Chaps. 37-50.

Chap. 37.—The Discovery and Origin of Minium.

Theophrastus states that, ninety years before the magistracy of Praxibulus at Athens—a date which answers to the year of our City, 439—minium was discovered by Callias the Athenian, who was in hopes to extract gold, by submitting to the action of fire the red sand that was found in the silver-mines. This, he says, was the first discovery of minium. He states, also, that in his own time, it was already found in Spain, but of a harsh and sandy nature; as also in Colchis, upon a certain inaccessible rock there, from which it was brought down by the agency of darts. This, however, he says, was only an adulterated kind of minium, the best of all being that procured in the Cilbian Plains, [See B. v. c. 31.] above Ephesus, the sand of which has just the colour of the kermes berry. [See B. xvi. c. 12, and B. xxiv. c. 4.] This sand, he informs us, is first ground to powder and then washed, the portion that settles at the bottom being subjected to a second washing. From this circumstance, he says, arises a difference in the article; some persons being in the habit of preparing their minium with a single washing, while with others it is more diluted. The best kind, however, he says, is that which has undergone a second washing.

Chap. 38.—Cinnabaris.

I am not surprised that this colour should have been held in such high esteem; for already, in the days of the Trojan War, rubrica [The same as the miltos mentioned below, “miltos” being the word used by Homer, Il. II. 637. This substance is totally different from the minium of the preceding Chapters, and from that mentioned in c. 40. It is our red ochre, peroxide of iron, mixed in a greater or less degree with argillaceous earth.] was highly valued, as appears from the testimony of Homer, who particularly notices the ships that were coloured with it, whereas, in reference to other colours and paintings, he but rarely notices them. The Greeks call this red earth “miltos,” and give to minium the name of “cinnabaris,” and hence the error [See B. xxix. c. 8; where he speaks of the mistake made by the physicians in giving mineral vermilion or minium to their patients instead of Indian cinnabar. The latter substance is probably identical with that which is now used for varnishes, being imported from India, and still known as “dragons’ blood,” the resin of the Ptero-carpus draco, or Calamus palm.] caused by the two meanings of the same word; this being properly the name given to the thick matter which issues from the dragon when crushed beneath the weight of the dying elephant, mixed with the blood of either animal, as already described. [In B. viii. c. 12.] Indeed this last is the only colour that in painting gives a proper representation of blood. This cinnabaris, too, is extremely useful as an ingredient in antidotes and various medicaments. But, by Hercules! our physicians, because minium also has the name of “cinnabaris,” use it as a substitute for the other, and so employ a poison, as we shall shortly [In Chapter.] show it to be.

Chap. 39.—The Employment of Cinnabaris in Painting.

The ancients used to paint with cinnabaris [The dragon’s blood, mentioned in the preceding.] those pictures of one colour, which are still known among us as “monochromata.” [“Single colour paintings.” See B. xxxv. cc.,,,.] They painted also with the minium of Ephesus: [Mentioned in Chapter.] but the use of this last has been abandoned, from the vast trouble which the proper keeping of the picture entailed. And then besides, both these colours were thought to be too harsh; the consequence of which is, that painters have now adopted the use of rubrica [The “miltos” of the preceding Chapter. See Note above.] and of sinopis, substances of which I shall make further mention in the appropriate places. [In B. xxxv. c., et seq.]

Cinnabaris [He is here speaking of our cinnabar, or vermilion, mentioned in Chapter.] is adulterated by the agency of goats’ blood, or of bruised sorb-apples. The price of genuine cinnabaris is fifty sesterces per pound.

Chap. 40.—The Various Kinds of Minium. The Use Made of It in Painting.

According to Juba minium is also a production of Carmania, [See B. vi. cc. 27, 28, 32.] and Timagenes says that it is found in Æthiopia. But from neither of those regions is it imported to Rome, nor, indeed, from hardly any other quarter but Spain; that of most note coming from Sisapo, [See B. iii. c. 3, Vol. I. p. 163. He alludes to the district of Almaden, in Andalusia, still famous for its quicksilver mines.] a territory of Bætica, the mine of minium there forming a part of the revenues of the Roman people. Indeed there is nothing guarded with a more constant circumspection; for it is not allowable to reduce and refine the ore upon the spot, it being brought to Rome in a crude state and under seal, to the amount of about two thousand pounds per annum. At Rome, the process of washing is performed, and, in the sale of it, the price is regulated by statute; it not being allowed to exceed [When sold by the “publicani,” or farmers of the revenue.] seventy sesterces per pound. There are numerous ways, however, of adulterating it, a source of considerable plunder to the company. [Of the publicani.]

For there is, in fact, another kind [Red oxide of lead, a much inferior pigment to cinnabar, or the minium of Chapter.] of minium, found in most silver-mines as well as lead-mines, and prepared by the calcination of certain stones that are found mixed with the metallic vein—not the minerals, however, to the fluid humours of which we have given [In Chapter of this Book.] the name of quicksilver; for if those are subjected to the action of fire they will yield silver—but another kind of stone [Dana informs us that minium is usually associated with galena and with calamine. Syst. Mineral, p. 495.] that is found with them. These barren [“Steriles.” Barren of silver, probably; though Hardouin thinks that it means “barren of lead.” Holland renders it “barraine and void of the right vermilion.”] stones, too, may be recognized by their uniform leaden colour, and it is only when in the furnace that they turn red. After being duly calcined they are pulverized, and thus form a minium of second-rate quality, known to but very few, and far inferior to the produce of the native sand that we have mentioned. [In Chapter.] It is with this substance, then, as also with syricum, that the genuine minium is adulterated in the manufactories of the company. How syricum is prepared we shall describe in the appropriate place. [B. xxxv. c..] One motive, however, for giving an under-coat of syricum to minium, is the evident saving of expense that results therefrom. Minium, too, in another way affords a very convenient opportunity to painters for pilfering, by washing their brushes, [When hired by the job for colouring walls or objects of art. See B. xxxv. c..] filled with the colouring matter, every now and then. The minium of course falls to the bottom, and is thus so much gained by the thief.

Genuine minium ought to have the brilliant colour of the kermes berry; [See B. xvi. c. 12, and B. xxiv. c. 4.] but when that of inferior quality is used for walls, the brightness of it is sure to be tarnished by the moisture, and this too, although the substance itself is a sort of metallic mildew. In the mines of Sisapo, the veins are composed exclusively of the sandy particles of minium, without the intermixture of any silver whatever; the practice being to melt it like gold. Minium is assayed by the agency of gold in a state of incandescence: if it has been adulterated, it will turn black, but if genuine, it retains its colour. I find it stated also that minium is adulterated with lime; the proper mode of detecting which, is similarly to employ a sheet of red hot iron, if there should happen to be no gold at hand.

To objects painted with minium the action of the sun and moon is highly injurious. The proper method of avoiding this inconvenience, is to dry the wall, and then to apply, with, a hair brush, hot Punic wax, melted with oil; after which, the varnish must be heated, with an application of gall-nuts, burnt to a red heat, till it quite perspires. This done, it must be smoothed down with rollers [“Candelis.” The Abate Requeno thinks that these “candelæ” were used as a delicate cauterium, simply to keep the wax soft, that it might receive a polish from the friction of the linen.] made of wax, and then polished with clean linen cloths, like marble, when made to shine. Persons employed in the manufactories in preparing minium protect the face with masks of loose bladder-skin, in order to avoid inhaling the dust, which is highly pernicious; the covering being at the same time sufficiently transparent to admit of being seen through.

Minium is employed also for writing [Hence the use of it in the middle ages; a reminiscence of which still exists in our word “rubric.”] in books; and the letters made with it being more distinct, even on gold or marble, it is used for the inscriptions upon tombs.

Chap. 41. (8.)—Hydrargyros. Remedies Derived from Minium.

Human industry has also discovered a method of extracting hydrargyros [Or artificial quicksilver. In reality, hydrargyrus is prepared from the genuine minium of Pliny, the cinnabar mentioned in Chapter 36: it being obtained by the sublimation of sulphuret of mercury.] from the inferior minium, a substitute for quicksilver, the further mention of which was deferred, a few pages before, [In Chapters 20 and 32.] to the present occasion. There are two methods of preparing this substance; either by pounding minium and vinegar with a brazen pestle and mortar, or else by putting minium into flat earthen pans, covered with a lid, and then enclosed in an iron seething-pot well luted with potter’s clay. A fire is then lighted under the pans, and the flame kept continually burning by the aid of the bellows; which done, the steam is carefully removed, that is found adhering to the lid, being like silver in colour, and similar to water in its fluidity. This liquid, too, is easily made to separate in globules, which, from their fluid nature, readily unite. [This, probably, is the meaning of “lubrico humore compluere.”]

As it is a fact generally admitted, that minium is a poison, [See the end of Chapter.] I look upon all the recipes given as highly dangerous which recommend its employment for medicinal purposes; with the exception, perhaps, of those cases in which it is applied to the head or abdomen, for the purpose of arresting hæmorrhage, due care being taken that it is not allowed to penetrate to the viscera, or to touch any sore. Beyond such cases as these, for my own part, I should never recommend it to be used in medicine.

Chap. 42.—The Method of Gilding Silver.

At the present day silver is gilded almost exclusively by the agency of hydrargyros; [Artificial quicksilver is still used for this purpose. See Note to Chapter 32 of this Book; also Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 295. Bohn’s Edition.] and a similar method should always be employed in laying gold leaf upon copper. But the same fraud which ever shows itself so extremely ingenious in all departments of human industry, has devised a plan of substituting an inferior material, as already mentioned. [In Chapter. He alludes to the use of glair of eggs.]

Chap. 43.—Touchstones for Testing Gold.

A description of gold and silver is necessarily accompanied by that of the stone known as “coticula.” [Literally “whetstone.” He is speaking of the stone known to us as Touchstone, Lydian stone, or Basanite—“a velvet-black siliceous stone or flinty jasper, used on account of its hardness and black colour for trying the purity of the precious metals. The colour left on the stone after rubbing the metal across it, indicates to the experienced eye the amount of the alloy.”—Dana, Syst. Mineral., p. 242.] In former times, according to Theophrastus, this stone was nowhere to be found, except in the river Tmolus, [In Lydia. See B. v. cc. 30, 31.] but at the present day it is found in numerous places. By some persons it is known as the “Heraclian,” and by others as the “Lydian” stone. It is found in pieces of moderate size, and never exceeding four inches in length by two in breadth. The side that has lain facing the sun is superior [As a test. At the present day, concentrated nitric acid is dropped on the mark left by the metal; and the more readily the mark is effaced, the less pure is the metal.] to that which has lain next to the ground. Persons of experience in these matters, when they have scraped a particle off the ore with this stone, as with a file, can tell in a moment the proportion of gold there is in it, how much silver, or how much copper; and this to a scruple, their accuracy being so marvellous that they are never mistaken.

Chap. 44.—The Different Kinds of Silver, and the Modes of Testing It.

There are two kinds of silver. On placing a piece of it upon an iron fire-shovel at a white heat, if the metal remains perfectly white, it is of the best quality: if again it turns of a reddish colour, it is inferior; but if it becomes black, it is worthless. Fraud, however, has devised means of stultifying this test even; for by keeping the shovel immersed in men’s urine, the piece of silver absorbs it as it burns, and so displays a fictitious whiteness. There is also a kind of test with reference to polished silver: when the human breath comes in contact with it, it should immediately be covered with steam, [This seems to be the meaning of “si sudet protinus.”] the cloudiness disappearing at once.

Chap. 45. (9.)—Mirrors.

It is generally supposed among us that it is only the very finest silver that admits of being laminated, and so converted into mirrors. Pure silver was formerly used for the purpose, but, at the present day, this too has been corrupted by the devices of fraud. But, really, it is a very marvellous property that this metal has, of reflecting objects; a property which, it is generally agreed, results from the repercussion of the air, [A very far-fetched explanation, and very wide of the mark.] thrown back as it is from the metal upon the eyes. The same too is the action that takes place when we use a mirror. If, again, a thick plate of this metal is highly polished, and is rendered slightly concave, [“Paulum propulsa.”] the image or object reflected is enlarged to an immense extent; so vast is the difference between a surface receiving, [Which he supposes a concave surface to do.] and throwing back the air. Even more than this—drinking-cups are now made in such a manner, as to be filled inside with numerous [This passage is noticed by Beckmann, in his account of Mirrors; Vol. II. p. 58. Bohn’s Edition.] concave facets, like so many mirrors; so that if but one person looks into the interior, he sees reflected a whole multitude of persons.

Mirrors, too, have been invented to reflect monstrous [Distorting the image reflected, by reason of the irregularities of the surface. See Seneca, Nat. Quæst. B. i. c. 5.] forms; those, for instance, which have been consecrated in the Temple at Smyrna. This, however, all results from the configuration given to the metal; and it makes all the difference whether the surface has a concave form like the section of a drinking cup, or whether it is [convex] like a Thracian [“Parma Thræcidica.”] buckler; whether it is depressed in the middle or elevated; whether the surface has a direction [He probably means, whether the surface is made convex or concave at these different angles.] transversely or obliquely; or whether it runs horizontally or vertically; the peculiar configuration of the surface which receives the shadows, causing them to undergo corresponding distortions: for, in fact, the image is nothing else but the shadow of the object collected upon the bright surface of the metal.

However, to finish our description of mirrors on the present [A subject to which he returns in various parts of B. i.] occasion—the best, in the times of our ancestors, were those of Brundisium, [See B. xxxiv. c..] composed of a mixture of [As to the identification of “stannum,” on which there have been great differences of opinion, see B. xxxiv. cc.,, and the Notes.] stannum and copper: at a later period, however, those made of silver were preferred, Pasiteles [For some account of this artist, see Chapter and the at the end of this Book.] being the first who made them, in the time [“Silver mirrors were known long before this period, as is proved by a passage in the Mostellaria of Plautus, A. 1, S. 3, l. 101, where they are distinctly mentioned. To reconcile this contradiction, Meursius remarks that Pliny speaks only of his countrymen, and not of the Greeks, who had such articles much earlier, though the scene in Plautus is at Athens.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 62. Bohn’s Edition.] of Pompeius Magnus. More recently, [“Nuper credi cœptum certiorem imaginem reddi auro opposito aversis.”—“Of what Pliny says here I can give no explanation. Hardouin (qy. if not Dalechamps?) is of opinion that mirrors, according to the newest invention, at that period were covered behind with a plate of gold, as our mirrors are with an amalgam. But as the ancient plates of silver were not transparent, how could the gold at the back of them produce any effect in regard to the image? May not the meaning be that a thin plate of gold was placed at some distance before the mirror, in order to throw more light upon its surface? Whatever may have been the case, Pliny himself seems not to have had much confidence in the invention.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 62.] a notion has arisen that the object is reflected with greater distinctness, by the application to the back of the mirror of a layer of gold. [Dr. Watson (Chemical Essays, Vol. IV. p. 246) seems to think that Pliny is here speaking of glass mirrors: “If we admit that Pliny was acquainted with glass mirrors, we may thus understand what he says respecting an invention which was then new, of applying gold behind a mirror. Instead of an amalgam of tin, some one had proposed to cover the back of the mirror with an amalgam of gold, with which the ancients were certainly acquainted, and which they employed in gilding.” See Chapter of the present Book. On the above passage by Dr. Watson, Beckmann has the following remarks: “This conjecture appears, at any rate, to be ingenious; but when I read the passage again, without prejudice, I can hardly believe that Pliny alludes to a plate of glass in a place where he speaks only of metallic mirrors; and the overlaying with amalgam requires too much art to allow me to ascribe it to such a period without sufficient proof. I consider it more probable, that some person had tried, by means of a polished plate of gold, to collect the rays of light, and to throw them either on the mirror or the object, in order to render the image brighter.”—Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 72.]

Chap. 46.—Egyptian Silver.

The people of Egypt stain their silver vessels, that they may see represented in them their god Anubis; [The dog-headed divinity. The seat of his worship was at Cynopolis, mentioned in B. v. c. 11. Under the Empire his worship became widely spread both in Greece and at Rome.] and it is the custom with them to paint, [Under the word “pingit,” he probably includes the art of enamelling silver.] and not to chase, their silver. This usage has now passed to our own triumphal statues even; and, a truly marvellous fact, the value of silver has been enhanced by deadening its brilliancy. [“Fulgoris excæcati.”] The following is the method adopted: with the silver are mixed two-thirds of the very finest Cyprian copper, that known as “coronarium,” [“Chaplet” copper.] and a proportion of live sulphur equal to that of the silver. The whole of these are then melted in an earthen vessel well luted with potter’s clay, the operation being completed when the cover becomes detached from the vessel. Silver admits also of being blackened with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg; a tint, however, which is removed by the application of vinegar and chalk.

The Triumvir Antonius alloyed the silver denarius with iron: and in spurious coin there is an alloy of copper employed. Some, again, curtail [He either alludes to the practice of clipping the coin, or else to the issue of forged silver denarii, short of weight.] the proper weight of our denarii, the legitimate proportion being eighty-four denarii to a pound of silver. It was in consequence of these frauds that a method was devised of assaying the denarius: the law ordaining which was so much to the taste of the plebeians, that in every quarter of the City there was a full-length statue erected [During the prætorship of Marius Gratidianus. He was on terms of great intimacy with Cicero, and was murdered by Catiline in a most barbarous manner during the proscriptions of Sylla.] in honour of Marius Gratidianus. It is truly marvellous, that in this art, and in this only, the various methods of falsification should be made a study: [By public enactment probably; samples of the false denarius being sold for the purpose of showing the difference between it and the genuine coin.] for the sample of the false denarius is now an object of careful examination, and people absolutely buy the counterfeit coin at the price of many genuine ones!

Chap. 47. (10.)—Instances of Immense Wealth. Persons Who Have Possessed the Greatest Sums of Money.

The ancients bad no number whereby to express a larger sum than one hundred thousand; and hence it is that, at the present day, we reckon by multiples of that number, as, for instance, ten times one hundred thousand, and so on. [Twenty times one hundred thousand, &c.] For these multiplications we are indebted to usury and the use of coined money; and hence, too, the expression “æs alienum,” or “another man’s money,” which we still use. [As signifying a “debt owing to another.”] In later times, again, the surname “Dives” [“The Rich.”] was given to some: only be it known to all, that the man who first received this surname became a bankrupt and so bubbled his creditors. [This seems the best translation for “decoxisse creditoribus suis,” which literally means that he “boiled” or “melted away” his fortune from his creditors. In this remark Pliny is more witty than usual.] M. Crassus, [The Triumvir. The first person mentioned in Roman history as having the cognomen “Dives,” is P. Licinius Crassus, the personage mentioned in B. xxi. c. 4. As he attained the highest honours of the state, and died universally respected, he cannot be the person so opprobriously spoken of by Pliny.] a member of the same family, used to say that no man was rich, who could not maintain a legion upon his yearly income. He possessed in land two hundred millions [The meaning appears to be doubtful here, as it is not clear whether “sesterces,” or “sestertia,” “thousands of sesterces,” is meant.] of sesterces, being the richest Roman citizen next to Sylla. Nor was even this enough for him, but he must want to possess all the gold of the Parthians too! [Who cut off his head after his death, and poured molten gold down his throat.] And yet, although he was the first to become memorable for his opulence—so pleasant is the task of stigmatizing this insatiate cupidity—we have known of many manumitted slaves, since his time, much more wealthy than he ever was; three for example, all at the same time, in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, Pallas, [Originally the slave of Antonia, the mother of Claudius. Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, admitted him to her embraces, and in conjunction with her he for some time ruled the destinies of the Roman Empire. He was poisoned by order of Nero, A.D. 63.] Callistus, [C. Julius Callistus, the freedman of Caligula, in whose assassination he was an accomplice. The physician Scribonius Largus dedicated his work to Callistus.] and Narcissus. [A freedman of the Emperor Claudius, whose epistolary correspondence he superintended. He was put to death on the accession of Nero, A.D. 54.]

But to omit all further mention of these men, as though they were still [In which case it would be dangerous to speak of them.] the rulers of the empire, let us turn to C. Cæcilius Claudius Isidorus, who, in the consulship of C. Asinius Gallus and C. Marcius Censorinus, [A.U.C. 746.] upon the sixth day before the calends of February, declared by his will, that though he had suffered great losses through the civil wars, he was still able to leave behind him four thousand one hundred and sixteen slaves, three thousand six hundred pairs of oxen, and two hundred and fifty-seven thousand heads of other kind of cattle, besides, in ready money, sixty millions of sesterces. Upon his funeral, also, he ordered eleven hundred thousand sesterces to be expended.

And yet, supposing all these enormous riches to be added together, how small a proportion will they bear to the wealth of Ptolemæus; the person who, according to Varro, when Pompeius was on his expedition in the countries adjoining Judæa, entertained eight thousand horsemen at his own expense, and gave a repast to one thousand guests, setting before every one of them a drinking-cup of gold, and changing these vessels at every course! And then, again, how insignificant would his wealth have been by the side of that of Pythius the Bithynian [According to some authorities, he was a Lydian. He derived his wealth from his gold mines in the neighbourhood of Celænæ in Phrygia, and would appear, in spite of Pliny’s reservation, to have been little less than a king. His five sons accompanied Xerxes; but Pythius, alarmed by an eclipse of the sun, begged that the eldest might be left behind. Upon this, Xerxes had the youth put to death, and his body cut in two, the army being ordered to march between the portions, which were placed on either side of the road. His other sons were all slain in battle, and Pythius passed the rest of his life in solitude.] —for I here make no mention of kings, be it remarked. He it was who gave the celebrated plane-tree and vine of gold to King Darius, and who entertained at a banquet the troops of Xerxes, seven hundred and eighty-eight thousand men in all; with a promise of pay and corn for the whole of them during the next five months, on condition that one at least of his five children, who had been drawn for service, should be left to him as the solace of his old age. And yet, let any one compare the wealth of Pythius to that possessed by King Crœsus!

In the name of all that is unfortunate, what madness it is for human nature to centre its desires upon a thing that has either fallen to the lot of slaves, or else has reached no known limit in the aspirations even of kings!

Chap. 48.—At What Period the Roman People First Made Voluntary Contributions.

The Roman people first began to make voluntary contributions [“Stipem spargere.”] in the consulship of Spurius Posthumius and Quintus Marcius. [A.U.C. 568.] So abundant was money at that period, that the people assessed themselves for a contribution to L. Scipio, to defray the expenses of the games which he celebrated. [In performance of a vow made in the war with King Antiochus. See Livy, B. xxxix.] As to the contribution of the sixth part of an as, for the purpose of defraying the funeral expenses of Agrippa Menenius, I look upon that to have been a mark of respect paid to him, an honour, too, that was rendered necessary by his poverty, rather than in the light of a largess.

Chap. 49. (11.)—Instances of Luxury in Silver Plate.

The caprice of the human mind is marvellously exemplified in the varying fashions of silver plate; the work of no individual manufactory being for any long time in vogue. At one period, the Furnian plate, at another the Clodian, and at another the Gratian, [So called from the silversmiths who respectively introduced them. The Gratian plate is mentioned by Martial, B. iv. Epigr. 39.] is all the rage—for we borrow the shop even at our tables. [“Etenim tabernas mensis adoptamus.”] —Now again, it is embossed plate [“Anaglypta.” Plate chased in relief. It is mentioned in the Epigram of Martial above referred to.] that we are in search of, and silver deeply chiselled around the marginal lines of the figures painted [“Asperitatemque exciso circa liniarum picturas,”—a passage, the obscurity of which, as Littré remarks, seems to set translation at defiance.] upon it; and now we are building up on our sideboards fresh tiers [He alludes, probably to tiers of shelves on the beaufets or sideboards—“repositoria”—similar to those used for the display of plate in the middle ages. Petronius Arbiter speaks of a round “repositorium,” which seems to have borne a considerable resemblance to our “dumb waiters.” The “repositoria” here alluded to by Pliny were probably made of silver.] of tables for supporting the various dishes. Other articles of plate we nicely pare away, [“Interradimus.”] it being an object that the file may remove as much of the metal as possible.

We find the orator Calvus complaining that the saucepans are made of silver; but it has been left for us to invent a plan of covering our very carriages [“Carrucæ.” The “carruca” was a carriage, the name of which only occurs under the emperors, the present being the first mention of it. It had four wheels and was used in travelling, like the “carpentum.” Martial, B. iii. Epig. 47, uses the word as synonymous with “rheda.” Alexander Severus allowed the senators to have them plated with silver. The name is of Celtic origin, and is the basis of the mediæval word “carucate,” and the French carrosse.] with chased silver, and it was in our own age that Poppæa, the wife of the Emperor Nero, ordered her favourite mules to be shod even with gold!

Chap. 50.—Instances of the Frugality of the Ancients in Reference to Silver Plate.

The younger Scipio Africanus left to his heir thirty-two pounds’ weight of silver; the same person who, on his triumph over the Carthaginians, displayed four thousand three hundred and seventy pounds’ weight of that metal. Such was the sum total of the silver possessed by the whole of the inhabitants of Carthage, that rival of Rome for the empire of the world! How many a Roman since then has surpassed her in his display of plate for a single table! After the destruction of Numantia, the same Africanus gave to his soldiers, on the day of his triumph, a largess of seven denarii each—and right worthy were they of such a general, when satisfied with such a sum! His brother, Scipio Allobrogicus, [So called from his victory over the Allobroges.] was the very first who possessed one thousand pounds’ weight of silver, but Drusus Livius, when he was tribune of the people, possessed ten thousand. As to the fact that an ancient warrior, [In allusion to the case of P. Cornelius Rufinus, the consul, who was denounced in the senate by the censors C. Fabricius Luscinus and Q. Æmilius Rufus, for being in possession of a certain quantity of silver plate. This story is also referred to in B. xviii. c. 8, where ten pounds is the quantity mentioned.] a man, too, who had enjoyed a triumph, should have incurred the notice of the censor for being in possession of five pounds’ weight of silver, it is a thing that would appear quite fabulous at the present day. [This is said ironically.] The same, too, with the instance of Catus Ælius, [Sextus Ælius Pœtus Catus, Consul B.C. 198.] who, when consul, after being found by the Ætolian ambassadors taking his morning meal [“Prandentem.”] off of common earthenware, refused to receive the silver vessels which they sent him; and, indeed, was never in possession, to the last day of his life, of any silver at all, with the exception of two drinking-cups, which had been presented to him as the reward of his valour, by L. Paulus, [L. Paulus Æmilius.] his father-in-law, on the conquest of King Perseus.

We read, too, that the Carthaginian ambassadors declared that no people lived on more amicable terms among themselves than the Romans, for that wherever they had dined they had always met with the same [It being lent from house to house. This, no doubt, was said ironically, and as a sneer at their poverty.] silver plate. And yet, by Hercules! to my own knowledge, Pompeius Paulinus, son of a Roman of equestrian rank at Arelate, [Now Arles. It was made a military colony in the time of Augustus. See B. iii. c. 5, and B. x. c. 57.] a member, too, of a family, on the paternal side, that was graced with the fur, [“Pellitum.” There has been considerable doubt as to the meaning of this, but it is most probable that the “privilege of the fur,” or in other words, a license to be clad in certain kinds of fur, was conferred on certain men of rank in the provinces. Holland considers it to be the old participle of “pello,” and translates the passage “banished out of the country and nation where his father was born.”] had with him, when serving with the army, and that, too, in a war against the most savage nations, a service of silver plate that weighed twelve thousand pounds!