian, this kind most readily absorbs
cadmia, and becomes almost as excellent as aurichalcum[1231] for making
sesterces and double asses,[1232] the Cyprian copper being thought good
enough for the as. Thus much concerning the natural qualities of this
metal.
CHAP. 3.—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[1233] has so infinitely increased, the reputation of the art
itself[1234] is nearly extinct. But it would appear, that in this, as
in every thing 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[1235] themselves, and men of rank in all
countries endeavoured 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 chance itself has
assumed, in this department, the privilege which formerly belonged to
art.[1236]
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 burnt at the time of
its capture.[1237] There has been a wonderful mania with many for
gaining possession of this metal. It is even said, that Verres, whom M.
Cicero caused to be condemned, was proscribed 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 pretence of their discernment in reference
to this metal, rather for the purpose of distinguishing themselves from
the multitude, than from any real knowledge which they possess; and
this I will briefly show.
Corinth was captured in the third year of the 158th Olympiad, being
the year of the City, 608,[1238] 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, that I shall state the age when these different
artists lived; for, if we reckon according to the above-mentioned era
of the Olympiads, it will be easy to compare their dates with the
corresponding years of our City. 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,[1239]
without any regard to decency. They are of three kinds; the white
variety, approaching very nearly to the splendour of silver, and in
which that metal forms a large proportion of the compound; a second
kind, in which the yellow colour 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
“hepatizon:”[1240] it is far inferior to the Corinthian metal, but much
superior to the Æginetan and Delian, which long held the first rank.
CHAP. 4.—THE DELIAN BRASS.
The Delian brass was the first[1241] 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.
CHAP. 5.—THE ÆGINETAN BRASS.
The next most esteemed brass was the Æginetan; the island itself
being rendered famous for its brass—not indeed that the metal was
produced there, but because the annealing of the Æginetan manufactories
was so excellent. A brazen Ox, which was taken from this island,
now stands in the Forum Boarium[1242] at Rome. This is a specimen
of the Æginetan metal, as the Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter
Tonans, in the Capitol, is of the Delian. Myron[1243] used the former
metal and Polycletus[1244] the latter; they were contemporaries and
fellow-pupils, but there was great rivalry between them as to their
materials.
CHAP. 6. (3.)—STANDS FOR LAMPS.
Ægina was particularly famous for the manufacture of sockets only for
lamp-stands, as Tarentum was for that of the branches;[1245] the most
complete articles were, therefore, produced by the union of the two.
There are persons, too, who are not ashamed to give for one a sum
equal to the salary of a military tribune,[1246] although, as its name
indicates, its only use is to hold a lighted candle. On the sale of
one of these lamp-stands, Theon the public crier announced, that the
purchaser must also take, as part of the lot, one Clesippus, a fuller,
who was hump-backed, and in other respects, of a hideous aspect. The
purchase was made by a female named[1247] Gegania, for fifty thousand
sesterces. 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
excessively rich, he adored the lamp-stand as much as any divinity, and
the story became a sort of pendant to the celebrity of the Corinthian
lamp-stands. 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 Gegania. But although it
is well known that there are no lamp-stands in existence made of the
Corinthian metal, yet this name is very generally attached to them,
because, in consequence of the victory of Mummius,[1248] 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 Achaia.
CHAP. 7.—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 Cneius
Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus,[1249]
erected the double portico to the Flaminian Circus, which was called
the “Corinthian” from the brazen capitals of the pillars.[1250] It is
stated also, that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta[1251]
should be covered with a coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals, too,
of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are
made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals
has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurius Carvilius, the quæstor,
among the other charges which he brought against Camillus,[1252]
accused him of having brazen doors in his house.
CHAP. 8.—COUCHES OF BRASS.
We learn from L. Piso,[1253] that Cneius Manlius was the first who
introduced brazen banquetting-couches, buffets, and tables with
single feet,[1254] when he entered the City in triumph, in the
year of Rome 567, after his conquests in Asia. We also learn from
Antias,[1255] that the heirs of L. Crassus, the orator, sold a number
of banquetting-couches adorned with brass. The tripods,[1256] which
were called 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,[1257] 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,[1258] which Alexander the Great, at the
sacking of Thebes, brought to Cyme,[1259] and dedicated to that god.
CHAP. 9. (4.)—WHICH WAS THE FIRST STATUE OF A GOD MADE OF BRASS AT
ROME. THE ORIGIN OF STATUES, AND THE RESPECT PAID TO THEM.
But after some time the artists everywhere applied themselves to
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.[1260]
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 makes it the more remarkable that
they were afterwards fond of covering them with gold. I do not know
whether this was a Roman invention; but it certainly has the repute of
being an ancient practice at Rome.
It was not the custom in former times to give the likeness of
individuals, except of 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 any one was so fortunate as to obtain
the prize there three times, his statue was made with the exact
resemblance of every individual limb; from which circumstance they were
called “iconicæ.”[1261] I do not know whether the first public statues
were not erected by the Athenians, and in honour of Harmodius and
Aristogiton, who slew the tyrant;[1262] 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
of municipal towns, and the memory of individuals was thus preserved,
their various honours being inscribed on the pedestals, to be read
there by posterity, and not on their tombs alone. After some time, a
kind of forum or public place came to be made in private houses and in
our halls, the clients adopting this method of doing honour to their
patrons.
CHAP. 10. (5.)—THE DIFFERENT KINDS AND FORMS OF STATUES. STATUES AT
ROME WITH CUIRASSES.
In former times the statues that were thus dedicated were clad in the
toga.[1263] 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 the military statues
have the addition of a cuirass. Cæsar, the Dictator, permitted a statue
with a cuirass to be erected in honour of him in his Forum.[1264]
As to the statues which are made in the garb of the Luperci,[1265]
they are of no older date than those which have been lately erected,
covered with a cloak.[1266] Mancinus gave directions, that he should
be represented in the dress which he wore when he was surrendered
to the enemy.[1267] It has been remarked by some authors, that L.
Attius,[1268] the poet, had a statue of himself erected in the Temple
of the Muses,[1269] 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[1270] in
the sacred games; though afterwards the same distinction was bestowed
on those who were successful in the races with chariots with two or
four horses: hence the use of chariots with us in the statues of those
who have triumphed. But this did not take place until a late period;
and it was not until the time of the late Emperor Augustus, that we had
chariots represented with six horses,[1271] as also with elephants.
CHAP. 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 prætor, and had passed round 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 C. Mænius,[1272] 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 also,
that the “rostra” or beaks of the ships, which had been taken from
the Antiates when vanquished, were fixed to the tribunal; it being
the year of the City, 416.[1273] The same thing was done also by
Caius Duillius, who was the first to obtain a naval triumph over the
Carthaginians: his column still remains in the Forum.[1274] I am not
certain whether this honour was not first conferred by the people on L.
Minutius, the præfect of the markets; whose statue was erected without
the Trigeminian Gate,[1275] by means of a tax of the twelfth of an
as[1276] per head: the same thing, however, had been previously done
by the senate, and it would have been a more distinguished honour had
it not had its origin on such frivolous occasions. The statue of Attus
Navius,[1277] 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 Clodius.[1278] The statue of Hermodorus also,
the Ephesian,[1279] the interpreter of the laws which were transcribed
by the Decemvirs, was erected by the public in the Comitium.[1280]
It was for a very different, and more important reason, that the statue
of Horatius Cocles was erected, he having singly prevented the enemy
from passing the Sublician bridge:[1281] a statue which remains to this
day. I am not at all surprized, too, that statues of the Sibyl should
have been erected near the Rostra, even though three in number; one of
which was repaired by Sextus Pacuvius Taurus, ædile of the people, and
the other two by M. Messala. I should have considered these and that of
Attus Navius to have been the oldest, as having been placed there in
the time of Tarquinius Priscus, had there not been in the Capitol the
statues of the preceding kings.[1282]
(6.) Among these 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 Castors;[1283] him who twice subdued the Samnites,
and by the capture of Anagnia delivered the people from their
tribute.[1284] Among the most ancient are those of Tullus Clœlius,
Lucius Roscius, Spurius Nautius, and C. Fulcinus, near the Rostra, all
of whom were assassinated by the Fidenates, when on their mission as
ambassadors.[1285] It was the custom with the republic to confer this
honour on those who had been unjustly put to death; such as P. Junius,
also, and Titus Coruncanius, who were slain by Teuta, queen of the
Illyrians.[1286] 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 Cneius Octavius, on account of the
language used by the Senate.[1287] When King Antiochus said, that
he would give him an answer at another time, Octavius drew a line
round 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[1288] while on this embassy, the
senate ordered his statue to be placed in the most conspicuous[1289]
spot; and that spot was the Rostra. A statue appears also to have been
decreed to Taracia Caia, or Furetia, 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 grant itself 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.”[1290]
CHAP. 12.—IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT
ROME.
I find also, that statues were erected in honour of Pythagoras and of
Alcibiades, in the corners of the Comitium; in obedience to the command
of the Pythian Apollo, who, in the Samnite War,[1291] had directed
that statues of the bravest and the wisest of the Greeks should be
erected in some conspicuous spot: and here they remained until Sylla,
the Dictator, built the senate-house on the site. 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[1292] by the god himself; as, also, that they should have preferred
Alcibiades for valour to so many other heroes; or, indeed, any one 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 Phalercus[1293] at Athens: for there were
three hundred and sixty erected in his honour, there 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 Gratidianus, as already stated;[1294] but
they were all thrown down by Sylla, when he entered Rome.
CHAP. 13.—THE FIRST EQUESTRIAN STATUES PUBLICLY ERECTED AT ROME, AND IN
HONOUR OF WHAT FEMALES 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 Clælia is equestrian,[1295] 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 Clælia had been given as a hostage.[1296] I
should have thought that this statue, and that of Cocles, were the
first that were erected at the public expense—for it is most likely
that the statues of Attus and the Sibyl were erected by Tarquinius, and
those of each of the other kings by themselves respectively—had not
Piso stated that the statue of Clælia was erected by those who had been
hostages with her, when they were given up by Porsena, as a mark of
honour.
But Annius Fetialis[1297] states, on the other hand, that the
equestrian statue, which stood opposite the Temple of Jupiter Stator,
in the vestibule of the house of Tarquinius Superbus, was that of
Valeria,[1298] the daughter of the consul Publicola; and that she was
the only person that escaped and swam across the Tiber; the rest of
the hostages that had been sent to Porsena having been destroyed by a
stratagem of Tarquinius.
CHAP. 14.—AT WHAT PERIOD ALL THE STATUES ERECTED BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS
WERE REMOVED FROM THE PUBLIC PLACES.
We are informed by L. Piso, that when M. Æmilius and C. Popilius were
consuls, for the second time,[1299] the censors, P. Cornelius Scipio
and M. Popilius, 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
order of the people or of the senate. The statue also which Spurius
Cassius,[1300] who had aspired to the supreme authority, had erected
in honour of himself, before the Temple of Tellus, 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 posture, 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.[1301]
CHAP. 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. Ælius, the tribune of the people, who had introduced
a law against Sthennius Statilius Lucanus,[1302] for having twice
attacked Thurii: on which account the inhabitants of that place
presented Ælius with a statue and a golden crown. At a later period,
the same people erected a statue to Fabricius,[1303] who had delivered
their city from a state of siege. From time to time various nations
thus placed themselves under the protection of the 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.[1304]
CHAP. 16. (7.)—THAT THERE WERE STATUARIES IN ITALY ALSO AT AN EARLY
PERIOD.
Various circumstances prove, that the art of making statues was
commonly practised in Italy at an early period. The statue in the
Cattle Market[1305] is said 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;[1306]
a deity who is worshipped as presiding over both peace and war. The
fingers, too, are so formed as to indicate three hundred and sixty-five
days,[1307] or 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[1308] of Scepsis, who had his surname from his
hatred to the Roman name,[1309] reproached us with having pillaged the
city of Volsinii for the sake of the two thousand statues which it
contained. 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 wood or of earthenware,[1310] 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 “plastice;”[1311] 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 connected
with it, who could do it?
CHAP. 17.—THE IMMODERATE PRICES OF STATUES.
In the ædileship of M. Scaurus, there were three thousand statues
erected on the stage of what was a temporary theatre[1312] only.
Mummius, the conqueror of Achaia, filled the City with statues; he who
at his death was destined not to leave a dowry to his daughter,[1313]
for why not mention this as an apology for him? The Luculli[1314] also
introduced many articles from abroad. Yet we learn from Mucianus,[1315]
who was thrice consul, that there are still three thousand statues in
Rhodes, and it is supposed that there are no fewer in existence at
Athens, at Olympia, and at Delphi. What living mortal could enumerate
them all? or of what utility would be such information? Still, however,
I may, perhaps, afford amusement by giving some slight account of such
of those works of art as are in any way remarkable, and stating the
names of the more celebrated artists. Of each of these it would be
impossible to enumerate all the productions, for Lysippus[1316] alone
is said to have executed no less than fifteen hundred[1317] 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[1318] out of the sum which he had received as
the price of each statue.
This art has arrived at incredible perfection, both in successfulness
and in boldness of design. As a 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 Capitol, before it was last
burnt by the party[1319] 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, no sum appearing equal to
its value, it was publicly enacted that the keepers of it should be
answerable for its safety with their lives.
CHAP. 18.—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
Capitol, which was brought by M. Lucullus from Apollonia, a city of
Pontus,[1320] 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.[1321] It is a remarkable circumstance in this statue, that
though, as it is stated, it is so nicely balanced as to be moveable
by the hand, it has never been thrown down by a tempest. This indeed,
the artist, it is said, has guarded against, by a column 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 Verrucosus[1322] did not touch
it, when he transferred the Hercules from that place to the Capitol,
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 Chares the Lindian, a pupil of the above-named Lysippus;[1323]
no less than seventy cubits in height. This statue, fifty-six years
after it was erected, was thrown down by an earthquake; but even as it
lies, it excites our wonder and admiration.[1324] 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 this 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,[1325]
when tired of the long-protracted siege of Rhodes. In the same city
there are other colossal statues, one hundred in number; but though
smaller than the one already mentioned, wherever erected, they would,
any one of them, have ennobled the place. In addition to these, there
are five colossal statues of the gods, which were made by Bryaxis.[1326]
Colossal statues used also to be made in Italy. At all events, we see
the Tuscan Apollo, in the library of the Temple of Augustus,[1327]
fifty feet in height from the toe; and it is a question whether it is
more remarkable for the quality of the metal, or for the beauty of the
workmanship. Spurius Carvilius also erected the statue of Jupiter which
is seen in the Capitol, after he had conquered the Samnites,[1328] who
fought in obedience to a most solemn oath; it being formed out of their
breast-plates, greaves, and helmets, and of such large dimensions that
it may be seen from the statue of Jupiter Latiaris.[1329] 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 Capitol, two heads which are very
much admired, and which were dedicated by the Consul P. Lentulus, one
of them executed by the above-mentioned Chares,[1330] the other by
Decius;[1331] 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 have been surpassed in our
own age by that of Mercury, made by Zenodotus[1332] for the city of
the Arverni in Gaul,[1333] which was ten years in being completed, and
the making of which cost four hundred thousand sesterces. 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, one hundred and ten feet in height. In consequence, however, of
the public detestation of Nero’s crimes, this statue was consecrated to
the Sun.[1334] We used to admire in his studio, not only the accurate
likeness in the model of clay, but in the small sketches[1335] 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 Zenodotus
was inferior to none of the ancients, either as a designer or as an
engraver.[1336] At the time that he was working at the statue for
the Arverni, he copied for Dubius Avitus, the then governor of the
province, two drinking-cups, chased by the hand of Calamis,[1337] which
had been highly prized by Germanicus Cæsar, 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 Zenodotus, the more
certainly it may be concluded that the secret of fusing [precious]
brass is lost.
(8.) Persons who possess what are called Corinthian bronzes,[1338]
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 Verres give him, when accused.
It was to this figure that 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[1339] at home. The Emperor Nero, also,
used to carry about with him the figure of an Amazon, of which I shall
speak further hereafter;[1340] and, shortly before this, C. Cestius, a
person of consular[1341] 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 Mars Ultor,[1342] and a similar number before the
Palace.[1343]
CHAP. 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 their statues and figures of smaller size. Before all others is
Phidias,[1344] the Athenian, who executed the Jupiter at Olympia, in
ivory and gold,[1345] but who also made figures in brass as well.
He flourished in the eighty-third Olympiad, about the year of our
City, 300. To the same age belong also his rivals Alcamenes,[1346]
Critias,[1347] Nesiotes,[1348] and Hegias.[1349] Afterwards, in the
eighty-seventh Olympiad, there were Agelades,[1350] Callon,[1351]
and Gorgias the Laconian. In the ninetieth Olympiad there were
Polycletus,[1352] Phradmon,[1353] Myron,[1354] Pythagoras,[1355]
Scopas,[1356] and Perellus.[1357] Of these, Polycletus had for pupils,
Argius,[1358] Asopodorus, Alexis, Aristides,[1359] Phrynon, Dinon,
Athenodorus,[1360] and Demeas[1361] the Clitorian: Lycius,[1362]
too, was the pupil of Myron. In the ninety-fifth Olympiad flourished
Naucsydes,[1363] Dinomenes,[1364] Canachus,[1365] and Patroclus.[1366]
In the hundred and second Olympiad there were Polycles,[1367]
Cephisodotus,[1368] Leochares,[1369] and Hypatodorus.[1370] In
the hundred and fourth Olympiad, flourished Praxiteles[1371] and
Euphranor;[1372] in the hundred and seventh, Aëtion[1373] and
Therimachus;[1374] in the hundred and thirteenth, Lysippus,[1375]
who was the contemporary of Alexander the Great, his brother
Lysistratus,[1376] Sthennis,[1377] Euphron, Eucles, Sostratus,[1378]
Ion, and Silanion,[1379] who was remarkable for having acquired
great celebrity without any instructor: Zeuxis[1380] was his pupil.
In the hundred and twenty-first Olympiad were Eutychides,[1381]
Euthycrates,[1382] Laïppus,[1383] Cephisodotus,[1384] Timarchus,[1385]
and Pyromachus.[1386]
The practice of this art then ceased for some time, but revived in
the hundred and fifty-sixth Olympiad, when there were some artists,
who, though far inferior to those already mentioned, were still highly
esteemed; Antæus, Callistratus,[1387] Polycles,[1388] Athenæus,[1389]
Callixenus, Pythocles, Pythias, and Timocles.[1390]
The ages of the most celebrated artists being thus distinguished, I
shall cursorily 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 have respectively made. When these statues
were dedicated in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, it was agreed, in
order to ascertain which was the best, that it should be left to the
judgment of the artists themselves who were then present: upon which,
it was evident that that was the best, which all the artists agreed
in considering as the next best to his own. Accordingly, the first
rank was assigned to Polycletus, the second to Phidias, the third to
Cresilas, the fourth to Cydon, and the fifth to Phradmon.[1391]
Phidias, besides the Olympian Jupiter, which no one has ever equalled,
also executed in ivory the erect statue of Minerva, which is in the
Parthenon at Athens.[1392] He also made in brass, beside the Amazon
above mentioned,[1393] a Minerva, of such exquisite beauty, that it
received its name from its fine proportions.[1394] He also made the
Cliduchus,[1395] and another Minerva, which Paulus Æmilius dedicated at
Rome in the Temple of Fortune[1396] of the passing day. Also the two
statues, draped with the pallium, which Catulus erected in the same
temple; and a nude colossal statue. Phidias is deservedly considered to
have discovered and developed the toreutic art.[1397]
Polycletus of Sicyon,[1398] the pupil of Agelades, executed the
Diadumenos,[1399] the statue of an effeminate youth, and remarkable for
having cost one hundred talents; as also the statue of a youth full of
manly vigour, and called the Doryphoros.[1400] He also made what the
artists have called the Model statue,[1401] and from which, as from 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,[1402] and
of a naked man challenging to play at dice;[1403] as also of two naked
boys playing at dice, and known as the Astragalizontes;[1404] they are
now in the atrium of the Emperor Titus, and it is generally considered,
that there can be no work more perfect than this. He also executed a
Mercury, which was formerly at Lysimachia; a Hercules Ageter,[1405]
seizing his arms, which is now at Rome; and an Artemon, which has
received the name of Periphoretos.[1406] Polycletus is generally
considered as having attained the highest excellence in statuary, and
as having perfected the toreutic[1407] 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,[1408] and made very much after the same model.[1409]
Myron of Eleutheræ,[1410] who was also the pupil of Agelades, was
rendered more particularly famous by his statue of a heifer,[1411]
celebrated in many well-known lines: so true is it, that most men
owe their renown more to the genius of others, than to their own.
He also made the figure of a dog,[1412] a Discobolus,[1413] a
Perseus,[1414] the Pristæ,[1415] a Satyr[1416] admiring a flute, and
a Minerva, the Delphic Pentathletes,[1417] the Pancratiastæ,[1418]
and a Hercules,[1419] which is at the Circus Maximus, in the house
of Pompeius Magnus. Erinna,[1420] in her poems,[1421] 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
the 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,[1422] having made a
greater number of designs than Polycletus, and shewn more attention to
symmetry. 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 ancient times.
Pythagoras of Rhegium, in Italy, excelled him in the figure of the
Pancratiast[1423] which is now at Delphi, and in which he also
surpassed Leontiscus.[1424] Pythagoras also executed the statue of
Astylos,[1425] the runner, which is exhibited at Olympia; that of a
Libyan boy holding a tablet, also in the same place; and a nude male
figure holding fruit. There is at Syracuse a figure of a lame man by
him: persons, when looking at it, seem to feel the very pain of his
wound. He also made an Apollo, with the serpent[1426] pierced by his
arrows; and a Player on the Lyre, known as the Dicæus,[1427] 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,[1428] who was originally
a painter, seven of whose nude figures, in the Temple of Fortune of
the passing day,[1429] and one of an aged man, are very much admired.
He is said to have resembled the last-mentioned artist so much in his
features, that they could not be distinguished. Sostratus, it is said,
was the pupil of Pythagoras of Rhegium, and his sister’s son.
According to Duris,[1430] Lysippus the Sicyonian was not the
pupil[1431] of any one, 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,[1432] Lysippus was most prolific
in his works, and made more statues than any other artist. Among
these, is the Man using the Body-scraper[1433], which Marcus Agrippa
had erected in front of his Warm Baths,[1434] and which wonderfully
pleased the Emperor Tiberius. This prince, although in the beginning
of his reign he imposed some restraint upon himself, could not resist
the temptation, and had this statue removed to his bed-chamber, having
substituted another for it at the baths: the people, however, were
so resolutely opposed to this, that at the theatre they clamourously
demanded the Apoxyomenos[1435] 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.[1436] He
also executed a numerous series of statues of Alexander the Great,
commencing from his childhood.[1437] The Emperor Nero was so delighted
with his statue of the infant Alexander, that he had it gilt: this
addition, however, to its value, so detracted from its artistic beauty
that the gold was removed, and in this state 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 seen.[1438]
He also made the statue of Hephæstion, the friend of Alexander the
Great, which some persons attribute to Polycletus, whereas that artist
lived nearly a century before his time.[1439] Also, the statue of
Alexander at the chase, now consecrated at Delphi, the figure of a
Satyr, now at Athens, and the Squadron of Alexander,[1440] all of
whom he represented with the greatest accuracy. This last work of art,
after his conquest of Macedonia,[1441] Metellus conveyed to Rome.
Lysippus 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,[1442] and by making the head smaller than had
been done by the ancients, 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,”[1443] 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 minuteness which are
observed in even the smallest details. Lysippus left three sons, who
were also his pupils, and became celebrated as artists, Laippus, Bœdas,
and, more particularly, Euthycrates; though this last-named artist
rivalled his father in precision rather than in elegance, and preferred
scrupulous correctness to gracefulness. Nothing can be more expressive
than his Hercules at Delphi, his Alexander, his Hunter at Thespiæ, and
his Equestrian Combat. Equally good, too, are his statue of Trophonius,
erected in the oracular cave[1444] of that divinity, his numerous
chariots, his Horse with the Panniers,[1445] and his hounds.
Tisicrates, also a native of Sicyon, was a pupil of Euthycrates, but
more nearly approaching the style of Lysippus; so much so, that several
of his statues can scarcely be distinguished from those of Lysippus;
his aged Theban, for example, his King Demetrius, and his Peucestes,
who saved the life of Alexander the Great, and so rendered himself
deserving of this honour.[1446]
Artists, who have transmitted these details in their works, bestow
wonderful encomiums upon Telephanes, the Phocæan, a statuary but little
known, they say, because he lived in Thessaly, where his works remained
concealed; according to their account, however, he is quite equal to
Polycletus, Myron, and Pythagoras. They more particularly commend his
Larissa, his Spintharus, the pentathlete,[1447] and his Apollo. Others,
however, assign another reason for his being so little known; it
being owing, they think, to his having devoted himself to the studios
established by Kings Xerxes and Darius.
Praxiteles, who excelled more particularly in marble, and thence
acquired his chief celebrity, also executed some very beautiful
works in brass, the Rape of Proserpine, the Catagusa,[1448] a Father
Liber,[1449] a figure of Drunkenness, and the celebrated Satyr,[1450]
to the Greeks known as “Periboetos.”[1451] He also executed the
statues, which were formerly before the Temple[1452] of Good Fortune,
and the Venus, which was destroyed by fire, with the Temple of
that goddess, in the reign of Claudius, and was considered equal
to his marble statue of Venus,[1453] so celebrated throughout the
world. He also executed a Stephanusa,[1454] a Spilumene,[1455] an
Œnophorus,[1456] and two figures of Harmodius and Aristogiton, who slew
the tyrants; which last, having been taken away from Greece by Xerxes,
were restored to the Athenians on the conquest of Persia by Alexander
the Great.[1457] He also made the youthful Apollo, known as the
“Sauroctonos,”[1458] because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard which is
stealing towards him. There 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 Phryne, 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.[1459]
His kindness of heart, too, is witnessed by another figure; for in a
chariot and horses which had been executed by Calamis,[1460] 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
also, some with four horses, and some with two; and in his horses he
is always unrivalled. But that it may not be supposed that he was so
greatly inferior in his human figures, it is as well to remark that his
Alcmena[1461] is equal to any that was ever produced.
Alcamenes,[1462] who was a pupil of Phidias, worked in marble and
executed a Pentathlete in brass, known as the “Encrinomenos.”[1463]
Aristides, too, who was the scholar of Polycletus, executed chariots in
metal with four and two horses. The Leæna[1464] of Amphicrates[1465]
is highly commended. The courtesan[1466] Leæna, who was a skilful
performer on the lyre, and had so become acquainted with Harmodius
and Aristogiton, submitted to be tortured till she expired, rather
than betray their plot for the extermination of the tyrants.[1467]
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;[1468] and, in order to
indicate the cause of the honour thus paid her, ordered the artist to
represent the animal without a tongue.[1469]
Bryaxis executed in brass statues of Æsculapius and Seleucus;[1470]
Bœdas[1471] a figure in adoration; Baton, an Apollo and a Juno, which
are in the Temple of Concord[1472] at Rome.
Ctesilaüs[1473] executed a statue of a man fainting from his wounds, in
the expression of which may be seen how little life remains;[1474] as
also the Olympian Pericles,[1475] 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.
Cephisodotus[1476] is the artist of an admirable Minerva, now erected
in the port of Athens; as also of the altar before the Temple of
Jupiter Servator,[1477] at the same place, to which, indeed, few works
are comparable.
Canachus[1478] executed a nude Apollo, which is known as the
“Philesian:”[1479] it is at Didymi,[1480] and is composed of bronze
that was fused at Ægina. He also made a stag with it, so nicely poised
on its hoofs, as to admit of a thread being passed beneath. One[1481]
fore-foot, too, and the alternate hind-foot are so made as firmly to
grip the base, the socket being[1482] so indented on either side, as
to admit of the figure being thrown at pleasure upon alternate feet.
Another work of his was the boys known as the “Celetizontes.”[1483]
Chæreas made statues of Alexander the Great and of his father Philip.
Desilaüs[1484] made a Doryphoros[1485] and a wounded Amazon; and
Demetrius[1486] a statue of Lysimache, who was priestess of Minerva
sixty-four years. This statuary also made the Minerva, which has the
name of Musica,[1487] and so called because the dragons on its Gorgon’s
head vibrate at the sound of the lyre; also an equestrian statue of
Simon, the first writer on the art of equitation.[1488] Dædalus,[1489]
who is highly esteemed as a modeller in clay, made two brazen figures
of youths using the body-scraper;[1490] and Dinomenes executed figures
of Protesilaüs[1491] and Pythodemus the wrestler.
The statue of Alexander Paris is the work of Euphranor:[1492] it is
much admired, because we recognize 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 slayer of Achilles. We have a Minerva,
too, by Euphranor, at Rome, known as the “Catulina,” and dedicated
below the Capitol, by Q. Lutatius;[1493] also a figure of Good
Success,[1494] 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,[1495] with the new-born infants Apollo and Diana in her
arms. He also executed some brazen chariots with four and two horses,
and a Cliduchus[1496] of beautiful proportions; as also two colossal
statues, one representing Virtue, the other Greece;[1497] 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 the Eurotas,[1498] of which it has been frequently remarked,
that the work of the artist appears more flowing than the waters even
of the river.[1499]
Hegias[1500] is celebrated for his Minerva and his King Pyrrhus, his
youthful Celetizontes,[1501] and his statues of Castor and Pollux,
before the Temple of Jupiter Tonans:[1502] Hegesias,[1503] for his
Hercules, which is at our colony of Parium.[1504] Of Isidotus we have
the Buthytes.[1505]
Lycius was the pupil[1506] 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. Leochares 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.[1507] He executed a figure, also, of Autolycus,[1508] who
had been victorious in the contests of the Pancratium, and for whom
Xenophon wrote his Symposium;[1509] the figure, also, of Jupiter Tonans
in the Capitol, the most admired of all his works; and a statue of
Apollo crowned with a diadem. He executed, also, a figure of Lyciscus,
and one of the boy Lagon,[1510] full of the archness and low-bred
cunning of the slave. Lycius also made a figure of a boy burning
perfumes.
We have a young bull by Menæchmus,[1511] pressed down beneath a man’s
knee, with its neck bent back:[1512] this Menæchmus has also written
a treatise on his art. Naucydes[1513] is admired for a Mercury,
a Discobolus,[1514] and a Man sacrificing a Ram. Naucerus made a
figure of a wrestler panting for breath; Niceratus, an Æsculapius and
Hygeia,[1515] which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. Pyromachus
represented Alcibiades, managing a chariot with four horses:
Polycles made a splendid statue of Hermaphroditus; Pyrrhus, statues
of Hygeia and Minerva; and Phanis, who was a pupil of Lysippus, an
Epithyusa.[1516]
Stypax of Cyprus acquired his celebrity by a single work, the statue
of the Splanchnoptes;[1517] which represents a slave of the Olympian
Pericles, roasting entrails and kindling the fire with his breath.
Silanion made a statue in metal of Apollodorus, who was himself a
modeller, and not only the most diligent of all in the study of this
art, but a most severe criticizer 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 surname of “the Madman.” Indeed, it is this expression which
he has given to his works, which represent in metal embodied anger
rather than the lineaments of a human being. The Achilles, also, of
Silanion is very excellent, and his Epistates[1518] exercising the
Athletes. Strongylion[1519] made a figure of an Amazon, which, from the
beauty of the legs, was known as the “Eucnemos,”[1520] and which Nero
used to have carried about with him in his travels. Strongylion was
the artist, also, of a youthful figure, which was so much admired by
Brutus of Philippi, that it received from him its surname.[1521]
Theodorus of Samos,[1522] who constructed the Labyrinth,[1523] 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
Præneste:[1524] 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[1525] was the pupil of Ticrates, or, as some say, of
Euthycrates: he surpassed them both, however, in the number of his
statues, and was the author of some treatises on his art.
Several artists have represented the battles fought by Attalus and
Eumenes with the Galli;[1526] Isigonus, for instance, Pyromachus,
Stratonicus, and Antigonus,[1527] who also wrote some works in
reference to his art. Boëthus,[1528] although more celebrated for his
works in silver, has executed a beautiful figure of a child strangling
a goose. The most celebrated of all the works, of which I have here
spoken, have been dedicated, for some time past, by the Emperor
Vespasianus in the Temple of Peace,[1529] and other public buildings
of his. They had before been forcibly carried off by Nero,[1530] and
brought to Rome, and arranged by him in the reception-rooms of his
Golden Palace.[1531]
In addition to these, there are several other artists, of about equal
celebrity, but none of whom have produced any first-rate works;
Ariston,[1532] who was principally employed in chasing silver,
Callides, Ctesias, Cantharus of Sicyon,[1533] Diodorus, a pupil of
Critias, Deliades, Euphorion, Eunicus,[1534] and Hecatæus,[1535] all
of them chasers in silver; Lesbocles, also, Prodorus, Pythodicus, and
Polygnotus,[1536] one of the most celebrated painters; also two other
chasers in silver, Stratonicus,[1537] and Scymnus, a pupil of Critias.
I shall now enumerate those artists who have executed works of the same
class:— Apollodorus,[1538] for example, Antrobulus, Asclepiodorus, and
Aleuas, who have executed statues of philosophers. Apellas[1539] has
left us some figures of females in the act of adoration; Antignotus, a
Perixyomenos,[1540] and figures of the Tyrannicides, already mentioned.
Antimachus and Athenodorus made some statues of females of noble birth;
Aristodemus[1541] executed figures of wrestlers, two-horse chariots
with the charioteers, philosophers, aged women, and a statue of King
Seleucus:[1542] his Doryphoros,[1543] too, possesses his characteristic
gracefulness.
There were two artists of the name of Cephisodotus:[1544] the earlier
of them made a figure of Mercury nursing Father Liber[1545] when an
infant; also of a man haranguing, with the hand elevated, the original
of which is now unknown. The younger Cephisodotus executed statues
of philosophers. Colotes,[1546] who assisted Phidias in the Olympian
Jupiter, also executed statues of philosophers; the same, too, with
Cleon,[1547] Cenchramis, Callicles,[1548] and Cepis. Chalcosthenes
made statues of comedians and athletes. Daïppus[1549] executed a
Perixyomenos.[1550] Daïphron, Democritus,[1551] and Dæmon made statues
of philosophers.
Epigonus, who has 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
Admiration, of Eubulus, is highly praised; and so is the Man, by
Eubulides,[1552] reckoning on his Fingers. Micon[1553] is admired for
his athletes; Menogenes, for his four-horse chariots. Niceratus,[1554]
too, who attempted every kind of work that had been executed by
any other artist, made statues of Alcibiades and of his mother
Demarate,[1555] who is represented sacrificing by the light of torches.
Tisicrates[1556] 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 commend Perillus;[1557] more cruel even than the tyrant
Phalaris[1558] 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! Surely 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 Perillus are only preserved, in order that whoever sees them,
may detest the hands that made them.
Sthennis[1559] 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[1560] executed figures of a
dog and an archer. Stratonicus,[1561] the chaser in silver, made
some figures of philosophers; and so did both of the artists named
Scopas.[1562]
The following artists have made statues of athletes, armed
men, hunters, and sacrifices—Baton,[1563] Euchir,[1564]
Glaucides,[1565] Heliodorus,[1566] Hicanus, Leophon, Lyson,[1567]
Leon, Menodorus,[1568] Myagrus,[1569] Polycrates, Polyidus,[1570]
Pythocritus, Protogenes, a famous painter, whom we shall
have occasion to mention hereafter;[1571] Patrocles, Pollis,
Posidonius[1572] the Ephesian, who was also a celebrated chaser in
silver; Periclymenus,[1573] Philon,[1574] Symenus, Timotheus,[1575]
Theomnestus,[1576] Timarchides,[1577] Timon, Tisias, and Thrason.[1578]
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;”[1579]
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,[1580] sold all the statues that 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 the statue of a philosopher. I only mention this
circumstance casually, that an example[1581] 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,[1582] 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 L. Lucullus[1583] the general; the second, that his son,
while still a minor, dedicated in accordance with a decree of the
Senate; the third, that T. Septimius Sabinus, the curule ædile, 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.
CHAP. 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,”[1584] and that called “regulare,”[1585] both of them
ductile. The former is made into thin leaves, and, after being coloured
with ox-gall,[1586] 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 six scruples of gold to the ounce,
and reduced into thin plates, acquires a fiery red colour, and is
termed “pyropus.”[1587] In other mines again, they prepare the kind
known as “regulare,” as also that which is called “caldarium.”[1588]
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,[1589] as some call it, a
property which belongs naturally to all the copper of Cyprus. In the
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,[1590] 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 smelted a number of times, Spanish silver-lead
is added to it, in the proportion of ten pounds of lead to one hundred
pounds of copper; a method by which it is rendered pliable, and made
to assume that agreeable colour which is imparted to other kinds of
copper by the application of oil and the action of the sun. 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 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.
(9.) 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 second-hand[1591]
copper, or in other words, copper that has been in use and bought 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,”[1592] as it is called; there being
added to the metal one tenth part of lead[1593] and one twentieth
of silver-lead, this combination being the best adapted for taking
the colour known as “Græcænicus.”[1594] The last kind is that known
as “ollaria,”[1595] from the vessels that are made of it: in this
combination three or four pounds of silver-lead[1596] 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.
CHAP. 21.—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. The custom
of making use of copper for monuments, which are intended to be
perpetuated, is of very ancient date: it is upon tablets of brass that
our public enactments are engraved.
CHAP. 22. (10.)—CADMIA.
The ores of copper furnish a number of resources[1597] that are
employed in medicine; indeed, all kinds of ulcers are healed
thereby with great rapidity. Of these, however, the most useful is
cadmia.[1598] 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 “cadmia,”[1599] so also is it found
in the smelting-furnaces, where it receives other names, according
to the way in which it is 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;”[1600] 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.”[1601] 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 cadmia is that found on the sides of the furnace,
and which, in consequence of its weight, could not reach the arched
vaults of the chimney. This species is called “placitis,”[1602] in
reference to its solid appearance, it presenting a plane surface more
like a solid crust than pumice, and mottled within. Its great use
is, for the cure of itch-scab, and for making wounds cicatrize. Of
this last there are two varieties, the “onychitis,” which is almost
entirely blue on the exterior, and spotted like an onyx within; and
the “ostracitis,”[1603] which is quite black and more dirty than the
others, but particularly useful for healing wounds. All the species of
cadmia 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 Aminean[1604] wine, if
required for making plasters, but in vinegar, if wanted for the cure
of itch-scab. Some persons first pound it, and then burn it in earthen
pots; which done, they wash it in mortars and then dry it.
Nymphodorus[1605] recommends that the most heavy and dense pieces of
mineral cadmia that can be procured, should be burnt upon hot coals and
quenched in Chian wine; after which, it must be pounded and then sifted
through a linen cloth. It is then pulverized in a mortar and macerated
in rain water, the sediment being again pounded until it is reduced to
the consistency of ceruse, and presents no grittiness to the teeth.
Iollas[1606] recommends the same process; except that he selects the
purest specimens of native cadmia.
CHAP. 23.—FIFTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM CADMIA. TEN MEDICINAL EFFECTS
OF CALCINED COPPER.
Cadmia[1607] acts as a desiccative, heals wounds, arrests discharges,
acts detergently upon webs and foul incrustations of the eyes, removes
eruptions, and produces, in fact, all the good effects which we shall
have occasion to mention when speaking of lead. Copper too, 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 make a kind of eye-salve by grinding it upon whet
stones. 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 luted,
and it being left in the furnace until the vessel itself has become
completely hardened. Some persons add salt, and others substitute
alum[1608] for sulphur; others, again, add nothing, but merely sprinkle
the copper with vinegar. When calcined, it is pounded in a mortar of
Thebaic stone,[1609] after which it is washed with rain water, 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;[1610] after which it is dried in the sun, and put by for
keeping in a box made of copper.
CHAP. 24. (11.)—THE SCORIA OF COPPER.
The scoria, too, of copper is washed in the same manner; but the action
of it is less efficacious than that of copper itself. The flower,
too, of copper[1611] 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 “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,”[1612] 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, that this lepis is
detached from the cakes by hammering, whereas the flower falls off
spontaneously.
CHAP. 25.—STOMOMA OF COPPER; FORTY-SEVEN 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.”[1613] But
of all these substances, and even of their names, the physicians, if
I may venture so 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 formerly considered the most essential
part of their profession.[1614] At the present day, whenever they
happen to find a book of recipes, if they wish to make any composition
from these substances, or, in other words, to make trial of the
prescription at the expense of their unhappy patients, they trust
entirely to the druggists,[1615] 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 consequence
is, that the spoiled or adulterated wares in the druggists’ shops are
thus got rid of.
Both lepis and flower of copper are calcined in shallow earthen or
brazen pans; after which they are washed, as described above,[1616] and
employed for the same purposes; in addition to which, they are used
for excrescences in the nostrils and in the anus, as 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 rain water. They are then given to dropsical patients, in
doses of two drachmæ, with one semisextarius of honied wine: they are
also made into a liniment with fine flour.
CHAP. 26.—VERDIGRIS; EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
Verdigris[1617] 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,[1618] 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
triturating these filings with vinegar in a brazen mortar: but the most
expeditious method of all is to add to the vinegar shavings of coronet
copper.[1619] Rhodian verdigris, more particularly, is adulterated with
pounded marble; some persons use pumice-stone or gum.
The adulteration, however, which is the most difficult to detect, is
made with copperas;[1620] 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 iron 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 a leaf of papyrus, which has been steeped in an infusion of
nut-galls; for it becomes black immediately upon the genuine verdigris
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;[1621] 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 to it male frankincense.[1622]
Verdigris is washed, too, in the same manner as cadmia.
It affords a most useful ingredient for eye-salves, and from its
mordent 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.
CHAP. 27.—HIERACIUM.
“Hieracium”[1623] is the name given to an eye-salve, which is
essentially composed of the following ingredients; four ounces of sal
ammoniac, two of Cyprian verdigris, the same quantity of the kind of
copperas which is called “chalcanthum,”[1624] one ounce of misy[1625]
and six of saffron; all these substances being pounded together with
Thasian vinegar and made up into pills. It is an excellent remedy for
incipient glaucoma and cataract, as also for films upon the eyes,
eruptions, albugo, and diseases of the eye-lids. Verdigris, 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 cerate,
it acts detergently upon ulcers, and promotes their cicatrization.
Verdigris also consumes the callosities of fistulas and excrescences
about the anus, either used by itself, applied with sal ammoniac, or
inserted in the fistula in the form of a salve. The same substance,
kneaded with one third part of resin of turpentine, removes leprosy.
CHAP. 28. (12.)—SCOLEX OF COPPER; EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.
There is another kind of verdigris also, which is called
“scolex.”[1626] It is prepared by triturating in a mortar of Cyprian
copper, alum and salt, or an equal quantity of nitre, 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 whole
is triturated 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,[1627] 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.
CHAP. 29.—CHALCITIS: SEVEN REMEDIES.
Chalcitis[1628] is the name of a mineral, from which, as well as
cadmia, copper is extracted by heat. It differs from cadmia in this
respect, that this last is procured from beds below the surface,
while chalcitis is detached from rocks that are exposed to the air.
Chalcitis 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 chalcitis is a composition
of three other substances, copper, misy, and sory,[1629] of which last
we shall speak in their appropriate places.[1630] The veins of copper
which it contains are oblong. The most approved kind is of 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 excrescences in ulcers, for arresting hæmorrhage,
and, in the form of a powder, for acting astringently upon the gums,
the uvula, and the tonsillary glands.[1631] 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 forty days in vinegar, in an earthen vessel luted with
dung; after which it acquires a saffron colour. When this composition
is mixed with an equal proportion of cadmia, it forms the medicament
known as “psoricon.”[1632] If two parts of chalcitis are combined with
one of cadmia, the medicament becomes more active; and it is rendered
still more powerful if vinegar is used instead of wine. For all these
purposes, calcined chalcitis is the most efficacious.
CHAP. 30.—SORY: THREE REMEDIES.
The sory[1633] of Egypt is the most esteemed, being considered much
superior to that of Cyprus, Spain, and Africa; although some prefer the
sory 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 triturated, becomes greasy, black, and spongy. It is a substance
so unpleasant to the stomach, that some persons are made sick merely by
its smell. This is the case more particularly with the sory from Egypt.
That from other countries, by trituration, acquires the lustre of misy,
and is of a more gritty consistency. Held in the mouth, and used as a
collutory, it is good for toothache. It is also useful for malignant
ulcers of a serpiginous nature. It is calcined upon charcoal, like
chalcitis.
CHAP. 31.—MISY: THIRTEEN REMEDIES.
Some persons have stated, that misy[1634] is formed by the calcination
of the mineral, in trenches;[1635] its fine yellow powder becoming
mixed with the ashes of the burnt fire-wood. 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 Cyprus, its characteristics being, that
when broken, it sparkles like gold, and when triturated, it presents a
sandy or earthy appearance, like chalcitis. Misy is used in the process
of refining gold. Mixed with oil of roses, it is used as an injection
for suppurations of the ears, and, in combination with wool, it is
applied to ulcers of the head. It also removes inveterate granulations
of the eye-lids, and is particularly useful for affections of the
tonsils, quinsy, and suppurations. For these maladies, sixteen drachmæ
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 fomentation of misy and vinegar removes the callosities of
fistulous ulcers; it also enters into the composition of eye-salves. It
arrests hæmorrhage, prevents the spreading of serpiginous and putrid
ulcers, and consumes fleshy excrescences. It is particularly useful
for diseases of the male generative organs, and acts as a check upon
menstruation.
CHAP. 32.—CHALCANTHUM, OR SHOEMAKERS’ BLACK: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.
The Greeks, by the name[1636] which they have given to it, have
indicated the relation between shoemakers’ black[1637] and copper; for
they call it “chalcanthum.”[1638] Indeed there is no substance[1639]
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[1640] appearance, somewhat
resembling a bunch of grapes. Upon being removed, it is dried for
thirty 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.
Chalcanthum 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,”[1641] and there
is none more pure. When its colour is nearly white, with a slight tinge
of violet, it is called “lonchoton.”[1642] It is also prepared in pans
hollowed out in the rocks; the rain water carrying the slime into
them, where it settles and becomes hardened. It is also formed in the
same way in which we prepare salt;[1643] the intense heat of the sun
separating the fresh water from it. Hence it is that some distinguish
two kinds of chalcanthum, the fossil and the artificial; the latter
being paler than the former, and as much inferior to it in quality as
it is in colour.
The chalcitis 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 eye-lids, and is good for pains and
films upon the eyes; it is curative also of ulcerations of the mouth.
It arrests bleeding at the nostrils, and hæmorrhoidal discharges. In
combination with seed of hyoscyamus, it brings away splinters of broken
bones. Applied to the forehead with a sponge, it acts as a check upon
defluxions of the eyes. Made up into plasters, it is very efficacious
as a detergent for sores and fleshy excrescences in ulcers. The
decoction of it, by the contact 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 violet 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 it is 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.
CHAP. 33. (13.)—POMPHOLYX.
The substances called pompholyx[1644] and spodos[1645] are also found
in the furnaces of copper-smelting works; the difference between them
being, that pompholyx is disengaged by washing, while spodos is not
washed. Some persons have called the part which is white and very light
“pompholyx,” and say that it is the ashes of copper and cadmia; 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, pompholyx 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 for 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.
CHAP. 34.—SPODOS: FIVE REMEDIES.
The Cyprian spodos[1646] is the best. It is formed by fusing cadmia
with copper ore. This substance, which is the lightest part of the
metal disengaged by fusion, escapes from the furnace, and adheres to
the roof, being distinguished from the soot by the whiteness of its
colour. Such parts of it as are less white are indicative of incomplete
combustion, and it is this which some persons call “pompholyx.” Such
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 spodos of a honey colour, 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,[1647]
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 spodos 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, and for ulcers of
the mouth attended with a discharge of matter, as well as in all those
remedies which are used for gangrene.
There is also a kind of spodos, called “lauriotis,”[1648] 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 among the
very commonest objects, a substance that is in every way possessed of
similar properties.
CHAP. 35.—FIFTEEN VARIETIES OF ANTISPODOS.
The substance called “antispodos”[1649] 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[1650] furnish it, the cultivated olive, the quince-tree,
and the lentisk; unripe mulberries also, before they have changed
their colour, dried in the sun; and the foliage of the box,
pseudo-cypirus,[1651] bramble, terebinth and œnanthe.[1652] The same
virtues have also been found in the ashes of bull-glue[1653] and of
linen cloth. All these substances are burnt in a pot of raw earth,
which is heated in a furnace, until the earthenware is thoroughly baked.
CHAP. 36.—SMEGMA.
In the copper forges also smegma[1654] 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 bellows, 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.
CHAP. 37.—DIPHRYX.
There is another product of these furnaces, which is easily
distinguished from smegma, and which the Greeks call “diphryx,”[1655]
from its being twice calcined. 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 scoriæ make their escape from the
furnace, the flower becomes sublimated, and the diphryx 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 “diphryx.” Its use in medicine is similar to that of the
substances mentioned above;[1656] it is desiccative, removes morbid
excrescenses, 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.
CHAP. 38.—PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THE SERVILIAN TRIENS.
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 triens,[1657] which
devours them both. The origin and nature of this coin is to me
incomprehensible;[1658] but I will quote the very words of the story,
as given by old Messala[1659] himself—“The family of the Servilii is
in possession of a sacred triens, to which they offer every year a
sacrifice, with the greatest care and magnificence; the triens itself,
they say, appears sometimes to increase in size and sometimes to
diminish; changes which indicate the coming advancement or decadence of
the family.”
CHAP. 39 (14).—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,[1660] 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.[1661] Let us therefore acquit
Nature of a charge that here belongs to man himself.[1662]
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
Porsena granted to the Roman people, after the expulsion of the kings,
we find it expressly stipulated, that iron shall be only employed for
the cultivation of the fields; and our oldest authors inform us, that
in those days it was considered unsafe to write with an iron pen.[1663]
There is an edict extant, published in the third consulship of Pompeius
Magnus, during the tumults that ensued upon the death of Clodius,
prohibiting any weapon from being retained in the City.
CHAP. 40.—STATUES OF IRON; CHASED WORKS IN IRON.
Still, however, human industry has not failed to employ iron
for perpetuating the honours of more civilized life. The artist
Aristonidas, wishing to express the fury of Athamas subsiding into
repentance, after he had thrown his son Learchus from the rock,[1664]
blended 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 Alcon,[1665] 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.[1666] 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.
CHAP. 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,[1667] being easily distinguished by the
ferruginous 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 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 esteemed
when cut into short lengths, and is used for making hobnails;[1668] and
another which is more particularly liable to rust. All these varieties
are known by the name of “strictura,”[1669] 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.[1670] There is a great difference,
too, in the smelting; some kinds producing knurrs 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 into 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,[1671] for
example, and Turiasso[1672] in Spain, and Comum[1673] in Italy; and
this, although there are no iron mines in these spots.
But of all the different kinds of iron, the palm of excellence is
awarded to that which is made by the Seres,[1674] who send it to us
with their tissues and skins;[1675] next to which, in quality, is the
Parthian[1676] 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[1677] for instance; but,
in other cases, it derives its value from the mode of working it,
as at Sulmo,[1678] 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 iron, there is a great difference between oil-whetstones and
water-whetstones,[1679] 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 made 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 much more apt to become rusty.
CHAP. 42.—THE METAL CALLED LIVE IRON.
We shall speak of the loadstone in its proper place,[1680] 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 sometimes see 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 loadstone, but in scattered fragments, which they
call “bullationes.”[1681] I do not know whether this species of ore
is proper also for the fusion of glass,[1682] as no one has hitherto
tried it; but it certainly imparts the same property as the magnet to
iron. The architect Timochares,[1683] began to erect a vaulted roof of
loadstone, in the Temple of Arsinoë,[1684] at Alexandria, in order that
the iron statue of that princess might have the appearance of hanging
suspended in the air:[1685] his death, however, and that of King
Ptolemæus, who had ordered this monument to be erected in honour of his
sister, prevented the completion of the project.
CHAP. 43. (15.)—METHODS OE PREVENTING RUST.
Of all metals, the ores of iron are found in the greatest abundance. In
the maritime parts of Cantabria[1686] 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.[1687]
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 ceruse, gypsum,
and tar; a property of iron known by the Greeks as “antipathia.”[1688]
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,[1689] 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 are attacked with rust, while
the original links are totally exempt from it.[1690]
CHAP. 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 tomb, are driven into the threshold of a door, they
will prevent night-mare.[1691] 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.[1692] Water in which iron has been
plunged at a white heat, is useful, as a potion, in many diseases,
dysentery[1693] more particularly.
CHAP. 45.—FOURTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM RUST.
Rust itself, too, is classed among the remedial substances; for it was
by means of it that Achilles cured Telephus, 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 is represented in paintings detaching the rust
with his sword.[1694] 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 certain desiccative
and astringent properties. Applied in the form of a liniment, it is
curative of alopecy. 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 erysipelas; and, applied with
lint, it is curative of itch, whitlows on the fingers, and hang-nails.
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 condylomatous swellings. Employed in the form of a
liniment, it alleviates gout.[1695]
CHAP. 46.—SEVENTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE SCALES OF IRON.
HYGREMPLASTRUM.
The scales of iron,[1696] 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, too, for diseases of the spleen, and they arrest
hæmorrhoidal swellings and serpiginous ulcers. They are useful also
for affections of the eyelids, gradually applied in the form of a fine
powder. But their chief recommendation is, their great utility in the
form of a hygremplastrum[1697] or wet plaster, for cleansing wounds and
fistulous sores, consuming all kinds of callosities, and making new
flesh on bones that are denuded. The following are the ingredients: of
pitch, six oboli, of Cimolian chalk,[1698] six drachmæ, two drachmæ of
pounded copper, the same quantity of scales of iron, six drachmæ of
wax, and one sextarius of oil. To these is added some cerate, when it
is wanted to cleanse or fill up wounds.
CHAP. 47. (16.)—THE ORES OF LEAD.
The nature of lead next comes to be considered. There are two kinds of
it, the black and the white.[1699] The white is the most valuable: it
was called by the Greeks “cassiteros,”[1700] and there is a fabulous
story told of their going in quest of it to the islands of the
Atlantic, and of its being brought in barks made of osiers, covered
with hides.[1701] It is now known that it is a production of Lusitania
and Gallæcia.[1702] 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, and calcine the deposit in the furnace. It
is also found in the gold mines that are known as “alutiæ,”[1703] the
stream of water which is passed through them detaching certain black
pebbles, mottled with small white spots and of the same weight[1704]
as gold. Hence it is that they remain with the gold in the baskets in
which it is collected; and being separated in the furnace, are then
melted, and become converted into white lead.[1705]
Black lead is not procured in Gallæcia, although it is so greatly
abundant in the neighbouring province of Cantabria; nor is silver
procured from white lead, although it is from black.[1706] Pieces of
black lead cannot be soldered without the intervention of white lead,
nor can this be done without employing oil;[1707] 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, who calls it “cassiteros.”[1708] 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 “stannum;”[1709] the next that melts
is silver; and the metal that remains behind is galena,[1710] the third
constituent part of the mineral. On this last being again submitted to
fusion black lead is produced, with a deduction of two-ninths.
CHAP. 48. (17.)—STANNUM. ARGENTARIUM.
When copper vessels are coated with stannum,[1711] 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,[1712] the finest mirrors were formerly prepared
from it at Brundisium, until everybody, our maid-servants 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.[1713]
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.”[1714] There is also a composition called “tertiarium,”
a mixture of two parts of black lead and one of white: its price is
twenty denarii per pound, and it is used for soldering pipes. Persons
still more dishonest mix together[1715] equal parts of tertiarium and
white lead, and, calling the compound “argentarium,” coat articles with
it melted. This last sells at sixty denarii per ten pounds, the price
of the pure unmixed white lead being eighty denarii, and of the black
seven.[1716]
White lead is naturally more dry; while the black, on the contrary, is
always moist; consequently the white, without being mixed with another
metal, is of no use[1717] 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 “incoctilia.”[1718] At a
later period, the people of the town of Alesia[1719] 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 Bituriges.[1720] After this,
they began to ornament their esseda, colisata, and petorita[1721] in a
similar manner; and luxury has at last arrived at such a pitch, that
not only are their decorations made of silver, but of gold even, and
what was formerly a marvel to behold on a cup, is now subjected to the
wear and tear of a carriage, and this in obedience to what they call
fashion!
White lead is tested, by pouring it, melted,[1722] 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,[1723] but she
procures them in exchange for her precious stones and pearls.
CHAP. 49.—BLACK LEAD.
Black lead[1724] 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[1725] it is found in the upper stratum of
the earth, in such abundance, that a law has been spontaneously made,
prohibiting any one from working more than a certain quantity of it.
The various kinds of black lead are known by the following names—the
Ovetanian,[1726] the Caprariensian,[1727] and the Oleastrensian.[1728]
There is no difference whatever in them, when the scoria has been
carefully removed by calcination. It is a marvellous fact, that these
mines, and these only, when they have been abandoned for some time,
become replenished, and are more prolific than before. This would
appear to be effected 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 Santarensian
mine in Bætica;[1729] which, after being farmed at an annual rental
of two hundred thousand denarii, and then abandoned, is now rented at
two hundred and fifty-five thousand per annum. In the same manner, the
Antonian mine in the same province has had the rent raised to four
hundred thousand 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 quadrans,[1730] the vessel will be penetrated by the fire.
CHAP. 50. (18.)—FIFTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LEAD.
Lead is used in medicine, without any addition, for the removal of
scars; if it is applied, too, in plates, to the region of the loins
and kidneys, in consequence of its cold nature it will restrain the
venereal passions, and put an end to libidinous dreams at night,
attended with spontaneous emissions, and assuming all the form of a
disease. The orator Calvus, it is said, effected a cure for himself by
means of these plates, and so preserved his bodily energies for labour
and study. 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.[1731]
For medicinal purposes the lead is melted in earthen vessels; a layer
of finely powdered sulphur being placed beneath, very thin plates
of lead are laid upon it, and are then covered with a mixture of
sulphur and iron. While it is being melted, all the apertures in the
vessel should be closed, otherwise a noxious vapour is discharged
from the furnace, of a deadly nature, to dogs in particular. Indeed,
the vapours from all metals destroy flies and gnats; and hence it is
that in mines there are none of those annoyances.[1732] Some persons,
during the process, mix lead-filings with the sulphur, while others
substitute ceruse for sulphur. By washing, a preparation is made from
lead, that is much employed in medicine: for this purpose, a leaden
mortar, containing rain water, 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 triturate lead-filings in this way, and some mix with it lead
ore, or else vinegar, wine, grease, or rose-leaves. Others, again,
prefer triturating 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 stibi[1733] and cadmia.
Its action is astringent and repressive, and it is promotive of
cicatrization. The same substance is also employed in preparations for
the eyes, cases of procidence[1734] of those organs more particularly;
also for filling up the cavities left by ulcers, and for removing
excrescences and fissures of the anus, as well as hæmorrhoidal and
condylomatous tumours. For all these purposes the lotion of lead
is particularly useful; but for serpiginous or sordid ulcers it is
the ashes of calcined lead that are used, these producing the same
advantageous effects as ashes of burnt papyrus.[1735]
The lead is calcined in thin plates, laid with sulphur in shallow
vessels, the mixture being stirred with iron rods or stalks of
fennel-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 with it an equal quantity of ceruse or of
barley, and triturate it in the way mentioned for raw lead; indeed,
the lead which has been prepared this way is preferred to the spodium
of Cyprus.
CHAP. 51.—FIFTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE SCORIA OF LEAD.
The scoria[1736] 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 terreous
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 which we gain by experiment, when even the
very dregs and foul residues of substances have in so many ways been
tested by mankind!
CHAP. 52.—SPODIUM OF LEAD.
A spodium[1737] of lead is also prepared in the same manner as that
extracted from Cyprian copper.[1738] It is washed with rain water,
in linen of a loose texture, and the earthy parts are separated by
pouring it off; after which it is sifted, and then pounded. Some prefer
removing the fine powder with a feather, and then triturating it with
aromatic wine.
CHAP. 53.—MOLYBDÆNA: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.
Molybdæna,[1739] which in another place I have called “galena,”[1740]
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 silver have been smelted;
and in this case it is called “metallic.” The most esteemed kind is
that prepared at Zephyrium.[1741] Those kinds, too, are considered
the best that are the least earthy and the least stony. It is used in
preparing liparæ,[1742] 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 cicatrization on the bodies
of delicate persons and the more tender parts. The composition is made
of three pounds of molybdæna, one pound of wax, and three heminæ of
oil; to which are added lees of olives, in the case of aged persons.
Combined with scum of silver[1743] and scoria of lead, it is employed
warm in fomentations for dysentery and tenesmus.
CHAP. 54.—PSIMITHIUM, OR CERUSE; SIX REMEDIES.
Psimithium,[1744] which is also known as ceruse, 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 triturated and sifted, and then melted in shallow
vessels, being stirred with ladles, until the substance becomes red,
and assumes the appearance of sandarach. 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.[1745] 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.[1746] It is, however, like scum of silver, a deadly poison.
Melted a second time, ceruse becomes red.
CHAP. 55.—SANDARACH; ELEVEN REMEDIES.
We have already mentioned nearly all the properties of sandarach.[1747]
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 odour, 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 alopecy. It is also employed as an
ingredient in ophthalmic preparations. Used with honey, it cleanses the
fauces 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 a fumigation also, with cedar, it has a
remedial effect upon those complaints.[1748]
CHAP. 56.—ARRHENICUM.
Arrhenicum,[1749] 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
sandarach. The last two kinds are both of them scaly, but the other
is dry and pure, and divides into delicate long veins.[1750] This
substance has the same virtues as the one last mentioned, but 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, polypi of the nostrils, condylomatous tumours,
and other kinds of excrescences. For the purpose of increasing its
energies, it is heated in a new earthen vessel, until it changes its
colour.[1751]
SUMMARY.—Remedies, one hundred and fifty-eight. Facts, narratives, and
observations, nine hundred and fifteen.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—L. Piso,[1752] Antias,[1753] Verrius,[1754]
M. Varro,[1755] Cornelius Nepos,[1756] Messala,[1757] Rufus,[1758]
the Poet Marsus,[1759] Bocchus,[1760] Julius Bassus[1761] who wrote
in Greek on Medicine, Sextus Niger[1762] who did the same, Fabius
Vestalis.[1763]
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Democritus,[1764] Metrodorus[1765] of Scepsis,
Menæchmus[1766] who wrote on the Toreutic art, Xenocrates[1767] who
did the same, Antigonus[1768] who did the same, Duris[1769] who did
the same, Heliodorus[1770] who wrote on the Votive Offerings of the
Athenians, Pasiteles[1771] who wrote on Wonderful Works, Timæus[1772]
who wrote on the Medicines derived from Metals, Nymphodorus,[1773]
Iollas,[1774] Apollodorus,[1775] Andreas,[1776] Heraclides,[1777]
Diagoras,[1778] Botrys,[1779] Archidemus,[1780] Dionysius,[1781]
Aristogenes,[1782] Democles,[1783] Mnesides,[1784] Xenocrates[1785] the
son of Zeno, Theomnestus.[1786]