Chaps. 51-58.

Chap. 51.—At What Period Silver Was First Used as an Ornament for Couches.

For this long time past, however, it has been the fashion to plate the couches of our women, as well as some of our banquetting-couches, [“Triclinia.” The couches on which they reclined when at table.] entirely with silver. Carvilius Pollio, [See B. ix. c. 13.] a Roman of equestrian rank, was the first, it is said, to adorn these last with silver; not, I mean, to plate them all over, nor yet to make them after the Delian pattern; the Punic [This pattern, whatever it may have been, is also spoken of by Cicero, pro Murenâ, and by Valerius Maximus, B. vii. c. 1.] fashion being the one he adopted. It was after this last pattern too, that he had them ornamented with gold as well: and it was not long after his time that silver couches came into fashion, in imitation of the couches of Delos. All this extravagance, however, was fully expiated by the civil wars of Sulla.

Chap. 52.—At What Period Silver Chargers of Enormous Size Were First Made. When Silver Was First Used as a Material for Sideboards. When the Sideboards Called Tympana Were First Introduced.

In fact, it was but very shortly before that period that these couches were invented, as well as chargers [“Lances.”] of silver, one hundred pounds in weight: of which last, it is a well-known fact, that there were then upwards of one hundred and fifty in Rome, and that many persons were proscribed through the devices of others who were desirous to gain possession thereof. Well may our Annals be put to the blush for having to impute those civil wars to the existence of such vices as these!

Our own age, however, has waxed even stronger in this respect. In the reign of Claudius, his slave Drusillanus, surnamed Rotundus, who acted as his steward [“Dispensator.”] in Nearer Spain, possessed a silver charger weighing five hundred pounds, for the manufacture of which a workshop had had to be expressly built. This charger was accompanied also by eight other dishes, each two hundred and fifty pounds in weight. How many of his fellow-slaves, [“Conservi”—said in keen irony.] pray, would it have taken to introduce these dishes, or who [Giants, at least, one would think.] were to be the guests served therefrom?

Cornelius Nepos says that before the victory gained [Over the party of Marius.] by Sylla, there were but two banquetting couches adorned with silver at Rome, and that in his own recollection, silver was first used for adorning sideboards. Fenestella, who died at the end of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, informs us that at that period sideboards, inlaid even with tortoiseshell, [See B. ix. c. 13.] had come into fashion; whereas, a little before his time, they had been made of solid wood, of a round shape, and not much larger than our tables. He says, however, that when he was quite a boy, they had begun to make the sideboards square, and of different [“Compacta;” probably meaning inlaid like Mosaic.] pieces of wood, or else veneered with maple or citrus: [See B. xiii. c. 29, B. xv. c. 7, and B. xvi. cc. 26, 27, 84.] and that at a later period the fashion was introduced of overlaying the corners and the seams at the joinings with silver. The name given to them in his youth, he says, was “tympana;” [Meaning, “drum sideboards,” or “tambour sideboards,” their shape, probably, being like that of our dumb waiters.] and it was at this period, too, that the chargers which had been known as “magides” by the ancients, first received the name of “lances,” from their resemblance [The name given to which was “lanx,” plural “lances.”] to the scales of a balance.

Chap. 53.—The Enormous Price of Silver Plate.

It is not, however, only for vast quantities of plate that there is such a rage among mankind, but even more so, if possible, for the plate of peculiar artists: and this too, to the exculpation of our own age, has long been the case. C. Gracchus possessed some silver dolphins, for which he paid five thousand sesterces per pound. Lucius Crassus, the orator, paid for two goblets chased by the hand of the artist Mentor, [His age and country are uncertain. We learn, however, from Chapter of this Book, that he flourished before the burning of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, B.C. 356. He is frequently mentioned in the classical writers. See also B. vii. c. 39.] one hundred thousand sesterces: but he confessed that for very shame he never dared use them, as also that he had other articles of plate in his possession, for which he had paid at the rate of six thousand sesterces per pound. It was the conquest of Asia [He includes, probably, under this name both Asia Minor and Syria. See a similar passage in Livy, B. xxxix.] that first introduced luxury into Italy; for we find that Lucius Scipio, in his triumphal procession, exhibited one thousand four hundred pounds’ weight of chased silver, with golden vessels, the weight of which amounted to one thousand five hundred pounds. This [This passage is rejected by Sillig as a needless interpolation.] took place in the year from the foundation of the City, 565. But that which inflicted a still more severe blow upon the Roman morals, was the legacy of Asia, [Asia Minor.] which King Attalus [King of Pergamus.] left to the state at his decease, a legacy which was even more disadvantageous than the victory of Scipio, [Over King Antiochus.] in its results. For, upon this occasion, all scruple was entirely removed, by the eagerness which existed at Rome, for making purchases at the auction of the king’s effects. This took place in the year of the City, 622, the people having learned, during the fifty-seven years that had intervened, not only to admire, but to covet even, the opulence of foreign nations. The tastes of the Roman people had received, too, an immense impulse from the conquest of Achaia, [He alludes to the destruction of Corinth, by L. Mummius Achaïcus.] which, during this interval, in the year of the City, 608, that nothing might be wanting, had introduced both statues and pictures. The same epoch, too, that saw the birth of luxury, witnessed the downfall of Carthage; so that, by a fatal coincidence, the Roman people, at the same moment, both acquired a taste for vice and obtained a license for gratifying it.

Some, too, of the ancients sought to recommend themselves by this love of excess; for Caius Marius, after his victory over the Cimbri, drank from a cantharus, [A drinking cup with handles, sacred to Bacchus. See B. xxxiv. c..] it is said, in imitation of Father Liber; [Bacchus.] Marius, that ploughman [In allusion to the plebeian origin of C. Marius, who was born at the village of Cereatæ, near Arpinum. It is more than probable that the story that he had worked as a common peasant for wages, was an invention of the faction of Sylla.] of Arpinum, a general who had risen from the ranks! [“Ille arator Arpinas, et manipularis imperator.”]

Chap. 54. (12.)—Statues of Silver.

It is generally believed, but erroneously, that silver was first employed for making statues of the deified Emperor Augustus, at a period when adulation was all the fashion: for I find it stated, that in the triumph celebrated by Pompeius Magnus there was a silver statue exhibited of Pharnaces, the first [Meaning the first king of that name. He was son of Mithridates IV., king of Pontus.] king of Pontus, as also one of Mithridates Eupator, [Appian says that there “was a gold statue of this Mithridates, exhibited in the triumph of Pompey, eight cubits in height.” Plutarch speaks of another statue of the same king, exhibited by Lucullus, six feet in height.] besides chariots of gold and silver.

Silver, too, has in some instances even supplanted gold; for the luxurious tastes of the female plebeians having gone so far as to adopt the use of shoe-buckles of gold, [“Compedes.” See Chapter of this Book.] it is considered old-fashioned to wear them made of that metal. [The translation of this passage is somewhat doubtful. We will, therefore, subjoin that of Holland, who adopts the other version. “As we may see by our proud and sumptuous dames, that are but commoners and artizans’ wives, who are forced to make themselves carquans and such ornaments for their shoes, of silver, because the rigour of the statute provided in that case will not permit them to weare the same of gold.”] I myself, too, have seen Arellius Fuscus [A rhetorician who taught at Rome in the reign of Augustus. The poet Ovid was one of his pupils. His rival in teaching declamation was Porcius Latro.] —the person whose name was erased from the equestrian order on a singularly calumnious charge, [Of an improper intimacy with his pupils.] when his school was so thronged by our youth, attracted thither by his celebrity—wearing rings made of silver. But of what use is it to collect all these instances, when our very soldiers, holding ivory even in contempt, have the hilts of their swords made of chased silver? when, too, their scabbards are heard to jingle with their silver chains, and their belts with the plates of silver with which they are inlaid?

At the present day, too, the continence of our very pages is secured by the aid of silver: [Rings of silver being passed through the prepuce. This practice is described by Celsus, B. vii. c. 25.] our women, when bathing, quite despise any sitting-bath that is not made of silver: while for serving up food at table, as well as for the most unseemly purposes, the same metal must be equally employed! Would that Fabricius could behold these instances of luxuriousness, the baths of our women—bathing as they do in company with the men—paved with silver to such an extent that there is not room left for the sole of the foot even! Fabricius, I say, who would allow of no general of an army having any other plate than a patera and a salt-cellar of silver.—Oh that he could see how that the rewards of valour in our day are either composed of these objects of luxury, or else are broken up to make them! [“Videret hinc dona fortium fieri, aut in hæc frangi.”] Alas for the morals of our age! Fabricius puts us to the blush.

Chap. 55.—The Most Remarkable Works in Silver, and the Names of the Most Famous Artists in Silver.

It is a remarkable fact that the art of chasing gold should have conferred no celebrity upon any person, while that of embossing silver has rendered many illustrious. The greatest renown, however, has been acquired by Mentor, of whom mention has been made already. [In B. vii. c. 39, and in Chapter of this Book.] Four pairs [of vases] were all that were ever [“Quatuor paria ab eo omnino facta sunt.” Sillig, in his Dictionary of Ancient Artists, finds a difficulty in this passage. “The term ‘omnino’ seems to imply that the productions in question, all of which perished, were the only works executed by this artist; but we find several passages of ancient writers, in which vases, &c. engraved by Mentor, are mentioned as extant. Thus, then, we must conclude, either that the term ‘omnino’ should be understood in the sense of ‘chiefly,’ ‘pre-eminently,’ or that the individuals claiming to possess works of Mentor, were themselves misinformed, or endeavoured to deceive others.” If, however, we look at the word “paria” in a strictly technical sense, the difficulty will probably be removed. Pliny’s meaning seems to be that Mentor made four pairs, and no more, of some peculiar kind of vessel probably, and that all these pairs were now lost. He does not say that Mentor did not make other works of art, in single pieces. Thiersch, Act. Acad. Monac. v. p. 128, expresses an opinion that the word “omnino” is a corruption, and that in it lies concealed the name of the kind of plate that is meant.] made by him; and at the present day, not one of these, it is said, is any longer in existence, owing to the conflagrations of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and of that in the Capitol. [See B. vii. c. 39.] Varro informs us in his writings that he also was in possession of a bronze statue, the work of this artist. Next to Mentor, the most admired artists were Acragas, [His age and country are unknown.] Boëthus, [From Pausanias we learn that he was a statuary and engraver on plate, born at Carthage; but Raoul Rochette thinks that he was a native of Chalcedon. He is mentioned also by Cicero, In Verrem, 4. 14, and in the Culex, l. 66, ascribed by some to Virgil.] and Mys. [His country is uncertain. According to the statements of Pausanias, B. i. c. 28, he must have been a contemporary of Phidias, about Olymp. 84, B.C. 444. He is mentioned also by Propertius, Martial, and Statius.] Works of all these artists are still extant in the Isle of Rhodes; of Boëthus, in the Temple of Minerva, at Lindus; of Acragas, in the Temple of Father Liber, at Rhodes, consisting of cups engraved with figures in relief of Centaurs and Bacchantes; and of Mys, in the same temple, figures of Sileni and Cupids. Representations also of the chase by Acragas on drinking cups were held in high estimation.

Next to these in repute comes Calamis. [His birth-place is unknown, but he probably lived about the time of Phidias, and we learn from Pausanias that he was living when the plague ceased at Athens, in B.C. 429. He is mentioned also by Cicero, Ovid, Quintilian, Lucian, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.] Antipater [Nothing further is known of this artist.] too, it has been said, laid, rather than engraved, [“Collocavisse verius quam cælasse.”] a Sleeping Satyr upon a drinking-bowl. [“Phiala.”] Next to these come Stratonicus [He lived probably about Olymp. 126; but his country is unknown. He is mentioned by Athenæus. See also B. xxxiv. c..] of Cyzicus, and Tauriscus: [Nothing whatever is known of him, unless indeed he is identical with the Tauriscus mentioned in B. xxxvi. c..] Ariston [Nothing is known of his age or country. He is also mentioned in B. xxxiv. c..] also, and Eunicus, [His age and country are unknown. See B. xxxiv. c..] of Mytilene are highly praised; Hecatæus [Nothing further is known of him. See B. xxxiv. c..] also, and, about the age of Pompeius Magnus, Pasiteles, [See the of this Book.] Posidonius [Beyond the mention made of him in B. xxxiv. c., no particulars relative to him are known.] of Ephesus, Hedystratides [Other readings of this name are “Lædus Stratiotes,” “Ledis Thracides,” “Hieris Thracides,” and “Lidistratices.” The Bamberg MS. has “Hedys Trachides.” Salmasius, Hardouin, and Sillig propose “Leostratides,” and Thiersch “Lysistratides.”] who engraved battle-scenes and armed warriors, and Zopyrus, [Nothing further is known of him.] who represented the Court of the Areopagus and the trial of Orestes, [For the murder of his mother Clytæmnestra.] upon two cups valued at twelve thousand sesterces. There was Pytheas [Nothing is known of this artist.] also, a work of whose sold at the rate of ten thousand denarii for two ounces: it was a drinking-bowl, the figures on which represented Ulysses and Diomedes stealing the Palladium. [From Troy.] The same artist engraved also, upon some small drinking-vessels, kitchen scenes, [“Coquos,” literally, “cooks.”] known as “magiriscia;” [“Cooks in miniature.”] of such remarkably fine workmanship and so liable to injury, that it was quite impossible to take copies [By the process of moulding, probably.] of them. Teucer too, the inlayer, [“Crustarius.” Of this artist nothing further is known.] enjoyed a great reputation.

All at once, however, this art became so lost in point of excellence, that at the present day ancient specimens are the only ones at all valued; and only those pieces of plate are held in esteem the designs on which are so much worn that the figures cannot be distinguished.

Silver becomes tainted by the contact of mineral waters, and of the salt exhalations from them, as in the interior of Spain, for instance.

Chap. 56.—Sil: The Persons Who First Used It in Painting, and the Method They Adopted.

In the mines of gold and silver there are some other pigments also found, sil [Yellow or brown Ochre, probably. Ajasson thinks that under this name may be included peroxide of iron, hydroxide of iron in a stalactitic and mamillary form, and compact peroxide of iron, imparting a colour to argillaceous earth.] and cæruleum. Sil is, properly speaking, a sort of slime. [“Scaly and ochrey brown iron ore are decomposed earthy varieties, often soft like chalk; yellow ochre is here included.”—Dana, Syst. Mineral, p. 436.] The best kind is that known as Attic sil; the price of which is two denarii per pound. The next best kind is the marbled [“Marmorosum.”] sil, the price of which is half that of the Attic kind. A third sort is the compressed sil, known to some persons as Scyric sil, it coming from the Isle of Scyros. Then, too, there is the sil of Achaia, which painters make use of for shadow-painting, and the price of which is two sesterces per pound. At a price of two asses less per pound, is sold the clear [“Lucidum.”] sil, which comes from Gaul. This last kind, as well as the Attic sil, is used for painting strong lights: but the marbled sil only is employed for colouring compartitions, [“Abacos.” Small compartments or partitions in a square form on the walls of rooms.] the marble in it offering a resistance to the natural acridity of the lime. This last kind is extracted also from some mountains twenty miles distant from the City. When thus extracted, it is submitted to the action of fire; in which form it is adulterated by some, and sold for compressed sil. That it has been burnt, however, and adulterated, may be very easily detected by its acridity, and the fact that it very soon crumbles into dust.

Polygnotus [See B. vii. c. 57, where he is called an Athenian, whereas he was a native of Thasos. He was one of the most eminent painters of antiquity, and flourished in the age of Pericles. See a further account of him in B. xxxv. c..] and Micon [Son of Phanochus, and contemporary of Polygnotus. See B. xxxv. c., where it is stated that in conjunction with Polygnotus, he either invented some new colours, or employed them in his paintings on a better plan than that previously adopted.] were the first to employ sil in painting, but that of Attica solely. The succeeding age used this last kind for strong lights only, and employed the Scyric and Lydian kinds for shadow painting. The Lydian sil used to be bought at Sardes; but at the present day we hear nothing of it.

Chap. 57. (13.)—Cæruleum.

Cæruleum [“It is possible that the ‘cæruleum’ of the ancients may in some cases have been real ultramarine, but properly and in general, it was only copper ochre.”—Beckmann’s Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 472. Bohn’s Edition. Delafosse identifies it with blue carbonate and hydrocarbonate of copper, one of the two azurites.] is a kind of sand. In former times there were three kinds of it; the Egyptian, which was the most esteemed of all; the Scythian, which is easily dissolved, and which produces four colours when pounded, one of a lighter blue and one of a darker blue, one of a thicker consistency and one comparatively thin; [“Candidiorem nigrioremve, et crassiorem tenuioremve.”] and the Cyprian, which is now preferred as a colour to the preceding. Since then, the kinds imported from Puteoli and Spain have been added to the list, this sand having of late been prepared there. Every kind, [Beckmann thinks that Pliny is here alluding to an artificial kind of “cæruleum.” “Pliny clearly adds to it an artificial colour, which in my opinion was made in the same manner as our lake; for he speaks of an earth, which when boiled with plants, acquired their blue colour.”—Hist. Inv., Vol. II. p. 480.] however, is submitted to a dyeing process, it being boiled with a plant [Supposed by Hardouin to have been “glastum” or “woad,” the Isatis tinctoria of Linnæus, mentioned in B. xxii. c. 2.] used particularly for this purpose, [“In suâ coquitur herbâ.”] and imbibing its juices. In other respects, the mode of preparing it is similar to that of chrysocolla. From cæruleum, too, is prepared the substance known as “lomentum,” [A blue powder; see Chapter of this Book. Beckmann has the following remarks on this and the preceding lines: “The well-known passage of Pliny in which Lehmann thinks he can with certainty discover cobalt, is so singular a medley that nothing to be depended on can be gathered from it. The author, it is true, where he treats of mineral pigments, seems to speak of a blue sand which produced different shades of blue paint, according as it was pounded coarser or finer. The palest powder was called lomentum, and this Lehmann considers as our powder-blue. I am, however, fully convinced that the cyanus of Theophrastus, the cæruleum of Pliny, and the chrysocolla (see Chapter), were the blue copper earth already mentioned, which may have been mixed and blended together.”—Hist. Inv. Vol. I. pp. 480, 481. Bohn’s Edition.] it being washed and ground for the purpose. Lomentum is of a paler tint than cæruleum; the price of it is ten denarii per pound, and that of cæruleum but eight. Cæruleum is used upon a surface of clay, for upon lime it will not hold. A more recent invention is the Vestorian [According to Vitruvius, B. vii. c. 11, the manufactory of Vestorius was at Puteoli, now Pozzuoli. This was probably the same C. Vestorius who was also a money-lender and a friend of Atticus, and with whom Cicero had monetary transactions. He is mentioned as “Vestorium meum,” in the Epistles of Cicero to Atticus.] cæruleum, so called from the person who first manufactured it: it is prepared from the finer parts of Egyptian cæruleum, and the price of it is eleven denarii per pound. That of Puteoli is used in a similar manner, [For colouring surfaces of clay or cretaceous earth. This kind was also manufactured by Vesturius, most probably.] as also for windows: [“Idem et Puteolani usus, præterque ad fenestras.” “The expression here, usus ad fenestras, has been misapplied by Lehmann, as a strong proof of his assertion; for he explained it as if Pliny had said that a blue pigment was used for painting window-frames; but glass windows were at that time unknown. I suspect that Pliny meant to say only that one kind of paint could not be employed near openings which afforded a passage to the light, as it soon decayed and lost its colour. This would have been the case in particular with lake, in which there was a mixture of vegetable particles.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 480.] it is known as “cylon.”

It is not so long since that indicum [“Indian” pigment. Probably our “indigo.” It is again mentioned, and at greater length, in B. xxxv. c.. See also Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 259, 267. Bohn’s Edition.] was first imported to Rome, the price being seventeen [This is probably a more correct reading than “seven.”] denarii per pound. Painters make use of it for incisures, or in other words, the division of shadows from light. There is also a lomentum of very inferior quality, known to us as “ground” lomentum, and valued at only five asses per pound.

The mode of testing the genuineness of cæruleum, is to see whether it emits a flame, on being laid upon burning coals. One method of adulterating it is to boil dried violets in water, and then to strain the liquor through linen into Eretrian [See B. xxxv. c.. Vitruvius, B. vii. c. 14, describes an exactly similar method adopted by dyers for imitating the colour of Attic sil, or ochre, mentioned in Chapter.] clay.

Chap. 58.—Two Remedies Derived from Cæruleum.

Cæruleum has the medicinal property of acting as a detergent upon ulcers. Hence it is, that it is used as an ingredient in plasters, as also in cauteries. As to sil, it is pounded with the greatest difficulty: viewed as a medicament, it is slightly mordent and astringent, and fills up the cavities left by ulcers. To make it the more serviceable, it is burnt in earthen vessels.

The prices of things, which I have in different places annexed, vary, I am well aware, according to the locality, and experience a change almost every year: variations dependent upon the opportunities afforded for navigation, and the terms upon which the merchant may have purchased the article. It may so happen, too, that some wealthy dealer has engrossed the market, and so enhanced the price: for I am by no means forgetful of the case of Demetrius, who in the reign of the Emperor Nero was accused before the consuls by the whole community of the Seplasia. [A quarter in the city of Capua, inhabited by druggists and perfumers; see B. xvi. c. 18, and B. xxxiv. c..] Still, however, I have thought it necessary to annex the usual price of each commodity at Rome, in order to give some idea of their relative values.

Summary. —Remedies, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and twenty-five.

Roman Authors quoted. —Domitianus Cæsar, [In some MSS. the reading here is “Domitius,” and in others the name is omitted altogether. We learn from the writings of Suetonius, that the Emperor Domitian devoted himself to literary pursuits in his younger days, and Quintilian and the younger Pliny speak of his poetical productions as equal to those of the greatest masters. Sillig expresses an opinion that Pliny may possibly have borrowed something from his works, and inserted his name, with a view of pleasing the young prince and his father, the Emperor Vespasian.] Junius Gracchanus, [He is quoted in Chapter of this Book, where it appears that he took his cognomen on account of his friendship for C. Gracchus. He wrote a work, “De Potestatibus,” which gave an account of the Roman magistrates from the time of the kings. A few fragments of this work, which was highly esteemed by the ancients, are all that remain.] L. Piso, [See end of B. ii.] Verrius, [See end of B. iii.] M. Varro, [See end of B. ii.] Corvinus, [Valerius Messala Corvinus. See end of B. ix.] Atticus Pomponius, [See end of B. vii.] Calvus Licinius, [Calvus Licinius Macer was the son of C. Licinius Macer, a person of prætorian rank, who, on being impeached of extortion by Cicero, committed suicide. We learn from our author, B. xxxiv. c., that in his youth he devoted himself to study with the greatest zeal, and applied himself with singular energy to intellectual pursuits. His constitution, however, was early exhausted, and he died in his 35th or 36th year, leaving behind him twenty-one orations. We learn from Cicero and Quintilian that his compositions were carefully moulded after the models of the Attic school, but were deficient in ease and freshness. As a poet he was the author of many short pieces, equally remarkable for their looseness and elegance. He wrote also some severe lampoons on Pompey and Cæsar, and their respective partisans. Ovid and Horace, besides several of the prose writers, make mention of him.] Cornelius Nepos, [See end of B. ii.] Mucianus, [See end of B. ii.] Bocchus, [Cornelius Bocchus. See end of B. xvi.] Fetialis, [Annius or Annæus Fetialis. See end of B. xvi.] Fenestella, [See end of B. viii.] Valerius Maximus, [See end of B. vii.] Julius Bassus [See end of B. xx.] who wrote on Medicine in Greek, Sextius Niger [See end of B. xii.] who did the same.

Foreign Authors quoted. —Theophrastus, [See end of B. iii.] Democritus, [See end of B. ii.] Juba, [See end of B. v.] Timæus [The person mentioned in Chapter of this Book, is probably different from those of the same name mentioned at the end of Books ii. and iv. If so, no further particulars are known of him.] the historian, who wrote on Metallic Medicines, Heraclides, [It seems impossible to say which of the physicians of this name is here alluded to. See end of Books iv. and xii.] Andreas, [See end of B. xx.] Diagoras, [See end of B. xii.] Botrys, [See end of B. xiii.] Archidemus, [See end of B. xii.] Dionysius, [See end of B. xii.; and for Sallustius Dionysius, see end of B. xxxi.] Aristogenes, [See end of B. xxix.] Democles, [See end of B. xii.] Mnesides, [See end of B. xii.] Attalus [As King Attalus was very skilful in medicine, Hardouin is of opinion that he is the person here meant; see end of B. viii.] the physician, Xenocrates [A different person, most probably, from the writer of Pliny’s age, mentioned in B. xxxvii. c.. The Xenocrates here mentioned is probably the same person that is spoken of in B. xxxv. c., a statuary of the school of Lysippus, and the pupil either of Tisicrates or of Euthycrates, who flourished about B.C. 260.] the son of Zeno, Theomnestus, [There were two artists of this name, prior to the time of Pliny; a sculptor, mentioned by him in B. xxxiv. c., and a painter, contemporary with Apelles, mentioned in B. xxxv. c.. It is impossible to say which of them, if either, is here meant.] Nymphodorus, [See end of B. iii.] Iollas, [See end of B. xii.] Apollodorus, [It is impossible to say which writer of this name is here meant. See end of Books iv., viii., xi., and xx.] Pasiteles [A statuary, sculptor, and chaser in silver, who flourished at Rome about B.C. 60. He was a native of Magna Græcia, in the south of Italy. He is not only mentioned in Chapter of the present Book, but also in B. xxxv. c., as an artist of the highest distinction. His narrow escape from a panther, while copying from nature, is mentioned in B. xxxvi. c.. His five Books on the most celebrated works of sculpture and chasing were looked upon as a high authority in art. He was also the head of a school of artists.] who wrote on Wonderful Works, Antigonus [A writer on painting of this name is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius, B. vii. c. 12. He is probably the same as the person here mentioned, and identical with the Greek sculptor mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxiv. c., who probably flourished about 240 B.C. The Toreutic Art, “Toreutice,” was the art of making raised work in silver or bronze, either by graving or casting: but the exact meaning of the word is somewhat uncertain.] who wrote on the Toreutic art, Menæchmus [Menæchmus of Sicyon, probably; see end of B. iv., also B. xxxiv. c..] who did the same, Xenocrates [If he is really a different person from the Xenocrates mentioned above, nothing is known of him.] who did the same, Duris [See end of B. vii.] who did the same, Menander [Possibly one of the persons mentioned at the end of Books viii., xix., and xxxi. If not, nothing whatever is known of him.] who wrote on Toreutics, Heliodorus [An Athenian writer, surnamed “Periegetes.” The work here mentioned, is alluded to by other writers under different names. From a passage in Athenæus, he is supposed to have lived after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.] who wrote on the Votive Offerings of the Athenians, Metrodorus [See end of B. iii.] of Scepsis.