Chaps. 17-25.

Chap. 17.—At What Periods There Was the Greatest Quantity of Gold and Silver in the Treasury of the Roman People.

In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Aurelius, [A.U.C. 597.] seven years before the commencement of the Third Punic War, there was in the treasury of the Roman people seventeen thousand four hundred and ten pounds’ weight of uncoined gold, twenty-two thousand and seventy pounds’ weight of silver, and in specie, six million one hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred sesterces.

In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Marcius, that is to say, at the commencement of the Social War, [Or Marsic War. See B. ii. c. 85.] there was in the public treasury one million [There is an error in this statement, probably, unless we understand by it the small libra or pound of two ounces, mentioned in c. of this Book.] six hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and thirty-one pounds’ weight of gold. Caius Cæsar, at his first entry into Rome, during the civil war which bears his name, withdrew from the treasury fifteen thousand pounds’ weight in gold ingots, thirty thousand pounds’ weight in uncoined silver, and in specie, three hundred thousand sesterces: indeed, at no [This remark is confirmatory of the incorrectness of the preceding statement.] period was the republic more wealthy. Æmilius Paulus, too, after the defeat of King Perseus, paid into the public treasury, from the spoil obtained in Macedonia, three hundred millions [The reading here is doubtful.] of sesterces, and from this period the Roman people ceased to pay tribute.

Chap. 18.—At What Period Ceilings Were First Gilded.

The ceilings which, at the present day, in private houses even, we see covered with gold, were first gilded in the Capitol, after the destruction of Carthage, and during the censorship of Lucius Mummius. [A.U.C. 612.] From the ceilings this luxuriousness has been since transferred to the arched roofs of buildings, and the party-walls even, which at the present day are gilded like so many articles of plate: very different from the times when Catulus [See B. xix. c. 6.] was far from being unanimously approved of for having gilded the brazen tiles of the Capitol!

Chap. 19.—For What Reasons the Highest Value Is Set Upon Gold.

We have already stated, in the Seventh [Chapter 57.] Book, who were the first discoverers of gold, as well as nearly all the other metals. The highest rank has been accorded to this substance, not, in my opinion, for its colour, (which in silver is clearer [In fact, no colour at all.] and more like the light of day, for which reason silver is preferred for our military ensigns, its brightness being seen at a greater distance); and those persons are manifestly in error who think that it is the resemblance of its colour to the stars [In this climate, the light of most of the stars has the complexion, not of gold, but of silver.] that is so prized in gold, seeing that the various gems [The topaz, for instance.] and other things of the same tint, are in no such particular request. Nor yet is it for its weight or malleability [For ductility and malleability, both which terms may perhaps be included in the “facilitas” of Pliny, gold is unrivalled among the metals. As to weight, it is heavier than lead, the specific gravity of gold being 19.258, and that of lead 11.352. Pliny is therefore wrong in both of these assertions.] that gold has been preferred to other metals, it being inferior in both these respects to lead—but it is because gold is the only [He forgets asbestus here, a substance which he has mentioned in B. xix. c. 4.] substance in nature that suffers [Chlorine, however, and nitro-muriatic acid corrode and dissolve gold, forming a chloride of gold, which is soluble in water. Ajasson remarks, that gold becomes volatilized by the heat of a burning-glass of three or four feet in diameter; and that when it acts as the conductor of a strong current of electricity, it becomes reduced to dust instantaneously, presenting a bright greenish light.] no loss from the action of fire, and passes unscathed through conflagrations and the flames of the funeral pile. Nay, even more than this, the oftener gold is subjected to the action of fire, the more refined in quality it becomes; indeed, fire is one test of its goodness, as, when submitted to intense heat, gold ought to assume a similar colour, and turn red and igneous in appearance; a mode of testing which is known as “obrussa.” [The gold thus tested was called “obrussum,” “obryzum,” or “obrizum,” from the Greek ὄβρυζον, meaning “pure gold.”]

The first great proof, however, of the goodness of gold, is its melting with the greatest difficulty; in addition to which, it is a fact truly marvellous, that though proof against the most intense fire, if made with wood charcoal, it will melt with the greatest readiness upon a fire made with chaff; [See B. xviii. c. 23, where he calls the chaff used for this purpose by the name of “acus.”] and that, for the purpose of purifying it, it is fused with lead. [The present mode of assaying the precious metals, is by fusing them upon a cupel with lead.] There is another reason too, which still more tends to enhance its value, the fact that it wears the least of all metals by continual use: whereas with silver, copper, and lead, lines may be traced, [For which purpose, lead was used, no doubt, in drawing the lines in the MSS. of the ancients. See Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 339. Bohn’s Ed.] and the hands become soiled with the substance that comes from off them. Nor is there any material more malleable than this, none that admits of a more extended division, seeing that a single ounce of it admits of being beaten out into seven hundred and fifty [This is far surpassed at the present day, its malleability being such that it may be beaten into leaves not more than one two hundred and eighty thousandth of an inch in thickness, and its ductility admitting of one grain being drawn out into five hundred feet of wire. For further particulars as to the gold leaf of the ancients, and the art of gilding, as practised by them, see Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 391, et seq. Bohn’s Edition.] leaves, or more, four fingers in length by the same in breadth. The thickest kind of gold-leaf is known as “leaf of Præneste,” it still retaining that name from the excellence of the gilding upon the statue of Fortune [See B. xxxvi. c..] there. The next in thickness is known as the “quæstorian leaf.” In Spain, small pieces of gold are known by the name of “striges.” [He alludes to what are now known as pepitas, oval grains of river-gold. “Striges” is the reading in the Bamberg MS., “strigiles” in the former editions.]

A thing that is not the case with any other metal, gold is found pure in masses [“Massa.” As we should say at the present day, “nuggets.”] or in the form of dust; [“Ramentum.”] and whereas all other metals, when found in the ore, require to be brought to perfection by the aid of fire, this gold that I am speaking of is gold the moment it is found, and has all its component parts already in a state of perfection. This, however, is only such gold as is found in the native state, the other kinds that we shall have to speak of, being refined by art. And then, more than anything else, gold is subject to no rust, no verdigris, [The contrary is now known to be the case; gold is sometimes, though rarely, found in an oxidized state.] no emanation whatever from it, either to alter its quality or to lessen its weight. In addition to this, gold steadily resists the corrosive action of salt and vinegar, [As to the solvents of gold, see Note above. Stahl says that three parts of sub-carbonate of potash, dissolved in water, and heated with three parts of sulphur and one part of gold, will yield a complete solution of the metal.] things which obtain the mastery over all other substances: it admits, too, beyond all other metals, of being spun out and woven [Aldrovandus relates, in his “Museum Metallicum,” that the grave of the Emperor Honorius was discovered at Rome about the year 1544, and that thirty-six pounds’ weight of gold were procured from the mouldering dress that covered the body. See, on the subject of gold threads, Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 415. Bohn’s Edition.] like wool. [The “cloth of gold” of the present day, is made of threads of silk or hair, wound round with silver wire flattened and gilded.] Verrius tells us that Tarquinius Priscus celebrated a triumph, clad in a tunic of gold; and I myself have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, on the occasion of a naval combat which he exhibited, seated by him, attired in a military scarf [“Paludamento.”] made entirely of woven gold without any other material. For this long time past, gold has been interwoven in the Attalic [See B. viii. c. 74. Beckmann is of opinion, from a passage of Silius Italicus, B. xiv. l. 661, that the cloth of Attalus was embroidered with the needle. See this subject fully discussed in his Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 415. See also Dr. Yates’s “Textrinum Antiquorum,” pp. 371, 464.] textures, an invention of the kings of Asia.

Chap. 20.—The Method of Gilding.

On marble and other substances which do not admit of being brought to a white heat, gilt is laid with glair of egg, and on wood by the aid of a glutinous composition, [“Without entering into any research respecting the minerals employed for this cement, called ‘leucophoron,’ one may readily conceive that it must have been a ferruginous ochre, or kind of bole, which is still used as a ground. Gilding of this kind must have suffered from dampness, though many specimens of it are still preserved.”—Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 294. Bohn’s Edition.] known as “leucophoron:” what this last is, and how it is prepared, we shall state on the appropriate occasion. [B. xxxv. c..] The most convenient method for gilding copper would be to employ quicksilver, or, at all events, hydrargyros; [Literally, “fluid silver.” “The first name here seems to signify native quicksilver, and the second that separated from the ore by an artificial process.” Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 72.] but with reference to these substances, as we shall have occasion to say when describing the nature [In Chapters and of this Book.] of them, methods of adulteration have been devised. To effect this mode of gilding, the copper is first well hammered, after which it is subjected to the action of fire, and then cooled with a mixture of salt, vinegar, and alum. [As to the identity of the “alumen” of Pliny, see B. xxxv. c..] It is then cleansed of all extraneous substances, it being known by its brightness when it has been sufficiently purified. This done, it is again heated by fire, in order to enable it, when thus prepared, with the aid of an amalgam of pumice, alum, and quicksilver, to receive the gold leaf when applied. Alum has the same property of purifying copper, that we have already [In the preceding.] mentioned us belonging to lead with reference to gold.

Chap. 21. (4.)—How Gold Is Found.

Gold is found in our own part of the world; not to mention the gold extracted from the earth in India by the ants, [See B. xi. c. 36.] and in Scythia by the Griffins. [See B. vii. c. 2.] Among us it is procured in three different ways; the first of which is, in the shape of dust, found in running streams, the Tagus [See B. iv. c. 17.] in Spain, for instance, the Padus in Italy, the Hebrus in Thracia, the Pactolus in Asia, and the Ganges in India; indeed, there is no gold found in a more perfect state than this, thoroughly polished as it is by the continual attrition of the current.

A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or seeking it among the debris of mountains; both of which methods it will be as well to describe. The persons in search of gold in the first place remove the “segutilum,” [Ajasson remarks, that the Castilians still call the surface earth of auriferous deposits by the name of segullo. He also doubts the correctness of Pliny’s assertion as to the produce of the mines of Dalmatia.] such being the name of the earth which gives indication of the presence of gold. This done, a bed is made, the sand of which is washed, and, according to the residue found after washing, a conjecture is formed as to the richness of the vein. Sometimes, indeed, gold is found at once in the surface earth, a success, however, but rarely experienced. Recently, for instance, in the reign of Nero, a vein was discovered in Dalmatia, which yielded daily as much as fifty pounds’ weight of gold. The gold that is thus found in the surface crust is known as “talutium,” [See B. xxxiv. c..] in cases where there is auriferous earth beneath. The mountains of Spain, [We learn from Ajasson that numerous pits or shafts are still to be seen in Spain, from which the Romans extracted gold. At Riotento, he says, there are several of them.] in other respects arid and sterile, and productive of nothing whatever, are thus constrained by man to be fertile, in supplying him with this precious commodity.

The gold that is extracted from shafts is known by some persons as “canalicium,” and by others as “canaliense;” [Both meaning “channel gold.”] it is found adhering to the gritty crust of marble, [“Marmoris glareæ.” Under this name, he no doubt means quartz and schist.] and, altogether different from the form in which it sparkles in the sapphirus [See B. xxxvii. c..] of the East, and in the stone of Thebais [See B. xxxvi. c..] and other gems, it is seen interlaced with the molecules of the marble. The channels of these veins are found running in various directions along the sides of the shafts, and hence the name of the gold they yield—“canalicium.” [“Channel-gold” or “trench-gold.”] In these shafts, too, the superincumbent earth is kept from falling in by means of wooden pillars. The substance that is extracted is first broken up, and then washed; after which it is subjected to the action of fire, and ground to a fine powder. This powder is known as “apitascudes,” while the silver which becomes disengaged in the furnace [Becoming volatilized, and attaching itself in crystals to the side of the chimney.] has the name of “sudor” [Or “sweat.” This “sweat” or “silver” would in reality be a general name for all the minerals that were volatilized by the heat of the furnace; while under the name of “scoria ” would be comprised pyrites, quartz, petrosilex, and other similar substances.] given to it. The impurities that escape by the chimney, as in the case of all other metals, are known by the name of “scoria.” In the case of gold, this scoria is broken up a second time, and melted over again. The crucibles used for this purpose are made of “tasconium,” [The cupel or crucible is still known in Spain by the name of tasco.] a white earth similar to potter’s clay in appearance; there being no other substance capable of withstanding the strong current of air, the action of the fire, and the intense heat of the melted metal.

The third method of obtaining gold surpasses the labours of the Giants [Who were said to have heaped one mountain on another in their war with the gods.] even: by the aid of galleries driven to a long distance, mountains are excavated by the light of torches, the duration of which forms the set times for work, the workmen never seeing the light of day for many months together. These mines are known as “arrugiæ;” [Deep mines in Spain are still called arrugia, a term also used to signify gold beneath the surface. According to Grimm, arruzi was the ancient High German name for iron.] and not unfrequently clefts are formed on a sudden, the earth sinks in, and the workmen are crushed beneath; so that it would really appear less rash to go in search of pearls and purples at the bottom of the sea, so much more dangerous to ourselves have we made the earth than the water! Hence it is, that in this kind of mining, arches are left at frequent intervals for the purpose of supporting the weight of the mountain above. In mining either by shaft or by gallery, barriers of silex are met with, which have to be driven asunder by the aid of fire and vinegar; [See B. xxiii. c. 27.] or more frequently, as this method fills the galleries with suffocating vapours and smoke, to be broken to pieces with bruising-machines shod with pieces of iron weighing one hundred and fifty pounds: which done, the fragments are carried out on the workmen’s shoulders, night and day, each man passing them on to his neighbour in the dark, it being only those at the pit’s mouth that ever see the light. In cases where the bed of silex appears too thick to admit of being penetrated, the miner traces along the sides of it, and so turns it. And yet, after all, the labour entailed by this silex is looked upon as comparatively easy, there being an earth—a kind of potter’s clay mixed with gravel, “gangadia” by name, which it is almost impossible to overcome. This earth has to be attacked with iron wedges and hammers like those previously mentioned, [The breaking-machines, used for crushing the silex.] and it is generally considered that there is nothing more stubborn in existence—except indeed the greed for gold, which is the most stubborn of all things.

When these operations are all completed, beginning at the last, they cut away [“Cædunt” is certainly a preferable reading to “cadunt,” though the latter is given by the Bamberg MS.] the wooden pillars at the point where they support the roof: the coming downfall gives warning, which is instantly perceived by the sentinel, and by him only, who is set to watch upon a peak of the same mountain. By voice as well as by signals, he orders the workmen to be immediately summoned from their labours, and at the same moment takes to flight himself. The mountain, rent to pieces, is cleft asunder, hurling its debris to a distance with a crash which it is impossible for the human imagination to conceive; and from the midst of a cloud of dust, of a density quite incredible, the victorious miners gaze upon this downfall of Nature. Nor yet even then are they sure of gold, nor indeed were they by any means certain that there was any to be found when they first began to excavate, it being quite sufficient, as an inducement to undergo such perils and to incur such vast expense, to entertain the hope that they shall obtain what they so eagerly desire.

Another labour, too, quite equal to this, and one which entails even greater expense, is that of bringing rivers [A similar method of washing auriferous earth or sand in the mines, is still employed in some cases.] from the more elevated mountain heights, a distance in many instances of one hundred miles perhaps, for the purpose of washing these debris. The channels thus formed are called “corrugi,” from our word “corrivatio,” [“The bringing of water into one channel.”] I suppose; and even when these are once made, they entail a thousand fresh labours. The fall, for instance, must be steep, that the water may be precipitated, so to say, rather than flow; and it is in this manner that it is brought from the most elevated points. Then, too, vallies and crevasses have to be united by the aid of aqueducts, and in another place impassable rocks have to be hewn away, and forced to make room for hollowed troughs of wood; the person hewing them hanging suspended all the time with ropes, so that to a spectator who views the operations from a distance, the workmen have all the appearance, not so much of wild beasts, as of birds upon the wing. [Or as Holland quaintly renders it, “Some flying spirit or winged devill of the air.”] Hanging thus suspended in most instances, they take the levels, and trace with lines the course the water is to take; and thus, where there is no room even for man to plant a footstep, are rivers traced out by the hand of man. The water, too, is considered in an unfit state for washing, if the current of the river carries any mud along with it. The kind of earth that yields this mud is known as “urium;” [Magnesian carbonate of lime, or dolomite, Ajasson thinks.] and hence it is that in tracing out these channels, they carry the water over beds of silex or pebbles, and carefully avoid this urium. When they have reached the head of the fall, at the very brow of the mountain, reservoirs are hollowed out, a couple of hundred feet in length and breadth, and some ten feet in depth. In these reservoirs there are generally five sluices left, about three feet square; so that, the moment the reservoir is filled, the floodgates are struck away, and the torrent bursts forth with such a degree of violence as to roll onwards any fragments of rock which may obstruct its passage.

When they have reached the level ground, too, there is still another labour that awaits them. Trenches—known as “agogæ” [From the Greek, ἀγωγὴ.] —have to be dug for the passage of the water; and these, at regular intervals, have a layer of ulex placed at the bottom. This ulex [It does not appear to have been identified; and it can hardly be the same as the Ulex Europæus of modern Natural History, our Furze or Gorse.] is a plant like rosemary in appearance, rough and prickly, and well-adapted for arresting any pieces of gold that may be carried along. The sides, too, are closed in with planks, and are supported by arches when carried over steep and precipitous spots. The earth, carried onwards in the stream, arrives at the sea at last, and thus is the shattered mountain washed away; causes which have greatly tended to extend the shores of Spain by these encroachments upon the deep. It is also by the agency of canals of this description that the material, excavated at the cost of such immense labour by the process previously described, [That of sinking shafts, described already in this Chapter.] is washed and carried away; for otherwise the shafts would soon be choked up by it.

The gold found by excavating with galleries does not require to be melted, but is pure gold at once. In these excavations, too, it is found in lumps, as also in the shafts which are sunk, sometimes exceeding ten pounds even. The names given to these lumps are “palagæ,” and “palacurnæ,” [All these names, no doubt, are of Spanish origin, although Salmasius would assign them a Greek one.] while the gold found in small grains is known as “baluce.” The ulex that is used for the above purpose is dried and burnt, after which the ashes of it are washed upon a bed of grassy turf, in order that the gold may be deposited thereupon.

Asturia, Gallæcia, and Lusitania furnish in this manner, yearly, according to some authorities, twenty thousand pounds’ weight of gold, the produce of Asturia forming the major part. Indeed, there is no part of the world that for centuries has maintained such a continuous fertility in gold. I have already [In B. iii. c. 24.] mentioned that by an ancient decree of the senate, the soil of Italy has been protected from these researches; otherwise, there would be no land more fertile in metals. There is extant also a censorial law relative to the gold mines of Victumulæ, in the territory of Vercellæ, [See B. iii. c. 21.] by which the farmers of the revenue were forbidden to employ more than five thousand men at the works.

Chap. 22.—Orpiment.

There is also one other method of procuring gold; by making it from orpiment, [“Auripigmentum.” Yellow sulphuret of arsenic. See B. xxxiv. c..] a mineral dug from the surface of the earth in Syria, and much used by painters. It is just the colour of gold, but brittle, like mirror-stone, [“Lapis specularis.” See B. xxxvi. c..] in fact. This substance greatly excited the hopes of the Emperor Caius, [Caligula.] a prince who was most greedy for gold. He accordingly had a large quantity of it melted, and really did obtain some excellent gold; [It was accidently mixed with the ore of arsenic, no doubt, unless, indeed, the emperor was imposed upon.] but then the proportion was so extremely small, that he found himself a loser thereby. Such was the result of an experiment prompted solely by avarice: and this too, although the price of the orpiment itself was no more than four denarii per pound. Since his time, the experiment has never been repeated.

Chap. 23.—Electrum.

In all [This is almost, but not quite, universally the case.] gold ore there is some silver, in varying proportions; a tenth part in some instances, an eighth in others. In one mine, and that only, the one known as the mine of Albucrara, in Gallæcia, [In Spain. See B. iii. c. 4, B. iv. c. 34, and B. ix. c. 2. The locality alluded to is now unknown.] the proportion of silver is but one thirty-sixth: hence it is that the ore of this mine is so much more valuable than that of others. Whenever the proportion of silver is one-fifth, the ore is known also by the name of “electrum;” [A name also given by the ancients to amber. Artificial “electrum,” or gold alloyed with silver, was known in the most ancient times.] grains, too, of this metal are often found in the gold known as “canaliense.” [The gold found by sinking shafts. See Chapter.] An artificial [See B. ix. c. 65.] electrum, too, is made, by mixing silver with gold. If the proportion of silver exceeds one-fifth, the metal offers no resistance on the anvil.

Electrum, too, was highly esteemed in ancient times, as we learn from the testimony of Homer, who represents [Od. B. iv. l. 71.] the palace of Menelaüs as refulgent with gold and electrum, silver and ivory. At Lindos, in the island of Rhodes, there is a temple dedicated to Minerva, in which there is a goblet of electrum, consecrated by Helena: history states also that it was moulded after the proportions of her bosom. One peculiar advantage of electrum is, its superior brilliancy to silver by lamp-light. Native electrum has also the property of detecting poisons; for in such case, semicircles, resembling the rainbow in appearance, will form upon the surface of the goblet, and emit a crackling noise, like that of flame, thus giving a twofold indication of the presence of poison. [Pliny no doubt has been imposed upon in this instance.]

Chap. 24.—The First Statues of Gold.

The first statue of massive gold, without any hollowness within, and anterior to any of those statues of bronze even, which are known as “holosphyratæ,” [“Solid hammer-work,” in opposition to works in metal, cast and hollow within.] is said to have been erected in the Temple of the goddess Anaïtis. To what particular region this name belongs, we have already [In B. v. c. 20, most probably. See also B. xvi. c. 64.] stated, it being that of a divinity [The worship of Anaïtis was probably a branch of the Indian worship of Nature. The Greek writers sometimes identify this goddess with their Artemis and their Aphrodite.] held in the highest veneration by the nations in that part of the world. This statue was carried off during the wars of Antonius with the people of Parthia; and a witty saying is told, with reference to it, of one of the veterans of the Roman army, a native of Bononia. Entertaining on one occasion the late Emperor Augustus at dinner, he was asked by that prince whether he was aware that the person who was the first to commit this violence upon the statue, had been struck with blindness and paralysis, and then expired. To this he made answer, that at that very moment Augustus was making his dinner off of one of her legs, for that he himself was the very man, and to that bit of plunder he had been indebted for all his fortune. [Holland has strangely mistaken the meaning of the veteran’s reply; “Yea, sir, that it is; and that methinks you should know best, for even now a leg of his you have at supper, and all your wealth besides is come unto you by that saccage.” He then adds, by way of Note, “For Augustus Cæsar defeited Antonie, and was mightily enriched by the spoile of him.”]

As regards statues of human beings, Gorgias of Leontini [In Sicily. According to Valerius Maximus and other writers, a statue of solid gold was erected by the whole of Greece, in the temple at Delphi, in honour of Gorgias, who was distinguished for his eloquence and literary attainments. The leading opinion of Gorgias was, that nothing had any real existence.] was the first to erect a solid statue of gold, in the Temple at Delphi, in honour of himself, about the seventieth [The ninetieth Olympiad, about the year 420 B.C., is much more probably the correct reading; as it was about the seventieth Olympiad, or somewhat later, that Gorgias was born.] Olympiad: so great were the fortunes then made by teaching the art of oratory!

Chap. 25.—Eight Remedies Derived from Gold.

Gold is efficacious as a remedy in many ways, being applied to wounded persons and to infants, to render any malpractices of sorcery comparatively innocuous that may be directed against them. Gold, however, itself is mischievous in its effects if carried over the head, in the case of chickens and lambs more particularly. The proper remedy in such case is to wash the gold, and to sprinkle the water upon the objects which it is wished to preserve. Gold, too, is melted with twice its weight of salt, and three times its weight of misy; [See B. xxxiv. c..] after which it is again melted with two parts of salt and one of the stone called “schistos.” [See B. xxix. c. 38. and B. xxxvi. cc.,.] Employed in this manner, it withdraws the natural acridity from the substances torrefied with it in the crucible, while at the same time it remains pure and incorrupt; the residue forming an ash which is preserved in an earthen vessel, and is applied with water for the cure of lichens on the face: the best method of washing it off is with bean-meal. These ashes have the property also of curing fistulas and the discharges known as “hæmorrhoides:” with the addition, too, of powdered pumice, they are a cure for putrid ulcers and sores which emit an offensive smell.

Gold, boiled in honey with melanthium [Or gith. See B. xx. c. 71.] and applied as a liniment to the navel, acts as a gentle purgative upon the bowels. M. Varro assures us that gold is a cure for warts. [Similar to the notion still prevalent, that the application of pure gold will remove styes on the eyelids.]