Etymologies & Works 16

On stones and metals. On the dusts and clods of the earth. 'Pulvis' (dust) is so called because it is driven by the force (vi) of the wind. For it is lifted by its blast and neither resists nor knows how to stand still, as the prophet says (Psalm 1:4): 'Like the dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth.' 'Limus' (slime) is so called because it is soft (lenis). 'Caenum' (mire) is a whirlpool of mud. 'Cinis' (ash) is named from a burning (incendium), for it comes from that. 'Favilla' (embers) is so called because it is produced by fire; for 'phos' means fire. 'Gleba' (clod) is so called because it is a globe (globus); for it is compacted by the gathering of dust and united into a single ball. Now bound earth is a clod, loosened earth is dust. 'Labina' (landslip) is so called because it causes a slip (lapsus) to those walking, named by derivation from 'labes' (a fall). Some think 'lutum' (mud) is called by antiphrasis, because it is not clean (mundum); for everything washed (lotum) is clean.

'Volutabra' (wallowing-places) are so called because boars wallow (volutentur) there. 'Uligo' is the filth of slime or water. 'Sabulum' (sand) is the lightest kind of earth. 'Argilla' (clay) is named from Argos, among whom vessels were first made from it. 'Creta' (chalk) is named from the island of Crete, where it is better. Cimolian chalk is white, named from Cimea, an island of Italy; of these two, the one softens the precious colours of garments and, with a certain sulphurous brightness, enlivens those that have grown dull; the other gives lustre to gems. Silversmith's chalk, also white, is so called because it restores lustre to silver. Samian earth is named from the island of Samos; it is glutinous and white and smooth to the tongue, useful for medicines and for little vessels.

Puteolan dust is gathered on the Puteolan hills of Italy, and it is set as a barrier to hold back the seas and break the waves. For, plunged in the waters, it at once becomes stone, and, made daily stronger by the waves, it is changed into rock; just as clay is turned into stone by fire. 'Sulphur' (brimstone) is so called because it is kindled by fire; for 'pyr' means fire. For its power is felt even in boiling waters, and no other thing is kindled more easily. It is produced in the Aeolian islands between Sicily and Italy, which they say are burning. It is also found dug up in other places. There are four kinds of it. The 'living' kind, which is dug out, is translucent and green, and it alone of all the kinds do physicians use. The second, which they call 'gleba' (lump), is suited only to the uses of fullers.

The third is a liquid; its use is for fumigating wool, since it gives whiteness and softness. The fourth is chiefly fitted for making lamp-wicks. So great is the power of sulphur that it detects epileptics by its smell when it is placed on fires and kindled to burning. Carried around in a cup of wine with a live coal set beneath, by the reflected glow of its blazing it spreads a dreadful pallor as of the dead. On the clods that come from water. Bitumen rises up in the Asphaltite lake of Judaea, and the sailors, drawing near in their boats, gather the lumps of it floating on the surface. But in Syria there is a slime seething up here and there from the ground. Both, however, thicken and coalesce by their density, and both the Greeks call 'pissasphaltos' (pitch-bitumen).

Its nature is burning and akin to fire, and it is broken neither by water nor by iron, but only by the impurities of women; it is useful for the joints of ships. 'Alumen' (alum) is named from 'lumen' (light), because it gives light to the colours that are to be dyed. It is a kind of salty exudation of the earth, and it is produced in winter from water and slime, and ripened by the summer suns. There are two species of it: liquid and thick. Some think 'sal' (salt) is so called because it leaps up (exiliat) in fire. For it flees fire, since it is fiery, but it follows its own nature, because fire and water are always enemies to one another. Others think 'sal' is named from 'salum' (the deep) and 'sol' (the sun); for it is produced of itself by the waters of the sea, foam left behind on the outermost shores or on the rocks and boiled down by the sun. There are also lakes and rivers and wells from which it is drawn.

Thereupon, poured into salt-pans, it is dried by the sun; but rivers too thicken into salt, while the rest of the stream flows on beneath the ice. Elsewhere too, when the sands are drawn off, it is gathered, growing with the moon by night; for in Cyrenaica ammoniac salt is found beneath the sands. There are also mountains of native salt, in which it is cut with iron like stone, growing back greater: in some places of such hardness that they make walls and houses of masses of salt, as in Arabia. There are also differences in the nature of salt. For in one place it is mild, in another most salty: common salt crackles in the fire; the Tragasaean neither crackles in the fire nor leaps up; the Agrigentine of Sicily, enduring flames, leaps up in water, and flows in fire, contrary to nature. There are also differences of colour. The Memphitic is reddish;

in a certain part of Sicily, where Etna is, it is purple; likewise in the same Sicily, at Pachynus, so bright and shining that it gives back images; in Cappadocia a saffron-coloured salt is dug up. The nature of salt is necessary for every kind of food. For it gives flavour to dishes, stirs up appetite, and creates a craving in all foods. Indeed from it comes all the delight of nourishment and the highest cheerfulness. Hence 'salus' (health) is thought to have received its name; for nothing is more useful than salt and sun: in short, we see the horny bodies of sailors. Nay, even flocks, herds and beasts of burden are chiefly enticed to pasture by salt, yielding milk far more plentifully and cheeses of far more pleasing quality. Salt also constricts bodies, dries them, and binds them together. It even preserves the dead from the corruption of decay, so that they may endure.

'Nitrum' (natron) took its name from a place; for it is produced in the town or region of Egypt called Nitria, from which both medicines are made and the filth of bodies and garments is washed away. Its nature does not differ much from salt; for it has the virtue of salt and arises in like manner, on shores whitening with dryness. 'Aphronitrum' in Greek is in Latin the foam of natron. Of which one says (Martial 14.58): 'Are you a countryman? You do not know by what Greek name I am called: I am named the foam of natron. Are you a Greek? aphronitrum.' It is gathered in Asia, dripping in caves, and thereupon dried by the sun. It is thought best if it be very light and most friable, of an almost purple colour. 'Chalcanthum' (vitriol) is so called because 'chalcitis' is 'thymon,' that is, a flower; whence among the Latins too it is called the flower of copper (aeris flos).

It is now made in many regions; formerly it was made in Spain, in wells or pools that had this kind of water, which they boiled down and poured into wooden basins, hanging over them cords stretched out with little stones, to which the slime adhered in the likeness of glassy grapes; and thus, taken out, it was dried for thirty days. But now it is made elsewhere in caves, where, gathered in liquid form and then spread out, it solidifies into certain clusters: it is also made in hollowed-out pits, from whose sides the falling drops coalesce: it is also made, after the manner of salt, from the most blazing sun. And it is of so constricting a power that, sprinkled into the mouths of lions and bears, it has so great a force of binding that they cannot bite. On common stones.

A 'lapis' (stone) is distinguished even by the common folk from earth as being denser. And 'lapis' is so called because it hurts (laedat) the foot (pedem). Stone is soft and scattered; 'saxa' (rocks) cling fast and are cut out of mountains; 'petra' is Greek; 'silex' (flint) is a hard stone, so called because fire leaps out (exiliat) from it. A 'scopulus' (crag) is named from a projecting rock, as it were from looking out (speculando); or from the sheltering of ships, from the Greek 'apo tou skepein' (from covering). 'Spelaia' in Greek are 'speluncae' (caves) in Latin. And it is a hollowed-out cliff. A 'crepido' is the broken-off edge of a rock; whence it is called 'crepido' because it is the height of a broken rock, as 'foot clings close to foot' (Virgil, Aeneid 10.361); whence too it is named. 'Cautes' are rough rocks in the sea, named from taking care (cavendo), as it were 'cautae.' 'Murices' are rocks on the shore like living murex-shells, very sharp and destructive to ships.

The 'icon' is a rock which, catching the sound of a human voice, even imitates the words of those speaking: 'icon' in Greek is called 'imago' (image) in Latin, because, answering to a voice, it becomes the image of another's speech; though this indeed comes about also from the nature of places, and most often of valleys. The 'calculus' (pebble) is a little stone mingled with the earth, round and very hard, and of the greatest smoothness in every part. And it is called 'calculus' because it can be trodden (calcetur) without trouble because of its smallness: contrary to it is the 'scrupus,' a tiny and rough little stone, which, if it falls into one's shoe, harms and is a trouble to the mind; whence too we call a trouble of mind a 'scruple' (scrupulum): hence too 'scrupea saxa,' that is, rough rocks. The 'cotis' (whetstone) received its name because it sharpens iron for cutting;

for 'cotis' in the Greek tongue is named from cutting (incisio). Of these, some are 'watery,' others need oil in the sharpening, but oil gives a smooth edge; waters give a very keen edge. 'Pumex' (pumice) is so called because it is formed by being congealed from the density of foam (spuma); and it is dry, of little whiteness, and has so great a nature of cooling that, put into a vessel, new wines cease to ferment. Craftsmen call 'rudus' pounded stones mixed with lime, which they spread over in making pavements; whence too they are called 'rudera.' 'Gypsum' (plaster) is akin to lime; and it is a Greek name. There are many kinds of it; but the best of all is for mirror-stone (i.e. plaster-work). For it is most pleasing for the figures and cornices of buildings.

'Quicklime' (calx viva) is so called because, though it is cold to the touch, within it contains hidden fire, whence too, when water is poured over it, the lurking fire at once bursts forth. Its nature does something marvellous. For after it has burned, it is set ablaze by waters, by which fire is wont to be extinguished; it is extinguished by oil, by which fire is wont to be kindled. Its use is necessary for the structures of building. For stone cannot cling to stone more strongly except when joined by lime. Lime from white and hard stone is better for structures; from soft stone it is useful for plasterwork. 'Arena' (sand) is named from dryness (ariditas), not from adhering in buildings, as some would have it. Its test is if, pressed by the hand, it creaks, or if, sprinkled on a white garment, it leaves no dirt. On more notable stones.

The magnet (magnes) is an Indian stone, named from its discoverer. For it was first found in India, clinging to the nails of shoes and to the point of a staff, when a certain man named Magnes was pasturing his herds; afterwards it was found in many places too. It is of an iron-rusty colour, but it is proved when, joined with iron, it makes its snatching. For it so grips iron that it makes a chain of rings: whence too the common people call it 'living iron.' It is believed to draw the liquid of glass as it does iron; and its power is so great that, as the most blessed Augustine relates (City of God 21.4), a certain man held this same magnet-stone beneath a silver dish, and placed iron upon the silver, and then, moving his hand underneath with the stone, the iron was moved swiftly across above.

Hence it came about that in a certain temple an image of iron was seen to hang in the air. There is indeed also another magnet in Ethiopia which drives away and rejects all iron. Now every magnet is so much the better as it is the more dark-blue (caeruleus). The 'gagates' stone was first found in Sicily, cast up by the flowing of the river Gagas; whence too it was named, although it is most abundant in Britain. It is black, flat, smooth, and burning when brought near fire. Things written upon it with clay are not effaced; when kindled, it puts serpents to flight, exposes those possessed by demons, and detects virginity; and, a marvel, it is set ablaze by water and extinguished by oil. 'Asbestos' is a stone of Arcadia, of an iron colour, having got its name from fire because, once kindled, it is never extinguished.

From this stone human art has contrived some mechanical device, which the heathen, caught up in sacrilege, marvelled at. In short, there was in a certain temple a shrine of Venus, and in it a candelabrum, and on it a lamp burning under the open sky in such a way that no storm, no shower could extinguish it. 'Pyrites' is a tawny Persian stone, imitating the quality of copper, in which there is much fire, since it easily emits sparks: this stone burns the hand of one holding it, if it be pressed too firmly, on account of which it received its name from fire. There is another common pyrites, which they call the 'living stone,' which, struck by iron or stone, emits sparks, which are caught in sulphur or other fungi or leaves, and quicker than word it yields fire. This the common people call the 'hearth-stone' (focaris petra).

'Selenites,' which in Latin is interpreted 'lunar,' so called because they say its inner brightness waxes and wanes with the moon, is produced in Persia. 'Dionysius' is a dusky stone sprinkled with reddish marks. It is so called because, if it is ground up mixed with water, it smells of wine, and—what is marvellous about it—it resists drunkenness. The 'Thracian' is black and resonant; it is produced in a river whose name is Pontus in Equitia. The 'Phrygian' stone drew its name from a place; for it is produced in Phrygia, pale in colour, moderately heavy. And it is a pumice-like clod. It is burned, first soaked in wine and blown upon with bellows until it grows red, and again quenched with sweet wine three times over, useful only for dyeing garments.

The 'Syrian' stone is named from Syria, where it is found; this, when whole, is said to float, but when broken up, to sink. The 'Arabian' is like ivory without any blemish. This, rubbed against a whetstone, gives off a juice like saffron. The 'Judaic' stone is white and in the shape of an acorn, patterned in turn with markings, which the Greeks call 'grammai' (lines). The 'Samian' is named from the island of Samos, where it is found: and it is heavy and white, useful for polishing gold. The 'Memphite' is named from a place in Egypt; and it is of a gem-like nature. This, ground up and smeared on with vinegar over those parts that are to be burned and cut, so numbs the body that it does not feel the torment. The 'sarcophagus' stone is so called because bodies of the dead placed in it are consumed within forty days;

for 'soros' in Greek means a coffin, and 'phagein' to eat. It is produced in the Troad, and is split along a cleavable vein. There are also rocks of the same kind in the East, which erode even the bodies of the living when bound to them. But milder for preserving bodies and not consuming them is the stone called 'haematites,' because, dissolved by a whetstone, it comes into the colour of blood (haema). And it is quite livid; it is also iron-rusty. It is produced in the farthest part of Egypt, in Babylonia and in Spain. The 'androdamas' is black in colour, remarkable for weight and hardness, whence too it drew its name, and it is found chiefly in Africa. It is said to draw silver or copper into itself, and, when rubbed, like the haematites it is reduced to the colour of blood.

'Schistos' is found in the farthest part of Spain, like saffron, with a slight brilliance, easily crumbled. 'Amiantos' is so called by the ancients because, if a garment be woven from it, it resists fire and, placed on the fire, it does not burn, but, having taken on brilliance, it gleams; and it is like split alum, resisting all sorceries, especially those of the magi. 'Batrachites' is like the plates of a shell, splittable. 'Galactites' is ash-coloured, sweet to the taste; but it is so named because, when rubbed, it gives off something milky (lacteum) of itself. The 'obsian' (obsidian) stone is black, translucent, and has a likeness to glass. It is set in the mirrors of walls for giving back the shadows of images. Many make gems from it: it is produced in India and in Samnium of Italy.

The 'mithridax' stone of the Euphrates, struck by the sun, glitters with varied colours. 'Aetites' stones are found in the nests of eagles. They say two are found, a male and a female, and that without these the eagles do not bear young: of these the male is hard, like an oak-gall, somewhat reddish; but the female is small and soft. Bound on, they hasten childbirth, and they even bring away for some women something of the womb, unless they are quickly taken away from those giving birth. 'Phengites' is a stone of Cappadocia, of the hardness of marble, white and translucent; from which once a temple was built by a certain king with golden doors, so that, when these were shut, there was inside the brightness of daylight.

'Chemites' is like ivory, in which they say Darius was buried, and like Parian marble in whiteness and hardness, only less heavy, which is called 'porus.' 'Ostracites' is so called because it has the likeness of a shell (testa): its use is in place of pumice. The 'melanites' stone is so called because it gives off a honeyed (melleus) and sweet juice. 'Smyris' is a rough and untamable stone that wears away everything, and by this stone gems are ground. 'Chrysites,' in colour like ochre, is found in Egypt. 'Hammites,' like natron but harder, is produced in Egypt or Arabia. 'Thyites' is produced in Ethiopia as if green, but milky when it is dissolved, biting sharply. 'Coranus' is white and harder than Parian marble. 'Molotius,' as if green and heavy, is found in Egypt.

'Tusculanus,' named from a place in Italy, is said to burst apart in fire. 'Sabinus,' dusky, is said even to shine when oil is added. There is also a certain green stone that strongly resists fire. 'Siphnius' is soft and white; heated with oil it grows black and hard. There are also stones fit for the uses of medicinal mortars and of pigments: chief is the 'etesius,' and after it the 'chalazius'; also the 'Thebaicus' and the 'basanites' stones, which give off nothing of themselves. The 'specular' stone is so called because it is translucent after the manner of glass; it was first found in Hither Spain around the city of Segobrica. For it is found under the earth and, dug out, is cut and split into crusts as thin as one pleases. On marbles. After the kinds of stones we shall come to marbles.

For there is a difference between stones and marbles. For 'marbles' are called excellent stones, which are prized for their spots and colours. 'Marmor' is a Greek word, named from greenness (viriditas), and although afterwards marbles of other colours too were found, they nevertheless retained their former name from greenness. The colours and kinds of marbles are innumerable. Yet not all are cut from cliffs, but many are scattered under the earth and of the most precious kind, such as the Lacedaemonian green, more cheerful than all the rest, first found among the Lacedaemonians, whence too it drew its name. 'Ophites' is like the spots of serpents, whence too it took its name. There are two kinds of it: the soft, white; the black, hard.

The 'Augusteum' and 'Tiberium' were first found in Egypt at the beginning of the principate of Augustus and Tiberius. Their difference from ophites is that, whereas the latter, as we said before, is like the spots of serpents, these gather their spots in a different manner. For the Augusteum is wavily curled into whorls; the Tiberium has scattered, not convoluted, whiteness. 'Porphyrites' is reddening in Egypt, with white points intervening. The reason for its name is that it reddens like purple (purpura). 'Basanites' is of an iron colour or hardness; whence too its name was given to it: it is found in Egypt and Ethiopia. 'Alabastrites' is a white stone, tinged throughout with various colours, from which was made that vessel of the Gospel ointment.

For they hollow this out into ointment vessels, since it is said to preserve them best uncorrupted. It is produced around Egyptian Thebes and Damascus of Syria, whiter than the rest, but the most approved is in India. The 'Parian' is of surpassing whiteness, with the surname 'lygdinus': this is produced near the island of Paros, whence too it is called Parian. Its size is such that it does not exceed dishes and mixing-bowls; and it too is fit for ointments. The 'coralliticus,' found in Asia, is of a measure not beyond two cubits, next to ivory in whiteness and with a certain likeness to it. On the other hand, the black 'Alabandicus,' named from its own land, is like the appearance of purple. This, in the East, is melted by fire and cast for the use of glass.

The 'Thebaicus,' speckled with golden drops, is found in a designated part of Egypt, suited by a certain natural utility to little touchstones for grinding eye-salves. The 'Syenites' is produced around Syene or Thebes. From it kings made beams. But there are marbles which are produced in quarries and cliffs: of which the 'Thasius' is marked with spots of diverse colour, whose first use the Cyclades islands provided. The 'Lesbius' is a little more livid than this, but it too has spots of diverse colour. The 'Corinthius' is like a drop of ammoniac with a variety of diverse colours. It was first found at Corinth. From it huge columns and thresholds and beams are made. The 'Caristeum' is green, the best; having its name from its appearance, because it is pleasing to those who carve gems;

for its greenness refreshes the eyes. Numidia sends Numidian marble: it gives off to the surface a juice like saffron, whence too it received its name; it is fit not for veneers but in the mass and for the use of thresholds. Lucullan marble is produced in the island of Melos; to which Lucullus the consul gave his name, who, delighted with it, first brought it to Rome; and this is almost the only marble that received its name from an admirer. There is also the Lunensian. 'Tephrias' is named from the colour of ash (cinis), and the binding-on of this stone is praised against serpents. 'Ebur' (ivory) is named from 'barrus,' that is, the elephant. Horace (Epodes 12.1): 'What do you want, woman, most worthy of black elephants?' On gems. After the kinds of marbles, gems follow, which lend much adornment to gold by the beauty of their colours.

Its beginnings are from the rock of Caucasus. Fables tell that Prometheus first enclosed a fragment of its rock in iron and set it around his finger, and that from these beginnings the ring and the gem took their origin. The kinds of gems are said to be handed down as innumerable, of which we have noted only those that are principal or best known. 'Gems' (gemmae) are so called because they are translucent after the manner of gum (gummi). 'Precious stones' (pretiosi lapides) are so called because they are worth a price (care valent), or so that they may be distinguished from cheap ones, or because they are rare. For everything that is rare is called great and precious; just as it is read in the book of Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1): 'And the word of the Lord was precious in Israel,' that is, rare. On the greener gems.

Of all green gems the emerald (smaragdus) holds the primacy, to which the ancients assign the third rank of dignity after pearls and single-stones. The emerald is named from its exceeding greenness; for everything sufficiently green is called 'amarus' (bitter/deep). For no gems or herbs have greater intensity than this; for it surpasses green herbs and foliage, tinting with greenness the air reflected around it. To those carving gems too there is no more pleasing refreshment of the eyes. If its body is spread out flat, it gives back images like a mirror. Indeed Nero Caesar used to watch the combats of gladiators in an emerald. Its kinds are twelve, but the nobler are the Scythian, which are found among the Scythian people. The second place is held by the Bactrian:

for they are gathered in the joints of rocks while the North Wind blows; for then, when the earth is uncovered, they glint here and there, because by these winds the sands are chiefly stirred. The third the Egyptians have. The rest are found in copper mines, but flawed; for they have markings like copper, or lead, or hair-fibres, or salt. But emeralds are improved by pure and green oil, although they are steeped in it by nature. 'Chalcosmaragdus' is so called because it is green and clouded with copper veins. This is produced in Egypt or the island of Cyprus. 'Prasius' is so called for its leek-green colour, but it is common. Another kind of it is spoiled by bloody points. A third is marked out with three white little stripes.

The beryl (beryllus) is produced in India, having its name from the winds in their own tongue, similar in greenness to the emerald but with a paleness. It is polished by the Indians into hexagonal shapes, so that the dullness of its colour may be roused by the reflection of the angles; polished otherwise it has no brilliance. Its kinds are nine. 'Chrysoberyllus' is so called because its pale greenness shines back into a golden colour. India sends this too. 'Chrysoprasus' is Indian, in colour recalling the juice of a leek, with golden drops intervening, whence too it received its name. Some have adjudged it to the kind of beryls. 'Iaspis' (jasper) is translated from Greek into Latin as a green gem; for 'ias' indeed means green, and 'pinasin' is called a gem. And it is somewhat like the emerald, but of a thick colour.

Its species are seventeen. Some, however, would have the jasper gem to be a source of favour and protection to those who wear it, which to believe is a matter not of faith but of superstition. 'Topazion' (topaz) is of the green kind and shines back with every colour, first found on an island of Arabia, on which the Trogodyte brigands, worn out by hunger and storm, when they were digging up the roots of herbs, dug it out. Which island, afterwards sought, was covered with mists and at last found by sailors. But for this reason the place and the gem received their name from the occasion; for 'topazein' in the tongue of the Trogodytes has the meaning of seeking. It is the largest of gems; the same alone of the noble gems feels the file. Its kinds are two. The 'Callaica' is of a green colour, but pale and too thick; nothing more pleasing than it that becomes gold;

whence too it is named. It is produced in India or Germany in icy rocks, bulging out like an eye. 'Molochites' is more densely green and thicker than the emerald, having received its name from the colour of the mallow (malva), praised for reproducing seal-impressions. It is produced in Arabia. 'Heliotropia' is of a green and clouded colour, sprinkled over with crimson stars along with bloody veins. The cause of its name is from the effect of the stone; for cast into bronze basins it changes the rays of the sun by a bloody reflection; but outside the water it receives the sun after the manner of a mirror, and it detects its eclipses, showing the moon passing under it. Of the shamelessness of the magi a most manifest example is in this too, since they say that, with the herb heliotrope mixed in and certain incantations added, the wearer cannot be seen.

It is produced in Cyprus and in Africa, but the better kind in Ethiopia. The sagda is a gem of a leek-green color found among the Chaldeans. So great is its power that it seeks out ships passing through the deep and clings so tenaciously to their hulls that it can scarcely be separated unless part of the timber is scraped away. The myrrhites is so called because the color of myrrh is in it; and when it is pressed until warm, it breathes forth the sweetness of nard. The aromatitis is found in Arabia or Egypt, of the color and odor of myrrh, whence also it takes its name. The melichros is two-colored, green on one side and honey-like on the other. The choaspitis is named from a river of the Persians, of a green with a golden brilliance. VIII. ON RED GEMS. The coral is produced in the sea, branching in form, green in color but especially red.

Its berries are white under the water and soft; but once drawn out they at once harden and grow red, and turn to stone as soon as they are touched. And so it is usually caught and torn out with nets, or cut off with a sharp iron tool, for which reason it is called coral. And as much as the Indian pearl is precious among us, so much is coral prized among the Indians. The magi affirm that it resists lightning, if one believes it. The sardius is so called because it was first found among the Sardians; it has a red color surpassing that of marbles, but it is the most worthless among gems. There are five kinds of it. The onyx is so named because it has mixed within it a whiteness resembling a human fingernail; for the Greeks call the nail 'onyx.' India or Arabia produces it, and they differ from one another;

for the Indian kind has little sparks of fire encircled by white zones, whereas the Arabian is black with white zones. There are five kinds of it. The sardonyx is named from the joining of two names; for it is made of the whiteness of the onyx and of the sard. It consists of three colors: below black, in the middle white, above vermilion. This alone, when used for sealing, carries off no part of the wax. It is found among the Indians and Arabs, laid bare by the torrents. There are five kinds of it. The haematites is blood-red, and therefore called haematites; for 'haima' means blood. The principal kind is produced in Ethiopia, but it is also found in Arabia and in Africa. Concerning it the magi promise something for exposing the ambushes of barbarians.

Amber, which the Greeks call 'elektron,' of a tawny and waxen color, is said to be the sap of a tree, and for that reason to be called sucinum (amber). Fabulous invention gave it the name electrum. For when Phaethon had been slain by a stroke of lightning, his sisters, changed by grief into poplar trees, are said to pour forth amber in their tears every year beside the river Eridanus; and many poets have said it was called electrum because the sun was named Elector. But it is agreed that it is not the sap of the poplar, but of the pine tree; for when kindled it gives off the fragrance of pine-torch. It is born in the islands of the northern Ocean like gum, and thickens like crystal by cold or by time. From it, for the sake of adornment, are made the necklaces of country women.

It is called by some 'harpaga,' because, having received the breath of heat by the rubbing of the fingers, it snatches up leaves and chaff and the fringes of garments, just as the lodestone snatches iron. It can be dyed in whatever manner one pleases; for they are stained with the root of alkanet and with purple dye. The lyncurius is so called because it is made from the urine of the lynx-beast, hardened over time. It is, like amber, tawny, drawing to itself by its breath the leaves that come near. IX. ON PURPLE GEMS.

Among the purple gems the Indian amethyst holds the first place. The amethyst is purple with a violet color mingled in, and has as it were the sheen of a rose, and gently gives off certain little flames. Another kind of it descends toward the hyacinths. They give as the reason for its name that there is something in its purple that is not entirely fiery, but has the color of wine. It is easy to carve: there are five kinds of it. The sapphire is blue with purple, having little golden grains scattered in it; the best is found among the Medes, though nowhere transparent. The hyacinth is named from the flower of its own name. It is found in Ethiopia, having a blue color. The best is that which is neither too rare nor dulled by density, but shines from a tempering of both and glows with purple;

but this does not glow uniformly. For in clear weather it is transparent and pleasing; in cloudy weather it vanishes and withers before the eyes; put into the mouth it is cold; in carving it is very hard, yet not unconquerable. For it is engraved and sealed with the diamond. The iacinthizon is Indian and nearly resembles the hyacinth. But some of them, resembling crystal, are darkened by little threads running through them; and from this defect of theirs comes their name. The amethystizon is so called because its outermost little flame passes into the violet of the amethyst. The chelidonia is named from the color of swallows; and it is of two kinds, one of which is purple on one side, and another is purple with black spots interspersed.

The cyanea, a gem of Scythia, glitters with a blue brilliance, pure, and sometimes varied with little golden dust-specks flashing within it. The rhoditis is rose-colored, and from this it received its name. X. ON WHITE GEMS. The pearl is the first of the white gems, which they say is called 'margaritum' because this kind of stone is found in the shells of the sea; for a small pebble is born within the flesh of the shellfish, just as a little stone is in the brain of a fish. It is produced from a heavenly dew, which the shellfish drink in at a certain time of the year. Of these pearls, some are called 'uniones' (unique ones), having a fitting name, because only one, never two or more, is ever found together. But the white pearls are better than those which grow yellow.

For either youth or the gathering of the morning dew renders those white; whereas age or the evening air produces these dark. The paederos is the second after the pearl among the white gems. Concerning it there is a question in what color it ought to be reckoned, its name having been so often applied to alien beauties, to such a degree that the prerogative of comeliness has been made into a word. The asterites is white, containing an enclosed light like a star moving within, and it gives back the whitening rays of the sun; whence also it got its name. The galactitis is milky, which when rubbed gives off a white juice with the taste of milk; bound upon nursing women it makes the breasts fruitful; hung too from the neck of infants it is said to produce saliva, but in the mouth it melts away and takes away memory.

The rivers Nile and Achelous send it forth. There are some who call an emerald encircled with white veins a galactites. The chalazias exhibits the whiteness and shape of hail, and also an unconquerable hardness like the diamond; even placed in fire it keeps its own coldness. The solis gemma (sun-gem) is white, and drew its name from the fact that it scatters rays like the appearance of the sun shining in its orb. The selenites shines through with a white and honey-like brilliance, containing the image of the moon; and they report that, following the course of the star itself, it diminishes and increases day by day. It is born in Persia. The cinaedia is found in the brain of the fish of the same name, white and oblong. They say that by these are foretold the signs of the sea, whether of calm or of storm.

The Bel's eye (Beli oculus), whitish, encircles a black pupil shining with a golden brilliance from the middle, and on account of its appearance it was dedicated to Belus the king of the Assyrians; whence also it was named. It is called epimelas when in a white gem the color grows black on top; whence too it has its name. The exebenus is beautiful and white, with which goldsmiths polish gold. XI. ON BLACK GEMS. The achates (agate) was first found in Sicily beside a river of the same name, and afterwards in very many lands. It is black, having in the middle black and white circles joined and varied, like the haematites. The magi, by the fumigation of these, if one believes it, turn aside storms and stop rivers. The apsyctos is black and heavy, marked with reddish veins. When heated by fire it keeps its warmth for seven days.

The aegyptilla is black at the root, blue in appearance, named from Egypt where it is found. The media is black, said to have been discovered by that fabled Medea. It has veins of a bronze color; it gives off the sweat of saffron and the taste of wine. The Veientana is an Italian gem, found at Veii, black in appearance with white flecks glinting through it. The bariptos is black with blood-red and white markings. The mesomelas has a black vein cutting through the middle of whatever color. The 'hair of Venus' (Veneris crines) is of a most black luster, containing within itself the appearance of red hair. The trichrus from Africa is black, but gives off three juices: at the root black, in the middle blood-red, at the top of the color of ochre. The dionysia, black with reddish markings mixed in, when ground with water gives off a fragrance of wine, and by its odor is thought to resist drunkenness.

The pyritis is indeed black, but by rubbing it burns the fingers. XII. ON VARIEGATED GEMS. The panchrus is variegated, consisting of nearly all colors; whence also it is named. The olca, of a barbarian name, is of tawny and black and green and white. The mithridax, when struck by the sun, glitters with varied colors. It is produced in Persia. The drosolithus is variegated. The reason for its name is that, if it is applied to fire, it sends off as it were a sweat. The opalus is distinguished by the color of diverse gems. For in it there is a thinner fire of the carbuncle, the shining purple of the amethyst, the glowing greenness of the emerald, and all shining together alike under a certain variety. It has its name from its homeland; for India alone brings it forth.

The ponticae are named from Pontus, of a diverse kind, now glinting with blood-red, now with golden droplets; some having stars, others streaked with long lines of colors. The hexecontalithos, in a small size, is many-colored; whence too it adopted this name for itself. For it is sprinkled with so diverse markings that sixty colors of gems may be discerned in its little disc. It is born in Libya among the Troglodytes. The murrina is produced among the Parthians, but the finest in Carmania. They think it is moisture thickened under the earth by heat; whence too it took its name. Its variety turns to purple and whiteness and fire, with certain reflections of colors such as are seen in the rainbow of heaven. The opposite cause makes crystal, when it is congealed by a more violent frost. XIII.

ON CRYSTALLINE GEMS. Crystal is resplendent and watery in color. It is handed down that it is snow hardened into ice over the years; whence too the Greeks gave it its name. It is produced in Asia and Cyprus, chiefly in the northern Alps, where not even in summer is the sun found at its hottest; and therefore that long and aged hardness gives rise to this kind which is called crystal. Set opposite the rays of the sun, it so seizes their flame that it gives fire to dry fungi or leaves. Its use is also destined for drinking-cups; but it can endure nothing except what is cold. The Indian adamant (diamond) is a small and unlovely stone, having an iron-gray color and the splendor of crystal, and it is never found larger than the size of a hazelnut kernel.

This yields to no material, not even to iron or to fire, nor does it ever grow hot; whence also it received its name, which by Greek interpretation means 'unconquerable force.' But although it is the unvanquished scorner of iron and fire, it is broken when steeped in the fresh and warm blood of a he-goat, and thus it is shattered by many blows of iron. Sculptors use its fragments for engraving and boring gems. But it is so at odds with the magnet-stone that, placed next to it, it does not allow iron to be drawn off by the magnet, or, if a magnet brought near has seized the iron, the diamond snatches it away and carries it off. It is reported also, like amber, to detect poisons, to drive away vain fears, and to resist maleficent arts. There are six kinds of it.

The chalazias has the whiteness and shape of hail, and the hardness of a diamond. Even placed in fire it keeps its own coldness. There are two kinds of ceraunia (thunderstones). One, which Germany sends, is like crystal, yet shines with blue, and if it is placed under the open sky, it seizes the brilliance of the stars. The other ceraunium Spain produces on the Lusitanian shores, whose color is of a reddish fire-red (pyropus), and its quality like fire. This is said to be of help against the force of thunderbolts, if we believe it. It is called ceraunia because it is found nowhere else than in a place close to where lightning has struck; for in Greek lightning is called 'keraunos.' The iris is born in Arabia in the Red Sea, of a crystalline color, six-sided, named from the argument of the rainbow (iris).

For struck by the sun under a roof it reproduces the appearance and colors of the heavenly bow on the nearest walls. The astrion is from India, close to crystal, in whose center a star shines with the brilliance of a full moon. It took its name because, set opposite the stars, it seizes their brilliance and casts it back. The electria, as it were 'alectoria': for it is found in the little stomachs of roosters, of crystalline appearance, the size of a bean. By this the magi wish men to be made invincible in contests, if we believe it. The enhydros is named from water; for it exudes water, so that you would think a spring's welling was enclosed within it. (XIV. ON FIERY GEMS.) Among all the burning gems the carbuncle holds the first place. The carbuncle is so called because it is fiery like a live coal, whose brilliance is not overcome even by night;

for it so shines in the darkness that it flashes flames at the eyes. There are twelve kinds of it, but the more excellent are those which seem to glow and, as it were, to pour forth fire. The carbuncle in Greek is called 'anthrax.' It is produced in Libya among the Troglodytes. The anthracitis is so called because it too is of a fiery color like the carbuncle, but girded with a white vein; and its peculiarity is that, thrown into the fire, it is extinguished as if dead, but on the contrary, when drenched with water it blazes up. The sandasirus is born among the Indians, in a place of the same name. Its distinctive feature is that golden droplets shine within it as if in transparent fire. It is agreed among all that, the greater the number of stars, so much the greater also is its price.

The lychnis is of the same class of burning gems, named from the blaze of lamps; it is produced in many places, but the most approved among the Indians. Some have said it is a fainter carbuncle. Its face is twofold: one which radiates with purple, another with the redness of scarlet. Warmed by the sun or by the rubbing of the fingers, it is said to draw to itself chaff and threads of paper; it resists engraving, and if it is ever engraved, while it takes the impress of the seals, it retains part of the wax as if by some animal's bite. There are four kinds of it. The carchedonia is said to do the same as the lychnis, though much cheaper than those mentioned. It is born among the Nasamones by rain, as they say, divine: it is found by the reflection of the full moon. But all its kinds resist engraving.

The alabandina is named from Alabanda, a region of Asia, whose color approaches that of the carchedonia, but is rare. The dracontites is dug out from the brain of a dragon. Unless it is cut from the living creature, it does not turn to a gem; whence too the magi cut it from sleeping dragons. For bold men explore the caves of dragons, scatter there drugged herbs to induce the dragons' sleep, and thus, when they are lulled by slumber, they cut off their heads and draw out the gems. They are of a translucent whiteness. The kings of the East especially glory in their use. The chrysoprasus is Ethiopian; light conceals this stone, darkness reveals it. For by night it is fiery, by day golden. The phlogites is from Persia, displaying within itself as it were seething flames which do not come out.

The syrtitis is so called because it was first found on the shore of the Syrtes. In part of Lucania its color is saffron, containing within faint stars, glinting again beneath a cloud. The hormiscion is seen among the most pleasing, radiant with a fiery color, bearing gold with it, having at its edges a white light. XV. ON GOLDEN GEMS. There are certain kinds of gems named from the appearance of metals or stones. The chrysopis seems to be only gold. The chrysolithus is like gold with a resemblance to the color of the sea. Ethiopia produces it. The chryselectrus is like gold, but inclining to the color of amber, pleasing only in the morning aspect, most greedy of fire, and, if it is nearby, very quickly catching fire. The chrysolampis is named from gold and fire;

for it is golden by day, and fiery by night. Ethiopia produces it. The ammochrysus, mixed with gold in its sands, has now little squares of gold-leaf, now of gold-dust. It is produced in Persia. The leucochrysus is of a golden color with a white vein running between. The melichrysus is so called because this gem shines through as if through pure gold, like honey. The chrysocolla is produced in India, where ants dig up gold. It is like gold and has the nature of a magnet, except that it is said to increase gold; whence also it is named. The argyrites is like silver, having golden spots. The androdamas has the luster of silver and is almost a diamond, always squared like dice.

The magi think the name was imposed on it because it is said to tame and restrain the impulses or angers of the mind, if we believe it. It is produced in the Red Sea. The chalcitis is of a bronze color. The chalcophonos is black, but when struck against a stone gives back the ringing of bronze. The balanites: there are two kinds, greenish and like Corinthian bronze, with a fiery vein cutting through the middle. The sideritis differs in nothing from the appearance of iron. However it may be brought into malefic practices, it stirs up discords. The Idaean finger (Idaeus dactylus) is from the island of Crete, of an iron color. The reason for its name is that it represents a human thumb. The Ethiopicus is of an iron color, which when rubbed emits a black juice.

The zmilanthis is gathered in the channel of the Euphrates, like Proconnesian marble, of a bluish-gray middle color, glinting within like the pupil of an eye. The Arabica is named from its homeland, ivory in appearance. The hephaestitis has the nature of a mirror in giving back images, although it is reddish. The test of it is if, added to boiling water, it at once cools it, or if, set in the sun, it kindles dry material. It is born in Corycos. The ostracites is stony in color, harder than earthenware. The other kind is like agate, except that agate grows glossy with polishing. Such is the force of its hardness that other gems are engraved by its fragments. The glossopetra is like a human tongue; whence too it took its name: it is said to fall from the sky when the moon is waning. To it the magi attribute no small power;

for they think that by it the movements of the moon are stirred up. There are also certain kinds of gems named from animals: the echites reproduces the markings of a viper; the carcinia has the color of a sea-crab; the scorpitis represents a scorpion in both color and shape; the myrmecitis imitates the figure of a crawling ant; the taos is like a peacock; the hieracitis is of the color of a hawk, the aetitis of an eagle; the aegophthalmos is like a goat's eye; the lycophthalmos is of four colors: from red it turns blood-red, in the middle it encircles a black with white, like the eyes of wolves; the meconites represents the poppy. There are also certain gems which the pagans use in certain superstitions. They say that the liparea, when burned, calls forth all beasts. By the anancitis they say the images of demons are called forth in water-divination.

They say that by the synochitis the summoned shades of the underworld are held fast. The chelonitis is the eye of the Indian tortoise, variegated and purple. The magi are feigned to say that, placed upon the tongue, it foretells the future. The brontea is from the head of tortoises; it is thought to fall from thunder, and to quench the strokes of lightning. The hyaenia is a stone found in the eyes of the hyena-beast; and if it is placed under a man's tongue, they say he foretells the future. But the coral too is said to resist storm and hail. The pontica is a certain gem, translucent with a livid hue, having red stars, and sometimes golden ones too. They say that by it one interrogates demons and puts them to flight.

In certain kinds of gems there is great difficulty in distinguishing the true from the false, since a way has been found of transferring from the true kind of one into another false one; as the sardonyxes, which are cemented from three gems in such a way that they cannot be detected. For they fabricate them from a diverse kind: with black, white, and vermilion color. For in place of the most precious stone, the emerald, some by art stain glass, and a certain false greenness deceives the eyes deceitfully, so long as there is no one to test the counterfeit and expose it; and so with other stones in one way and another. Nor is the life of mortals without any fraud. But all gems that are not translucent are called blind, because they are darkened by their own density. XVI. ON GLASS.

Glass is so called because it shines through with clearness to the sight. For in other metals whatever is contained within is hidden; but in glass any liquid or object shows outwardly just as it is within, and in a way, though enclosed, lies open. Its origin was this. In a part of Syria which is called Phoenicia, bordering on Judaea, around the roots of Mount Carmel there is a marsh, from which rises the river Belus, flowing into the sea over a space of five miles near Ptolemais, whose sands are washed clean of impurities by the rushing torrent. Here the story is that a ship of merchants of niter was driven ashore, and when they were preparing their meals scattered along the shore, and there were no stones for propping up their vessels, they placed lumps of niter from the ship beneath them;

and when these were kindled, the sand of the shore mingled with them, and streams of a new translucent liquid are said to have flowed forth: and this was the origin of glass. Soon, as skill is ingenious, it was not content with niter alone, but strove to season this art with other mixtures also. For it is cooked with light and dry woods, with copper and niter added, and in continuous furnaces, as bronze is melted, and lumps are made. Afterwards from the lumps it is melted again in workshops, and one part is shaped by blowing, another turned on a lathe, another chased like silver. It is also dyed in many ways, so that it imitates hyacinths and sapphires and green stones and onyxes or the colors of other gems; nor is there any material more suited for mirrors or more fitting for painting.

Yet the greatest honor is in white glass, and the next in its likeness to crystal; whence glass has driven out the metals of silver and gold for drinking. Formerly it was made also in Italy, and throughout the Gauls and Spain, from a very white and very soft sand ground in a mortar and mill. Then it was mixed with three parts, by weight or measure, of niter, and, when melted, was poured over into other furnaces, and this mass was called ammonitrum; and this, recooked, became pure and white glass. Among the kinds of glass the obsidian stone (obsianus) is also numbered. It is sometimes green and sometimes black, and occasionally translucent, thicker to the sight, and in wall-mirrors giving back shadows instead of an image; from it they make many gems.

They relate that this stone is born both in India and in Italy and by the Ocean in Spain. They report also that under Tiberius Caesar a certain craftsman devised a tempering of glass so that it was flexible and ductile. When he had been admitted to Caesar, he held out a bowl to Caesar, which the emperor, indignant, threw down onto the pavement. But the craftsman picked up the bowl from the pavement, which had crumpled together like a bronze vessel; then he drew a little hammer from his bosom and straightened the bowl. When this was done, Caesar said to the craftsman: 'Does anyone else know this recipe for glass?' After the man, swearing an oath, denied that another knew it, Caesar ordered him to be beheaded, lest, once this became known, gold should be held as worthless as mud and the prices of all metals should be brought to nothing;

and indeed, because if glass vessels did not break, they would be better than gold and silver. XVII. ON METALS. Metal is called in Greek 'para to metallan,' because its nature is such that, where one vein has appeared, there is hope of seeking out another. There are seven kinds of metals: gold, silver, bronze, electrum, tin, lead, and, that which subdues all things, iron. XVIII. ON GOLD. Gold (aurum) is named from 'aura,' that is, from splendor, because it shines more when the air is reflected upon it. Whence Vergil (Aen. 6.204): 'Then from there through the branches shone the varicolored gleam of gold,' that is, the splendor of gold. For it is natural that the splendor of metals shines more when reflected by another light. Hence too are called 'aurarii' (goldsmiths), whose luster it renders splendid.

Refined gold (obryzum) is so called because it beams with splendor (obradiet); for it is of the best color, which the Hebrews call 'ophaz,' and the Greeks 'kirron.' 'Brattea' is the name given to the thinnest leaf, from 'brematou,' which is an onomatopoeia of a crackling sound, or from 'bratun,' a leaf. Money (pecunia) formerly took both its character and its name from cattle (pecudes); for coins were cut and stamped from the hides of cattle. Afterwards a bronze coin was invented by Saturn; for he it was who established that coins should be stamped and inscribed. For this reason too the treasury (aerarium) was consecrated to Saturn by the pagans. Others, as above, called money 'pecunia' from cattle (pecudes), just as beasts of burden (iumenta) are named from aiding (iuvando). For among the ancients all patrimony was called 'peculium' from cattle (pecudes), in which their whole substance consisted;

whence too he who was rich was called 'pecuarius' (cattle-owner), but now 'pecuniosus' (moneyed). The most ancient men, gold and silver not yet having been discovered, used bronze. For bronze money was first in use, then silver, and afterwards gold followed; but from that with which it began it also retained its name. Whence too the treasury is called 'aerarium,' because at first only bronze (aes) was in use, and it alone was stored away, gold and silver not yet being coined; and although money was later made from those metals, yet the name of 'aerarium' remained from that metal from which it took its beginning. The treasure (thesaurum) is named according to the Greek property, from 'apo tes theseos,' from placing, that is, from what is stored away. For 'thesis' means a placing, and it is a name composed from Greek and Latin speech.

For the Greeks call what is stored away 'thes,' the Latins 'aurum' (gold), which joined together sounds 'stored-away gold.' 'Auraria' (a gold-mine) has its name from gold. But tributes (tributa) are so called because they were formerly exacted through each tribe (tribus), just as now through each territory. For it is agreed that the Roman people was divided into three parts, so that even those who presided over the individual parts were called tribunes; whence too the expenses that the peoples gave they named tributes. Excise-taxes (vectigalia) are tributes, named from carrying (vehendo). The soldier's pay (stipendium) is named from weighing out coin (stipe pendenda); for the ancients were accustomed to weigh out money rather than to count it. Coinage (moneta) is so called because it warns (monet) that no fraud be committed in the metal or in the weight.

A coin (nomisma) is a solidus of gold or silver or bronze, which is therefore called 'nomisma' because it is stamped with the names (nominibus) and effigies of rulers. Formerly the coin was called 'argyros,' because it was struck for the most part from silver. But coins (nummi) were named from Numa, king of the Romans, who first among the Latins marked them with images and inscribed them with the title of his own name. 'Folles' are named from the little bag (sacculus) in which they are stored, the container being named from the contained. In a coin three things are sought: the metal, the figure, and the weight. If any of these is lacking, it will not be a coin. There are three kinds of silver and gold and bronze: stamped, wrought, and unwrought. Stamped is that which is in coins; wrought, that which is in vessels and figures; unwrought, that which is in ingots;

which is also called 'grave' (heavy), that is, an ingot. Metals came to be known in their forms in this way: for while burning forests, by whatever chance, baked the earth, which, its veins being heated, poured out streams of whatever structure—whether it had been bronze or gold—when it ran down into the lower places of the earth, it took the figure into which either the flowing stream or the receiving hollow had shaped it. Captivated by the splendor of these things, men, when they lifted up the solidified masses, saw in them impressed traces of the earth; and hence they contrived that things melted down could be brought into any form. XIX. ON SILVER. Silver (argentum) is not far distant from its Greek name; for they call it 'argyron.'

To it belongs this marvelous property: that, though it is white, when pressed against the body it gives back black lines. Quicksilver (argentum vivum, 'living silver') is so called because it eats away the materials into which it is thrown; it is also 'liquid,' because it runs about. It is found especially in mines or in silver-smelting furnaces, clinging in a concretion of droplets covered over, and often too in the most ancient dung of sewers or in the mud of wells. It is also made from vermilion (minium) placed on an iron shell with an earthenware pan set over it; then charcoal is heaped around the vessel that has been smeared around, and thus quicksilver distills from the vermilion; without this neither silver nor bronze can be gilded. It is of such power that, if over a sextarius of quicksilver you should place a hundredweight of stone, it at once resists the load.

But if you place a scruple of gold, it swiftly receives into its bosom the light weight of that; from which it is understood that it is not to weight but to nature that it yields. It is better preserved in glass vessels; for it perforates other materials. But given to drink, it kills by reason of its weight. The dross of silver is 'lithargyros,' which we call the foam of silver. For it is made from silver and lead thus. XX. ON BRONZE. Bronze (aes) is named from the splendor of the air (aer), just as gold and silver. Among the ancients, however, the use of bronze was known earlier than that of iron. For with bronze the first men cleft the earth, with bronze they waged the contests of war, and bronze was more in esteem; but gold and silver were rejected on account of their uselessness. Now, by a reversed turn (Lucretius 5.1275):

Copper lies low, while gold has risen to the top; thus the rolling age changes the values of things, and what was once held in esteem comes at last to have no honour. Later the use of copper passed over into statues, into vessels, and into the structures of buildings; and above all, to secure the perpetuity of monuments, even public ordinances were inscribed upon it. Cyprian copper was first discovered on the island of Cyprus, whence it takes its name; it is made from a coppery stone which they call cadmia, and it is ductile. If lead is added to it, it takes on a purple colour. Aurichalcum (orichalc) is so called because it possesses both the splendour of gold and the hardness of copper. Its name is compounded from the Latin and Greek tongues, for copper in the speech of the Greeks is called CHALKOS.

It is made from copper and much fire, and by means of medicaments is brought to a golden colour. Corinthian bronze is a mixture of all metals, which chance first blended together when Corinth, on being captured, was set ablaze. For when Hannibal had captured this city, he heaped together into one pyre all the bronze, golden, and silver statues and burned them; and so from this mixture the craftsmen carried it off and made shallow dishes. Thus Corinthian ware arose out of all metals fused into one, being neither this nor that. Hence even to the present day, whether from that very stock or in imitation of it, the metal is called Corinthian bronze and the vessels Corinthian ware. There are three kinds of it: one white, approaching the sheen of silver; another in which there is the tawny nature of gold itself;

the third, in which there is an equal blending of all. Coronary bronze is thinned from ductile copper into thin plates, and, when dyed with the gall of bulls, it presents the appearance of gold on the crowns of actors; whence it takes its name. Its fiery colour has given the name to pyropum (fire-bronze). For when to single ounces of copper are added six scruples of gold, it glows in a very thin foil and imitates flames; whence it is called pyropum. That copper is called regular which by others is called ductile, such as all Cyprian copper is. It is called ductile because it is drawn out by the hammer, as opposed to fusile (castable), which is only cast. And this castable kind is also called caldarium (kettle-bronze), which is only cast; for it is brittle under the hammer. Indeed all copper, when its flaws have been more carefully purged by fire and burned out, is made regular.

Campanian bronze too is named among the kinds of bronze, that is, from Campania, a province which lies in the regions of Italy, and it is the most highly approved for all utensils and vessels. All copper is better cast in great cold. Copper more quickly draws rust unless it is anointed with oil; but they hand down that it is best preserved even in liquid pitch. Among all metals bronze is the most resonant and of the greatest power. Hence there are also bronze thresholds; whence Virgil (Aeneid 1.449): 'On the doors the hinge grated on bronze.' The origin of copper is cadmea and chalcitis. The refuse of copper is cadmea, and verdigris (aerugo), and the flower of copper (aeris flos). Cadmea is produced in the furnaces of copper and silver ores from the vapour settling upon them.

For just as the very stone from which copper is made is called cadmia, so again it comes into being in the furnaces and receives the origin of its own name. The flower of copper is formed or produced by smeltings, when the copper is dissolved and reworked and cold water is poured over it; for by the sudden condensation the flower is reproduced, as it were from spittle. Copper likewise creates verdigris. For when plates of copper are placed over a vessel of very sharp vinegar, with twigs laid upon them and thus dripping down, what has fallen from it into the vinegar itself is ground and sifted. XXI. ON IRON. Iron (ferrum) is so called because it buries the far, that is, the seeds of crops, in the earth. The same is also called chalybs, from the river Chalybs, where iron is tempered with the finest edge. Whence by misuse the very material is called chalybs, as (Virgil, Aeneid 8.446): 'and the wound-dealing steel.'

The use of iron was discovered after the other metals. Later its appearance was turned into a reproach; for whence formerly the earth was tilled, thence now blood is poured out. But no body has elements so densely cohering and interwoven among themselves as iron; whence there is in it hardness together with coldness. The metal of iron is found almost everywhere, but of all kinds the palm is given to Seric iron. For the Seres send this along with their garments and skins. Second is the Parthian; and no other kinds of iron are tempered from pure steel, for into the rest a softer alloy is mingled. There is very great difference among iron according to the kind of soil. For one sort is soft and near to lead, fit for the uses of wheels and of nails;

another is brittle and coppery, suited to the tillage of the soil; another pleases only by its shortness and is fit for hobnails; another more quickly contracts rust. All these are called stricturae (bars), which is applied as a fitting term from 'drawing tight' (stringendo), a name not used in the other metals. But there is the greatest difference in the waters into which glowing iron is plunged that it may become more serviceable, as at Bilbilis in Spain and Turiasso, and at Comum in Italy. In sharpening iron, the edge becomes finer with oil; whence too it is customary to quench the thinner ironware in oil, lest by water they be hardened into brittleness. From iron human blood takes vengeance for itself; for iron that has been in contact with it more quickly draws rust. The magnet stone has a concord with iron;